Equestria At War - In the Shadow of the Sun

***

She gasped and cried as she ran down the hallways. This wasn't real. It couldn't have been real. She pinched herself repeatedly, tried to poke her hoof to see if it would go through, and constantly she tried to blink hard and open her eyes. Yet, none of her lucid dream-checking techniques worked - nothing made her realize this was a dream.

Her mentor, and the mare she owed so much to, was now a monster - a monster that was cleaving and burning through legions of Sombrists, changelings, communists, and Lunarists. Her laughs echoed through the halls, striking Twilight right in the spine.

Her friends were safe and teleported away against their will, but she couldn't leave. She wanted to find a solution. There must have been one. Her hooves clipped-clopped across the marble and granite floors, in a mad dash for her goal. She felt like she was in a nightmare, chased by something she felt was omnipotent - but slow...

Snapping her to reality was the hoof that wrapped around her mouth, and dragged her into a separate, small room.

The restraining and subduing attack made the alicorn's body aflame in terror and panic. Twilight screamed into the hoof that was silencing her - so terrified that she forgot all her offensive and defensive spells, unable to repel the figure that overwhelmed her. Muffled through the hoof that made her quiet, she kept trying to scream. "Nooo! P-Please, a-agh, no! Get away from me! Help! Somepony hel--"

"Princess Twilight Sparkle!" The voice exclaimed in a hushed tone - soft. A male, and an earth pony. "Please, r-relax! I'm not with the enemy! I'm from New Mareland! New Mareland!"

Twilight's frantic panic cooled as she winced, but opened one eye to see the shape of a young stallion. She looked into his teal eyes - her heartbeat softening and slowing. She felt safe, at-least for the fact that he didn't have that wild or menacing look the soldiers storming the castle had.

"New Mareland...?" Twilight softly said now that the hoof relented from her mouth, her hyperventilation slowing. "I can't believe it...Who...Who are you?"

"I'm agent Cipher, Sunset Intelligence Bureau." The stallion whispered, pulling back from Twilight and no longer pinning her. "Sorry about the scare, I had to get you concealed fast...Are you hurt, ma'am?"

Just the conversation alone helped Twilight return the sense of normal conversation that had gone asunder since the siege started. "No, Mister Cipher. And...Wow. Sorry for saying "I can't believe it", just..."

"A-Ahah...I know." Cipher awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "New Mareland hasn't been the most active in the war since it went independent...Jetset wanted to get more involved, but there's too much backlash on the streets and up high since nobody wants a naval invasion from Lunarists when we're surrounded by beaches..."

"Well...I'm thankful all the same." Twilight nodded. "But, what is your mission, exactly?"

Cipher, while speaking to her, approached a window to look out of it. Canterlot was in utter carnage, the ornate buildings on fire and in rubble. Leaving would be difficult, so Cipher showed her the climbing picks on his backpack. "We've been sent to evacuate the two Princesses, the elements of harmony, and any companions - as well as many government personnel we can, and help get you over the sea. S-Speaking of which, where are they now...?"

Twilight nodded her head. "I already teleported them. I-I mean, to a safe place, many miles from here. Well, I teleported all, except..."

"...So that's really Celestia?" Cipher asked, the accurate estimation forcing Twilight to blink, stumped.

"How'd you figure?"

"...Just a hunch." Cipher said. "I mean, all the fire and heat kinda helped me put two and two together."

"Yeah..." Twilight found the strength to chuckle nervously. But then, she could no longer take it. The chuckling turned into sobbing. The alicorn hit the wall as she slumped against it and sat down, curling on the floor.

Cipher frowned deeply, crouching - but his rifle trained at the corner to make sure that they weren't too vulnerable. He saw her cry, saw her shaking and muttering strange words he did not understand...Though he knew it wasn't his place to.

