Vengeance of Dawn

Chapters

Life in Equestria
Putting the Gang Back Together
Masks and Potions
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
Challenge Accepted
Tokens of Love and Affection
The Ill-Made Knight
Guilty Creatures Sitting at a Play
Long Dark Night: Counsel of the Princesses
Long Dark Night: With Catlike Tread
Long Dark Night: Twilight of Equestria
Six Against the World
Applejack Takes Charge
The Purging
Epilogue
Fateful Day
Battle for Canterlot
Comes the Sunset

Life in Equestria

Chapter 2

Life in Equestria

The Principal's office of the School for Gifted Unicorns rarely saw a lot of use. That was one of the lesser consequences of the principal also being the princess. The school was administered by lesser unicorns in lesser offices, and if the Princess was particularly impressed by a student's progress then she would summon them to the palace to congratulate them on their hard work, possibly give them a tour of some of the more interesting areas. The word around the school was that the only time Princess Celestia ever used the principal's office was when she wanted to call a student out on the carpet for misdemeanours.

And so Breaking Dawn trembled as she stood in front of the office door, the Royal Guard on duty outside looking past her as if she wasn't even there.

It wasn't my fault, she thought to herself, it really wasn't, she has to believe you.

But she to wonder, having gone to that well so often in the days now gone when she could have gotten away with anything, whether the Princess actually would now.

The door opened with a creak. "Come in, Breaking Dawn," Celestia said, her voice devoid of that maternal warmth which until recently had suffused her every interaction with her erstwhile protege.

Breaking Dawn tiptoed into the office upon a sheet of thin and cracking ice.

The office was as sparse as she had expected it to be: a plain, bare desk, a simple chair, an unadorned window and thin curtains. The sun would start to set soon, possibly as soon as the Princess was done with her, but for now the light still shone. It did not stop the office from feeling close and oppressed.

Celestia stood with her back to the door, her back to Breaking Dawn. In the light that came through the window she shone as brightly as her celestial orb, and indeed the light in the room seemed half to come from her and not the sun itself. Dawn was half-tempted to close her eyes and soak up those glorious rays. She and the Princess had been apart for too long.

But it was not just light she was radiating, disapproval strong as the sun's rays rolled off of her, all directed towards Breaking Dawn.

"I have been told that you got into a fight this afternoon," Celestia said, her voice chill and crisp as the first frost of winter.

"I didn't start it, she did," Breaking Dawn said loudly.

"Even where that an excuse, which it is not, Professor Give Working and several students saw you strike Moondancer in the middle of the hallway," Celestia replied. "None of them said anything about her hitting first."

"She was insulting me, teasing me," Breaking Dawn said. "And she wasn't the only one, Lyra Heartstrings was doing it too and she was the first one to start yelling for the teachers after I hit Moondancer. But she shouldn't have said anything, I wasn't doing anything to her. All of them, they all make fun of me now because I'm not your student any more. None of them can do half the things that I can and they were all jealous of me-"

"That's enough," Celestia said, the frost having melted a little. She turned to face Breaking Dawn head on, "Even if what you are telling me is true, that does not excuse the use of violence as a response." She sighed, "I am afraid that this is my fault."

It isn't your fault,Breaking Dawn thought. You've been deceived by that thief, Twilight Sparkle. She's tricked you, fooled you somehow. If you were yourself you never would have sent me away.

"When you were my student, I indulged you. Too much. I fear that the treatment you are now receiving is what many students consider to be your reward for that indulgence. That does not make it right, any more than it makes your response right, but I hope you understand that I cannot simply put a stop to it with a single act of magic. I have asked the teachers to watch out for it happening, but I am afraid they are as likely to watch out for you attacking others as being bullied yourself," Celestia said. "Perhaps you should leaving the school, transferring somewhere else─"

"No," Breaking Dawn shouted. "You want me to leave? But you said that I was gifted, talented, destined-"

"I should not have put so much pressure on you, so young," Celestia said. "Especially when I might have been mistaken, as I was."

"Do you really want to get rid of me?" Breaking Dawn said, tears welling in her eyes. "Just because you have a new toy to play with?"

"I do not want you to go or stay," Celestia said, "the choice is yours."

"Then I'm staying here," Breaking Dawn said. "I'll show you, I'll prove I'm still everything you thought I was, I'll be better than any of them! I am better than any of them!"

"Then you will sit a double detention on Saturday afternoon, as punishment for your act," Celestia said. "You will write an essay on the ethical considerations and social norms which render the use of violence prohibited in normal circumstances. And I have also been told that your essay on Charm Theory is overdue."

Breaking Dawn looked down at the floor and remembered the days when she wouldn't have been called out on something like that.

"Get it done, Dawn," Celestia said sternly. "That will be all."

"Yes, princess," Breaking Dawn said quietly, turning towards the door.

"I am sorry," Celestia said.

"Of course you are Princess," Breaking Dawn replied.

***

Life in Equestria shimmered. Life in Equestria shone. And Princess Twilight Sparkle knew for absolute certain that everything was going to be fine.

She flew through the air over Canterlot, past the city limits and the new palace that they had erected for her, following the mountains southwards toward Ponyville. She kept a gentle pace, the passage of the air feeling like a breeze upon her cheeks. Everything beneath her was like a toy, like a model world painstakingly assembled, painted and laid out for her enjoyment.

Flying with wings, she had decided, was even better than flying in a balloon or something. Just for the vista alone, for the whole world spread out beneath her feet with nothing to stop her from reaching out and taking it.

"Not bad, Twilight," Rainbow Dash pulled up alongside her, flying on her back with her forelegs tucked behind her head. "Not bad for a rookie anyway. Now what do you say we kick this up a notch?"

"Rainbow Dash, I'm still learning how these work, I can't just go zooming off creating sonic rainbooms," Twilight said.

"Aw, come on Twilight, Tank can fly faster than you're going right now."

"Tank crashes," Twilight reminded her.

"Yeah, fast," Rainbow Dash said. "Come on, I'm right here. What could happen."

"I guess so," Twilight smiled. "Let's do it."

"All right!" Rainbow yelled, pumping one hoof as she flipped over into a more usual flying posture. "Because if you want to be a serious flyer, the most important lesson to learn is... speed."

Rainbow accelerated from 10 to infinity in 0.00001 seconds as only she could, leaving her distinctive rainbow trail behind her, both invitation and dare to Twilight.

Twilight began to beat her wings with renewed vigour, pushing them harder and harder, faster and faster. She started to accelerate, and the feel of the air rushing by hair changed from cool breeze to tempestuous winds.

"That's it Twilight, come on!" Rainbow Dash yelled out.

Twilight was breathing more and more heavily, her wings beating faster and faster. The air passage was a hurricane upon her face now, pushing it out of proportion and blowing her cheeks backwards. But she had Rainbow Dash in sight now, and the pure thrill was rushing through her blood and filling it with such passion. She had never felt anything quite like this. It was so exhilarating. No wonder Rainbow liked speed so much when it made you feel so alive. As the land passed by in a blur beneath her she felt as though she was walking on the tightrope between life and disaster, and yet she felt no fear, for it felt as if she possessed the keys to heaven itself and nothing and nopony could touch her.

"Agh!" there was a sudden terrible stabbing pain in Twilight's left wing, and her progress came to a jarring, juddering halt as Twilight began to fall towards the ground. Her wing wouldn't move, wouldn't respond, it only throbbed with pain and stabbed when she tried to move it. One wing alone wasn't strong enough to lift her. Twilight tried to calculate if her reverse gravity spell was strong enough to counter her massive downward momentum, but it was hard to think straight when the ground was coming straight towards her very fast.

"Twilight," Rainbow Dash swooped down to tackle her from the side, wrapping her hooves around her body and hauling as hard as she could. "It's okay, I've got you."

But she hadn't gotten Twilight as securely as that. They were still descending downwards too fast in spite of all the furious flapping of Rainbow's wings.

"Twilight!" Fluttershy flew upwards towards them, gasping for breath as her yellow face paled with shock. "Oh my goodness, what happened? Are you okay?"

"Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said loudly, "a little help."

"Oh, yes, right," Fluttershy gasped, and she put her legs around Twilight and together the two pegasi lowered Twilight gently down towards the ground, just as they had in their very first adventure together when they had ventured through the Everfree Forest in search of the Elements of Harmony.

They bore her down to what pony-folk were already starting to call the Twilight Palace, the new place built on the outskirts of Canterlot, and set her down upon the carriage landing strip in the courtyard. Applejack was waiting there for her, her hat set back upon her head and her face a picture of concern.

"You okay, Twi? And don't say yes, because if you were okay you wouldn't be needing Rainbow and Fluttershy here to carry you home like a new wardrobe. What happened?"

Twilight grinned, though it came out as more of a grimace through the pain in her wing, "You know, if I could ever prise you away from Sweet Apple Acres you'd make a wonderful steward with that mix of caring and command."

"Well thank you kindly Miss Princess," Applejack said. "Now stop changing the subject."

"Relax, Applejack," Rainbow Dash said as she hovered overhead, "Twilight just sprained her wing is all. It'll be back to normal soon, and you just need to learn not to push it too hard before its ready."

"Uh huh," Applejack said. "And why precisely was she pushing it too hard, Rainbow Dash?"

"I didn't, I mean," Rainbow looked abashed as she scratched the back of her head. "Sorry, Twilight."

"You don't need to apologise, Rainbow Dash, you didn't make me do anything," Twilight said. "I make my own decisions."

"Maybe, but I'm sorry anyway," Rainbow said.

Fluttershy squeaked, "Oh, in all the worry up there I completely forgot. I flew up to give you a message, Twilight. Princess Celestia would like to see you at once."

***

If there was one thing Twilight disliked about her new royal status, it was the amount of time that everything took. She couldn't just walk - she was in no state to be flying after all - to the palace the way she would have done before. She had to inform her temporary steward, a mare on loan from Princess Celestia until she appointed her own steward, that she would be going out and how long she thought she would be gone. Then she had to wait for an escort to be assembled from amongst her guard - they too were transferred from the Royal Guard on the understanding that she would refresh the company with her own recruits as needed - and so when she finally did get to leave her own home (sort of, the palace still didn't really feel much like home but Twilight felt rather guilty about that fact) it was to the sound of trumpets as the bronze gates were opened, and she was followed out by two files of ten iron grey unicorns in gleaming armour, and proceeded by two white banner-mares shouting for everypony to clear the road for Princess Twilight Sparkle.

"Come on, Twilight," Spike said as he trotted along at her heels, "aren't you at least a little proud of all of this?"

"What do I have to be proud of, Spike?" Twilight said. "My wings, my crown? Yes, I am. I earned those. But the guards, the banner-mares? I was given those whether I wanted them or not. Now I know why Princess Celestia flies or teleports everywhere."

"Make way, make way, for Princess Twilight Sparkle," the banner-mare shouted, and ponies all along the street bowed and pressed their noses against the ground as she passed.

"Like that," Twilight said. "Why do they have to do that? I'm still me."

"My guess?" Spike said. "If they became princesses they'd want everypony to bow to them as well."

"Hmm." Twilight murmured, "It just doesn't feel right. I'm not Celestia, this robe doesn't fit me like it does her. I'm not even Cadance, and she was allowed to let the ermine cape slip every so often. Why can't they just treat me like Twilight Sparkle?"

"They treated you like dirt when you were Twilight Sparkle," Spike reminded her.

"Someponies did, Spike, not all of them," Twilight said gently. She sighed. "You know the real reason I haven't gone back to Ponyville yet?"

"I thought it was because you were too busy."

"I am busy Spike, but not that busy," Twilight said. "The truth is, I'm afraid to go back there. What if everypony in Ponyville starts bowing to me like this, and treating me differently just because I'm a princess? I don't know if I could bear it."

"Your life is so terrible," Spike said.

"Spike!" Twilight said loudly. "Sympathy!"

"Sorry, Twilight," Spike said.

"Next time you eat too many donuts and start singing the blues over Rarity then don't expect a hug or a kind word from me," Twilight said.

"Aw come on, it was just a joke," Spike said, as Twilight proceeded on her way with her nose in the air. "Come on, Twilight, lighten up."

They passed through the streets of Canterlot to the royal palace, where trumpets sounded to herald the arrival of the new princess. The Royal Guards saluted her at the gate, and the doors were opened to great fanfare.

"Ugh," Twilight groaned. "This is almost as bad as the time the cannon and the fireworks went off every time I took a drink of punch."

"That was an ancient tradition, Twilight, you said yourself it went all the way back to Princess Platinum."

"And not even Princess Platinum ever observed it, so why did they have to start now," Twilight said.

"Because you didn't tell them not too?" Spike suggested with a shrug.

Twilight shook her head; between the kettle drum, the trumpet, the cannon and the rocket she had gone to bed that night with a splitting headache that had lasted her the rest of that week. Her friends hadn't faired much better.

Her friends. They had all been good enough to stay on with her in the palace for the last month and a half since her coronation, but they could not stay in her palace forever. Soon they would want to return home. Twilight was surprised that Applejack had not asked already. Would she go with them? Or would she stay? She so wanted to return to Ponyville, but how could she, not knowing what she might find. The obeisance of strangers, however burdensome, she could endure. The sight of her friends crawling on their bellies like serpents before their dread king she could not.

Is this how Princess Celestia has always felt? Twilight thought, remembering all the times Celestia had tried, never with total success, to put other ponies at their ease with her. Did she always want the ponies to treat her like anypony else?

A grey unicorn guard in the silver armour and blue livery of the Palace Company bowed respectfully, and beckoned courteously for Twilight and Spike to follow him through the marble corridors of the palace. He led her to the throne room, where Celestia was dictating notes to one of her scribes.

"And then dispatch twenty guards to greet them at the harbour, along with a welcoming committee led by Blueblood. Actually, no, not Blueblood we are trying to extend the hoof of hospitality after all. Ask Sir Fancypants and his wife to lead the welcoming committee, greet them off the ship and escort them here in comfort. I shall make him a member of the Order of the Silver Fleece."

"Sir Fancypants already has his Fleece, Your Highness."

"Really? Well then offer to make him a Knight Commander of the Order of Clover and Star Swirl," Celestia said, "I know he doesn't have one of those. Ah, Twilight," the Princess' face lit up with a bright smile, her regal eyes shining as she got up from the throne. "That will be all for now, dear."

The scribe bowed, "As you wish, Your Highness."

As the other pony left, Celestia walked down the red carpet to meet Twilight and Spike halfway down the room, "Soon I fear I shall have to create some new orders of merit, the rate I have to keep awarding honours. There is nopony in all of Canterlot does anything but in expectation of reward. Sometimes I think of moving the capital to Ponyville, except that in three generations all the ponies there would be corrupted just the same, and I could not bear that. Forgive me Twilight, princess or no I have no right to offload my petty worries upon your shoulders."

"I am at your service, Princess Celestia," Twilight said. "Whatever I may be now, that won't ever change." She had noticed that, since her coronation, Celestia was more willing than before to take Twilight into her confidence, even though she had not been remiss in that previously. It flattered Twilight, but she also felt the need to earn that increased trust through further services to Celestia and Equestria.

"Good," Celestia said. "Because I do need your help with something. Some zebra ambassadors are on their way even as we speak from Quaggai and Grevyia. I do not need to tell you what a rare and historic occasion this is."

Twilight nodded. The zebra states to the south were insular and shrouded in mystery. Quaggai had been penetrated only to a very small degree by pony explorers, while the Empire of Grevyia was so famously hostile to outsiders that little was known about it beyond that it existed. A few ponies had penetrated the southern lands, but barely and upon sufferance. Both lands were fertile breeding grounds for the plots and settings of Daring-Do novels and the like, but none of the wild speculations of the pulp authors was underpinned by any kind of hard evidence. That both these secretive states had actually consented to send ambassadors to Canterlot was nothing short of miraculous, and the possibilities for the advancement of knowledge were tremendous.

"Just think of all that we could learn from them," Twilight said. "About their culture, their history, their magic."

Celestia nodded, "And of course there are possibilities for trade also, as the Chamber of Commerce never ceases to remind me. I shall be relying upon you to help me, Twilight, to shoulder some of the burdens with Luna and myself so that this great opportunity does not slip through our grasp."

Twilight faced her old teacher, who had taught her so much and always believed in her, with as much as certainty as she ever had when answering questions on magic in their private study sessions, "I won't let you down." I won't let myself down either.

"I never believed you would," Celestia replied with an easy smile. "Now, the ambassadors are sailing on a Quaggai steamer due to dock in Manehattan in two weeks time. When they arrive in Canterlot I shall expect you to be present at the reception in their honour, but before that I need you to research as much information as you can about these two countries, all the archives of the royal library will be open to you."

"Well if there's one thing I really know how to do, it's research," Twilight said. "Piece of cake."

"And, while the ambassadors are here, I may also need you to chair meetings such as the Chamber of Commerce or the Canterlot city council while Luna and I are busy with the negotiations," Celestia said. "That is, if I don't decide to have you join me in the negotiations yourself."

"Princess," Twilight said, a tone of awe entering her voice. "I'm honoured that you have this much faith in me but, chairing the national commerce meeting? The city council? I don't- "

"You are a natural leader, Twilight, that is why you bear those wings," Celestia said. "You are wise and insightful, and that is what is most required of a princess."

"But I don't know anything about commerce," Twilight said.

Celestia laughed, "You will find out, Twilight, that being a leader is far less about possessing all knowledge and more about trusting the ponies who do possess knowledge to serve you well. The rest of leadership is motivating them to do so."

"As you say, Princess," Twilight said. "I'll get started right away."

"And Twilight," Celestia said, "have you made a decision about your living arrangements for the foreseeable future yet? Will you be returning to Ponyville, or staying in Canterlot more or less permanently?"

Twilight hung her head, "I don't know, princess. I really want to go back to Ponyville. Apart from anything else, all my friends will go back there eventually: they've stayed with me so far, but they all have jobs and lives that can't wait forever. But I'm worried that- "

"That you will be set apart by your new status?" Celestia said. "That your crown will have created a void between you and the other ponies? That life will not be as it was?"

"Yes," Twilight said, her voice a soft and mournful groan.

Celestia was silent for a moment, her own expression turning downcast, "I cannot counsel you from experience in this matter, Twilight. When Luna and I took the twin thrones of a land shattered by Discord's tyranny, we knew that it was a lonely road we were embarked upon. Our only consolation was that we had one another to share both path and burden with. And then Luna became Nightmare Moon and even that was denied to me," Celestia looked away for a moment, blinking rapidly as if to hold back tears. "But I accepted it, because it was the right thing to do. I cannot tell you that nopony will look at you differently now, I cannot say that everything will be as it was, but I can say that if you hole yourself up in your palace then all your fears will come true. But if you have faith and trust in the friendships you have made in Ponyville, I think they may surprise you with their understanding."

And so, when Twilight returned to the palace, she gathered her friends together in the main ballroom. Purple and lavender colours dominated the wall hangings, curtains and carpet, often with gold or crimson trim. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, while statues of Star Swirl and Clover stood at the foot of the stairs leading up into the living quarters.

"Princess Celestia has asked me to stay here a little while, to help her with the arrival of the zebra ambassadors," Twilight said. "I want to tell you how grateful I am, from the bottom of the heart, for all the help that you've given me this last month. I told you that I couldn't have become a princess without you, and I couldn't have survived as a princess without you.
"But just because I became a princess doesn't give me the right to keep you from your lives. You're all free to go back to Ponyville. I'll be back there as soon as I can, as soon as Princess Celestia can spare me," Twilight smiled. "Just don't let out the library just yet okay?"

There was a pause, as her five friends looked from one to another. It was Rainbow Dash who broke the silence, "You know Twilight, when we came here I arranged for Cloudchaser and Thunderlane to take over Ponyville's weather while I was gone. I'm sure they can handle a few more weeks without me. But I think we all know how you'd fall apart the moment I was gone; probably go all crazy with stress again."

"That only happened two times," Twilight said indignantly. But then she smiled, recognising the loyal impulse behind the mocking tongue. "Thank you."

"And just what were you planning to wear to meet the ambassadors from Imperial Grevyia without moi here?" Rarity asked, raising one eyebrow archly. "The very idea of you attending a reception for our honoured guests wearing some gauche, mass-produced trash from the likes of Per Una, it's just horrifying darling. I absolutely insist that you let me make you something fitting for a princess."

"That's very generous of you Rarity, but what about Carousel Boutique?"

"I'm sure I can do plenty of business here in Canterlot," Rarity said. "After all there must be plenty of ponies who'll need new clothes before the arrival of our zebra friends."

"I'd like to stay and meet the zebras too, can I? Can I?" Pinkie Pie asked, bouncing on her hooves. "Meeting new friends is almost as much fun as helping out the friends you already have, right?"

"I'm sure that all my critter friends can get by for a little longer on their own," Fluttershy whispered.

Twilight smiled, "You are all the very best friends that anypony could wish for."

Applejack cleared her throat, "Twi, I hope you know how much I'd dearly like to stick around and help you out like I've been doing. But I'm worried I've been gone from the farm too long already, I can't ask Big Macintosh to work Sweet Apple Acres all by himself forever. I mean, I know that you-"

"It's all right, Applejack," Twilight gently took Applejack's hoof in her own. "I understand. That was why I told you all that you should go home back to Ponyville. Although I'd love it if you could stay, I would never judge you for having your own life and things that need to be done in that life. And though you can't be here in person, I'll know that you're always with me in my heart."

"But you'll come back for the zebra party right?" Rainbow Dash said.

"I'll try my best," Applejack said. She pushed her hat back on her head. "Well, I'll see ya round pardner."

Twilight nodded, "See you soon Applejack."

"Aww, group hug!" Pinkie yelled, and both Twilight and Applejack felt themselves pulled into the warm embrace of the others; and Twilight Sparkle was warmed inside and out by the certain knowledge that, though they might on occassion be separated by great distance, in spirit their friendship would remain bound together by ties stronger than steel.

***

"You're firing me?" Breaking Dawn shrieked. "Firing Me? Just who in Celestia's name do you think you are?"

"I think that I'm your boss, in fact I know it," Mr Price said coldly. "Or at least, I was."

Breaking Dawn took a step backward, fury rising inside of her like a serpent once asleep now roused by the feeling of someone stepping on it. It coiled and writhed in her soul, hissing and spitting at the smug, self-assured look on Mr Price's face, at the way her co-workers wouldn't look at her, at the customers who muttered about her making a scene. Well she was Breaking Dawn and by Celestia she would make a scene if she wanted to.

She glared around her, and several of those ponies gawping found excuses to duck behind clothes racks or busying themselves looking at socks.

"You know what, fine," Breaking Dawn spat. "You want me gone, I'm gone. I was always too good for this place anyway."

"Like you were too good for all the other places you worked before this? The places you got fired from?" Mr Price said. "I don't know why I kept you on as long as I did unless it was because I felt sorry for you."

"I don't want your pity!" Breaking Dawn snarled, and a burst of orange magic fired from her horn to strike her former boss in the mouth, sealing it up. One of the cashiers gasped in shock as Mr Price moaned in a feeble, futile attempt at speech.

"That's right, it's my turn now," Breaking Dawn said. "You think you can fire me, you little maggot? You think you can insult me and I just have to take it. There are only two ponies in all of Equestria I'll take that from, and you aren't either of them. So you know what? I quit. I don't need this job, I don't need your pity, I don't need ANY OF YOU! You're all mindless drones and you're going nowhere."

She walked out the door, pausing to steal a fiery red scarf on her way out, "I'm Breaking Dawn! And one day everypony is going to know my name!" Dawn undid the spell on Mr Price before she slammed the shop door behind her.

It was only when she was around the corner, certain that none of them could see her, that bowed her head and let the tears fall.

***

The house in which Breaking Dawn lived was modestly sized, and modestly furnished. It was not poor, not with three ponies living in it, but it wasn't lavish either. The coffee table was flat-pack self-assembly, the walls were painted white because that was the cheapest colour in the shop, the oven was second hand from Cherry's mother, the olive green sofa, threadbare and fraying with tufts of stuffing poking out of the cushions, had been donated by Razor's gran.

"It's okay," Razor Wind said, as Breaking Dawn lay on the sofa with her head in Razor's lap, still sobbing. "It's okay. You don't need that job. We can make rent with what Cherry and I earn, right Cherry?"

Cherry Blossom, a white pegasus with a mane of pink striped with intermittent creamy flashes, poked her head into the living room from the kitchen, "Oh, certainly. Why, Chef Culin even talked about promoting me to sous-chef today."

She fluttered over, her tail flowing gracefully behind her as she landed in front of Dawn and Razor and put a gentle hoof upon Dawn's shoulder, "But none of that matters compared to what you've been through."

"I don't understand how everypony can be so mean," Breaking Dawn said. "She said, she told me that I was special, she said that I'd do great things one day, she promised. So why doesn't anypony else seem to see it?"

"Not quite everypony," Cherry said. "Razor and I are here for you, no matter what."

"That's right," Razor Wind said, stroking Dawn's fiery mane with one grey hoof. "We won't ever leave you, not ever."

"Promise?"

"That's a Razor Wind promise, that means you can take it to the bank," Razor Wind said. "Come on now, there's no need to get so upset about what those losers think. What do they know anyway?"

"But they said─"

"You trust us, don't you? Don't you think we know you better than they do?" Razor said. "You are awesome amazing girl, and don't let anypony ever tell you different." As Breaking Dawn lay there, her tears staining the inside of Razor Wind's thighs, Razor Wind started to sing in a soft tone almost like a lullaby.

You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine,
You make me happy,
When skies are grey

Cherry Blossom joined in, her soft voice taking up the second verse.

You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you,
So please don't take,
My sunshine away.

Breaking Dawn could feel Razor's hoof moving through her main, could feel Cherry's touch upon her and she smiled faintly, "Thank you."

"Anything to make you feel better," Cherry Blossom said. "I'm making your favourite salad for dinner."

Breaking Dawn closed her eyes, shutting out all the world but her own thoughts, "It's all her fault."

"Princess Twilight Sparkle?"

"Don't call her that!" Breaking Dawn said loudly. "That was my life, my promise, my destiny. She stole everything from me: the rewards that should have been mine, the respect of Princess Celestia, the acknowledgement of the people, it was all meant for me until she took it. And I have to take it back."

Razor Wind frowned, "How do you mean?"

"She took everything from me," Dawn said, "stole the world from beneath my feet and didn't even care. I'll never be anything until I can take it back."

Cherry frowned, "What are you going to do?"

Breaking Dawn sat up, and climbed off the sofa onto her hooves, "She took everything from me, I'm going to take everything from her. And when she is lying helpless at my feet Celestia will realise that she made the wrong choice. But I can't do it alone."

"I've got your back whatever you decide," Razor Wind said. "You know that, right?"

"I don't know," Cherry said. "This all seems kind of mean."

"I need you Cherry," Dawn said. "I always needed you. Please, I'll never need a favour as much as I do now."

Cherry frowned, "But you're talking about hurting ponies..."

"I'm not going to hurt anypony," Dawn said. "Just take them down a peg or two. I promise that they will all be fine when I'm finished with them."

Cherry Blossom nodded, "Then whatever you need."

Dawn smiled, "Bless you both. More precious gems than I deserve."

Razor flapped her wings to lift up to the ceiling, "So what's the plan?"

Breaking Dawn looked at the photograph above the fireplace, the picture of six ponies in the prime of youth and happiness when the world was bright and it seemed that nothing could stand in their way or come between.

"It will take more than the three of us," Dawn said. "I need to put the whole gang back together."

Author's Note

Thank you to everyone who favourited and commented on this story, and thank you for being patient with the wait for chapter 2. I am not the fastest updater there is.

That said, it's out now and I hope you like it.

Putting the Gang Back Together

Chapter 3

Putting the Gang Back Together

Breaking Dawn blinked, "I don't understand. I, I'm not going to be your student any more?"

Celestia shook her head, her expression melancholy, "I'm afraid not, Dawn."

"But why not?" Dawn cried. "If it's something I did I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you. I'll work harder. I won't even get in trouble any more. I'll do anything you want, but please, don't send me away."

"It is nothing to do with you," Princess Celestia said kindly. "You have been a good student, and I have enjoyed our time together. But that time must end now."

"Why? Why does it have to end, why does everything have to change?" Breaking Dawn asked. "Why can't it carry on the way it was? You said that I was special, that I had great potential, you said I had a destiny you said─"

"I know what I said," Celestia replied. "I am well aware of everything I told you. Each word is a leaden weight upon my heart. I was... mistaken, in you. It... was another that I was searching for."

"No it wasn't!" Dawn was shouting now and didn't care who heard her, standing in the centre of her tower room and yelling at the princess who stood opposite. "I'm still the pony that I was, I'm still me. I've still got all the power I used to have! Look!" Dawn crunched her amber eyes tight shut, her horn glowing with a yellow aura as she began to levitate the objects in the room: the giant hourglass, the books, the chairs, practically everything in the tower that was not nailed to the floor she lifted into the air.

"That's enough!" Celestia said loudly, and Dawn opened her eyes as everything dropped to the floor again. "I do not doubt your power, Dawn, or your willingness to work hard. In truth, this is all my fault. I should not have told you of my plans for you until I could be absolutely certain you were the one, and you were ready. But in my eagerness and delight, I forgot myself and placed too heavy a burden on you. Your destiny is not what I thought it was. I have found another."

"You're replacing me?" a tear rolled down Breaking Dawn's cheek. "But, but you promised that you'd guide me every step of my journey. You can't just get rid of me like I'm some ragged old doll and you've just picked up a new one from the toy store!"

"I don't want you to think of yourself as my possession, Dawn, or anypony else's," Celestia said. "You have the chance to find your own destiny now, carve your own path through life. I beg you, don't waste it in bitterness and despair."

"Find my own destiny?" Breaking Dawn murmured dully. "But you said I was the Chosen One. That was my destiny."

Celestia closed her eyes in quiet despair, and turned to go, "I will give you a few days to pack, but you must leave this room soon. You will be boarding with the other students from here on. This tower will be wanted for...other purposes."

***

"Good morning, children. I am your new governess, Miss Laurel."

The foals, the young colt and the slightly older filly, stood up from their desks, "Good morning, Miss Laurel."

Laurel nodded approvingly, impeccable manners. She would have expected nothing less considering who their parents were, "Very good children."

They sat back down, their chairs scraping along the floor. Laurel's horn glowed brown as she deposited her black hat on the hat stand and her umbrella in the umbrella stand. She wore a black dress that made her chalk-white body seem even paler than it was and concealed her quill-and-book cutie mark from view, and her grey mane was tied back in a severe bun. Adjusting her spectacles on her nose, she sat down at her desk by the classroom fireplace.

"You father, Sir Fancypants, feels that you have now reached the age where you are too old for a nanny. He has engaged me to take charge of your education from this point on. While I am here you may call me Miss Laurel; not Laurel, not Miss, Miss Laurel. What may I call you?"

She already knew the names of both children, but she had found it helped to have them introduce themselves to create a sense of familiarity.

"My name is Crinoline, Miss Laurel," the filly, a white unicorn already showing signs that she would inherit her mother's elegant tallness, curtsied before her.

"I am Velvet Waistcoat, Miss Laurel," the colt on the other hand took more after his father, slightly stocky of build. He bowed.

"I am very pleased to meet you both. Please sit down."

They sat, chairs scraping along the floor.

"Your parents have instructed me to give you all the education which a young lady and a gentlecolt shall require," Laurel said. She levitated paper, quill and ink over to each child. "I shall begin by assessing the quality of your hoof-writing and your composition skills. Your father has, as I am sure you aware, gone to Manehattan to welcome the distinguished zebra visitors on behalf of the Princesses. You will each write him a letter in your best hoof-writing in a tone and on a subject which you consider suitable to be sent to your father in expectation that he will receive it."

"Please, Miss Laurel, what shall we write about?" Crinoline asked.

"I hardly know, Crinoline," Laurel said, enunciating every word with impeccable crispness. "It is quite up to you. Can you think of nothing of interest you wish to tell your father? A lady who can neither conceive an interesting topic of conversation nor articulate her thoughts on words or paper will soon acquire a reputation as a featherhead. No stallion indulges a fool for long. Only the worst sort will marry one." Oh how she wished that that were true, as she had believed or rather hoped it to be true in her younger days. When she had believed that those stallions who would pick her brains with their prep might actually enjoy her company, when she had sat in the corner at the Last Ball and hoped that a good mind, the ability to play the piano and write in a graceful hoof might make up for a plain face and a home made dress.

Well, she would not suffer any filly under her charge to let her mind rot. Crinoline would have a fine mind to go with her mother's body if Laurel had anything to say upon the matter.

There was a knock upon the door and one of the housemaids came in, curtsying, "If you please Miss Laurel, there are two young mares outside asking after you."

"What do they want?"

"They won't say, Miss. Best if you come quick Miss, the steward tried to send them round to the tradespony's entrance and I'm afraid they're going to cause an awful scene."

Laurel cleared her throat, "Continue with your work children, I shall return shortly." She followed the housemaid out onto the elegant balcony to the spiral staircase where she could look down upon the hall and the front door. She could see the steward in livery standing in the doorway barring entrance to─ Breaking Dawn? And Razor Wind!

"What in Celestia's name? Dawny?" Laurel murmured, resisting the urge either to shout or clutch at the banister for support. A governess never lost her composure. Setting her face in her very best stern expression, Laurel began to descend the stairs with a prim and proper step.

"No I will not use the tradespony's entrance you insolent diamond dog!" Breaking Dawn yelled, spittle flying from her mouth as Razor Wind tried to restrain her. "And I am not your good mare! How dare you speak to me in such a way, do you know who I am?"

"No, he really doesn't," Razor Wind hissed. "And I don't think he cares either so─ hey! Laurel! Look at that our old friend Laurel is here to vouch for us! Hey Laurel!" Razor grinned nervously, "Please tell the flunky that we're okay before he has us arrested."

Laurel rolled her eyes, "Everything will be quite all right, Blizzard. I know both these ponies."

Blizzard the butler coughed loudly, "Miss Laurel. Sir Fancypants would not approve of such─"

"Sir Fancypants has engaged me to educate his children, what I do or who I associate with outside of my employment is my own concern," Laurel said, cutting him off before he could let the word 'riffraff' roll off his tongue. If Dawn heard herself called that then there really would be trouble. It seemed she had lost none of her pride since leaving school. "In any case, in spite of their bluff manner I assure you there is no real harm in either of these mares. We shall take a brief turn around the garden and then, I assure you, they shall not trouble you again."

"Very good Miss," Blizzard said, though he continued to glare at Breaking Dawn as Laurel strode, head high, through the door and led them towards the fountain that dominated the front garden of the Fancypants town house.

Once the door closed, Dawn scowled, "What a jerk. Who did he think he was looking down at me? Me! I've half a mind to come back and─"

"You will not come back here again," Laurel's voice was cold and sharp as ice.

"What?"

"Do you know how easily you could get me dismissed," Laurel snarled. "If anything about what we used to get up to as children comes out, if Sir Fancypants thinks I might be a bad influence upon his children, then I will be out of the door faster than you can say vacancy! And once he spreads word around the town I won't get another position in Canterlot again! Then what will I do?"

"But you said─" Razor began.

"I was bluffing," Laurel hissed. "What are you two even doing here? What do you want?"

"Aren't you even a little glad to see us, after all this time?" Razor Wind asked, her voice small and childlike. "It's been years."

Laurel nodded, not meeting Breaking Dawn's eyes. The last time she had seen any of them was when Dawn got expelled from Celestia's School. Laurel had continued her studies, and had not wanted to jeopardise that by sneaking out to visit an expelled student and her delinquent friends. Dawn, proud Dawn, hadn't made much effort to see her either. And she was the glue that had held them all together.

And yet, in spite of the passage of the years, she still felt a thrill, a spark, at the sight of them both. Breaking Dawn's haughty gaze, Razor Wind's ever ready smile and eager gaze, both stirred a gleam of gold within her mind and woke up distant silver sounds like trumpets long ago. Memories of halcyon days when the world was green and pastures endless. Before the winds turned cold and the leaves turned brown and the walls went up to hem her in.

She felt a smile spread across her face, "I apologise. It is wonderful to see you both darlings, absolutely wonderful." Laurel took their hooves in hers, "Please, sit with me and tell me everything."
She led them over to the fountain, crowned with a statue of a cherubic pegasus, and sat them down upon its rim while she sat beside them, "How have you been, both of you?"

Dawn scowled. Razor reached around and scratched the back of her neck, "We, uh, we get by. Keep on keeping on I guess."

"Five years and you have not changed a whit," Laurel shook her head. She knew enough of Dawn's pride to read between Razor's words. "Why didn't you come to me for help dear, if you needed it. I know it's been a while, but if there's anything that I can do-"

"What, are you going to loan me money on a governess' salary?" Breaking Dawn demanded in a voice dripping acid. "Or get me a job as a maid to Sir Fancypants? No thank you."

"I would never ask you to descend into servitude, Dawn," Laurel said firmly. "As for money...I could get by on a little less. I live simply. I could live simpler still."

"You won't have to by the time we're done," Razor Wind declared encouragingly. "If you're in that is."

"In? In what?" Laurel's blue eyes narrowed behind her spectacles. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to take what is mine," Breaking Dawn stated firmly. "All that I am due, all that was taken from me: the love of the Princess, the respect of the people, my rightful place at Celestia's right hoof, my crown, my dear ambitions and my destiny. And revenge, for my years of humiliation. I will take it all, if you will help me."

Laurel's brow crinkled with a frown as she asked the question to which she already knew the answer, "And who will you take it from?"

"The one who stole it from me," Dawn nearly shouted. "The one who stole from all of us! The lavender thief, the false princess, Twilight Sparkle."

Laurel exhaled loudly. What she had just heard skirted very close to treason. Might even be treason for all she knew, her academic knowledge did not extend to law. This will not end well.

"I need your help," Dawn continued, in a more quiet tone. "I can't do this by myself. I need you, I need everypony, the whole gang. Razor Wind and Cherry Blossom are already in. So how about it?"

"I," Laurel hesitated. It seemed so ungenerous to refuse outright, but at the same time it seemed so mad to agree. "I don't know..."

"Come on, Laurel, is this what you imagined your life would be like back in school?" Breaking Dawn demanded. "Is this where you'd end up when you graduated valedictorian? When you won the Old Girl's Prize for Ancient Unicorn, did you think 'great, now I can go and teach snot-nosed kids to read!'
"You're better than this. You were made for greatness, we all were! We were promised glory, and we can have it if we only have the courage to reach out and take it."

"I like teaching," Laurel said reproachfully.

"As a governess?" Dawn replied. "Not quite a servant, certainly not family?"

"I can't deny that I would rather be doing real teaching," Laurel said, "treading our alma mater's halls as mistress, not student, even if what I do is a step up from a country school-house."

"I won't be like Twilight Sparkle," Dawn whispered softly, temptingly. "When I shine across Equestria I won't forget the friends who helped me get there. When I am given my due I'll build you a school if you want one.

Dawn got up, faced Laurel, and bowed her head, "Please Laurel, I can't do this without you. Without you it's just no good. I need you."

Laurel smiled sadly, "Oh Dawny, how can I resist a heartfelt plea like that. I'm in."

"Yes!" Razor Wind leapt into the air, her wings beating furiously as she pumped one hoof. Dawn smiled in quiet relief.

"What do I have to do?" Laurel asked.

"We'll all get together tonight, and discuss our plans then," Breaking Dawn said. "Come to number 16 Dumas Street at eight o'clock. It'll be just like old times."

"I hope not, that would be quite inappropriate for a mare in my position," Laurel murmured. "But I'll be there."

Dawn nodded, smiling.

For now they were four.

***

In her dressing room, Hard Candy took the wig off her head and began to wash off her stage make up. As she did so, she started humming to herself. Some disdained comedy, and held tragedy to be the highest form of theatre, the true form for an actor's craft. But for her, the laughter of the crowd made a good comedy more worthwhile than the best written of tragedies.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Hardy Candy said.

The door to the dressing room opened and Breaking Dawn walked in, levitating a large bunch of flowers in front of her. She closed the door, kicking her heels a little.

"Dawn?" Candy's peppermint eyes boggled. "Dawny, is that you?"

"I'm not really sure what you're supposed to say in these situations," Dawn said. "It's not encore is it?"

"You're a little late for that," Candy chuckled. "Did you really come to see the show?"

"It is a matinee," Dawn replied. "You were actually pretty good. I really felt for you, having your island stolen by a magician like that. Do you have anywhere I can put these?" Dawn shook the flowers.

"Here," Candy produced a vase, clutching it in her mint-green legs as Dawn placed the bouquet inside. "But I'm sure you didn't look me up after all this time just so you could compliment me on my portrayal of Sycorax in The Storm. You want something, don't you?"

"Hey," Dawn looked hurt as she sat down. "Aren't we friends? Didn't we say that we'd be friends forever, through thick and thin? Aren't I allowed to just miss you?"

"But you do want something don't you?"

"Yes." Dawn said immediately. She looked around Candy's dressing room, "Is this what you want out of life? Are you happy?"

"You told me I was the Element of Laughter, I make ponies laugh," Hard Candy said.

"Oh," Dawn frowned, "I was kind of hoping you'd be bitter and jealous so I'd have something to work with."

"What's this about, Dawny?"

Breaking Dawn said, "I'm planning to bring down Princess Twilight Sparkle, strip her of everything she holds dear, and leave her broken in the knowledge that I won and there's nothing she can do about it. Razor Wind, Cherry Blossom and Laurel have already agreed to help me out. How about you?"

Candy started laughing, "Thank you Dawn, that is the best joke I've heard all week, hahaha... sweet Celestia you're serious aren't you?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Dawn asked as her face got even more stern than usual.

"But what do you need me for?"

"I need everypony. All of us, the old gang. I don't know for what yet, but I know that getting the gang back together is the answer to all our problems. I never should have lost touch with you in the first place, and I'm sorry. Will you help me?"

Candy shrugged, "When could I last refuse you anything, Dawny? Sure I'll help you. It'll be a fun ride if nothing else."

"Great!" Dawn shouted. "Eight o'clock, number 16 Dumas Street, everypony's gonna be there."

"Have you talked to Hardy yet?"

"No, she's next, why?"

Candy leaned back, "I don't think she'll go for this."

"You worry too much," Dawn said, refusing to let any misgivings put her off.

For now they were five.

***

As the sun set, Breaking Dawn and Hardy Bloom sat upon the balcony of the office of Hardy Bloom, Attorney at Law, looking out over Canterlot as they drank some of Hardy's cocktails.

"You know, you had some crazy ideas when we were kids," Hardy murmured, swilling her glass reflectively. She was a dun-coloured earth pony with a light brown mane. "But this, this is nuts."

"You've said that already," Dawn said.

"It bears repeating," Hardy muttered. "Besides, the fact that I'm free with my opinions is what you always used to like about me."

Dawn shrugged, "It's true that I think every powerful pony needs somepony to speak truth to them, and once upon a time that pony was you. But I'm not powerful no more and it's been a while since I was, so could you sugarcoat it for me just a little please?"

"Sorry, no can do," Hardy Bloom took a drink. "This is nuts."

"Sugarcoat!"

"Sugarcoat what, that you've gone insane?" Hardy said. "Should I tell you the stress has been getting to you and you need a holiday in the sun, would that be sweetened enough? You. Are. Crazy!"

"Oh come on," Dawn said. "You don't even know what my plan is yet."

"That's because you don't have a plan," Hardy Bloom shot back. "And you don't have a plan because there is no good plan. You can't just bring down a princess no matter how hard you might want to."

"I can and I will," Dawn replied with a pout. "She isn't fireproof."

"Her dragon is."

"Smart-flank," Dawn drank. "You were always too smart for your own good."

"That's why you need me."

"I don't need your brains, I have Laurel for that."

"Laurel has knowledge, I have smarts, there's a difference," Hardy Bloom. "You realise that even if I say no, now that you've told me what you're up to you've made me an accessory before the fact?"

"Does that mean you're in?" Dawn asked with a smile.

Hardy sighed and shook her head.

"Even you can't deny that we had some interesting times together."

"That's one way to describe it," Hardy said. "Another way to describe it was that I almost had my life ruined because you thought that you owned me."

"What?"

"You were selfish, demanding, you always had to have your own way and looking at you now I can see that you haven't changed a bit. Stamping your hoof because life didn't turn out like you planned. Well guess what, it never does! Get over it before somepony gets hurt. You realise you've uprooted Laurel and Candy's lives for your own benefit."

"I'll pay them back."

"That's what you always said," Hardy growled. "How are you going to pay them back for getting exiled?"

"We aren't going to get exiled, we're going to win, you were always such a gloomy downer. Why are we even friends?"

"Because you're just self-aware enough to know that your ego outstrips your talent, and you don't have the self-control to rein it in without somepony to pop it for you. I'm that pony."

"You certainly are," Breaking Dawn said. "That's why I need you the most. I always did."

Hardy sighed, "I suppose you're right, my life did get more boring without you around. Oh what the hay, let's commit treason. If, when, this whole thing falls apart I'll just defend you and all and represent myself and get us acquitted of all charges."

"You really think you could do that?"

Hardy smirked, "I could get Queen Chrysalis acquitted on a charge of fraud."

"I've missed you," now it was Dawn's turn to smirk. "The little thief isn't going to know what hit her."

"I know I said I'd help you, but as your honest friend I feel like I should tell you that you'd probably be better off seeing a therapist about this obsession you've developed. It'll probably help you more than revenge will," Hardy shrugged. "On the other hand, revenge is a lot cheaper."

"You got that right, I tried seeing one of them once, and by the time I got the bill I had something new to make me angry," Dawn said.

"So do you actually have a plan for your revenge, or are you just hoping to wing it?"

Dawn smiled sheepishly, "I was kind of hoping you five would help me crack the details."

Hardy Bloom rolled her eyes, "Of course you were."

***

The living room was a little crowded with six ponies inside, but Breaking Dawn didn't mind one bit. The little house she shared with Razor and Cherry, which had in days past seemed a stage claustrophobic, crushing her ambitions and grinding her dreams to dust beneath its smallness and banality, was transformed in her spirit to infinite space by the presence of other ponies even though in truth they made it hard to move around. That did not matter. The fire was roaring, the wine was sweet, and her dull domestic prison had been turned into a vista of possibilities.

She did not voice these thoughts aloud. That would have been very cruel to Cherry Blossom, who had done her best over these past years to make a home for herself and her friends. But a mare made for palaces could never rest easy in urban squalor however homely.

I will not tailor my ambitions to my means, I will not curb imagination's sprawl to dwell solely in this grey province cynics call reality, I will not settle for a smaller dream merely because heart's desire seems far off and out of reach. I shall leap into the nothingness and trust to friendship's wings to carry me safe to the far side of the abyss.

"Thank you all for coming," Dawn said. "I know I have to take the manticore's share of the blame for the way that our friendships fell apart back in the day. I was humiliated and angry, and I was afraid that, if you saw me like that, without any of the things I had when you became my friends, you wouldn't want to know me any more. And I was even more afraid that you would stick with me out of pity."

"Don't be absurd dear," Laurel said firmly. "We would have done anything for you, always. You should have known better."

"Yeah, just because you couldn't get us out of trouble with your name any more wouldn't have changed that," Candy said.

"I told you that you should have had more faith in them at the time," Razor remarked.

Dawn smiled, "But you're all here now. We're together again, and being together we're unstoppable. Princess Robber cannot stand before us while we are united."

"She has friends of her own, doesn't she?" Cherry asked.

"They're deserting her already," Razor Wind shook her head. "One of them has gone home already."

"That will weaken them more than the loss of just one pony," Dawn declared. "Princess Celestia taught me that the effectiveness of the elements is more than just six ponies working together; you can't just throw six bodies together and tell them to get on with it. It's more than that, it's synergy. That's what we have and that's what they don't since she let one get away, and maybe more to follow. She's vulnerable, now is our time."

"Can I ask a question," Hardy Bloom leaned forwards. "We all know why we're here, but I'd like to know one more thing: just how far are you willing to go against Twilight Sparkle. Do you mean to kill her?"

"No," Dawn shouted in outrage. "Is that what you think of me? I am not the bad guy here and I don't mean to become the bad guy just so that that thief can seem better by comparison. I mean to leave her as she left me: frustrated, powerless, alone. I mean for her to know who beat her, and that I was better all along. But then we will be even. I will not take her life, I am not the monster in this story."

"We all knew that, but it's a relief to hear you say it," Laurel said. Cherry Blossom nodded enthusiastically, and Dawn sensed that they had all been waiting on the answer to that question.

Dawn herself found that she was glad Hardy had asked. She would not be tempted now, no matter what. She had given her word to her friends, the friends who trusted her, had put their lives on hold to follow her. She would not break it.

"If you are going to strip Princess Twilight's life from her, then you'll need to get close to her," Hardy remarked, putting her head in her hooves. "You need to get into society."

"The reception for the zebra ambassadors," Laurel smiled. "Everypony whose anypony will be there, and so long as we can get you noticed before they arrive then you should be able to get a ticket for it. And then you'll have a hoof in the door."

"Not as yourself," Hardy said. "You'll need a knew name, something that sounds foreign, like you're from a very remote part of Equestria. The Countess of...something, we'll figure it out."

"How does going to a party help you bring down Princess Twilight?" Razor Wind asked.

"It doesn't," Breaking Dawn smiled. "But it gives me an excellent place to start."

Author's Note

The original plan for this story was that each chapter would be a diptych between Twilight stuff and Dawn stuff, becoming more and more intertwined as their paths converge. However, while in the first chapter there was the natural counterpoint between Twilight's elevated status and Dawn's low condition, for this chapter there wasn't anything Twilight could be doing that organically matches Dawn's recruitment of her old allies. Possibly I should have had Applejack's departure in this chapter rather than the last one, but it doesn't feel like such a big issue to me that I feel the need to muck around in re-writes.

Twi will return next chapter though, I promise.

Masks and Potions

Chapter 4

Masks and Potions

"She washed you out?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Dawn sat down heavily at the table in the middle of the cider house, where her friends were watching her anxiously. A scowl disfigured her features, and she carefully avoided meeting any of their eyes for fear of finding pity there.

"But she just washed you out?" Hardy Bloom asked. "Without a reason?"

"Hardy," Razor Wind said. "She said she didn't want to talk about it."

Dawn downed her cider in one gulp, slamming the tankard down on the table, "Another!" She still didn't look at her friends. Their silence was deafening.

The cider house was poorly lit, candles casting an orange glow over the surround, the flames flickering upon the varnish of the tables. It was also set more than a little underground, so that the only windows were very small, set at the very top near the ceiling, and let in very little moonlight.

And to think, Dawn thought. When I arranged to meet everyone here I thought that we'd have a good time tonight.

"So, if you're not Princess Celestia's student any more, does that mean that you're not going to be the Element of Magic?" Hardy asked. "And what about us, are we still chosen?"

Razor Wind scowled as she reached over and whacked Hardy around the head.

"What was that for?"

"Shut up you idiot, this isn't the time," Razor hissed. "She said she didn't want to talk about it and so she doesn't have to talk about it."

Hardy folded her hoofs, "Oh, so it wouldn't bother you to find out that you've been lied to this whole time?"

"Dawn has never lied to us!" Razor's wings fluttered, lifting her up over the table with his forehooves raised as if she was going to start a fight.

"Razor, calm down," Breaking Dawn said in tones of slow melancholy. She looked up, looking her friends in the face. There was nervousness there, anxiety, but bless them there was no pity there. They knew her better than that.

"The truth is I don't know," Dawn went on. "I don't know what I am, I don't know what you are; the Princess said that she had made a mistake, but she won't explain and I don't get it. I'm still me, right? I'm still the person I was. So how can I not be something that I was yesterday. How can all of us not be the things that we were yesterday?"

"Whatever happened must have had something to do with that rainbow in the sky today," Laurel said, pushing her glasses back up her nose as they began to slip off. "And with that burst of magic you and I felt."

"Probably," Dawn said bitterly, draining her tankard again as soon as one of the servingponies refilled it. She was about to call for another, when she felt the hooves of Cherry Blossom wrapped around her.

"Don't worry Dawny, things will work out," Cherry said. "I mean, I know that none of us can imagine what it is that you've lost, but you'll get it back. You're smart and brave and determined, and you'll get all of it back someday, you'll see."

Dawn smiled sadly, "You really think so Cherry."

"With all my heart I really do."

"That's right!" Razor said loudly. "The Princess may be your tutor, but even she doesn't know you the way we do. Princess Celestia only thinks she's made a mistake because she doesn't see the awesome pony that we see. And when she does, she'll realise that she made a mistake about making a mistake and come back begging you to take your rightful place again."

"And then you'll shine all the way across Equestria," Cherry added with an encouraging smile.

Dawn looked at each of them, "You girls really mean that? You really have that much faith in me?"

"Do you really think we'd lie to you about something like this, when you're in such a state," Laurel asked. "What kind of friends would do such a thing." She smiled, "You're the best of us Dawny, the very best. And one day they'll all see that."

Dawn looked to Hardy. The others were welcome, but Hardy Bloom was the one who always gave her truth.

Hardy hesitated, swilling her drink around in her mouth for a moment. Then she said, "You'll do it, if it can be done. If anypony can rise from nothing to the very top its you."

I don't deserve ponies like these. What did I ever do to luck out on friends like these? "You guys," Breaking Dawn wiped a tear from her eye. "I can't say I, I was worried that─"

"That what, you thought we'd abandon you?" Razor Wind demanded. "Come on, give us some credit."

"You brought us together and bound us to you," Laurel declared. "We're yours, Dawn, now and forever."

"Now and forever!" Candy shouted. "A toast to Breaking Dawn, who's still the Chosen One to us!"

"Breaking Dawn, our chosen one," the others chorused, raising their tankards and slamming them together.

Laurel slipped gracefully off the bench at their shared table, "Who wants some music? Dawny, you feel like singing?"

Dawn didn't reply, taking a moment to look at each of them in turn, "You're my very best friends you know that? The best friends anypony could wish for."

"Well duh, that's why we're your friends," Razor grinned.

Breaking Dawn laughed, "Yeah, let's have a song. Play, I don't know, You Are My Sunshine."

"Of course," Laurel nodded, and made her way over to the unoccupied piano in the corner of the bar. And Dawn's troubles were, if not forgotten, then at the least mitigated by the pleasant company of her friends all around her.

She had been knocked down, but she would get up again. And she would be terrible on the rebound.

***

Twilight Sparkle replaced a book on the shelves of the palace library, her horn glowing with a lavender aura as she picked up the notes she had made on Travels Down the River Thutmose, by Stanhoof and beginning to walk in search of other material. Travels had not been greatly concerned with zebra nations, most of the journey having taken place through Ne'Ari, but Stanhoof had entered the Grevyian Empire in the latter stages of his journey, before he had been forced to give up his quest for the source of the Thutmose, and he had some fascinating things to say about the Imperial Zebras he had encountered. That was important, because there was so little documented about them as to make the writings on Quaggai seem an abundance of scholarly riches by comparison.

The hard part would be reconciling some of what she'd found out.

From beyond the next shelf stack came the unmistakeable sound of Rainbow Dash laughing.

Frowning, Twilight wandered around into that shelf space to see Rainbow leaning back on her chair, chuckling to herself as she read what looked suspiciously like a paperback novel.

"Rainbow Dash, when you said that you were going to help me do research for the Princess, I assumed that you were actually going to help me do research," Twilight's stern tone added to the severity of her glower.

"I am doing research," Rainbow replied defensively. "This book has tons of stuff about zebras in it."

Twilight used her magic to snatch the book out of Rainbow's hoofs, holding it up so she could see the title, "Solomane Kane Anthology by Hoofward; yes, I can see that this is a scholarly masterpiece."

"It's got lots of zebras in it," Rainbow Dash repeated. "It's about this pony called Solomane Kane, and she like worships Princess Celestia, and goes to Quaggai to tell everypony there about her. Or every zebra I guess. And there's this shaman who tells Solomane how special she is, and she has to save all these villages from freaky demons and stuff, it's totally awesome! And it has zebras!"

"Rainbow Dash, these people coming here are honoured guests of Princess Celestia," Twilight said. "We can't just treat them out of characters from two-bit books by authors who never went anywhere near Quaggai or Grevyia. We have to learn as much hard fact as we can in the little time we have. Now, you don't have to help me, but-"

"But if I do, help properly, yeah I get it," Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head. "Sorry Twilight, I'll try and do some proper research to help you out. But can I take the book back to the palace with me? Solomane's destiny is about to be revealed."

Twilight smiled, "Of course."

They began to walk together, Rainbow Dash tucking the book into her saddlebag, moving through the fiction shelves and back into the reference section. Every book that had ever been published in Equestria was held in the library somewhere so if there had been anything written about zebras since the defeat of Discord, Twilight would find it.

The two little ponies had just arrived in a section marked Post-Migration History when a springy bouncing sound heralded the arrival of Pinkie Pie, who bounced into view carrying in her mouth a brown paper bag from out of which a sweet, warm smell was rising.

"Yoohoo everypony, lunch is here!" Pinkie yelled as soon as she had set the bag down on the nearest table. "I felt so hungry I thought that everypony else must be getting hungry too. Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy poked her head out from a shelf about six rows down. Her whisper barely carried the distance, "Um, yes, what is it Pinkie?"

"Your lunch is here, come and get it," Pinkie shouted. She bounced up and down, "I went back to the palace and made toasties with cress and grass and fresh cut lettuce, muffins with chocolate chips and chocolate butter-cream inside and I made some fresh cream apple danishes with some of the apples that Applejack sent us."

"Pinkie," Twilight interrupted her. "We can't eat in the library."

Pinkie tilted her head like a bird, "Why not?"

"Because it's a library," Twilight spoke in tones of hushed awe. "A repository of knowledge, a temple to education, a shrine to the power and sanctity of the written word. The resting place of manuscripts as old as Canterlot itself. It is not a place for you to be leaving crumbs and left over chocolate chips all over the place where ponies have to work and─" she paused, seeing that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had already started on the chocolate muffins.

"PAY ATTENTION TO ME WHEN I'M TRYING TO LECTURE YOU!"

"Aha, sorry Twilight," Rainbow smiled as she scratched the back of her head. "We thought we'd just let you get on with your egghead rhapsody."

Twilight snorted. Then her stomach rumbled loudly, "Well what do you know, I guess I am kind of starving myself. What's say we eat outside?"

Fluttershy joined them as they gathered everything up, and then Twilight levitated the lunch bag and began to lead her friends out; only to find Princess Celestia blocking their path.

"Princess Celestia," Twilight let go of her magic in surprise, and only a diving save by Pinkie prevented their lunch from going all over the floor. "I, I wasn't expecting you."

"I just wanted to check in on how you were getting along with your research," Celestia smiled. "And to just to see how you were doing."

"I'm doing fine, Princess," Twilight replied. "But I'm afraid that even with the limited information I've been able to find there is just so much that's confusing me. So many contradictions! For example, I read then in Grevyia all highborn zebras wear masks upon their faces at all times in public, and even in private taking off your mask in the presence of anypony else is a sign of great trust in that person, trust that you won't use the fact that you know their face against them. But I also read that in Quaggai it's the exact opposite: hiding your face, behind a mask or even a hood, is regarded with great suspicion as a sign of a duplicitous nature.
"At first I thought we could have a masked ball to welcome the ambassadors and put them at ease, but that would just frighten and offend the Quaggai delegation. But if we all go around with our faces uncovered we might spook or offend the Grevyians. What do you think we ought to do Princess Celestia?"

"We could have two parties," Pinkie Pie shouted, jumping up and down. "One with masks and one without and double the fun!"

"But if we did that we'd have to have two of absolutely everything while they were here Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy said, sounding a little aghast at the thought.

"Even better!"

"Pinkie, I don't really think that's practical," Twilight raised one eyebrow in Pinkie's direction.

"First of all I want to thank you for bringing this to my attention Twilight," Celestia smiled fondly. "As for our course, you must remember that as much as will try to make our zebra guests comfortable, they are guests in our country and must adapt somewhat to our customs as we must adapt ourselves to avoid offending them. We will not insult them, but nor will I force the whole of Canterlot to put on masks for the duration of their visit. The Grevyians may wear their masks, and anypony who wishes to may do so to put them at their ease, but Luna and I will show our faces; and I would like you and your friends to do so as well Twilight, if only as a sign of great trust in our guests."

"Of course, Princess," Twilight bowed.

"And now," Celestia bent her kneck down to whisper in Twilight's ear, a mischievous look crossing her face. "I suggest you take your lunch outside before the archivists show us both that princesses are not above rebuke."

Twilight laughed nervously, "Yes, that's exactly what we were going to do."

As they once more started moving towards the door, Celestia asked, "Where is Rarity today? Did she go home along with Applejack?"

"No, she's back at the palace," Twilight replied. "I gave her one of the parlours to work out of, and she said she had to fit some clients today. I wonder how she's doing."

***

In one of the Twilight Palace's spacious parlours, Rarity laid out her fabrics and adjusted the placement of her ponikins. She tested her sewing machine to make sure it hadn't died, and doubled checked that all her threads and needles were present and placed where she could find them. The servants had learned better than to come in and disturb the rooms given over to her work in, but it simply would not do for her to be fumbling around for the tools of her trade in the presence of a client. A lady's tailor must be half a lady herself, and that meant poise, dignity and ironclad courtesy in all situations.

While she waited for the client to arrive, Rarity reviewed what she had been able to learn about this Miss Hardy Bloom who had requested her services. A lawyer, young but rather brilliant, a controversial figure but one who had already begun to be recognised in high society. Rarity was not altogether sure that she would, in an ideal world, choose to associate with somepony whose reputation was that they could talk Nightmare Moon herself off all charges, but she was no stranger to the dangers of mistaking gossip for truth. Besides which she would be making the mare dresses, not becoming her bosom pal. It wasn't as if she had been a particular fan of Sapphire Shores' music either.

The room Twilight had given her was wide and spacious, with walls papered in lavender with a purple swirling leaf pattern and a dome ceiling painted white. The mirror was an elaborate gilt edged triptych which she would have dearly loved to have taken home with her, and the cushions of the thinking couch were stuffed with griffon feathers.

