The tiny white alicorn filly, who lay in her mother’s hooves, yawned and fell asleep. Summer stroked the foal’s head and turned to hug her younger cousin.
“Congratulations,” she told Neoma. “Edelweiss is absolutely precious. I’m so happy for you.” Summer violently tried to fight the flood of tears that blurred her vision and threatened to breach their dam at any moment. Neoma gave her newborn daughter to her husband, Silver Shield, who placed the sleeping foal into her cot next to the hospital bed.
“Hey, Silver,” Neoma said gently, “can you leave me and Summer to talk for a bit, babe?”
“Of course, hon,” Silver replied, kissing his wife’s forehead. “I’ll be right outside.” He walked into the hallway of the hospital and softly shut the door behind him.
“Now that Della is asleep,” Neoma said, “I want to talk to you, Summer. I… I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you, and I just wanted to tell you I’m here if you need anything.” She reached out to touch her older cousin’s hoof, and Summer recoiled, surprising them both.
“Summer,” Neoma pleaded, “please don’t shut me out. I know I’ll never be able to understand what you’re going through, but I’m here to listen if you need anypony to talk to. I love you.” Summer looked from Edelweiss to Neoma. The older alicorn’s gray eyes held a brokenness that seemed to swim up from her deepest core. Her thick rose gold mane, which was usually impossibly glossy and styled to perfection, hung in stringy, lifeless strands around her neck and forehead. Her white coat was dirty and yellowed, as if she hadn’t showered in several days. Summer knew she looked like a mess, but she was too exhausted and too grief-stricken to care. A terrible hollowness had made a permanent home inside her, and she had no desire to move forward. After Arrow’s funeral, Summer had lost her sense of purpose. Not even her own mother, Celestia, could pull Summer out of the darkness that consumed her.
A week after Neoma’s visit with Summer, more details regarding Arrow’s death were released. Summer already knew her husband had given his life for the rest of his platoon. He had died a hero. However, she hadn’t known until after the attack that the Appaloosans had carefully orchestrated this. They had thought the assassination of the husband of a princess would destroy the Equestrian forces’ morale, but the outrage over Arrow’s death was so great that Summer knew that the time for a counterattack was at hand, so she called a meeting of the Solar Guard as soon as the official report that contained the details of her husband’s death was released. The Appaloosans had lied about the manner of Arrow’s death. He had not died on the battlefield; instead, they had captured him and held him as their prisoner, torturing him mercilessly for two weeks before finally beating him to death.
“I want them all dead!” Summer bellowed, slamming her hoof down on the long rectangular table. “Invade their land and lay waste to every inch of it. Slit the throat of every adult Appaloosan you can find. Burn their crops and destroy all of their food storehouses before winter. Cut off all central heating. Hopefully they will all either starve or freeze to death. Force their children to watch them die. Find the worthless piece of shit who murdered Arrow and bring him to me immediately. Show them no mercy. Saturate the battlefield with their blood so that our victory will be remembered a thousand years from now. Show them what happens to ponies who dare to mess with us. We will make these bastards pay for what they did to my husband! We will make them pay for what they did to our diplomats!”
“Yes, ma’am!” the guards cried in unison, saluting. Under the cover of night, Summer and Neoma led the charge to lay siege to the Appaloosan Islands’ capital city. On Neoma’s signal, three thousand of Equestria’s finest warriors descended upon the city and decimated the population. Neoma and Summer took to the sky, shooting flames from their horns and torching everything in sight. The city would be a wasteland by morning.
“Are you sure we’re doing the right thing, sister?” Luna asked nervously. Celestia nodded decisively and put her hoof on Luna’s shoulder.
“They murdered my son-in-law,” Celestia growled. “Retribution must be swift and painful, Luna. I know you would do the same thing for Neoma if Silver were killed.”
“Yes, but have you weighed the potential cost of invading the Appaloosan capital?” Luna asked. “Why have you allowed your daughter, the Princess of Fire, to fight?”
“For the same reason you allowed Neoma to fight alongside her,” Celestia replied. “Everypony wants justice, and nopony deserves it more than Summer.”
“But we still won the war, Tia,” Luna pressed. “Of course we suffered a terrible loss, as did many other Equestrians. As awful as that war was, however, I can’t help but wonder if it is really necessary to avenge the deaths of our soldiers this way, by intentionally and indiscriminately killing civilians alongside enemy forces while putting our two princesses’ lives at risk? Is all of this being done for the good of Equestria, or for selfish reasons?”
“Do you question my judgment, Luna!” Celestia snapped. “Open your eyes, sister. Stop acting like a complete idiot. You know as well as I do that Neoma and Summer are immortal. They are every bit as powerful as we are, and both are well-versed in magic. There is no way that our daughters’ lives could ever be put at risk, unless the powers that the Appaloosans possess stem from some kind of ancient magic that nopony has seen in millennia. As for killing civilians,” the white alicorn continued, “in this case it is the right thing to do. All Appaloosans are indoctrinated from birth, taught to hate Equestria and everything we stand for. I have tried to negotiate with them multiple times. They bombed our embassy in their capital, Luna. They murdered Equestrian diplomats. Have you already forgotten about the war that took my son-in-law’s life? Punishment was justified then, and it is justified now. We shall spill gallons upon gallons of their blood today, for the sake of Equestria.” Her eyes gleamed with rage.