"...Princess." Cipher said. "We must leave. I understand things aren't going well, but your safety takes priority. If Nightmare Moon was once reverted to Princess Luna, then the same is true for...whatever Celestia turned into. But that's why we need you to be safe, and--"

"No, Cipher..." Twilight shakily rose to her hooves - his words inspired her, but not how he'd hoped. "You're right - and if I leave now, I cannot guarantee that the library and its secret section won't be burned down. I can't teleport there, Daybreaker nearly found me when I evacuated my friends, she can trace magic...but if you can just help me descend two floors, then--"

Cipher grunted. Here came the complications. He placed his hooves on her shoulders and leaned in with a serious gaze. "Princess, there's nothing we can do in this chaos. If you're harmed now, then--"

Twilight immediately broke his hooves away from her body, turning her head away. "If we don't stop her now, then there's no telling what will happen to Equestria. How many will die tomorrow!? Next week? This year!? Millions of deaths may be on my shoulders, and--"

"There will be billions if you don't return safely!" Cipher exclaimed, saying the first thing that came to his mind. "You're the only one who knows alicorn magic so deeply - nopony in Zebrica nor Griffonia has the personal knowledge and expertise you do. New Mareland - the world needs you, because without you there's not a chance in Tartarus we can stop this."

"Then let me try here and now, please!" Twilight exclaimed, leaning in as she tried to hold Cipher's hooves, squeezing them. Despite the soot they were coated in, they were both so healthy and in good shape, to the point Twilight rubbed them a little for her own comfort. "I just need one shot to check the library, take everything I can, and I'll teleport the both of us out of here. Please..."

"...I..." Cipher looked at the purple hooves that were wrapped around his. This kind of begging, this kind of earnestness and urging...She was a princess, he was a nobody - as his job needed him to be. Yet here she was, confiding in him as if he was a close friend. Perhaps he was weak, maybe he was naive. He had a mission...

But even a small chance of running into a skeleton key - the possibility that their silver bullet was under their noses...Looking at a lottery ticket, unable to knock out the thought that if he didn't scratch it, he'd hate himself forever if it turned out it was the winning one.

"...Damn it." The stallion sighed. "Let's go. Quickly."

***

The hallways left them surprisingly unscathed. There was no encounter with straggling soldiers of the would-be-occupants, there was no encounter with Daybreaker herself. The sounds of hooves echoed through the oddly quiet corridors.

Twilight was about to step into the library - but Cipher immediately placed a hoof horizontally in-front of her to stop her. Although she looked at him with furrowed and annoyed brows, her expression softened when he held a pistol close to his chest as he started to quietly push the door open, immediately looking left and right, before allowing Twilight to enter the library with him.

"...Cipher." Twilight whispered as they waded through the darkness. The explosions and shaking were comforting, for they meant that Daybreaker was focused on other things. "...Where are you from, if I may ask?"

"You'd be surprised." The pony chuckled. "I'm from Equus - southern. Baltimare...-ish. Somewhere like that."

"And...How did you join the organization?"

"Ma'am, I'd like to humor you, but talking might give away our posi--"

"Please talk to me?" The alicorn softly asked. "I'll...I'll go crazy if I have to endure silence when I can hear her laughing all the way from over here..."

"...Okay." The earth pony nodded, and softly smiled. "I never started with any formal army. I found work with some, uh..." His smile turned into a guilty one. "Uh...independent...non-government armed organizations?"

"Oh. So a mercenary."

"Y-Your words, not mine." He blushed. "A-Anyhow, that was just how I got into the whole military business. New Mareland then gave an offer to me and some other guys to join the regular army and get citizenship. I was into the idea - though I did well enough that New Mareland reconnaissance noticed my aptitude for, y'know, egghead stuff. Deciphering communications, reading between the lines of enemy activity, knowing who said what, what they will do - and the occasional psyop, both causing and preventing it."

"Psyops?" Twilight chuckled. "That's a worrying one, isn't it...?"