That Twilight could turn her back upon such luxury and return to Ponyville to live in a drab library was quite extraordinary. Rarity was ashamed to admit, even to herself, that she was not sure she could have made the same choice so easily.

There was a knock upon the gold-varnished oak door, and one of the servants loaned to Twilight by Princess Celestia entered, "A Miss Hardy Bloom and party to see you ma'am."

And party? Rarity kept her face clear of all surprise, but smiled a pleasant smile, "Show them in."

Rarity assumed a greeting the customers position: legs straight, hooves together, head high, smile benign, the spectacles she wore for her farsightedness at a low angle so that her eyes were visible over them. As the door was flung open and six ponies - two earth ponies, two unicorns and two pegasi - filed in, she nodded slightly, "Good morning Miss Hardy. I wasn't expecting you to bring your friends."

She was a little disconcerted by the way they arrayed themselves: while Miss Hardy Bloom stood off to one side, both pegasi, one unicorn and the remaining earth pony formed a line in front of her, screening the last unicorn from view.

Hardy Bloom, a tan earth pony mare in a red bow tie, chuckled, "I must confess Miss Rarity, I have come to you under something of a deception."

Rarity blinked, "Oh?"

"I have of course, come looking for attire for myself," Hardy went on. "But more importantly for my guest: may I present the Lady Mercedes Zaccone, Countess of Isla Dantes."

Hardy stamped upon the floor twice, the line of ponies parted, and a unicorn who could only be the countess strutted forwards. It was only with great difficulty that Rarity was able to prevent her breath from catching in her throat. The golden unicorn strode forward as if she owned the room, the whole palace even and Rarity found it an effort to remember that she did not. The countess glowed with presence, radiated authority, she wore the attention of all present in the room as if it were a faithful gown she wore each day and was well used to putting on.

Her mane and tail were green, matching the colour of her eyes, which seemed a little cold. She was wearing a shiny black dress, not too shabby but quite obviously off-the-shelf and not bespoke fitted to Rarity's experienced eye. In any case it concealed her cutie mark and matched the black slippers on her feet. A hat - black too - was balanced between her ears with a lacy veil hanging down from it to half cover her face. Said face was heavily made up, with ruby red lipstick heavily laid on, and it would have verged on vulgarity in anypony with less self-confidence. Countess Mercedes however, carried it off with aplomb.

"A pleasure to meet you milady," Rarity said with another nod.

"Most charming," the Countess replied in a vague and unplaceable accent. She stalked past Rarity and strode around the room like a catwalk model, feet directly in front of one another and hips swaying even under her dress, "We are come from our estates to spend the season in Canterlot with our good friend Hardy. We were at finishing school together."

"How delightful," Rarity smiled. "It is so nice to catch up with old friends whom you haven't seen in a while, isn't it? Parting is such sweet sorrow, but the reunion that comes is sweetness unalloyed."

The countess smiled, "Of course. We are fortunate to be here at a time when so much is happening, yes? The arrival of the zebras, the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle, so many of such things recently."

Rarity chuckled, "It must seem much more important to those who do not know her than it seems to me. Not to brag, but it hasn't changed the fact that I still count Twilight among my closest friends."

"Of course. Friendship is forever, no? One chooses ones friends with care and attention and then one lives with that choice," the countess was directly behind Rarity now, "for the rest of your days." The countess laughed as Rarity turned to face her, "But enough of this. You are busy and so am I. Dear Hardy tells me that you are the finest dressmaker presently in Canterlot, maybe in all of Equestria, and I have a need to look my very best."

"Of course, of course," Rarity nodded eagerly. "And, um, your other friends?"

"My servants," the countess corrected firmly. "Laurel, my chaperone while I am in the city, my stylist Candy Cane, my mareservant Tornado and Sweet Cherry, my personal chef."

Rarity blinked, wondering who took their personal chef to a dress-fitting. It must be a custom where she comes from. Looking at them, she saw that they were all made up in some way, and all dressed in garments that concealed their cutie marks from sight.

She said, "And how many dresses would you like?"

"For my servants, one each," the countess replied. "For darling Laurel, two. And four each for Hardy and myself."

Thirteen. "Very well," Rarity said. "And may I mention, the payment?"

"Dear Hardy will take care of it," Countess Mercedes said idly.

Rarity looked at Hardy Bloom, who shrugged, "I guess I'm taking care of it."

"Excellent. Now if you will just let me take your measurements," Rarity levitated her tape measure over to her and began to measure, occassionally dropping the tape to note down the sizes of her customers. As she went, she murmured to herself as to her plans. "Hmm, something emerald I think, to match your eyes. And a number in white I think, brilliant white to go with your colouring. But then black seems to suit you very well too. I promise you countess, they will be absolutely spectacular."

"Yes," she purred. "Spectacular is exactly what I had in mind." For a moment, she seemed to smirk.

The only great difficulty was with Miss Laurel. Without being rude, the poor dear was no beauty: her coat was a pasty off-white, chalky and unflattering, and her severe grey mane was dowdy, making her appear to have aged before her time. But her eyes, her eyes were very striking, a brilliant shade of blue when they could be seen without the interference of Laurel's spectacles. Rarity was sure that they would be even brighter if she smiled. Yes, a dress the shade of her eyes to bring them out. Perfect!

And so, her head buzzing with ideas, Rarity bid her clients farewell. She thanked them for their business, closed the door, and began to make sketches.

***

The doors to the Twilight Palace closed after them as the six began to walk away down the neat, clean and at this hour mostly empty streets of uptown Canterlot. The little thief had had her chateau built in the nice part of the city, all the ponies who lived in these houses were bankers, monopolists or just old money nobles rubbing shoulders with the new money who could afford to outspend them on capital real estate these days. Whoever they were, they were not at home in the middle of the day, but rather swanking about in fancy suits around the palace or the commerce district.

When I become princess, I shall make them all come to me and kiss my hooves, Dawn thought. It's the least they could do.

With nopony to see them, and no one watching from the palace either, Razor Wind leapt into the air on the strength of her wings, punching upwards, "And we're a hit! She didn't suspect a thing."

"It's easy enough to fool somepony who doesn't know us," Hard Candy reminded her. "The hard part will come when we might somepony who knows Dawn, like Twilight Sparkle or Princess Celestia."

"Yeah," Breaking Dawn murmured. She wasn't eager to imagine what might happen when she came face to face with Princess Celestia. "Let's worry about that part when we get to it. The point is, we pulled it off." Dawn resumed the slightly slurred accent she had worn as the countess, "Our dress rehearsal, it was great success; no? She didn't doubt that we are who we said we were."

"Did she have any reason to doubt it?" Hardy asked. "Thank you, by the way, for spending my bits with such extravagance."

"You'll get it back the next time one of your rich clients gets into trouble," Dawn replied. Hardy Bloom rolled her eyes.

"Candy, how do you stand having this stuff on your face all the time," Razor frowned. "I can barely stand it. I can't wait to get it all off me."

"Don't do it while somepony might see you," Hardy said.

"I know."

"Sorry," Hardy sighed. "Still, since you haven't managed to completely bankrupt me yet, who wants to do lunch?"

"Who votes to spend more of Hardy's money?" Candy raised one hoof in the air. Everypony else soon did likewise.

"I really missed you guys," Hardy shook her head sadly.

***

They adjourned to a nice little cafe on Shaftesberry Avenue called Valerie's, which was the kind of place that most of them couldn't have dreamed of being able to afford to eat at but at which Hardy was apparently so well known they had a regular table for her to sit. It was a little crowded with six of them there, but with the sun shining down and a cool breeze from over the mountains it was still very pleasant to sit outside at one of the round white tables while they examined the menus.

"Five bits for a cup of coffee?" Razor Wind's eyes were nearly boggling out of her skull. "What kind of a place is this?"

"The classy kind, don't shout," Hardy Bloom replied in a calm, smooth tone.

"What's good here?" Cherry asked.

"Everything, but I can order for you if you like," Hardy said.

"Yes, thank you."

Laurel fidgeted nervously, "I keep imagining one of my former employers is going to find me here and chide me for getting above myself."

"You're the chaperone of the Countess Mercedes now, you don't have to answer to any of those stuffed shirt ponies," Breaking Dawn said. "Besides, if you see anypony you know tell them to get back to work."

They all giggled at that, until a waiter came to take their orders. Hardy ordered them sandwiches, coffee and cakes all around, and these were delivered on a silver tray that took up pretty much all available space on the table. Without much further ado they all tucked in.

"These cakes are so moist and full of flavour, I'd love to get my hooves on the recipe," Cherry said.

"Forget that, I'd just like to be able to afford to eat here every day," Razor Wind said in between mouthfuls. "Hey, Hardy, how long do you think it would take for me to train as a lawyer when all this is over."

"In your case, a thousand years."

"Hey!"

"When all this is over," Dawn announced confidently. "We'll all eat like this every day for free."

"Oh yeah," Razor smiled.

"The one thing I don't get," Candy swallowed a mouthful of sandwich. "Is why Cherry, Razor and me had to be servants."

"I don't mind being a servant," Cherry Blossom announced.

"Because you can't all be socialites from out of town, it would look odd," Hardy reminded them. "And Laurel is the only one who could possibly pass for a chaperone."

Laurel herself had been mostly very quiet all through lunch, not joining in the excited chatter of the others and eating little.

Breaking Dawn reached out, placing a hoof upon Laurel's leg, "Hey, Laurel are you okay? You're not still worried about somepony recognising you are you?"

Laurel shook her head, "No Dawn, it isn't that. It's," she took a deep breath, "you need to cut out that stallion-eater stuff if you want to pass in high society. Candy, I don't know what you were thinking of getting her to do that." Laurel had given Dawn some lessons on how to act like the upper class, but it had been Hard Candy who had done the makeup for everypony so that they didn't look quite like themselves, and who had given her - and to a lesser extent the others - acting coaching so that they didn't seem like themselves either.

"I taught her to do what was necessary," Candy said.

"The accent, maybe, but that strut? Dawn you looked more like a catwalk diva than a lady. Act like that at a reception or a ball or Celestia forbid in the palace and you will get noticed, and not in a good way. Ponies will see you that are not what you claim to be and then they'll start to ask questions and that's when this whole thing unravels. If you want to blend in─"

"That's the point Laurel, this isn't about blending in," Candy said vehemently. "Dawn can't afford to just blend in. Standing out is all that's going to save us."

Laurel snorted, "I may not be a lady but I have lived in that world for─"

"You may know society ponies, but I know acting," Candy cut her off before she could finish. "You can go on stage wearing the right costume, with all the slap in the world on your face, you can even have your cutie mark made up to look completely different. But if all you do is recite the lines, hit the marks and follow the stage directions like a little wooden puppet then all the audience will see is you, pretending to be something your not. You need to perform, to bring it so strong and striking that nopony can see what lies beneath it. That's what I taught Dawny how to do.
"If you go to the Royal Haymarket Theatre you'll see Maze Dancer, the greatest actor of her generation, playing the lead in Silver, Princess of Unicorns. It's not what anypony expected, it isn't the way that the play is normally done: it's raw and and real and it's Silver like nopony has ever played her before but it's blowing everypony away and they're talking about it as the defining Silver for future generations. And you know what ponies see when they sit in that theatre: they don't see one of the best known earth pony actors of the day performing a play no, they see the unicorn princess consumed with angst and indecision.
"That's what Dawn needs to do, because if anypony recognises her we're dead and stage makeup can only take you so far so I'll teach her whatever she needs to do to blow them away because if the lead performance isn't worthy of an Olive Award then we aren't going anywhere."

Hard Candy coughed, took a drink and then grinned, "Well that was exhausting. How do you rant like that every week Hardy?"

"Practice."

They dispersed not long after that, lunch finished and in tattered remains upon the tray. Most of them had not actually quit their day jobs yet, and had to get back after their morning off. That left Breaking Dawn and Laurel, sitting there at the suddenly large and forlorn luncheon table.

"She's wrong," Laurel said quietly. "Candy. She means well but, if doesn't matter how good your performance is, if you draw too much attention to yourself in the wrong way, if you seem too gauche, too vulgar, too unusual in any way you will fail."

"I know where you're coming from, but you and Candy are both right and both wrong," Dawn replied, sipping the now mostly cold coffee. "It's a tightrope, but I'll walk it somehow, with your help."

"Society shuts out those who don't fit its ideals in every detail Dawny, you know that," Laurel warned. "And at the same time it valorises those who do conform. You know that too."

"I know it well enough," Dawn murmured.

"Take me and that dressmaker for example," Laurel continued, warming to her theme. "We have the same eyes, or near enough, did you notice that? And we wear the same spectacles? And yet her coat is a purer and more brilliant shade of white than mine is, her mane is a delicate purple instead of a frumpy grey, and thus she is a beauty and I am a governess. More than a servant but less than a friend of the family, neither fish nor fowl and welcome in neither the pond nor in the air."

"Laurel," Dawn began sympathetically.

"By what right should that brainless featherhead dwell in a palace as a royal guest while I toil?" Laurel snapped. "Wherefore are my brains inferior to her looks, except because some other pony decided it should be so. She is exalted while I scrabble for a living at the gates of paradise, never to be admitted; and all because I have an unattractive coat and a bad mane?" She sobbed, levitating out a kerchief and wiping one eye with it. "I don't suppose any colt has ever stood her up."

Dawn shifted closer to Laurel, putting one leg around her shoulder and taking over control of the kerchief, wiping away Laurel's tears as the other unicorn kept sobbing. Many of the colts at school had treated her rather badly, picking her brains like nopony's business and then pretending not to know her in more public settings even as they fawned upon the cute mares. Laurel, the scholarship girl, the girl who needed to win academic prizes if she was to have any spending money at all, had never been able to dress well, never been able to repair her natural disadvantages with artifice. She had dreamed of the pony who would look past her looks to the mare within. But that paragon never came.

It had been exactly the same for her, in its own way. Breaking Dawn, poor and wilful and wildly brilliant, had been supplanted by the duller witted Twilight Sparkle, who came from a wealthy old Canterlot family, had been brought up with genteel manners, who was soft spoken and polite and never had to fight to get what she wanted. That was the kind of hero Canterlot wanted Equestria to see, not somepony who had pulled her way up from nothing like she had.

They'll get what they're given and be thankful for it.

Laurel raised her head, "You throw a brick through their window, Dawny. And you throw it hard."

Breaking Dawn grinned, "Hard enough to stun somepony."

***

At home, Breaking Dawn washed the make-up off her face and the dye out of her mane and tail (it would not do for the Countess Mercedes to be seen wher she was going) and, once more looking herself, she headed into low-town Canterlot.

This was the poorer part of the city, with red slate roofs instead of golden spires, dull brick walls instead of gleaming marble. When these streets were empty, it was because the ponies who dwelled here where breaking their backs with labour. Yet even so she saw a few young fillies and colts playing the street, with soot-stained dolls or hopskotch tiles chalked on the paving slabs. Dawn dug a bit out from somewhere to give to a waifish looking matchstick filly, whose little brother was rolling mud-pies beside her.

She had grown up here, on the very Holloway Road into which Dawn had just turned, yet nopony seemed to know her. She had sold ribbons out of a cardboard box when she was a little filly, yet nopony seemed to remember, not the beggars, or the old mare sweeping her doorway, or anypony. Or maybe they just didn't want to speak. You learned to mind your business in low town.

I grew up here, and yet I rose out of this place as so few do, Dawn thought. I escaped on my own power, and rose to the top of the tallest tree in all Equestria. What has Twilight Sparkle done compared to that? What has she suffered compared to the struggle I have endured? What are her victories set against my triumph over life and circumstance?

She had not come home to reminisce upon the bad old days, before she had found a family in Princess Celestia and her friends, before she had known friendship's bliss. She had not come here since she became Celestia's student, with fortune she would never come here again. She had no little gang of hers she wished could see her now. No ties she had not severed. No memories she did not wish to forget. Only necessity drove her here.

Breaking Dawn was gratified to see that the place she remembered was still there: the rundown little apothecary's she had never dared to enter as a child. The faded sign, the low roof, the crumbling plaster on the wall all marked it as a failing place, the abode of a poor pony. And, being poor, Breaking Dawn would bet that here was a place would sell the poisons outlawed in Equestria beneath exile's threat. Desperate poverty would outweigh the dread of law. Dawn had not needed poison when first she had drawn those conclusions, but now she did and was glad of the place.

She pushed open the door and, in absence of a bell, shouted, "Hey! Apothecary!"

"Who shouts so loud?" the gaunt and aged stallion, white moustache drooping over his lip, shuffled out of the back room. "What business draws you here?"

"Concern yourself with your own business, leave me mine," Breaking Dawn replied. She ran one hoof over the herbs displayed in the dirty window. "Rosemary, that's for remembrace, yes? And pansies are for thoughts?"

"They have their purposes," the apothecary admitted nervously. "Do you wish a potion to sharpen your thoughts upon the vital point?"

"No, I have something else in mind," Breaking Dawn's horn glowed golden as she levitated a string of opals onto the counter. "I shall take these, and a certain potion I believe you have in the back, requiring rosemary and pansy and other things perverting their intended effect. A potion of thievery one might say: The Tears of Nightmare Moon."

The apothecary blanched, shifting from one hoof to the other, "Such perilous drugs I have, but Canterlot's law forbids the sale of them."

Breaking Dawn smiled, laying out a fat purse of bits upon the table, "Here's fifty bits for Canterlot's law. Will obeying it make you so rich? I know you need this money.

The apothecary hesitated, his eyes alighting with greed, and he laid his hoof upon the gold.

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

Chapter 4

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

Breaking Dawn ran.

"Stop, thief!" the angry shout of the guard behind her served only to spur Dawn on. Did anypony actually stop when they yelled like that?

Dawn vaulted over an impeccably trimmed hedgerow, the magic supporting the scone above her head wobbling a little as her hooves slammed into the grass. She looked back. Sunlight gleamed off the armour of the unicorn guards as they tore after her.

"All this for a scone?" Breaking Dawn gasped. She broke for the rose garden to the left. If she could get through there, cut through the ornamental ponds and then make it to the gazebo she had climbed down getting it. Then she'd be over the wall and─

"Gotcha!" a pegasus guard descended on her from on high, wrapping his hooves around her and lifting her up into the air in spite of all her thrashing and struggling. "You won't get away with this, street rat!"

"Hey, gimme a break why don't you? it was just something to eat!" Dawn said. "Let me go!"

The guard opened his mouth, but was interrupted by a high speed grey blur slamming into his face. Dawn fell to the ground, picking herself up in time to see Razor Wind jam the guard's helmet over his eyes and flutter backwards.

The grey pegasus grinned, "You're getting slow, sunshine."

"Says the girl who only showed up at the last minute."

"Just in the nick of time, Little Dawn," Razor scooped up the scone off the ground. "I know dirt adds to the flavour, but couldn't you get one with jam on?"

Dawn stared at her, but was spared having to say anything by a burst of magic from one of the pursuing unicorns.

"Let's get out of here," Razor and Dawn both fled, Dawn afoot and Razor on the wing. "The palace kitchen? Really?"

"I didn't plan this, I just wanted to see inside. But the smells from there..."

They trampled through the rosebeds, Breaking Dawn vaulting more hedges as Razor Wind flew over them. More guards joined the chase, coming in from ground and air in all directions. The ornamental ponds were denied them as pegasi dropped down in front of them to bar the way. They turned for the maze, but that was guarded too. There were just so many of them. Didn't they have better things to do?

"Are we lost?" Razor asked.

"No. Kind of. Yes."

They kept running, trying to stay one step ahead, until they ended up─

"The kitchen again! Aw, come on!" Dawn moaned.

Pegasi guards pounced, grabbing Razor Wind by the hooves and holding her up in the air while she struggled. Two earth ponies leapt on Dawn while other guards looked on.

"Get off, get off!" Dawn writhed upon the ground, reaching out to her friend. "Let go of her! Razor!"

"Dawn!"

"Razor Wind!" and in that moment her own voice seemed to fade to echo in Dawn's head, as the world dimmed and magic erupted from her.

The guards were hurled backwards like rag dolls by the power Breaking Dawn was putting forth. Razor Wind felt a hand batting her gently backwards, and all her cries to Dawn were in vain. For there was only the magic now, only the power, and she was nothing but a conduit for its unleashing. She─

"It's all right. You're safe now."

A mother's voice. A mother's hoof upon her shoulder. No, no Dawn knew that for a lie even as the magic faded from her horn and its influence receded from her mind. Her mother was not here, her mother was never there, she couldn't even remember what she sounded like.

And yet there was a hoof around her shoulders, there had been a voice, and there was a pony standing over her as Dawn opened her eyes, with a beatific smile that set her purple eyes a-glowing.

Princess Celestia was shimmering white. So white, whiter than the marble of the palace, more golden than her crown. She shone brighter than the sun, more radiant than a summer's day, more beautiful than the rarest flower or largest diamond. Rainbows would look dull by comparison with her shining mane. Dawn would drown in those eyes and be content with it.

Some of the guards recovered themselves, getting up off the ground amidst groans and growling, "Your Highness, this─"

"Stand off," Celestia snapped, and they dropped to their knees at once. Breaking Dawn gasped. Beautiful, kind, powerful too and loved by all. All the advantages a pony could possess combined in her, and she had defended Breaking Dawn.

Celestia looked down at her, "What is going on, young lady?"

Before this majesty Dawn could not lie, "I'm sorry Princess. I stole from your kitchen. I know it was wrong, but I was so hungry."

"I understand," Celestia said, and her embrace around Dawn's shoulder seemed tighter than before. "So long as you are sorry, then that is enough. I know that hard times make us do things we do not like, we do not wish to do. But forgiveness will always be given to those who seek it. Or so I hope. What is your name, young lady?"

"B-breaking Dawn," Dawn stammered.

Celestia knelt down, eye to eye with the young filly, "I have rarely met a unicorn as powerful as you are, Breaking Dawn. Would you like to come to my school, to learn from me as my personal student, and with my help fulfil your destiny?"

"Destiny?"

"Yes. You have great things in store you, and I will help you get there, if you let me."

"You mean you'll help me to be as powerful as you are, so that everypony will have to stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somepony?"

"I will guide you every step of the way," Princess Celestia promised.

I, I really am safe now. Is this what having a mom feels like?

Tears began to run down Dawn's face, "Thank you, Princess. Thank you so much."

Celestia leaned forward, nuzzling Breaking Dawn's neck with her nose, a pleasant hum arising from her lips. Dawn buried her face in the Princess' soft, oh so soft mane, letting it dry her tears as towel and pillow both.

I'll make you proud and happy Princess. Prouder than you've ever been.

***

Twilight Sparkle examined herself in the mirror, "Wow, you've really outdone yourself Rarity! Thank you!"

Rarity primped her hair with one hoof, "An artiste thrives upon compliments darling, they are nectar and ambrosia to a creative soul. Keep them coming."

The day had arrived. Fancypants had returned to Canterlot that day from Baltimare, bringing with him the zebra delegations from Quaggai and Grevyia. The visiting zebras had been sequestered in the guest wing of the Royal Palace, and the reception to welcome them to Equestria was tonight. Everypony who was anypony was going to be there, and speculation as to what these visitors from the reclusive southern lands would be like, and would do, had spread across Canterlot like a fever. So Twilight and friends were gathered in the palace dressing room, getting into the new gowns that Rarity had created for them.

Twilight's gown was midnight blue and sewn with tiny gems stitched into that glimmered in the candlelight, such that Twilight's entire dress seemed to be made of sparkles, or else to have been coated in diamond dust prior to her putting it on. The bustle was lavender, also the only part not to be sparkling, and the skirt was trimmed with pink the exact same shade as the badger's streak in her mane. Rarity had lined the neck with seed pearls, and Twilight's princess crown nestled atop her head, the Element of Magic proud upon it.

"It kind of sucks that Applejack can't be here," Rainbow Dash said, her eyes downcast. Applejack had written to them and said that unfortunately the zap apples had started sprouting, so there was no way she could leave Sweet Apple Acres just at the moment. She apologised, and hoped they had a good time without her.

"I know," Rarity sighed, getting up off the sofa. "And I had such plans for a magnificent gown as well. And it would have been so nice for us to have all been together again tonight. We've always attended these fancy functions together as a family, after all, and if we've always had fun at them I think that's been the cause."

"Even if the only fun we had was chilling out at Pony Joe's after we wrecked the actual party," Rainbow Dash sniggered.

"Yes, well I'm sure we'll have much better luck tonight," Rarity declared. "Or at least we certainly would if Applejack were here."

Pinkie nodded, "I'm sure she's having a lot of fun wherever she is. Back home. Without us. All alone." Pinkie Pie burst into floods of tears at the thought of Applejack's solitary exile.

"Pinkie Pie!" Rarity snapped. "Stop that at once, I won't have you ruining your gown by getting it all wet."

Twilight levitated over a handkerchief to dry Pinkie's tears, "We all miss Applejack, Pinkie Pie. Don't worry, as soon as we all get back to Ponyville we'll round up Applejack, go out someplace special together and paint the town, just the seven of us."

"Ooh, that'll be fun," Pinkie beamed.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Twilight called.

Spike entered, having accessorised his usual top hat and tails with a silver topped cane and a white scarf that hung around his neck but was not wrapped around anything, identifying its purpose as looking debonair rather than keeping him warm. He performed a brief soft-shoe shuffle across the lavender carpet, ending in his flourishing his hat and cane, "Pretty neat huh?"

Rainbow chuckled, "Spike, is that what you've been practicing alone in your room these last couple of weeks?"

"Well not just that," Spike replied defensively. "I can do lots more: I can foxtrot and tango and even do a bit of the quickstep besides the solo dances."

"So that's what the music at all hours has been about," Twilight said. "You weren't just listening to it, you were learning to dance."

"Yuh-huh," Spike nodded. "So, what do you think Rarity?"

"Very impressive Spike," Rarity said with a small smile. "But can you do it backwards wearing high heels?"

Spike looked very downcast, "I don't really─"

"Just kidding, Spikey-wikey," Rarity said. "You looked positively dashing."

A luminescent blush lit up Spike's face, "Um, anyway, the captain said that your carriage and escort are ready whenever you are."

"Escort, again?" Twilight face-hoofed. "They're not going to all march down to the palace with us are they?"

"Yup, and they're all going to wait for you to come back as well," Spike said.

"Ugh, is everypony ready?" Twilight asked, and found that her friends were all prepared. "Okay, let's go."

They all stepped out, looking radiant in Rarity's latest creations: Rarity herself wore a gown of shimmering samite, so closely matching the colour of her coat that it seemed as if she wore a second skin, with only golden trim around the bottom of the skirt and at the neck to emphasise it was a gown of surpassing beauty. Rainbow Dash's sky blue bodice was adorned with silver braid and buttons, and her black hat had a rainbow-coloured feather in it. Pinkie Pie's gown was yellow with blue trim, like the colours of her cutie mark, and Fluttershy was clad in a turquoise which matched her eyes. In line abreast they descended the grand staircase into the palace hallway, where a pair of liveried servants bowed at the doorway, and Spike opened the great doors of the palace for them.

"Attention!" Captain Lancer called, and the hooves of the Twilight Guard thudded onto the cobblestones in perfect unison. "You look lovely, Highness."

"Thanks," Twilight said. "Did you really need to assemble the whole company?"

"This is only half the company ma'am, the rest are staying behind to guard the palace," Captain Lancer said solidly.

"Right," Twilight cleared her throat and tried again. "Is it necessary to assemble half the company."

"Yes ma'am." Lancer replied, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Twilight frowned, "I don't suppose I could order you to─"

"No ma'am."

"Aren't I your princess?" Twilight asked in a tone rather piqued.

"Certainly are ma'am."

"Don't you have to do what I say?"

"Depends on what you say ma'am. If you tell me to charge to my death so you can get away from your enemies then I'll do it double quick. If you tell me to run away so you can face your enemies personally like, then I don't have to take a bit of notice. Now if you'll beg pardon ma'am, time is a wasting and I thought you wanted to arrive promptly?"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Okay, okay. Let's go girls, come on Spike."

They all piled into the Royal Carriage, the use of which Twilight only conceded to because walking across town would be very bad for their long, flowing gowns as they scraped on the pavement. They heard, but did not see, the carriage being harnessed to a pair of guardsponies.

"Right then," Captain Lancer called. "Company, at the trot, forward!"

"Make way, make way, for Princess Twilight Sparkle," the banner-mares called in their lyrical, sing-song voices. "The Princess Twilight cometh, make way, make way."

"Ugh," Twilight moaned, face-planting again.

"I don't know what you're so bothered by, Twilight darling," Rarity said, shuffling a little in the carriage to adjust the folds of her dress. "Why, I should be absolutely thrilled to spend my whole life in such luxury."

"Because it keeps me apart from other ponies," Twilight said. "They're a wall between me and the world and I don't want that. I spent my whole childhood separated from the rest of the world by a wall of books, and it wasn't until I arrived in Ponyville that that wall came down and I appreciated how much the world had to offer: friendship, adventure, the five of you." Twilight smiled, "I don't want another wall to go up now, I'm sick of them."

"Don't worry Twilight, it'll have to be a pretty big wall to keep us out," Rainbow Dash said.

"And all walls have doors in them somewhere," Rarity added. "After all it isn't as though you abandoned books as soon as you made friends."

"I'll say not," Rainbow laughed.

Twilight shook her head, but said nothing. What could she say, after all? You don't know what it's like to be me! Nopony can understand how hard my life is, wah! That would have been the worst kind of self-centred, self-pitying nonsense. The truth was, as long as they were still her friends, she could put up with any circumstance.

"So, you guys got any plans for the party?" she asked instead.

"Wonderbolts," Rainbow Dash said instantly.

"What a surprise," Rarity said.

"I'm hoping to get the inside track from Spitfire on whose going to make it to the reserve list from everypony who completed the academy course," Rainbow Dash ignored Rarity. "I still don't get why Princess Celestia didn't want them to perform at the party. She wouldn't even let me do a Sonic Rainboom!"

"Zebras don't appreciate flying the way we do," Twilight explained again. "There are no zebra pegasi, and its something that none of their wealth or status can obtain for them. I wouldn't like to say that they're jealous, but that's the impression I got from my reading. Despite their advancements in technology they've never even tried to develop flying capability, it's almost as though they want to ignore the sky completely."

"That's dumb, flying is the coolest thing ever," Rainbow Dash declared.

"Speak for yourself darling, I remember it being distinctly uncomfortable," Rarity murmured.

"Are you talking about the time you burned your own wings off and nearly fell to your death?" Pinkie asked. "Or the time that our balloon get wrecked by a tornado outside Wonderbolt Academy and we all nearly fell to our deaths? Or maybe you meant the time that you and I got─"

"Yes, Pinkie dear, any or all will do, thank you," Rarity cleared her throat loudly.

"Flying is okay if you enjoy it, I guess, but the guess has a lot of wonderful things to offer as well. If you don't have wings, you're not really missing out," Fluttershy murmured.

"May we talk about something else please?" Rarity asked. "Fluttershy dear, are you looking forward to tonight."

"Oh, yes, I'm hoping that if we make a good impression on the zebras then they'll invite us to visit their home in exchange when the talks are over," Fluttershy beamed. "I've found out so much about all the different kinds of animals they have in Quaggai I'd just love to meet them all: hippos and elephants and rhinos and leopards and lions oh my."

"Why would you want to meet lions when there are manticores in the Everfree forest?" Rainbow Dash asked. "They have scorpion tails, and they're bigger, much cooler. No I'm not gonna say it," she added as Pinkie blinked her eyelids expectantly, leaning in to catch the words.

"Every animal has their own fascinating story to tell Dash," Fluttershy remonstrated gently. "I'd just like to know what their lives are like."

The carriage slowed to a halt, "Princess Twilight, we've arrived."

The door opened, and the captain bowed as one by one the group exited the carriage: Spike first, followed by Pinkie Pie then Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash after, Rarity following and Twilight last.

The true Royal Palace was lit up like a Hearths Warming Tree, every window blazed with light, fireworks erupting on the lawn beside the moat. Ponies in fancy dresses and elaborate suits crossed over the bridge in swollen columns, thronging the reception area beyond.

Twilight glanced at Captain Lancer out of the side of her eye, "You're not going to follow me inside are you?"

"No ma'am, we shall wait here for you return."

"Aren't you going to get bored?"

"I brought a crossword puzzle, ma'am," Lancer said, in the same straight face he always wore so Twilight couldn't tell if he was joking or not, although she thought he was.

Twilight and her friends progressed inside, the crowds making way for them at the prompting of the Palace Guard, and passed through the crowded atrium and into the grand ballroom. The need to keep a large open space for the dance floor free meant that some of the party had already spilled out into the garden, as well as carrying on in the hallway below, but the skies had been kept clear for the occasion and the night air was cool, so nopony was losing out by going outside.

"Everypony sure is curious about the zebras, aren't they?" Fluttershy said.

"Well duh, friends from abroad are some of the coolest friends you can make!" Pinkie said.

Rainbow Dash scanned the crowd anxiously, "Hey, do any of you guys see the─"

"Officer on deck, ten-hut!"

Rainbow Dash snapped to at the sound of the command, at the same time that Fluttershy gave a startled 'meep' sound and hid behind one of the ornamental bonzai trees.

Spitfire gave a quiet chuckle as she moved to stand in front of Rainbow Dash, Soarin' at her side, "Nice moves, kid. Glad to know you've not lost your edge."

"Never, ma'am!"

Soarin' covered his mouth with one hoof so that nopony heard him giggling too loud. Spitfire just chuckled some more, "You're not in uniform now kid, and I'm not on duty. I was just messing with you." She rubbed her hoof in Rainbow's mane, which amused Twilight to see it greatly considering how often she had seen Rainbow Dash do the exact same thing to Scootaloo. Every teacher is somepony's student.

"Come on," Spitfire said. "You wanna get something to eat? Soarin' here's about to starve to death."

"Funny captain, real funny," Soarin' said. "So Rainbow Dash, how you been? I haven't seen you since Princess Cadance's wedding..." the three of them walked off together in the direction of the nearest buffet table, immersed in conversation.

Twilight's other friends soon dispersed in different directions as well: Rarity to go and talk to some pony noble she knew from her last stay in Canterlot, Pinkie Pie to grab a slice of a truly epic looking cheesecake, and Fluttershy to take a turn around the garden. Twilight herself soon spotted Shining Armour and Cadence, down from the Crystal Empire to represent its interests with the zebras, standing by the great golden alicorn statue that dominated the ballroom, sipping out of silver goblets. She trotted briskly over to them.

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake,
Tap your hooves and do a little shake!"

Twilight and Cadance laughed, not caring who heard them or who looked at them funny. They were princesses and old friends both and if that did not give them the right to behave like eccentrics once in a while then what would? Besides, Princess Celestia used her royal perogative to behave strangely right up to the hilt, so Twilight would use it too once in a while. She hugged Cadance, the warm embrace of her old foalsitter's hooves melting away her nerves at the night, before nuzzling noses with her BBBFF.

"So, how's the princess thing working out Twily?" Shining Armour asked.

Twilight shrugged, "Nopony has risen up to tear me off my throne yet so I guess I'm doing okay."

Cadance laughed, "Yeah, those first few weeks are tough. If the Crystal Ponies hadn't been so obliging I don't think I ever would have made it. That and your help of course. Your big brother, on the other hoof, absolutely loves it."

"I do not!"

"Part of his job as prince is to command the Crystal Knights," Cadance continued. "And he reviews them nearly ever day. I swear he enjoys having them bow to him."

"That is not true!"

"When he first became an officer," Twilight said, "he put on his armour and walked all around Canterlot hoping somepony would salute him."

"Really?" Cadance asked as she looked at Shining Armour archly.

"I should just disappear when you two get together shouldn't I?" Shining Armour asked.

"We love you anyway," Cadance smiled.

At that moment Octavia and her band, who had been playing unobtrusive, soft music, began to play a dance, a tune Twilight recognised as a solemn waltz of old Unicornia.

Shining Armour held out his foreleg, "Shall we?"

Cadance entered gracefully into the hold, and the pair were the first to step out onto the dancefloor. Twilight herself remained behind, levitating over a goblet of punch for herself and sipping out of it. She would not dance, not tonight. Instead she merely watched as her brother and his wife were joined by two unicorn mares: one golden in an emerald dress literally sewn with emeralds and a pale white unicorn in blue. Twilight found herself watching those two, even as other couples entered onto the floor. They did not seem like Lyra and Bon-Bon back in Ponyville, they did not have the look of two ponies lost in each others eyes the way that Shining Armour and Cadance did, but they were clearly having a lot of fun nevertheless.

When the waltz ceased Cadance and Shining Armour stayed on the floor for the next dance, a quickstep, but the other couple, whose progress had carried them very near to Twilight, stopped to sit that one out. The white pony was breathing very heavily, and took what looked to be a sorely needed drink.

Meanwhile the golden unicorn, wearing a fox-face mask that showed only her bright green eyes, sought out Twilight. "You do not dance, Your Highness?" she purred in an accent Twilight could not place.

"You wouldn't ask that if you'd ever seen me dance," Twilight said. "There are times when it's okay to dance badly, provided that you don't mind looking silly; but this isn't an occasion where I want people to get the wrong impression of me."

"Of course, of course," the unicorn said. "Forgive me I have been very rude, my name is Countess Mercedes Zaccone. And you are the Princess Twilight Sparkle, no? I am honoured to make your acquaintance, Your Highness." the countess curtsied.

"Um, pleased to meet you," Twilight said. "Wait, did you buy your dress from my friend Rarity? I think she mentioned you."

"Indeed. I am so pleased to know I left an impression," Mercedes said. "But I intrude, I am sure you wish to be alone for a while, since you will be so very busy for so long tonight and for such a long time to come, with the zebras."

"Thank you for being so understanding," Twilight said, glad that she would not be forced to appear rude. "But if you are going to be staying in Canterlot for a while I'm sure we'll meet again."

"I am so glad you think so," Mercedes said, bowing. "We shall become so close you and I. I feel as though we have so much in common."

Trumpets rang out, long calls echoing through the palace, signalling the arrival of-

"Princess Celestia," Twilight said.

"Princess Celestia," the countess murmured.

The atmosphere in the ballroom hardened almost, formalised certainly, and ponies were scrambling to clear the dance floor even before Princess Celestia strode in. She glowed majestic, lighting up the room far more than all the chandeliers and candelabras in the palace, light gleaming off her golden crown and necklace. Everypony bowed at her passage, noses touching the spotless floor. Twilight bowed too, her eyes closing as she abased herself before her old teacher.

"Twilight," Twilight opened her eyes at the same time as she raised her head, sharing the briefest touch of noses with Celestia before the latter stood upon more upon her full height. "I'm so glad that I'll have somepony at my side tonight who is on my side. And who is this?"

Countess Mercedes was staring at Celestia with wide eyes, eyes that Twilight was amazed to see had tears in them. She stammered, "I...B...C-"

Twilight rescued her, "This is the Countess Mercedes Zaccone, a newcomer to Canterlot to visit old friends."

"Ah, I see," Celestia said brightly. "Welcome milady. I hope you have a wonderful stay in our fair city. I'm afraid I must take Twilight from you now. Come, Twilight, the ambassadors are about to arrive."

Twilight followed Celestia to the centre of the room, as palace guards entered to clear a way through the crowds of guests for the ambassadors to arrive. Discord had been persuaded to take a holiday for the duration of the zebra visit, purely to prevent 'misunderstandings' and had gone off muttering something about somewhere called the delta quadrant, where there was apparently somepony 'even icier than Celestia' in Discord's words. Tonight was one of Princess Luna's nights in the dream world, so she could not be present for the historic first meeting either. So it was only Twilight stood at Celestia's right leg, representatives of Equestria in the face of its visitors. On careful thought, Twilight wondered if the absence of Luna might be in some part deliberate, so as not to frighten the zebras with too many alicorns all at once. That would explain why Cadance hadn't joined them also.

Everyone hushed, the whole room, maybe the whole palace, falling silent upon the arrival of these visitors from lands far off and little known.

After keeping everypony in suspense for such a long time Twilight began to suspect they were doing it on purpose, Sir Fancypants and his wife Fleur de Lys appeared in the ballroom.

"Your Highness, Ladies and Gentlecolts," Fancypants bowed, "I have the great honour to present, the representative plenipotentiary and ambassador extraordinary from the Principality of Quaggai: Princess Sophoniba."

Fancypants and his wife stood aside and a tall zebra, about of a height with Zecora or maybe a little taller, strode in. A male zebra, a little taller, followed just a step behind her, with two more zebras five steps behind. Princess Sophoniba strode forwards with head high as though she were not the object of every pony's undivided attentions, her hoofbeats on the marble floor echoing across the ballroom.

She stopped, five paces from Celestia, and nodded, "I see your face, Celestia of the pony folk;
You I see it still, I will not fear the yolk.
I bring you greetings from Aia, my sister royal,
A hope that friendship may spring out of toil."

Celestia nodded graciously, "That is my hope also, Princess Teuta. My water and my shade alike are yours, so long as you wish them." That was not the exact phrasing of the hospitality offering Twilight had found, but doubtless Princess Celestia did not wish to be seen to be merely parroting words she did not understand.

Sophoniba gestured to her companions,
"This here is Massinissa, husband dear,
To keep me safe he ventured with me here.
My aides are Micipsa and Safonbal,
Brought with me from our - smaller - royal hall."

The two aides bowed, "Honoured majesty." They would not rhyme. Twilight had discovered in her research that only the kin of clan chiefs or higher spoke in rhyme; which raised some interesting questions about Zecora come to think of it.

Sophoniba nodded to Celestia again, and then led her delegation in stepping to one side

Sir Fancypants voice again rang out, "And I also have the great distinction of naming the the representative plenipotentiary and ambassador extraordinary from the Most Ancient and August Empire of Grevyia, Lord Mathos of Aethiope."

The Imperial zebras of Grevyia were larger and more powerfully built than the plains zebras of Quaggia. So Twilight had read, and so Lord Mathos proved as he stomped his way into the hall with his train behind him. A yellow mask, decorated with crimson stripes, concealed his entire face, even his eyes could not be clearly made out from behind it. A yellow sash hung across his chest, and a red cloak hung behind him. His train was larger than Princess Sophoniba's, including a zebra with a pair of javelins slung across his back and a large, hulking southern buffalo with a scowl upon his face.

"Honoured Celestia," Lord Mathos said, and Twilight's teeth were set on edge at once by the way he addressed the princess with the term used between Grevyian equals, when by rights he should have addressed her as 'revered' befitting a lesser addressing his greater. "I have travelled far and endured much discomfort," he shot a dirty look at the Quaggai zebras, "In order to bring you the words of His Augustness Iarbas the Tenth, He Who Is Grevyia, the Watcher of the Sands, the Bringer of the Waters, Master of the Five Herds and the Twelve Cities, May He Live Forever; but when I arrive I am forced to wait behind these upstart barbarians of Quaggai! It is intolerable!"

"I do not see your face, Mathos, Lord of Aethiope,
And so of trusting you I've little hope," Sophoniba snarled.

"The Most Ancient Empire has not travelled so far to be insulted," Mathos said, ignoring Sophoniba completely.

Twilight wanted to cast a spell on him. Just as the highborn of Quaggai spoke in rhyme, so the High Blood of Grevyia spoke in verse amongst themselves, but when addressing the commonfolk some would use the same prose the commoners used. From what she had read doing so was considering patronising in the extreme. And he was speaking to Princess Celestia like that! Talk about intolerable!

Celestia must have guessed what Twilight was thinking, for she first shook her head at Twilight and then spoke, "For insults we have given we hold out sorrow,
'Twas never our intent to offence give,
We our ourselves a somewhat upstart land,
Being a youth of but a thousand years,
And being young are oft times ignorant
Of courtesies that elder nations know,
Yet just as doting grandparents forgive,
Grandchildren foolish actions and their noise,
We hope you too, Most Ancient Grevyia,
Will pardon the young follies of Equestria."

Twilight Sparkle smiled. Princess Celestia, having addressed Lord Mathos as an equal or inferior, had left him no way to respond in prose without acknowledging that he was indeed beneath her.

"Of insults passed and gone we'll speak no more," Lord Mathos growled.
"Yet take care no more offence comes before."

Princess Celestia knelt down to whisper in Twilight's ear, "I think it's going to be a long night."

***

"Are you sure that I can't come with you?" Razor Wind asked for the third time.

"Absolutely sure," Dawn replied as she pulled on the long emerald green opera socks for her front feet. "There are times I can have a servant with me, but this isn't one of them."

"I could sneak in," Razor suggested.

"You know how many guards there are going to be around the palace tonight?" Dawn asked, holding her face mostly still while Candy did her makeup.

"I could sneak in, I've done it before."

"And got caught."

Razor frowned, "I don't like you going in there with only Laurel to back you up. No offence Laurel."

"None taken darling, but believe me if we find ourselves in need of your help the situation will have become irredeemable anyway," Laurel remarked, putting the finishing touches to her own dress. She wore her mane in a twist on top of her head, secured by a hairband of the same blue as her gown.

"Now remember," Candy said. "Once you start the performance you can't let it down until the curtain falls. I mean until you're back here. Nothing breaks the audience out of their disbelief faster than seeing the actor peak through the part. And you're all done."

Dawn examined herself in the mirror, "Great job Candy. It's almost a pity I have to wear this mask, but better safe than sorry." She levitated her fox mask onto her face.

"Dawn," Cherry Blossom spoke up, her voice tremulous, "is this, is it really necessary? I mean, the princess hasn't done anything to you."

"This will make the thief suffer," Dawn replied. "And more importantly I'll never beat her while she has the support of all her friends and family. They are the props holding her up, we need to knock those props down."

"But they're innocent props," Cherry said. "The Princess is innocent."

"That's why I'm not doing anything permanent to her," Dawn said. "I promise Cherry, as soon as I've won I'll undo all the effects and she'll be back to normal." Assuming my victory comes slowly enough. The Tears of Nightmare Moon, a vial of which was concealed inside her bodice, didn't actually have an antidote that anyone was aware of, but Laurel was on the case and Dawn was sure that she would come up with something in time.

The door opened and Hardy came in, her dress swishing behind her, "Countess, your carriage awaits."

Dawn smiled, switching into the Mercedes' accent, "Then lead on Hardy, my dear friend."

***

Nopony challenged their presence as Dawn and Laurel made their way through the halls and into the ballroom.

"It's a good thing I've been here before or I doubt I could restrain myself from admiring the luxury," Dawn said.

"That would give the game away," Laurel hissed back.

The ballroom was crowded with glittering ponies, some of whom paused to offer polite greeting to the Countess Mercedes, guest of the infamous lawyer Hardy Bloom. Dawn acknowledged them politely, but briefly. She caught sight of the lavender usurper, standing across the ballroom talking to her brother and the crystal princess.

"I don't suppose you've given thought to how you're going to get it to her?" Laurel whispered into her ear.

"I know exactly how," Dawn replied. It was at that point that the waltz started up, and Dawn was filled with a sudden rush of impetuous feeling. She grinned. As Shining Armour and Cadance began to dance, Dawn stepped onto the dance floor and held out her hoof to Laurel, "Madame, if you would so honour me?"

Laurel's eyes widened in surprise, "Milady, what are you doing?"

"Why, asking you to dance, of course," Dawn said. "Come on, it will be the like the Last Ball, only better because I'm here." The Last Ball for graduates was, by august tradition, held in the palace rather than the school and Dawn had missed it on account of being expelled. From what she understood Laurel hadn't had much fun there either.

Laurel regarded Dawn's outstretched hoof hesitantly. Then she giggled, "Oh why not." She stepped into Dawn's hold.

A governess did not have much occasion to dance, and Laurel's form and movements were a little stiff. Breaking Dawn had always been good on her feet however, as quick to pickup a foxtrot as a ciderhouse reel, and she kept Laurel on her feet without seeming to embarrass her by the difference in quality between them. They glided over the dancefloor, the subject of some whispers but not too many, weaving in and out amongst the other partners.

"I waited so many years for somepony to hold me like this," Laurel whispered. "I never thought it would be you."

"Is it worth the wait?"

"Oh definitely," Laurel said. "You're an excellent dancer. You deserve a better partner."

"You're the best partner I could ask for," Dawn leaned in, her head touching Laurel's own. "You look beautiful tonight."

"I look average where I normally look plain," Laurel replied.

"No," Dawn said firmly. "You're beautiful. In my eyes at least."

Laurel laughed, "Keep this up Dawny and you'll turn me red."

"Thank you," Dawn said, touching the tip of Laurel's horn with her own. "I couldn't do this without you."

When the music stopped Dawn felt quite energised, but Laurel was nearly out of breath so while she got a drink she desperately needed Breaking Dawn sought out her enemy.

"You do not dance, Your Highness?" she purred.

"You wouldn't ask that if you'd ever seen me dance," her nemesis said. "There are times when it's okay to dance badly, provided that you don't mind looking silly; but this isn't an occasion where I want people to get the wrong impression of me."

"Of course, of course," Dawn replied, seeing through the self-deprecation at once. "Forgive me I have been very rude, my name is Countess Mercedes Zaccone. And you are the Princess Twilight Sparkle, no? I am honoured to make your acquaintance, Your Highness." the countess curtsied.

"Pleased to meet you," Twilight said in a smug, superior tone. "Wait, did you buy your dress from my friend Rarity? I think she mentioned you."

"Indeed. I am so pleased to know I left an impression," Dawn said. I'll make such an impression on you that you won't ever forget me. "But I intrude, I am sure you wish to be alone for a while, since you will be so very busy for so long tonight and for such a long time to come, with the zebras."

"Thank you for being so understanding," Twilight said, sounding even more patronising than before. "But if you are going to be staying in Canterlot for a while I'm sure we'll meet again."

"I am so glad you think so," Dawn's back protested out of pride as she forced herself to bow. "We shall become so close you and I. I feel as though we have so much in common." Because you stole it all from me!

Trumpets rang out, long calls echoing through the palace, signalling the arrival of-

"Princess Celestia," Twilight said.

"Princess Celestia," Dawn murmured. The moment she had both dreaded and longed for had arrived.

Princess Celestia glided into the ballroom as all the toadies and the flunkies rightfully made way for her. She was as beautiful, as radiant, as Dawn remembered. There was no need for her to raise the sun, all Celestia need do was walk in its absence to give them day, she shone so much. Her coat was brilliant as a million diamonds shining. Her mane shimmered like the sea, was softer than spring grass, was more beautiful than either. Her teacher, her princess, they were reunited after all this time. She was so close Dawn wanted to reach out and touch her, and all the while her beauty, her splendid radiance, that majesty that fell from Princess Celestia like gentle raindrops from the clouds reduced Breaking Dawn to tears.

Notice me, Dawn pleaded in her head. See through the mask, penetrate the disguise, see me for who I am. Show that you remember me, and then you can do as you like: you can banish me, you can lock me up, you can hold me in your hooves and say we'll never be apart again, anything so long as you don't ignore me. You can do anything, provided you show that the time we spent together meant as much to you as it did to me.

"Twilight," Of course it was her the princess greeted. "I'm so glad that I'll have somepony at my side tonight who is on my side. And who is this?"

Dawn found that, between wanting Princess Celestia to discover her and wanting to revenge herself on Twilight, her tongue was all tied up, "I...B...C-"

"This is the Countess Mercedes Zaccone, a newcomer to Canterlot to visit old friends," her robber spoke, and Dawn wanted to strangle her. How dare you speak for me! I knew the princess when you would have sold your tail for a glance from her!

"Ah, I see," Celestia said. "Welcome milady. I hope you have a wonderful stay in our fair city. I'm afraid I must take Twilight from you now. Come, Twilight, the ambassadors are about to arrive."

And then she was gone.

Laurel joined Dawn at her side, "For a moment there I thought you were going to blow it."

"For a moment I was," Dawn said. "Here, stand close to me so nopony can see. I'm doing it now." Levitating over a cup of punch, Dawn took the vial of poison from her bodice and, deftly and quick as she could, poured it in her drink.

As the second group of ambassadors were being shown in, Dawn began to back through the crowd, occasionally glancing behind her to make sure she was on course, until she felt something on the back of her dress, first a force, then liquid, and heard a cry of surprise.

"Oh I am so sorry," she said in her countess accent, turning around to see Princess Cadance, her cup on the floor and her drink both there and on Dawn's dress. "A thousand apologies for not looking where I was going. I was so distracted by meeting the princess, even for a moment, that I quite forgot─"

"It's all right, really," Cadance said, smiling. "Celestia has that effect on a lot of ponies."

"Oh but it is not all right, I have spilled your drink. Here you must take mine," Dawn held out her own cup. "I have not touched it I promise, it is quite all right."

"Are you sure? I could get another─"

"No no, I made the error, I will go," Dawn said. "Please, I insist. I will have no peace until you take it."

"Thank you, that is very kind of you," Cadance said, taking over the levitation of the cup.

"You were talking to Twilight earlier," Shining Armour said. "Do you two known each other?"

"Not yet know, but I think in future she will come to know me much better," Dawn restrained a smile as Cadance drank.

***

It was very late that night when Shining Armour found his way to his bed in the guest wing of the palace. His replacement and former subordinates had entertained him to drinks in the mess after the ball and all their duties were completed, by way of a welcome home. Twily had asked Cadance to supper with her and her friends, but his wife had begged off, claiming a headache. She was already asleep when Shining Armour pushed open the door to the bedroom, her face beautifully serene as she lay under the sheet.

As gently as he could, Shining Armour levitated one half of the bedsheet up and climbed into bed beside her.

He felt his wife wake. Cadance went very stiff, very still, then very slowly she turned over to look at him.

Then she screamed.

Shining Armour leapt out of one side of the bed almost as fast Cadance leapt out of the other.

"What are you doing in my room? What are you doing in my bed?"

"Cadance, it's me," Shining Armour said. "Shining Armour, your husband, remember?"

"No, I don't remember," Cadance shrieked. "If I remembered I wouldn't be terrified of you. Stay away from me! Where am I? What's going on? Who are you?"

Author's Note

The chapter title comes from the Miss Marple mystery entitled 'The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side' (itself a reference to Tennyson's The Lady of Shallot) in which the murderer poisons her own drink then gives it to the victim having spilled said victim's own drink.

Challenge Accepted

Chapter 6

Challenge Accepted

Twilight Sparkle hid under the bed.

Her mother sighed in maternal exasperation, "Twilight Sparkle we've been over this. Come out, you have to stop acting like a baby."

"I don't want a foalsitter," Twilight yelled, cradling Smartypants in her hooves. "I want you Mommy."

"I know you do sweetie, but I have to work just like Daddy does. You're a big girl now and I can't spend all day taking care of you any more. And Shining Armour has to go to school," Mommy knelt down and peered under the bed to look her daughter in the eye. "I promise we've found a wonderful foalsitter if you'll just give her a chance."

"No!"

"Is she still not coming out?" Shining Armour asked. A moment later his head appeared under the bed, and with a series of grunts and winces he squeezed himself in there beside his little sister.

"Hey Twily. So, you're still upset about being left alone huh?"

Twilight frowned, "I don't want you to go."

"Twily, have I ever lied to you?"

"Nope. You're my BBBFF."

"Then when I say you'll have a great time with your foalsitter, you believe me right?"

Twilight blinked, "I guess..."

Shining Armour smiled, "Come on, let's get out of here before you catch something."

With her mommy on one side, and her BBBFF on the other, Twilight was led out of her bedroom and into the parlour. There, a pink alicorn was waiting; her pink, purple and gold mane tied back in a ponytail with an aquamarine ribbon.

"Thank you so much, Your Highness," Mommy said.

"Oh, it's nothing," Her Highness said. "I'm just happy to have something to do. I'll take good care of your daughter."

Twilight's mom and brother made their goodbyes, and Twilight Sparkle was left alone with this pink alicorn.

"Hello, my name is Cadance," Cadance smiled, kneeling down so that she and Twilight were of a height. "What's your name?"

"Twilight Sparkle," Twilight murmured.

"It's very nice to meet you Twilight Sparkle. And whose this?"

"Smartypants."

"I think that name suits him," Cadance said.

Twilight looked away, "Why did Mommy call you Your Highness."

Cadance blushed a little, "Because, now you have to promise to keep this is a secret between us, because I'm a princess."

Twilight gasped, "Really?"

"Yeah, really," Cadance said nervously.

"Does that mean you know Princess Celestia?"

"Kind of, a little bit," Cadance said.

Twilight's eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open, "But I, how can my foalsitter be a real princess?"

"Because," Cadance tiptoed closer to Twilight so that they were practically cheek to cheek as she whispered to her. "Every princess has a special pony who is their very best friend. That pony can call them by their real name, and never has to bow, and the princess shares all of her secrets with them. Would you like to be my friend, Twilight?"

Awestruck, Twilight nodded.

Cadance beamed, "I'm so glad. Now, what I'm about to show you will be our secret dance so that we can always recognise one another, no matter what."

She began to bounce up and down upon the tips of her hooves, "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake.
Tap your hooves and do a little shake!"

***

Hurricane Hospital, named in offer of the famous pegasus commander, was the premier hospital in all of Canterlot. Twilight remembered, when she was little, having to stay a week here when she had the pony-pox. That had been in the foals' ward, a bright and colourful place she and her friends had passed on their way through the hospital. There were stuffed toys on every bed, the walls were painted with pictures of balloons and happy animals. Windows let in the sunlight and a good view of the flowers in the garden outside. It looked like the kind of place Pinkie would have been right at home in.

But they had passed that place by, and entered into the psychiatric ward. Here there were no colourful pictures, no stuffed animals, no balloons. The walls were lifeless grey, the floors stony-coloured, the only windows were the two-way mirrors into the sealed rooms. No flowers grew here, nor any kind of fun or happiness either.

This is a tomb, where only misery reigns.

"I don't like this place, Twilight," Pinkie Pie murmured as she followed Twilight through the corridors. "There isn't any joy in this whole place. Everypony is so sad, even the air is crying. I don't like it Twilight, there's too much pain here, just too much."

Twilight noticed that her childlike friend's mane was starting to deflate a little, "It's okay Pinkie, you can go back to the palace if you want to."

Pinkie Pie shook her head, though there were the beginnings of tears in her eyes, "I'll come. I won't leave you."

Twilight nodded, "Thank you."

Fluttershy put one hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. It was an inauspicious start.

An orderly led them to where Princess Celestia and Shining Armour were waiting, outside one of the sealed rooms with melancholy expressions on their faces.

Twilight stood nearly pressed against the glass of the two way mirror, looking inside.

Cadance was huddled in the corner of the sterile white, room, hugging her own legs, trying to make herself seem small.

"What is this place," she moaned. "Where am I? Who am I? Will somepony please tell me who I am?"

"For pity's sake, you could have told her her own name," Rainbow Dash snapped angrily.

The doctor's voice was calm, clinical and as sterile as Cadance's room as he responded, "We tried. More than once. She has complete amnesia of her past, and although she can create new memories it appears that she cannot create memories relating to identity or history. The Princess has not responded to any of our attempts at treatment."

"No," Princess Celestia said. "She won't. The Tears of Nightmare Moon have no known antidote."

They were all there. All gathered to look at the empty shell that had been their friend, the coolest foalsitter ever, Princess Cadance. Behind them, oblivious to Cadance's plight, two hospital orderlies mopped the grey corridor floor.

Twilight looked up at Celestia, "The Tears of Nightmare Moon?"

"A rare poison, it strips the victim of all memories of their life beyond recall," Celestia said. "I would guess that it was administered to Cadance sometime during or after the reception. No cure or antidote has ever been documented."

"No," Shining Armour moaned. "No, she can't stay like this forever. She can't! I need to be with her."

"I wouldn't advise it," the doctor said. "You'll probably just alarm her again."

For a few moments, silence reigned over the corridor but for the sound of slopping water and mops gently weaving their way along.

Twilight frowned, "Princess, may I go in. I have an idea I'd like to try."

Celestia nodded, not speaking.

The sceptical looking doctor opened the door for her, and Twilight walked slowly into the room.

"Hello," she said. "My name is Twilight Sparkle."

"Hello," Cadance said, even her voice sounding hollow. "That's a pretty name."

Twilight tried to smile, but was afraid her reaction came out more as a rictus grin. Recovering, she said, "I'm going to cast a spell on you; I promise that it won't hurt, but I don't want you to worry, okay?"

"What will it do?"

"Make you better, I hope," Twilight said. "Do I have your permission?"

"Whatever you want," Cadance said vacantly.

Twilight frowned, leaned forward until her hoof was touching Cadance's forehead, and cast the memory spell she had used to overcome Discord's malign influence upon her friends.

Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake...she poured her memories of Cadance through the spell...how could I ever forget the filly I loved to sit for most?...memories of the days they'd shared...my love will give you strength...the adventures they had had...it's the Crystal Princess!...all the things that tied them together...Would you like to be my friend, Twilight Sparkle?

The spell ended, and Twilight saw a spark in Cadance's eyes, a spark of Cadance she knew and loved, "Twilight! It feels as though I've been asleep for days, where am I? Is this a hospital, how did I get here?"

Twilight nearly laughed with relief, "You remember me?"

"Of course I remember you, what are you," the light began to dim in Cadance's eyes, "how could I not, how could I; I'm sorry, do I know you?"

For a moment, Twilight was too shocked, too stunned, too defeated to speak. Her mouth hung open until it must have looked as though she, not Cadance, was the one with the problem. Finally she shook her head, "No, no you don't. I'm sorry."

"That's a pity. I bet we could have been great friends."

Twilight smiled sadly, "Yeah. Maybe in another life. I'm sorry, but I should go."

She turned away, the door opening for her. As she made to leave Cadance said, "Do you know where I am?"

Twilight hesitated, "No. I'm afraid I've no idea where you are."

She waited until the door had closed behind her before she started crying.

A pair of pale yellow legs enfolded her, a lilac mane falling over her face. Fluttershy, who said nothing and held absolutely still while Twilight sobbed out her spirit.

"She's always been there for me, ever since I was a filly," Twilight said. "And now, now that she really needs me, there's nothing I can do. What's the point of these wings, huh? Or my crown? What's the point of being a princess if I can't even help my friends when they really need it? Why doesn't anypony say anything?"

"I'd say anything to make you feel better," Fluttershy said softly. "If there was anything I could say."

Rainbow Dash growled, "So that's it? There's nothing we can do? Cadance is going to be stuck that way forever, and nopony can do a thing about it. And it isn't even some kind of accident. Some jerk made her this way. What kind of twisted freak would do something like that?" She kicked one of the buckets of the cleaning mares, sending soapy water flying everywhere. The golden unicorn mare gasped, averting her face. Rainbow Dash pounded her head against the wall.

"It isn't fair," she said. "It isn't right. Why does stuff like this happen?"

Pinkie sobbed silently, Rarity comforting her.

"Is there really nothing we can do?" Spike asked.

"There's something I can do," Shining Armour said, his voice thick with anger. "I'm going to find the ponies responsible."

"That won't help Cadance get better," Twilight replied.

"And what will?"

"I'm going to find a cure," Twilight declared. "Whatever it takes, I'll save Cadance." She looked to Celestia, "Princess, I'm afraid I won't be able to help you with the zebras as much as I thought. I have to put Cadance first, I'm sorry."

"I understand completely," Celestia said with a nod.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Fluttershy asked, releasing her a little from her hug.

Twilight laughed hollowly, "I created new magic, remember? I've done things no other unicorn thought possible. If I can't do this, then who can?"

"I know you will, I believe in you, Twilight," Shining Armour said. "But I need to find who did this to her. I have to do something, she's my wife."

"All the resources of the guard are at your disposal," Celestia said.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Shining Armour bowed stiffly.

Twilight Sparkle turned to address her friends, "I don't know how much help you can be to me in looking for a cure. Experimentation, trial and error, these are one pony jobs. And I don't know how much time I'll have for you in the next few weeks. So, if you aren't going to go home, I think that the best way you could help is by helping Princess Celestia in my stead."

"Really?" Rarity asked.

"I think that's a very good idea," Celestia said. "I am certain that you will all be invaluable."

"But you'll still need your number one assistant, right?" Spike asked.

Twilight nodded, "Right."

***

A little while later, Twilight sat in the hospital reception area. The smell of cleaning fluids filled up her nostrils, she was surrounded on all sides by sick ponies waiting to be seen, or anxious loved ones waiting to visit. Outside the door somepony was having a tear-filled breakdown, screaming to the sky at her misfortunes. It seemed indecent even to be listening to the litany of her grief, yet she had chosen so public a place that it could not be avoided.

She did not even have anypony to talk to: they had been at the hospital since late last night, dawn was only now peaking over the horizon, and her friends were getting breakfast for everypony. She was all alone.

"Twilight?"

Twilight looked up, "Fluttershy? I thought you were with everypony else─"

"I asked them to wait a minute, so that we could talk," Fluttershy said, settling with a quick flap of wings into the chair next to Twilight. For a moment they did not look at another, taking in the waiting area with its faded red carpet, beige foam chairs and plastic tables laden with ancient threadbare magazines. The sound of coughs and sneezes played background to the absence of their conversation.

"I kind of think that all hospital receptions look alike," Fluttershy murmured. "Don't you think? Or feel alike anyway."

"I wouldn't know," Twilight said. "I haven't spent that much time in hospitals."

"I spent lots of time in a few of them, when my mom...got sick," Fluttershy said. "Even in this very hospital; it was the nearest place which had the right kind of specialist she needed to see."

Twilight hesitated. She had known about Fluttershy's situation, about her parents, but they had never talked about it like this. She proceeded tentatively, "Was it, was it hard?"

"I don't think it can ever be easy," Fluttershy said. "I don't think it should be easy." She bowed her head, her mane falling to obscure her face, "But yeah, it got pretty bad sometimes. Having to see her so...I didn't recognise her sometimes."

Twilight blinked, "So what did you do?"

"I stopped going to school," Fluttershy said. "I started skipping flight training. Dad was too busy and upset to notice that I was never leaving the house, not talking to anypony. I think I would have kept doing that for a long time, if it hadn't been for Rainbow Dash."

"Rainbow Dash?"

Fluttershy nodded, "Yes. One day, one particularly bad day, I was in my room when Rainbow Dash flew in through the window and demanded to know where I'd been for the last couple of weeks.
"I got very angry, and I was very rude to her. I told her she couldn't understand what I was going through, that she shouldn't butt in where she wasn't wanted. I asked her what she was even doing here anyway, bothering me about stupid stuff that I didn't care about. I asked her why she'd come.
"And Rainbow Dash seemed so hurt as she looked me in the eye and said 'Because I'm your best friend, and if I was in trouble you'd be the first person I went too for help.'"

"What happened after that?" Twilight asked.

"I don't remember much after I started crying," Fluttershy confessed. "But I remember that, though it got pretty bad sometimes, it was never quite so bad or so unbearable after that."

Twilight tentatively reached out and touched Fluttershy's hoof, "I won't make that mistake."

"I know," Fluttershy said.

"Thank you."

Fluttershy smiled, "For what?"

***

Shining Armour left the hospital ahead of his sister, trotting down the stone steps and into the plaza. As it was very early morning, there were few ponies about, most of them night-shift workers heading home for their well earned rest. The presence of Lancer surprised him though, sitting expectantly at the foot of the hospital steps. Shining Armour's former mentor, now captain of his sister's guard by some strange coincidence, was wearing his armour, burnished to catch the dawn's rising rays, and he stood up as his old chief and even older protege drew near.

"I'm sure Twilight will be out soon," Shining Armour said.

"I'm glad to hear it, but I'm not here for the Princess," Lancer replied. "I've delegated that task to my lieutenant for today. I'm here for you."

"I don't understand."

"Come on boy, your wife's laid up till who knows when. You'd have to be made of iron not to be shaken up by that, and you're not made of iron by any length. One of your better points that. I know you boy, I taught you everything you know. I know how this has to be eating you."

"Then you don't know me as well as you think," Shining Armour said abruptly, but found his ability to push past hampered by Lancer's firm grip.

"I know what you're doing," Lancer said. "I taught you how to do it remember: never let them see your fear, never show your nerves, hold it all inside your armour and keep your face straight and your ears up. Well that's all well and good, but you can't hold it in forever, not if you want there to be room when you really need it. So come on, while nopony can see. There's only me here, and I won't think less of you."

Shining Armour stared at him for a moment, then he gave out a piteous wail like a bird returning to its nest to find the eggs smashed and the chicks stolen. As his eyes began to water, he buried his face on Lancer's shoulder.

"That's it boy," Lancer said. "Let it all out, while only old Lancer can see."

"I can't live without her," Shining Armour murmured. "If she doesn't, if I can't...I don't know what I'll do." I could not even follow her into death as things are. My wife is not among the living or the dead. "Twilight, she thinks that she can find a cure but─"

"Well if that's what she says you might give her a chance before you start planning for the worst," Lancer said. "More importantly, what are you gonna do now?"

Shining Armour looked up into the earth pony's weathered face, "I'm going to find out the truth."

Lancer nodded, "Right answer. Follow me."

Lancer led him to the cellar of a nearby dive, the kind of place whose only selling point was that it was open twenty four hours a day, and into the dimly lit and dingy basement. It had to be dimly lit or it would have looked even worse than it already did. There, Shining Armour found the other five captains waiting for him around a small, creaky wooden table. They stood up as soon as they saw him.

Steelwing was the only pegasus present, and commander of the Day Company. When Shining Armour had begun training for the guard the Day had guarded Princess Celestia during the day shift. Since the return of Princess Luna their responsibilities had technically broadened to encompass both princesses, but in actuality they had become the personal guard of Princess Celestia. They still did most of their work in daylight, but posted ponies at her chambers while she slept also. Steelwing was about Shining Armour's age, had the same white colouring, but his eyes were crimson and his cutie mark was a leaf sliced in two.

Catseye, the thestral, commanded the Night Company. In Princess Luna's exile they had guarded Celestia in the night shift. Now they guarded Luna, to all intents and purposes, night and day, though by tradition they also mounted a watch upon the palace itself once the sun set every night.

Uhlan was a unicorn, commander of the Palace Company which patrolled the grounds and interior of the royal seat itself. He was grey, and wore the silver armour and blue-lined livery of the Palace, a slightly more ornate uniform than worn by any of the other guard companies.

Stonewall was also a unicorn, commander of the City Company responsible for law and order in Canterlot. His armour was bronze, unlike the gold of the Day or silver of the Palace, and his helmet lacked any kind of crest or plume.

Brazen Shield was Shining Armour's replacement as First Captain, commander of all the companies of the Royal Guard. He was older than Shining Armour, and with the addition of a fifth company in the Twilight his responsibilities were greater than Shining Armour's had been. He gave no visible reaction to the presence of his old chief, save for a nod and that he rose when the others did.

"Captain," Catseye said, gesturing for him to sit down, "I wish we didn't have to meet again so soon and under such circumstances."

"We're all sorry, sir," Uhlan muttered into his moustache.

"You don't have to call me sir any more," Shining Armour said as he sat down.

"We ought to call you Your Highness, but that's not going to happen," Lancer said. "Shall we take the condolences as given from this point and get on with it?"

"That would be for the best," Brazen Shield remarked. "I take it we are dealing with foul play?"

"Poison," Shining Armour said. "Tears of Nightmare Moon."

"Nasty stuff," Stonewall said. "And rare, too. Any of my boys catch you peddling that you'll be strung up by the ears."

"Fast, for a poison, or slow?" Steelwing said.

Stonewall shrugged, "Medium, I suppose. Won't work in moments like some do, but not something you'd use if you planned to leave the area before anypony noticed the effects either. A sadistic poison, I've always thought."

"Gives us something to work with," Catseye leaned forward. "Since it wasn't given to her before last night, that leaves three possibilities: Princess Cadance was poisoned at the party, after the party but before she went to bed, or while she slept."

"How do you poison somepony while they sleep?" Steelwing asked.

"Through the ears," Stonewall said.

Everypony else looked at him. Stonewall continued defensively, "I've seen it. First death I ever investigated: a goldsmith killed his brother by putting poison in his ears while he slept. All so he could marry his sister in law."

Brazen Shield cleared his throat, "Thank you, we'll keep that in mind. What about the reception for the ambassador?"

"Absolutely impossible," Uhlan shook his head vigorously. "My troops tasted every dish, drank from every vat, and nopony has been stricken but Princess Cadance despite everypony eating and drinking from the same source. You would have to poison her specific plate or cup, and even if you could do it without being seen doing it you'd need nerves of steel to go through with it."

"Not a quality lacking in ponies, but I take your point," Brazen Shield remarked. "Shining Armour, did Princess Cadance have anything after the party?"

Shining Armour frowned, "I wasn't there, remember? But I think the water jug was half empty in our room."

"Probably the most promising place to start," Brazen Shield said.

Shining Armour nodded, "One of them, anyway. I can't even speculate on motive, so we have to concentrate on means and opportunity. But the poisoning is only the one angle, the other is how whoever it is got hold of the poison to start with. There can't be that many ponies trading it. Uhlan─"

"I'll start interviewing the palace staff, seeing who saw what and when," Uhlan stood up. "Catseye, I'll need to speak with your Night lot who were on watch last night."

"I'll come with you then," Catseye rose also.

"I'll round up the usual suspects, see if anypony has heard anything," Stonewall said.

"And I'll look for anypony selling the Tears of Nightmare Moon," Shining Armour said.

"I'll help you with that," Lancer declared.

Brazen Shield stared at him, "Not exactly your beat is it?"

"I'd rather not wait for it to become my beat when somepony goes after Princess Twilight," Lancer remarked.

Sweet Celestia no, Shining Armour turned to Lancer, "You think they might go after Twily next?"

"I've got no idea why this happened," Lancer said. "Which means I don't want to rule anything out."

***

Breaking Dawn slammed the door of her home closed with her hind leg as she walked in, trailing after Razor Wind, head bowed.

"Hey Dawny," Cherry Blossom greeted her with a bright smile and the smell of something nice coming from the kitchen. "How did it go?"

Dawn didn't say anything, tearing off the hospital orderly outfit she and Razor had been wearing to spy on Twilight. She looked around. Razor was hovering near the ceiling, an uncomfortable expression on her face. Candy was sitting on the sofa, Cherry not far away.

"There's nopony else here, is there?" Dawn asked. "Hardy, Laurel, they're not around?"

Cherry shook her head, "Hardy has a case, and Laurel was very tired after last night."

"Good," Dawn nodded, "I'm not in the mood for Hardy Bloom at the moment. Or Laurel, for that matter." Laurel was too smart, Hardy too savvy, they were both too clever by half sometimes. It was emotion she wanted now, not a lecture on consequence or a philosophical treaties.

Cherry's pretty white face was disfigured by a frown, "Dawny, are you okay? You don't seem yourself."

Breaking Dawn shook her head, but didn't say anything until she had gone into the bathroom and thrown up in the sink.

She ran the water to wash it down, turning the tap on strong enough that its noise would stop her from hearing anypony, give her a bit more time to think. By the time she came out, wiping her face on the blue-striped hoof towel, she was a little more ready to talk.

They were all ready to listen to her as well by the looks of them: Candy and Cherry looked even more worried than Razor now.

"I," Breaking Dawn sighed, "I don't know if I can do this any more."

"Really?" Candy demanded. "Seriously?"

"Yes seriously, I wouldn't be talking to you about it if I wasn't serious," Dawn snapped. "I, I'm sorry Candy I...it was a mistake of me to go to that hospital."

"Maybe," Cherry murmured.

Candy got up off the sofa, "You can't just drop a spell like that with no explanation. Come on Dawn, talk to us. What happened at the hospital?"

"It was bad," Razor Wind said. "Like, well, puke yourself in the bathroom bad. Princess Cadance, what she is now, I'd rather die than end up like that."

"We did kill her," Dawn muttered morosely. "In every way that matters. There's an alicorn in Hurricane Hospital but it isn't Princess Cadance, not any more."

Candy began, "But you knew what would happen to her, that's why you bought the poison, right?"

"I didn't know what it would look like," Dawn replied. "Maybe if I'd stayed away I'd be celebrating now but, Celestia help me I'm such an idiot. I thought that watching Twilight Sparkle suffer would make me happy. All it did is make me feel terrible."

"I gotta admit, it was easier to talk about making folk suffer when I hadn't seen them suffering," Razor Wind said. "I thought they'd seem like they deserved it more, if you know what I mean?"

"I don't know if I've got it in me to do more damage, with those memories seared in my head," Dawn said. The tears in Rainbow Dash's eyes, the anger, the sadness, that terrible emptiness in Cadance's face. The grief in the eyes of Princess Celestia, that had been the worst thing of all. She had never imagined she could hurt her beloved princess so badly, and it was shredding her soul into pieces.

"So that's it," Hard Candy said. "You're just going to give up, call it a day?"

"Maybe I am," Dawn said. "It's so, ugh," she growled in frustration, "I hate that mare with every fibre of everything I am. I hate what she took from me, what she did to me; I want her to weep, to howl in frustration, to squirm on the end of a hook. Or at least, I think I do. I thought I did. That's why I spied on her today, but when I saw her tears it was almost as though I wasn't thirsty for them after all. Or maybe it was seeing the emptiness in Princess Cadance's eyes that robbed me of my appetite.
"Twilight Sparkle deserves to be hurt. She's a thief and a liar and a fraud. But the others, the one she calls her friends, they aren't like that. Not that I know of anyways. She's duped them into serving her, to protecting, and I can't get to her without going through them but at the same they'd don't deserve what I'll have to do to them.
"That's why I can't talk to Laurel about this. She has it in for the dressmaker, and maybe the others. I know why and I'm the last mare to tell somepony not to get angry about their sucky life, but even if Miss Rarity is dumb as a post and coasting through life on those looks of hers that only makes her less complicit, not more. Those ponies, they're like soldiers in the army of some evil tyrant: just doing what their princess tells them. I can't hate them the way that I hate her.
"If every success, every stage of the plan is going to do this to me, I don't know if I can bear it."

Razor Wind folded her forehooves, letting her wings bear her gently down to the floor, "Whatever you decide to do Dawn, I'll back you up. Stand still or move forward, I'm right behind you."

"But what would you decide if you were me?" Dawn asked.

Razor raised one eyebrow, "I think's it a bit late to call the whole thing off now."

"It's never too late," Cherry murmured.

Candy sighed, shaking her head, "Dawn, the fact that you have doubts isn't a sign that you should give up. Doubts are natural, but they aren't a sign you're wrong and they aren't a sign that you should quit. Princess Silver's doubts take up four fifths of the play but she still does what has to be done in the end. Doubt is drama, but the protagonist always does what they have to do in the end."

"This isn't a play, Candy," Cherry Blossom said. "In a play or a story it doesn't matter who dies, whose lives get ruined. Once the curtain comes down the actors take their costumes off and go home. But these are real ponies who are getting hurt, and Dawn could get hurt too. You can't just tell her to carry on because you want to see how it all ends."

"Play, story, real," Candy giggled. "You really think there's any difference to us, Cherry? All the world's a stage and all the ponies on it merely players. We're all just playing roles to amuse an audience somewhere. Life is a comedy of errors and that's fine, I love comedy but sometimes you want to elevate the material a little and that means you have to work at it. And you can't just chicken out at the start of Act Two! You promised a revenge tragedy and you have to deliver on that."

"Why?" Cherry demanded.

"Because we don't get a lot of choices in life, but we do get to choose what part we play," Candy replied. "Dawn, if you go through with this all the way then you can be Princess Silver: complex, compelling, immortal. Or you can turn back now and be Mal from Sixth Night, striding from the hall yelling 'I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you' and then never being heard from again. A clown, pathetic. I thought you'd had enough of being seen that way?"

"Stop it!" Cherry shouted. "Just stop. You talk about this like it's a game, like it's a story that you want to have a dramatic ending well you're wrong! The world isn't a stage and ponies aren't actors. That wasn't coloured water that we gave to Cadance, the spells aren't harmless flashes of light, the dead aren't coming back for their bow. What we're doing is real and it's wrong, Dawny it's wrong.
"I should have said something before, but I didn't think you'd listen; but if you're thinking the same way then you know it too. What are we doing this for, Breaking Dawn? Is hurting people really going to make you happy?"

Dawn bowed her head, "There's only one thing that will make me happy. If Twilight Sparkle appeared before me now, and knelt and asked my forgiveness. I could give it to her. I could let her keep her crown, and her palace and everything else, so long as she gave me back the most precious thing she took: the love Princess Celestia. If I had that, and she did not, I could live with her being a princess. Tartarus, I could live in a cardboard box on the street so long as Princess Celestia would smile at me like she used to, when she loved me instead of her," Dawn scowled. "But that will never happen unless I pass her final test and defeat my rival. And I can't defeat her because I'm not strong enough to do what is necessary," Dawn made a growl with the back of her throat. "So what am I supposed to do, Cherry? Should I live in misery all my days so that other ponies can be happy?"

"Do you think Princess Celestia will still love you after the things you've done?" Cherry replied.

"Yes. She has to," Dawn said. "I've given up so much for her, done so much, she will appreciate it, she has to; she's the one who set me this test."

"And even if you're right about that, how will any of this help you become a princess in her place?"

Dawn gave a dead laugh, "I can't tell you that yet. Not until everypony's here, and not for a while."

"Why not?"

"Because you'd freak out," Dawn replied. "I know you mean well Cherry; your kindness is the reason that you're so precious to me. I don't ever want you to think you can't talk to me about stuff. But..."

"What are you going to do?" Razor asked.

"I can't go back," Dawn murmured. "No unicorn can. So the only choice I have is to move forward. Whatever I have to, whatever price I have to pay." But I won't enjoy it the way I thought I would.

***

It was evening of that same day. Candy had gone home, Razor had gone out. It was only Dawn and Cherry in, sitting in front of the fire, tea on the table in front of them, silence between them.

"Dawn, you shouldn't do this," Cherry said.

Dawn blinked, "Then what am I to do?"

"I don't know but...ever since we first met I've thought of you as a hero. Heroes don't do stuff like this."

Dawn smiled sadly, "Don't they? That's a pity. I guess I was kind've naive before. They may well paint me black as Nightmare Moon for this, but you know what? That's okay, because it means that everypony will know that I existed. I'll have achieved that at least, an immortality matching Twilight Sparkle's."

"Some things aren't worth the price you pay for them," Cherry replied.

Before Dawn could say anything in answer, there was a knock upon the door. Dawn got up, crossing the wooden floor to open up the door ajar. Outside, a large zebra stood. His face was painted up with lines in lurid colours, and across his back were slung a spear and shield. He wore a cloak, presumably to hide his face, but had pushed back his hood to reveal an iron collar around his neck and scar by his mouth which gave him a mocking, sardonic look.

Breaking Dawn frowned, "Good evening, sir. You are calling very late."

"Some business is best done in the dark," the zebra replied.

Dawn's frown deepened, "Is there something I can help you with?"

The zebra smiled like a shark, "I seek the Countess Mercedes Zaccone."

Dawn's blood chilled, "I'm sorry, there is nopony so grand here. You have made a mistake." She tried to shut the door on him, but his foot was wedged in the doorway.

He kept on smiling, "A pony may be thought deft and swift with her movements, but what escapes the eye of a soft city pony may be caught by the keen sight of a hunter. Such as slipping something a drink before handing it to another, who is later reported gravely sick. May I come in?"

Cherry. Dawn knew upon instinct that she could not let this warrior into her home while Cherry Blossom was there unprotected, "No you may not."

"Someone may hear us if we talk out here."

"Then say it quietly," Dawn hissed.

"My name is Jugurtha, servant to Lord Mathos of Most Ancient Grevyia," Jugurtha said, his voice smoothe as spun silk. "And from Grevyia I have a proposal for you."

"I'm not interested," Dawn tried and failed to close the door.

"It was the play of a child to find you," Jugurtha said, leaning closer. "It would be the play of a child to wait until you were gone and then come in and meet your friends. The pegasus who is in there now, perhaps."

No, not Cherry, he can't. She could not let harm come to her, not ever. Dawn leaned forward herself, butting heads with the larger zebra, "Now you listen to me, Grevyian. I don't care who you are or who your master is. If you hurt her, if you hurt any of them, then I will burn down the Empire of Grevyia and trample its ashes into the dirt if it takes me a thousand years do you understand?"

Jugurtha's smile widened, "And I thought ponies had no spirit. But if you wish to question me, you should ask why my master sends me to you, instead of telling all to your Princess Celestia."

Dawn tilted her head, "Go on."

"What you have done, what you are doing, is not uncommon in Most Ancient Grevyia. We have a word for it: opportunity. It is clear to my master that Princess Celestia favours Quaggai, she will never give Most Ancient Grevyia what she wants or requires. Princess Twilight Sparkle is no friend to us either."

"There is nothing between me and Twilight Sparkle," Dawn said feebly.

"We scried upon your meeting, we have heard your conspiracies," Jugurtha said, speaking as if to one slow-witted. "Do not think that you can lie to Grevyia. I know your intent. And perhaps a new Princess might be a better friend to the zebra empire."

"You are a fool if you think I will help you harm Princess Celestia," Dawn said. "You are a fool if you think you can. Go to Manehattan or Vanhoover and nopony will have heard of Twilight Sparkle or of Cadance. But if you threaten Celestia then every pony in Equestria will shoulder their arms to tear you down."

"But of course, such loyalty is to be expected. We would never seek to remove Celestia from her throne. Merely clip those pretty wings of hers and make sure that she recieves better counsel in future. So, will you help us? Or shall we see what gratitude turning you over to pony justice might buy?"

Dawn's jaw tightened, "I don't have much choice do I?"

Jugurtha's smile was insufferable, "None at all."

Author's Note

Twilight gets the flashback this chapter to symbolise her taking a more active role in the plot. Previously Dawn has done all the heavy lifting storwise because Twilight didn't even know their was a story, but from this point on they should be more equal, now that Twi knows something is up even if she doesn't know exactly what.

That said, I'm a little conflicted about my notion to start splitting the flashbacks between the two of them, largely for fear of running out of interesting flashbacks for Twilight before the story ends (what with Twilight's backstory being the show and all). So if you have an opinion on that front, feel free to share.

Tokens of Love and Affection

Chapter 7

Tokens of Love and Affection

"The Great and Powerful Trixie demands to know just where you think you are walking?"

Laurel, looking flustered, her telekinetic hold on her lunch tray and the book she had been reading wobbling noticeably, began to stammer, "I, well, you-"

"What's the matter, you a mute now on top of everything else?" Sunset Shimmer's lip curled into a sneer. "Can't you even look where you're going, you four-eyed ugly duck?"

"I'm sorry," Laurel whispered.

"You're sorry? Sorry?" Sunset Shimmer took a step forward and then stopped, noticing the custard dripping down her leg. "Did you just spill your lunch over me? How dare you? Here!" Sunset's horn flared, her magic overpowering Laurel's own and slamming the lunch tray into her face.

Laurel shrieked as she fell backwards onto her hindquarters, her book skidding away across the floor. The tray clattered to the ground in front of her. Lettuce leaves, tomatoes and celery sticks littered the floor in front of her, while custard, salad cream and the odd leaves and bits of apple crumble stuck to her glasses, face and body.

Trixie laughed, "Trixie found that hilarious!"

"M-my saddle bag," Laurel murmured, looking down at her saddlebag which was also coated with the debris of her lunch.

"You'll have to buy a new one, won't you," Sunset smirked. "Except you can't can you, because you can't afford one. Tell me Laurel, what's it like a total loser?"

Laurel's eyes began to well with tears, "Why do you always treat me like this?"

"Because the sight of you annoys me," Sunset Shimmer said. "Now, eat your lunch."

Laurel began to get to her feet before Sunset pushed her down, "I didn't say get another lunch. I said eat it. Off the floor. Like a bug."

All the students in the lunch hall watched the unfolding tableaux in silence. None of them said or did anything.

Trixie frowned, "Sunset, Trixie no longer finds this amusing. Trixie has had her fun."

"Good for her, I haven't," Sunset snarled. "Eat it!"

Laurel squeaked, hesitating.

Sunset growled, "If you won't eat off the floor, then maybe you'll eat out of your precious book!" she seized the book Laurel had been reading and rubbed it in the food littering the floor.

Laurel squealed in alarm, "Please, stop it."

"Why should I?"

"Because if you don't, I'll make you," a new voice cut through the silence of the hall as Breaking Dawn, glowing golden as the sun itself, strode in. Her face was set with determination, her mouth scowling, her eyes narrow. She stood protectively over Laurel, squaring up against Sunset and Trixie, "Now turn around, and be somewhere else."

"Tough talk from a newbie from nopony knows where," Sunset Shimmer said. "You obviously don't know how things work around here."

"I don't care," Dawn said. "You can't push me around like you do every other pony."

Sunset snorted, "You've got spunk, kid. You almost remind me of myself, except I never such atrocious hair. Red and white, really? And that braid is so last century. Still, cause I like your guts I'll give you a chance to cut and run. Get in the way of my fun and you won't enjoy it."

"I'm not scared of you," Breaking Dawn said. "It's about time somepony knocked that crown off your head, and I'm just the pony to do it." She pawed the ground with one hoof in anticipation.

Sunset Shimmer scoffed, "You're going to fight me, is that it? You really are new here, you may think you're good with your hooves but it's magical might that counts around here, half-pint. And I've got you way outclassed."

Laurel flinched away. This was going to be bad. Sunset Shimmer was the most powerful unicorn in school. Everypony said she was destined for great things. Breaking Dawn was just some kid who had turned up out of nowhere one day this week. She didn't get good grades, she had the worst reading and writing in class and she was only a first year! How was she going to take on one of the top members of the Upper Sixth?

"Hey, Laurel," Breaking Dawn looked behind her, and Laurel saw that golden face was alive with a mischeivous grin. "Don't look so worried. I got this."

Sunset sneered, "Tough talk from a little shrimp."

Breaking Dawn's horn blazed with light. There was a flash of white so bright that Laurel had to shut her eyes against the glare. She heard scuffling, a groan, and when she opened her eyes Sunset Shimmer was on the ground, face pressed into the floor, while Breaking Dawn sat on top of her, gripping Sunset's forelegs tight.

"You are so dead, you hear me!" Sunset raged.

Dawn smirked, "Tough talk from somepony who can't even stand up."

Sunset growled, "Trixie, help me!"

"But Trixie does not know what to do," Trixie said.

Breaking Dawn's smile was fierce, "Bring it if you got it, Great and Powerful!"

"That is enough." Princess Celestia appeared in the hall accompanied by a golden light. Under her stern gaze each pony cowered, rising from their seats to bow in deference. Laurel got her feet only to descend to her knees again. Dawn rolled off Sunset Shimmer and also bowed.

Sunset Shimmer rose her feet spitting dust and fury, "Princess Celestia, this brat attacked me─"

"I saw everything that happened, Sunset Shimmer," Princess Celestia said coldly. "Go to my office and wait for me there. At once!"

Uncertainty, doubt, even fear flashed across Sunset Shimmer's face before she bowed her head and murmured, "Yes, your highness."

Sunset trailed past the princess out of the hall. As she departed, silently and in silence, she seemed a much reduced figure from just moments earlier. Whatever the Princess said or did, Sunset's spell had been irrevocably broken.

"Trixie," Princess Celestia turned to the light blue mare, "the fact that you took no part in the worst of this does not excuse the part that you did play. Double detention."

"Thank you, Your Highness," Trixie slinked off in her turn.

"Breaking Dawn, fighting is strictly forbidden in this school. I thought that I had made that clear to you," the Princess' features were softened by a smile. "That said, you did the right thing in defending a fellow student. For that, at least, I am proud of you."

Dawn looked as though she had just recieved the most expensive toy in Canterlot for Hearth's Warming, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Celestia knelt by Laurel's side, "Laurel. I'm very sorry that you had to go through that. If I had known sooner...I know that it is not always easy to speak up about injustice, but I want you to know that you never need to be afraid of the consequences of talking. And I am very disappointed in every other pony here," Princess Celestia cast her piercing gaze about the hall, "I do not care if it was fear or carelessness that kept you silent, if you are unable to stand up for what is right within the safety of this school how will you have the strength to do what is right in the world outside? I suggest you all think very hard about what kind of ponies you would like to when you leave this school."

"Now then, Miss Laurel, let's get you cleaned up," Celestia's horn glowed, and all the spilled food and the like was wiped clean from her. Even her saddlebag was good as new.

"Thank you, Princess," Laurel bowed again.

"No need for that," Celestia said. "It was the least I could do." And then she vanished again.

Laurel picked up her now empty tray, and started back towards the serving stations.

"Don't do that," Dawn said. "You'll have to go all the way to the back of the line, and there'll be no desert left. Here, you can have some of mine." Dawn climbed onto a nearby seat, patted the one next to her, and pushed her tray to a point halfway between them.

"Really? You mean it?"

"Sure, I've never eaten this much in one sitting before I came to this school anyway," Dawn grinned. "Besides, I kinda miss sharing my meals. So come on, are you hungry or not?"

Laurel hesitated, looked for a trick, and then smiled as she climbed into the seat beside Breaking Dawn.

***

Breaking Dawn was waiting by the school gate as Sunset Shimmer, who had been expelled that afternoon, made the long slow walk off school grounds for the last time.

The yellow pony glared at Dawn out of her blue eyes, "I suppose you've come to be all magnanimous, tell me no hard feelings and all that?"

"Nope," Dawn grinned, "I'm here to tell you good riddance. I've known ponies like you my whole life and I always like to see them get what they deserve."

Sunset Shimmer shook her head, "You think you're a big noise now, don't you? You think you're going to pick my crown off the floor and wear it?"

"Somepony's gonna," Dawn said. "I could wear it as well as anypony else."

Sunset Shimmer laughed, "One day somepony is knock you off your perch the same way you knocked me off. And I only wish that I could be there to see your crown roll across the floor and stop at the feet of some other obnoxious little jerk. Enjoy it while it lasts!"

"Not gonna happen," Dawn shouted as Sunset Shimmer left the school. "I'm going to go all the way, and if anypony tries to stop me I'll see them off."

***

"Hello?" Breaking Dawn called out as she stood in the darkened and deserted locker room, the light from her horn illuminating a small area around her. She held a note in her magical grasp, asking to meet her here after last period. She didn't know who had sent it, and it didn't seem like a love letter, but she was curious enough to have turned up. Now she wondered if that hadn't been the joke.

"Hello, is anypony there?" she repeated.

"Yes, here I am," Laurel stepped out of the shadows and into Dawn's light. "I'm glad you decided to meet me here."

"What's this about? Why all the cloak and dagger?" Dawn asked.

"Because I wanted so much to thank you for what you did for me today, but I knew you wouldn't want me hanging on you in public, I'd just embarass you. So I decided to tell you in private, where nopony would see us. Thank you so much for what you did for me. Nopony has ever stood up for me like that before, ever.
"I know that I'm not cool, I know that I'm not pretty or popular. I know that every pony who pretends to be my friend only does it to get help on their homework. And I know that soon you'll find out how much of a loser I am and then you'll start treating me like everypony else does. But please, I'll do anything you want... I don't care if you don't mean a word you say, or even if you laugh at me behind my back, please pretend to be my friend even if it's only when we're alone." Tears welled up in Laurel's eyes.

Dawn said nothing. She blinked, and was silent.

Laurel turned her head away, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. I'll leave you alone now."

"No, wait," Dawn said. "You really expect me to treat you like that? You want it? Gee, when I first arrived I thought this place was going to be paradise."

"It is for the cool kids, like Sunset Shimmer," Laurel murmured. "I'm sure you'll do okay."

"Yeah, I will," Dawn said. "But so will you. Because we are friends, no pretending. Really. You and me from here on out."

"Really?"

Dawn grinned, "I never lie about stuff like this."

As Laurel smiled in moonstruck adoration, Dawn put one leg around Laurel's shoulders, "Now, next time we can get out of school I'll introduce you to a super-cool pegasus named Razor Wind..."

***

The gang was assembled in Hardy Bloom's office. Her secretary had given them some funny looks as they all trooped in ─ they were disguised as the Countess and her servants so as not to look too out of place, but it still must have seemed weird to the stallion ─ and Razor Wind in particular had attracted a particularly stern stare in her guise a servant-cum-bodyguard.

"I bet he's trying to eyeball us through the keyhole to the door," Razor Wind grumbled as she settled into one of the plush leather sofas surrounding the glass coffee table. "What was his problem, anyway?"

"Generally when a client feels the need to see their lawyer accompanied by a phalanx of henchponies, it's generally a sign that they're in organised crime," Hardy remarked as she tidied up papers at her desk. "Which, well, we may not organised crime but we are organising a crime as it happens so kudos to you for getting the image right."

"Funny," Razor Wind said, "still no call for him to give me stink-eye like that. I've a mind to─"

"Please don't antagonise Touch Type, good secretaries are very hard to come by," Hardy said, coming out from behind her desk and treading across the dark blue carpet to join the rest of them around the transparent table. "Besides, it was your own idea to come bother me at work. You know most people come see lawyer their after they've committed a crime."

"Nopony was ever polite enough to let you know in advance?" Candy sniggered. "Why did we come here anyway? We usually meet at Dawn's apartment."

"The coffee isn't free at our apartment," Razor Wind said.

"The coffee isn't free here, I have to pay for it," Hardy Bloom said as she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but you can manage because you're rich."

"I won't be by the time you five have finished mooching off of me," Hardy replied. "Sometimes I think I should be the element of generosity."

"If you were you wouldn't complain about helping us out," Dawn said, making her first entry into the conversation. She was sat at the head of the table, slouched back, her forehooves folded in front of her face.

"Wow," Candy shouted, sliding the black ball across the felt. "You have a pool table in your office, that's brilliant!"

"How do you manage to get away with such frivolities?" Laurel asked.

"I'm successful," Hardy answered. "I could turn up in court dressed as a flamingo and it wouldn't matter as long as I got a not guilty verdict."

"Everypony sit down and make yourselves comfortable," Dawn commanded. "We have a lot to get through this morning."

Everypony sat down around the coffee table, steaming hot cups in front of them. Hardy sat opposite Dawn, with Razor Wind and Cherry on the right hoof sofa and Candy and Laurel on the left. All watched her intently.

Dawn levered herself out of her chair and onto all fours as she began to speak, "I've been speaking to the zebras. The Grevyian delegation."
Dawn licked her lips and hoped she sounded more confident than she felt. Pretending to be some rich mare from out of town was one thing, convincing her friends to join her in this venture had been another thing altogether, but if she could sell them on this and get them to believe that it was her idea then she could sell apples to an apple farm. "They want to explore the possibility of change. Political change, They agree with me that it is not in the best interests of Equestria, or Grevyia, to have young and untried hooves so close to the levers of power."

"We're doing this for the good of the country?" Hardy Bloom smirked from her chair. "I though it was all because you didn't like her."

The look Breaking Dawn gave Hardy would have curdled milk, "Ahem. As I was saying. The Grevyian ambassador was very interested in what we have to say. In what we have to offer Equestria. The negotiations were tough, it was an uphill struggle sometimes, but I have managed to convince him of the merits of an alliance between us for mutual benefit. I feel, and Lord Mathos agrees with me, that our brains and daring, combined with his resources, will make a simply unstoppable team. It will not affect the course of our activities in the main, or at least I do not anticipate it will, but there may be some zebra input to our operations going forward, which is why I thought it was best to let you know now." Her mouth was dry, Dawn seized hold of her coffee and took a great gulp of the scalding hot liquid. Not my best speech by a way. I hope none of them noticed how stiff I was. It was hard to think of eloquent words to defend blackmail when all she really wanted to do was kick Jugurtha's teeth in.

"Can you sum that up in one sentence?" Candy asked.

"She's saying that we just sold our souls to the Grevyians," Razor Wind said, glowering from underneath a furrowed brow. "You should have told us you were looking to make deals with outsiders, Dawny. I think we've earned that much trust."

Dawn sighed, "Yes, you're right. I'm sorry about that. I should have told you before. But I'm telling you now, and now that you know─"

"What's the catch?" Hardy demanded.

Dawn was caught flat-footed by the intervention, "Um, the what?"

"I'm a lawyer, Dawn: negotiations, partnerships, mergers, this is what I do. And let me tell you, if you were able to negotiate as one-sided a deal as this sounds right now from a position of absolute weakness you deserve to have my office. I mean, they're going to back your play for power, actively aid us in actions against the representatives of a foreign government and at the broadest interpretation of what you've said fund and equip an insurrection and it doesn't sound as though they're getting a thing in return. Either you are much, much better than I gave you credit for or you aren't telling us everything."

Everypony looked at her, leaning in as they waited for her response. Cherry looked nervous, Razor sullen. Laurel's eyes were narrowed suspiciously. Candy just looked amused.

Dawn closed her eyes against their accusing gazes, scrunching them up tight as she tried to think. The best lies always had some element of truth to them ─ 'I was going to do my homework but I was taken ill', instead of 'I was going to do my homework but then I got sick from drinking too much cider the night before' ─ but in this case she didn't really have any truth to work with. From her limited conversation with Jugurtha she got the impression the zebras meant to use her as a pawn, a puppet for their own expansion into Equestria. She wasn't about to allow that, nor tell her friends that she was being used that way, but what could see tell them? She couldn't tell them the truth, she just couldn't. She was Breaking Dawn, by Celestia, and she would never confess to being some zebra's organ monkey, not ever. Not even to them.

"They will be rewarded," Dawn spoke slowly, calmly, standing aloof upon her precarious dignity, "with political favours and services after I assume the throne."

"Rather nebulous, for terms of alliance," Laurel remarked.

"I thought this was supposed to be our thing, the six of us," Razor Wind murmured. "I mean, we're working with zebras now? Since when?"

"Since I decided," Dawn replied.

"So we really are your servants now, is that it?" Razor's eyes were filled with betrayal, her voice thick with anger. "All we've done for you and you think you can just start giving us orders like you're already a princess? Like you said you wouldn't do?"
Dawn could not meet a gaze so filled with hurt, not when it would have been so justified had she not been lying through her teeth, "Razor─"

"I have stuck by you ever since we were kids," Razor shouted, rising off the sofa and standing on her hind legs while her wings flapped behind her. "I went along with every dumb plan you ever came up with, hauled your flank out of the fire more times than I can count, took care of you after you lost everything, and now you think you can throw me over for some fancy foreign zebras? Step outside, I'll kick your flank all round the houses and back."

"If you keep yelling like that Touch Type will probably call the city guard," Hardy murmured reproachfully. "Not that I don't understand your anger, of course."

Dawn snorted angrily, "What do you want me to say?"

"We want you to be honest with us," Laurel responded sharply. "You used to say that you would never lie to your friends. You've worn your masks against the world, Celestia knows. But you never pretended to be someone else with us, never hid who you were or what you were feeling. No pretending, Dawny, no pretending."

"If something's wrong, then you need to tell us," Hardy said. "Not because you owe us, or because we've earned the truth, but because we're your friends."

"Synergy, isn't that what you called it?" Cherry smiled tremulously.

Dawn hung her head, "I don't deserve you guys."

"Not by a long shot," Hardy said. "So come on, out with it. What's really going on?"

Dawn frowned, and poured her magic out through her blazing horn. A golden glow enveloped Hardy's office as she cast the spell she had been working on since last night. It formed a gleaming bubble around them, encasing them within it.

Laurel eyed it curiously, "A shield?"

"A variation on a shield spell, this is the strongest ward against being spied upon that I can cast," Dawn said. "Hopefully it will keep the zebras' scrying off us."

"What's scrying?" Hardy asked.

Dawn took a deep breath, "It's how the zebra who came to see me said that they found out what we were up to."

"They know?" Razor said.

Dawn nodded, "Everything. And they want to use me for their own advantage."

"How?" Cherry asked.

"I don't know," Dawn said. "But I suspect they'll try to take over Canterlot in the confusion of Twilight Sparkle's fall and then make me their puppet. Until then they have the knowledge of what I did to Princess Cadance to hold over me."

"You have to tell Princess Celestia everything," Cherry said. "You have go to her while there's still time to stop the zebras."

"And what about us?" Razor demanded. "Do you think we'll be let off with a slap on the hoof?"

"But Canterlot─"

"Nothing is going to happen to Canterlot," Dawn declared magisterially. "These zebras think they've got me over a barrel, and I'll play along with them for now, but they aren't as smart as they think they are. I've already come up with a way to block their scrying after all. I'll take their aid and their horsepower and when I've used them up I'll spit them out and they can whistle for a profit. I'll save Canterlot and Celestia from them and they'll cheer my name even louder than I thought they would. I won't allow anyone to hurt the Princess."

Hardy frowned, "Be careful. You don't want to underestimate them either."

"Hide in the bushes, are they near?
Zebras they know how to smell your fear," Candy chuckled.

"What's that?" Dawn asked.

"It's a hide and seek song," Candy said. "You chant it as you get close, and then when you get to the last bit:
'Close your eyes, don't look up,
Here comes a zebra to gobble you up,
Found you!' You jump out and get the pony whose hiding. None of you ever learnt that when you were kids?"

"No," Hardy said. "No, we didn't."

Razor Wind dropped down onto all fours, "I'm sorry I doubted you, Dawny."

"It's okay," Dawn said. "I shouldn't have lied to you all."

"So what do we do now?" Candy asked.

"We continue with the plan, for now. We take care of Shining Armour, then we get the Elements. Zebras might even be able to help with that," Dawn said. "Razor, you're still okay to come with me to the palace and get a sample of his hoof-writing, yeah?"

Razor nodded, "Yeah."

"Great. The only other thing is be careful. The zebra who came to see me, Jugurtha, he threatened you if I wouldn't cooperate. I'm not sure how serious he was, but I don't want to risk any of you. Nopony goes anywhere alone, especially not at night.
"I'm sorry things have come to this, really I am, but if we press on I know we can see this through. Together. Laurel, Hardy, did you prepare those letters like I asked you?"

Laurel nodded, "All we need is a sample to copy."

"Good, we'll be back soon," Dawn said. "Until we do, stay here. Play pool, get some lunch in, don't leave. We don't know who's waiting outside."

***

Spike frowned, "I don't know, Twilight, I don't think Fluttershy would be very happy that you're going to test this on a mouse."

"It's a rat, Spike," Twilight said. "You can tell by the way that the tail is─"

"Yeah, I'm sure the difference is fascinating, but Fluttershy still isn't going to like you doping the little guy with amnesia poison so you can test antidotes on him."

"That's why we aren't going to tell her, Spike," Twilight said primly. She was wearing her own set of goggles, and a set of protective overalls to boot. The palace had been converted into a lab: multi-coloured potions fizzled in all manner of glass tubes and containers, lights blinked red and blue on futuristic consoles, machines printed incomprehensible readouts full of magibabble, and a maze sat on a sturdy table with a white rat squeaking in a box near the maze entrance.

"I don't like lying to my friends either," Twilight continued, "but I can't know if a cure will work until I've tested it. And I'm not going to feed Cadance a potion I just whipped up myself without knowing that its safe. It's tough on the rat I know, but it has to be done. Now, take notes please."

Spike picked up a clip board and quill, ready to write.

"Test phase: according to the ponies who delivered them here, this rat is able to navigate this maze perfectly every single time. I will of course be verifying this for myself." Twilight levitated a piece of cheese into the centre of the maze, then placed the rat inside.

After a short while of excited scurrying, the rat reached the centre of the maze and devoured the cheese.

"Confirmed," Twilight said. "Test subject is able to reach the centre of the maze from memory. Now, applying Tears of Nightmare Moon released from stores of contraband seized by the City Guard."

Twilight levitated the rat up into the air, cringing a little as it squirmed in her magical grip, "I'm sorry little guy, but this is the only way." She levitated an eye dropper filled with the Tears of Nightmare Moon into the rat's mouth and squeezed a half drop onto the little critter's tongue.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the rat's eyes darkened slightly, became vacant and empty, and he looked about with an air of utmost confusion about all his surroundings.

"As I expected," Twilight murmured. "The rat's smaller size meant that even a reduced dose of poison took effect much faster than with... Cadance." She placed the rat back in the maze. It could not find its way. Indeed if seemed to have no idea where it was or what it ought to be doing.

"I'm sorry," Twilight repeated, and fed the rat another piece of cheese.

Spike finished scribbling down these early observations, "So, what do we do now Twilight?"

"Now we get to work Spike," Twilight said. "Fetch me the copy of Potion Making from First Principles, as well as Alchemical Theory and Silvermane's Theories of Mind and Memory."

"But Princess Celestia already said the answers wouldn't be in any book," Spike said.

"This isn't about answers, Spike, this is about knowing how to phrase the questions," Twilight replied. "It's about time I brushed up on my potion making."

Don't worry Cadance, I'm coming.

***

"So, listen, Dawn. I really shouldn't have threatened to kick your flank back there," Razor Wind muttered. They were both dressed as maids in the Sun Palace, shuffling along the crimson-and-gold carpets and pausing occasionally to dust a priceless vase or gilt picture frame.

"Yes, you should have," Dawn replied, running a feather duster over the portrait of Queen Lauren. "If I really had done something like that to you then I would have deserved it. I shouldn't have lied about it just because I didn't want to admit to being used. I don't know what I was thinking."

"You were just being you," Razor Wind said. "The fact that you know your own worth so well is one of the things I always liked about you Dawny. You don't take any compost from anypony."

"I tried to shovel some onto you guys instead," Dawn sighed. "I should have told you the truth."

"Well, yeah, probably," Razor flapped up to dust one of the chandeliers, then fluttered back down onto the floor. "I guess what bothered me was that you didn't talk to us first. I mean, in the old days we always went with what you said and we always did what you wanted, but you never took that for granted, not once. You always took the time to talk us around. I don't want that to change."

"It won't," Dawn grasped Razor Wind's hoof in her own, pulling her forward so that they were shoulder to shoulder, eye to eye. "This is me and you, remember? We've been together since forever, or as good as. I won't forget that."

Razor smiled, "When you win this, and get your due, you're gonna have a lot of debts to pay: give Laurel a school, give Cherry a restaurant, I don't know what Candy will ask for. But all I needed was to hear you say that. I don't want anything else just...don't send me away okay. Let me stay with you."

"Always."

"Great," Razor's smile became tentative, self-mocking, "I'm too old to start over making new friends."

They worked their way through the palace, avoiding any other maids who might have recognised ─ or rather not recognised ─ them, until they reached the guest wing where visiting dignitaries, notables or favourites of Princess Celestia were housed while staying in Canterlot. The Grevyian zebras were probably around here somewhere, but Dawn was not eager for a second meeting and so her pace quickened through the corridors to get done and out before she had to suffer that smug superior smile again.

They reached the room of Prince Shining Armour and stood on either side of the closed door.

"What do we do if he's inside?" Razor hissed.

"We'll tell him that we're here to clean the room and then pull the Apple-Seller Switch," Dawn whispered. "You remember how to do that, right?"

"Pretty much. I'm the distraction?"

"Yep," Dawn knocked on the door. There was no answer. She pushed the door open. There was nopony there.

"Must be out looking for evidence," Dawn muttered.

"Pity," Razor said. "It might have fun to try the Apple-Seller Switch again after all this time."

"Maybe," Dawn said. "Look for anything he's written, and make sure it was him and not Princess Cadance otherwise it won't work. And don't make too much mess or it'll raise questions."

She and Razor began to rifle through Shining Armour's belongings. It was not promising. Clothes, an invitation from Celestia, Princess Cadance's jewellery box, gowns, Cadance's diary ─ which pricked Dawn like a needle with guilt so sharp she almost threw it on the fire to burn away her feelings of ill-ease ─ but nothing in the hoof of Shining Armour.

"What do we do if there's nothing here?" Razor asked. "I don't fancy going all the way to the Crystal Empire."

"We'll try the family home if we have to," Dawn replied. "If worst comes to the worst Laurel will just have to wing it, so to speak." She shifted aside a pile of junk, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, I think we've got something here."

"What?"

"A letter to his parents," Dawn said, levitating the papers up off the table to read them:
"Dear Mom and Dad,
"It figures that you would have to be out of town the first time I can make it down to Canterlot since the Empire reappeared. And when Twily is in town as well! It's a pity that the two of us can't take you out to dinner but I'm sure the two of you will have a great anniversary together at Tall Lake. Cadance and I had a wonderful time on our honeymoon there, everything was perfect. You're probably already loving every minute..."

Dawn put the half-finished letter down, unable to read further. There was a cringing expression on her face. Does all Equestria conspire to prick my conscience?

"He doesn't sound like such a bad guy," Razor said.

"His only crime is loving his sister," Dawn muttered, stuffing the letter down her stocking. "But in this arena that is enough to condemn him."

"Still, I can see why you got cold feet," Razor Wind said flatly.

"I did not get cold feet," Dawn replied sharply. "I just...yeah, I got cold feet. Come on, we'd best go before all our hooves freeze up."

***

Rarity yawned as she put on her pink fluffy bedrobe and turned down the eiderdown. It had been a tiring day at the Sun Palace, and returning to the Twilight Palace at day's end had been like passing under a stormcloud. Dinner had been a subdued affair, Twilight had not come down from her work and although Spike had, he had not stayed long after eating his fill. Conversation amongst the four ponies had been...limited. In the circumstances, none of them really had much to say.

Opalescence meowed.

"I know, sweetie," Rarity said, stroking the furry feline with one hoof. "But things will look up. I hope."

There was a rattling at the window. Strange, when there was no wind tonight. Frowning, Rarity stepped lightly over to the casement and lifted it open with her magic.

"Hello?" she said. "Is anypony there?"

Nopony was, or at least nopony willing to answer her. There was, however, a letter left upon the windowsill. Rarity's frown deepened as she picked it up, closed the window, and read the letter.

Mi Amore,

You have no idea how long I've yearned to pour out my feelings to you. Since the day we met there has been a spark between us, our two souls intertwined by a fated bond. From the moment I looked into your eyes I knew, absolutely knew with all my heart, that we were meant to be together.

It is only my mistake that has kept us apart for so long: my terrible, awful, unbearably foolish mistake, my hasty marriage. For months I've hated myself for throwing my life away, despairing of love when you were so close all along; I have hated my wretched wife for keeping us apart. But all of that's over now. I've taken care of everything, removed the obstacles to our happiness. We can be together, there's nopony to stop us.

I do not live, but only exist between one meeting of ours and the next. Please, my love, give me some sign that you feel the same way I do.

Your Shining Stallion

Rarity was trembling as she let the letter fall onto her bed. She felt very cold, in spite of the warmth of the night.

Opalescence meowed inquisitively.

Rarity swallowed, her mouth dry, "It's all right Opal, dear. It's just a joke, that's all. It's somepony's idea of a sick joke. Pah!" She crumpled the love letter into a ball and through it in the waste paper basket.

At least she hoped it was a joke. She knew Shining Armour, had been a guest at his wedding, seen the way he and Cadance were together. He loved his wife, she would stake her reputation as a fashion designer on it.

"I won't mention this to Twilight, or the others," Rarity said. "Twilight has quite enough to worry about without me upsetting her over mean-spirited pranks. And, well, we wouldn't want anypony to get the wrong idea, would we?"

She turned in to bed, and did her best to put the silly letter from her mind.

Author's Note

A quiet transition chapter this time, moving into the next phase of Dawn's plan after the histrionics of the last couple of chapters. Also very long flashback. While I can't deny some influence, I swear that Sunset Shimmer's cameo was not just an attempt to cash in on tomorrow's EQG premier. You'll see why I included all that stuff in future flashbacks.

The Ill-Made Knight

Chapter 8

The Ill-Made Knight

Breaking Dawn gazed at Twilight Sparkle like a lion on the high plains gazing at a grazing antelope.

She had stalked the young pretender for some time, learning her movements, learning where she would be at what time. How she hated that bounce in Twilight Sparkle's step, the way she would walk along with her head buried in a book as though she was too good for such things as looking where she was going. She hated the saddlebag she wore to school, she hated seeing her going to her special lessons with the Princess ─ those where her lessons! ─ she hated how content, how happy she always was. Breaking Dawn had only to look at her for a few moments to realise this was a pony who had never cried herself to sleep, never been consumed with doubt or worry. She had always had everything she ever wanted, and when she had decided that she wanted what Dawn had she had taken it without a thought.

Well, today was the day she would give precious little Twilight something to really cry about.

Twilight Sparkle wasn't old enough to dorm in the school yet. She had taken over Dawn's tower as a study but she didn't live there yet, not when she still had a place to go home too. On Monday, her mother picked her up outside of school and took her home. Wednesday through Friday she was collected by her foalsitter, the insipid pink alicorn Princess Cadance. But on Tuesday it was her big brother who came to get her and he always ran a little late. So the little lavender half-pint was standing at the school gates after everypony else had gone. She was all alone.

Time for the lion to pounce.

Breaking Dawn darted across the street, reaching Twilight just as the latter was pulling a book out of her saddlebag. It was a light lilac colour, with a clasp in the shape of her cutie mark. Custom made. Expensive. Dawn was seized with the desire to tear it into shreds.

"Hey, Twilight Sparkle," she said.

"Hello," Twilight replied, not looking up from her book. "How did you know my name?"

"Everypony knows about you, Twilight Sparkle," Dawn said, circling around Twilight. "Princess Celestia's precious personal protege. The facetime you have with the princess, other ponies would kill for it. You must be honoured."

"Oh yes," Twilight finally looked up. "Princess Celestia is the most amazing pony ever, I'm so─"

Dawn aimed a savage kick that cut Twilight's legs out from under her and sent her sprawling to the ground with an thud, "That was the right answer. I'd have done much worse if you'd taken the Princess for granted."

"Ow," Twilight whined. "What did you do that for?" She tried to get up, but Dawn put her hoof on Twilight's head and pushed down upon it. "Stop that, you're hurting me."

"That's kind of the idea you thieving changeling," Dawn growled.

"What?"

"Changeling, changeling you idiot," Dawn said. "You crept into the palace and stole Princess Celestia's affection away from me. Oh, but I'm onto you, yes I am, and I'm going to take back what's mine you'll see!"

"I didn't take anything from you! I don't even know you, get off me!"

"Not until you admit that you're a thief and say you're sorry," Dawn snapped. As the thief squirmed beneath her, something fell out of that expensive saddlebag; something grey and fluffy. Dawn picked it up in the golden aura of her magic, "Huh? What's this?"

"No! Give back Smartypants."

It was, Dawn saw, an old grey donkey doll in shorts. Dawn's face twisted in scorn, "A doll? You still play with dolls, you brought one to school? How old are you? Don't you have any self-respect at all? You don't deserve to be Princess Celestia's student. I'm going to take your precious Smartypants and do to him all the things I feel like doing to you!" Dawn ground Twilight's face into the pavement as she pulled off one of the donkey's button eyes.

"Hey! Leave her alone!"

Dawn was thrown backwards by a burst of magic which caught her unawares. When she rolled to a stop she was confronted with the big brother himself standing over a half-sobbing Twilight, head bowed and horn aglow.

"I don't appreciate ponies picking on my sister," Shining Armour snarled.

Dawn picked herself up off the street, "And I don't appreciate being robbed by little brats. I'm giving your sister a lesson in the way the world is, she'll thank me for it later."

"Turn around and start walking before I start to teach some lessons of my own."

Dawn laughed, "Are you threatening me, big guy? You're gonna fight me? You may be bigger than I am but it's magical might that counts here, and I've got you way outclassed." Nobody in all Equestria could cast a spell faster than she could, nopony.

Shining Armour scowled, his horn glowed with a pinkish-red hue. Dawn fired a spell at him before he was done charging and knocked him to the ground.

"You'll have to get up earlier than that," Dawn crowed.

Shining Armour growled as he leapt at her. Dawn's spell missed. The big stallion descended on her and they rolled together in a furious mass of thrashing hooves.

"That's enough, break it up!" the strong hooves of the City Guard grabbed them tight and pulled them apart. In the lead was an earth pony with a weathered face. "What's this, fighting? You can get hauled off for disturbing the peace for that. And you a trainee and all lad, I'm ashamed of you. What's the meaning of this?"

"She attacked my sister," Shining Armour said.

"Your sister deserved that and much more," Breaking Dawn replied.

"Oh, so it's like that is it?" the guard said. "Unfortunately I can't let you off on this one lad. You're in the hooves of a higher power. But I'll take your sister to find the Princess and she can stay with Her Highness till somepony can take her home. Take the pair of them away, they can cool their heels in the cells."

"What? Get your hooves off me," Dawn ranted as they dragged her away. "Do you know who I am? I am Breaking Dawn. Remember that name, Breaking Dawn!"

***

Breaking Dawn sat at the veranda table in her countess get-up: mane and tail dyed, face liberally disguised with makeup, wearing a summer dress and a large hat and oversized celebrity sunglasses.

A book was held in the grip of her magic, a book with a disguised cover. To an outside observer, it would have appeared that she was reading The Once and Always Princess. In reality she was reading a rather dry magical textbook: Theory and Ethics of Compulsion. It had been a long time since she had studied it for her lessons, and even then she had only studied the theory and the ethics of it, never used any such spell in practice. And she had been a less than stellar student by that point.

"Are you listening to me?" Jugurtha demanded, sitting across the table from her, leaning forward. "Do you mock me by ignoring me in favour of that book?"

Dawn shut the book with a sigh, "I have listened to every word of your rant, to summarise: you're being impatient."

"Lord Mathos wishes to know when we will begin to see results," Jugurtha said.

"In time," Dawn replied. "Do you know how difficult it is to lever a part a group of friends this tight?"

"Then why waste time with it?" Jugurtha said. "They will abandon her swift enough once she loses favour."

Dawn snorted, "Maybe that's how you do it, but it isn't how we ponies trot."

"Why do you not strike at her?" Jugurtha hissed. "That is what Lord Mathos desires, that is what we want. Strike a blow, claim your victory. Why do you delay?"

Dawn lowered her sunglasses to look the zebra in the eyes, "Have you heard of Nightmare Moon?"

Jugurtha smirked, "A pony legend."

"Discord? Chrysalis of the Changelings? King Sombra? Each one of them possessed of power on a level I couldn't imagine, each of them creatures on a higher level than us ponies. And each of them defeated, because they took on Twilight Sparkle in a stand up fight. They thought their power would protect them. And each one of them was destroyed because you can't beat this pony in a stand up fight. Not while she has all her friends around her. Well Breaking Dawn isn't going to make the same mistake. I'm not as strong as them, but I am going to use my brain.
"Now I can break Princess Twilight, and when I do you Grevyians will have everything you want. But you have to be patient."

"Have to? You dictate terms to us now?"

"I'm just reminding you of something," Dawn leaned forward so that she and Jugurtha were almost nose to nose. "You need me as much as I need you. You can reveal me to Princess Celestia, but she won't thank you at this late hour. Without me, you have nothing."

Jugurtha chuckled, "You should be less open with your threats, little pony. One new princess can fall as easily as another."

Dawn laughed, "You're welcome to try it. After I have claimed what's mine. But for now we are bound together you and I, and neither of us can let go."

"Yet you must give me something to take back to ease the mind of Lord Mathos or he will grow angry. If he is angry, he may demand some pony's pain to ease his own," Jugurtha's smile widened. "When you are too free with your threats, little pony, it encourages others to be less circumspect in turn. A long walk your governess friend makes from her place of work to your home. Many long, narrow alleyways."

Dawn scowled, "Tell your wretched master that Shining Armour will be out of the picture soon. Very soon. Now leave Laurel be. Leave them all, your business is with me alone."

"If you wish it to stay that way, then adopt a more humble manner next time," Jugurtha said, standing up. "Countess."

He leered mockingly at her as he began to walk away.

Dawn's face was so disfigured by anger that she was forced to bury her nose in her book before anypony could ask why she was so marvellously distempered. She forced herself to focus on the words before her, blocking out of the sound of the prosperous Canterlot street, the service of the cafe, the chatter of her fellow diners. Only the book existed. Only the words mattered.