"Yeah, for real." Cipher sighed, shaking his head as they approached the door to the forbidden section, which he started to lockpick. "Wingbardian fascists tried to start up a party in Sunset hoping we'd either elect a right-wing president or just have a "March on Sunset" and completely turn our politics upside down, to start helping Beakolini as he was being beaten outside and inside."

"How'd they try that one?" Twilight asked. "I'm afraid I never kept an eye out on Griffonia with all that's happened here..."

"It was funny." He giggled. "He tried to exploit the political tensions we were already full of. Installed griffons and even ponies who were trying to rile up our citizens against democracy, monarchism, communism, and whatever else other than fascism. Tried to blame non-fascism as the reason our economy sucked in the late 00's. We uh...did a few undemocratic things to some key figures of our short-lived fascist party."

"Oh..." Twilight frowned.

"...Yeah..." Cipher softly sighed, having unlocked the door and stepping in. "Playing fair wasn't going to work. Anyway, Beakolini could've actually had a chance to hold the country together." Cipher said. "But then Martlewing decided to attack him, sending forces from literally the only border he had ignored - and Francistrians just flooded through that gap and scattered the fascist soldiers badly enough to disorganize them."

The conversation was cut short. The lock was finally opened. Silently, Cipher nodded towards the door, while holding their rear position gunpoint for defense.

The unicorn frantically dug through the books and papers. She was mad in her search, but years of being Equestria's top bookworm was monumental training, enough for her to understand the worth of each book...ironically, even by the cover. "Where could it be? Celestia had her librarians working for decades to collect all the information connected to reverting Nightmare Moon into Princess Luna, t-there must be something to revert...that thing!"

"That's a bad idea." Suddenly said Cipher. "Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker do not work on the same principle."

"Oh, please..." Twilight said under her breath. "They obviously do. You're telling me that two alicorns turning into maniacal monsters is somehow not the same thing?"

"Maybe at the root of it all..." Cipher peeked at the books without much interest - he was a bookworm all the same, but it was hard to find interest in books that he wouldn't have a chance to read anyhow. "But the result is not the same. The reason, the logic - there's no one-to-one correlation."

The alicorn felt soft annoyance - unsure just how this pony deemed himself to be an expert. "...So, what is it then?" Twilight asked with the same tone as an adult hoping a child would finish their story faster.

Cipher did not regard the tone - only the fact she needed to hear what he had to say. "Nightmare Moon appeared out of jealousy - but also the idea that she had to change the world, that neither the status quo nor the accepted way of life worked. She wanted change - radical change to flip Equestria upside down. Yes, she may have deemed to do it all for the Thestrals and for a "fair" Equus, but the core of it is jealousy. Who is Daybreaker jealous of...?"

"I'm...Unsure." Twilight whispered - oddly intrigued in the stallion's thought. "Maybe she merely wanted to be better?"

"Yes. You're right." Cipher smiled - in a harmless "gotcha" way. "Becoming better. Better than Celestia. Stronger, and more ready to protect Equestria. Daybreaker's motivated by her strict vision - of an Equestria she's been dreaming of. You've seen Celestia over these years - she knew that she had this power within her, but Celestia was the safety. The mechanism is off, and now that alicorn's roaming the castle cleansing it of every enemy because death is no longer out of the question. She's not jealous - she's afraid, an overprotective mother...No longer content that her daughter's wearing a skirt and spending time with strangers...Shit, Daybreaker's not just a strict mom, she's the whole damn father."

The more he spoke...The more she began to slow down with her search. His words had contained a wealth of information she was unsure she'd ever found in a single book regarding Nightmare Moon's nor Celestia's hypothetical counterpart. "Cipher...How do you...How do you know all of this?"

The stallion felt that cold tinge in his heart. He only softly sighed, stopping himself from drifting into thought. "When I was a kid, I was kidnapped by Nightmare Moon's cultists. For a sacrifice of some sort, I guess. Some things happened that linked me to her - some things that made me...understand her - though not sympathize."