Many forms of gentle and harsh compulsion exist, many different spells for causing a pony to act against their will or nature. They range from gentle nudges at the will of the other, making them more suggestible to the spellcaster, to rendering the subject wholly subservient, a puppet to the unicorn who cast the spell.

What all these spells have in common is that they are forbidden: there is no ethical reason to deprive another pony of their will save in utmost defence of their life: getting somepony to cross an exposed ledge to safety by compelling them past their fear of heights, for example. In the normal course of business however any form of compulsion is considered not just unacceptable but illegal, punishable by...

It can't be worse than the punishment for poisoning, Dawn thought. She skipped ahead to the part which dealt with actually casting the spell. It was almost time to put the theory into practice.

She sat for a while, her cup of tea going cold before her, musing on the real Once and Always Princess, the book she was pretending to read now. The real thing was her favourite book, and had been for many years. It told the story of Princess Celestia's struggle to unite the five pony tribes and establish the glory of Canterlot. Unbidden, the words sprang to Dawn's mind and from thence rolled off of her tongue as she prepared to take the next step in her quest.

"My wings are bound and weighted. They will not steady me nor lift me up. I must leap from the cliffs of hard decisions and into darkness fall without a light to guide nor path to walk. Well I know the journeys I must take will test me, the decisions I must make will score my soul. I'll take no easy roads, make no decision which does not leave some ponies quivering with fury. I'll fly upon black stormclouds and call myself a harbinger of doom and of destruction.
"Yet will I be content, so long as one pony yet smiles. So long as eager light remains in Luna's eyes. I'll bear the hatred of all pony-kind so long as there are little ponies left to hate me. For their freedom will be my salvation, Luna's laughter shall be my grace, their innocence shall be the forgiveness of my sins for all I do I do for them. I will be princess, I will wear the crown and sit upon the throne, yet I will their devoted servant be while the sun yet shines."

Dawn smiled, took a sip of her now cold tea and cringed at it, before continuing in her own voice, not in the borrowed words of her beloved princess.

"I will do right by them, when I have raised our Canterlot. By all of them, who are the most deserving ponies in Equestria. My rising shall be the means and instrument of their ascent to greatness. I'll be princess, but still I'll serve them all my days. My friends. It is for their lives, for their happiness, I do these things."

She got up, placing the book in her saddlebag, it was nearly time.

***

Shining Armour and Lancer stood in the mouth of a rather grim looking alleyway. It was a rather dusty place, ill-kept, one of the seedier parts of Canterlot for sure. One of the parts not often visited by tourists.

"I wouldn't expect to find anypony with access to the palace coming to a place like this," Shining Armour said.

"Nor would I, as a rule," Lancer replied. "But you can't get the Tears of Nightmare Moon at a hospital pharmacy."

The two them had been out since early morning, roaming the mean streets of Canterlot like a Questing Beast traversing the world. They had checked four places already, all similarly deadbeat looking places to this one. Two of the proprietors had confessed that they did indeed deal in such illegal cocktails, but denied having sold any recently. The City Guard had taken them away for questioning. The other two had turned out not to be trafficking in the Tears, or in any other such poisons. They sold a lot of dubious stuff, but nothing illegal. One pony had tried to sell Shining Armour a cure for Cadance.

He'd bought it, just on the off chance. He would take any chance, no matter how slender. He would sell his marriage and all his memories of Cadance to Nightmare Moon if it would make her well and happy in another life.

If this apothecary had sold the Tears that had stricken her, if he was responsible, then Shining Armour didn't know what he would do. He wasn't sure he could be responsible for his actions. He was amazed he had not snapped already today.

Lancer led off, the glint of his armour fading as he passed into the shadows of the street, "Do you want to be the good guard?"

"No," Shining Armour said shortly.

"Didn't think so," Lancer replied.

They walked down the street, the sound of their hoofsteps echoing upon the cobblestones, and pushed open the door to the low apothecary's shop. There was no one there, and the inside of the shop looked in dire need of cleaning.

"Hey there, anyone about?" Lancer called.

"I'm here within," an old pony called from the back room. "Who is without?"

"The Guard," Lancer said, "stay there, we'll come to you."

"No need, no need," the old apothecary cried in a strangled voice, and soon enough he stomped out to the front of the shop. His beard was scraggly, his face was flushed, his eyes were wide. Shining Armour knew that he was afraid of something. If he was not the pony they were looking for he was yet another scoundrel of some kind. "Now, what can I do for you gentlecolts?"

Lancer smiled, "Good morning sir, my colleague and I are just going door to door, making routine enquiries, we wondered if we could ask you a few questions."

The apothecary swallowed, "Of course. Always happy to help the Guard. What is the matter regarding?"

"The recent attack upon Princess Cadance," Shining Armour said tersely.

The apothecary blanched, "I don't know what I can tell you about that."

"Well actually sir," the smile never left Lancer's face. "We were hoping we could search your stock room. That way we can tell that you have no stocks of the Tears of Nightmare Moon and thus couldn't have sold any. Once we have ascertained that we can eliminate you from our enquiries."

The apothecary took a step back, "I, um, I never─"

"I don't think we'll be eliminating this one from our enquiries," Shining Armour snarled, prowling forwards towards the apothecary. "I think he's the one we're looking for."

"No, no," the old pony stammered.

Shining Armour vaulted over the shop counter, "Then why are you sweating?"

"I didn't mean to, I didn't know she was going to─"

"Didn't know," Shining Armour grabbed the pony in his front hooves and pinned him up against the wall. "Or did you just not ask?"

"Help me," the apothecary choked, looking pleadingly towards Lancer.

Lancer shrugged, "Nothing I can do sir. I used to have him on a leash but he chewed through the last one. I can't control him. Your best defence will be the truth. Innocent ponies have nothing to fear from the guard, after all. If you are innocent."

"Yes, yes I'm innocent," the apothecary said. "I never meant for anypony to get hurt. But she had gold, and I have rent to pay."

"You never meant for anypony to get hurt? What did you think somepony was going to do with an illegal poison?" Shining Armour yelled.

"I didn't think about that. I just, I was so desperate."

"Who did you sell it too?" Shining Armour demanded. "What was her name?"

"I didn't ask."

"Where was she staying?"

"I didn't ask."

"What did she look like?"

"A golden unicorn," the apothecary spat out. "Her mane was red and white."

Shining Armour frowned. That was familiar to him from somewhere.

"Eyes?" Lancer asked. "Cutie Mark?"

"Green eyes. She was wearing a dress, I couldn't see her cutie mark."

"And you just sold her that stuff without thinking what she might do it, what misery she could cause?" Shining Armour snarled. "You disgust me. Why I ought to─"

"But you won't," Lancer said. "Prince or no you're still a guard. You know what that means."

Shining Armour exhaled slowly, letting the apothecary stew in his terror. He want so badly to just pound on the guy, but Lancer was right. He wasn't that kind of pony. And if he had stooped to that then Cadance would have been ashamed of him. He had to remain the stallion she'd fallen in love with, even if she didn't remember any of it.

He let go of the apothecary with his hooves even as he seized the pony with his magic, the better to pull him along, "Come on, let's go."

"Look on the bright side sir," Lancer said brightly. "You won't have to worry about rent in the cells."

As they took the old pony away, Shining Armour tried to remember: where had he met a golden unicorn with a red and white mane before? And what was her name?

***

"Ambassadors, please come in." Celestia smiled beatifically as the Quaggaian and Grevyian ambassadors were ushered into the council chamber by the Royal Guard. Luna stood at Celestia's side, waiting in front of a round table in the middle of the spacious chamber. One side of the room was hung with Equestrian flags, on the other side the banners of Quaggai and Most Ancient Grevyia hung.

Behind the two princesses waited Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was receiving a deputation from the Cloudsdale Guild of Cloudmakers in Celestia's stead. It was not the same as having Twilight at her side, or standing in place of Celestia and Luna before the representatives of Equestria's powerful interests, but she knew Twilight's friends to be faithful, good and able ponies all and she had no doubt that they would give invaluable assistance. Only a couple of days earlier and Rarity had been very helpful in dealing with a deputation from the Dyer's Guild.

Lord Mathos insisted upon going in first, Sophoniba coming in after but then quickening her pace to match him nose to nose. He started going faster, then she did too until they were almost running to reach the table first. Sophoniba won by a hair.

"Thank you both for coming," Celestia said. She had decided that she would not rhyme nor speak in verse on this occassion. She was neither Quaggai nor a Grevyian, and need not conform to all their standards and expectations, at least not in her own palace in her own land. Besides, it was exhausting trying to speak in a manner that did not roll naturally off her tongue. "I am sure that this meeting, and the ones to follow, will be very productive for all concerned."

"Render unto Grevyia, Ancient and High,
That honour which from younger unto elder's
due,
And we shall be most pleasant friends,
As e'er Equestria could wish to have," Lord Mathos said.

"None have slandered Most Ancient Grevyia, nor will they do so," Celestia said. "Please, everypony - everyone, excuse me - please, sit."

Lord Mathos sat down with a ponderous dignity. Sophoniba sat with the unmistakeable sound of a whoopee cushion beneath her. The ambassador from Quaggai pulled it out and stared at it while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie began to giggle into their hooves.

Well I can't pretend I didn't know that they were a pair of pranksters, Celestia thought. Luna looked torn between a desire to roll her eyes and an equal desire to look shocked in front of the zebras. Rarity did look shocked. Celestia would have liked to laugh herself, but dared not until she knew how Sophoniba would respond.

Sophoniba stared at the pink cushion for a few more moments, then she gave a great bark of laughter and thumped the table
"Excellent! In Quaggai I regret we do not have such things,
You must show me more like this, and I will teach you our tricks."

"Really?" Pinkie Pie said.

"Zebras play pranks and tricks as well?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Zebras without taste or breeding," Lord Mathos muttered in an aside.

"Of course, in the desert it is important to have fun,
Or else the hardscrabble life will make you numb," Sophoniba said.

"What kind?" Rainbow Dash leaned flew forward curiously.

"Perhaps that would be a discussion best had in private," Celestia said, though she was a little curious herself.

"What are these children doing here?" Mathos demanded. "Send them away, they have no place in these gatherings."

Celestia frowned, not missing the way that he talked down to them, "These children are among the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, the great magic of ponykind. They have helped protect our world from all manner of dangers, and have passed through more perils than many ponies three times their age. For these feats they are considered heroes by many in Equestria and beyond. Including by myself."

"Yeah, that's right," Rainbow Dash said.

"Don't toot your own horn, Rainbow dear, it has a much sweeter sound when you let others do it for you," Rarity murmured.

Unfortunately, the discussions that followed proved almost the exact opposite of productive. Lord Mathos seemed to go out of his way to be obstructive, to the extent that it seemed he was there more to stop Equestria from reaching an agreement with Quaggai than to make any kind of agreement himself. When Sophoniba had asked for Equestria to supply guards to patrol the border as a neutral party, on account of the raiders that continually crossed into western Quaggai from Grevyia, Mathos had swollen up like an angry toad and denied that the raiders had anything to do with Grevyia whatsoever. But when Celestia had suggested that Equestria might supply a token force to mediate a tripartite effort to stamp out the banditry Mathos had been equally vehement in stating that no non-Grevyian troops would be allowed across Grevyia's border, which suggested to Celestia that at the very least they were turning a blind eye to this mass banditry.

Mostly though, she found his behaviour strange. Why was he being so antagonistic? He had to know that he could not stall indefinitely, and would wear out her patience sooner rather than later. His demands were so unreasonable ─ on the issue of sharing magical knowledge, he had refused all offers of Equestria's earth pony alchemy but had instead demanded the secrets to unicorn magic which zebras would be incapable of using ─ that they had to be deliberate in their unreasonableness. But why?

***

"For a lord, that Grevyian zebra is certainly very rude and altogether rather uncouth," Rarity remarked as she slipped into her room. Opalescence, curled up in a basket on the floor, purred softly in response.

"Oh, Opal, why is it that there are no true gentlecolts left?" Rarity sighed. "Does being born noble rob a pony of all manners and politeness. Or do I just have atrocious luck in the ones that I meet?"

Opalescence purred again, which frankly could have meant anything by way of response.

"You always understand what I'm talking about darling, you're such a sweetheart," Rarity murmured. Then she saw the note lying on her pillow, and froze.

She suddenly felt very cold, in spite of the fire that was burning. She did not pick the letter up. She was afraid to even touch it.

"Who, how?" she was afraid to ask the servants about it for fear that it would involve telling somepony what the letters were about. That would be terrible, it would hurt Twilight so. No, she would keep this to herself as she had already decided that she would.

Gingerly, Rarity picked the letter up in the grip of her magic, holding it far away as if afraid it would explode in her face or something, and opened and unravelled the scroll to read the words within.

Mi Amore,

You have been avoiding me, my pretty dove, hiding behind Princess Celestia or in my sister's palace.

There is no need for shyness. A mare of your beauty and grace should not be afraid of the gifts that she possesses. In any case it is too late: you have bewitched me body and soul and I will have you in the end.

Oh Rarity I am so deep in love the pain of it feels like I have fallen from a great height to land upon the ground. The hurt of passion unreturned it wounds me, and only you can mend my aches by telling me you feel it too. Why deny our feelings? Rarity, let us live and love and not care two bits for old ponies who sermonise and disapprove. Is it my sister that you fear? I will protect you from her wrath and make her see that it is for the best that both of us are happy.

I know you feel this love as much as I, I see it in your eyes. Come, the way is clear now; come to me and let us be together as fate disposed.

I love you, I want you, I burn with passion unrequited. I beg you save me from these flames.

Your Shining Stallion

"Ugh," Rarity snarled, tossing the letter away. "Who is doing this? This isn't funny!"

There was a knock on the door, "Rarity? Are you okay?"

Rarity opened the door a little and poked her head out, "Fluttershy dear, yes, yes I'm fine, thank you so much for asking."

"But you were yelling in there," Fluttershy murmured.

"Oh that was nothing, nothing at all," Rarity laughed nervously. "Opal just made a little bit of a mess that's all, I was scolding him." Opalescence gave an offended meow from behind her.

Fluttershy frowned, "You know Rarity, yelling at animals doesn't really accomplish anything except to frighten them. I find it's much better to talk things over nicely and reasonably so that they understand what they did wrong. Would you like me to have a word with Opalescence?"

"No!" Rarity said a trifle too loudly. "No, thank you darling. It's very kind of you to offer, but I think I can handle this myself."

"Oh. Okay. So, how did the first meeting with the ambassadors go?"

"Very tedious," Rarity said. "But at the same time very tiring. Would you excuse me Fluttershy dear, I find myself in need of a nap."

"All right, I'm sorry to have disturbed you," Fluttershy said meekly, bowing her head a little as Rarity shut the door.

On the other side of the bedroom door, Rarity sighed with relief. If it had been Pinkie Pie on the other side of the door she might not have gotten away with it so easily.

***

Twilight Sparkle growled in frustration, "I don't get it, Spike. Even if nopony ever came up with an antidote to this specific potion, it's just a potion that causes amnesia, right?"

"I guess," Spike said.

"Then why are none of these cures for amnesia having any effect on the rat?" Twilight demanded. "I can see why they might not cause a complete recovery, but we're not seeing any evidence of any return of memory at all, not even the temporary return we saw in Cadance when I used my memory spell on her." Perhaps she shouldn't have been so surprised. After all, this poison was stronger than a spell she had used to defeat Discord's brainwashing, why would a potion to undo the effects of a blow to the head make any difference? She had tried it in the hope that a simple solution might have been overlooked, and because her earlier ideas hadn't worked out so well either.

Spike looked downcast as they stood in the makeshift laboratory. He seemed at a loss for anything to say as he kicked his heel upon the carpet.

"Maybe the neutralisation approach was our best one," he suggested. "Perhaps we just didn't find the right agents to neutralise all the ingredients?"

"I know Spike, but that's just the point," Twilight shook her head. Potion theory taught that every ingredient used to make potions had an equal and opposite that possessed the properties to neutralise the first: much like mixing acid and alkaline together would produce something Ph neutral. But this particular poison was something very special and very nasty. "From what we could tell, and I'm not even sure we got all the ingredients trying to break it down, it hasn't used the usual ingredients for the effects its had, rather, it seems like the Tears of Nightmare Moon somehow perverts the ingredients of the usual antidote. Rosemary is a memory restorative, 'Rosemary, that's for remembrance' . It's a key ingredient of a dozen antidotes to memory loss. But this potion has twisted it somehow so that it steals memories instead of restoring them. But how can you neutralise something when it is the neutralisation agent? And how is it even done?"

"I don't know Twilight, stop yelling," Spike said, cringing away from her forcefulness.

Twilight sighed, "I'm sorry, Spike, I just...it's so frustrating, you know. Why can't I do this? I wish there was just a monster to blame for this so that we could use the Elements of Harmony on it and make everything right in an afternoon."

"Maybe using the Elements of Harmony on Cadance would get her memories back?" Spike suggested. "They turned you into an alicorn."

"My friendship with the others turned me into an alicorn, I think the elements just facilitated the channelling of our power," Twilight replied. "I think. I still don't really understand the spell I wrote myself. But I think I was protected a little by being the element of Magic. If we fired the Elements at Cadance it could hurt her or worse, and I won't take the risk. Not to mention we've never used the elements on anyone who wasn't evil before, so I'm not sure if they would even respond to our will if we tried to use them on an innocent pony. In fact I'm inclined to think they wouldn't, otherwise anypony could use them for evil."

"So what do we do?" Spike asked.

"I need to work out how the properties of the potion's ingredients are being perverted from their natural true effects," Twilight said. "I mean, magic would be the obvious answer, but I've never heard of a spell that could do such a thing."

"Well," Spike cupped his chin with one hand. "It is a nasty spell, an evil spell even. Perhaps the reason you don't know the magic involved is that it uses dark magic?"

Twilight's eyes widened, "That's it! Spike, you're a genius."

"What else is new?"

"Spike!"

"Okay, okay, you're welcome."

"That's it then," Twilight's face become fixed with determination. "If dark magic is at the root of this, then I guess I'll have to use dark magic to understand it, and to beat it."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I need to know what I'm dealing with," Twilight replied. "Until I understand it I can't beat it. And that means using dark magic."
"But it's dark magic," Spike reminded her. "Remember what happened in the Crystal Empire? Remember how dangerous that stuff is? What if you lose yourself, or lose control or─"

"I know the risks, Spike," Twilight said calmly. "And that's why I'll be able to avoid the pitfalls, for being aware of them. Knowledge, after all, is a power greater even than dark magic. And besides, I don't have a choice. Cadance would do the same for me."

Twilight closed her eyes, and concentrated, and twisted the usual pattern of her magic in the way she had learnt to do on her way north after the reappearance of the Crystal Empire. Her horn did not glow as it usually did, but seemed to bubble with a black ooze or sludge which covered it up, bursting in angry green pustules on the surface. Her eyes turned a sickly green.

Oh the power, the sweetness of it. Even for her, even for the most gifted unicorn to have come out of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns in many years, this was something else entirely. It called to her, beckoned to her, promising lavish gifts that would be showered down on her head. It offered to make all her dreams come true if she would let it loose.

There is only one thing in this world I want right now, Twilight thought, and she steeled herself to ignore the magic's blandishments as she brought her strength to bear and bent it to her will.

***

Shining Armour sat in his room, trying to remember that name. Lancer and Stonewall were interrogating the apothecary further, but he had the feeling they had gotten all that they were going to get out of the frightened old pony. They could arrest him for trading in illegal substances, perhaps even for accessory before the fact on a wide interpretation of the law, but that would bring them no closer to catching the true culprit, the one who had poisoned his love Cadance.

The golden unicorn who bought the poison. Either she is the poisoner, or she knows who is. Either way, she holds the key to unravelling this mystery. And I know her, I know I do. I've seen her before. What was her name?

A golden unicorn with a red and white mane. That set so many bells a-ringing in his head. But the name eluded him.

He had taken to making a list of possible names, hoping that one of them would unlock his memories.

Windwaker. No, that wasn't it. He was a red pegasus with a golden pony sister. Not at all the pony the apothecary had described. Shining Armour crossed the name off his list.

Red Wyne. No, Shining Armour remembered, that was another pegasus, a friend of Princess Luna from somewhere.

You're getting too hung up on the red. Gold, think of gold. Golden with green eyes. Green eyes...

Green eyes filled with fury blazing as they stared at him, a horn glowing as she prepared to strike, a red and white mane and tale, eyes that were even angrier as the guards dragged her away.

"I'm Breaking Dawn!"

Breaking Dawn. Shining Armour wrote down the name. Yes, he remembered now, the crazy mare who had attacked Twilight outside of school that day. He had never worked out what her problem was, and Twilight hadn't known either. Was Lancer right after all, was this all part of an elaborate ploy to get at Twily? Was that mare still mad at her after all these years.

I can get the answers to all those questions after I find her. First I have to warn Twilight, get Lancer and then find this Breaking Dawn before it's too late.

Somepony knocked upon his door. Shining Armour shoved the piece of parchment he had been writing on underneath some other papers before getting up, "Come in."

The door opened, and the Countess Mercedes Zaccone walked ─ perhaps strutted would have been a better word ─ into the room.

"Your Highness," she purred, "I hope I'm not intruding overmuch?"

"I guess not," Shining Armour replied warily. He had not met the mare since the reception, and nothing associated with that night gave him fond memories. "What can I do for you?"

"Nothing, it is what I can do for you," the countess replied. "I am here to express my condolences with regard to your wife. Such a tragedy."

"It will be even more tragic for whoever did it when I get hold of them," Shining Armour said. "When that happens, and Twilight reversed the effects of the poison, they'll wish they'd never been born."

The countess laughed, and her peculiar accent fell away as she said, "You still threatening me, big guy?"

Shining Armour frowned in confusion as─

Golden with green eyes!

His eyes widened, "You? No!" he summoned his magic, his horn glowing as he readied a shield spell. He was only half ready when Dawn's spell struck him.

"You'll have to get up earlier than that," Dawn murmured.

Author's Note

I want to thank TheaterCritic and Dark Parable for letting me reference their OCs in this chapter. Windwaker belongs to TheaterCritic and is currently appearing in that author's Bearer of the Sword (I can't get links to work in the author's notes); Red Wyne is the OC of Dark Parable and the star of the same's From the Outside In, which you should all check out as it's becoming a quite sophisticated take on the Brony in Equestria idea.

Guilty Creatures Sitting at a Play

Chapter 9

Guilty Creatures Sitting at a Play

Twilight's quill scratched as it ran across the parchment scroll, pausing only for her to dip the handsome phoenix feather into the ink.

The qualities of a well-made potion are three fold: first, that it should fulfil its function in as expeditious a manner as possible. Second, that it should be safe for the consumption of ponies and any other living creatures who might conceivably have cause to take it. And thirdly, that it should be easy to reproduce in order to provide the greatest benefit to ponykind.

There was a knock upon the door of Twilight's tower room.

"Spike, would you mind getting that?"

"Sure thing, Twilight," Spike got down off his chair and scampered over to the door. "Oh, hi Shining Armour!"

"Hey, Spike," Shining Armour said. "Is Twily here?"

"Sure," Spike replied, "hey, Twilight, it's Shining Armour!"

"Hello," Twilight glanced in her big brother's direction, before returning her attention back to her essay.

"Um, yeah, hi," Shining Armour said, sounding suddenly uncertain. "Uh, do you have a minute to talk?"

"I'm kinda busy, can you just talk now. I promise I'm listening," Twilight said.

There was a pause, Twilight did not look up for her brother's reaction.

Shining Armour sighed, "You know it was Cadance's birthday party last night. Remember, I dropped off the invitation a couple of weeks ago?"

"I remember."

"You said you were going to be there."

"And I meant it when I said it," Twilight said. "But I was busy last night, something came up."

"Cadance was disappointed when you didn't show," Shining Armour said reproachfully.

"I was busy," Twilight repeated, "we were completely snowed under with work, weren't we Spike?"

"You could have made time if you'd wanted too," Spike said. "We could have started that research this morning."

"We were re-cataloguing the books this morning," Twilight reminded him. "I am sorry about Cadance's party, really, but I just had too much to do."

"Like when you blew me off for lunch last week?" Shining Armour said.

"Exactly like that," Twilight said testily. "I'm not doing this to spite you or Cadance. I really have important stuff I need to be getting on with."

"I know," Shining Armour said. "I know how much being Princess Celestia's student matters to you, I know how much of a responsibility it is. But, Twily, I didn't come up here to complain that you hurt Cadance's feelings ─ although you did ─ or mine. I came here because I'm worried about you. Because Mom and Dad are worried about you."

"There is nothing to worry about," Twilight kept writing while she talked. "My grades are consistently excellent."

"I've been asking around the school, Twily, nopony ever sees you, some of the ponies I asked didn't even know who you were," Shining Armour said. "Do you just spend all day and all night shut up in here?"

"I go out when I need a book from the library, or to get something to eat," Twilight replied, still not looking up from her work.

"Well I'm glad to hear you're eating, Mom was worried," Shining Armour said. "But living that way isn't healthy Twilight, it's not good for you."

"I'm a grown pony, I don't need you or Cadance telling me what is or isn't good for me any more," Twilight said a tad testily.

"A grown pony who has no friends or social life," Shining Armour said.

"I don't have the luxury of spending my time on frivolities that I can just drop to go and do other frivolous things," Twilight said. "What I'm doing here is actually important, it matters."

"Are you saying that the things I do don't matter? That they're frivolous? That me, our parents, Cadance, we don't matter?"

Twilight looked up to see a hurt expression on her brother's face, "I didn't mean─ are we fighting?"

"I hope not," Shining Armour said.

"I will make it up to Cadance somehow, I promise," Twilight said. "But...I think you should go now, I have a lot of work to get done."

***

"I didn't keep my promise," Twilight murmured.

"Come again?" Spike said as he swallowed a mouthful of cupcake.

"Cadance's birthday party, I said I'd go and then I didn't, remember? I didn't even get her a present. I promised that I'd make it up to her but I never did. I never even spoke to her until the wedding. And to think that I thought she was evil for blowing me off that day, when looking back I actually deserved the way that Queen Chrysalis treated me more than how the real Cadance did. How arrogant was it to think I could just breeze back into her life and pick up where I'd left off as if nothing had happened?"

"But that's exactly what you did," Spike pointed out. "Which just proves how much the two of you mean to one another when you stop and think about it."

"I'd like to believe that," Twilight said quietly. "But I still never made it up to her for the way I behaved."

"You did save Cadance and her wedding day from the changelings."

"I know but," Twilight sighed, bowing her head, "this is why I have to save her Spike, whatever it takes. Because she's been so good to me, so kind, so loyal, I can't abandon her, not ever. That's why I have to keep on doing this."

They stood in the converted laboratory. Every inch of these walls had become familiar to Twilight recently. Each stain on the carpet had become an old friend. In time she would become as familiar with its ins and outs as she had been with her tower at school.

"I never said to give up," Spike said. "I just...it's been four days since you left this room for more than ten minutes at a time."

"I'm more than ten minutes in the bath each morning."

"You know what I mean, Twilight," Spike frowned. "You're shutting yourself in again."

"Everypony understands what I'm doing here and why I have to do it," Twilight replied. "Thought apparently some dragons are having a harder time."

"It's not a good combination with dark magic," Spike said. "And is it just me or are you using more and more of that?"

Twilight sighed, "I need to become more practiced with it, more refined in my usage, if I'm to crack the secret of this spell." And it feels oh so sweet. I can hardly imagine going back to ordinary magic after this delicious nectar.

"This can't be good for you, Twilight," Spike said. "You aren't sleeping."

"I don't have time for sleep, and I don't need you telling me what is and isn't good for me," Twilight snapped. "I'm a grown pony and a princess!"

Twilight flinched away from him, one hoof rubbing at her head as she frowned, "I'm sorry Spike, I don't know why I just yelled at your like that." Her head was throbbing, she felt in dire need of an aspirin.

"Are you okay, Twilight?" Spike moved closer to her. "Do you want me to get the others?"

"They can't help me with this Spike," Twilight said, taking a deep breath. They can't help me with anything, they're useless. Wait, where in Equestria did that come from? Am I receiving other pony's thoughts of a sudden? Am I becoming a telepath? Twilight shook her head, "We need to keep working. Are you still with me?"

"Yeah, I'm with you," Spike sounded a lot less confident than his words, and looked less sure of himself than that.

Twilight nodded, shaking her head clear. She needed to concentrate for this, she could not afford any distractions, not even the throbbing pain right underneath her horn. Besides, she had a feeling that what she was about to do would make the pain go away faster than she could say pain relief. She closed her eyes, focussed her energies and called upon the dark magic.

Her horn glowed with that purple, green and black light, her eyes turned from lavender to sickly green, faint black lines began to appear running up and down her skin. And Twilight Sparkle felt oh so good. The pain from her headache was gone completely, replaced by such sweet sensation it threatened to overpower her mind. She flew through nectar, she swam in ambrosia, she drowned in pure joy and happiness and the thrill of power. Her aura bubbled and she bubbled with it, rising higher and higher as her mortal cares were cast off.

With this power I could do anything. I could bend Equestria to my will, remake it in my image. I could be the mistress of a whole new race who would look to me as ponies look to Celestia. With this power I could─

Focus Twilight, focus! This is for Cadance, all and only for her.

Why? Is it not time to put away childish things, sentimental attachments that belong to the past?

Cadance doesn't belong to the past! She's my friend now!

She's not anypony's friend the way she is at the moment. Leave her that way and who'll complain.

"I will!" Twilight shouted, wresting her thoughts away from that foul path with an effort of willpower and firing a burst of dark magic at one of the test vials. If she could learn how to create the Tears of Nightmare Moon, then she would know how to purify the potion or create an antidote. It might be as simple as cleansing the mixture of dark magic.

I cannot be cleansed so easily as that. Once you let me in there I remain. And really, why would you want me gone?

You do not control me, Twilight thought as she kept up the spell for a few moments longer. Once I have what I need from you, I will cast you aside.

So you say.

The spell ended, Twilight pouring the last of her magic into the vial and then releasing her hold upon the black magic. Instantly she felt so weak, so drained that her legs wobbled and she feared that she would fall flat on her face in front of Spike. But that was not the worst part, the worst of it was not how drained of strength but how drained of joy she felt after having drawn forth dark magic and then released it again. It was as though she had been asleep and dreaming such a sweet, paradise dream of golden worlds filled with happiness that, upon waking to a reality hard and cold, she cried to dream again. Twilight Sparkle did not weep, but she felt herself coming close.

It was all she could do not to seize dark magic again at once. If this ecstasy is Sombra's taint then why can't all magic be so tainted?

Twilight Sparkle fought to keep her thoughts clear, "Did it work?"

Spike walked over to the vials, "It doesn't look the same as the control Tears."

"Doesn't really matter. I'll purify it and we'll try it out on the rat. Stand back," Twilight summoned her magic.

"Um, Twilight," Spike said nervously, "I thought you were going to use regular magic for the purification, not dark magic."

"What? Am I?" Twilight noticed that she didn't feel so tired any more. She let go, and her weariness returned twice as hard. She reached again for magic, and grasped at the dark kind by mistake. The third time the same thing happened.

"You're overusing it Twilight, you need to let it go," Spike insisted.

"I'm fine, I just need to take a quick break," Twilight gasped. "I am the Princess of Magic, I can do this."

"You won't be able to do regular magic if you keep this up," Spike sounded incredibly shrill to Twilight's ears. She was getting a little fed up with his complaining. "You need to let the dark stuff go, for a while at least."

Let go? But it's so sweet. Twilight shook her head, forcing her eyelids to stay open, "I need to do this. For Cadance."

"Perhaps there's another way. Perhaps Rarity can help you."

"Hah! What's she going to do, sew me a cure for Cadance?" Twilight sneered. "Why did I just say that? Where are these nasty words coming from?"

"You don't know?"

"No I don't and if you've got nothing better to do than look smug and sound self-righteous then you might as well leave, you're no use to me," Twilight shouted.

Spike backed away from her, his green eyes wide with shock, "I'm going to go get the others, maybe they can talk some sense into you." He very nearly slammed the door behind him.

Twilight rubbed her head as it started to ache again, worse than before. Why did I talk to him like that? He was just looking out for me. I'll make it up to him later.

"I can control this," she whispered to herself. "I will control this. I will master it. I know what you're trying to do and it won't work. Power does not tempt me."

Then why do you want it so badly?

Somepony knocked upon the door, "Princess Twilight, may I come in."

Twilight vaguely recognised that accent, foreign sounding but in such a way as to be impossible to trace, "Come in."

Yes, it was the Countess Mercedes Zaccone who swept into the room. Whether it was tiredness, dark magic or something else, but Twilight felt feelings stir within her that she had not felt before. She was at once fascinated and repulsed by this pony, drawn to her and wary of her. It was though she considered the Countess to be both kin and mortal enemy to her.

"You'll have to excuse me, and the mess," Twilight said. "I wasn't expecting a visitor."

"Believe me Your Highness, I would never look down upon how hard you are working. It speaks well of your friendship with the Princess Cadance, yes? But still, I hoped that you might consider taking a small break from your work to attend the theatre as my guest."

Twilight frowned, maybe it the fog in her brain but she could not have said what Twilight thought she just said, "You came out here to ask me to go to a play?"

"A very good play," the Countess corrected her mildly. "Performed by some excellent actors, the very best for comedy, tragedy, historical, pastoral or indeed any production of any kind."

Twilight laughed, "I'm sorry, but I don't have any time for such frivolity right now."

"Frivolity? Oh no, Your Highness, this is vitally important. I must confess I have an ulterior interest in this matter: I am something of an amateur sleuth, I adore detective stories and constantly involve myself in investigations into criminal activities. On the Isla Dantes I am well known to the guard as an investigator. And so, when I arrive here and a crime is committed, I investigate. And now I have a plan."

"If you think you know something you should talk to my brother."

"No. I talk to you. I feel a...kinship between us. A bond, tying us together. I can speak freely with you. I fear you may be betrayed by one of your own inner circle."

Twilight laughed again, "No that's impossible. I trust my friends completely and absolutely."

"Do you?" the Countess asked. "Do you still, after gaining wings and crown? It is said that power reveals who we really are, but I believe it is truer to say that power reveals those around us. Success breeds envy and resentment, even where there had once been perfect love. Are you so certain that there is not a cancer spreading through your garden?"

"Yes," Twilight said, but it came out somewhat hoarsely as she back away from the Countess. She would not believe it, did not want to believe it, but some part of her did believe it, and whispered at the back of her mind that Countess Mercedes spoke true.

The Countess smiled thinly, "It is said that guilty creatures sitting at a play will, when confronted with the image of their malefactions, be struck so to the soul that they will make confession of their crimes. For crime will speak even though it has no tongue. Come to the theatre with your friends and see something like the poisoning of Princess Cadance played before you all. If they are true, they'll bear it with patient shrug and I'll confess to being wrong. But if they play you false then one of them will blanch and flee, frightened by the cunning of the scene. Then you will know your course."

"You will be proved wrong," Twilight said.

"I am prepared to take the risk," the Countess replied.

Twilight bowed her head. She felt unspeakably dirty, but at least this would stop Spike complaining that she never left the palace, "Very well."

***

The next night, Breaking Dawn stood backstage at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and watched the actors getting ready for the show. Actors put on their costumes, applied their makeup, put on their wigs and transformed from humble players into princes and princesses, heralds and clowns. The magic of the theatre, as powerful as any unicorn's art, began to suffuse the air.

"Is everything in order?" she asked.

Hard Candy pulled on a long, flowing blue wig, "Yep. We're all set and ready to go as soon as the curtain rises."

"And it's all going to go flawlessly?"

Candy gave her a look, "Give us some credit Dawn, this is what we do for a living."

"Sorry," Dawn said. "It's just that this has to go off without a hitch. Absolutely flawlessly and just like Laurel and I wrote it. Do not let the clowns speak more than is allotted to them, nor let anyone waste time in─"

"Dawny," Candy said in a warning tone. She chuckled. "We don't need you to teach us how to suck eggs."

"Right, right, sorry," Dawn shook her head. "I should go."

"That's probably for the best."

***

The Countess Mercedes had managed to book the prestigious Theatre Royal Haymarket for the night, and so on the night after their conversation Twilight led her friends to the ornate, columned front of the theatre for the special performance, to which all of the elite of Canterlot appeared to have been invited. Crimson banners hung from the theatre roof proudly proclaiming The Treason of Valiant, Prince of the Crystal Empire. An usher in a velvet waistcoat waved Twilight's party through.

"You are in the Royal Circle ma'am, Countess Mercedes is expecting you."

Twilight nodded in acknowledgement.

"So many ponies here," Rarity said. "Is there anypony she didn't invite?"

"I don't think so," Twilight replied. "Even Princess Celestia received an invitation, though she didn't accept it. I─ Shining Armour?"

"Twilight, hey," Shining Armour smiled as he cut his way purposefully through the crowds like a shark through a school of fish. "I think I'm in the Royal Circle with you guys." Rarity made a kind of strangled squawk of alarm. She did not look Shining Armour in the face.

"Great," Twilight said. "How's the investigation going? Did you get anything from the apothecary?"

Shining Armour scowled, "That guy. No, he doesn't know anything."

"Maybe you should let me talk to him," Twilight said. "I bet I know some ways of getting him to talk."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Twilight Sparkle," Shining Armour said.

Twilight frowned, "No, nor do I. I suppose we'd best go on up."

"Why do we all have to go this play anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Theatre isn't really my thing."

"Neither was reading until you gave it a try," Twilight reminded her.

"Yeah, I guess," Rainbow Dash admitted.

"Do you know what it's about Twilight?" Fluttershy murmured. "It looked rather nasty on the poster outside."

"No, I'm afraid not," Twilight lied. She felt bad about deceiving them, but the point of this whole exercise was that they did not know the truth.

It was a terrible feeling that the Countess had planted in her stomach. It was as if a glass barrier had been erected between her and her friends, a barrier that could not be seen that was nonetheless dividing them impenetrably. The thought that one of them might have betrayed her after all they had been through...what would that mean? Had she ever known the real them? Or had they been playing her false this whole time?

All they've ever wanted is what they could get from you.

No, no that isn't true! What's happening to me?

"Twilight darling, are you okay?" Rarity laid a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, drawing back as Twilight flinched from her touch.

"I'm fine, really."

"At least you're getting out of the palace, right?" Spike said.

"Yeah, right," I need to get this over with so I can say that they are all innocent, and get back to trusting them. It's terrible, the only one I don't doubt is Applejack.

And she was always the least and dullest of them.

What? No she wasn't. Stop thinking stuff like that.

She led her party up into the Royal Circle, which was deserted save for the Countess and her chaperone.

"Ah, Your Highness, so glad you could make it. And all your lovely friends too, welcome my dears. Miss Rarity, I know, and the Crystal Prince I have met, but I am afraid the others I know only by reputation.

"These are my friends," the word very nearly stuck in Twilight's craw, "Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike."

"Pleasure to meet you," the Countess purred. "Rainbow Dash the famous flier, yes?"

"The one and only," Rainbow Dash answered proudly.

"Perhaps I will have the pleasure to see you race sometime?"

"Maybe yeah, I never say no to chance to show my stuff."

"Never ever," Rarity murmured.

The Countess smiled, more like a smirk almost, "Please, all of you, sit. The curtain will rise in just a moment. Your Highness, sit by me if you will."

"May I sit next to you, Rarity?" Shining Armour asked.

Rarity looked distinctly unhappy with the idea, Twilight had already sat down next to the Countess, Fluttershy next to Twilight, Rainbow Dash next to Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie next to Rainbow Dash and Spike next to Pinkie Pie. So she really had no choice but to acquiesce as she sat down with Spike on her right and Shining Armour on her left.

"Is this a funny play?" Pinkie Pie asked.

The Countess blinked, "No, I am afraid not."

"Aw, that's a pity," Pinkie Pie said, producing a box of popcorn from Celestia knew where and beginning to munch on it.

Below them, in the Upper Circle and the Stalls, the seats were filling quickly. There was not an empty seat in the theatre as the trumpets sounded, the red velvet curtain rose and the actors walked on stage.

The play began with a Prologue advancing to the centre of the stage to face the audience.

"A time of peace and great prosperity," the Prologue said.
"In the fair Crystal Empire of old,
Wherein we lay our wood and canvas scene,
Here reigns the Princess Bella, whose fair face,
Is famed beyond repute in all the lands.
Though sought by suitors from across the world,
Her hoof is given to the bold Knight Valiant,
Whose gallantry is as her beauty well renowned.
His sister is to royalty new made,
And to the Crystal Empire she is come,
With presents, praises and rich train,
To be done honour.
Gentle ladies, and kind gentlecolts,
Forgive the meagre trappings of this play,
We have no gems t'adorn the city bright,
No Crystal Heart to cast a loving light,
Our crowns are paper gold, our wings are false,
We have no throngs of Crystal Ponies,
No swollen progress for a princess fit,
And Bella seems less fair than words would make,
Give us your aid, good watching folk,
And with imagination we will be
Transformed into things grander than we are:
A city will sprout whole and full upon this stage,
Great crowds will flock about it richly dressed,
And you will behold beauty beyond words
As we ride on the wings of your belief."

The Prologue retired, and a small crowd of extras entered upon the stage.

"All hail the Princess Bella! All hail Prince Valiant! Long live the Crystal Empire!"

The Prince and Princess entered from the left, pressed close against one another as they strode on stage to the cheers and applause of the populace.

"Now is the winter of our fearful dread,
Turned glorious summer by my Valiant, prince,
Now is the long dark night in which we dwelled,
Dispelled and banished by the light of love," Princess Bella said.

"'Tis even so, now you and I are wed,
And come together to this Crystal Throne,
Though suitors came from all the world to win,
The favour of this most fair hoof, from Quaggai,
From Grevyia, from griffons' lands,
And even Changelings from the barb'rous wastes,
Twas I you chose, and I you lately wed,
Though I am favoured not with handsome face,
Nor blessed with nimble tongue." Prince Valiant replied.

"Yet with your valour you have won my heart,
And claimed it as a spoil of war. Tell me, Prince,
Will you love me evermore and ever faithful?"

"For evermore," Prince Valiant said, though he continued in an aside,
"In truth I have not loved her since we wed,
And only 'nother's stubbornness,
Preserves my faith to this despised union."

Trumpets rang out, Princess Bella said,
"Let all attend and welcome Princess Nimue,
New crown'd and sister dear to my sweet prince,
Attend her royal state and welcome! Hail Princess Nimue!"

"The Princess Nimue cometh! Behold! Behold!" the crowd cried as Princess Nimue entered from the right accompanied by her train.

"Good brother, and sweet sister Bella kind,
You are too generous with flattery and praise,
Though I have lately royal wings been granted,
I feel no higher up than once I was ─ upon the ground."

"In our esteem you soar above the clouds," Bella said.
"Come, let us away."

Belle and Nimue exited, followed by Nimue's train and all the commoners.

"Lady Guinevere, hold a moment," Prince Valiant called.
"Have you yet given thought to my last letter?"

One of Nimue's attendants, a unicorn with blue hair, halted at the edge of the stage.
"My answer is unchanged from last we spoke."

"Why, Guinevere, why must you be so cold?
Just let my blazing passion melt the ice,
That has engulfed you."

"I'd sooner a cold wind would put out all thy flames."

"Fie, Guinevere, look at me!"

"Nay I'll not!"

"Doubt that the stars are fire,
Doubt that the sun doth move,
Think truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love thee,
Whole entire.
Is it my face that so repels your heart?"

"Rather your wedding band repels my thought," Guinevere said.
"I'll be the prize of no stallion saving he
Who calls me wife. You're wed t'another."

"And greatly I regret my hasty foolishness," Valiant said.
"If I could wed thee, would you call me husband?"

A crafty look appeared on Guinevere's face, "I would consider it. Now I must go."

She exited, and all the stage darkened but for a spotlight upon Valiant alone.

"O! I am bound about with iron chains,
Which dig into my soul and rend it 'bout to pieces!
My wife, though I do love her not, is kind,
And innocent of both crime or offence,
Save loving me in which act she,
In thinking herself loved is more decieved.
I love her not, my heart burns for another,
Her face before my eyes, consuming thought,
But what to do? I cannot marry while I am yet wed,
Nor would I yield the throne of this fair Empire,
Where I now stand prince. Is love enough,
To cast aside a kingdom for it's sake?
Oh yes, yes, for without throne I'll sleep
In common beds. But without Guinevere,
I'll never rest."

Valiant rushed off stage. The stage darkened, and when it lit again a leafy bower sat in the centre of the stage.

"What is this play about, Countess, may I ask?" Rarity said tremulously.

"Passion, plot and the ruin of the realm by love," the Countess said. "Murder, treason and foul purposes. Look, here comes the Princess Bella back again."

Bella came on, yawning.

"I am much tired and sleepyheaded now,
My lids are heavy and my footfalls drag,
I'll rest here in my garden bower awhile,
Till weariness flees from me." She lay down, and was soon asleep.

Valiant returned, swathed in a black cloak and holding a vial of poison,
"Thoughts black, hooves apt,
Drugs fit and time permitting,
Moment right, with no creature seeing.
Farewell, unloved wife! What's this?
My hooves seem in th'air to stick,
Does my body rebel against my will?
Can it comprehend the vileness of the act,
And seek to stem the stench of my offences?
For rank this is, so rank I tremble on,
The threshold of this Deed. A little water,
Swift applied may clear my hooves,
But is there water in ocean's whole expanse
Wash clear my soul? Yet have I other choice?
A life of misery? Fie upon that!
Where must I sacrifice myself for others' sake,
And be a servant for them all my days.
Forbid it, Celestia! I'll do as need,
Though all my joys be mingled with regret."

He poured the poison into Bella's ears. Rarity squeaked in alarm. Twilight saw that the Countess had paled a little, a single tear running down her cheek.

"What do you mean bringing us to a play like this after everything that's happened?" Rainbow Dash snapped.

The Countess blinked and wiped away her tear, "It is all in good humour, yes? Poison in jest. Now you shall see how Prince Valiant gets the love of his sister's hoofmaiden."

Rarity, looking like she was about to be sick, got up from her seat, "Excuse me everypony, I feel a little unwell." she galloped out of the circle and down the stairs. After a few moments, Shining Armour stood up awkwardly to follow her.

The Countess leaned in to Twilight, "Listen to their conversation. You may hear something to your advantage."

Twilight looked in the direction she had gone. She felt more than a little ill herself.

***

Rarity stood outside the theatre, taking deep breaths of the crisp evening air, ignoring all the hustle and bustle of a Canterlot eve that went on around her.
She knows, that was the thought that ran through her head like a hamster upon a wheel over and over again. She knows about the letters. The similarities of the play had been great, the paralells to her situation had been too pat, to admit of any other explanation. The Countess is suggesting that I knew about Shining Armour's feelings, that I returned them, that I encouraged this. But then why not just tell Twilight? Why this charade? Is she playing some sort of game with me?

Unless she knew about the letters because she sent them! Rarity took a deep breath. That would explain everything. Which would mean that she was not just playing with Rarity, but with Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armour too. Anger began to build inside of Rarity, her brow furrowed and her jaw clenched.

So she thinks she can use me to hurt Twilight? Play us both for fools? And who knows how involved she is with what happened to Princess Cadance. I think it's about time somepony showed this little madam what happens to people who try to come between this family.

Her sickly feeling replaced by a rage that seemed to give her strength, Rarity wheeled round to march back in there and give the Countess a piece of her mind. Only to find Shining Armour standing in front of her.

"Did you not enjoy the play?" he asked. "My love?"

Rarity stepped backwards, her blue eyes widening, "No, this isn't right, this isn't you."

"I was hurt you didn't answer my letters," Shining Armour said.

"Y-you wrote me those letters?"

"Who else would have?" Shining Armour asked. "I love you, Mi Amore, I don't know why you keep denying that you love me too."

"Because I don't," Rarity snapped.

"Stop lying," he hissed. "We don't have to lie any more: not to one another, not to ourselves, not even to Twilight Sparkle. We have a chance now, finally, to talk honestly."

"Honestly: we have nothing to talk about," Rarity somehow managed the difficult feat of shouting while sounding prim at the same time. She walked back up the steps into the theatre.

Shining Armour followed, dragging her into an empty cloakroom, "I know the truth. I know what we have. I will not tolerate all this lying any longer."

"Let go of me."

"I love you. I poisoned my own wife to be with you. I know you feel the same way I do, I see it every time you look at me. You don't want that annoying little lizard, I'm the stallion you love. Why do you keep hiding it?"

"I'm not hiding anything!" Rarity shouted, wrenching free of his grasp. "I feel nothing for you. Nothing! Except revulsion at what you've done. How could you imagine that I would...you're Twilight's brother. Married to one of her best friends. Don't you realise how much you've hurt her. And you dared to act so outraged at the think that you had done, and now to expect me to be happy about it. How dare you? How dare you? You're Twilight's brother and Twilight's friendship means everything to me. More than you, more than love, more than anything. I won't ever betray her, ever. You disgust me."

Shining Armour's expression became hurt as he placed his hooves upon her shoulders, "Mi Amore-"

"Don't call me that! And get off!" Rarity shrieked as the door from the theatre opened.

Twilight Sparkle stood in the doorway. She did not look angry. Her expression was more upset than anything. The grief in her eyes cut Rarity to the quick.

"So," she said softly, "it is true."

Author's Note

And Dawny's escapes continue to become more and more by the skin of the teeth.

This chapter cribs an awful lot from Hamlet, which is acknowledged in the chapter name, but reverses the situation: Dawn may think she's Hamlet but she's actually more Claudius.

Like most of the original Canterlot locations not mentioned in the show, the Theatre Royal Haymarket is a real theatre in London, Piccadilly in point of fact, where I was fortunate enough to see One Man, Two Guvnors, albeit not with the Gavin and Stacey guy in the lead. Sadly I couldn't get a seat in the Royal Circle.

Long Dark Night: Counsel of the Princesses

Chapter 10

Long Dark Night: Counsel of the Princesses

Twilight Sparkle lay face down upon her bed, in the plush comfort of her home, and sobbed into her pillow. Her sorrows poured outwards while cruel words whirled around her mind and would not leave her be.

"Twily?" Shining Armour pushed open the door to Twilight's bedroom, poking his head inside. "Twily, are you okay?"

"Do I sound like I'm okay?" Twilight wailed.

Shining Armour walked softly into the room, his tread soft upon the carpet, "Come on, talk to me. What's wrong?"

Twilight didn't look up from her pillow, "Scarlet Shine, that filly I met at school, you remember?"

Shining Armour nodded, "Yeah, your friend who was hanging around when I picked you up that one time."

"That's just it," Twilight sobbed. "She kept on asking me when she could get to meet Princess Celestia. She was always pushing it and pushing it. And at first I thought it was just because she thought Princess Celestia was as cool as I do. But I talked to the Princess about it and she said that Scarlet Shine's parents are always trying to get to see Princess Celestia about...something I don't remember. And when I asked Scarlet about it, she told me that her parents had told her to be my friend so that they could get in to see the Princess."

Shining Armour was at a loss for anything to say. Looking at it, it seemed inevitable that some ponies would try to take advantage of Twily's closeness to Princess Celestia to further their own ambitions, but he knew that Mom and Dad had hoped to avoid having to tell Twily that, that the school would protect her from it. Among the guards he had recieved a bit of good natured banter - 'Hey, Shining Armour, ask your sister to get me a promotion will you?' 'So when's your sister gonna make you First Captain, huh?' - but nopony seriously expected him to go to his baby sister and ask for favours from the Princess. Apparently there were someponies who really were that unscrupulous.

"That's rough, Twily," he said lamely. "So, what happened after that?"

"I asked her why, and Scarlet Shine she said," Twilight paused as more tears fell. "She said that nopony would ever want to be my friend. She said that I was an egghead and a loser and she'd been bored stupid every minute she's spent with me. How could she say stuff like that?"

"Because she's an idiot and she isn't worthy of you," Shining Armour said, putting one leg around Twilight's shoulders. "Twily, believe me, some day you'll fine real friends who appreciate you for the clever, brave, kind pony that you are. Who value you and your friendship for your own sake for who you are, not for what they can get out of you. Until then, you just have to be on your guard okay. Don't give too much to ponies you don't trust, and don't trust everypony without good cause."

"I'm not going to give anything to anypony any more," Twilight growled. "Who needs friends anyway? All they are is a distraction. I've got you and Spike and Cadance. That's all I need."

Shining Armour gave a small smile, "I think you may change your mind about that one day."

"No I won't," Twilight insisted. "I'm never going to need anypony else, ever!"

***

The dungeons of Canterlot were not so grim nor ghoulish as the wild imaginings of Twilight or Fluttershy would have made them, but they were not a cheerful place by any measure. Beneath the gleaming marble of the palace lay cold grey stone, beneath the red and gold-leafed doors lay hard iron bars. In place of fluffy mattresses and lavish hangings there were spring beds. Cleanliness was the place's only recommending feature.

Twilight stood outside of one of these cells, her brow knitted in a furious glower. There was a guard standing nearby the door, Captain Lancer standing behind her, but she was barely aware of them. Like the dungeons themselves, they were mere scenery to her. She had ordered her friends - huh, how that word seemed to cry out for sarcastic venom to her now - back to her own palace. She would deal with them later. For now, she was all alone. As she wanted.

Inside the cell, separated from her by the bars of the door, Shining Armour sat on the ground.

"Why?" Twilight demanded. "Why did you do it? Why did you betray Cadance like that?"

"Because I wasn't happy, Twilight Sparkle," Shining Armour replied. "You want me to be happy, don't you?"

"Not happy? Not happy!" Twilight's voice rose, high pitched with incredulous fury. "You think that that gives you the right to...do you even realise what you've done? To Cadance, to me?"

"I freed myself," Shining Armour said, "from the shackles of a cold union. Now Rarity and I can be together."

"You're going to sit in this cell until Rarity's teeth rot and her mane falls out and she has to dye her tail to keep it that pretty colour, I guarantee it," Twilight snarled, her horn bubbling black and green as she pressed her face against the bars of the cell door. "We'll see how much you love her then, or how much she cares for you when you're nothing but skin draped on old bones."

"Ma'am," Lancer began warily.

"Silence!" Twilight shouted. "If I want a word from you I'll ask you for it." Her skin began to darken, black lines spreading up and down her body. Anger was like oozing ecstasy inside her, suffusing her, completing her. Her state of rage felt natural, the way she ought to be.

Shining Armour showed no fear of her. In fact he smiled. He did not seem so much like the brother she knew, but then the brother she knew would never have confessed to the things he had confessed to doing.

"Twilight Sparkle, why don't you ask me what we both know is really on your mind? Did Rarity know what I was going to do?"

Twilight's apoplexy shuddered to an abrupt halt in the face of her brother's cold, cutting barb. She scowled, "I already know the answer, I heard what passed between you."

"You heard her lying, you mean?" Shining Armour's smile never faltered. "Ask her about the love letters. She knew. Since the moment we met we've both known. Rarity only tried to lie because she thought you were on to her."

"That's a lie," Twilight growled. "You, and Rarity? I was at your wedding remember, I saw how you were with Cadance, the way you danced together you─"

"Loved her once?"

Twilight snorted, "I believed it, yes."

"More fool you then Twilight Sparkle. I never loved her. It was Rarity all along."

"But poison? Why?"

Shining Armour shrugged.

A growl of anger rose from the back of Twilight's throat. Her head pounded. She wanted to tear down the door to that cell and throttle the answers from him. No, no she didn't. She wanted to get out of here before she was sick.

"You know, you were right all along BBBFF," Twilight said as she turned away, tears in her eyes. "I should have learnt better than to trust anypony who could hurt me."

***

Lancer watched out of the side of his eye as Princess Twilight stalked away. He suppressed a shiver with great effort. Lately, his mistress had begun to scare him just a little and that was an uncomfortable position for a guard to be in. Still, what she was doing, what she was becoming, that was not his concern. His duty was to serve, to protect and to obey and he would do all those things to the best of his ability. And hopefully he would catch whoever was out to destroy her while he was about it.

He did not follow in her wake. Princess Twilight had made clear that she did not want his company. He stayed where he was, looking Shining Armour square in the face. Shining Armour stared back.

Lancer smirked, "So who are you really? Or should I maybe say what are you? A changeling? Is this some complicated plot by Queen Chrysalis? Or are you under a spell of some kind because the one thing I know is that is not Shining Armour looking back at me."

"I don't want your talking about," Shining Armour said. "I'm me."

Lancer shook his head, "I taught you once that nopony pays attention to the guard. Certainly not our mistresses. But we're always there, always watching, and we keep their secrets and know more than they realise. You called the princess Twilight Sparkle. Shining Armour calls his sister Twily, sometimes Twilight."

Shining Armour blinked, his face expressionless as he stared back at Lancer, "Twily didn't-"

"Too late for that now," Lancer snapped. "Princess Twilight is not thinking clearly. I am. I was at your wedding too. I saw the look on your face when you showed up for duty after your first date. I remember the day before you asked her to marry you, it was all you could talk about. You won't convince me that that was all an act. I've seen you trying to lie, your terrible. You weren't faking how you felt about Princess Cadance. But someone's faking now. Open the door."

The turnkey frowned, "Sir?"

"I said open it," Lancer commanded.

"Yes sir, right away," the key rattled in the lock, the iron door squealed as it slid open. Shining Armour didn't move.

Lancer walked into the cell, pressing his face close against Shining Armour, "I don't know who you are or what you've done to the real Shining Armour, but I know you set him up. I don't fully know what your game is yet, but I'll stop it and I will find you."

Shining Armour smirked as he leaned in to whisper in Lancer's ear, "Prove it."

Lancer scowled as he belted Shining Armour across the jaw, knocking him flying into the corner of the cell.

"Sir!" gasped the horrifed guard upon the door.

"Eyes front," Lancer snapped. In a softer tone he said, "See nothing, hear nothing, say nothing. Understand me lad?"

The guard looked dead ahead of himself, "Yes, sir!"

Shining Armour rubbed his jaw with one hoof, "Did that make you feel better?"

Lancer glared at him, "Changelings reveal themselves under attack. Of course that might not have been attack enough." He hauled Shining Armour and up and struck him down again.

He resolutely refused to change into a changeling.

"Pity," Lancer said. "Must be a curse then." He hit Shining Armour a third time, "Shining Armour lad, I'm sorry about this but I know you're in there. Come on boy, snap out of it."

"There isn't anything to snap out of."

"Don't give me that, I taught you, I know you," Lancer hit him again. "I know this isn't you, I know the real Shining Armour is trapped inside fighting to get out. Fight harder! Maybe if I hit you enough times you'll weaken enough to let him out."

"Or are you just afraid that you don't know me half as well as you thought you did?" Shining Armour asked. "That you aren't half as observant as you think you are?"

Lancer hit him again.

"Come on, come back," Lancer said, standing over Shining Armour, his face imploring. "Wake up and tell me that you didn't do this, Come on!"

Shining Armour said nothing.

***

It was raining now, the sky concealed behind a wall of dark and angry clouds. Twilight paid it no mind. The rain cascaded down upon her and she was heedless of it. Other ponies scuttled to and fro trying to keep dry but not her. She walked unflinching through the tempest to her palace and flung open the gates with her dark magic.

The guards bowed to her, but she ignored them. Just like she ignored the servants as she crossed into the palace itself. Scurrying little insects. She was an alicorn and a princess, elevated above the likes of them. And I can be elevated higher still, if I wish. Twilight stalked through the corridors, her shadow cast by the candles and the lamps, and other shadows gathered around her, trailing in her wake and dancing all about her though she did not see them. Twlight Sparkle was a wraith passing through her own home, and the darkness came on before and followed after.

It was now no effort at all to conjure up the dark magic. In fact the effort lay in not using it. So her horn bubbled and boiled with trouble as she used it to open every door in her path, clear aside every obstacle in her way and storm into the drawing room where her so called friends where gathered waiting for her.

What a sorry sight they were. A milksop, a fool, a braggart and a vain and simpering toady. And a little baby dragon to round them out. Where these companions worthy of a princess? Fit to be cupbearers to a god? Did she even need to ask?

They waited silent in the purple room, standing upon the gilt-edged carpet, Rainbow Dash floating up near the crystal chandelier. They looked apprehensive, as well they might.

While I slept they dined well off of me, grew fat upon my favours, soaked up my indolent goodwill. Now the lean years are arrived and I will squeeze them hard.

"Twilight─" Fluttershy began.

"Get out," Twilight cut her off coldly. "I don't want to speak to you, I don't want to see you. All of you go. Except for you, Rarity."

Rarity looked shocked to be singled out. Twilight wasn't fooled, Thought you'd got away with it huh? Right now she hated everything about Rarity, from her false lashes to her perfectly pedicured hooves.

"Maybe you should calm down first, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said. "You've had a hard evening and you don't look so good."

"Oh, so you're so awesome you can even organise my life now?" Twilight spat. "When I want advice on how to make everypony think I'm the most self-absorbed jerk in Equestria, I'll come to you. Until then, leave. Go to your one fan and see if Scootaloo wants to rub your ego some more."

"Hey! Come on Twilight, there's no need to be mean to Rainbow Dash, she didn't do anything," Pinkie Pie said.

"That's right, she never does anything. Just like you, Pinkie, that must be why you're such good buddies," Twilight snarled. "Sweet Celestia, how things that were charming in a filly become grotesque in a grown pony. Balloons, candy, cake, parties. You just breeze through life with no plan and no ambitions and everypony always dotes on you don't they? You know why that is? Because you've got all the brains and maturity of a two year old and you shouldn't be allowed out of the house without a minder."

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie fled, the latter in tears. Spike and Fluttershy didn't wait for a tongue lashing of their own, but followed the first two out toot sweet. Twilight slammed the door behind them with dark magic.

"The free ride ends now," Twilight shouted. Then she turned her attention to Rarity, "Now then, Rarity darling."

Rarity swallowed, "Twilight, please, you're frightening me."

"Good, you deserve to be frightened," Twilight stalked around her until she was behind Rarity and facing the door. She ran one hoof idly over the piano in the corner, "Tell me Rarity, do you know how to play this piano?"

Rarity looked uncertain, "I'm afraid not."

"It's quite simple. Just press the white or black keys with your hooves and it will make a pretty sound. Try it."

Rarity shook her head, "I don't know how."

"But you though you knew how to play me easily enough, and I don't even have keys for you to press upon," Twilight exploded. "Did you know?"

"I don't─"

"Did you know?" Twilight yelled.

"No, of course not."

"Liar, what about the letters?"

Rarity froze, "You know about that?"

"Now I do," Twilight smiled in vicious triumph. "Tell the truth."

"Shining Armour wrote me letters, love letters. But not until after Cadance was poisoned. I didn't tell you because I thought it was a prank, a sick joke."

"Or because you knew that you were partly to blame," Twilight muttered.

"No!" Rarity insisted. "I was as shocked as you to find out what he'd really done! As horrified as you!"

"So you never thought about my brother that way?" Twilight asked. "After the gala he must have seemed like the kind of replacement for Prince Blueblood you were looking for, certainly after he became Prince of the Crystal Empire."

"I have never thought that," Rarity said loudly. "I would never set my sights on another mare's stallion, certainly not Cadance. I told Shining Armour himself your friendship means too much to me."

"Too much, yes," Twilight turned away from her, looking out of the window at night time Canterlot as raindrops pattered on the glass. "I gave too much to all of you."

Rarity said, "Twilight, please I implore you, you have to believe me. Please darling, trust me."

"Oh I'll trust you Rarity," Twilight's smile was something savage to behold as she turned back to look Rarity in the eye. "The same way you trusted me when I told you there was something up with Cadance on her wedding day." Where you planning this even then?

Rarity recoiled, gasping in shock, "Twilight-"

"Go." Twilight commanded. "Get out. Out of this palace, out of this city, out of my sight."

Rarity shook her head desperately, pleading to avoid destruction, "Please, Twilight, don't do this."

"I cast you out," Twilight said coldly. "I never wish to set eyes upon you again."

Rarity stiffened as though she had been frozen. Her words, when she found them, were clipped and precise, "Very well. If that is what you wish. Your Highness, I thank you for the audience." And, with a slow, stiff, certain dignity she turned around and walked with precise steps out of the room. It was only when the door closed that Twilight heard a sob from the other side.

Twilight Sparkle scowled. The nerve of that mare, acting the injured party so. Twilight's scowling eyes fell upon a large picture hanging over the cold and empty fireplace. It had been taken at her coronation, and a second copy had been delivered to the library in Ponyville. Twilight herself stood in the centre of the frame, in her crown and princess gown. Her face was flushed, exhilarated but still not quite believing all of this. Spike sat at her feet, beaming happily. Cadance and Shining Armour stood upon her left, while her friends were clustered about her right. Celestia stood at the back, towering over all others. Everypony looked so happy, so full of joy. Pinkie Pie was making a silly face.

Her precious ponies, her friends, her family. Twilight was filled with such rage, such anger at the sight of it. There was a black flash, an explosion, and burned fragments of the picture floated to the floor as the wall smoked. Rarity's face, singed at the edges, landed at Twilight's hoof. She looked so proud of what Twilight had accomplished. A similar expression was on the face of Cadance, and Princess Celestia.

"What have I done?" Twilight murmured.

***

The train whistled at the station, the engine puffing steam up into the night air. Ponies made their last goodbyes before they climbed aboard onto the sleeper cars. A young stallion leaned out of the window to kiss his marefriend farewell. The conductor, yawning, checked his fob watch for the time.

"All aboard the night train to Appleoosa! Calling at Ponyville, Mustang, Hoofington, Saddale and Appleoosa! All aboard!"

Rarity stepped out of the shadows and onto the platform. Her mane had been matted terribly by the rain and stood in dissheveled contrast to its usual fabulosity. She kept her head bowed and her eyes down as she said, "I'd like a one way ticket to Ponyville please."

"Best get aboard quick miss, the train's about to leave."

"Please hold it for a moment," Princess Celestia swept down onto the platform, causing all still standing on it to bow. In the darkness of the night she was light itself. "I wish to speak with the young lady. Will you tell the driver to wait a while, I will not be long."

The conductor rose from his bow, "Y-yes Your Majesty. I'll uh, I'll do that right away." He hurried off towards the engine.

Celestia looked down at Rarity. Rarity would not meet the gaze of the princess and looked away. Is she here to berate me as well?

"You are leaving?"

"Yes," Rarity said. "It has been made clear to me that I am no longer welcome here."

"If that is what you think is best," Celestia said. "But I would ask one thing of you: keep an open mind and a generous heart. Twilight is not herself, she will repent of all her words."

"Not herself," Rarity frowned. "I don't understand, is she─"

"I fear she is succumbing to despair," Celestia said. "In her efforts to save Cadance she has opened herself up to the malignance that now festers in her. She does not speak entirely of her own free will. You must understand that. It is hard, I know from experience, but you must try to understand."

"But then why don't you do something?"

"I cannot. Only Twilight can resolve to change her ways," Celestia replied. "I have sent Luna to counsel her. I hope that warning will be enough."

Rarity blinked rapidly, "Even if you are right, Your Highness, Twilight will still have heard what passed between Shining Armour and myself, those dreadful letters, I'm afraid she will still hold me responsible." Rarity looked towards the train, "I'm sorry Your Highness, I have to go."

Celestia nodded, "I wish you a safe journey home."

Rarity did not reply as she climbed into the rearmost carriage. She sat down by the window, her face reflected ghostly white back at her in the glass, and looked out to find Princess Celestia still staring back at her. The guard blew his whistle, the train hooted and began to move off. The two gazed upon one another until the train had pulled out of Canterlot and each was lost to the sight of the other.

***

Twilight swooped through the rain soaked spires of Canterlot, fleeing into the night from her guilt and from her shame. The rain poured down upon her back, upon her wings, and on her face where the raindrops mingled with the tears running from her eyes.

I just know we're going to be great friends...we shall be the belles of the ball you and I...Twilight Sparkle, I insist on making you a new dress...Hate you? Why whatever do you mean darling?...

"How could I say stuff like that, to Rarity?" Twilight asked of the clouds that hung above. So dark, so bleak, clearly the pegasi responsible for the weather had a sense of pathetic fallacy.

Those things I said to my friends, how could I? And all that stuff I thought. What's happening to me?

You're becoming what you were meant to be. Embrace the dark and you won't ever need them again.

Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! Twilight fought to keep the voice out of her head. They helped me save Princess Luna, they helped me defeat Discord, they made my life richer in so many ways, I wouldn't be anything without them.

The power that lies within you doesn't have anything to do with friendship. You were born great, and if anything they're holding you back from achieving your true potential.

Be quiet! Stay out of my head. Twilight swooped into a belltower, driving out the bats that had been sheltering within in a startled swarm. She wrapped her wings about herself and sheltered from the rain while water dripped from her feathers and her mane. Against her back the bronze of the bell was cold.

"What's happening to me?" Twilight murmured.

"You have allowed dark magic to enter your soul, Twilight Sparkle. It has taken seed there, and seeks to choke all else within your garden."

Twilight looked around. Princess Luna stood on the other side of the belltower. She seemed unaffected by the rain, not a hair in her magical mane was out of place, not a feather on her wings had been discomfited. Her face was stern, she glowered down at Twilight with disapproval.

"Princess Luna," Twilight murmured. "I didn't expect to meet anypony else up here."

"I came here looking for you," Luna said. "We are all gravely concerned with you, Twilight Sparkle."

"Me," Twilight shook her head. "You don't need to worry about me, I'm fine."

"Your state of distress and disshevelment would argue otherwise," Luna pointed out.

"I'm just a little shaken up, about Shining Armour and everything. I'll be okay."

"I can feel it within you," Luna said. "The dark magic. It calls out to me as a sister. Just being near you tempts me to sample once against its pleasures."

Twilight's eyes widened, "You mean you-"

Luna nodded, "Yes."

Twilight's breathing became very heavy, "But Princess Luna, this is different. I'm doing this to save Cadance, to bring her back."

"I had my good intentions also," Luna said. "I sought to break King Sombra's curse by using Sombra's own power to restore the Crystal Empire. But it played upon my weaknesses and made me mad. It works upon you in the same way, I feel it."

Don't listen to her. She's lying. She's just jealous of your potential. She doesn't want you to become as strong as it is possible to be.

"This isn't the same thing," Twilight said. "This isn't just something I can let go of. I need this."

"That's the magic talking," Luna pressed. "It tells you that you need it, but nothing good can be accomplished through that power. Put it aside, find another way."

"There is no other way." There is only me.

"There is always another way, but you cannot find it because the dark magic is fogging your mind. If you can control yourself-"

"I don't need Nightmare Moon to teach me self-restraint," Twilight snarled. Her eyes widened and she shrank back, "Princess Luna, I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that."

Luna gave no visible sign the barb had hurt her in any way, "I know why."

"Please, try to understand, if I give up on this then it means giving up on Cadance and I can't. She's the only one who never betrayed me. I have to save her. I can master it until then, I can maintain control-"

"Don't you think that I thought that I was in control?" Luna demanded. "As I turned into Nightmare Moon I still thought that I could master the power I sought for myself. But I could not. Because no one can."

You could.

"I...I," Twilight's head was a thousand banging drums. Her thoughts were jangled beyond recognition. It was all she do to get any words out at all. "I want...I can't...I need to-"

A bell tolled in the distance. A bell of warning from the Twilight Palace. And as the two princesses looked that way, they saw the sky lit up with flame as if Celestia had raised the sun early.

Twilight's palace burned.

Author's Note

This chapter, and the two which follow, represent the story hitting its lowest in my opinion. I had a brief discussion a few days ago with Space Cowboy on whether the story was getting too dark, and I can say that it will start getting lighter soon.

And I know that the comics established that Luna was transformed by creatures from the moon (though I'm waiting for that arc to come out in trade before I read it) but I liked the idea of Luna being able to counsel Twilight from experience where even Celestia cannot. And hey, AU tag.

Long Dark Night: With Catlike Tread

Chapter 11

Long Dark Night: With Catlike Tread

Breaking Dawn crouched pathetically on the corner of the street, a mostly empty bowl in front of her. Old newspapers and rags littered the ground round about Dawn, their smell and look driving a few potential benefactors away As the ponies passed her by up and down Littlewood Street, she raised her tiny voice to call out to them.

"Spare any change sir? Spare bit sir, help me get a meal tonight? Thank you miss, and Celestia bless you. Any spare change? No? Bless you sir."

As the crowd began to thin, Dawn counted up what she'd made today. A smile broke out upon her small, young face. Success! She had enough to eat in style tonight: a cup of coffee and a three pack of doughnuts down at Pony Joe's.

"Hey, you little jerk!" a grey pegasus fluttered down to land angrily in front of Dawn. "This here is my spot, I've got this street. Get lost and find your own place to set your bowl out."

Dawn looked up and down, "I don't see your name on it."

"Haha, don't push it you little snot," the pegasus pushed her mug up into Dawn's face. "My street, my rules and I want you out."

Dawn smirked, "Then why don't you make me?"

The pegasus snarled as she slammed into Breaking Dawn. The two rolled up and down the street, tussling furiously. Dawn's begging bowl was knocked aside, bits flying everywhere. The larger, older pegasus tried to pummel Dawn with her hooves, while Dawn gripped the pegasus close and grappled with her while the ponies using the street scattered like chickens at the approach of a cockatrice.

They wrestled furiously, neither one willing to admit defeat, as Dawn slowly but surely gained the upper hand. She was smaller and younger, but she was determined not to be forced out by anypony, especially some pegasus who showed up to claim a street she hadn't even been anywhere near all day.

Their battle was as furious as the duel between Celestia and Nightmare Moon, albeit played out upon a smaller scale, and was ended only by the approaching hoof-steps of the city guard, at which point they both had to make a run for it before they got run in. Dawn scraped up a few of her bits and her bowl, but most of the money she had made that day was lost forever.

So it was a rather angry gaze that she turned upon the grey pegasus as they stopped running in a dark side-alley.

"Thanks a lot, now neither of us is going to eat tonight," Dawn snapped.

The pegasus scuffed the ground with his hooves, "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Whatever. I don't care if your sorry or not," Dawn turned to go. Hopefully she could find a little more charity before dark.

"Nopony has ever fought me to a draw before," the pegasus said. "You got something special in you, unicorn."

"My name's Breaking Dawn," Dawn replied.

The pegasus grinned, "And I'm Razor Wind. You got anyplace to go tonight?"

Dawn shrugged, "Maybe."

"Come on," Razor Wind said, "I know a place we can get a bite to eat and a roof over our heads. I've got a few bits stashed."

Dawn frowned, "You serious?"

"On the level, why not?"

"Why?" Dawn asked. "Why help me out?"

Razor shrugged, "I figure, ponies like us never get anyplace because we don't have anypony. But, maybe, if we watch out for one another, whatever we have we share like, we might actually get ahead for once. Like I said, you're something else."

Dawn hesitated, wondering whether this was all some big trick. But for what? She hardly had any money left. And besides, she kinda liked this pegasus. She had a loyal face. She seemed...trustworthy.

"Why not? Worth a try, I guess," Dawn said.

Razor grinned, putting one leg over Dawn's shoulder, "Consider yourself well in, little sunshine, because after some consideration I can say that you and I are going to be best friends."

***

Breaking Dawn released direct control and rubbed her face with one hoof. For the most part the compulsion spell she had placed upon Shining Armour worked upon suggestion: she would send commands into his mind like Go to the theatre and he would do it, based upon his own knowledge of how to walk and where the theatre was the like. For some things though, when she had to be sure that Shining Armour's subconscious wasn't going to screw things up, she had to direct things personally, controlling exactly what the prince would say and do. That meant that she became a part of Shining Armour, and she had felt him getting slapped around by Twilight's guard captain. He had a strong punch on the end of his legs.

She had also seen how far gone Twilight Sparkle was. Dark Magic, somehow she had never considered that perfect Twilight Sparkle might sink so low. It was, quite frankly, a little scary. With that amount of power she could tear Dawn to pieces in a fight, and a Twilight who had succumbed to the influence of evil would have no reason to show mercy.

Which just goes to show, Dawn thought. Somepony who would open themselves to the temptations of the dark so easily has no right to bear the Element of Magic, the embodiment of Harmony itself. I was right all along.

And yet, as her reluctant Grevyian friends might have said, there was opportunity even in things that you did not see coming.

"Well?" Lord Mathos demanded. "What progress?"

Dawn rolled her eyes, grateful that she had her back to the odious zebra. They had met in a private room at the back of a tavern, the proprietor of which was well used to being blind and deaf when the situation called for it. It was a slightly dingy place, ill lit, but fitting she supposed for the business about which they were engaged. Dark for dark business, as the saying went. She could barely make out the little zebra girl behind Lord Mathos, fanning him with a leaf-shaped fan held in her mouth.

Plastering on the widest of her fake smiles, Dawn turned to face Lord Mathos. She understood that he insulted her by speaking in prose, but she was not especially bothered by it. Why should he respect her now, when she was nothing but a would be usurper who had bungled her attempts at secrecy? When she was a princess then, then she would teach him some respect.

"We need to accelerate our plans," Dawn said. "Forget about splitting Twilight Sparkle from her friends, she's doing a fine job of that herself. No, I can get her isolated and in her power and that, combined with the Elements of Harmony, will enable us to strike much sooner."

Lord Mathos face was hidden behind a mask, so Dawn could not read his face. The two buffalo warriors on either side of him tensed. They looked a little nervous.

"I had hoped for more time to smuggle additional warriors into the city," Lord Mathos said carefully. He had been smuggling in House Aethiope forces and weapons disguised as merchants, tourists and the like. He had also hired a small number of griffon mercenaries in order to take care of the guard pegasi. Dawn was not supposed to know that he had more zebras and southern buffalo stashed in the valleys around Canterlot, but she did thanks to Razor's scouting.

"You have several hundreds by now, is that not enough?" Dawn asked. "I told you I have a spell will render Celestia harmless for the duration of the battle."

"What of the other, your Princess Luna?"

"Are you telling me that even with the advantage of complete surprise Most Ancient Grevyia cannot handle one single alicorn?"

"Do not think to play on me as a pipe, pony. It is not so easy," Mathos replied. "What is this change of plan of yours that will deliver so much? Why should we trust to it?"

"There is an old unicorn ritual, from the days when there were a lot more powerful unicorns around than there are now," Dawn explained. "It requires privacy, isolation and preferably a lack of emotional connection between the tinder and their Flame. Twilight Sparkle stands now in need of this ritual, and I in my guise as Countess will offer myself as Flame. She trusts me after I delivered her brother up to her, but she does not have an emotional bond with me. I am the perfect choice. And once the ritual is complete ─ if you have a skilled alchemist then lend them to me, along with some guards ─ then she will be in our power and we can restrain her until we are victorious."

"And then after?"

Then she will be released to dwell in peace under my rule, what am I a monster? Dawn kept up her fake smile, though it grated on her. "Afterwards you may do as you like." For all of a few seconds until I put you in your place.

Lord Mathos was silent for several moments. She imagined the Grevyian lord pondering behind his mask. She had been able to gather more than she was meant to know about these Grevyians and their plans. She knew that the Emperor had refused to support this venture with imperial soldiers. If Lord Mathos succeeded he would be lauded in the homeland, if he failed he would be denounced as a renegade and hung out to dry while Grevyia disavowed him and his actions. But whether that encouraged him to caution or to boldness, Dawn did not know.

"Very well," he said. "We will proceed as you recommend. But if this turns out to be some trick or act against Most Ancient Grevyia─"

"It's not," Dawn said flatly. "This is simply a way for us all to get what we want much faster."

Lord Mathos nodded, and as he shifted in his seat the fan the little zebra was wielding caught the top of his head, dislodging his mask a little.

He rounded upon the zebra child even as she shrank back from him, "Clumsy little kitwa! I'll have your back bled raw. Take her outside and─"

"Leave her alone," Dawn shouted as one of the two buffalo made a move to seize the young filly. She spoke clearly and precisely, every word enunciated coldly. "The girl is coming with me."

The two buffalo paused uncertain. Lord Mathos said, "She is my slave, her father died owing many debts to me. I claimed her in recompense."

"And now I am claiming her," Dawn said. "Think of it as a down payment to solidify our alliance."

Lord Mathos laughed, "Are you now so rich that I should give you gifts?"

"Do not push me on this, my lord," Dawn said. "We have gone along too far together for you to sell me out, and I have little need of you except to take the city. What is one girl, against the glory of taking Canterlot and all of Equestria for Most Ancient Grevyia?"

"I could turn that question back on you? What is one girl that you would risk our alliance for her sake?"

"Nothing." Save that I was once a frightened girl as she was. "And yet everything." And I hate to witness others standing in my place. "Give me the girl."

Lord Mathos' eyes were just about visible through his mask, they were dark, near black as they locked gazes with her own green orbs. It was the Grevyian High Blood who looked away, "Take her then. She is no loss. The pony is your mistress now. Try and serve her better than you served me. Go!"

The little zebra was pushed across the room to stand in front of Breaking Dawn. She looked up at her with nervousness clear in her posture, apprehension in her eyes. Dawn gave her an encouraging smile, but that just seemed to make the filly even more nervous.

"I think that we are done," Mathos said.

Dawn nodded, "As do I. Good day, my lord." She left the room, the little zebra tagging at her heels, and stepped out of the tavern into the darkened street.

"What's your name?" Dawn asked.

"Numidia, if it please mistress," Numidia was a cute little thing, with blue eyes and little wooden earrings painted to look like gold.

"I'm not your mistress I'm your...I'm not your mistress. You aren't my slave. Call me Dawn, Breaking Dawn if you want but I prefer Dawn."

"Mistress Dawn, why did you buy me?"

"I told you, no 'Mistress'. And I didn't buy you I freed you. I hate bullies."

Numidia looked confused, "What do you wish me to do now?"

"Wait here," Dawn said, looking up at the sky. "In a little while I'll take you home, but first there is something I have to take care of. Any moment now."

***

Razor Wind waited in the shadow of the south wall of the Twilight Palace. With her, somewhat unwelcome company, where Jugurtha and two more zebras in service to the Grevyian Lord Mathos. Razor was dressed in a black catsuit that left her wings free for flight, while the three zebras all wore iron collars around their necks, knotted clubs slung over their backs, and white masks atop their necks, ready to be lowered to cover up their faces. The masks were not painted, as Lord Mathos' was, but plain white. The eye holes, and the way the mouth was set in a kind of leer, gave them an eerie and unsettling aspect. Razor Wind suspected that was the whole point.

She didn't trust any of them. Not as far as she could have picked them up and thrown them. These ponies ─ zebras, whatever ─ had blackmailed Dawny, threatened to hurt the others. Out of the four of them, she was the only one with Breaking Dawn's best interests at heart.

No matter what, I'll protect Dawn. From the zebras, from Princess Twilight, from anypony. Just like I always have.

"Right then," Razor Wind clapped her hooves together. "Shall we get started?"

Jugurtha pondered for a moment, and then nodded.

"Shall we mask, captain?" one of the other zebras ask.

"No," Jugurtha replied. "Instructions were clear. We do not aim to shed blood this night."

"You don't mask to hide your faces? I thought that was the point for you lot?"

"That is why Lord Mathos conceals his face and his identity," Jugurtha said. "But he is of the High Blood. We are of the Kuj'to M'fu'pakir, and once we don our masks the battle does not end until the foe lies dead. Or we do."

"The who now?"

"Kuj'to M'fu'pakir," Jugurtha repeated patiently. "In your language there is no exact word. I suppose...Dedicated, but that does not do justice to our bond. It is a thing bone-deep in all our people, binding us to the House we serve. For that reason we are the most prized of servants, and the greatest of warriors."

Razor nodded, "I'm glad you remembered that you aren't here to kill tonight. Let's go."

Razor Wind was the first to move, fluttering up to the top of the south wall. Thankfully it was not a wall wide enough for a sentry to stand on, but a barrier more fitting for deterring intruders than for keeping out a marauding enemy. Once she reached the top, Razor perched awkwardly on top of the wall looking down. She counted one guard patrolling at the base of the wall, with several more in the garden beyond the wall. She waited until the guard had passed by her, then frantically waved the three zebras to get up quick.

Jugurtha threw a grappling rope up, with caught in one of the crevasses on top of the wall, then the three of them began to climb with a practiced ease that was surprising. Climbing with hooves and mouth was notoriously hard, yet these three might have been trained monkeys for all the difficulty they had in getting up to the top or, once there, leaping silently down to the ground. Jugurtha barely made a thump as his hooves struck the grass, and he was a shadow as he crept up behind the sentry and knocked him out with a well aimed blow to the back of the head.

Razor flew down off the wall, landing behind a hedge just as the other two zebras made landfall.

"Are you sure you don't want me to get your rope down the other way so you can escape?" Razor had asked this question more than once, in the planning sessions and tonight, and was always surprised at the answer she recieved.

"We will leave by the main gate," Jugurtha said. "Worry about your own exit, little pony. Come, we must each too our part."

They had determined that the Elements of Harmony were most likely kept in the palace library in the central section, so the three zebras ran like wraiths towards the far east tower. Any guard they encountered they disabled at once. Not a sound was raised in alarm. Razor hung back, her part was to watch for the moment, so she watched. Even after she lost sight of the zebras in the shadows, she kept looking.

Thankfully the rain of earlier had eased off. A fire sparked, and soon flames were leaping up the walls of the tower, sprouting from the windows, consuming its insides. For a moment Razor Wind saw the three zebras silhouetted against the billowing flames, then they were gone again.

In moments the palace was a hive of activity, guardsponies and servants swarmed out like angry ants responding to an assault upon the next, rushing to douse the flames with every drop of water that was to hand. Razor saw the rainbow-coloured pegasus, Rainbow Dash, bouncing up and down on dark storm clouds to make the rain pour down out of them and onto the burning tower, while the pink earth pony threw hordes of water balloons upon the flames.

So many ponies were at work fighting the fire that Razor thought the rest of the palace must be pretty much deserted. With catlike tread her cautious way she felt, creeping through the rosebeds and the bushes, in the shadow of the statues and under the gazebo. So quiet was she that a fly's footfall would have been distinctly heard as she crept forward, dodging the fire fighters, and slipped into the palace through an open window.

The palace certainly was the kind of place Dawny would like to live: such luxury, such finery. The texture of the carpet beneath her feet, the quality of the artworks upon the walls. Razor Wind wasn't sure it did as much for her, but then she had always had a more earthy taste, ironic as it was for a pegasus.

When Dawn comes into her throne I shall live in a simple house and be renowned for my humility. Provided that I can place my simple house within spitting distance of the palace, so that I can go to Dawny's aid whenever she needs me.

Razor felt her way through the semi-darkness that covered the interior of the now deserted palace. She had several false starts before she found the library: she found herself fumbling around a solar, a laboratory and a billiard room before she found the library. There in a glass case amidst the piles of ancient manuscript and tastefully bound volumes, rested the greatest magical artefacts in the entire of Equestria: the Elements of Harmony.

They gleamed effulgent, so much so that Razor Wind had to pause in her burglary just to wonder at their beauty. So fair, so golden, so beautiful. They sang to her, proof that Dawn was right and she was fated to bear one of them. Their power called to her, beckoned her. They filled her ears with a sweet song like a chorus of paradise birds, like a thousand tinkling bells, they sang of promise and of destiny. Razor Wind, they called. Save us. Redeem us. It is not too late.

An allelujah chorus filled Razor's ears as she lifted the lid on the case and slowly, delicately, with the utmost reverence began to place the elements clinking into her black satchel bag.

"Who are you? What do you think you're doing?"

Razor Wind whirled around to see the baby dragon standing in the doorway, his hands upon his hips.

Razor Wind placed the final element, the Element of Magic crown, into her bag, "Out of my way, scaly. Whether you try and slow me down or not, I'm leaving."

"No," the dragon snapped. "You're not getting past me. Help! Somepony's stealing the Elements!"

Razor Wind kicked into the air, flying at full speed towards the doorway. She barrelled into the little dragon and bore him backwards with a squawk, using his scaly body as a cushion against their impact with the opposite wall. The dragoon gave an 'oof' sound as Razor dropped him to the floor and sped outwards, her wings blurring as they beat furiously.

She turned through the first doorway in the direction of the outside of the palace. Razor didn't stop as she burst through the window amidst a shower of tinkling broken glass which fell upon the grass as Razor Wind burst up into the air.

"What was that? Who is that pony?"

Razor growled. What her exit possessed in speed and efficiency it lacked in stealth. Now every eye was turned towards her. Her wings hummed as they beat to bear her upwards above the clouds.

The little dragon's face appeared at the broken window, "Stop her, she's got the Elements of Harmony!"

Celestia burn it, Razor Wind forced her wings harder, for more speed, more elevation. She burst up above the cloud bearer, waving goodbye to the unicorns and earth ponies below her─

─to find Rainbow Dash hovering in the air just above the cloud bank, her wings beating slowly, her legs outstretched. A look of fierce determination was etched on Rainbow Dash's face.

"Hand. Over. The Elements," Rainbow Dash snarled.

Razor Wind allowed herself to sink a little lower down, "Or else?"

Rainbow Dash's response was to slam her forehooves together with an audible smacking sound.

Razor hesitated, calculated the possibilities, and then sped back downwards through the clouds the way she had come.

"Oh so you wanna do this the hard way huh?" Rainbow Dash sped after her in pursuit, a rainbow trail lighting up the night behind her.

***

Rainbow Dash grinned as she gained upon the thief, the catsuit wearing pegasus growing larger and larger in her sights. Soon she would be able to pounce, and take back the Elements.

The speed of the chase, this was what she lived for. The feeling of air rushing past her face, the adrenaline pumping through her wings, the crackling trail she was leaving behind her, this was living.

And she didn't even have to push herself too hard. Already the thief looked to be giving it all she had, Rainbow Dash wasn't even breaking a sweat. You're mine buddy, and so is what you stole.

More pegasi were rising to join the chase now. Royal Guards in gleaming armour, and Spitfire and Soarin' of the Wonderbolts. Rainbow's smile got even wider. Great. Now I can save the Elements of Harmony and impress the Wonderbolts all at the same time.

The thief dived downwards, making a tricky turn through some laundry-laden washing lines strung between two high buildings on either side of a narrow street. Rainbow Dash, pursuing, was a hair too slow in her own dive and a blanket snagged on her right wing. She began to spin as she struggled to throw off the obstacle even as it acted like an anchor upon her flight. The blanket fell free as Rainbow kicked frantically at it. But she had turned her head away and flew head-first into somepony's tunic.

Oh for pete's sake, get off! Rainbow tore the tunic off her head and threw it away, only to see the wall of the cul-de-sac coming right for─

She hit the wall with a metallic anvil sound, and slid down it to the street-floor with a sound like a window wiper scraping on a window.

"Mare down!"

As Rainbow Dash lay stunned in the alley, she dimly perceived Spitfire's head appearing above her.

"You still alive, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow groaned.

"That's the spirit kid," Spitfire said. "Hang in there. Hang in there."

***

Razor Wind didn't look back. She had evaded Rainbow Dash, but she had bigger problems to worry about. Like the enormous shadow speeding towards her with a roar of rage that heralded the oncoming of an extremely angry alicorn princess.

Any time now Dawny, Razor said.

A massive burst of golden energy shot up from the street, dispersing Twilight's shadow aura as the alicorn dodged the blast. Two more, smaller and less powerful, beams of golden magic erupted up from the warren of urban Canterlot, driving Twilight Sparkle backwards. By the time she recovered, Razor Wind had ducked down to street level and was lost to all pursuit.

Razor found Dawn at the agreed rendezvous point, outside the old hat shop in Roxwell Road, one of the smaller and more secluded alleyways. Strangely, Dawn was accompanied by a little zebra filly Razor had never seen before. She also looked very drained.

"That was some powerful magic there, Dawny," Razor said.

"That magic almost took me to my limit," Dawn gasped. "Long range attacks are not my thing. Worth it though, if you got what you went in for."

"Oh I got them all right," Razor passed over the satchel bag, half opening it to show the gleaming Elements within.

Dawn's eyes widened and she began to laugh, "Ohoho, oh yes, oh yes! Well done Razor, well done! You are awesome girl, absolutely awesome!"

As Razor smiled, Dawn broke out the stupidest dance Razor had ever seen, jumping up and down chanting, "We did it! We did it!" Razor couldn't help but join in the laughter.

"This is it, baby," Dawn said. "This is what we always dreamed of!"

An enormous scream, anger mingled with intense pain, filled the air, rolling across all of Canterlot. The air became thick with magic so intense that even a pegasus like Razor Wind could feel it, and it made her skin crawl.

Dawn's face became set and intense, "Stay here, Razor, look after the filly. Numidia, this is Razor Wind, she's going to look after you until I get back. Because I have just had my cue."

Long Dark Night: Twilight of Equestria

Chapter 12

Long Dark Night: Twilight of Equestria

"Princess Celestia, can I ask you something?"

Celestia smiled warmly, "Of course you can Twilight Sparkle, is something bothering you?"

Twilight Sparkle shuffled her hooves. Outside it was night-time, but Princess Celestia's study was lit and warmed by the roaring fire burning in the grate. She felt a little silly to be asking this question, as though the answer ought to be obvious to her, but it was not. The Princess had told her to always ask if there was something she did not understand. She hoped that always really did mean always.

"Princess, why is the world so disorganised?" Twilight asked.

Celestia blinked, though the smile did not leave her face nor even her eyes, "That is a quite a far-ranging question Twilight. Perhaps you had better clarify what you mean, so that I can answer the question you asked instead of the one I heard."

Twilight nodded. Princess Celestia ensured that she was constantly being pressed to apply the lessons she had already learned. In this case: clarity of expression.

"When I file my notes, I arrange them by subject, and then within that by topic, and then within that in the chronological order in which I learnt the lessons," Twilight elaborated. "That way even if I don't know exactly where something is, I know that I can find it without too much trouble. It's organised, it works. If I just stuffed all my notes and essays into folders without thinking about where they were going or in what order they were stored I'd have to search through everything I'd ever written to find what I was looking for. It wouldn't make any sense. But, isn't that how Equestria works? Ponies do whatever they feel like, with no thought to whether it makes sense to do it that way or whether it would be better for everypony to do things differently.
"If Equestria was better organised, if you made everypony do things in the most sensible way for the most ponies, then surely everypony would be better off as a result?"

Celestia sat down, tucking her lithe legs beneath her, and motioned with her head for Twilight to do the same. The Princess said, "This is a very interesting question Twilight. But first, what makes you think that I could make everypony be better organised even if I wanted to?"

Twilight said, "Because, you're the Princess. You can make anypony do anything you want to."

Celestia replied, "Twilight, have you read the Whinny set in your history class?"

"And the Commentaries," Twilight said proudly.

"Then you understand the difference between a monarch and a tyrant?"

"A monarch governs with the support of the people and with their best interests at heart," Twilight recited. "She understands that rulership brings obligations as well as privileges, responsibilities more than rights. She governs for the good of the nation and the people, not for herself. A tyrant is the result of the decay of monarchy as a monarch's descendants become increasingly unworthy. A tyrant has no care for those she rules but exploits the people for her own pleasure and privilege. A tyrant does not enjoy popular support, and is often hated by those she rules."

"Perfect," Celestia smiled. "Now, Twilight, would you call me a monarch or a tyrant?"

Twilight blinked, "Princess Celestia, you're a monarch of course."

"And if I set rules prescribing what ponies could and could not do in all circumstances, restricting their freedoms in the name of order and efficiency, that would be acceptable?"

Twilight frowned, "When you put it like that, Princess-"

"Do you think that ponies would be happy to have me tell them what they could or could not do? In their private lives, their home lives? Shall I tell Shining Armour who it is acceptable for him to have as a marefriend and who is not? Shall I say that there are too many Bakers in Canterlot and they must either move elsewhere or find new jobs?"

"I didn't mean that you should be cruel, Princess Celestia," Twilight said.

"Yet cruelty would be the inevitable result of any attempt to organised Equestria without regard to the wishes of the little ponies who dwell in it," Celestia said calmly. "Everypony has a right to live their live the way they want, provided that they do not cause harm to others in the process. Everypony has a right to be silly, to do things that make no sense viewed from the outside, to be absolutely illogical if they wish. It is not for any other pony, even myself, to tell them to stop. After all, even I do not always organise my life by topic, theme and date order."

Twilight bowed her head, "I'm sorry, Princess."

"None of that Twilight, you meant no malice by your question," Celestia said. "You should never be ashamed to admit your ignorance, and always be ready to increase your knowledge and understanding. And now you know a little more than you did before. Does that satisfy your question?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Good, then we will proceed to tonight's lesson..."

***

Twilight Sparkle burned with rage. It oozed off of her in oily waves, rose from her like steam from a boiling pot, gathered about her like wings of shadow.

The Elements had been stolen? Her crown had been stolen? This was intolerable. This was outrageous. This was a challenge she would not ignore.

"Shame on me for trusting you," Twilight said, her voice deep and harsh. Black lines had spread all over her body now, her cutie mark had darkened to a dull grey. "More fool me, for thinking that you could do something other than be completely incompetent."

She stood in the middle of the palace courtyard. Her guards, her servants, her so-called friends all cowered before her anger. As they should.

"I should turn you all into cockroaches for failing me like this," Twilight raged.

"But, Twilight, there was a fire-" Fluttershy began.

"I care not for your excuses," Twilight shouted with the stregnth of a hurricane wind. "You have failed me, that is all I need to know. Failed me tremendously! Give me one good reason why I ought not punish you?"

Strong winds began to rise all around Twilight. A tempest gathered above her head. She felt so powerful, so in command, that the loss of the Elements registered more as a blow to her pride than a threat to her power. She was beyond the need for such trinkets, it was only the need to show that Twilight Sparkle would not allow insolence to go unpunished that moved her to fury.

Spike held up his hands to protect himself from the winds, "Please, Twilight, this isn't you. Get a hold of yourself."

"Not me? Not me?" Twilight cackled manically as lightning struck behind her. "No, I am not myself. I am not meek Twilight Sparkle, abused and betrayed, mocked and bullied, pushed around and taken advantage of by all. That girl is gone beyond recall and well forgotten. I am Princess Twilight now, and I will be no pony's subject, no pony's slave. No pony will ever use me to their own advantage, soak up my favours, ride me to their own ambitions. Nopony will mock me lest they feel my wrath. I am Princess Twilight, and I will herald the Twilight of Equestria!"

Yes, yes, give in to your anger, your frustration. Now you truly see what trust in friendship has gotten you. There is no right, no wrong, only power and those strong enough to seek it.

Twilight rose up into the air, lightning crackling all around her. Her body had gone almost completely black by now, her horn boiled with oily Dark Magic, her eyes were green.

"I am more powerful than all the unicorns combined. More powerful than the princesses. I will become as strong as it is possible to become, and even Discord himself shall fear me!"

Ponies ran to dodge the lightning strikes raining down around them. Dark clouds spread out from Twilight, thunder rolling across the city, frightened ponies spilled out across the streets of Canterlot to wonder what was going on and who would save them from it.

"In place of Harmony you shall have Order," Twilight bellowed out across the sky. "I shall set this land to work, and everypony shall serve the greater good. I shall stand at the very top and look with wisdom upon the needs of everypony in this land. In place of princesses of sun and moon you shall have a single ruler who unites both! I shall embody the sun and the moon and bend them both to suit my will and use their power to crush all who oppose me. I shall remake Equestria in my own image, I shall bring forth hardy breeds of ponies who worship me as their god. All shall love me and despair."

"No we won't."

Twilight ceased her bombast to see that Fluttershy had flown up to join her, and was now affixing Twilight with a very stern gaze.

"How dare you treat other ponies that way, as though the things that they've gone through just don't matter," Fluttershy flew closer, her eyes bulging as she put the Stare on the would be tyrant over all Equestria.

"Rainbow Dash was hurt trying to protect the Elements of Harmony from whoever took them," Fluttershy shouted. "But you haven't even asked if she's okay, or if she was hurt badly. You don't care, do you? All you care about is how it affects you. You know what you are? You're mean. And despicable. You are a despicable meanie and you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Don't you know how much all these ponies have done for you? Suffered for you? Put up with from you because you were having a rough time? Well you crossed the line now buster and like you said, the free ride ends now."

Twilight quailed under Fluttershy's anger, the darkness covering her body receding under the pegasus' glare.

"We won't ever let ourselves be ruled by someone who thinks that we're just insects, or toys to be played with the way you want. Not in a thousand years we won't! Even without the Elements of Harmony we'll find a way to stop you and get the real Twilight back. Because you were right about one thing, missy: you aren't Twilight Sparkle. The Twilight Sparkle we fell in love with would always put her friends first, above anything else. Where is the mare who encouraged me to fly in the tornado? Where's the mare who was always willing to help out at Sweet Apple Acres? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH OUR FRIEND TWILIGHT?"

The darkness fled in terror, receding from Twilight's body as the black lines faded and her terrible dark aura dissipated. Twilight's eyes reverted to their normal lavender. "Fluttershy," she murmured, before her eyes closed and her body arched backwards to tumble slowly through the air.

Fluttershy caught her before she could fall too far, "It's okay, I've got you."

***

Soarin and Spitfire soon arrived to help Fluttershy bear Twilight back to the ground. Celestia and Luna had arrived and where waiting for them in the palace courtyard, along with Pinkie Pie and Spike and dozens and dozens of other ponies. Spike pushed through the crowd as Fluttershy and the two Wonderbolts placed the still-slumbering Twilight at the feet of the two princesses.

"Twilight!" Spike shouted as he ran to her side. "Are you okay? Is she gonna be okay?"

"That is something none of us can tell," Luna said.

"Sister," Celestia chided.

"They need to hear the truth," Luna responded.

"Um, how long have you been here?" Fluttershy asked, hoping that she would not have to ask the next question: why didn't you do anything to help Twilight?

"Twilight rushed off as soon as she saw the fire, I could not stop her," Luna said. "Celestia and I both felt the magical energy she released. We hurried here as fast as we could."

"But when I realised what had happened, I also realised that you stood a much better chance of saving Twilight Sparkle than I did," Celestia took up the tale. "Your unique ability, coupled with your feelings of friendship for Twilight, did more than any amount of magic from Luna and myself."

Fluttershy looked down at her sleeping friend. You would never guess, seeing her now, that she had just tried to take over Equestria. "What happens now?"

Twilight Sparkle stirred with a groan, her eyes flickering open, "Rainbow Dash?"

Fluttershy smiled, "She hit her head, but the doctor said it isn't serious. She'll be fine."

"Twilight," Spike clasped hold of one of Twilight's hooves, "are you okay? How do you feel?"

"Very sorry," Twilight murmured. "Everypony, I'm so sorry."

"That is good," Luna declared. "Regret is the first step on the path to redemption."

"She does not need redemption," Celestia snapped. She knelt down. "Twilight. Can you use magic? Not dark magic, your ordinary magic?"

Fluttershy put one hoof to her mouth as Twilight closed her eyes and furrowed her brow as she attempted to summon her magic. But in place of Twilight's purple aura, only the oily blackness of dark magic gathered around her horn.

"I can't," Twilight sobbed, sounding close to tears. "I can't find it any more. And I can feel the darkness inside me, waiting for its chance. Princess Celestia what's happening to me."

"It has you in its grip, Twilight Sparkle," Luna sounded even more sombre than usual. "I was wrong. You cannot overcome this purely from your own strength."

"But we can help through it right?" Pinkie Pie asked. "I mean once we get the whole gang back together again-"

"This is one battle you cannot fight at Twilight's side," Luna declared. "Twilight Sparkle, there is only one course open to you now."

"Luna, no," Celestia hissed. "You cannot possibly be serious!"

"If you know another way then let us hear it."

"It has not been done in a thousand years and then it failed," Celestia shot back.

"Because I was uncooperative, Twilight Sparkle wants to be saved."

"Um, Your Highnesses, what are you talking about?" Fluttershy asked.

"You're talking about a Purging, aren't you?" Twilight said softly.

Luna looked resolved, but Celestia looked pained, "I confess. I do not know of another way to rid you of the influence of the dark magic."

"What's a Purging?" said Spike.

"An ancient unicorn ritual, to redeem a mage of the taint of darkness once it was too late for them to simply stop," Fluttershy, Spike, the princesses all looked around to see the Countess Mercedes strolling through the open gates of the Twilight Palace. She did not strut as she normally did. She seemed more diffident, less sure of herself. Fluttershy supposed that all the magic Twilight had been throwing around would make anypony nervous, especially if they didn't know her very well.

Luna glared, "This is no matter that concerns you."

"Oh, but it does," the Countess purred as she walked to stand beside Twilight in front of the princesses. "I offer myself as Firelight to Princess Twilight Sparkle in her Purging."

Celestia's eyes widened, "You know the ritual?"

"I have never performed it but I have studied it," Countess Mercedes said. "And I believe I have the requisite magical power to stand as Firelight to the princess." She smiled, and her horn glowed golden as she lifted Fluttershy, Pinkie, Spike and several other astonished ponies up into the air using her telekinesis. "My apologies," she said once she set them down again.

Celestia and Luna looked at one another. Luna whispered, "You are too close and I am too vulnerable, this may be the best way."

"Wait just a second!" Pinkie Pie yelled. "Purgings and Firelights and unicorns lifting people off the floor? Just what the hay is going on around here?"

"In ancient times," Celestia began to explain, "unicorns were much more powerful than they are now. This was in the time when they had the ability to raise the sun themselves by working in concert. During that era, many unicorns succumbed to the temptations of Dark Magic, for in an age full of mighty mages questing after power there would always be those who sought to use shortcuts to achieve greatness.
"When a pony just begins using dark magic, it can be put aside at any time without issue. But use it too much, as Twilight has done, and it becomes impossible to cast off alone. As you can see, the dark magic has sunk its claws so deep into Twilight Sparkle that it is the only kind of magic available to her.
"To solve this problem, when a unicorn wished to return to the light but could not do so alone, the ritual of the Purging was created. In this act, the penitent is cleansed of all darkness with the aid of a Firelighter, a unicorn who uses their own magic to combine on a mystical level with the penitent and guide them back into the light. Hence the name Firelighter, since they are both a guide and a cleansing fire inside the penitent, burning away all darkness."

Spike said, "But if somepony has to help Twilight to clear herself of all this bad magic, wouldn't Rarity be the best choice."

Luna shook her head, "According to the customs of the ancient unicorns, the Firelighter must be ideally of superior power to the penitent or, if that is impossible, as close to equal power as can be managed. They must also be free from deep emotional connections to the pentitent, for the dark magic will react savagely to any attempt to oust it and it is best for the Firelighter not to have emotional chinks in thier armour for the dark to exploit."

"When Nightmare Moon rose I attempted to forcibly Purge Luna, with myself as her Firelighter," Celestia hung her head in shame. "But Nightmare Moon knew me too well, and she turned my weaknesses against me. The ritual failed, I lost the ensuing duel, and I was forced to use the Elements of Harmony before Nightmare Moon defeated me entirely. I then had to wait a thousand years before someponies who did not know Luna could use the Elements correctly to conduct a true Purging."

If we had the Elements we could have used them to purge Twilight, assuming that it would work, Fluttershy thought.

"I think you may be the best available solution, Countess," Celestia continued. "You have magical power in considerable degree, no real emotional connection to Twilight Sparkle, and of the other candidates who could act as Firelighter I am too attached to Twilight and Luna is too vulnerable to the influence of dark magic. Twilight, are you willing to place yourself in this pony's hooves?"

Twilight nodded, "You gave me the medicine I needed before. I trust you to do the same again."

Countess Mercedes curtsied, "I will endeavour to live up to the faith Your Highnesses place in me."

"The Purging must take place in conditions of calm and isolation," Luna said.

"There is a chalet at the foot of the mountains, a days journey west of Canterlot, we will go there," the Countess said. "I am afraid Your Highness must go alone."

Twilight nodded, "You should all go home. You should have gone home when I first gave you the opportunity."

"She can't be all alone at a time like this," Spike said. "Can't I come with her?"

The Countess frowned, pondering, "Very well. You alone shall also come."

"Return to us as soon as you can, Twilight," Celestia said. "And in the meantime Luna and I shall pursue any evidence to show who might have taken the Elements of Harmony, and defend Canterlot against any attempt to use them for evil." She smiled reassuringly down upon her protege, "Good luck, Twilight, from all of us."

"Thank you, Princess," Twilight got to her feet and bowed her head. "I think I might need it."

Author's Note

And so the triptych of short chapters comes to an end. Now we'll be back to slightly longer ones, updated at a slower pace.

To answer a question from Xcelli, there are seven chapters remaining under the current plan, not counting this one. Which might make it sound more complex than it actually is, it's full steam to the conclusion from here.

And so as we enter the final act I want to thank everyone who has read this story, liked it, followed it and whose comments inspire me to keep writing. I think this is the farthest I've gotten in writing a fanfic ever

Six Against the World

Chapter 13

Six Against the World

Breaking Dawn levitated her case behind her as she walked forlonly through the quad and out of school gates. It was a well trodden path for her, unremarkable in every way save that this would be the last time she would ever make this journey.

With the gates behind her, Dawn set down her case and sat down upon the pavement, on the very same street where she had fought Shining Armour the day before.

She looked back at the towers of school, looming over the wall. At the buildings visible through the open gates, at the courtyards and the flowerbeds. She could hear the other students talking, shouting, screaming, laughing. Not her. Not any more.

Princess Celestia was somewhere in the school still, watching over the students as she watched over Equestria. And Dawn was forever denied her now.

Breaking Dawn put her head in her hooves and began to sob.

She heard the flap of wings, felt another pony settling down beside her.

"How you holding up, little sunshine?" Razor Wind asked, her voice anxious and unusually tender.

"You must know or you wouldn't be here," Dawn muttered.

Razor hesitated, "Yeah, I know. Kicked you out the door, huh?"

"How did you find out?"

"Laurel. I came here looking for you after you didn't show last night. She told me what had happened. So, how are you holding up?"

Dawn didn't respond, letting her sobbing speak for itself.

"That bad, huh?" Razor said, hugging Dawn. "I'm sorry, Dawny."

"It was always going to end this way. From the moment she took my place, this was how it had to end," Dawn murmured. "She couldn't have me hanging around like a bad smell. But that doesn't...what am I supposed to do now?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that one Dawny," Razor Wind replied.

"Where am I going to go?"

"Well I can answer that one," Razor said, more confidently. "You can stay with me and Cherry, at our place."

Dawn looked at Razor for the first time, "Really?"

"Yeah. For as long as you want until you get back on your feet," Razor smiled. "Come on, let's get you settled in and then we can all-"

"No," Dawn shook her head. "No I don't want to talk to the others right now. I can't. Just you and Cherry, if that's okay."

Razor frowned, but nodded her head, "Yeah, just me and Cherry, got it. Come on, the rest of your life starts now."

Dawn snorted, "What life?"

***

Breaking Dawn stood on the roof of her apartment building, one leg placed upon the ledge itself, looking down to the street below. The wind blew through her mane, making her face tingle. She was not afraid. She would not let herself be afraid.

I stare into a deeper chasm by far as Twilight Sparkle's Firelighter, she mused. If I cannot master this, how will I master the other? If I cannot gaze unflinching this blind abyss, how will I fare when the abyss gazes back?

I will outstare them both, Dawn resolved. I swore when this began that I would trust to friendship's wings to carry me over the canyon between me and my goals. I am still so resolved.

The door onto the roof squeaked open. It was Hardy Bloom, not looking pleased to see her where she was.

"Everypony's waiting for you," she announced. "Um, Dawn, do you have to stand right there?"

"Don't worry, I won't fall," Dawn replied. "You won't let me fall."

"It's a long drop for a trust excercise," Hardy said. "Can you just step away? I want to talk to you."

Dawn raised her head up from staring into the drop, to looking out across Canterlot, "Then talk."

"Rumours are that you, that the Countess, has volunteered to assist Princess Twilight through an arcane unicorn ritual," Hardy said. "Would you mind telling me what's really going on."

Dawn said, "I really am assisting Princess Twilight through an arcane unicorn ritual. Does that surprise you so?"

"Can you blame me if it does?"

Breaking Dawn laughed as she retreated down from the ledge, "Twilight Sparkle is being consumed by dark magic. I'm the only hope she has of being saved from its influence."

"So you'll save her from herself even as you work tirelessly to destroy her life," Hardy mused. "Your sense of morality is...idiosyncratic."

"I told you when this all began that I wasn't the bad guy," Dawn said. "I wasn't a monster, I wasn't going to kill her. I mean to hold to that. True, that doesn't obligate me to save her, but being a princess means you have to help the needy even if you don't like them very much. And, I want to beat Twilight Sparkle. Not her evil alter-ego, not some monster born of dark magic. I want her to be able to look me in the eye as herself and know who it was that defeated her. Because at the moment I don't think she so much as remembers my name and that's just insulting. So if I have to save her in order to beat her then I will."

Hardy nodded, "And what's the selfish reason?"

"The what?"

Hardy chuckled, "Dawn, I've known you a long time and you have many admirable qualities, but altruism isn't one of them. There's a more self-centred reason isn't there."

Dawn pouted, scuffing her hooves along the roof of the building. At last she admitted, "Dark Twilight is stronger than I am. Much stronger. Curb stomp battle stronger. I reckon I could take regular Twilight Sparkle in an unfair fight - I'm faster than she is even if she is still stronger than me - but with that much dark magic coursing through her I wouldn't stand a chance."

"So you're going to weaken her, then strike?"

"Pretty much, yes."

"That's more the Dawny I know," Hardy smirked. "Come on, the others are waiting."

It was still the early morning. The sun was new risen, the morning chorus was still singing and the blackbird had not yet stopped talking. Nopony else appeared as they descended the stairs towards Dawn's apartment. It was as if the rest of Canterlot, reeling from the almost fall of Princess Twilight, was staying in bed today and pretending the whole thing had been a bad dream.

Dawn found her friends crowded around the coffee table, examining the Elements of Harmony.

"Pretty things aren't they?" Razor asked. "You wouldn't guess they were the most powerful magic known to ponies from looking at them."

"Maybe not but so pretty," murmured Hard Candy, almost dazed as she lay on her back, the Element of Laughter wrapped around one hoof, staring at her reflection in the blue gem. "I think I hear it singing to me."

"They call out to us, their rightful bearers," Breaking Dawn said. She had heard the Element of Magic singing to her too, whispering to her, calling to her. She had no idea if the explanation she had just given was correct, but it sounded plausible enough for her to state it confidently.

"I notice that they don't match our cutie marks," Hardy pointed out.

"The physical form of the Elements change constantly," Dawn said. "Once I spark the Element of Magic and activate the elements then the gems will change to fit us."

"You're making this up as you go along aren't you?"

"No I am...conjecturing from known facts. They didn't look like that when they were made, they looked like something completely different, look in the history books if you don't believe me. But now the Element of Magic looks like Twilight's Sparkle's cutie mark, so it stands to reason that when I wrest it from her it will change to look like mine."

"Makes sense to me," Razor said.

Laurel considered, and then nodded, "It is as good a theory as any for their current unique appearance."

Cherry raised one hoof, "What are we going to do with them now?"

"Keep them hidden until we need them," Dawn answered. "Razor, you're in charge of the Elements until then. We can't risk them being discovered before we're ready."

"When are we going to need them?" Hardy pressed. "That was the part of the plan you never told us, even before the plan started to change? Are we going to use them on the zebras?"

"No, they wouldn't work. We're going to stop the zebras, but not with the Elements. They are for something else."

"Like what?" Cherry asked.

"Yes, is Canterlot going to be attacked twice?" Hardy asked with a chuckle. Her chuckle died as she saw the serious expression on Dawn's face.

"Saving Canterlot from the zebras would make us good citizens but it wouldn't make us anything more than that. We need to use the Elements of Harmony if ponies are going to take us seriously as the rightful bearers with all that entails. Sit down everypony."

Everypony sat, crowding around the element-laden coffee table while Breaking Dawn levitated a book off one of the shelves.

"According to this history, Canterlot was originally a mining town, in the days when there was no united Equestria. Unicorns lived up on the surface and then went into the mines to look for gems. I'm sure I took you down into the shallow levels once. But most of the mines are sealed off ─ though some of them were opened during the Changeling invasion. And this book explains why they sealed the mines, while there are still gems down there.
"The unicorns found gems all over these mountains, but never so many as beneath Canterlot. They mined the mountain eagerly, fighting the diamond dogs who were there already for possession of the mines until they drove them out. And then they found there was much worse than diamond dogs in those mines. The early unicorns delved too greedily and too deep. They awoke a monster in the darkness, a demon of shadow and flame: a balrog."

Everypony's eyes were wide by now. Razor said, "A balrog? Seriously, with the wings and the... a balrog?"

Dawn nodded, "The Elements of Harmony didn't exist back then, and the unicorns' magic wasn't strong enough to stop it. Star Swirl the Bearded gave his life to defeat the balrog, sending it to sleep and sealing it within the mines. I'm going to wake it up, let it out and then we are going to use the Elements of Harmony to finish it once and for all."

An astonished silence greeted the revelation of Dawn's plan.

"I can't decide if it's brilliant or insane," Hardy muttered.

"I opt for the latter," Laurel said primly. "Dawn, you can't be serious."

"Why not?"

"You're talking about setting Canterlot on fire so you can save people from the flames," Laurel said. "If something goes wrong─"

"Nothing is going to go wrong, we have the Elements of Harmony!" Dawn said. "The most powerful magic ever known. Nothing can stand against it, nothing at all."

Cherry did not look convinced as she said, "But there are so many ponies who could get hurt."

"We will save them, all of them. Twice in one night. We'll be the greatest heroes that Equestria has ever seen," Dawn began to pace up and down. "We all agreed to do what was necessary to get our due. And this is the final step. We stand on the edge of a golden world if only we have the courage to reach out and take it. And it isn't even as if I'm asking you to take a leap of faith: Elements of Harmony, right here. This is it girls, the culmination of everything we've worked for. Are you really going to turn back now? Go back to the lives you had before? Is this really moment you say no, when the savour of greatness is practically upon our tongues.
"Immortality awaits for those of us who want it. Who will stand with me in the final hour?"

There was a moment of stillness and of silence. Not a sound was heard in the apartment, or through the walls from the rooms on either side. Then Candy trotted over to stand behind Dawn.

"Come on girls, after coming so far don't you wanna find out how the story ends?" Candy asked.

The other four looked at one another, and at Dawn.

Razor Wind got off the sofa, "I've backed you all this way Dawny, no sense in getting off now I suppose. Loyalty, right?"

Dawn smiled, "Thank you."

That left Hardy, Laurel and Cherry. Hardy was staring down at the ground, Laurel was studying her forehoof as if the mysteries of life might be found there. Only Cherry had the guts to meet Dawn's eyes, matching her stare for stare.

"Girls?" Dawn asked.

Hardy sighed, "I'm sorry Dawny but this is too nuts. I mean, you're going to loose a monster on Canterlot? An actual monster, on the place where we live."

"I've already told you─"

"I know you've said that nothing is going to happen and that the Elements of Harmony will stop this thing before anything bad happens, but what if they don't?" Hardy asked. "This plan has always had very little underpinning it, you change tack on the fly and you get away with it because you're clever and lucky. But if this goes wrong you won't be able to change tack, won't be able to come up with a new plan. I'm sorry, it's too much." She smirked. "Was that sugarcoated enough?"

Dawn grinned, "Not really. Laurel?"

"This is Canterlot, Dawn," Laurel said. "Canterlot. I've taught this city's children. I can't put them at risk like this."

Dawn nodded, "I guess that's fair enough. And what about Cherry?"

"You told me I didn't have to be afraid to tell you when you were doing something wrong," Cherry's tone was flat, her voice uncompromising. "You can't possibly believe that this the right thing to do."

Dawn looked away, "I kinda did, as a matter of fact, but I see where your coming from. If anypony gets hurt the fact that I didn't mean for it to happen won't matter much."

Cherry nodded, "You can't drag the whole city into your quest Dawn. These ponies never did anything to you and never supported anypony who did. You've no right to put them in danger."

They stared at one another, and out of the corners of her eyes Dawn saw that Hardy and Laurel were watching her apprehensively.

They think I'm going to throw a tantrum to get my way like I did when we were kids, Dawn realised, the realisation like water dumped over her head. It was uncomfortable, but at the same time it made her smile as she bowed her head, "Funny. I thought that was one of my better speeches."

"Even the best speech can't redeem a bad cause," Laurel murmured.

"You obviously haven't heard me give closing argument," Hardy said. "But in this case, you just asked too much."

Dawn nodded, "I know. Well, that's it then. I'm not going to force you to go along with something that makes you this uncomfortable."

"But Dawny you said─" Candy began.

"Maybe it won't be necessary," Dawn cut her off. "This whole thing has a test by Princess Celestia, a test designed to see if I could come back from adversity. Once she sees that I've passed the test, once I go to her and lay all my accomplishments at her feet, she'll take me back anyway. She will. She has to. Using the Elements would have just been, you know, icing on a cake. And if it is necessary then we will find another way. Nopony will get hurt, and you won't have to do things you disagree with."

"But─" Candy began again.

"Dawn said no," Razor said firmly. "If we aren't doing it then we aren't doing it." She sounded relieved.

"I don't want to fight with you guys any more," Dawn said. "I don't have the right. A few weeks ago I asked you to abandon your lives to help me out. I had nothing to offer, nothing to give you in return but empty promises. But you all came, and now we stand upon the precipice of our triumph. It hasn't always been easy, but that's why I thank you all the more. You're the best friends a pony could have and I couldn't have done it without you girls. I have to go now, but I want to leave good friends behind me and not ponies I just got done fighting with.
"Is that okay? Can we leave as friends?"

Cherry smiled, "Of course we can Dawny, because we are friends. Always."

Cherry lifted up her leg, holding out one hoof. One by one, the others placed their hooves on top of hers.

"One for all," Razor said.

"And six against the world!" the others chorused. That had been their rallying cry, when they were fillies. They were six against the world, so they had to stick together.

That had only become more true now than it had been then.

"Are you sure you'll be okay on your own, out there with Princess Twilight?" Razor asked.

"Yeah, I'll be okay," Dawn answered. "Just keep the Elements safe till I return. And somepony look after Numidia too, poor kid's been through a lot."

Cherry nodded, "We will."

"Come back Victorious, Breaking Dawn," Razor shouted as Dawn went into her room to put on her Countess get up.

Dawn turned in the doorway, smiling, "Don't I always?"

***

The air was fresh. It was like after a thunderstorm, when everything had that pine smell. A kind of air of renewal about everything. That was what Twilight Sparkle thought as she waited outside her palace for the Countess of Isla Dantes to come and take her to the chalet where they would conduct her purging.

Makes sense. There was a thunderstorm last night. A thunderstorm that I created. Or is it the scent of dark magic vanquished that I am feeling, and expressing in ways I better comprehend?

Vanquished? Vanquished? Foolish girl. You and I are bound now, from here until time itself comes to an end.

Twilight shoved that voice back into the dark corner it belonged. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I will not give in to you again.

Once was enough, little princess.

Twilight pushed the mocking, laughing voice back into the corner of her mind. The effort of doing so left her legs trembling. Control, she needed to maintain control for just a little longer. She just had to hold on until she could be purged.

You think some mouldering old ritual will get rid of me? Oh you sweet summer child.

Will you shut up?

"Twilight, are you okay?" Spike asked nervously. Unlike Twilight herself, he had a small suitcase sitting on the ground next to him. Twilight had no luggage, she needed nothing but a willingness to succeed.

Twilight closed her eyes, "No, Spike. I'm not okay. But I'll make do, for as long as I need to."

The street around her, the courtyard behind her, all were deserted. Doubtless nopony wanted to be seen around the half-mad tyrant Twilight Sparkle. Even her friends, those she had not sent away, had held off in fear of her. All her guards, all her servants, none of them wanted to see her, or to be seen with her.