"...That's horrible." She ever-softly gasped under her breath. "How did you...get out?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Cipher softly scoffed, giving up on the search as he sighed, letting go of finding anything in the dusty tomes.

"Try me...?"

"...Nightmare Moon herself saved me." Was all he said. The silence struck the room like thunder, Twilight left blinking at the stallion with utter surprise. She didn't dare challenge his words. However, there was something that bothered the alicorn.

"...Cipher, how did she do it?"

"...Well." Cipher recounted. "I just woke up - room was full of exploded corp--...Well, everyone was gone. She just removed them, I guess."

The words made Twilight feel more tense. She stood up and turned to him, taking steps towards him. "Cipher, how...H-How did you feel after it all? Anything unusual that stuck with you? Like...something within you changed?"

"I..." Cipher looked to the side, the thoughts spinning like yarn. "I can't say exactly, but yes. It's like something since then hadn't left me. Like it never--"

Before Cipher could finish, the wall before him exploded - the bricks and supports flying and scattering in a fiery flurry. The stallion was thrown back and forced to roll backwards, colliding with falling debris and books, before finally coming to a halt as he hit the wall. His vision blurred immediately and his ears rang, a mild concussion striking him. He mustered up what he could to check his hooves and make sure he hadn't lost any limbs - which he was lucky to keep despite the terrible blast.

"That explains so much..." Daybreaker softly said - her monstrous voice now surprisingly soft and even motherly - in a terrible way. "I listened in, wondering why I could still feel that disgusting sensation of Nightmare Moon...I'm glad this is merely just some mortal worm who has been corrupted by her filth."

"D-Daybreaker...!" Twilight Sparkle cried out - shakily standing up onto her hooves. "...W-Where is Nightmare Moon!? Where is Princess Luna?"

"You're safe now. We're safe. Nightmare Moon is no more." Spoke Daybreaker. "Luna seemed to have disconnected from her, but I'll find my sister. We'll find her together, Twilight. You, and I. The mentor, and her little faithful student. So please, my Twilight...My Sparkle...Stop running. It's time to accept these changes. If I want to protect our home, I must be stronger. I cannot let peace make our ponies vulnerable."

In terror, the little alicorn began to slink back into the shadow. Twilight wanted to run, but all she could do was back up against the dusty books.

"Come now, my student..." Daybreaker softly cooed, the tremor and evil in her voice receding. She sounded just like she should have now. Like Celestia. "Come with me, Twilight Sparkle. We'll do so much for Equestria, so much for Harmony, so much for Friendship..." She spoke, walking past Cipher who was still stunned and dazed.

The imitation of the past however, angered the purple alicorn. Twilight took a deep breath. Like a torrent - a tsunami of sound waves, the thundering words struck the ears of Daybreaker.

"NO!"

The fiery goddess heard the words like a gunshot - a vibrating sensation of dread she could not undo out of her ears and brain, an earworm that sat too deep in her. It made her recoil, forcing her to stumble back towards the entrance of the forbidden section.

"...T-Twilight..." Daybreaker whispered with a broken smile. A smile that was contorted out of disbelief, delusion, fear, and an anger she tried to hold back. "M-My...My little Twilight...Please, you...You can calm down. It's me! It's....It's always been me! This has always been me! Daybreaker - Princess Celestia...It's really me, my faithful student! I-It's still me, and it will always be--"

"You're NOWHERE near her! Princess Celestia was-...Is a beacon of peace, wisdom, and harmony! Of friendship! She's graceful, kind, caring, and would never do the terrible things you have. She'd spent thousands of years, never slaying a single soul - yet you've killed so many in this first hour of your appearance! You're not Princess Celestia! You're not my mentor!...You're..."

The hot, boiling tears began to slide down her cheeks. "No, p-please, don't...don't say it...don't--"

"You're...You're a monster!" Twilight stomped her hooves, the frustration the likes of which she could never express or vent before found its way in the vibrating pounding of her hooves.