A few weeks ago I waltzed in a shimmering gown into the heart of Princess Celestia's palace. A month before that I stood upon the balcony as great crowds cheered my name. Only a few days ago they would have bowed for me in the streets and garlanded my way with flowers. Now even my best friends cower from me.

Thus fade all passing glories of the world.

"You know Spike," Twilight said. "I'm not an alicorn like Celestia or Luna are, more like Cadance. So even with these wings you'll probably live longer than I will."

Spike frowned, "Twilight, you shouldn't be talking about this stuff─"

"But when you grow up, and I'm not around to tell you what to do any more, don't become like other dragons. Don't store up riches and jewels until they drive you mad with needing to possess them. Don't try and be feared, don't intimidate folks into obeying you. Don't try for crowns. Because none of it lasts. One day it will all blow away like sycamore seeds, scattered to the wind. Do you understand?"

Spike shook his head.

"You will, some day."

"Why are you talking like this Twilight?" Spike said worriedly.

Twilight sighed, "You're right, it isn't good for me. I should try and keep my mind busy." The first encounter between the Crystal Empire and the Three Pony Tribes took place on the Kalends of February in the Year 503 Before Celestia. The Pegasi vanguard, under the personal command of Hurricane, was moving through Snow-Bear Pass when they were intercepted by a party of Crystal Knights. The knights, led by Emerald Ray, challenged Hurricane...

There was the sound of hooves clip-clopping on the street as a carriage pulled by a quartet of zebras rounded the street corner before coming to a halt in front of Twilight and Spike. The footmare was also a zebra.

The red door of the carriage opened, and the Countess Mercedes leaned out, "Your Highness. I am sorry if I have kept you waiting."

Twilight smiled as best she could, ignoring the mixed feelings of kindship and loathing that the countess was inspiring in the back of her mind, "It's okay. Thank you again, for doing this."

"It is the least I could do for the student of Celestia," the Countess replied.

"Still, thank you. Zebras?"

"Lord Mathos and I have become quite the good friends," said the Countess. "Rest assured they will not disturb the ritual. Now, you are ready? You have already made your goodbyes inside the palace?"

"Um, not exactly, but─"

"Twilight, wait!"

Twilight turned to see Pinkie Pie running out of the palace across the courtyard, followed closely by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

"You weren't going to go away without saying goodbye were you?" Pinkie Pie asked as she came to a stop, her blue eyes looking like they might well with tears.

Twilight's mouth opened and closed wordlessly, "I didn't think that you would-"

"We thought you were going to come and tell us when you ready to leave," Rainbow Dash said. "Not sneak off without saying a word."

"You mean, you weren't afraid of me?"

"Of course not silly, why would we be scared of you, Twilight?" Pinkie said with a grin.

In the face of their earnest gazes of unbelief, Twilight found herself giggling madly, "I guess that's another thing I owe you an apology for."

Fluttershy shook her head, "You don't owe us anything Twilight, except to get well soon. We just wanted you to know that we'll be waiting for you when you get back."

"I know, and I will come back," she hoped so anyway, but now wasn't the time to dampen their show of forgiveness with her continued misgivings. Twilight gave them one last look as she and Spike climbed into the carriage.

Savour the sight of them, it will be your last.

This time, Twilight had no difficulty in ignoring the voice at the back of her head. Earthly glories might pass and fade but friendship, love, the bond between souls and hearts, those things never did.

Nor ever shall, Twilight thought, as the carriage began to drive away, the hooves of the zebras clattering on the cobblestones. That's why I have to win this.

Author's Note

So, I didn't keep my promise about a longer chapter did I? It was going to be longer, with a betrayal of Dawn and much hurly-burly, but I decided that a lot of first act plotting like that didn't really fit seven chapters from the end, so you get a more streamlined rush to the finish.

Hopefully you agree I kept my promise about lighter chapters. Next chapter, which I'm working on now, even has a brief CMC scene and you can't get much lighter than that.

Applejack Takes Charge

Chapter 14

Applejack Takes Charge

A few hours rail-ride down the tracks from Canterlot, on the outskirts of sleepy Ponyville, the Cutie Mark Clubhouse nestled in its tree. The sun shone brightly in through the heart shaped windows, illuminating the three familiar fillies within. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo squatted on the floor amongst the scribbled drawings, discarded lists and other paraphernalia of cutie mark attempts failed, not yet attempted, or else discarded before they were even tried once the Crusaders realised that there were some things too ridiculous even for them to contemplate.

At the moment Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were not planning fresh crusading, but rather listening to Sweetie Belle, who had the floor and was pacing up and down most of it.

"I just don't understand it, not one bit," Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "Rarity came home last night without telling anypony she was coming, and when she did get home she must have arrived in the middle of the night because nopony saw her. And this morning Carousel Boutique is still closed and she won't come out of her room. It doesn't make any sense, why would she come back all by herself and why would she creep back in the middle of the night. She didn't even tell me she was coming. I would have made her breakfast!"

"Maybe that's why she didn't tell you," Scootaloo sniggered before Sweetie Belle threw a pillow at her head.

"This is serious! She's locked herself in her room and she won't let anypony in. I went to try and say hi and stuff and she yelled at me to go away. Normally she gives me a chance to get her good and mad first. Something's happened to her, I know it."

"Does sound kinda fishy," Apple Bloom agreed. "I don't reckon Applejack knew Rarity or anypony was comin' back from Canterlot. She ain't said nothin' if she did, and it definitely ain't like mah sister to go aroun' keepin' secrets. And it definitely don't make no sense to get a midnight train when they could just stay another night in Twilight's palace and come home in the mornin'."

"Something happened to Rarity in Canterlot, and we've gotta get to the bottom of it," Sweetie Belle said.

"Okay! Cutie Mark Crusaders private investigators here we come," Scootaloo declared.

Apple Bloom gave her side-eye, "Or we could just tell Applejack that Rarity's back and ask her to go have a word with her. Ah'm sure she'll tell Applejack what's goin' on."

"Aw, where's the fun in that?"

"This isn't about fun, this is about helping Rarity. And maybe the others too," Sweetie Belle insisted.

"Yeah, but there's no reason we can't do both," Scootaloo said. "Come on, check it out: Cutie Mark Crusaders Psychotherapists!"

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stared at Scootaloo, then at one another.

"Ah vote we go talk to Applejack," Applebloom raised one hoof in the air.

"Me too," Sweetie Belle said quickly.

"Aw, come on girls..."

***

Rarity sat upon the bed and wallowed in whatever it was ponies were supposed to wallow in. She still hadn't figured that one out.

She'd have to leave town. As soon as Twilight returned, if not before. She had been cast out of the royal gaze, it would be unforgivable if Twilight should have to see her every day. No, Rarity would have to go. The years spent building a business, building a home all gone in an instant of royal displeasure. She'd have to say goodbye to Sweetie Belle and her parents, pack up her choicest fabrics and move on. Perhaps she could head to the big city and seek her fortune in Manehattan. They had their own version of high society there, she might very well fit right in.

It wouldn't be Ponyville of course, wouldn't be home. But it would be a roof over her head, and that was better than the alternative.

"Oh, has any mare ever fallen so far, so fast," Rarity moaned in operatic despair. "From the lofty heights of greatness to the very lowest depths of infamy? Has anypony ever lost so much: the respect of her fellows and the friendship of her true companions? Oh, woe is me!" she rolled onto her back, the better to wring her hooves in high-flown misery.

"I shall not go," Rarity continued. "I shall lie here on this bed and die of a broken heart, then everypony will regret every harsh word they ever said to me. But it will be too late to take it back, too late! Ah, hear lies Rarity, perished of rejection." She placed one hoof upon her forehead. "Oh, but who would feed Opalesence?"

There was a heavy knocking sound upon the door. Applejack's voice carried in from the other side, "Rarity, open the door. I know you're in there."

Rarity turned over onto her side, showing her back to the bedroom door, "Go away! I'm pining over my cruel fate."

Rarity could practically hear Applejack rolling her eyes, "Rarity, I need to talk to you, open this door."

"What do you and I have to talk about, why don't you ask the little gossip who told you I was back to give you the details?"

"Sweetie Belle was just worried about you, she told me you weren't coming out of your room. You sound like you need some fresh air."

"Sweetie Belle? Oh, the betrayal! Struck down by the one I trusted most! You too, my sister? Then fall, Rarity!"

"Rarity, ah don't have time to stick your cat up a tree again," Applejack shouted. "Now are you gonna open this door or do ah have to buck it down?"

"Absolutely not, you'll ruin the fittings," Rarity leapt off the bed in fright at the thought of her poor door in receipt of Applejack's iron feet. Slipping her hooves into her pink slippers, she crossed the bedroom, unlocked the door and opened it to reveal Applejack stone-faced upon the other.

"Good morning, darling," Rarity said. "What can I do for you?"

"What's going on, Rarity?"

"Oh, you know, this and that," Rarity murmured. "So anyway, enough about me, let's talk about you. How was the zap apple harvest?"

"Stop changin' the subject," Applejack was as relentless as a locomotive. "Why'd you come back on yer own without telling anypony, why haven't ah heard a peep out of y'all since before the zebras arrived and why the hay are you mopin' about the place like a beaver in dry season?"

Rarity placed one hoof upon her troubled brow, "Oh Applejack, you don't know. You can't know-"

"Yes, ah don't know because nopony would so much as write me a letter," Applejack snorted. "It ain't like I live in the middle of the forest ya know, Derpy knows how to find Sweet Apple Acres. Most likely. Now, can you cut out all the frou-frou stuff and just tell what in tarnation is goin' on?"

Rarity sighed deeply, lowering her hoof, "I'm sorry Applejack. We should have let you know what was happening but, in the confusion, I suppose it slipped our minds. Well, that's part of the reason."

Applejack nodded, "What's the rest?"

Rarity looked away, flinching in pre-emptive embarrassment, "I'm afraid this isn't a story in which a lot of ponies come out looking particularly good."

Applejack's face was stoically expressionless, inviting confidence without passing judgement.

Rarity hesitated, "Do we have to talk right now? This isn't a story I want to tell you while I'm standing in my bed robe with you in the doorway."

Applejack rolled her eyes impatiently, "Fine then, we'll do it at my place. You can have somethin' to eat while you explain why you were about to shut yerself up in your room and not eat anything. Yes, that's probably for the best. We'll go back to Sweet Apple Acres, and then you can tell me absolutely everything." She gave Rarity a very knowing look.

Rarity chuckled nervously, "Yes of course darling. Absolutely everything."

Applejack led the way to Sweet Apple Acres, Rarity following quietly and docilely behind.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had definitely done the right thing in coming to her, Applejack decided. She had not been certain at first, thinking that there might have been a simple explanation for Rarity's behaviour, but the more she observed of Rarity's almost squirrely behaviour the more she became convinced that there was something to get to the bottom of.

Nopony comes out of this looking good, huh? I wonder what that means.

Sweet Apple Acres lay spread out before them, the apples rich red and lustrous, the corns healthy and golden. Big Macintosh was hauling several cartloads of apples into the barn, while Granny Smith sat out on the porch on her rocking chair, dozing in the summer heat. Apple Bloom was nowhere to be seen, probably gone back to the clubhouse with the other crusaders. Probably for the best, getting Rarity to spill the beans would be easier without interruptions.

"Come on in, pardner, make yerself comfortable," Applejack said. "I'll make us some tea, make sure your throat don't dry up."

When the tea was made, the two mares sat down on opposite ends of the Apples' modest kitchen table, a plate of warm apple fritters lying between them along with the old tin kettle. The cosy homeliness of the room seemed to settle Rarity's nerves a little and she looked calmer than she had done in her bedroom. Applejack stood up to pour two cups, then sat down again.

"Now then," Applejack said. "What's been happenin' while I've been away?"

"Just a moment darling, please," Rarity said, taking a small sip of tea. Then a small bite of apple fritter. Which she chewed upon excessively. Then she drank some more tea. Then raised the fritter for another bite.

"Rarity!"

"All right, all right," Rarity snapped, setting tea and fritter down both. "I suppose there's no help for it is there. The truth is darling, a lot has changed since you came back here from Canterlot. I'm afraid you might not recognise us as we are now. You might not even want to."

"Ah'm listenin'."

"Everything was going perfectly well," Rarity began, her voice settling into a more melodious tone. "Preparations for the arrival of the zebras filled every mind. I was commissioned to make some glamourous gowns and stunning suits. We were all having a most delightful time. Not that we wouldn't have enjoyed it all the more if you'd been there of course."

"Ah don't need you to flatter me Rarity, ah don't worry about bein' thrown out the group every time ah turn mah back," Applejack said. "So? Everything was goin' great, somethin' must have gone wrong."

"Oh something went wrong. Something went terribly wrong. On the very night of the ambassadors' reception, Princess Cadance herself was poisoned!"

Applejack's eyes widened, "Poisoned? Why stompin' sasssquashes! What kind of poison? Is she..."

"She has lost all memory of herself," Rarity said. "Of her life, her marriage, her friends. It broke poor Twilight's heart when Cadance couldn't remember who she was."

"Good golly gosh," Applejack murmured. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if Big Mac or Apple Bloom just woke up one morning and said to her 'Who the hay are you and what are you doing in my house?' If you couldn't remember your own family then, you didn't have nothin'. Poor Twilight. Applejack glared at Rarity in absence of anypony else to glare at, "And you didn't think that that was somethin' ah might want to know about? That ah might have wanted to be there for Twilight?"

"As I told you Applejack it was a great shock, none of us were thinking clearly," Rarity said.

Applejack nodded, "Ah suppose it wuz a pretty dark twist by the sound of it."

"Yes, everything had been going so nicely before that, and then suddenly everything seemed to take a turn for the tragic," Rarity observed. "Very strange. Anyway, it was at that point that our troubles really got started and a kind of madness seemed to take over Canterlot."

That doesn't sound good.

"I started getting letters from Shining Armour," Rarity said. "He said that he had poisoned Cadance himself, so that he could be rid of her and be with me instead. He acted like we were in love, as though we had been planning a tryst."

"You and Shining Armour?" Applejack frowned. "Now that don't make a lick of sense. He'd have had to fool everypony for weeks, months even. He ain't that good an actor." That was what she liked about Twilight's brother: what you saw was what there was. He looked like an earnest, brave, devoted stallion and he was. There was no hidden darkness there. "Don't make a lick of sense," Applejack repeated. "What did Twilight have to say about these there letters?"

"I, um, I didn't tell her," Rarity confessed. "Not the smartest decision I know. But she was under so much pressure. She shut herself up in her room working with Spike on ways to get Cadance's memory back. With hindsight leaving her there was another decision that was not so smart, but nopony knew that at the time. None of us could have guessed what would happen next."

There was a moment of expectant silence.

"Well go ahead, don't leave me hangin' here," Applejack said.

"Oh, yes, of course." Rarity took another quick sip to wet her throat. "That, oh that viper, the Countess Mercedes Zaccone, she found out about it somehow: about the letters that Shining Armour had been sending. She staged a play like the poisoning of Cadance, suggesting that Shining Armour and I had been in cahoots about the whole thing."

"What did you do? What did Shining Armour do?"

"I was all ready to confront that mare and give her a piece of my mind, but then Shining Armour just up and confessed to everything. In front of Twilight! Twilight was half out of her mind already with stress and the strain of the dark magic she's using to try and help Cadance-"

"Dark magic?" Applejack said in unbelieving tones. "Twilight is using dark magic?"

"Yes," Rarity murmured. "I'm afraid it's doing her no good at all. But that isn't the worst of it. She didn't believe me when I protested my innocence. She thought I had led Shining Armour on, led him to poison Cadance and so she, oh it's so horrible I can barely say it, she banished me!"

"She what now?"
"I've been cast out! Forbidden from ever being in Twilight's sight again! Oh, as well forbid a flower to turn towards the sun! Now you see why I couldn't talk to you, couldn't talk to anypony, because then I would have to confess the shame, the shame! I know that I will have to leave here soon, but I wanted to retain my dignity a little longer. Is that so terrible."

"Ah suppose not," Applejack rolled her eyes. "But somepony should have sent me a message, because then I could have told you what a load of hooey all this is."

Rarity frowned, "Whatever do you mean Applejack?"
"Look, ah know that when you're in the thick of things a lot of real stupid decisions seem to make perfect sense," Applejack said. Like running away from home to never come back because you didn't win in a rodeo. "And ah'm sure that you did the best you could at the time. But look at it from the outside just a second: have you ever seen a couple more in love than Cadance and Shining Armour because I sure ain't? Yet everypony just believed that he'd done it?"

"Because he said so."

"And he swore up and down that the Queen of the Changelings was helpin' him with his migraines, when all along she was messin' with his head," Applejack said. "Sad to say the boy ain't got the best record when it comes to keepin' his head his own." Applejack got up, set her hat back on her head, and strode briskly to the door, "Big Macintosh?"

"Eeyup?" Big Mac responded from outside.

"I'm goin' be gone again for a few days, can you take care of things here?"

"Eeyup."

"Thanks, big brother," Applejack shouted. She turned back to Rarity, "How you didn't unpack your bags Rarity, cause we're on the next train back to Canterlot."

Rarity blinked, "But didn't you hear? Twilight has cast me out!"

"Oh, that mare can get more full of hot air than Rainbow Dash in public sometimes," Applejack said. "If she hasn't changed her mind already I'll be shocked silly. And if she really means it then that proves even more how much she needs our help. Come on girl, she needs us. You have to see that."

Rarity got up slowly, "We should never have let you leave Canterlot, Applejack."

"Darn straight."

***

In the solar of the Twilight Palace, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie sat rather aimlessly upon quilted chairs, paying so little attention to the luxury around they might as well have been sitting on a cloud in the teeth of a biting wind. The fire warmed them not, the elegant cushions seemed hard as knotted wood, the wall hangings did not please their eyes. Twilight's absence was the loss of moon and stars, and they wandered blind in the resulting darkness.

"It doesn't feel right us being here," Pinkie Pie murmured. "This is Twilight's place. Without her, it feels kinda like trespassing or something."

"Maybe we should go back to Ponyville?" Fluttershy suggested.

"What? We can't go back now," Rainbow Dash said. "You want us to run away? We can't leave until we get the Elements of Harmony back."

"But we aren't looking for the Elements," Fluttershy pointed out.

Rainbow Dash's mouth contorted with words unspoken before she forced out, "Well, we will! As soon as I get these bandages off I'm gonna find that pegasus and give her what for." She rubbed the bandages wrapped around her head. The doctor had said they would be off in a couple of days, and Rainbow Dash was counting the seconds. "Besides, if we left there'd be nopony here when Twilight came back."

"I guess," Fluttershy mumbled. "But, what are we going to do then?"

The door to the solar was flung open, striking the wall with a loud crack.

"Ah leave y'all alone for a few days and you fall apart without me," Applejack strode in, grinning a little, followed by a chastened-looking Rarity.

"Applejack!" Rainbow Dash leapt out of her seat, hovering up in the air.

"You came back," Fluttershy gasped.

"Yup, I came to help y'all sort out this mess," Applejack said. "Sounds like you've been getting into a lot of trouble while I've been away."

"You got that right, now the Elements of Harmony have been stolen," Rainbow Dash said.

"Tarnation! Well that proves Shining Armour didn't do it."

"But he said he did," Fluttershy pointed out.

"Maybe, but ah bet them unicorns got ways of making you say things you don't mean," Applejack said. "Besides, do you really think the Elements bein' stolen isn't connected to everythin' else that's been goin' on?"

"Well, if you put it like that," Rainbow Dash nodded. "But with Twilight going crazy and all-"

"She what?"

"Well she's better now. Kind of. This countess unicorn has taken her out of town─"

"She went on vacation with that mare?" Rarity demanded, outraged.

"Oh, no, it's not a vacation," Fluttershy's tone was soft, reassuring. "It's a ritual designed to rid her of all of the dark magic that's been causing her problems."

Rarity continued to mutter under her breath about the terrible judgement of some ponies.

"So now that you're here, what are we going to do now, Applejack?" Pinkie asked as she bounced up and down, making springing noises with her legs.

"Hmm," Applejack put one hoof to her chin and looked up. "I guess the first thing to do is find out how Shining Armour is bein' made to confess to somethin' nopony in their right mind would think he'd done. Reckon we should go take a look around his room see if maybe he was drugged or somethin'."

***

The gang arrived at Celestia's palace to be told that the Princesses were both too busy to recieve them: they were meeting with Lady Sophoniba from Quaggai. They were, however, of course welcome to look around as much as they liked.

They found Shining Armour and Cadance's guest room without any difficulty whatsoever, and Applejack opened the door to find the room an absolute mess: cases opened, clothes lying everywhere, papers on the floor or littered on desks haphazardly, the bed not made, everything looking like a pegasus had cause a tornado inside the room.

"Wow, who would have thought that Twilight's brother would be so messy," Rainbow Dash said. She grinned, "Imagine what kind of fit Twilight would be having if she had to live in this mess?"

"I don't need to imagine darling, I'm having one myself," Rarity murmured.

"Okay, spread out everypony," Applejack declared. "Look for anything that seems suspicious."

"And try and tidy up while you're about it," Rarity said distastefully.

They got to work, sorting through rolled up bits of paper and half finished letters, prying through suitcases, rifling through gowns and tunics. Rarity began sorting admiringly through Cadance's jewellery box, oohing at some of the priceless pieces before Applejack reminded her that Shining Armour wasn't likely to have had his head addled by a tiara.

Applejack herself was sorting through the litter on the writing desk, taking her time to read each piece before stacking it up on the floor next to her.

Letter to his folks. Requisition form. Orders for somepony. Hello nelly...

Applejack had found something that didn't look either official or personal. She laid it on the table. It was a scribbled piece of paper she had found buried amidst a pile of other stuff, with a few lines scribbled on it.

Golden unicorn, green eyes, red and white mane.

Where from?

Windwaker

Red Wyne

Breaking Dawn

"Lookie here girls, I think I might have found somethin'," Applejack called them over. "Take a look."

"Breaking Dawn," Rainbow Dash murmured. "Never heard that name before."

"It's the only name that isn't crossed out, and it's been underlined," Fluttershy said.

"And I'm sure I heard from Captain Lancer that they had found the apothecary who supplied the poison used on Cadance," Rarity said, her voice rising in a state of excitement. "And that pony talked about selling his concoction to a golden unicorn with a red and white mane! Shining Armour must have known who that was, or worked it out anyway!"

"But then, before he could tell anypony, zap!" Pinkie Pie leapt on Fluttershy. "They put him under an evil spell."

"Um, Pinkie, could you please get off me?"

"But who is this Breaking Dawn?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I don't know," Applejack said. "But if Shining Armour knew who she was then there's at least some chance Princess Celestia will."

***

Celestia's purple eyes were wide, her teacup shattered as she dropped it to the ground. Hot brown tea spilled over the pristine white marble floor.

"Breaking Dawn," Celestia murmured, rocking backwards upon her haunches as if struck. "Could it be? After all this time? Is she behind this?"

"Shining Armour must have thought so, Your Highness," Applejack said, still bowed as she had been when she and the others had first entered the royal presence. "But, begging your pardon, none of us know who this Breaking Dawn mare is supposed to be."

"Neither do I," Luna said. "Sister?"

Celestia closed her eyes, flinching as if against some great pain, and bowed her head, "Twilight Sparkle is not the first student I ever took on as my personal protege, just the last and most fortunate. Luna, from the very day I banished you to the moon I have always dreamt of the day when you would be saved and returned to me. I have planned constantly to achieve your salvation."

"By finding new bearers for the Elements of Harmony," Luna said.

Celestia nodded, "In part. I could not just assemble six ponies, the bearers must become friends of their own accord or the Elements will not work. But I could find the Element of Magic, train her, teach them to wield the magic of unicorns in preparation for their wielding the magic of friendship.
"Most of these students of mine lived their whole lives never having to use the Elements of Harmony. They completed their studies, lived their lives, died content surrounded by friends and with great achievements to leave behind them. But as the thousandth year since Nightmare Moon's banishment grew closer I become desperate, I knew that Luna would return soon, I had to find the one. There were three ponies, one after the other, whom I though might be the Element of Magic I had been searching for.
"The first left me of her own accord, turning away from the lessons I had tried to teach her. The second was Breaking Dawn. I found her when she was a street urchin, running from the guards and stealing food. She was prodigiously talented: since Twilight's ascension I believe there is only one unicorn in this era who can better her, and not even Twilight has the alacrity for rapidly casting spells that Breaking Dawn had."

"But she didn't work out?" Applejack said. "I mean, Your Highness?"

"Indeed," Celestia said slowly, guilt beginning to creep into her tone. "I took pity on a filly who had had such a difficult life. I fear I spoiled her, both with my affections and with my leniency. Dawn became very proud and vain, she took advantage of her position and of the need I had of her to break the rules, do as she pleased in the knowledge that I would not punish her. That is why, when I took Twilight Sparkle under my wing, I told her nothing of my plans for her lest she too grow conceited the way Breaking Dawn had.
"As time passed, and Dawn's offences grew, I became increasingly convinced that I had made the wrong choice. When I felt Twilight's potential at the Summer Sun celebration I became convinced. I arranged for Twilight to take an unconventional entrance exam for my school, and on that day you all got your cutie marks, I knew that I had found a mare who would make me proud."

"Then what happened, to Breaking Dawn?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"At first, she merely stopped being my student, I allowed her to remain at school," Celestia answered. "But Dawn could not brook her humiliation and attacked Twilight, I had no choice but to expel her. After that, I was so absorbed in Twilight's progress, I did not check upon her. I assumed she had found a new path in life. But if she is behind all that has happened then it would appear that I was wrong. I should have helped her more, I should have kept an eye upon her. This is all my fault."

"No, sister," Luna's voice was firm, insistent. "You cannot take upon yourself the burdens of others. If Breaking Dawn is so consumed with hatred that she will perpetrate such terrible crimes then that is her doing, her responsibility. She must answer for what she has done as we all must."

"But if I had treated her differently then I might have avoided this."

"And if you had commanded ponies to go without sleep I might not have become Nightmare Moon, but that does not make my fall your error," Luna responded. "To think otherwise denies the free will which all ponies possess. It is arrogance, however well intended. We each of us make our choices and must stand by them after. I was Nightmare Moon. The thousand years I spend lodged in the moon can never be returned to me. But that is my responsibility not yours, dear sister. It is the same with Breaking Dawn."

Celestia said, "I suppose you are right. In any case, if Breaking Dawn is behind these events, if she has stolen the Elements of Harmony, then she must be found. If only I had kept track of her then we might know where to look, but as it is I did not think of her until you mentioned her. I might not have even recognised her had she, oh my."

"Princess Celestia?" Applejack said.

"She was right there, she introduced herself to me," Celestia whispered. "The audacity, yes that was very like her, she was always fond of taking chances."

"Sister, what are you talking about?"

"She dyed her hair green and hid her cutie mark under a dress," Celestia said. "Don't you see: the Countess Mercedes Zaccone, she is Breaking Dawn."

Applejack gasped, "You mean the mare who Twilight has gone with? But then that means─"

"She means Twilight Sparkle no good and much ill," Luna said darkly.

"She must be warned, if it is not already too late," Celestia said.

"I'll go tell her," Rainbow Dash declared.

"No, you need to rest your head, Ah'll go," Applejack said. "I can run faster'n you could fly with that bump on your head anyways. Ah just hope I'm not too late."

***

Shining Armour floated in a void, a silvery fog enveloping him.

"Hello?" he shouted. "Twily? Cadance?"

"Why?" his sister's voice was faint to him, like a distant echo from a far off shore. "Why did you betray Cadance like that?"

"What?" Shining Armour yelled. "I didn't betray Cadance! I love her, I would never hurt her what are you, what are you talking about?"

He heard his own voice, disembodied, echoing like thunder in a cave, "Because I wasn't happy, Twilight Sparkle."

"What is this?" Shining Armour demanded. "Where am I? What's happened to my wife?"

The void shook, a thunderous blow disturbing the mists, sounding like a gong throughout the void, sending Shining Armour spinning off into nothingness, rubbing his head.

I─ oh Cadance! He remembered now. He remembered what had been done to her, how angry it had made him. But how had he gotten from there to here? How had-

Another dolorous blow, another ringing of the gong, Shining Armour's head ached even more as he floated through nothingness.

"Breaking Dawn. Breaking Dawn, I have to warn Twily," Shining Armour began to swim in the direction of the faint noises, the direction the blows seemed to be coming from. Magic was beyond him here it seemed, so he grasped at tendrils of the silver mist and used them to pull himself forward. Whatever this place was, whever it was, he had to find a way out. He had to warn his little sister.

"I can't let you get away," a stallion stood before him. He stood before himself, only this other him was golden and had green eyes. The spell that Breaking Dawn had cast to control him.

"You have to stay where you are." it said.

Shining Armour bared his teeth at it, "Get out of my way, before I go right through you."

It smirked, "If you were stronger than I am, you wouldn't be here in the first place."

"We'll see about that," Shining Armour growled, and sprang at this spell-creation.

He was shocked by the strength in the construct's kicks, the power behind its blows, the force of its headbutts. The construct flung him like a doll in all directions, pursuing him with vengeful fury, striking at him with such speed, such power.

"Do you see now?" the construct asked. "You cannot escape."

"Can't has nothing to do with it," Shining Armour said. "This is something that I have to do." And so he leapt forward to try his strength again, like a lion for so long dominant over a territory who spies a younger interloper on the plains. Just as the lions leaps down from his rock with a great roar to bare his claws against the invader so did Shining Armour throw himself against his foe. They duelled for what seemed like eons, ages of the world locked in combat, kicking and biting and wrestling, and as they fought Shining Armour's anger and his fear for Twilight burned bright in his heart and gave him strength even as the construct seemed to weaken. Weaker and weaker, until Shining Armour placed his hoof upon the construct's neck and held him in submission.

"My mistress, she is too far away," the construct murmured. "Oh, mistress, why do you abandon me?"

It dissolved in Shining Armour's grip, turning to liquid gold and then to nothingness. Shining Armour faced in the direction of the noises, and pushed on. He seemed to become faster and faster as he went, getting stronger and stronger, until he was flying through fields of stars faster than Rainbow Dash, zooming towards an ever growing source of light

Shining Armour gasped as he saw through his own eyes once more, felt his own hooves upon the ground. Saw the iron bars and felt the floor of a dungeon cell.

What have I done? What did you make me do?

"Hey!" Shining Armour said. "Hey there, whatever I said I didn't do it. It wasn't me, it was a mare named Breaking Dawn! Please, somepony has to warn Twilight. She's in terrible danger!"

Author's Note

And so the second best pony makes her triumphant return.

The Purging

Chapter 15

The Purging

Twilight opened the door to the Golden Oaks Library, having spotted the air mail van coming down a few moments earlier from the vantage point of the balcony.

"Twilight Sparkle?" a grey pegasus with blonde hair and golden wall eyes asked, holding a clipboard precariously in her hooves.

"Yes."

"This is your special delivery, sign here please," the pegasus pushed the clipboad towards Twilight, who levitated it into the air and signed for her packages.

"Thanks. Come on Raindrops, let's get this stuff inside!" the grey pegasus and her companion, a neon yellow pegasus with a green mane, began to haul neatly wrapped packages out of the back of their van and carry them into the library.

"Careful with that," Twilight squawked in alarm as the grey mare nearly dropped what she recognised from its shape as her telescope. She had to grab it with her telekinesis before it hit the ground. "This is very fragile, and it was a gift from Princess Celestia."

"Sorry about that," the grey pegasus said, sounding contrite and taking much more care with what looked like some of Twilight's spellbooks.

Spike, wandering down the stairs in search of breakfast, widened his eyes at the growing pile of boxes and parcels being left on the library floor, "Gee Twilight, how much stuff are you having brought from Canterlot?"

"Well I couldn't just leave my stuff in the tower when I'm not going to be living there any more, could I?" Twilight replied. "I suppose the school will use it to accomodate new students now. And since this is my home now I might as well make it feel homely, mightn't I?"

Spike grinned.

"What?" Twilight asked warily.

"You're really serious about this, aren'tcha?" Spike said, hopping down the last few steps. "Moving to Ponyville, studying friendship..."

"I don't know what to say, I love it here, Spike," Twilight said. "These ponies, they make me feel things I've never felt before in my entire life. They make me feel normal and special at the same time. I think, if I ever had to leave here, it would be the saddest day of my entire life."

***

The carriage clattered through the misty night, the hooves of the zebras clip-clopping down the cinder path to where a solitary lamp, glowing orange in the darkness, guided the coach and team towards the mountainside chalet.

The fog, like the tendrils of some ancient beast in search of prey, groped for the carriage wheels. The hoot of an owl, the snort of a weary zebra, these noises were amplified by the quiet of the night into sounds eerie to hear. From the high ground to the north, a timberwolf howled.

"Is it Nightmare Night already?" Spike laughed, but failed to disguise his nervousness from Twilight.

The Countess smiled, almost more of a smirk, "Do you fear the darkness without, little dragon?"

Spike snorted, "No."

"Good," she leaned in so that their faces were almost touching. "It is the darkness inside that you should fear."

"That's enough," Twilight said firmly. "Don't scare him."

"He should be scared," the countess' smile was nearly fiendish in its glee. "We should all be scared."

The carriage stopped upon the gravel driveway of the modest chalet, a two storey building with white walls and a red door. The roof, also red, was made up of humped tiles so that it resembled the rolling waves of the ocean. Black curtains had been drawn across all the windows. All around, the mist enshrouded moors stretched far away, rolling ever onwards until sight failed.

"Why would anypony build a house all the way out here?" Spike asked.

"It is not a home, it is for holidays strictly," the Countess replied. "Drawing parties in the summer, apparently the views are quite the thing to see when the fog clears. Very inspirational. In the mean time it is empty and remote, and thus ideal."

"I agree," Twilight climbed down out of the carriage with Spike upon her back. "I suppose we should go and settle in. What time will the Purging begin?"

"With the first rays of dawn, as is the custom," Countess Mercedes leapt down out of the coach. "The zebras will take your luggage to your room, though you may go with them if you wish. But we have so few hours left to sleep that there is little purpose to it. Instead, I would ask you join me for a nightcap. I feel it right that we should have one conversation before we do this momentous thing."

Twilight pondered it, considering the countess' assertion that sleep would do her little good. She is right, there aren't many hours till dawn? And could I sleep, knowing that I'd have to do battle with my self in the morning? It would be worse than trying to sleep on the night of Nightmare Moon's return. And she's got a point, if I'm going to put myself in her hooves I might as well know something about her first.

Spike failed to stifle a yawn behind the back of his hand.

Twilight chuckled, "Come on, Spike, baby dragons should be in bed by now. I'll tuck him in, and then I'll come join you for that nightcap."

The Countess offered a half bow, "But of course." She gestured to the zebras to start moving everything inside.

The inside of the chalet was bare and empty. The floor of the living room was dark varnished wood without a carpet, with only a single chair and sofar for furniture. The stairs were stained with something Twilight did not wish to know the origin of. Fortunately, things were a little better in the bedroom, which did at least have a carpet, a cosy looking bed and somewhere clean enough to put Spike's basket.

"Go to sleep now, Spike," Twilight smiled as she levitated the blanket onto the baby dragon and tucked him in. "By the time you see me tomorrow, I'll be all better."

"Really?" Spike smiled lazily. "Awesome. Then we can go home and make everything better with Rarity and everypony."

"Yeah," Twilight murmured, guilt pricking her with all the harshness of a lance to the breast. As she looked down upon her number one assistant, thinking that this might be the last time she saw him, a sudden panic seized her, clawing at her throat in its eagerness to escape. Twilight gave a choked gasp, and had to turn away before he saw the stricken look upon her face.

"Twilight? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Spike," Twilight muttered, starting for the door. She stopped. "If this thing in the morning doesn't go...if this doesn't work, I love you, Spike. You're the little brother that I never had."

Spike blinked in confusion, "Don't say stuff like that Twilight! You're going to be fine! Everything is going to be just─" he fell asleep in mid-sentence, his head hitting the pillow with a soft thump as he started to snore.

Twilight chuckled, "Same old Spike."

Twilight Sparkle tiptoed out, and closed the door quietly behind her before going to find the Countess.

***

Breaking Dawn felt quite lightheaded as she sipped her cider upon the chalet balcony. Located on the rear side of the house, the balcony sat above the mists and thus enabled her to see beyond the fog's embrace and see the rolling downs that lay roundabout. Above their heads the moon shone bright and beautiful, the stars twinkled in their firmament deaf to the sorrows of ponies below, and on the balcony she sat with Princess Twilight Sparkle, her nemesis, drinking cider in easy chairs while the heavens mocked them.

"And so everypony started arguing all at once until I yelled at them to be quiet," nerves had loosened Twilight Sparkle's tongue, she was telling a story from her life after defeating Nightmare Moon. "And then they all stopped except for Pinkie Pie who just said, apropos of absolutely nothing, 'Oatmeal! Are you crazy?"

Dawn blinked, a frown creasing her brow, "I don't get it."

"Nobody did! That's what made it so funny," Twilight giggled nervously. She set her cider down and took a deep breath, "You probably wonder why I'm telling you all these stories about my life, about ordinary things, instead of the things that made me a princess: defeating Discord, saving the Crystal Empire. I guess the point is that those moments those everyday, ordinary moments that I spent in Ponyville meant as much to me as any of my great accomplishments; meant more to me, sometimes. I certainly had more fun then. That stuff won't make it into the history books, but if I don't make it out of this in one piece I want somepony to remember that these things happened. Even if it is just one pony."

Dawn frowned, all your accomplishments, and you make a big deal out of stuff like that? "That is what you want to be remembered for? Some stupid fight over gala tickets?"

"It seems stupid if you weren't there," Twilight said, leaning back in her chair. "It was stupid even when I was there. But the feelings that I had, what it meant to be...just because it's stupid doesn't make it meaningless. Especially when you add all those moments up together. It's like stars, you know. Each one is just a little pinprick of light. On their own they're insignificant. But put them all together and look, pretty sky!" she waved her forehooves to encompass the whole of the glistening night sky above them, the stars twinkling and the Blue Horsehead glistening above them.

Breaking Dawn chuckled, "Are you tipsy?"

Twilight Sparkle looked outraged, "I most certainly am not."

"Yes, you are," Dawn laughed. "'Pretty sky'? Your vocabulary is slipping."

"So is your accent, countess."

Dawn froze. Twilight Sparkle was looking at her through a pair of narrowed, intent, perceptive and not at all cider-addled lavender eyes. The tiniest smile graced her mouth. A purple aura surrounded her drink as she showed Dawn that she had not, in fact, drunk nearly as much as she had been pretending to.

Caught out by Princess Celestia's tea trick? Aw, ponyfeathers. Dawn's blood chilled a little as she waited for Twilight to react. She prepared a shield against the inevitable attack, and a counterspell to follow. You should have attacked me while I was unaware. Dark magic or not I'll give you a duel you won't forget in a hurry.

But Twilight just sat there, staring at her. Come on, come on, do it!

And she sat there still, staring at Dawn. It became clear that she was waiting for Breaking Dawn to make the first move.

She doesn't know. She just knows that she caught me out and now she's waiting for an explanation. It was all Dawn could do not to sigh in relief. She did laugh, hoping it would be taken as nervousness and not a release of tension, "You got me. Princess Celestia taught you well, young padawan. I hope you're not going to let a little white lie come between us."

"A little white lie?"

"Everything important that I told you is true," Dawn said. "I do have the magical power to help you through the Purging. And that's what really matters here, isn't it?"

Twilight's eyes narrowed, "Who are you really?"

"Sunglimmer," Breaking Dawn said easily. It was the name she had used to give to the guards when she got into trouble with them. "My name is Sunglimmer. No, I'm not a countess. I'm not any kind of noble pony whatsoever. I'm just an old friend of Hardy Bloom's from before she became respectable; I wanted to get into society as fast as I could and we decided that faking it would be the easiest way."

Twilight frowned, "It was that easy?"

Dawn laughed, "Do you know how much money Jet Set and Upper Crust have, or Fancypants? I don't, and nopony else does either. They might all be broke for all I know. I do know that Jet Set's grandmother ran a laundrettes on Saddleford Row with working pony's overalls hanging up outside. In Canterlot a dress, a name and a confident attitude can take you a long way. Especially if it is accompanied by ze exotic accent no?"

Twilight blinked, "You know, depressingly that makes an awful lot of sense. After all Rarity didn't even need to bother with an accent to pass as a socialite. But why did you keep on lying for so long?"

"I was worried you wouldn't trust me if you found out the truth," Dawn said. "And the truth is, Princess Twilight, you need me. There isn't any other pony in Canterlot or beyond strong enough to be your Firelight."

"Maybe," Twilight conceded. "But why would you want to help me?"

"Because you need help." Dawn said simply. "Because you and I are a lot a like. I was very like you once. If somepony had helped me then, maybe things would have gone differently." Curse you, why was Princess Celestia willing to go out on so much more of a limb for you than you were for me? Dawn got up, walking to the edge of the balcony and looking upwards at Luna's shining moon.

"So who are you really?" Twilight asked from behind her. "Who is Sunglimmer?"

Sunglimmer's another made up name and put-on attitude, fool, Dawn thought. If being a princess doesn't work out Candy and I should start a travelling show, I should have gotten a cutie mark in lying to ponies.

Dawn looked out across the moors, "The real Sunglimmer, the real me, is a nopony. Just some unicorn who attended the School for Gifted Unicorns and then did nothing of consequence with her life." Am I talking about Sunglimmer now, or Breaking Dawn?

"Nopony is a nopony," Twilight replied. "I meant what I said; the little moments of everyday life are as important in making up the mosaic of who you are as any of the big things that other ponies talk about."

Yeah, right. "You might think that, I don't. I worked a few jobs, lived with my friends, but I don't want to talk about that stuff. I don't want to focus on that stuff. I want to be big, to be ever so grand and glorious. Celestia help me, I wanted to be like you."

"I never wanted fame or glory," Twilight murmured.

"Says the alicorn princess."

"I mean it," Twilight insisted. "None of that stuff, none of this, I didn't plan for any of it. I'm just a librarian who got lucky, that's all. The wings aren't all that they're cracked up to be."

Dawn regarded her sceptically.

Twilight shook her head, "You may not believe me, but life was simpler without them."

"Life is always simple when you've got nothing," Dawn said. "When you are nothing."

"Why do you do that?"

"What?"

"Put yourself down all the time."

"It spurs me on to keep fighting, keep striving," Dawn replied. "Still, not much point now. Once everypony finds out I lied about who I am then it won't matter that I saved Princess Twilight. I'll be pony non grata for the rest of my life."

Twilight Sparkle blinked, then smiled, "Tell you what. That can be our little secret, just between the two of us."

Breaking Dawn's mouth hung open a little. Wow. She found herself in the unexpected position of having no clue what to say. It was a surprisingly, shockingly, generous offer from the pony who had so callously ruined her life, stolen her dreams and shattered all her hopes. Dawn had never expected such a gesture from the thief.

"You, you'd do that for me? But, why?"

Twilight chuckled, "I think you'll have earned it by tomorrow night, don't you?"

"I, um," Dawn felt such a pricking in her heart it was as though her conscience had broken out a thousand tiny needles to torment her. This was not the monster years of fermented rage had made her, here was no gleeful merry thief. Was Cherry right, have I become the villain in all this? Was that always my role in this? Oh sweet Celestia what have I done?

Dawn was certain that, if she knew the truth, Princess Twilight's demeanour would swiftly sour. But I have given her cause enough for that, have I not?

Dawn had to turn away, lest her face betray, "You know, you aren't what I expected at all."

"In a good way?"

"Mostly, yeah."

"I'm glad I exceeded your expectations."

Dawn chuckled, "You know we really are a lot alike. If things had been different, I think we could have been friends."

"We still could."

"Maybe, but I fear it is already too late." Breaking Dawn had gone too far, done too much. There would be no backing out with a few apologies now. I'll harm nopony else and make amends for all I've done, but I must save Canterlot on my own, without the help of Princess Twilight, or all the glory will belong to her and all I've done will be without meaning.

She turned back, to face her peculiar opponent. Dawn raised her glass, "To success."

Twilight nodded, raising her own drink in turn, "To a new day."

"Indeed."

***

In the fading darkness of night's end, as the moon sank in preparation for the rising of the sun, Breaking Dawn and Twilight Sparkle met in the living room.

Dawn had drawn chalk lines upon the wooden floor: two circles, representing the sun and moon, overlapping in the middle like a venn diagram. Candles, burning golden for the sun and silver for the moon, sat at intervals around the twin circles. At the convergence points, where sun and moon met, gold and silver candles sat together.

"Is the frippery really necessary?" Twilight asked, one eyebrow raised.

"I have no idea," Dawn replied. "But it was how they did it back in the old days, and I wouldn't want to leave it out in case it really is important. Now, step into the circle of the moon."

Twilight, looking nervously around her, stepped gingerly into the circle, careful to avoid the burning candles.

"You are the moon," Breaking Dawn intoned. "And though you sit in the midst of darkness you are not dark, but shine the light that is in you all around. Cling to that light, for it is the hope of your salvation."

Dawn stepped into the other circle, "I am the sun. My light shall burn away the darkness that assails you. Follow where my light leads, and it shall guide you safely home."

Dawn looked out of the window. The moon was almost set now, just a pale sliver above the horizon. And as she watched the sun began to rise, spreading the first rays of dawn across the land.

"Now it begins," Dawn whispered, and cast the spell that would begin the Purging. The candles were dissolved at once and rings of fire consumed the chalk lines: hot golden fire for the sun, cold silver fire for the moon. The intersection of both sun and moon was set apart by walls of both flames, the silver and the gold. For better or worse, neither could leave now until the ritual had been successfully completed or had failed completely. This would end either with Twilight Sparkle purged of darkness or consumed by it.

Twilight's eyes were wide with panic, eyes darting around her at the fires hemming her in. Black lines began to creep up her legs like spider's webs, until the young princess began to contort in agony, "It's coming."

"Let it out, Twilight," Dawn instructed. "You have to let it out before you can confront it. If you try and resist you only make it stronger. I bid the darkness in this mare come forth! Come forth, and begone from her!"

Twilight made a sound that was half gasp, half growl, her head snapping up and her eyes blazing with power as those spider's lines of darkness spread across her whole body and her lavender coat darkened.

Twilight Sparkle's eyes turned black, "Who dares? Who dares to summon me? Who dares imprison me within these flames?"

"I do," Breaking Dawn said, her voice firm as the mountains and cold as winter's chill.

Twilight laughed, a deep and echoing laugh, "You? You think you have the power to control me? The strength of will, the fixedness of purpose."

"If you knew what my purpose was you'd agree it was pretty fixed," Breaking Dawn answered.

"If I knew," Twilight laughed again. "We are not the light-blinded fool, Breaking Dawn. We know your mind, we know your thoughts, we know your purposes. You hate her, don't you? I feel the hatred in you, throbbing, calling to me." Twilight crouched down, looking upwards into Dawn's green eyes. "Your anger is a melody in my head. You do not want to save this mare, you want to destroy her."

"I did before I knew her," Dawn replied.

"Lies!" Twilight roared. "You are her foe, I am her foe, why should we not make cause to crush this wretch. Help me, Breaking Dawn, release these fires and I will grant you all your heart's desires."

Dawn raised an eyebrow inquisitively, "Really? And what is it my heart desires?"

"Power," Twilight whispered. "Glory, fame. I can grant you all these things and more. I can make you an alicorn. I will give you a realm to fashion in your image. Merely release me from these fires and all your dreams I will make real."

Breaking Dawn said, "Evil lies, why should I trust you?"

"I swear it by all that I hold dear," Twilight growled.

"That's the problem. You hold nothing dear at all."

Twilight snarled, and hurled herself at Dawn before rebounding from the golden fire before her. So long as Dawn's intent remained undaunted, the golden fire would protect her from the darkness, even as the silver fire would protect Twilight from Dawn until Twilight decided to admit her.

"From one liar to another," Dawn murmured. "You are not as silver tongued as you believe. And the thing my heart desires most is Celestia's love, and that is something you could never give me."

Twilight howled in impotent frustration.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Dawn declared. "If you would free yourself from this darkness, allow me to step through the silver fire and reach out to you. Twilight Sparkle, if you would be saved, trust me."

"No!" bellowed Twilight. "I will not go. I will not be banished. You do not have the strength to overcome me. You are riddled with doubts. You are as foolish as my vessel is, uncertain of your cause because your enemy turned out to be less evil than you thought. I see your heart and it is rotten, riddled with parasprites!"

Breaking Dawn's mind had expected this, the darkness would always stab at its enemies, attempting to weaken their resolve and thus shatter the ritual, but her heart was chilled by the darkness' words. "I am not weak."

"You are pathetic," Twilight snarled. "Agonising for years about a childhood failure, letting it consume you, destroy your life and now, when you stand upon the brink of taking all that is yours, you hesitate?" She laughed, "Can such a thing be credited? You are naught but wind and empty words. You do not have the will to act, you never have."

"Tell that to Princess Cadance," Dawn snapped before she could stop herself. With great effort she gathered herself, forcing herself to calm. "Twilight Sparkle, hear my words. Let me in! Let me in and I will help you."

Twilight Sparkle cried out in anger and in pain, but the darkness receded from her face and her eyes turned back to lavender, "Quickly," she gasped, "come in."

The silver fires in front of Dawn died down and Breaking Dawn stepped into the centre of the overlapping circles.

"If you are true in your intent to cast off darkness," Dawn intoned. "Then you may pass the golden fire."

Twilight groaned in pain as she scrunched up her face, forcing the darkness back down her body. Sparks of lavender magic began to shoot from her horn even as Twilight's Sparkle's moaning grew louder. Crying out as if in terrible agony Twilight leapt through the golden flames to land next to Dawn in the overlap of sun and moon.

"Good girl, hold on," Dawn said soothingly, and her horn glowed with a golden aura as she bent forward and touched it to the horn of Twilight Sparkle, sending a burst of magic flooding through them both.

***

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes and found herself in...a cloud?

No, on second thoughts it wasn't a cloud although it was very like it. But at the same time not. It was in some ways more like a nebula, but it wasn't quite one of those either. It was pink, with a tint of lavender, and it swirled all around her, ebbing and flowing. She stood upon a surface she could not see, but felt firm and solid beneath her hooves.

There were hints of blue within the cloud-thing, and flashes of white lightning. The blue formed shapes as the whole mass eddied lazily round, shapes like ponies and dragons and other things she did not recognise.

"So this is what your head looks like," Sunglimmer remarked as she appeared beside Twilight. "Interesting decor choices."

"This is─"

"You, in some way," Sunglimmer said. "This is where you will face the trials."

Twilight nodded. She knew enough about the Purging to know that crossing the flames had been only the first step. Now she would face tests of Heart, Mind and Body. Failure in any one would doom her to the dark. Only if she passed all three could she overthrow the malignance that had taken root upon her soul.

"I'm, kind of glad you're here," Twilight muttered.

Sunglimmer looked at her, but said nothing.

"What happens now?" Twilight asked. "Where do I start?"

Even as she spoke three doors appeared before her in a shimmering haze. One was made of horn and ivory, one was wrought of stone, and the last was worked in sparkling crystal and seemed insubstantial even by the standards of this mindscape.

"I think the choice of where to start is up to you," Sunglimmer murmured.

Twilight nodded, examining each of the three doors closely, "Stone is solid and physical, so I suspect that is the test of Body. Horn and Ivory are associated with dreams, in the Wanderings of Ponysses Ponysses finds a gate of horn and ivory in Tartarus from which dreams escape to the living world. That could make it Heart or Mind but I'm inclined to say Mind because dreams are experienced mentally. Plus that door of crystal is so lacking in physical presence it has to be a reference to the soul so: Stone for Body, Horn for Mind, Crystal for Heart. But where do I begin?"

Sunglimmer was silent, letting Twilight make the choice without interference.

Twilight looked from one to the other. Well, I've always been good at tests. She took a step forward, "I'll start with Mind."

"Very well," Sunglimmer said as the two of them walked towards the door of horn and ivory.

"What do you suppose is on the other side?"

"I don't know," Sunglimmer grinned, "but I'll get you through it, don't worry."

Twilight rolled her eyes a little at the other mare's certainty, even if she was inwardly reassured by her confidence. With nothing else to do, she pushed open the ivory door.

A white light consumed them.

***

They were in the tower. The tower at school where Twilight had lived before moving to Ponyville. It was exactly as it had been on the day that Twilight had left: there was the bust she had had shipped to Ponyville, there was her telescope, there were all her books. Twilight dashed along the upper floor and into the bedroom: there was Smartypants!

"It's all just like I remember it," Twilight murmured.

"Not so surprising, considering it is your memory," Sunglimmer remarked. "You need to think about what the test is here. What day is this?"

"This is the day I left for Ponyville," Twilight muttered. Her eyes widened and she gasped, "Nightmare Moon! This is the day of her return! Perhaps we have to warn Princess Celestia?"

"It's as good a plan as any," Sunglimmer said, leading the way down towards the door as if she knew this tower as well as Twilight did. But as they ran towards the exit the door disappeared, solid wall consuming it with an immovable thud of bricks locking into place.

Mocking laughter sounded from above them. Another Twilight, pitch black and with lizardlike wings, stepped out onto the upper balcony, looking down at Twilight herself.

"Who are you?" Twilight demanded.

Dark Twilight laughed again, "I'm you. Or at least I will be once you fail this test."

"Finding the exit," Sunglimmer said. "That's the test of Mind, isn't it?"

"Very good, Firelight," Dark Twilight replied. "You'll find the door right where you left it if you can find the key. And I'd hurry up, because neither of you has a lot of time to spare."

There was a roaring sound, and wall of darkness rose up outside the balcony amidst the screeching of a thousand wretches trapped in Tartarus. The wave of shadow began to descend upon the tower room.

"Wish you bad luck," Dark Twilight said mockingly, before disappearing in a puff of black smoke.

For a moment, Twilight and Sunglimmer stared in mute horror at the darkness descending to engulf them.

"I don't think we want to be here when that thing hits," Sunglimmer muttered.

"Me neither," Twilight replied. "We need to get to work. Where would a key be hidden?"

"Around here?" Sunglimmer looked around. "You changed the furnishings a bit when you moved in didn't you?"

"What?"

"Not important right now, um, did you find the loose floorboard in the bedroom? You must have done, I used to keep betting magazines in there. What did you hide?"

"Nothing, I had that floorboard repaired because it was dangerous," Twilight said. "Wait, have you lived in this tower? The real tower?"

"I told you it wasn't important and you are such a goodie four hooves," Sunglimmer replied, beginning to pace up and down across the lavender carpet. "Where did you hide things? There must have been something you had you didn't want other ponies to know about?"

Twilight shook her head.

Sunglimmer growled, "Well come on, think of something. Where would you hide a key in here?"

"Um, I, um," Twilight tried to think, but as she tried her head was filled with this intense pressing feeling, worse than any headache she had ever had. It squeezed her from all sides, filled her brain with fog, it was all she could to remember what she was doing here. "I, I can't."

"The dark magic, it's cheating," Sunglimmer snarled. "Okay Dawny, pick up the slack. You can do this."

"Who is Dawny?" Twilight managed to get out through gritted teeth.

"My imaginary friend," Sunglimmer replied glibly. "Now: we can leave once we find the key. Leave once we find the key. The key to leaving, the key to leaving, that's it!"

"What is?"

"It isn't a real key," Sunglimmer shouted. "Of course it's not a real key, idiot! You said that this was the day you left this tower. And you didn't come back."

"Yes, yes," Twilight saw what she was getting at now. "It was when I went to Ponyville and met my friends. I was such a shut in before then, I'd cut myself off from everypony, I didn't have a life. So the key to leaving is─"

"The thing that got you out of this tower in the first place," Sunglimmer shouted.

"That would be, that would be," Twilight and Sunglimmer were both bouncing up and down excitedly. "Predictions and Prophecies!"

"What?"

"The book, Predictions and Prophecies, it warned me of Nightmare Moon's return. Which meant that I wrote to Princess Celestia, which meant─"

"I'll take your word for it," Sunglimmer said. "Where is the book."

"Um, it's uh," Twilight looked around. "Where's Spike when I need him?"

Sunglimmer looked at the darkness about to sweep them away, "Better find it fast."

Twilight flew up to the high bookshelves where she remembered the book being last time, "Predictions, predictions."

"Any time now," Sunglimmer yelled.

"I've got it!" Twilight called triumphantly. She pulled out the book, wrenched it open-

And white light consumed them.

***

Twilight Sparkle and Sunglimmer found themselves back in the pink cloudy mindscape. Now only two doors confronted them: the stone door of Body and the crystal door of Heart.

"Yes, we did it," Sunglimmer grinned. "Hoof-bump!"

Twilight Sparkle stared at her.

"What?"

"You still haven't been absolutely honest with me, have you?" Twilight asked, already knowing the answer. "You lived in the tower before I did and you knew that I'd lived there, didn't you?"

Sunglimmer shrugged, "And?"

"And why didn't you say anything about it?"

"Because there was nothing too say. I lived there. I graduated. You got the room. That's all there is too it, honestly. Do you really want to do this now?"

Twilight frowned, "I guess not. You were a help back there, thank you."

"That's my job," Sunglimmer said contentedly. "Now, where do you want to go next?"

Twilight looked from one to the other, then took a step towards the stone door, "Body."

"Well okay then, let's do this," Sunglimmer joined Twilight before the door of stone, and together they passed over the threshold.

***

A monstrous black dragon bellowed into Twilight's face.

She stood upon an even sandy surface, a natural arena with towering rock formations upon every side. The dragon was chained to the far wall, straining upon its bonds in its efforts to reach her. His scales were shining ebony, his fangs were jet, his spikes were onyx. The dragon's eyes were blazing red. It had a crest upon its head and four massive spikes on its tail. There was no reasonable intelligence in its eyes, only blind fury.

"Dodge left!" Sunglimmer yelled.

Twilight dived left just as the dragon roared out a stream of black fire, Twilight's body rolling along the sand. She looked up and saw the wall she had been standing behind charred black with soot.

The dragon roared its frustration.

"Twilight!" Sunglimmer shouted, and Twilight looked up to see her standing on the rock face above the pit looking down. "You have to beat the dragon."

"Can you help me?"

"No, I can only give you advice," Sunglimmer said. "Watch out!"

Twilight leapt up this time as the dragon breathed black fire in her direction, her wings spreading to carry her into the air. The dragon rose up along with her, one red eye glaring balefully at Twilight. Twilight rose higher and higher-

And then hit an invisible wall in the air, banging her head against it with a thud. She could get no higher.

The dragon rose up level with her, the chain restraining it pulling taut. It glared at Twilight out of those vicious red eyes.

Black fire erupted from the dragon's maw. Twilight dived for the ground too slow, she had not Rainbow Dash's skill at acceleration. Fire scorched her wing, Twilight cried out as pain erupted in her feathers. But her wing was not damaged. Then Twilight looked again and saw the telltale spider lines of dark magic spreading where their should have been a burn.

Of course, Twilight thought. It all comes back to that.

She dodged out of the way of the dragon's snapping jaws, then cast a shield spell as more fire washed over her.

"He's got a weak spot on the nape of his neck, back of the head," Sunglimmer called. "If you can hit him there this should all be over."

Twilight nodded, diving for the ground. Since she could not fly higher than the dragon could, getting above it wasn't much of an option. On the other hoof...she turned in the air, heading upwards once more, pushing herself as fast as she could. If she could outpace the dragon then she could get above it and then strike at its weak point. The dragon rolled almost lazily, presenting its belly upwards as it breathed a torrent of dark magic in her direction.

Once more Twilight got caught, this time on the left hindleg. She could feel the magic starting to pull at her, demanding to know why she kept fighting, kept resisting in a hopeless cause.

I fight because I have something worth fighting for, Twilight thought, and fired a stunning spell at the dragon. It bounced off the dragon's scales and almost hit Twilight on the rebound.

Twilight gritted her teeth, "If you won't let me get above you, I'll just have to make you hold still." She fired a continuous beam of lavender magic that struck the dragon right in the middle of its chest.

The dragon roared with pleasure, and swelled up larger the more magic she hit it with.

"You have got to be kidding me," Twilight muttered, leaping out of the way before she could be engulfed in its dark flame.

"Try hitting it with something," Sunglimmer offered.

"Like what, my hoof?" Twilight replied sarcastically.

"No something bigger," Sunglimmer seemed half-oblivious to Twilight's distress. "Like a rock."

Twilight's face broke out in a smile, "Of course, why didn't I see that?"

"Having a dragon try to eat you will damage your memory something fierce," Sunglimmer consoled her.

Twilight ran around the natural arena, keeping one step ahead of the dragon as she ran through the calculations in her head. Diameter, angle of impact, likely trajectories of the debris. If only Professor Cold Equations could see me now.

Twilight stopped, turning to face the dragon head on. As it breathed fire, she cast a shield spell to protect herself. Black fire licked and lapped at the barrier, hammering against it with a terrible fury. But even the most ferocious storm must pass and the dragon ceased its flow to draw breath. Twilight dropped the shield and fired a burst of magic over the dragon's head to strike the rock wall on the far side. There was an explosion amidst a fountain of dust and rocky debris erupting from the cliff face. A boulder dropped upon the dragon's tail, holding it in place as a large chunk of rock flew spinning through the air to strike the weak spot on the back of the dragon's neck.

There was a moment of silence as the black dragon dropped to the ground.

***

And then they were back. With only one door left.

The unicorn and the alicorn looked at one another.

"I think we both know what has to happen now," Twilight said.

"Yes we do."

And without another word they passed through the crystal door.

***

"Hello?" Twilight yelled. "Sunglimmer? Is anypony there?"

Twilight Sparkle stood in absolute darkness, surrounded by a blackness so thick her eyes could not even begin to penetrate it.

"Sunglimmer?"

"I'm right here," Sunglimmer sounded close. "What are you yelling for?"

"I can't see you. I can't see anything."

"Huh? But I can see you just fine. We're standing on some kind of road. A golden road."

"I still can't see it."

"Hang on," a golden light sprang up before her. "Can you see the light from my horn?"

"Yes," Twilight called, and then heard the laughter of her darker self.

"And now you know when the test of Heart is," Dark Twilight said smugly. "The Firelight can see the road, but you can only see the light from your companion. If you can follow her to the end of the road without faltering, you pass and you get a chance at getting rid of me. If you don't make it, I own you forever."

"Great," Twilight muttered. "I guess that means I follow you, Sunglimmer."

"Okay," Sunglimmer acknowledged, and the light from her horn began to move away. Twilight rushed to keep up.

From the sound of her hooves upon the ground, Twilight could hear Dark Twilight keeping pace with her.

"I don't know why you insist upon pretending," Dark Twilight said casually.

"I'm not pretending anything, what are you talking about?"

"Everything," Dark Twilight said earnestly. "You act like you're such a paragon, but the truth is that I am as much a part of you as you are. More in fact."

"You're not part of me at all," Twilight responded hotly. "You're just a corruption of magic that I mistakenly took into my system."

"That is what gave me consciousness, but the truth is that the feelings I am composed of were always within you," Dark Twilight's tone continued to be calm and matter of fact. "And those feelings, which you hide under so many layers, may in fact be considered to be the real you. You are simply a mask which you present to the world because you fear to be judged upon your true self."

"That's not true!" Twilight shouted. "There is no mask, there is only me."

Dark Twilight laughed, "You can lie to everypony else, even to Princess Celestia, but you can't possibly believe that you can lie to me. Twilight Sparkle the apprentice of Celestia, so studious, so polite, so diligent. Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville, such a good friend, so humble and unassuming, so ready to put others before herself. Princess Twilight Sparkle, the most worthy of ponies, reluctant assumer of the burdens of royalty, champion of Equestria and protector of the realm. They're all just masks you wear depending upon the occassion, putting them on like makeup when you need to toy with the feelings of other ponies like a wicked witch."

"No I don't," Twilight said, stumbling and almost falling on her face. Sunglimmer's light got further away from her. "That is who I am. It's who I try to be."

"But that isn't the same thing at all, is it?" Dark Twilight sounded as though she had scored a hit. "Do you deny that when you arrived in Ponyville you were arrogant and full of self-conceit, considering yourself so far above all of the common ponies?"

"No, I was like that but I─"

"And can you claim it did not hurt you to hear yourself described as an egghead and a loser? To be looked down on by your intellectual inferiors?"

"It, I," Twilight stammered.

"And more recently, isn't it true that you had many thoughts scorning your so-called friends and their lack of any significant abilities or accomplishments?"

"That was your doing!"

"But as we've established I am merely an expression of the feelings you try to repress, so it was you doing all those terrible things all along," Dark Twilight said self-righteously. "But at least I'm being honest about it. The truth is I am you, the genuine you, and your studiousness, your good manners, they're all just lies to help you get through life. If you dared, you would be like me. And you can! Embrace me, and you need never worry about the morals of society again, because you could even make your own world if you wanted to. The power to change yourself for the better lies within you, Twilight Sparkle. All you have to do is stop lying to yourself."

"I, you," Twilight could not deny it. There was no point in even trying to lie to herself. She bowed her head and prepared to say the words that would save and doom her, "You're ri─"

Sunglimmer's hoof made an audible slamming sound as it hit the ground, "That's the biggest load of garbage that I ever heard in my life! So what if you don't always live up to your own expectations? So what if you don't always act like the pony that you'd like to think you are? Guess what, nopony ever does except Princess Celestia! That's what it means to be a pony, to never quite be perfect, to always have something to aspire to. But so long as you realise when you've fallen short, and keep trying to get to where you want to go, then that's as much as anypony has the right to ask of you. Now come on!"

"Coming," Twilight said loudly, and started to follow. To her dark self she said, "I do have a problem with my ego, with looking down on other ponies, but as long as I'm aware of that and do what I can to fight against it then it doesn't have to be who I am if I don't want it to be. And I would rather be a good friend." She started to follow Sunglimmer's light again.

"A good friend?" Dark Twilight sounded disbelieving. "To those ponies who couldn't even be bothered to support you when your life hangs in the balance."

"I asked them not to come."

"Did you ask them to seduce your brother too?" Dark Twilight asked slyly.

"Rarity deserves a better chance to explain than the one I gave her," Twilight retorted.

"If she had nothing to feel guilty about, why did she run off with her tail between her legs?"

"Because I scared her. Because you scared her."

"Because we filled her heart with fear of being justly punished for her crime."

"You are not me!"

"No, I'm not. I'm the only friend you can rely on."

"The hay you are," Twilight spat.

"Open your eyes and see reality," Dark Twilight cried. "Your own brother poisoned his wife despite knowing how much it would hurt you, because he just didn't care one bit about you, ever. Your friends have abandoned you here. Your mentor is scared of you and probably considers you a threat to her. And all of this was inevitable from the moment you became a princess. Success breeds envy, envy breeds resentment, and resentment is poison to friendship.
"Think of how badly this sequence of betrayals has effected you: your an emotional wreck, one step away from evil megalomania. You never would have reacted like this in the old days, before you went to Ponyville. That town has been worse for your mental wellbeing then I ever could."

"Ponyville was where I was happiest in my life."

"And now that happiness is gone the absence is killing you," Dark Twilight said. "For ponies, too much happiness is a poison because the only place to go afterwards is down. You should have been content with your old life or ordinary contentment. You were not unhappy then, but you had not reached dangerous levels of joy at that point. There was nopony to betray you, to lead you on. Do you honestly think that your books ever lied to you?"

"My friends didn't lie to me," Twilight snarled, her tone savage like a tiger. "Shut up. I can't stand the sound of your voice any more. Even if you were right about everything. Even if Rarity and Shining Armour did betray me. Even if the others did abandon me. Even if Celestia rejects me now. That doesn't change anything! The time I spent in Ponyville, the feelings I shared with those ponies, the feelings I still have when I think of them now, those feelings mattered! Those feelings were real, and even if they turn out to have been built on lies that doesn't mean that what my heart felt was false! I know what I felt was true, was real, and so long as there is a chance I can get those feelings back I'll fight for it. So you can just get out of my skin." Twilight began to run, leaving Dark Twilight behind as she raced to catch up with Sunglimmer's light, reaching the end of the road mere moments later.

A wave of golden light engulfed them both

***

Twilight's eyes snapped open to see the living room of the little chalet. Sunglimmer's horn was erupting with magical aura, and Twilight could feel something pushing from her hooves upwards with tremendous force.

"I'm driving the dark magic out of you," Sunglimmer grunted through the effort of her spell. "You can help by expelling it yourself."

Twilight nodded. She could feel Sunglimmer's magic moving through her, a relentless driving wall. She could feel the dark magic scrabbling for purchase within her, desperately begging her for aid, tempting her with empty promises of power. She grabbed at that magic, the vestiges of that power that had tried to destroy her, and hurled them out of herself, expelling them out of her horn. Twilight Sparkle felt like a tube of toothpaste, being squeezed from the bottom up until there was nothing left. But she knew she would be stronger from the squeezing.

Better, at least.

Her horn bubbled black and green, dark magic oozing out of it...until there was none left and a triumphant lavender aura surrounded Twilight's horn as it was always meant to, retaking its rightful place as it if had never been away.

Twilight gasped, laughing with joy. My magic! I'm so glad to see you!

The dark magic formed a smoking, broiling mass upon the floor, moaning and groaning. As Twilight watched it coalesced into a shadow, substanceless figure, into the smoky image of Dark Twilight. The smoke-born creatured opened its mouth and moaned pitifully.

Twilight scowled, "Get out. I don't want you any more."

Dark Twilight howled in pain, and was blown as if by a mighty wind out of the window and far away, becoming a wisp of dark cloud on the horizon before vanishing from sight.

Twilight Sparkle sank to her knees, "By Celestia! We did it."

Sunglimmer was also gasping for breath, "Yes. Yes we did."

"And I know how to save Cadance!" Twilight shouted. "The potion, it's a kind of dark magic. I though the solution was more dark magic but of course it isn't. I have to do what you just did, drive the taint of it out of her from top to bottom. Half a purging, more or less, done without her assistance. Thank you Sunglimmer, thank you so much. I couldn't have done this without you."

"I am glad that you have driven out the darkness inside you," Sunglimmer said. "And found a way to restore the mind of Princess Cadance. But I am afraid I cannot accept your gratitude. Not considering what comes next."

Twilight Sparkle never saw the stunner coming.

***

When Twilight came to she was tied up in the cellar. Her bonds rustled as she squirmed.

"There's no point in struggling," Sunglimmer declared from the top of the cellar staircase. "The rope is enchanted. You can't untie it with magic. And I've enchanted the door so that it can only opened from the outside." The door was open behind her. Her horn glowed, and she levitated an unconscious and tied up Spike down the steps to drop him at Twilight's feet, "He put up quite a fight against the zebras, for such a little guy."

Twilight strained futilely against the ties that bound her, "What's going on? Why are you doing this Sunglimmer?"

The unicorn's face tightened, "My name is Breaking Dawn."

"Breaking Dawn," Twilight frowned in concentration. "I remember that name from somewhere."

"I should hope so," Dawn said loudly. "You only ruined my entire life!"

"You," Twilight had it now, the memory of a cruel face, of being pressing into the pavement, of a fight outside of school. She remembered the shame of having to tell Princess Celestia that her brother had been run in by the city guard. She had been so worried that the princess would expel her for coming from a bad family. "I remember you, you attacked me!"

"You deserved that," Dawn snarled. "I was Princess Celestia's personal student. Me, Breaking Dawn. Until you came along and I kicked out the back door like yesterday's trash. You took everything that was supposed to be mine. Well now I'm taking it back."

"You," Twilight growled, "you hurt Cadance, didn't you?"

"I regret that more than anything else I did," Dawn replied. "I wanted to hurt you, I didn't realise how potent the effects would be. Using your knowledge, I'm going to heal her once the dust settles."

Twilight snarled wordlessly and fired a spell at Dawn. It bounced off a golden shield.

"Did you do all the rest?" Twilight asked. "My brother, the Elements?"

"My Elements, I took back what was mine," Dawn said. "Your brother, your dragon and yourself will all be freed once I have achieved my aims."

"What are you planning to do?"

"My zebra allies are going to try and take Canterlot. I'm going to stop them, save the city and Princess Celestia. When I'm done, the whole city will have to acknowledge my greatness as its saviour. I'll become a princess, an alicorn, I'll be Celestia's very best girl once again. And then, once I have everything that you took from me, I will let you go. I will release you, to live in humility, to toil in obscurity as I was forced to. I will have your life and you can have mine. Sounds fair to me. The Princess and the Pauper, but under duress."

Twilight growled, "I will hurt you for this. For what you did to Cadance, to Shining Armour. I will make you pay."

Dawn smiled, "You aren't giving me a lot of incentive not to harm you."

"Oh can the sympathetic act," Twilight snarled. "Stop trying to act like a good pony, like you have any claim to the moral high ground. A moral pony would never have even contemplated the things that you've done you evil little-"

"I will not be judged by the mare who stole into my life like a cuckoo in the nest and drove me out of it!" Dawn yelled.

"I never meant to do anything of the sort."

"But you did anyway," Dawn hissed. "You stole from me."

"And you stole Cadance's life from her, which of us is worse?" Twilight demanded.

"When you have lived as I have for a few years, sunk from the heights of glory to the depths of common drudgery, then you can have the nerve to judge what I have done," Dawn said.

"Am I supposed to pity you because you had to live as an ordinary pony? A nopony?" Twilight asked. "Like I told you last night, there is no such thing as a nopony. Every life has meaning if you're willing to look for it."

Dawn's lip curled in a sneer, "That's what winners say to stop the losers from getting upset enough to do anything about it. You can see how it feels for yourself soon enough. I will keep my word, Twilight Sparkle, and I'd advise you to give up any thoughts of getting revenge on me in turn. You come after me and mine you'll lose, and you'll find out what I can do when I get really mean."

"Why don't you untie me and I'll show you what I can do right now?" Twilight asked.

Dawn chuckled, "I don't think so." She turned to go.

"You know," Twilight called up to her, "if you'd come to me with your story when I became a princess I might have felt sorry for you. I would have helped you, even gone to Princess Celestia on your behalf."

Dawn paused in the doorway. "I know," she whispered. "But I didn't want your pity then and now I don't need it. In case you haven't noticed, I've won." She slammed the door behind her.

Twilight raised her head and let out a wordless scream of frustration and anger. Then she bowed her head.

I failed. After everything. After what I did to Rarity, after what I put all my friends through. I failed in my quest to save Cadance, I failed to catch the poisoner; I failed as a friend, as a pupil of Celestia. I have failed as a princess. I have failed in everything.

Breaking Dawn was right. I lost, and I have nopony to blame for that but myself.

My friends: please, please stay safe. And forgive me.

The hours passed indistinctly for Twilight. Spike woke up eventually, but he was no more successful at getting free than she had been and had been gagged besides to stop him sending a message to Celestia. They were left waiting in the dark, unaware of exactly how much time was passing, to wonder how would be the next pony to open the cellar.

At last, after great length, Twilight could hear the sound of scuffling outside the cellar. Bumps, bangs, crashes, cries of anger and alarm, and then the cellar door shattered into a hundred splinters as a zebras was forcibly bucked through it to hit the far wall with a thud and then drop heavily to the floor. A wonderfully familiar pony in a cowboy hat stood framed in the doorway.

"Woohee! Twilight, you down there?"

"Applejack!" her friends liquid accent seemed the most wonderful sound in Equestria in that moment. "I'm down here, Spike too."

"Mmph mmphmphumph," Spike said.

Applejack trotted down the stairs, "You okay, sugarcube?"

"I've been tied up, I can't undo the ropes with magic," Twilight said.

"Well if Rainbow Dash had come like she wanted to you'd be out of luck, but fortunately I know a thing or two about untying ropes," Applejack said, walking behind Twilight. "Yep, have you out of that in just a jiffy."

"What are you doing here?" Twilight asked as her bonds fell away. "How did you know where to find me."

"I came here to warn you about yer countess bein' some pony called Breakin' Dawn whose about as trustworthy as a nest of rattlesnakes, but it looks like you got the message already," Applejack said. "I knew because Princess Celestia told me, everypony in Canterlot already knows all about everything that's happened."

"Thank goodness for that, but I'm afraid they don't know everything," Twilight said as Applejack untied Spike. "The zebras are going to launch an attack on Canterlot. We have to get back and warn them!"

"Wild sacks!" Applejack gasped. "Sounds like we got no time to loose."

Author's Note

And I'm back, and I think that this leaves just three chapters to go, depending on how long the next one gets (and to think when I first started I thought this would be 4-6 chapters long). I'm quite eager to reach the finish line, hopefully before BUCK and the encumbent five day break from writing, so I'll be ploughing straight on with the next chapter.

Epilogue

Three months had passed in Canterlot since what had become known as the Aethiope Coup, or to some as the Night of the Balrog. Only to a select hoofful of ponies was it known as the final act of the Dawn Rebellion, and those ponies who were aware tended to be glad that the crowds were not.

Through dedicated reconstruction efforts, the parts of Canterlot that had been damaged by the zebras had been rebuilt, as good as or better than before. Shining Armour, despite his brief return to command of the Royal Guard, returned to the Crystal Empire alongside his beloved wife, whose memory and personality were restored exactly as they had been. Princess Twilight Sparkle returned to Ponyville, as she had vowed to do before the whole mess began, and on her return she kept a promise to Pinkie Pie: their first night back the six of them went out and painted the town. Literally, once they got to Sweet Apple Acres.

The August Court of Grevyia disclaimed all responsibility for the actions of Lord Mathos, vehemently denying any desire for war with Equestria. Nevertheless they declined to send a replacement ambassador. Quaggai, on the other hand, obtained a lucrative free trade agreement, including mutual removal of all tariffs between Equestria and Quaggai. As a gesture of goodwill, ambassador Sophoniba invited Fluttershy to visit Quaggai and observe their wildlife in its natural habitat. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, who had packed several Daring Do style outfits, left on their safari a month ago.

Though the conspiracy of Breaking Dawn and its role in the events of the Aethiope Coup had largely escaped public notice, Breaking Dawn herself had not been completely forgotten. Two new stain glass windows had been erected in the Great Hall. One displayed Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Elements of Harmony and the Princesses vanquishing the balrog threatening to destroy Canterlot. The other displayed the defeat of the zebras by the heroes of the Battle for Canterlot: Princess Luna, Captain Lancer, Prince Shining Armour and a golden unicorn some recognised as having saved and rallied terrified ponies at the beginning of the struggle. Nopony had seen her since, and it was assumed that she had, with the modesty of a true hero, declined all thanks and retired into the same private life from whence she had emerged.

A new statue had appeared in the quad of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. A proud unicorn mare, mane swept back by the wind, look frightfully heroic on a plinth surrounded by a fountain. The students came to the understanding that it was supposed to represent the ideal alumni of the school, the pony each of them should aspire to become. After all, not everypony can become an alicorn princess.

Razor Wind slipped through the school gates and approached the statue. A few students hurrying across the quad gave her odd looks, but lessons were in session so there were few ponies about to see her. She sat down on the edge of the fountain, looking up at the statue of, the statue that was, her dear friend.

"Hey there, Dawny," Razor began haltingly. "I, I don't know if you can hear me or if I'm making a fool of myself talking to a statue for nothing but, I figured if you can hear me then you might like some company. And if not, well, I'm not hurting you am I?
"The first thing you'll notice is I'm not in prison. I knew you'd spot that because you were always very sharp. Princess Celestia was very lenient on us. I reckon you asking for mercy really got through to her.
"We miss you Dawny. All of us. We haven't gone back to the way we were, the way we went the first time. We've all kept in touch, helped each other out how we can. We miss you but, we're all doing okay.
"Cherry's opening up her own Diner, she's going to call it Cherry's and the breakfast is going to be named after you: the Breaking Dawn Special. Maybe you'd hate it, but I think it's cute. Candy is playing Princess Silver at the Lyceum, opening next week. She told me she's going to base her performance on you. I don't know if you should be flattered or insulted but I think its the first one. Laurel got a job teaching history right here, at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. And Hardy has been offered a partnership in a law firm that takes on cases nopony else will touch and then wins them: Swooping Crane and Sandy Shore. She took the pool table with her to her new office. And me? I get by, keep on keeping on I guess."

Razor sighed, "This would be a lot easier if you could answer back you know." Softly, gently, Razor began to sing:
"You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine,
You make me happy,
When skies are grey,
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you,
Oh don't you take,
My sunshine away."

"I, stay, see you, gah how do you stay goodbye to a statue? I'll, I'll see you around Dawny. I miss you a lot." Razor took off up into the air, her eyes beginning to water.

***

In Grevyia, at the court of the Most Ancient and August Empire, the Emperor Syphax IX sat wearily upon his throne in a throne room nearly empty. A messenger galloped in and bowed upon the red stone floor.

"What news?" the Emperor demanded.

"The heir to House Aethiope is dead. That traitor House is now extinguished," the messenger declared.

"Good," the Emperor declared. "We will hold their lands until some lord has gained my favour sufficiently to be rewarded with the Aethiope estates. In the meantime let the High Bloods remember that this fate ever awaits those who fall behind in the eternal race. Those who overreach will fall. Those who underreach will never rise. All but the swiftest and the strongest will be devoured."

"Indeed, Your Majesty, well said," laughter echoed from the shadowy colonnades on either side of the throne room. "And not just for zebras, the same thing goes for ponies too."

The Emperor said, "You mean the vacillating traitoress?"

"Exactly," said the female voice. "So poor little Dawny got herself turned to stone after all she'd been through poor baby." More laughter. "Just as well. She would have worn power like a little filly wearing her mother's dress: cute, but impossible to take seriously." Sunset Shimmer stepped out of the shadows and into the light, "Don't worry, Twilight Sparkle, I'm going to give you a real challenge."

Author's Note

And we're done!

I started writing fanfiction back when I still in secondary school (search for MichaelCallistus on ff.net and you'll find a turgid Eragon rewrite and a brainless HP/Naruto crossover) but this is the first fic I have ever finished, and a lot of that is down to all of you who have read and liked and commented so thank you very much.

As the end of the epilogue shows, there will be a sequel to this story (the cover art has already been commissioned) but I probably won't write it until September at the earliest. I plan to continue the story of Twilight and Dawn without retreading the ground on over here. When the sequel is started I will post it here and on my blog.

Anyway, thank you so much for supporting this story and with that, I bid you adieu.

Fateful Day

Vengeance of the Dawn

Chapter 1

Fateful Day

A beautiful day in Canterlot. The sun, brought forth by the majesty of Celestia's power, shines down upon the gleaming spires of the capital, twin testament both to the glory of ponydom and to the fruits of harmony long maintained. It shines upon the aristocratic ponies in their top hats and elaborate frocks as they mingle in the tea shops, the drawing rooms and in the hustle-bustle of the streets. It shines upon the back alleys, pawn shops and upon low apothecaries in Canterlot's less welcoming districts. It shines upon the race track and the art gallery, upon the airship deck and the opera house. It shines upon the palace and the school. It shines upon all the denizens of the golden city: unicorn, earth pony or pegasus.

It shines upon Twilight Sparkle through the open windows as she stands in the high tower and tries to convince a panel of sceptical looking examiners that she is worthy to enter the hallowed halls of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. A purple and green spotted egg sits in a hay cart in front of her. Flustered, nervous, struggling to remember even the simplest levitation, young Twilight tries everything that pops into her panicked mind to affect the egg. Desperate, she even waves her forehooves at it as she has seen stage magicians do.

The exam board is not impressed.

Her parents, watching in the corner of the room, prepare for tears and consoling hugs and an evening spent soothing the sorrows of their daughter.

***

The sun beams down upon Shining Armour, currently in training to join the Royal Guard. On this particular day he is patrolling alongside an experienced guardspony by the name of Lancer, who is expounding to him the finer points of keeping the peace. But Shining Armour is distracted, thoughts of Twilight and her exam steal his attentions and his mind away, something his trainer is not entirely ignorant of.

"Of course," Lancer said, "The biggest threat we have to contend with are swarms of ravenous flying banana-fish."

"Yes sir," Shining Armour said absently. He paused in mid-nod, "Wait, what?"

"Have you got something on your mind, lad?"

Shining Armour shook his head, "Sorry sir, it's just that my sister is taking her exam for Princess Celestia's school today. I can't help but wonder how she's doing."

"Magic school eh?" the older pony grimaced. "Don't worry lad, I'm sure she'll do just fine. Before you know it she'll be putting on airs with the best of them and you and me will be saluting her."

"Twily isn't like that," Shining Armour said.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging," Lancer said. "If I could bend the world to my every whim I'd put on airs as well."

***

The sun shines down upon Breaking Dawn, Princess Celestia's star pupil and a figure whose approach is viewed with awe and apprehension throughout the school. At this moment however, this golden unicorn has forsaken the hallowed halls in favour of the streets of Canterlot, where she is wrestling with a grey pegasus in a backalley while four other ponies look on.

By all rights she should be in school: her essay on Post-Migratory Inter-Tribal Relations is due in tomorrow and she has another essay on Theory and Ethics of Compulsion which is late. Neither has been so much as started. But Breaking Dawn has the princess wrapped around her hoof, Equestria's ruler dotes upon her like an old grandmother and there will be no repercussions from her truancy. Three times the guard have dragged her off over petty offences and three times she has escaped with only a mild verbal reproof from her mentor. Breaking Dawn knows what she is, what she is destined for, what her sunrise cutie mark proclaims her to be. Dawn knows that for the sake of that she can be, will be, forgiven much. That is why the truancy and tardiness are ignored, that is why the curfew breaking and the visits to low cider palaces are tolerated. That is why she has not received a single detention or indeed any punishment in her entire academic career. Her fellow scholars call her, not without a trace of rancour, The Untouchable.

The pegasus she is wrestling with, who goes by Razor Wind, is defeated, born to the ground and held until she submits. The grey pegasus yields with grace and good humour, joining in the congratulations of Breaking Dawn's triumph by the ponies who press about. There are six of them, including Dawn and Razor: two unicorns, two earth ponies, and two pegasi. She has assembled them specifically, for great as she is she knows that it is with their help that she will do her greatest deeds. In time, she knows that these six ponies who meet in dirty backstreets and off-limits establishments will be the eventual enablers of her destiny. So it is written, and so the Princess has told her.

***

And lastly the sun shines upon Princess Celestia, for it would be ungenerous to allow her none of its benefits after all the trouble she has gone too to bring forth the light. She is in the palace gardens, pacing up and down not far from the statue to Victory, wondering whether she has done the right thing.

She is old, and one does not live to be such a ripe age without one or two regrets and self doubts being amassed along the way. Right now, the course that it troubling her mind is the test being put to a young unicorn filly in one of the high towers right now. Is she being fair? Is she being cruel? Is the disloyalty unworthy of her? Does she risk blighting a young pony's life for nothing?

For nothing. That is the point. For near a thousand years she has waited, plotted, schemed but most of all hoped. Hoped that redemption is possible, that a way can be found for her beloved sister to be brought back from the abyss of despair and darkness. There will only be one chance, one opportunity, and she cannot waste it. If she is wrong now, if it turns out that she was right before, then she has lost nothing by making sure of it. But if she was wrong before, and is right now, then she must know. To continue on her present course, on the wrong course, would be disastrous. She must know while there is still time.

And if she is wrong now, and was right before, then she will arrange for Twilight Sparkle to retest for entry at a later date, sitting the same exam as every other pony. That should be enough to make amends, if she is wrong, shouldn't it?

Unfortunately, Celestia cannot see such a simple way to make amends if she is right, to make up for all the wrongs she has let slide in the past. Wrongs that, through her behaviour, she has caused as much, more, than the perpetrator.

Steeling her resolve with thoughts of her dear Luna, Celestia waits for news.

And then, with a rumble of thunder and a blaze of spectral light, a sonic rainboom bursts across the sky.

Equestria will never be the same again.

On a rock farm, a bored pink filly looks up at the beautiful lights and smiles with pure joy for the first time in her life. She will rarely stop.

In a meadow bordering some woods, a shy pegasus discovers that she can talk to the animals as she coaxes them from their holes and soothes their fearful spirits.

Outside of Ponyville, a young unicorn discovers her talent for bringing out the beauty in everything.

In Manehattan, a homesick farmgirl is reminded of what really matters in life, and remembers just where she belongs.

In the skies over Cloudsdale a rainbow pegasus finds out the meaning of speed.

And in a Canterlot tower, Twilight Sparkle loses all control over her magic as it explodes out of her in a raging torrent. The light blazes out all across the city.

***

Breaking Dawn's companions cower from the combination of the rainboom and now the vast quantities of magic being released. Breaking Dawn is filled with sudden dread at the realisation that this is power even she could not hope to match. She hopes no pony notices her legs are trembling.

"What in Celestia's name is that?" Razor Wind yells.

"I don't know," Breaking Dawn has to shout to be heard over the noise. "But I have to get back. The Princess might need me." Not even Celestia's indulgence might explain her being absent for this kind of crisis.

***

"Twily!" Shining Armour shouts, and tries to run in the direction of the tower before a pair of strong hoofs seize him and drag him back.

"Wait, wait," Lancer hauls back on the younger pony. "You can't just go galloping off into... that thing. You don't know what it is yet."

"That's where Twily's taking her exam, and Mom and Dad are there," Shining Armour cries out, gesturing up at the tower. "I can't just do nothing while-" A humongous dragon pokes his head out of the tower, destroying the roof on his way. The magic continues to blaze. "What is that? What's happening."

"Calm down," Lancer snapped. He knows the young colt has one thing right, they cannot do nothing. But that kind of peril is no place for a trainee, and there a times when guardspony must take his life in his own hooves. "You stay here and keep the street clear. I'll─"

"I will go," Princess Celestia appears, silent and majestic, her mane flowing behind her, her serenity making her seem oblivious to the crisis unfolding, "I must see this for myself."

"Your Highness," Shining Armour gasps, "My family, are they okay?"

Celestia places one hoof upon his shoulder, "Fear not, Shining Armour, all will be well. I promise."

Lancer coughs, "Your Highness, I do not think it is wise for you to enter without the protection of─"

"I will be quite safe," Celestia says, calmly but firmly, "I must do this. In fact, I am the only one who can."

Protected by her powerful magic, exulting in spirit at her discovery, Celestia makes her way into the eye of the storm, where the frightened filly is lost to the power inside her. With a gentle hoof, and a calming smile, Celestia tames that raging storm, and the humongous dragon is soon returned to his true form: a baby sucking on his tail.

With the crisis passed, Celestia extends an offer to young Twilight Sparkle to become her personal student and protege.

Urged on by her parents, Twilight accepts, and buoyed up by the discovery of her cutie mark, soon dissolves into a mass of excited shouts of, "Yes! Yes!"

Celestia watches the young unicorn's excited antics fondly, makes a mental comparison, and concludes that she has made the right choice.

Twilight Sparkle will grow up treading the halls of the School for Gifted Unicorns and will, like Breaking Dawn before her, pass through them without a single punishment or recorded disciplinary infraction. In Twilight's case, it is because she never does anything to earn one. The other students call her the Marble Pony, an acknowledgement of her academic perfection as well as a criticism that there is something cold about her.

For Twilight, that fateful day is the beginning of a grand adventure. She will discover friendship, adventure, danger, excitement. She will see her brother married, and her foalsitter raised to the throne of the Crystal Empire. She will challenge the spirit of Chaos itself, rescue Princess Luna from the clutches of Nightmare Moon, run from a hydra and descend into the lair of the Diamond Dogs. She will feel life's passions to their top and drink it's sorrows to their dregs. She will learn more about magic than she could ever dream of, grow up, and fulfil her destiny as a hero and a princess.

For Breaking Dawn, that fateful day is the end of her world.

Author's Note

All subsequent chapters will be in past tense, but I thought that present for this prologue considering the flashback nature of it and the omniscient narration.

Battle for Canterlot

Chapter 16

The Battle for Canterlot

The door creaked as it closed, before slamming with the finality of inevitable destiny itself. For Breaking Dawn, who could feel cruel fate like a rope about her neck at this very moment, the comparison was an apt one.

"Arrested by the city guard," Celestia's voice was chill as winter, her tone sharp and brittle as frosted glass. "I am very disappointed in you, Breaking Dawn."

Dawn hung her head. She stood once more in the Principal's study of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, once more to be raked over the coals. But Princess Celestia had done more damage to her with that single sentence than she could have done had she shouted all day.

"Well?" Princess Celestia prompted. "What have you to say for yourself?"

"I was only standing up for myself, princess," Dawn muttered.

"Standing up for yourself? Is that what you call it? Against a ten year old filly?" Celestia's brow was thunderous, her gaze a beam of disapproval. "I remember a time when you would have stood up for a young girl being hurt and harassed by an older, stronger pony. You would not have been doing the hurting yourself."

Dawn's mouth dropped open, and her mind was drawn back to Sunset Shimmer and her last prophetic words as she had left the school, foretelling that Dawn would in turn be supplanted by a younger rival. Dawn had scoffed then, but it had come to pass and like Sunset she had taken to violence to shore up her crumbling position. I became the thing I hated in the end, didn't I?

"You shame me, Princess," Dawn said. "But when I look at her, when I have to thing about what she's done, what she is, I just get so angry I can't help myself."

"Twilight Sparkle has not wronged you."

"Don't say her name in front of me!" Breaking Dawn snapped. "I should be your student, not her! What does she have that I don't?"

"She does not start fights," Celestia replied coldly.

Dawn shook her head, a manic chuckle escaping her lips, "I was that pony once: meek and mild, kind of heart and noble of spirit. Watch her, your highness, in a few years she will become me as I became Sunset. You are immune to power's caress but we are not."

"If you are correct, then I will have to live with that, as I have lived with many uncomfortable decisions in my life," Celestia said. "But I cannot excuse your behaviour because you cannot control yourself, or because you tell me you have been corrupted by your former status. If it is true that proximity to me has ruined your character, then perhaps it is time to put some distance between us."

"No," the word was a whisper from Dawn's lips, the whisper of a child whose dreams, like a glass menagerie, have fallen to the ground and shattered into myriad pieces.

"You have left me with no choice, Dawn," Celestia said firmly. "I cannot tolerate such behaviour in a student of this school. It is time for you to leave."

"No," Dawn repeated the simple word, this time drawing it out as she pleaded for the gates of paradise to not yet shut her out. "No, I beg you Your Highness, have mercy."

Celestia was constant as the north star, "It will be for the best Breaking Dawn, in time you will understand that. You can live your own life, forge your own destiny."

"My destiny is you, Princess," Dawn cried, tears welling in her green eyes. "To serve you, to be with you. I will do anything you ask: shine your shoes, scrub pots in the palace kitchens, I will even clean out Twilight Sparkle's study if you ask it of me but I beg of you: send me not from the side of grace and greatness."

Celestia's look softened. Her purple eyes glistened with compassion and Dawn felt hope, faint hope like the first flower to raise its head above the snow, that the princess would relent, "I am touched by your devotion, Dawn. Truly, I am. But I cannot allow you to waste your life in that way out of a misplaced sense of loyalty. Live your life, build your own future. I have no doubt that with your intelligence, magical talent and ability to win the hearts of ponies you will be successful at whatever task you set yourself. And who knows? One day, when you have conquered Equestria, we may meet again."

Joyous hope warred with grief in the breast of Breaking Dawn, Celestia's words so addling her wits she could only stammer, "You mean, if I prove myself to you, then I can come back?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

Dawn scowled, "But why do I have to leave at all. I don't want to go. Do you really want me gone?"

"It is not a question of what I want-"
"Yes it is! You're the one banishing me," Dawn shouted. "Tell me that you want me gone or I will not go. I am your student, your servant. I will not be dismissed at the hoof or mouth of a lesser pony. If you want me gone, then bid me go."

Celestia's mouth tightened, "Then I command you to go."

Dawn felt the axe come down upon her soul, "As you command, Princess." She turned away, and clutched the last shreds of her torn and mangled pride about her as she half stalked, half stole out of Celestia's presence.

She did not allow herself to truly weep until she could be certain that nopony was watching her.

***

Princess Luna breathed a sigh of relief as she released the magic she had used to raise the moon and allowed it to settle into its rightful place at the heart of the night sky. While the effort did not weary her from rustiness as it had done immediately after Nightmare Moon's defeat, it remained no mean feat to raise the moon and hang it in the air.

She stepped in off the balcony and into Celestia's chamber. This palace had been built after her banishment, with only a single princess in mind, so there were no separate towers for sun and moon as there had been in the old palace she and Celestia had shared together. Celestia's balcony was the most convenient place for ordering the heavens.

"I am glad you feel the trade negotiations are going well, ambassador Sophoniba," Celestia said on the other side of the door. "It pleases me greatly that at least somepony, someone rather, is getting something out of this visit."

"Do not trouble yourself with Grevyian pride," Sophoniba said.
"It is the mask their weakness 'neath they hide."

"Perhaps. At any rate I look forward to a new era of cooperation between Quaggai and Equestria in the years ahead," Celestia said. "Goodnight, ambassador."

"Good night, Princess generous and kind,
I bid you restful sleep and carefree mind."

Luna heard the Quaggai ambassador's hooves beating on the floor as Celestia entered her bedroom.

"Carefree mind," Celestia murmured. "If only."

Luna grinned, "I used to hate that you could do that, sister. Now I admire you for it."

Celestia looked puzzled, "Do what?"

"Hide your true feelings behind the royal mask," Luna said. "Out there, you sounded so sincere, so genuine in your interest in the talks. But I know that inside you are all concern for Twilight Sparkle."

Celestia sighed, and as she vested herself of her golden crown and glittering necklace she seemed to diminish, become less the Princess of the Sun all ponies knew and loved and more simply Celestia, her big sister.

"I wish there had been some news," Celestia said.

"We must trust in Applejack," Luna replied. "She is faithful and strong."

"And helpless against Dawn's magic," Celestia declared. "If they should meet upon the road...and even if Twilight Sparkle is warned, there is still the darkness inside of her to contend with. If something were to happen to them-"

"They have faced Discord, they have faced the Changeling hordes, they have faced me in all my Nightmare wrath," Luna said. "Compared with these, what is Breaking Dawn?"

"Mine," Celestia said solemnly. "I taught her, I chose her. Her fall to evil is my fault, her capacity for evil is my doing. Why did I not see she had such a darkness in her?"

"I cannot say what she is or was, I do not know the mare," Luna answered carefully. "But you are not to blame for the mare the child you knew became." She smiled fondly, "Rest now, sister. I will watch the night and bear the burdens of the realm for now."

Celestia nodded absently, "If news of Twilight-"

"I will wake you at once if I hear anything," Luna said. "Rest now, save your strength."

Celestia smiled as she climbed into bed, "Goodnight Luna." She paused, "You hated it? Why?"

"I thought it made you a false pony, a liar. I didn't see how I could ever trust you when you were never honest."

"And now?"

"Now I can read you better," Luna kissed Celestia gently on the forehead, "Sweet dreams, dear sister."

Luna spread her wings as she leapt off the balcony and glided on the currents of the night air to land on one of the smaller golden towers of the palace. Her guard captain, Catseye, was waiting for her with two of her thestrals.

Catseye bowed, "Highness."

"Captain," Luna said. "All quiet?"

"The moon is up and all is well, Princess," Catseye replied.

"Excellent. I am going to enter the World of Dreams and seek there for the criminal Breaking Dawn," Luna declared. "Wake me if you have need of me, or when it is time to lower the moon if I have slumbered that long."

"As you command," Catseye said. "Nighthawk, Bloodmoon, guard the Princess while she is in the dream world."

"Yes, sir!"

Luna made her way to the centre of the room. It was sparsely laid out, and not lit at all so that the moon's light cast everything in a blue tint. A mass of cushions were laid out for her. She lay upon them, closed her eyes, and stepped into the World of Dreams.

***

Breaking Dawn's eyes snapped open and she woke up with a half-given cry of alarm.

"You okay, Dawny?" Razor Wind was sitting on the end of her bed, keeping watch over Breaking Dawn. Dawn had been catching a quick nap after her run back from the chalet to Canterlot. She wanted to be rested before tonight. She might need her strength for the big performance.

Dawn rolled out from under the covers and out of bed, "I'm okay. I just had a weird dreams is all."

Razor shifted a little on the bed so that she could see Dawn better, "You want to talk about it?"

Dawn huffed, rubbing her eyes with one hoof, "I was in Ponyville. I had...I think I was a statue of some kind."

"A statue?"

"Yeah. I was me, but I was a statue. Frozen like. And I was so beautiful. My eyes were emeralds, my coat glowed golden, my mane streamed in the wind."

Razor frowned, "But you just said you were a statue?"

"A living statue. I was frozen, but I wasn't made of stone or anything. I was me. But I couldn't move. I was standing there, in the centre of Ponyville, looking gorgeous. Eyes, coat, mane and tail, all of it done up to a sheen. Everypony who looked at me found my beauty irresistible. They all just stopped and stared at me. One guy thought I was so beautiful he had to kiss me."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Razor remarked. "I mean, not being able to move would get old after a while but, I don't know, not a terrible dream."

"Maybe," Dawn hesitated for a moment. "I can't help feeling that it means something."

"Probably means that you're going to win," Razor Wind said. "Think about it: you said yourself you were glowing. Everypony was looking at you, admiring you, awed by you. Isn't that what you want? Isn't that what this is all about? Proving yourself, winning the crowd?"

"If I was certain that that was the meaning behind it then I would rejoice," Dawn replied. "But Ponyville is Twilight Sparkle's town, not mine. If I was statue in Canterlot then I believe my dream means what you say it does, but in her town, her home? What if it means the opposite? What if my dream means that I will fall here, and that I will become yet another honour to garland Twilight Sparkle, another glory to her name? What if, when the ponies stopped to admire me, they were really admiring Twilight Sparkle's victory over me and the lustre it has added to her?"

"I think you're over-thinking just a little bit," Razor said.

Dawn rolled her eyes, "If you didn't think it meant anything why didn't you stop me?"

Razor shrugged, "I thought it would do you good to talk about something. You've been, kind of weird since you got back from the chalet."

Dawn turned away, walking across the darkened room to where a small mirror hung upon the wall. She stared into, leaning forward so that her muzzle was almost touching the glass.

"She's not what I thought she was," Dawn murmured. "When I first met her, at the zebra party, I thought she was so devious, so false. I hated the way she pretended to be humble. But now, I think that that humility was genuine."

Razor Wind was silent, recognising that these were things that Dawn needed to say.

"All these years I imagined that the only way she could have stolen everything from me was if she was a monster. A villain, who cackled as she destroyed me. But that mare that I left back there...Celestia help me I'm not sure if I was ever that nice. I mean, what could have been her last night alive and she spent it talking about some days she spent hanging out with her friends, doing nothing of any consequence, just relaxing. I don't think I was ever that free from ambition. Maybe that was what Princess Celestia saw in her heart that wasn't in mine."

Razor Wind's voice was nervous, almost scared, "What are you trying to say Dawny?"

"I think she's a better pony that I am," Dawn murmured, resting her forehead against the mirror. "I think she might deserve to be the hero more than I do. I think she might even deserve to mount me as a statue in her hometown for everyone to admire her triumph, like in my dream."

"But you still tied her up, right?"

Dawn sniggered, "Yeah, I did. I have to know, for certain. I have to at least try, then I can know for sure if I have what it takes, if I ever did. I need to talk to the Princess. I need to know. I've worked so long and hard to get this chance, I just have to take it."

Razor smiled, "You'll do great."

"With your help I will," Dawn turned away from the mirror. "Not a word of this, to anypony else. You're the only one I trust to hear this."

Razor nodded, "Got it. Now go light the sky on fire."

Razor's smile, her manner, lifted Dawn's heart as she opened the door and walked out into the living room. Her friends: Hard Candy, Laurel, Hardy Bloom and Cherry Blossom all rose at the sight of her, scrambling to their feet like soldiers alert to the presence of their captain.

How did I get such good friends? Dawn wondered, and her lips rose at the corners just looking at them. I have to be strong for them. My will is theirs as theirs is mine.

"I hope you're ready for this, ladies," Dawn declared. "Because tonight is the night when all our dreams come true."

***

Lord Mathos of the House Aethiope, of the High Blood of Most Ancient Grevyia, peered into the bowl of wine before him as his shaman muttered the incantations over it.

Ponies, with their more showy and obvious unicorn magic to call upon, often scorned the magic of zebras, the potions and the incantations, the mutterings over bones and water. But for all their scorn, for all their sense of smug superiority, they had not developed any means of communication over long distances with the ease allowed by Grevyian scrying. If a pony emissary had been in Holy Hippo Accra, then she would not have been able to contact Princess Celestia as he now contacted the Emperor, may he live forever.

The wine rippled, though no force was being exerted upon it, and the blood red colour of the wine changed to transparency, like a window between Lord Mathos and the throne room in the Eagle Palace.

On the other side of the window, slumped upon a throne of gold and crimson, sat the Emperor Syphax IX, may he live forever. His body swollen with the luxuries available to the emperor, his face was hidden by a golden mask, decorated with peacock feathers.

His August Majesty spoke in the weary tones of an old stallion,
"Mathos, are you for havoc well prepared?"

Lord Mathos bowed his head,
"O Most August Grevyian Majesty,
My soldiers they are armed and well prepared,
I chose them suited for this night-black task,
Cruel temperaments and warlike spirits both,
They have in great abundance. Of mine house,
The greater part of Aethiope's strength,
Is here beneath mine eyes. I only wish,
You had relented of your iron word,
And given me of royal soldiers some,
Small company to bolster forth our strength."

His Augustness, may he live forever, chuckled, "Had I given you e'en but a tithe,
Of but one of the legions I possess,
Then would all ponydom assuredly,
Know us at root of all thy deeds this night."

"What care you what these ponies think,
Once they have been made vassals to thy throne?" Lord Mathos asked.

"I care much what they think if you should fail," the Emperor replied.
"If you should loose, I shall disown thee,
If you should die, I shall not even mourn thee,
If they should take you prisoners, I shall not pay,
Thy ransom though it stand but at a single obol.
If Mathos wins, Grevyia shall profit of it,
If Mathos fails, Grevyia shall not rue of it.
But think not we are ungrateful of thy services,
Most loyally rendered to our ancient throne,
Our soldiers we have sent to guard thy lands,
From jealous rivals, while thy troops are with
Thee in barbarian pony lands, should cruel fate,
Desert thee in thy quest to bring them down,
I'll safeguard both thy children and thy wife,
Within my charge and under my protection."

Mathos closed his eyes and prayed to the gods of his household for the protection of his wife and family. Let my son grown tall and strong. Let my daughters make good matches to mighty lords among the High Blood. Let my house continue after me. He had not missed the words beneath the words the Emperor, may he live forever, had spoken. House Aethiope was the weakest of the houses of the High Blood, that was why he had not been able to refuse this ambassadorial appointment. Already rival houses eyed his lands, vulnerable in the absence of defenders - since the Emperor, may he live forever, had denied him any royal soldiers, he had been forced to bring his house forces to Canterlot - and only Imperial troops warded them off. If he succeeded then the favour of the Emperor, may he live forever, would protect House Aethiope and lift them high. But if he failed, then the troops would be withdrawn and House Aethiope would fall. His family would be killed upon imperial orders, lest they seek revenge for his abandonment and fall. Spirits keep them safe.

"I thank your majesty for your concern,
And shall in all respects obedient to thine honour."

The Emperor, may he live forever, glanced away. He seemed to be listening to someone else, someone Mathos could not see. Then he looked back at Mathos.

"We bid thee to beware of thine ally,
The pony traitor known by Breaking Dawn,
She's fey, we've heard, with moods erratic,
Her mind inconstant and her thoughts,
As unpredictable as ocean storms,
She is no friend to Grevyia or you."

"She shall not live the night."

The Emperor, may he live forever, nodded approvingly, "Fortune smile on you, hot as the baking sun."

"And glory shine upon your august majesty,
Bright as the blazing rays which do alight,
Upon Most August and Most Ancient Grevyia," Lord Mathos said, and the connection with His Majesty was ended.

"Jugurtha," Mathos called, and heard the leader of his Kuj'to M'fu'pakir step closer towards him. "Are all things in readiness?"

"All our companies are prepared," Jugurtha said. He hesitated. "If we were to return home to defend our lands─"

"House Aethiope would be branded traitors for denying the Emperor's will and all our lands seized anyway," Lord Mathos said. "Victory is our only path."

"It is a hard road, and paved with daggers," Jugurtha said.

"That is why every other house petitioned the Emperor, may he live forever, to choose another for this mission," Lord Mathos said. Only House Aethiope was so weak that it had no way of out-bribing any of its rivals. "Still, if we are victorious, then we shall be elevated over the heads of all those who would destroy us."

"Then we will not loose," Jugurtha said. He too had a wife waiting for him back home.

"Once the alicorns are taken care of, see that the pony Breaking Dawn is killed," Mathos commanded.

Jugurtha was silent.

"You disapprove?"

"If we have a chance at success it is due to her efforts," Jugurtha said. "To murder her without cause is not honourable."

"Honour is a luxury House Aethiope cannot afford," Mathos said. "Once the battle goes in our favour, send word to the chalet to have Twilight Sparkle put to death." He had not given the order before for fear that, if the fighting went against them, it would be another crime for the ponies to punish him and his people for. "Bring out the bridles."

The Emperor, may he live forever, had denied to supply Lord Mathos with soldiers for this attack, but he had given Mathos two of Grevyia's most ancient treasures to ensure the success of the plan to conquer Equestria. Two bridles of gold and silver, sometimes called the Bridles of Sun and Moon, which had been given to Skyruler, who had first united all zebras under his rule, by the goddess Pallasa. In ancient days they had been used by zebras to bind the alicorns who pulled the chariots of the sun and moon to raise those orbs each day and night. It was thought that they could be used to bind Celestia and Luna in the same way. The bridles glistened gold and silver in his hooves.

"It might be amusing, might it not, to have the precious pony princesses pulling chariots for us once again," Lord Mathos mused. "Amusing, but risky. Kill Luna as soon as she has been bound. Celestia is the only one we need to maintain control of this country."

"As my lord commands," Jugurtha said reluctantly.

Mathos handed the bridles back, "Begin the operation."

***

Luna stalked the World of Dreams, searching for the elusive Breaking Dawn.

She had almost caught her at one point, she was certain of it. Certainly she had seen a golden unicorn dreaming of being a statue in Ponyville that matched the description she had had from Celestia. But the dream had ended before Luna could catch and interrogate her. Luna had no way of knowing if Dawn was still dreaming or not - dreams changed, after all, and just because a dream had ended did not mean that the dreamer had woken up. She might be in a different dream, or had wandered into the World of Dreams with Luna, though only night's princess could walk this place and be aware of what she was doing.

"Princess Luna!"

The sound was far off, muffled by distance. In the World of Dreams, Luna was both close and miles away from any other pony. She frowned. Nopony would try to wake her if it wasn't important. Perhaps she should let the search rest for now and see what they wanted.

"Princess Luna!" closer, and more urgent. She would definitely need to─

Luna's eyes snapped open as a bucket of cold water was thrown into her face. She blinked rapidly, her jaw hanging open as droplets of water dripped from her magical mane, and glared at the thestral guardspony.

"Forgive me princess," he spoke quickly. "But I had no time to wake you. You have to flee, the castle is under─" some kind of weapon, a rope with two heavy weights on either end, wrapped itself around the guardspony's neck. He gave a strangled cry, reaching for the rope with his hooves even as the weights slammed into his face. Luna's night guard hit the ground with a thud.

Luna's head whipped round, her blue eyes widening at the sight of three armed zebras standing in the doorway. Imperial zebras, the larger breed from Grevyia. In his mouth, one of them bore a glistening silver bridle. For some reason she could not explain, just being near it made Luna's skin crawl.

"What is the meaning of this?" Luna hissed. Below her in the tower she could hear the sounds of fighting in full spate.

The zebras advanced upon her, two of them spreading out on either side while the one with the bridle came straight for her.

"Do not be alarmed," the one on the right, who bore a spear and a shield of hippopotamus hide, said calmly. "Your palace, your city, belong to us now. Surrender peacefully and needless bloodshed will be avoided."

That would be a lot more credible if I could not hear my guards resisting down below. Luna got up. She was not so tall as her elder sister but she could still come to an imposing height when she wanted to, and though she did not loom over these zebras the way she loomed over her little ponies she could still look down upon them as they deserved.

"Surrender?" Luna said, as cold as the chillest night she had ever brought forth. "I am Luna, Night Princess of Equestria, so long as one pony resists you I shall never surrender!"

The zebra who had spoken before snarled, "Take her!"

Luna allowed herself a smirk, "Stand back you fools!" Her horn glowed blue. There was a tremendous explosion strong enough to blow the wall out of the tower room, a room which was covered in blue smoke. Out of the smoke Luna leapt, spreading her wings to carry her up into the night air over Canterlot.

"TREACHERY!" she cried out in her loudest Royal Canterlot Voice. "FOES, BATTLE AND TREACHERY! GREVYIA HATH BETRAYED OUR TRUST! TO ME, MY WARRIORS. TO ARMS, TO BATTLE AND TO ME! CANTERLOT, ARISE!"

Thestrals rose out of the night to join her, her guards of the night breaking off combat on the battlements and balconies, leaping out of windows, rising up from the courtyards and the gardens to hover all around their moon princess.

"Princess Luna," Captain Catseye could hardly bow in mid-air, so he gave her a salute instead. "I am glad to see that you are safe."

Luna nodded, "Report, captain."

"The attack started about thirty minutes ago, maybe more," Catseye said. "The zebras must have planning this for a while, they had troops concealed all over Canterlot and beyond. They've taken the gate and the railway station and they're spreading out all over the city. They took most of the palace before we even knew what was happening. I am sorry for our failure."

"There will be time for recriminations later," Luna snapped. "Where is Celestia?"

"Nopony knows, Highness," Catseye said. "When the attack began I sent guards to rouse her, they have not returned."

"How could they overpower my," Luna cursed, "those bridles, burn them!"

"Highness?"

"The zebras who came for me had a bridle of sparkling silver, if they had put it on me it must have rendered me docile to them. If they have muzzled Celestia..." Luna let loose a roar of anger that struck the very moon itself. In their younger days the irony that she, the princess of the moon, burned so much hotter than the mistress of the sun had often been remarked upon. "I SHALL BURN THEM ALL TO ASHES! I SHALL CRUSH THEM BENEATH MY HOOVES! IF THEY HAVE HARMED ONE HAIR UPON CELESTIA I SHALL SEE ALL GREVYIA REDUCED TO NOTHING BEFORE I'LL CALL MY ANGER SATED!"

Luna forced herself to be calm. This was no time to allow her anger to run away with her. Still, it did not escape her notice that although her guards looked wary of her wrath, a lot of them also looked rather admiring of it too.

It is good to put some spirit in them.

Luna noticed that only her own night guards had risen to her call, "What of the other companies?"

"Some of the City Guard are fighting in the streets below," Catseye said. "But we were taken so by surprise I think most of the guard have been locked in their barracks by the zebras, either here or at the Twilight Palace. I think Lancer is the only captain besides myself who remains at liberty."

"Very well. We shall have to trust in his resourcefulness to free his comrades," Luna said. The barracks were at the very bottom of the palace, to begin the counterattack there would waste the advantage in mobility her thestrals had from being able to fly. "Captain Catseye, you will take half the company and assist the City Guard in defending the city. Protect the civilians at all costs."

"Yes, highness."

"The rest of you with me, we shall retake the palace from the top down," Luna looked around her brave ponies. Some looked nervous, some looked confident, all looked resolute and ready to do their duty.

"Are we not the stars that light the darkness?"

"Aye!"

"Are ours not the eyes that pierce the night?"

"Aye!"

"Is ours not the valour that will guard all those who helpless sleep?"

"Aye!"

"Are we not Equestria's dark shield?"

"Aye!"

"Do we fear darkness?"

"No!"

"Do we fear death?"

"No!"

"Do we fear this foe?"

"Never!"

"When shall we be victorious?"

"Now and always!"

"Then go forth, ponies!" Luna shouted. "For your Princess, for your city, for Equestria!"

The guard of the night let out a fearsome roar as, as a single pony, they dropped down into battle.

***

Breaking Dawn and her gang hid in one of Canterlot's little back-alleys - the appropriately named Narrow Lane - and watched as the zebra occupation of Canterlot unfolded amidst the shattering of glass, the breaking of doorways and the screams of ponies whose night had become full of terrors.

"Wake up! Hide in the hay,
Zebras are coming to take you away," Candy chanted, quietly reciting her hide-and-seek song.

Zebra and buffalo warriors swarmed through the streets with spears and torches, shattering windows and wrestling any pony they came upon to the ground, putting shackles on them and beating them to silence.

"Out of bed, hide under the floor,
Zebras are going to kick down the door."

The doors of Canterlot were not meant to withstand rough treatment. They yielded in moments to the strong hooves of the Grevyian warriors. The night was filled with wailing and screaming as slumbering ponies were dragged from their beds out into the street. Dawn watched as one protesting old stallion was clubbed to the ground while his children watched in noisy horror, then the fillies themselves were beaten with spearbutts into obedience to Grevyia's will.

"Crawl away, like a louse,
Zebras are going to burn down the house."

Torches were flung into the wooden houses, and soon whole streets were ablaze. Dawn saw smoke rising from Shaftesbury Avenue and Holloway Road, and it looked as though Cockfosters was feeling the fires as well.

"Don't cry as you hug the ground,
Zebras will hear if you make a sound."

There was much crying: many tears and wailing enough to fill the Canterlot air and overpower the sound of crackling flames and falling houses. The zebras seemed to hate the sound of crying, for they struck at anypony who snivelled too close to them. They were everywhere, ferreting out all those who tried to hide. Those they had to look for seemed to catch it twice as hard as those who went meekly into bondage.

"Outside! Hide in the park,
Maybe we'll loose them in the dark."

The darkness seemed no obstacle to the eyesight of the Imperial zebras. Wherever anypony was so where they, leering down at the smaller ponies as they threatened them with spears and clubs.

"Hurry up! Hide by the well,
Careful they don't put you under a spell."

There was something almost hypnotised about the ponies as they were herded into Buckingham Square. Their heads were bowed, their eyes were half-lidded and looked cowed and docile. They obeyed without question the orders of the zebras, and made no move to resist as they were beaten into a huddled mass around the Duke of Buckingham's statue and fountain.

"Hide in the bushes, are they near?
Zebras they know how to smell your fear."

A zebra patrol began to approach them. Dawn felt a twinge of nervousness run down her spine.

"Close your eyes, don't look up,
Here comes a zebra to gobble you up."

"That's enough, Candy," Razor hissed. "What do we do?"

Dawn waited a moment, letting the patrol of five zebras get a little closer, then she said, "We go. For Celestia!"

"Whoo-hoo," Razor Wind whooped triumphantly as the six of them charged out of Narrow Lane to hurl themselves upon the zebra patrol. Dawn's horn glowed golden as she fired as many rapid fire spells as she could as fast as she could. The zebras were scythed down where they stood, cut down by the hail of her magic. Hard Candy took one of their spears.

"You know how to use one of those?" Razor asked.

"I trained in stage fighting," Candy replied defensively. "It can't be that different from the real thing."

"Erm, just be careful, okay," Dawn said. "Now, let's go save Canterlot!"

Her magic blazing before her, shooting out golden bolts in all directions, Dawn led her friends into Buckingham Square with the cry upon their lips, "Celestia! Celestia!" Dawn's magic struck true with every shot, and with every shot some zebra or buffalo warrior fell. Razor Wind darted into the press, nutting a zebra forehead to forehead and knocking him to the ground. Candy actually held her own against a zebra spear-bearer, the shafts of their weapons clacking against each other as they thrust and retreated. Hardy, Cherry and Laurel were working together to hamstring a buffalo, compensating for their lack of prowess by forcing him to the ground like picadores.

"It is the unicorn!" one of the zebras shouted. "Kill her! Kill her!"

Dawn shut him up with a magical bolt.

The zebras tried to reach them, but it was hard to struggle through the press of ponies who either stood stock still in obstruction, or else tripped the zebras as they tried to charge and sent them sprawling on the ground.

Obedient to their last command, the zebras hurled themselves at Dawn. But she was equal to all of them. All her doubts and misgivings fell away as she cast spell after spell at the Grevyian warriors. This was right, undeniably. This was just, inarguably. This was the destiny she had been born to fulfil. She was Breaking Dawn, champion of Equestria, and on this night she fought for her people with a righteous fury no pony, buffalo or zebra could match. She blasted a swathe through the opposition, fighting her way to the very centre of the square and climbed the plinth of Buckingham's statue to watch as the remaining zebras turned and ran to the jeers of the Canterlot ponies. Already her friends had begun striking the chains off those whom the Grevyians had sought to make slaves.

"Who are you?" one old mare asked. "You saved us!"

"My name is Breaking Dawn," Dawn declared, posing heroically upon the plinth next to the old duke's statue. "Princess Celestia's most faithful servant and indomitable defender. Fear not, Canterlot is defended from this evil!"

Some of the ponies started up a ragged cheer, though for many the fear of this night was still too great.

"My friends and I will fight for this city, for our Princesses," Dawn continued. "But we cannot fight all the strength of Grevyia alone. We need your help. Princess Celestia needs your help."

Some of the ponies muttered at that. A lithe limbed unicorn mare asked, "What can we do? We are not warriors?"

"Are you not possessed of legs and hooves?" Dawn asked. "Are your hearts not stout, your spirits not possessed of the spirit of harmony and friendship? Are you not the heirs of those brave ponies who dared the frozen wilds to win new homes and new lands for themselves and for their children? Are we not ponies proud and bold, equal to any challenge that magic, nature or other races may pose to us? The greatest weapon in this battle is not the zebra's spear, nor his shield of hippo hide, but our valour undimmed and bonds of comradeship unbreakable. Take heart, stand fast, and they shall be as chaff before our mighty wind!
"Is there anypony here who does not love Celestia? Is there anypony here who does not love this city which has raised us all? Is there anypony here who would see the greatness of Equestria cast down and replaced with Grevyian chains? If the answer is neigh, then fight! Fight for Princess Celestia, fight for Canterlot, fight for Equestria and all these things we love about this land.
"These zebras think us soft. They think us weak. They think that because we live in cities, because we have no fear of nature, because we do not live in constant struggle, because we settle our disputes without recourse to force, that we are soft and cowardly. Shall we prove them right by cowering in the streets, or shall we show these Grevyians that a pony may be as brave as any zebra when her cause be just?"

The ponies began to cheer, a great rolling wave moving from the centre of the square out to the edges.

"We'll show those zebras what we're made of!"

"We'll fight for home and Princess Celestia!"

"We're with you Breaking Dawn!"

"Breaking Dawn! Breaking Dawn!" they cried her name all over the square, hooves pounding upon the ground or pumping upwards into the air. Soon every pony from the oldest bearded stallion to the youngest filly was yelling her name, proclaiming her their hope, their saviour, their champion.

Did they ever cheer you so, Twilight Sparkle? Dawn asked, as she felt such pride stirring in her breast it moved her to glad tears. This must be how Princess Celestia feels every day.

As they cheered, a red pegasus leapt up onto the plinth beside her and kissed her twice upon each cheek, before flying away and vanishing into the press.

Dawn's green eyes widened, she took a step backward in shock. My dream. This is just like my dream. She was in Canterlot instead of Ponyville, but everything else was correct: the great crowd massed in admiration of her, all eyes turned on Breaking Dawn, and the pegasus had kissed her. She could almost hear the bells of fate tolling in the distance.

"Dawny?" Razor fluttered down beside her. "Dawny, are you okay?"

Dawn blinked, managing to smile, "Yes, yes I'm fine." Because really, how could she doubt now that her dream had been an omen of success. They really were cheering for her. That kiss had been the seal upon her triumphant. Success is assured now. Destiny is upon my side.

"Everypony, let's go," Dawn yelled. "And let our cry be 'Canterlot! Celestia and Canterlot!'"