Whether the heart of Daybreaker was real or fake - it shattered all the same.

She closed her eyes. When a monster laughed, it was frightening. When a monster cried and sobbed - it was terrifying. The monster shut her eyes, breathing raggedly and shaking. Her teeth clattered, her voice trying not to crack into the sob.

Shock was first. Denial second.

The third step of grief, for some, would always linger the longest. And for many, it was the hardest one. Not because of its sheer sensation and intensity, but the lack of self-control. The inability to act rationally. Lashing out. Hurting.

The third step of grief - now boiled the blood of the goddess of fire.

"...So filth has already seeped into your heart." Daybreaker hissed, her eyes targeting the girl she had considered a daughter. Her own child. "Who set you against your own mother? ME!? Who has poured POISON into your mind!? WHO!?" She shrieked as fallen embers and ash began to reignite, the paper in the books starting to heat up and smoke.

"Nobody did!" Twilight swung her hoof to the side. "You...You are not the mare I've looked up to my whole life! You're not--"

"SILENCE!" Daybreaker shrieked, hard enough to shake the foundation of the castle. "This is so unbecoming of you...But no matter...No matter at all..." The fires around Daybreaker were scorching hot, almost white-hot in their hue. "Every child, when they misbehave...Must be struck. Slap an insolent child once - and that is enough. If you really do not deem me to be your mentor - if all the lessons I've given you were in-vain...Then here is MY first lesson. The first - and very last lesson I shall bestow upon a brilliant child such as you - corrupted and threatening to become nothing more than a brat..."

Daybreaker's horn glowed...Anything made of metal nearby began to slowly drip and melt.

"Never...Ever...Not in your lifetime, not in the next - not until the last atom of the universe has decayed..."

The fires raged on, collecting and focusing around her horn. She tilted her head, to point the horn right at the terrified, gasping Twilight sparkle.

"...GO AGAINST ME!"

"Hey, bitch!"

Daybreaker was delayed for a mere second - but it was enough. Her eyes darted to see Cipher, who rose to his hooves as he started to run to Twilight Sparkle while unloading his pistol's magazine - though the bullets melted before they could strike Daybreaker. It bought him time, however, being able to stand right in-front of Twilight to shield her. The fire around Daybreaker's horn was temporarily dimmed, but was regaining light.

"You..." Daybreaker whispered - yet the whisper sounded like a scream, much like the stories of specters who sounded louder the farther away they were, and vice versa. "New Mareland proves their uselessness once more, doesn't it? Get out of my way - if you keep me away from my faithful student, I'll send your charred remains to Jetset."

"Jetset's received agents in worse shape..." Cipher chuckled, voice shaking and sweat dripping down for more reasons than just heat. "Besides, behind me is Celestia's faithful student." Cipher grit his teeth, anxious and slightly shaking. "That would be the Princess of Friendship, not of fucking arson..."

"...Oh how I tire of the insolence..." Daybreaker raised her head high and proud. "Yet, you've learned well, Twilight Sparkle..." She grinned - a wicked grin of sick enjoyment. Her eyes were wide to let her soak in all that appetizing pleasure, the carnal enjoyment of now having another pony's life in her hooves. "This is a good lesson learned indeed. Remember this - if you want to live...If you want to survive death itself...Then make sure you have a good shield standing before you and the enemy!"

The fires and shimmering air began to once more swirl around Daybreaker's horn. The stallion took a step back, knowing exactly what was going to happen. He had only a second to turn his head back to Twilight.

"GO!" Cipher screamed out. He had no idea what to do - but at-least as per Daybreaker's words, his body would serve as a sturdy enough shield to save Twilight. Foolishly, he held his hooves to his face. He had no idea why - if she could even melt bullets flying at him, then how could this even help? It was the reflex of seeing that which intended to kill you. No matter how useless, one would flinch, wince, and shield themselves, for that was all the body knew.