"Canterlot! Celestia and Canterlot!" the crowd chorussed, and Dawn let them whooping and hollering into battle to retake their city from the foe.

And as they followed her through the streets, saving hapless ponies, rescuing captured children, assisting groups of stranded guardsponies, on this night of madness and misrule Breaking Dawn became the hero.

***

Shining Armour pressed his face against the cell door, trying to work out what was happening from the sounds drifting down to the dungeon.

"Hello?" he called. "Can anypony here me? Can somepony tell me what's happening?" Is Twily okay? Is Cadance safe? Won't somepony come and tell me that they aren't in danger?

There was a series of noises from close by that he recognised from experience as somepony getting the snot kicked out of them, a lot of smacking noises and grunts of pain.

"I don't have time to count your stripes now get out of my way!" Lancer yelled as he hit a zebra so hard the zebra flew down the corridor and rolled ten feet along the ground before coming to a halt.

"Lancer?" Shining Armour said. "What's happening out there?"

"Turns out the zebras would rather fight than talk, and there's more of them than we expected," Lancer said. "Fortunately, I was able to find the cell keys before they did." He unlocked Shining Armour's cell with a rattle of locks and a squeak of hinges, before tossing a purple helmet at Shining Armour's feet. "I hope you can still remember how to put that on, sir. We're going to need everypony on the dance floor before this is over."

Shining Armour took the helmet gingerly in his hooves. It was his old helmet, from when he had been captain, before the Crystal Empire reappeared. When he put it on, it still fit him perfectly. He couldn't repress a smile.

"Captain always suited you more than prince," Lancer said.

"I'm surprised you're letting a stallion suspected of poisoning his wife out to fight," Shining Armour murmured.

"I always knew you didn't do it, and now everypony else does too. Some unicorn called Breaking Dawn addled your brain."

"Then why didn't anypony let me out of the cell?"

"Well, we've all been very busy," Lancer muttered.

"Thanks, you're a real pal."

"Can you yell at me after we've saved Canterlot?"

"I'll remember to do just that," Shining Armour said. He added, "Thanks for believing in me."

"You can repay me by showing your flank-whupping skills are still intact," Lancer said. "Come on, the zebras are waiting for us."

They crept up from the dungeons and into the lower levels of the palace. The signs of battle were evident in everything from the broken ornaments, slashed furnishings and broken doorways to the dead or wounded lying at intervals along the floor. Shining Armour could only stop and stare for a moment at his ponies, his bold brave lads, slain in the midst of their own palace like this. Even the changelings had taken prisoners, albeit so that they might feed on them later and kill them slowly but at least that meant they had survived the battle. All the same, he could not deny a feeling of pride that they did not outnumber the enemy upon the floor.

"We got caught bad, sir," Lancer said.

"Nopony could have expected that Greyvia's ambassadors would come here in bad faith," Shining Armour said. "Much less bring an army with them."

"Perhaps the captain of the guard should have," Lancer muttered.

"Don't beat yourself up over it. All you can do now is save the city. That's your duty. Our duty."

"That and make them pay for what they've done," Lancer picked up a spear from a fallen guard. "This feels better. You want one sir?"

"No, I fight better with magic," Shining Armour answered. They walked lightly through the mess of battle, past zebras and buffalo and ponies of the Palace company, towards the barracks where the off duty guards slept the nights. As they approached, they heard the sounds of battle growing nearer to them again. That, and a continuous thudding sound like the beating of an enormous drum.

"What do you suppose that is?" Lancer asked.

"Guess we'll find out," Shining Armour said, continuing to lead the way.

They found the source of the fighting first: one of the staircases leading up to the Sun Tower. There some twenty pegasi and unicorns had made their stand at the top of the crimson staircase, spears pointing downwards to where a warband of buffalo was trying to dislodge them. Behind the guards, from what Shining Armour could see as he peered round the corner, some of the castle servants cowered for protection. Judging by the fallen of both sides, the buffalo had already tried to force the stairs at least once.

"Ranks steady, spears down," a callow golden pegasus appeared to be leading the guards. "Stand fast stallions, we need to give the princess as much time as we can."

"Where are the princesses?" Shining Armour hissed.

"I don't know," Lancer replied. "What do we do?"

"Wait for it," Shining Armour whispered. The buffalo charged up the stairs with a roar. "Now! Equestria! Equestria!"

He and Lancer broke from cover to rush the charging buffalo in the rear. Shining Armour's horn glowed with a lavender aura as he fired off spells as fast as he could. Three buffalo were down before they knew what was hitting them, then as they turned the golden pegasus led his ponies in a rushing countercharge down the stairs. The buffalo braced to meet them, lowering their horn-armoured foreheads in answer to the pony spears, but with the terrain against them and their forces bled by an attack from behind they could not hold for long. The ponies whooped in glee as the tables turned upon their tormentors and in a matter of moments the southern buffalo broke and fled. Shining Armour kept firing at them, knocking two down at once with a powerful beam. Then Lancer got in amongst them. His name well earned, Lancer wielded his spear with an artistry no other pony in the guard could match. At first Shining Armour tried to keep track of the spear-forms Lancer deployed with such effectiveness: Arc of the Moon, the Cyclone Rages, Low Wing Rising, but he soon lost track of the speed at which his old mentor moved. He only stopped when there were no buffalo left to face.

"Sir," the golden pegasus saluted Shining Armour. "Lieutenant Flash Sentry, with the Palace. Thank you very much sir, we would have been done for without your help."

"I'm not in charge," Shining Armour began.

"Yes he is," Lancer said promptly.

"Fine, you want me to be in charge, I'll take charge," Shining Armour said. "Flash Sentry, I want you to get airborne and see what's going on, then double back and give me a sit-rep."

"Yes, sir," Flash Sentry saluted again, using a spear to shatter the nearest window before flying out of it and up into the night sky.

"The rest of you, let's get to the barracks," Shining Armour snapped. Lancer had an approving look on his face.

The drumming sound got closer and closer the nearer their hooves carried them towards the barracks, until it became apparent that it was not drumming at all. It was beating. The zebras had barricaded the doors to the barracks from the outside, preventing the guards from escaping, but that wasn't stopping the guards themselves from trying to batter the doors open from the inside. From the sound of it, and the way the door was shaking, they had improvised a battering ram out of something.

That's my boys, never give up, Shining Armour didn't even try to suppress a tinge of pride.

The Grevyians outside the doors were a mixture of southern buffalo - smaller than the ones out by Appleoosa way, but with bigger horns - imperial zebra warriors, and those zebras with the masks who seemed to hold themselves above the rest.

"If they keep this up all night, they're going to get out," one zebra said.

One of the masked zebras laughed, "Good. I would rather fight them than imprison."

"We don't have the numbers to fight them and occupy the city," another masked zebra, who spoke with what Shining Armour recognised as the authority of command, snapped. "If it keeps going, set fire to the place. We'll see how organised they are when the walls are burning up around them."

"I don't think you'll get the chance," Shining Armour snarled, striding out into the corridor with his ponies ranged behind him. "I ought to tear you up one side and down the other just for suggesting it. But since I'm such a nice guy I'm going to give you a chance to surrender. Throw down your weapons, now."

The only response by the Grevyians was that those zebras wearing masks lowered them so as to cover their faces.

"I guess you want to do this the hard way," Shining Armour said. "Good."

"Wakati gan i'waj wisho?" the zebra yelled.

"Tu'kati'ka kifo!" the masked zebras bellowed. They led the charge as the Grevyians hurled themselves upon Shining Armour's forces.

Shining Armour hit a buffalo with a spell that knocked him flying back into the far wall. He struck a zebra down similarly as ponies charged past him to meet the Grevyians in melee.

They were outnumbered. But they were fighting for their home, their palace and their comrades and they had ferocity upon their side. Lancer led the fighting, the strikes of his spear marking the fall of a foe every time.

But the zebras were led by those masked warriors, and they were a breed apart. They fought with the grace and athleticism of big cats, two of them managed to corner Lancer and pin him down, while their leader cut through the ranks of the ponies with his knotted club.

Shining Armour snarled, and fired a beam of lavender light straight for the zebra leader's chest.

The zebra leapt out of the way, pirouetting in mid air with a dancer's precision to land behind the pony ranks. He looked straight at Shining Armour, his eyes hidden behind his mask, then he charged with a ululating warcry.

Shining Armour took a step back, conjuring a bound sword which hovered just in front of his face.

The zebra charged forward, swinging his club in a wide arc. Shining Armour parried. The zebra leapt back before Shining Armour cut could his club in half. Shining Armour advanced, slashing downwards. The zebra took the blow on his shield. The magic blade cut through the shield. If the zebra was surprised he did not show it. He leapt in the air, descending on the unicorn captain. Shining Armour raised his magic blade. The club struck it with a thud. The zebra tilted his head sideways, then leapt again. He landed on Shining Armour's right, faster than Shining Armour could turn. There was a crack, and Shining Armour cried out in pain as his leg collapsed from under him. Pain shot through him, overwhelming thought and sight and magic. The bound sword flickered out of existence as blotches appeared in front of his eyes.

He struggled to get up as the zebra came to stand in front of him. The pain in his leg was too great, every time he put weight upon it he wanted to scream so loud they would hear in the Crystal Empire.

The zebra raised his club to make the killing stroke.

Shining Armour scowled, and cast a shield an inch in front of him. The club glanced off. The zebra looked annoyed, if that were possible behind the mask. He raised his club to strike again.

Shining Armour tried to smile, but it came out more of a grimace through the pain. His horn glowed brighter, and the barrier before him shot forwards like a freight train barrelling down the rails. It hit the zebra and bore him into the wall so hard it buried him in it, leaving looking like some cartoon character buried in the plaster with a goofy look on his face.

"Keep your agility, I've got magic," Shining Armour growled. He saw that the rest of the battle was done. Though it had cost them half their numbers, the ponies had vanquished the Grevyians and were even now dismantling the barrier keeping the door closed.

Lancer was breathing heavily, "Tricky weren't they, the ones in masks?"

Shining Armour nodded, "How did you take two of them out?"

"Sheer awesomeness."

Shining Armour rolled his eyes.

The doors to the barracks burst open and the ponies that had opened it were almost buried in the deluge of guardsponies swarming out into the corridor.

"What's going on sir? Is the whole city under attack?"

"What do we do sir?"

"First things first," Lancer said. "We need a medic for Shining Armour."

A field medic unicorn nosed his way to the front of the press, "It's fractured. I can set it but you need to go the hospital."

"I need to see out this fight," Shining Armour snapped. "Give me something so I can stand on it for now."

The medic frowned, "Okay sir. I'll cast a spell to temporarily set it and numb the pain, but you'll only make it worse in the long term."

"I know, I'll have to live with that," Shining Armour said. The medic cast his spell, and immediately Shining Armour felt better. He could stand up for one thing, "Thank you soldier. Where's Brazen Shield? Where's the First Captain?"

"I don't think he made it sir," a pegasus said solemnly.

"Sir, Shining Armour sir," Flash Sentry was back, dropping down right in front of his face. "There are Grevyians all over the city. Some of the City and the Night guards are fighting them but they're way outnumbered. Some civilians seem to be fighting back as well, at least to protect the children. Princess Luna has rallied the rest of the night guard and is fighting on the roof of the palace. No sign of Princess Celestia."

"Did you see anything about the hospital?" Shining Armour asked. Is Cadance safe?

Flash Sentry shook his head, "I don't think the fight has spread up there sir."

"Orders, First Captain?" Lancer asked.

"I'm not your first captain," Shining Armour said.

"You're the closet we've got to one," Lancer said. "You want Shining Armour to give the commands, don't you boys?"

"It would be a comfort," Uhlan said.

"We're with you, Shining Armour sir!"

"What are your orders, captain?"

Shining Armour considered for a moment, "Uhlan, take the Palace Guard and head up through the palace to join up with Princess Luna. With luck you'll catch the zebras in a vice. The rest of you, we're going to liberate the city from the inside out, working from the centre here to herd the enemy out of the city."

"What about Princess Celestia?" Uhlan asked.

Shining Armour sighed heavily, "We will have to trust that the princess can handle herself without help from us." Just like I have to trust that Twily can take care of herself. Stay safe, Twilight.

"Now, I trust that everypony knows what is expected of him on this night?" Shining Armour asked.

"Yes, sir!"

"Then I don't have to give a speech, let's move!"

***

In the guest wing of the Twilight Palace, Rainbow Dash pounded upon the door, "Let us out, you Grevyian jerks! When I get out of here I'm going to pound on you so hard that─"

"Rainbow, darling, I hardly think threats are going to get them to open the door," Rarity murmured. The four friends were all locked together in the same windowless study, trapped in there by the zebras who had stormed the palace.

"Well we can't just sit around here and do nothing," Rainbow Dash snapped, continuing to hammer on the unyielding door. "Do you have any better ideas?"

"Do we have any tools we could use to break through the floor?" Rarity asked.

"Oh yeah, great, because that'll be so easy," Rainbow Dash said derisively. "Even if we could do that, it would all be over by the time we got out."

"If we had my party cannon we could blast through the door," Pinkie said.

"That's probably why they took it off you," Rarity said. They had done their best to fight off those ferocious masked zebras when they had broken into the palace, but they had been too many and too fast for them. Rarity's stomach was still tender from where one of those uncouth brutes had hit her with a spearshaft. At one point she'd thought they'd broken Rainbow Dash's wings wrestling her to the ground, though judging by the way Dash was hovering in front of the door slamming it with his shoulder her fears had proven unfounded.

"I hope Applejack and Twilight are doing better than we are," Fluttershy murmured.

"We'll never know if we don't get out of this stinking room," Rainbow Dash snarled, striking it with her hooves. "Let us out of here!"

The door was surrounded by a lavender magical aura, and opened to reveal Twilight Sparkle smiling shyly, with Applejack and Spike just a step behind her.

"Say please," Twilight said quietly, her smile becoming even more diffident than before.

Everypony just looked at her for a moment, silence reigning more absolutely than Celestia.

Twilight half looked away, scuffing one hoof nervously, "Hello, everypony. I'm back. Now, before you say anything I want you all to know, especially you Rarity, how very-"

"TWILIGHT! YOU'RE BACK!" Pinkie yelled, leaping right into Twilight as they rolled together in a heap before ending up with Twilight flat on her back and Pinkie on top looking down at her.

"Hello, Pinkie."

"And you're you!" Pinkie shrieked. "No meany-meaniepants Twilight would ever sound as shy as you just did! You're back and Applejack's here too and that means everything is back to normal and from now on things are just gonna be sweet AWESOME!"

Twilight laughed, "Thanks for the warm welcome Pinkie but, could you let me up please?"

"Oops, sorry."

"Is that true, Twilight? Are you back to normal?" Rainbow Dash asked, settling upon the ground.

"Yes," Twilight replied. "The purging went off without a hitch."

"But the pony that you went with is your enemy," Fluttershy said. "At least that's what we heard."

"She was. She is. But she saved me anyway," Twilight said. "I don't know why she did that. I don't think Breaking Dawn herself knows why she does half the things she's done. It doesn't excuse her actions, and it won't stop me bringing her to justice, but she did save me from herself and I won't deny her part in that." Twilight looked at Rarity, standing a little further off than the others, "Rarity, I know that I've treated you appallingly badly, and I'll understand─"

"Twilight, darling, we all understand that you weren't yourself when you said and did those things," Rarity smiled generously. "Blaming you would be as foolish as blaming Fluttershy for the things she said under Discord's influence. Let's just leave it at that, put it behind us, and never speak of it again."

"Group hug!" Pinkie yelled, elasticising her legs enough to pull everypony plus Spike into a tight, warm, soft embrace.

Feeling the warmth of their bodies all around her, the softness of Rarity's and the Fluttershy's manes in her face, a single tear ran down Twilight Sparkle's cheek.

"This rodeo ain't over just yet," Applejack said as the hug ended. "We've still got a lot of zebras to deal with."

"We need to get to the hospital before anything else," Twilight declared. "I have a promise to keep to a dear friend."

***

Fortunately, the fighting through the streets had not yet spread towards the hospital. Judging by the sounds, and by the fires rising up into the sky, the main axis of the fighting was between Old Street and Cloudsdale Road. The hospital on Hurricane Avenue had not yet been impacted.

Twilight and her friends ran into zebras, who looked confused and shaken and appeared to be fleeing the main fighting, but they were easily dealt with by a combination of Twilight's magic, Pinkie's party cannon and the strength of Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

Once they reached the hospital however, they found the doors barricaded from the inside by a dozen or a score of pegasi guards. One of them, a golden pegasus who almost blended into his armour, stuck his head up over the parapet.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle? We thought you'd left Canterlot."

"I did, but now I'm back," Twilight said. "What are you doing here?"

"Captain, sorry, Prince Shining Armour sent us to defend the hospital," the pegasus replied. "Keep Princess Cadance safe."

"Shining Armour is leading the battle?"

"Yes, your highness, and very well too. I think he could use your help."

"I'll go to him soon," Twilight replied. "But I need to get in there and speak to Cadance."

"Yes your highness," the barricades were removed out of the way of the door and Twilight led her friends inside. She galloped through the half abandoned halls of the hospital, past the wards of confused patients, until she arrived at the psychiatric unit. She kept on running, flapping her wings for extra speed, until she reached Cadance's padded cell.

Twilight tried the door. It was locked.

"I don't have time for this," Twilight muttered, and blasted it down.

Cadance whimpered in fear, shrinking back as Twilight strode into the cell.

"Sorry about that," Twilight laughed nervously. "It's just, this is urgent, okay?"

"You're the nice mare who came to see me before," Cadance murmured. "What do you want?"

Twilight approached, smiling reassuringly, "I asked you once if you trusted me, remember?"

Cadance nodded, "Yes."

"I need you to trust me again, okay," Twilight said. "This shouldn't take long, but I need your help, all right?"

Cadance nodded again, "I guess so."

Twilight beamed, "Thank you. Thank you so much. Relax, Princess Cadance. You'll be back soon."

As her friends clustered outside the ruined door, Twilight's horn glowed bright with magical aura.

"I offer myself as Firelight," Twilight murmured. "In the Purging of the Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." She reached out one hoof towards the best foalsitter ever.

Cadance stared at it for a moment. Then, slowly, she reached out and placed her hoof in Twilight's own.

Twilight nodded, and a beam of magic fired from her horn to touch the horn of Princess Cadance.

Light consumed them both.

***

So this is what Cadance's mind looks like. Huh.

While Twilight's own head had looked like something in between clouds and nebulae, Cadance's mind looked like a mass of tubes. Tubes wind enough for a pony to fit into, like slides almost, all leading in their various twisted ways towards a heart.

Judging by the size of the tubes leading to, and from what Twilight could see of this whole place, it was incredibly large heart too. I always knew she had the biggest heart in Equestria.

At the moment though, that heart was concealed beneath a layer of black ooze that broiled and bubbled and bore the unmistakeable taint of dark magic. Twilight would lay odds that Cadance's memories, her personality, where trapped beneath that layer of ooze.

"You can't get her," a mournful voice said. "You mustn't."

Twilight frowned. Cadance was standing before her. A transparent, almost ghostly Cadance, more drab of mane and seeming less beautiful, less vivacious. Less kind, too. Looking into her eyes, there was none of that spark of devotion to others that had made Cadance who she was. This was a Cadance in physical form only, inside she was something else.

"What are you?" Twilight asked.

"I am Me," the thing said falsely. "Me as I will become. As I acquire more memories, so I create a new identity for herself. That identity is me. Soon I will be complete, and then I can take over this body."

"No," Twilight snarled. "She doesn't belong to you. I won't let you have her."

"I am her," the not-Cadance insisted. "I am a pony, just as she is. Only I'm not trapped. Someone has to be this pony."

"I'm going to save Cadance," Twilight growled. "I'm going to get her back from there."

"Why bother, when I'm here?" asked the not-Cadance. "How can you destroy me, just for her sake? Aren't I a pony too? Don't I matter?"

"No." Twilight said coldly. "You're not a pony. You're just amnesia and a few memories of a padded cell. You aren't real. You're nothing compared to the real Cadance. Now get out of my way."

"No," not-Cadance yelled. "I'm here now. I belong here. I won't let you destroy me!"

She sprang at Twilight, but Twilight teleported behind her at the mouth of one of the tubes down to the heart.

"No," not-Cadance cried. "No, please, no!"

Twilight didn't listen. She just leapt.

She barrelled down the tube, having to restrain herself from the urge to whoop in delight. It reminded her of the time Cadance had taken her to the water park when she was a filly, only there was something a lot less harmless than water waiting for her.

Twilight shot out of the tube and landed in the oily, bubbling, seething black mass that was the dark magic keeping Cadance prisoner inside her own mind.

"You cannot pass," the magic groaned. "She is ours. She is ours. You may not enter."

"We'll see about that," Twilight said, and her horn lit up as she dived down into the miasma.

The dark magic groaned and roared, shook and trembled. Twilight felt as though her coat were burning, as though her wings were on fire. At times she thought she would be crushed by the pressure. At times she thought that she would drown or choke. But she kept on going, swimming down with legs and wings both.

I have to do this. No matter what it takes. Cadance wouldn't stop. She'd save me no matter what. So I have to do the same for her!

As the dark magic quivered in its rage Twilight broke through the miasma and fell - literally, with a thump and a bang on the head - into a golden spherical chamber. At the centre of the chamber, which hummer softly with a thousand gentle melodies, shone a Crystal Heart.

"Twilight? Twilight Sparkle is that you?"

Twilight looked up, a smile spreading from ear to ear in spite of the pain in her head, "Cadance! You remember me?"

Cadance smiled fondly, "I think we've done this particular dance before, haven't we?"

Twilight chuckled as she stood up, "I guess we keep getting into these situations, don't we?"

"So it seems. Do you know where I am? I've been stuck here for I don't know how long and I can't get out."

"Don't worry, I'm here to help with that," Twilight said, charging up her magic and generating a shield like the one Shining Armour had conjured to protect Canterlot. She threw it out, the shield striking at the dark miasma and pushing it outwards, up through the tubes, out of Cadance's mind, out of Cadance. Twilight grunted with the effort, it felt like trying to lift a hundred Ursas Minor at once. She put all she had into it and she still couldn't get it all the way.

The miasma began to laugh, mocking her efforts.

"Come on," Twilight growled. "I swore I'd save Cadance now move!"

A gentle hoof was placed on Twilight's shoulder. Cadance said, "That's very sweet of you Twilight. But you don't have to save me all by yourself."

Her horn glowed pink, and a shield of love erupted from Cadance's horn to spread out all around her. "We'll save me together!"

The miasma of dark magic roared in pain as Cadance's shield struck home, and together the power of the two princesses bore it upwards and upwards and─

***

Cadance gasped as the foul magic oozed out of her and puddled on the floor. It lay there, groaning, for a moment; then it sank through the floor and the to the depths.

"Whoa nelly," Applejack murmured. "What it tarnation was that?"

Twilight took several deep, calming breaths. She looked into Cadance's eyes, now once more as wise and kind as she remembered, "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake,"

"Tap your hooves and do a little shake," Cadance finished. "Yes, I'm back. Thank you."

"Get well soon party!" Pinkie shouted.

"Um, Pinkie, the battle is still going on outside," Fluttershy said.

"Oh shoot, those zebras are such buzzkills."

Twilight giggled, "Come on. There's somepony else you need to see."

***

Fighting raged in the streets of Canterlot. The heavy horse of the Royal Guard, in serried ranks and armour a-gleaming, forced back the zebra peltasts and the buffalo warriors. The Grevyian forces were lightly equipped, few of them possessing armour, and so the guard, presenting a phalanx of spearpoints to the foe, were able to take the advantage in the tight quarters of the city streets and roll like a relentless steamroller over any opposition the Grevyians could muster.

"Keep up the pressure," Shining Armour yelled, gesturing forwards. "Push them all the way to the gates." Some pegasus had pulled the Royal Standard off the roof of the palace, and was waving over the heads of the guard like a battle flag, the banner of the Two Sisters streaming in the night over their heads.

"Big brother!" Shining Armour turned at the familiar voice, to see Twilight standing at the bottom of the street, her friends all around her.

For a moment the breath caught in his throat. When he found his voice, it was a hoarse whisper, "Twily? You're okay?"

"I'm great," Twilight said. "And I'm not the only pony whose gotten all better." She stepped aside, and Cadance walked out into the street.

Shining Armour could only stare at her. Her eyes, her lovely pink eyes, they were not empty any more.

She was his Cadance again. Twilight had brought her back to him.

"Lancer, take command," Shining Armour had barely enough self control to say it before he began to run.

He ran as fast as he had ever run in his life, and hang his injured leg. Cadance was running too, running towards him. There was no battle, there was no Canterlot, there was only Cadance and himself, running together through an empty void.

"Cadance!"

"Shining Armour!"

He reached her, picking her up in his forehooves and twirling her around in the air as he laughed with joy.

"You're okay. You're okay!" he yelled, liquid joy leaking from his eyes.

"I am, I really am I'm here," Cadance kissed him, a deep kiss like the purest form of ecstasy. "I'm here and I'll never leave you again."

Shining Armour put down his wife, nuzzling her and burying his face in her shoulder, "I'm so, I'm so, I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered.

"Backs straight and heads up lads, we're under the eyes of the captain's good lady," Lancer shouted. "We have to put on a show."

Shining Armour snorted as he pulled out of his embrace with Cadance to look his little sister in the eye, "Twily, I─"

"We'll talk later, okay," Twilight said gently. "Right now, I think it's time that this family started kicking flank!"

***

Lord Mathos stood on one of the many balconies of Canterlot palace, attended by six warriors of the Kuj'to M'fu'pakir, watching the ruin of his house and the doom of his expedition.

He was losing this battle.

The pony guard had rallied their forces. In the city they were pressing his troops out towards the edges of the city. Inside the palace, the Grevyians were being squeezed from both top and bottom. And the ponies, the soft city ponies who should have been helpless before his plains-hardened warriors and hunters, had formed into a mob under the leadership of the impudent Breaking Dawn and were hounding his forces from the water to the bush.

He could see it all from his vantage point: the grevyian battle lines being shattered, zebras and buffalo retreating, his forces utterly outclassed in the street to street fighting. He had not considered what a disadvantage not being able to see the foe from a great distance would be upon the warriors of his house. He had only to look up to see those bat-winged abominations sweeping his forces from the top of the palace, their unnatural alicorn Luna among them. He could see the armour of the more heavily equipped pony forces glinting. He could see their unicorn magic cutting through his troops. Only the Kuj'to M'fu'pakir were having any effect against the pony mages, and that but limited success only.

In the normal course of circumstances he would say it was inevitable that, when the sun rose again, Canterlot would be securely in pony hands.

Of course, he did have the power to make it so that the sun never rose again upon this land.

"Exalted one," a zebra warrior burst into the room. "Captain Muttines sends word that the ponies have taken the Astronomy Tower. They are closing in."

Lord Mathos nodded, "Run to Princess Celestia's chamber. Tell Jugurtha that he is to kill the sun princess rather than allow her to be released." Let their victory turn to ashes, let their joy turn to cries of pain and anguish, let all they love be taken from them. As it has been taken from me.

"Most High One," his bodyguard said. "We must flee this place while you yet can."

"Flee? Where shall I flee to?" Mathos asked sadly. "This is the end. The ruin of House Aethiope is nigh." Adonabaal, I am sorry.

The faces of his bodyguards were impassive, "Will you die here then, Lord?"

Mathos chuckled, turning into laughter, "No. No I shall not die by pony spears, or be thrown into a pony gaol where I may that the Emperor has disavowed me and thrown me to the mercy of Princess Luna. I shall burn, and all of Canterlot shall be my funeral pyre. Come with me."

"We are ever at your command, lord." the bodyguard said.

His six warriors followed him like shadows as he moved down through the sections of the palace that were still under Grevyian control. Breaking Dawn did not know that he had learned of her plan. The plan she had been too weak, too cowardly to proceed with. But learn of it he had through the talents of his scryers, and he had remembered it in case of a disaster such as this.

The ponies may win the day, and overthrow House Aethiope, but much good it would do them when they had no Sun Princess, and no capital city either.

He reached the very lowest levels of the palace, the entrance to the mines beneath the city. He had had the area scouted a little already. He knew the way, in part.

Lord Mathos turned to his bodyguards, "Hold here and delay pursuit. Wait for me, till haply I return."

The leader of the six nodded, "When does duty end?"

"Only in death." the other guards chorused. They arrayed themselves in a defensive formation.

Mathos had no fear of pursuit as he entered into the dark.

Long whiles he wandered through the depths of those forgotten mines, careful not to mask the noise of his approach. In fact he made as much as noise as possible. He wanted the demon that dwelled here to know that he was coming.

And at last, passing through flooded delvings and collapsed pits, leaping over chasms whose bridges had long since decayed, crossing quickly through the ancient halls of kings dead and decayed, he found what he was looking for.

The ancient demon of shadow and flame, trapped in slumber in pony magic.

Its mighty form was dark, the fires extinguished. Two great wings were wrapped around a powerful body. Horns protruded from its head. Smoke emerged from its nostrils as it snored.

"You cannot be the instrument of my victory, but you may at least avenge my defeat," Mathos murmured. "In the name of Grevyia, Most Ancient, Most August, I bid thee awaken!" he tossed a phial of green potion at the creature, a phial which shattered on the demon's face with the force of a small explosion.

For a moment, there was only silence in the abandoned mines. Then, with a trembling of the earth and a mighty roar of anger, the balrog woke. Its wings unfurled, its red eyes opened, its body rippled with fire beneath the skin.

The balrog woke, and looked down upon Lord Mathos of the House Aethiope as a god might look upon an ant.

The demon roared. A sword of fire appeared in its hand.

Lord Mathos' last thoughts were for his wife and children.

***

Breaking Dawn turned to her friends, as her makeshift army routed yet another force of zebras.

"I have to go," Dawn said. "I need to get to the palace."

"Right now?" Hardy asked.

"She's back," Dawn answered. "Twilight Sparkle. I need to get to Celestia before she does or all of this will be meaningless." She smiled, "Relax guys, next time you see me I'll be at the right hoof of the Princess."

Razor grinned encouragingly, "Go get 'em, tiger."

Dawn nodded, "Thank you, all of you. I couldn't have done it without you girls." She whooped for joy, "It's time to fulfil my destiny!" she teleported in a flash of golden light.

She reappeared, in a similar golden flash, in Princess Celestia's bed chamber. She had been there but a few times, but the location was so engraved upon her heart she could have found the way from Hoofington if she had had the magical juice to teleport that far. Dawn landed on all fours, the gasps of surprise matching her own gasp for breath.

Then she looked up.

Sitting in the middle of the room, stripped bare of all her finery but with a glimmering golden bridle placed about her mouth and neck like some kind of sick muzzle for a dumb beast, sat Princess Celestia. She could not speak, the brutes had pulled the bridle too tight for that. In her eyes, her gorgeous purple eyes, was a look Breaking Dawn had never wanted to see in the eyes of her beloved Princess, a look worse than the disapproval she had shown to Dawn at her expulsion.

Powerlessness.

Dawn scowled, looking around the room at the astonished zebras, "You did this? You dared to trespass upon one who is so much your better as a dragon to a dragonfly? I should kill you all you wretched savages!"

Jugurtha bared his teeth in a vicious snarl, "Your usefulness has come to an end. Kill her, kill them both."

Dawn cast a golden shield around Celestia, "No harm will come to Princess Celestia while I live."

"Then you will die first," Jugurtha said.

Two zebras leapt upon her from behind, spears raised for the downward thrust.

Dawn smirked, and cast her blinding spell, a golden light that burned so bright it blinded everypony in a room but her. The zebras cried out, missed her and landed on the ground covering their eyes. Dawn's horn blazed near as bright as the sun as thirty three magical darts fired near enough at once into all corners of the room. Celestia's bedchamber was rent with explosions and cries of pain. When the light spell wore off, only one zebra remained upon his feet. Jugurtha.

"Congratulations on dodging my attacks while blind," Dawn said. "You're good."

"And you are powerful in your magic," Jugurtha replied. He leapt at her with blinding speed, spear weaving. "But power is useless if you cannot keep up with your opponent!"

Dawn retreated, using every bit of speed and stamina she had to keep one step ahead of that spear which moved with pinpoint precision and lightning speed. Jugurtha's expression was cold, purposeful but not angry. He did not fight with his rage. He just fought. He drove Dawn back across the room, dodging frantically, only a step ahead. He wounded her on the shoulder, his spear grazing her golden coat. He pinned her against the wall.

Jugurtha screamed in Grevyian as he thrust for her heart.

Dawn teleported behind him. Jugurtha froze, half turning towards her. Dawn fired a golden beam right for the middle of his back.

The wall to the chamber exploded, blinding Dawn in the dust and the debris. When the smoke cleared, Jugurtha had a wound down his left side. It made him breathe heavily, but he could still move.

"You really are fast," Dawn murmured. "Not fast enough."

Jugurtha glared at her for a moment, then ran. He did not attack her again, but ran past her, through the doorway and out of Celestia's room. His running hoofbeats echoed down the hall.

Dawn made sure he was gone out of sight before dropping the shield around Princess Celestia.

"It's all right Princess," Dawn said, smiling as she approached her beloved teacher. "It's okay. I'm here now. Dawn's here and everything's gonna be just fine. Everything is going to be fine." She removed the golden bridle from Celestia ─ how dare they muzzle her like a dog! ─ and threw it on the fire where it belonged.

She turned to face Princess Celestia, a beaming smile upon her face ─ and was immediately hit with a full body bind that wrapped her up in golden ropes that would not break.

"You come here," Princess Celestia seethed, her voice quivering with anger. "You dare to speak to me thus, to show your face to me after what you have done?"

"Princess Celestia," Dawn said, squirming as the magic held her in the air. "It's me, it's Breaking Dawn." This is a misunderstanding. She thinks I'm somepony else, or she's forgotten who I am and thinks me impertinent, that's all this is.

"I know who you are Dawn," Celestia shouted. "I know what you have done. I know everything. How you poisoned my niece Cadance, how you have hunted, wounded and betrayed Twilight Sparkle. Where is she? What have you done to my student."

Her she calls 'my student', me she does not seem to remember at all. "I did nothing. I left her out of the city, trapped but safe. I meant no harm to her as I meant no lasting harm to Princess Cadance. I did only what you asked of me."

"I asked," Celestia said in tones of utter incredulity.

"When you cast me out of your school you said that you and I might meet again if I could prove myself worthy," Dawn said, smiling. "I figured out what you meant. It was a test, your last test to see if I really was ready to fulfil my destiny. I had to triumph over absolute adversity. You wanted to see if I really had what it took to rise from nothing to the very pinnacle of success. It took me a while but I finally realised it. And I did it Princess! I had nothing, absolutely nothing at all. But with hard work and a little help from my friends I won everything. I defeated Twilight Sparkle, I got into court. I've gotten here, and now I'm with you. And that means I pass, and things can go back to the way they were...right?" Hold me close the way you used too.

Celestia's eyes were wide with shock. Slowly she lowered Dawn, still bound by magic, to the floor. The Princess said, "Oh Dawn, I am so sorry. I did not do right by you."

Breaking Dawn blinked, "Princess Celestia, I don't understand." My dream, my dream showed that I would fulfil my destiny, that I would be adored by all ponies. How can this be happening?

"Breaking Dawn, when I said those things I never," Celestia shook her head, "I never intended for you do what you have done. I meant for you to find your own path in life, become successful in a field of your choice."

"A field of my choice?" Dawn repeated. "A field of my choice? Something not as glamorous as saving Equestria, obviously."

"Every endeavour is equally meaningful so long as you put your heart into it," Celestia said.

"No it isn't!" Dawn yelled. "That's just what ponies say to make themselves feel better. 'Oh sure, I work in a life insurance office making seven bits an hour but my work is every bit as important as raising the sun!' You told me that I would be more than that, that I was better than that. There were promises made between you and me, Princess."

"I was mistaken," Celestia whispered.

"Mistaken," Dawn's eyes were filling with tears now, tears of anger and sorrow intermingled. She wanted to lash out with magic and strike at Celestia. She wanted to embrace her as a daughter embracing a mother. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she wanted to fight, she wanted to collapse in a heap. "I got fired from every job I ever had because you filled my head with talk about my greatness, my destiny. You made me think I was so awesome I was too good for anywhere that would employ me, too good to take orders from anypony. And now you tell me you made a mistake and it was all a bunch of horse manure."

Celestia was weeping too, crystal tears falling down her glowing white cheek, "I cannot apologise enough for what I did to you, Breaking Dawn. It was wrong of me to put so much weight upon a filly so young. I used you, and when I could not use you how I wanted I set you aside with undue haste. All your failures as a student may be laid at my feet as your teacher."

"No, no Princess don't blame yourself," Dawn said. "I hate to see you sad, don't cry. But, but why couldn't you use me? I wouldn't have cared what it was you asked me to do. I love you, I am your most loyal servant, the most faithful pony in all of Equestria. I would have died for you had you commanded it. I told you that I would do anything to stay by your side, so why couldn't you use me."

"Because you are not the pony that I thought you were."

"But Twilight Sparkle, she is," Dawn demanded. "What makes her so much better than I am? I have as many friends as she does. I am as charismatic as she is, more I think. I understand friendship, harmony, courage, generosity as well as she does. She's a little more powerful than I am, but that shouldn't matter should it? What makes us different, and her better."

Celestia bowed her head, closing her eyes, "I learned from the mistakes I made with you. Twilight was ignorant of her destiny, lived her life not knowing the plans I had for her. And thus she was not corrupted by her position, by the power she would wield. She never grew arrogant, as you did."

"That's it?" Dawn shouted. "I am condemned for a fault not my own."

"You are condemned entirely for faults your own, Dawn," Celestia said, her voice growing cold and stern. "As a student you were vain, lazy, disrespectful to your professors and disdainful of your fellow students. And now, as a grown mare, you have grown vicious and cruel. What you did to Cadance, whatever your intentions to reverse it, whatever your motives, your actions these past weeks have been absolutely unforgiveable.
"You have disappointed me in ways I never believed possible Dawn. As much as I regret my failure to better help the filly that you were, the mare that filly has grown up to become disgusts me."

"No," Dawn sobbed, sobs that were childlike in their broken-heartedness. "No, this isn't how it's supposed to be. This isn't what I was promised. I had a dream, a dream. I'd save you, then you'd embrace me like the old days, and make me a princess and..." Dawn's tears fell heavily upon the crimson carpet. "All I wanted was to be great, to shine, to be loved by you. Was that so terrible a dream to chase?"

"Only when you sought to rise at the expense of others," Celestia said.

Dawn screwed her eyes tight shut, "What will happen to my friends?"

"They will be put on trial for their part in your plot," Celestia said.

"And I?"

"You will─" Celestia was interrupted by a mighty roar, loud as the screaming of all the souls in Tartarus, erupting from within the bowels of the earth itself. Then there was a shuddering of the ground, then the mountainside exploded amidst fire and smoke.

The balrog was loose.

Celestia strode to the balcony and gasped in horror, "It cannot be."

"Princess?" Dawn looked up, squirming against the body-bind.

"The balrog," Celestia murmured. "The balrog is free!"

They knew. The zebras they found out somehow. This is their revenge.

"Princess Celestia," Dawn pleaded. "Let me go and I can save Canterlot, I promise."
Celestia's head whipped round to fix on Dawn, "The Elements, Dawn, the Elements of Harmony, where are they?"

"Safe with my friends, please," Dawn said. "Let me go. I can do this. All I'm asking for is my chance. Is that so much to ask?" Once I do this you'll have to accept you, you'll just have to.

"I don't have time to play games with you, Breaking Dawn," Princess Celestia snapped. "The Elements are linked to Twilight Sparkle and her friends, only they can wield them."

"You can't know for certain if you don't let me try," Dawn shouted. "Please, let me prove myself to you."

"I cannot take the risk with something this important," Celestia's voice rose. "Now where are the Elements of Harmony?"

Dawn closed her eyes, gathering up all of the magic at her disposal, compressing it, forcing it down her horn but not releasing it, not yet. She held it in readiness.

"I am sorry, Princess Celestia, but I must disobey you just once more," Dawn said. Her magic exploded out of her in a torrent, the powerful pulse disrupting Celestia's body-bind spell. In that instant of freedom, Dawn teleported away, letting her connection with her friends guide her to them. She landed panting in their midst, as the balrog roared above the city.

"What did you do, Dawn?" Hardy demanded "What did you do?"

"This is not my fault," Dawn insisted. "I promised I wouldn't wake the stupid thing up and I didn't. The zebras must have found out somehow and loosed it on us as their last shriek in defeat."

She looked around, meeting their eyes each one in turn, "Come on. I made you all a promise, didn't I? Do you really I'd lie to you like that?"

Laurel shook her head, "No. You never would."

"That's right I wouldn't," Dawn said firmly. "I didn't start this fire, but together we can stop it using the Elements of Harmony. If we don't, then all of Canterlot could be destroyed."

"Well that gives us a wide range of options, doesn't it?" Hardy remarked.

"Are we all agreed?" Dawn asked. One by one her friends all nodded. "Good. Then let's seize our fate! Razor, have you got the Elements?"

"Right here, Dawny."

"Okay, here we are: necklace," Hardy Bloom, Element of Honesty, "necklace," Cherry Blossom, Element of Kindness, "necklace," Hard Candy, Element of Laughter, "necklace," Laurel, Element of Generosity, "necklace," Razor Wind, Element of Loyalty, "big crown thingy," Breaking Dawn, Element of Magic. Soon Canterlot will resound to the sound of my name. Dawn was certain of it, as certain as she was of the element's weight upon her head. Her dream had promised as much.

"Are you ready?"

"I guess," Cherry Blossom murmured.

"Don't be afraid," Dawn touched her on the shoulder. "Everything will be just fine, I promise. Now follow me."

She led her friends up to the seventh circle, the highest level in Canterlot. The balrog, thrashing and raging, loomed above them, casting a shadow over the whole city. Its wings were spread from peak to peak, shadowy and insubstantial seeming things, so that Dawn was hard pressed to say it they were really there or not. A flaming sword was in the demon's right hand, a blazing whip in its left. Fire raged under the creature's skin.

"Hey, you up there!" Dawn yelled. "Yes, you, big ugly. If you think you're going to wreck our town, you can think again. Because we're going to stop you! That's right, the Elements of Harmony are going to blow you away. Get ready girls." Dawn channeled a trickle of magic into the Element of Magic, the spark that would ignite them all unleash their fury on this balrog.

Nothing happened.

Dawn scowled, pumping more magic into the gem in the centre of her crown.

Nothing happened.

"Dawny," Hardy cringed as the balrog roared in their direction.

"Come on," Dawn funnelled more and more of her magic into the Element of Magic, pouring her power into it. "Come on work, curse you."

Dawn poured her power into the crown, felt a spark, then screamed in pain.

Magic poured out of the crown and into Dawn's body, wracking it, convulsing it. To her friends, it looked as though Breaking Dawn's body rippled with lightning. Dawn felt as though her eyes would melt, as though her back would break, as though she would spasm around so much she would snap every bone in her body. It felt as though she was being rearranged from the inside out. And all she could was keep screaming.

So you are the pony who sought to gain the powers of Harmony? Arrogant fool, did you truly think yourself worthy?

Yes, Dawn did not think the answer so much as it was dragged from her mind, torn from out amongst the pain and the confusion and the constant yelling. Dimly, she could hear her friends crying out, asking what was happening to her. But all she really hear was the voice in her head.

Then you are as stupid as you are over-proud. One such as you, who creeps and crawls and strikes from the shadows, will never be fit to embody Harmony.

But, you called out to me, I heard you singing...

A siren song, to lure those who would seek me out of the desire for power or fame. My true bearer hears nothing from me, for I am nothing to her but a means to protect that which is truly precious.

Dawn started yelling even louder as she felt her skin being torn apart, demonic wings erupting from her back, claws sprouting from her hooves. The pain was like a zebra crucifixion.

What's happening to me?

You are being punished for your hubris. You will wear your soul upon the outside now.

No, please. I was supposed to be great, known throughout the land.

You will be. As a cautionary tale.

"Get it off her, get it off!" Candy's yelling was muffled as though by water.

Dawn could dimly feel Razor's hooves upon her head, even through the distance and distortion she could hear the pain in Razor's voice, "It won't come, it's like its fused to her head or something."

She felt Cherry's touch but dimly as the pegasus hugged, "Please Dawny, please stop. Come back to us. You don't have to hurt. You don't have to suffer alone because we're all here."

Is this hurting them?

Only when they touch you.

Do whatever you like to me but you can't hurt them, they don't deserve it.

Then make them let go.

"Let go," Dawn croaked through her agony. "Get away."

"No can do sunshine," Razor growled through gritted teeth as lightning lashed her hooves and forelegs. "I'm coming away with this crown or not at all."

"You can't leave us Dawny, we need you," Laurel pleaded. "You make us more than what we are, you always did."

"We already lost you once, we can't lose you again," Candy said.

"Please Dawn, if our friendship means anything like as much to you as it does to us," Hardy said.

Your friends are worthier than you yourself. Be thankful for them.

The pain lessened. Dawn found she could stop screaming as she felt her body returning to its normal pony state. The lightning all around her died down and vanished. Razor, hauling upon the Magic Crown, flew backwards, bounced along the ground and let the crown slip from her scorched hooves to fly away into the night.

Breaking Dawn collapsed in a heap on the ground, crying.

They were right all along. Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, all of them. It never was my destiny at all. They were right, and I was so wrong.

"What do we do now?" Hardy asked. "Dawn, what happens next?"

"I don't know," Dawn confessed for the first time since her mad scheme began. "I've no idea where to go from here."

***

The guard faltered at the sound of the demon's roar. Ponies looked from one to another anxiously, and looked to their leaders only to find them as confused and clueless as the rank and file.

"What is that thing?"

"Big trouble."

"What do we do now?"

The demon roared again, brandishing its sword as it perched atop the mountain like some ancient god of darkness about to rain down terror on those below. With a thud and a thump, it began to descend the mountain towards the city.

"Celestia's grace protect us," Lancer murmured. He closed his eyes for a moment, and gripped his spear tight. There were times when a guardspony must take his life in his own hooves.

"Reform the line facing north," he shouted loud enough for everypony to hear him. "Three ranks, lances levelled. Prepare to advance on my command at a brisk trot."

"You want to charge that thing?" Uhlan asked, aghast.

"Have you got a better suggestion?" Lancer demanded.

"But most of our troops are still tied down fighting zebras on the city outskirts."

"They can stay there. We'll have to do the job with what we have. Prince Shining Armour, you've done a grand job but I think it's time for you to retire again. Get your wife and sister someplace safe."

"I'm coming with you," Shining Armour declared.

"Don't be a fool boy, you've a family to think of," Lancer growled. "Princess Twilight, kindly talk some sense into your brother."

"He's right, we should come with you," Twilight said.

"I said I would charge your enemies to let you escape ma'am, I said nothing about letting you charge with me," Lancer said briskly. "Ponies of the guard, form up! And I see anypony flag or falter let's just say you won't have to worry about any fire demon by the time I'm finished with you."

"There will be no need for that, captain," Princess Celestia glided through the night to land in the midst of her faithful guards. Clad in all her royal raiment, she glowed brighter than the moon in the midst of all the war-torn darkness.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight cried. "You're okay"

Celestia smiled fondly as she craned her neck to nuzzle Twilight Sparkle, "I am more glad to see you well again, Twilight Sparkle, than I am to have been freed from the treachery of Grevyia. I have a task for you, my faithful student, and for all of you my brave ponies. Gather the people, and begin to evacuate them out of Canterlot."

Near everypony gasped. Twilight said, "Evacuate Canterlot? But─"

"I am Equestria's Sun Princess and I will defend my subjects and my city as best I can," Celestia said. "But if I should fail, I will not have my little ponies harmed."

Lancer began, "Your Highness, you should not─"

"You have your orders, captain," Celestia said gently. "I must do this. I am the only one who can." She flapped her wings and rose into the sky, "I am so very proud of all of you."

***

Celestia's wings hummed as they beat through the air, carrying her closer and closer to the balrog. Shimmering white, she was as a diamond in a tar pit against the balrog's shadowy mass, or a star hovering above a black hole.

She flew high enough that she and the balrog were eye to eye, though either one of its blazing orbs was larger than Celestia herself.

"This far," Celestia said, her voice nearly cold enough to chill the balrog's flames to ashes. "And no further."

The balrog tilted its head curiously before roaring into her face. It's breath was hot as white flame.

"So long as I am princess," Celestia declared, "you shall not harm a hair on any pony's head. Begone!" She fired a golden beam of magic from her horn, striking the demon in the middle of its chest. The balrog howled, and staggered back against the mountainside. Celestia kept up the pressure, giving the beam everything she had.

The balrog's howl of pain turned to a howl of triumph, and it overcome the pressure of Celestia's magic to take a striding pace forward. It swung its flaming sword towards her. Celestia dived to avoid the blow - the sword was as large as her palace was tall - firing magical bolts at the balrog as she did so. They dissipated on its burning skin without leaving a blister. Celestia swooped and turned like a swallow on the wind, flying upwards now, sending her magical darts towards the balrog's eyes. Not a single one struck home but erupted harmlessly upon that shadowy face.

Maybe if I get closer, Celestia thought, flying upwards and upwards. I cannot let my subjects down again.

The demon growled, and jerked his flaming whip towards her. The burning ribbon flew towards Celestia─

And was deflected by a blast of dark blue magic which knocked it in the opposite direction.

"Sister, I am insulted!" Luna glided through the night to halt, hovering, at Celestia's side. "Did you think to fight this beast alone? 'Tis unlike you to be so monstrously selfish."

"You should leave the city, Luna," Celestia said. "No matter what befalls Canterlot, Equestria must always have a princess."

Luna snorted, "If the court must move to Ponyville then let Twilight Sparkle rule. Let her do governance from her library while seated atop a throne of books." She smiled at the image, "It would suit her I think. For myself, have you ever known me run from battle?"

"Never," Celestia said. She smiled, "I will be glad of the company, little sister."

The two princesses regarded the demon evenly.

"Not very pleasing to the eye, is it," Luna observed.

"Not at all," Celestia replied.

Luna smirked, "Just like old times, eh sister? LET US SMITE WITH THE FURY OF A THOUSAND SUNS!"

The two alicorns sped into battle, weaving around each other as they fired at speed upon the demon of shadow and flame. I have missed this, Celestia realised as she dodged a blow from the balrog's sword. I have missed flying into battle with you, Luna. It was the least of the things she had missed during the thousand years of Luna's banishment, but now that they were together again she now realised how long it had been since their last battle: too long. Sombra, Discord, Pelinore, Titan, Typhoeus, we lived in those days little sister did we not? We lived upon the sharp edge of the knife yet still we lived.

The demon raised its arms, covering its face from Celestia and Luna's attacks. The two princesses turned away, each curving in a different direction: Celestia to the left and Luna to the right. As they turned their back upon it the balrog raised its sword to strike-

Two bolts, one of pink and one of lavender, struck the demon between the eyes. The balrog staggered back three paces, moaning in confusion.

"Mind if we butt in?" Cadance smirked, as she and Twilight hovered in the air together, their horns aglow. Twilight smiled meekly.

The balrog leapt forward, swinging its sword down upon the four princesses. The flaming blade struck a lavender shield, making a sound like the ringing of a mighty gong.

"Thank you darling, that was perfect," Cadance shouted down.

Down below, Shining Armour winked up at his wife.

***

In the streets of Canterlot, Twilight's friends watched the battle with the balrog unfold from a distance. The four alicorns swooped and dived about the balrog, casting their most powerful spells at it, while Shining Armour covered them with his shield. But their magic only slowed the demon, they could not stop him, and it was continuing to advance inexorably towards Canterlot.

"We can't just sit here and do nothing," Rainbow Dash shouted.

"Without the Elements of Harmony ah don't know there's much we can do," Applejack said. "Ah mean, are we gonna buck its legs till it collapses."

Rarity sighed, "Without the Elements, we're pretty much dead weight to Twilight I fear."

"No we're not!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "We're her friends, and the least we can do is be there for her."

"Um, I agree with Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy murmured. "Even if there isn't anything we can do, I think it would be a comfort for her to know that we're there for her."

Pinkie Pie and Rarity both nodded their agreement. Applejack said, "Ah guess y'aint wrong about that. And we already know we make a good cheerin' section."

"And if nothing else, we can always roast marshmallows on its toes!" Pinkie said as he bounced in the demon's direction.

"Pinkie," Rainbow Dash sighed.

"What?"

***

Twilight gasped for breath as she backed away from the implacable fire demon. The balrog's power level is off the charts. It's shrugging off our strongest attacks like they're nothing at all.

She looked around. Celestia, Luna and Cadance all looked tired from the strain of the battle. Shining Armour looked near worn out by having to maintain a shield against such powerful blows as the balrog could deliver. Nopony looked like they had enough left to give that they damage a beast that had taken their best already and kept on coming.

I don't think we're gonna win this one.

"Twilight!"

Twilight looked down to see her friends gathered below, not far from Shining Armour. Twilight glided down to them, "What are you girls doing here?"

"We know we can't help you fight this fight, sugarcube, but we wanted you to know you ain't alone," Applejack said.

Twilight smiled, "That's really sweet of you girls, but you need to get out of here. I couldn't bear it if any of you got hurt and right now I can't promise I can protect you."

Rainbow Dash growled, "This sucks! If only we had the Elements of Harmony."

"Yeah, then-" Twilight stopped, a spark appearing in her eye with a fizzling sound. "That's it! The Elements! We do have the Elements of Harmony!"

The others looked at like she was mad. Applejack said carefully, "Uh, Twilight, you remember the elements were stolen, right?"

"The physical forms of the Elements were stolen," Twilight said. "But they were never really important anyway. Don't you remember the night of Nightmare Moon's return? Nightmare Moon destroyed the five Elements but we brought them back because the Elements were in our hearts the entire time. That's where they've always been, we were just too hung up on necklaces and tiaras to see it. So long as we're together, so long as we hold true to our friendship, then the Elements of Harmony will never be far away!" Twilight and her friends were suffused with light, surrounded by it, gripped by its power as the light surrounded them and lifted them up into the air. A rainbow ribbon danced around, connecting the six of them, joining them together as a great rainbow erupted from out of the midst of the six ponies and struck the balrog in its chest. The balrog roared and bellowed, flinching and squirming against the greatest magic known to ponykind.

"Now!" Celestia yelled as she, Luna, Cadance and Shining Armour attacked with whatever magic they had left to give. The balrog's shadows were all burned away, the demon's flames were all put out. The balrog was consumed with light that struck it hard against the mountainside, and then the great beast was turned to nought but ashes, which blew away and were seen no more.

When Twilight opened her eyes, she and her friends were wearing the Elements of Harmony once more.

"Well done, Twilight, well done," Celestia said. "You truly are a remarkable princess. We could not have done it without you."

"And I couldn't have done it without all my friends," Twilight said.

"Indeed," Celestia acknowledged.

"What's that sound?" Rainbow Dash asked of the rising tide of babble they could hear.

It was the sound of all of Canterlot cheering its salvation.

"Hooray for Princess Celestia!"

"Celestia and Luna!"

"Twilight Sparkle! Twilight Sparkle!"

Soon all of Canterlot took up the cry, "Twilight Sparkle! Twilight Sparkle!" the whole city reverberating to the sound of her name, the newest princess being lifted by the love of the commons and rendered more immortal than Celestia by their love and honour.

***

Breaking Dawn heard the cheering and despaired, So that was what my dream meant after all. It was always Twilight Sparkle that the crowd adored, and in triumphing over me she has turned me into just another trophy of her greatness.

"She is a better pony that I am," Dawn murmured.

"What?" Razor asked, leaning down, but Dawn did not repeat herself.

"I think we ought to get out of here," Hardy said.

"You all go, I'm staying here," Dawn said.

"What, why?" Razor demanded. "They're going to come for you, you have to run."

"I played the game and I lost," Dawn declared. "I have to face the consequences of my arrogance. When even the magic jewellery tells you that suck perhaps its time to take notice. Besides, where and what am I going to run too? I blew my shot, a shot I never deserved in the first place. What should I now? Hope that the third time's a charm? But you five, nopony knows who you are, get out of here."

"You aren't going anywhere," a guards officer shouted, as guardsponies appeared from all directions to surround them. "Surrender now or we will use force."

"We surrender," Dawn shouted. "Nopony needs to get hurt."

Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle landed in front of their guards, both of them glaring at Breaking Dawn.

Dawn approached, hanging her head, "You were right, Your Highness, I wasn't the pony that I thought I was. You were right not to give me my chance. I ask only mercy for my friends. I will submit to any punishment you deem appropriate."

Princess Celestia did not reply. Only glaring down at her erstwhile student.

Dawn looked upon into the angry gaze of Twilight Sparkle. A sad smile crossed Dawn's face, "So, the better mare won. I hope you are happy, Princess Twilight."

Twilight snarled, "If I were to do the things that would make me happy you wouldn't walk out of here in one piece."

Dawn nodded, "In your place, I expect I'd feel the same."

"Breaking Dawn," Celestia pronounced. "You have committed heinous acts of treason and violent assault. Nothing can excuse the things that you have done. It is for this reason that I must─"

There was a jostling amongst the ranks of the guards as Jugurtha, his spear bloody, forced through their ranks to charge screaming for Twilight Sparkle. Both Twilight and Celestia were caught flat-footed by the arrival of the zebra warrior, his mask lowered, his speed winged. His warcry became louder as he thrust his spear at Twilight's breast.

There was a flash of gold as Dawn teleported Twilight out of the way and herself into Twilight's place. The spear pierced her flesh with a sickening squelch.

Dawn moaned in pain, and collapsed upon the groud.

The guard captain leapt forward. His first stroke knocked the spear from Jugurtha's hand. The second stroke made an end of him.

"Dawny, dawny!" Razor Wind tooks Dawn's hoof in her own burned hooves. "Dawny, talk to me."

"So cold," Dawn murmured.

Twilight Sparkle looked astonished, "Why?"

"Didn't do it for you," Dawn croaked, looking at Princess Celestia even as she coughed a harsh and rattling cough.

Celestia knelt down beside the injured mare, and Dawn hoped that in those last moments she saw not the grown mare who had come to disgust her but the adorable filly who had once so delighted her hours.

"Breaking Dawn," Celestia murmured.

Dawn managed to smile in spite of the pain, "I told you I would die if you willed it, Your Highness."

Celestia shook her head, "Oh Dawn."

"Can you save her, Highness," Razor asked, her eyes wide with desperation.

"No, I cannot," Celestia said solemnly. "But I can give you immortality Dawn, if you want it."

Dawn looked into her eyes and knew at once what the Princess meant, as the full meaning of her dream was finally revealed to her. If this is my fate. She nodded, "Very well. Razor, help me up."

Razor helped Dawn onto her feet, where she stood tall and proud facing the princess. She could withstand the pain for a little while, it would not do to spend eternity crouched prone and pained upon the floor.

"Dawny?" Razor whispered. "What are you doing?"

"Making my own choice, for the very first time," Dawn said. "I am ready, Princess Celestia."

Princess Celestia's face was grave as she leaned down, a spark of light at the very tip of her horn, and touched her horn to Breaking Dawn's.

The coldness in Dawn's wound was replaced by a coldness in her hind hooves, and spreading upwards, through her legs and up her body.

"Laurel," Dawn said. "Who was that philosopher who took poison, and kept talking even as she could feel it spreading up her body?"

"Sorreltes," Laurel murmured.

"Right. I thought it was," Dawn struck a noble posture, and allowed herself a small smile as the spell sped up her neck. Then it spread to her head, and across her face, and Breaking Dawn was turned to stone.

"Neither age, nor wounds nor sickness will ever trouble you," Celestia whispered. "Not even Twilight Sparkle is so fortunate."

Razor Wind had her head in her hooves, silently weeping. Laurel looked to be in shock. Cherry Blossom's mouth moved, but no words came out.

Hardy said, "I feel like somepony ought to say something. About Dawn. To sum her up, now that she's gone."

Hard Candy wiped tears from her eyes, "Her life was mountainous: the peaks of joy and riches mingled with the deepest vales of poverty and sorrow. Yet through all tribulations of fate, through all misfortunes she remained ever Breaking Dawn: proud as an eagle, brave as a lioness, righteous as a god, cruel as a dragon, vengeful as a timberwolf. And though in the brightest days she might into temptation fall, in darkest nights she'd blaze bright as a beacon of hope to all whom she took pity on. She was a unicorn, take all in all, whose like we shall not see again, and she was likely, had she been put on, to have proved most royal. Let all who knew her mourn the loss." Candy came to a halt, collapsing in a teary mess. Hardy moved to comfort her.

"It is well said," Celestia murmured.

Author's Note

Dawn's dream, which recurs throughout this chapter, is actually somewhat taken from Breaking Dawn's cameo in Dark Parable's excellent From the Outside In. Aside from finding it hilarious, the sequence reminded me a bit of Pompey's dream and I thought it would be a cool addition to this chapter. Go and read Outside In, you'll laugh I promise.

This chapter changed quite a bit in draughting and writing. Originally Dawn was going to release the balrog after Celestia rejected her, and after Twilight used the Elements of Harmony Dawn was going to try and kill her, leading to a fight in the next chapter in which Razor Wind would have died. I feel this version is truer to Dawn's character development, particularly in the last chapter.

Just a short epilogue to follow and then we're done.

Comes the Sunset

The sequel is out!

Comes the Sunset, the sequel to Vengeance of Dawn, has just been submitted for approval. You can find it here. I plan to take it in a bit of a different direction from this story, in ways that will hopefully become apparent as it goes along, and I really don't want it to seem like a rehash of this fic but with Sunset Shimmer as the villain so if you spot any of that please let me know.

Other than that, hopefully Comes the Sunset will seem a bit bigger than Vengeance, larger in scope, but most of all I hope that all of you who followed this fic to the end will go on to enjoy the sequel too.

1 chapter is up so far, and I'm already working on the second.