He let out the second loudest scream of his life, blood curling and in utter pain.

Blasting from Daybreaker's horn, the storm of fire washed over him immediately. Every fiber of his being hurt. Every neuron suffered. Everything was electrified, chewed on, and pulled. The pain strained his body completely. Unsurprisingly, his eyes were full of pained tears - those that vaporized and poured steam into his own face.

The second worst pain of his life washed over his body. He felt the fire cling to every fiber and nerve of his fur, then his skin. He kept his hooves crossed, shielding himself and the princess to the best of his ability - until his body would evaporate entirely.

The scream was drowned out by the sound of the rushing fire. His hooves had taken the brunt of the flames, coated in a thick coat of napalm-like fury. Yet, his body stood still, amazingly despite the terrifying and scorching heat his body was swallowed by - as if being stuck in a brazen bull would be less painful.

He should have either been burned away or died here - but his body refused to listen to the nerves. His heart was in charge through this excruciating rain of fire. His hooves were the shield that somehow, against all odds and belief, were working.

Daybreaker ceased when she saw that through sheer miracle, this one stood. The flames paused, retreating to her horn. She noticed that despite the flames in the room, there was coldness coming right from the stallion.

"Just HOW are you still alive!? You should be a charred pile of ash!" Daybreaker shouted. "...No...She could not have implanted so much of her corrupt seed into you! How dare she mock nature!? Who does she think to play god with mortals like you!? No! You should be dead! Die! Die, die, die, die, die! DIE!"

His vision blurred while he sobbed and screamed, he held his hooves up once more. Cipher let out an agonizing cry - his legs buckled and he was now kneeling - the stream of fire hosed him, yet he kept blocking the fire away from him with his hooves. He had to hold on, enough to let Twilight leave.

Shaking and holding back tears, Twilight could not afford taking any chances. There was no way she could stop Daybreaker - no spell was possible, no trump card was present. She hoped maybe in these moments she faced the monster she'd have a chance, but she realized she was leading to an innocent stallion being hurt beyond any humane limit. As such, with a blink, she had teleported him away - and only then herself.

However, Twilight's pseudo-sacrificial move had one cost. As the flash of purple swallowed her, she could see the blinding flame as it splashed right against her cheek...

Daybreaker's parting peck on the cheek - she'd come to call it.

Unbeknownst to Twilight however, the teleportation spell would help her evade another danger entirely.

One that Daybreaker narrowly escaped herself...

But the many other souls would not.

"...My faithful student...I'm so sorry."

***

The elements of Harmony, along with Spike, tensely observed the chaos of Canterlot, on a mountain top some thousand kilometers away. There was a long silence, they sat in disbelief on the rocks, with Fluttershy holding Spike, Pinkie Pie shaking with her eyes shut, and Rainbow Dash observing each and every occurrence.

Then, she gasped. A flash of fire suddenly erupted from Canterlot. She scrambled for her binoculars to look, and immediately dropped them. Only after some seconds did the loud crash of the explosion and its shockwave startle the others, who scrambled to stand up.

"The castle..." Rainbow Dash screamed, trying to pick up the binoculars once more. "...Holy...G-Girls? Half of the castle just blew up!"

"Twilight!" Rarity screamed in desperation. Yet, her prayers were answered quickly.

The elements of harmony, plus Spike and several other ponies all stood up and recoiled, gasping and exclaiming as the two figures landed on the grass. They saw Twilight, who was prone as she held onto her face. She screamed, a red burn mark formed across her cheek, though her horn was glowing and containing the burn. Yet there it was, a mark of burned and seared fur and flesh, narrowly missing her right eye. One that would not leave her for the rest of her life.

Worse off was the second figure that appeared - whose hooves filled the air with the scent of burnt, smoked meat. The pony rolled across the grass, shaking and twitching, seizing from the pain that made his voice hoarse.

"HAAAGH! UGH! AGH! HNNNNGH...AAAAAARGHHHHH!" Cipher looked in terror at the bubbling and bleeding on his hooves, the charring and searing that his limbs were suffering through. They shook terribly - his muscles ached from damage. He couldn't put them on the ground, any single bit of contact against the dying and burning flesh paining him.

Writhing on the floor, Cipher contorted and contracted different parts of his body, trying to relieve and vent the pain however he could. He had to fight his own body, reaching for his own pistol, contemplating whether or not suicide was worth ceasing this awful pain.

"No!" Rarity cried out, seeing how one of the burned, darkened and smoking hooves tried to reach for the gun. Yet, nothing came of it. Twilight was able to mend herself with her magic enough to numb both the pain and prevent further damage. Seeing her savior's suicide attempt, she immediately lunged forward at him with her horn charging.

The safe but potent frequency struck Cipher's head, and he immediately felt himself fall asleep - the body not waking up in the wake of the horrible damages. A spell that quickly zapped his brain to an induced coma.

"Twilight, be careful!" The yellow pegasus ran up to the stallion before he roughly had his head fall against the ground. She gently set him down. "Oh sweet Celestia, this is...this is bad..." Fluttershy whimpered, constantly rubbing her eyes as she crouched by Cipher's side. She reached into the first aid pouch on his chest and started to apply the disinfectant, medicine, and bandages - glad that his unconscious state allowed her to not worry about his pain.

"Who's that!?" Applejack asked, anxiously holstering her rifle which she'd been using to scan the horizon. Her first concern was Twilight. She approached her, trying to help nurse her face injury. Yet, the alicorn rejected it - instead stepping closer to the unconscious pony.

"...A friend. One I should have listened to." Twilight sighed, holding her hoof against the burn mark on her face. "He was sent to evacuate us out of here. I...squandered the chance he gave me. And he paid a price to salvage it..." She gazed once more at Canterlot. It was engulfed in fire, burning and exploding. She knew Daybreaker was still alive, for somewhere, she felt that Celestia was still there. Over the horizon.

But what weighed upon Twilight's heart was the sheer amount of death. Not merely from Daybreaker, but also...

"That explosion..." Fluttershy softly spoke. "Twilight, what happened?"

Twilight did not want to blame anypony. She did not know. She could have blamed the demon of fire that wandered those halls, but she knew that the castle was full of ponies. Those who took shelter. Those in the deeper levels meant to be defended. Perhaps hundreds died, if not more - all in the blink of an eye. "Daybreaker, when she attacked...She...Cipher..."

Yet, Twilight knew that whatever happened, whatever power protected the pony that saved her, reacted. It reacted with the power of the sun's fire. It wasn't his fault - she believed. Yet, she knew that fate had cruelly placed him right where the result would be the worst. It wasn't his fault. Wasn't his fault.

To not linger, the rainbow-maned pegasus approached the alicorn. "...What do we do?" Rainbow Dash softly asked.

Twilight sighed deeply, looking regretfully at Cipher. "...We need to help him." She said. "We'll treat him, help him recover. Then we'll send him back to Griffonia."

"But..." Rarity gulped. "Will we...will we not leave?"

This caught the ear-perk of the orange earth pony, who turned to Rarity with eyes of disbelief. "And leave Equestria!? Our families!?"

"We're staying..." Twilight whispered. "But we'll only do so until I can make contact with a few ponies and gather whatever we'll need to have a chance."

"That'd mean he'd fail the mission he came here for." Rainbow Dash muttered. "Think that's gonna be okay with him? Or the guys who sent him?"

"He'll have to accept it." The alicorn said. "For now, we need to return to Ponyville."

They turned south, helping Cipher. As Twilight helped Spike lay down on her back, she gazed once more at the burning city she'd once called home.

She shed so many tears today that it seemed there were no more.

And yet, she'd never cry as much as she did on this forsaken day.

"...I'm so sorry, my faithful teacher."