Twilight looked up to Ascentia and took a steadying breath before saying the hardest thing she would ever have to utter. Something she knew to be certain, despite that it was graving to think of it. But there was no ignoring the reality of the situation at hoof. Mind made up, the alicorn knew that there was no turning back.

“As a Princess of Equestra, the safety of the other ponies is my first priority,” she said, her voice shaking a little, “I need to have faith that Celestia can take care of herself.”

Twilight looked away from her, and Ascentia clearly knew why. Taking action away from Canterlot for even a moment was condemning her friend and mentor to death. A fact Ascentia clearly knew, based on the comforting grip she laid on her shoulder.

“We must hurry,” she said soothingly, “There is battle on the horizon.”

Twilight took a deep, steadying breath and nodded, before following Ascentia to the balcony to return to Equestria.

“Aiden and Dimeura will be meeting us there,” she said calmly, “They were posted there as sentries on my command. They will help you if you wish it.”

“Who are they?”

“Aiden is a skilled warrior, who recently passed his trial,” Ascentia replied, “Dimeura has only been among the order for a few years. She is my apprentice, and she has shown a remarkable aptitude for healing and medical care. She would be a valuable asset to you.”

Without waiting for a response, Ascentia gathered her energy and before Twilight knew it, they rocketed off into a swirling blue mass, streaking across thousands of light years in the space of a few seconds, before they found themselves on the Outskirts of Ponyville.

Twilight gaped at what she saw. The town was under heavy siege, a few buildings already having been knocked over as a party of Val'Kyr were setting up a large device in the town square. A feeling of pure dread and fear overtook her, to which she felt the heartbreak of seeing what was once repaired now crumble. Her heart sank, it felt hard to focus and take it all in, but she had to press on. She trembled ever slightly, though managed to keep her composure as best she could.

“What is that thing?” Twilight asked as she and Ascentia took cover behind a destroyed building. She tensed, looking around her, before relaxing ever slightly.

“The destruction of a planet it not a simple concept,” Ascentia explained, “If one were to simply destroy it with a shockwave or telekinesis, the resulting debris could fly off and damage other worlds.”

“How is that possible?”

“One of the laws of physics is that an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an opposing force,” Ascentia explained.

“Yes, I know this,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes.

“In the vacuum of space, there is no friction or drag of any kind since there is no gravity or air to speak of,” Ascentia continued, “So if a planet explodes, it's debris will fly out until it hits something. That could be another planet in the system, and asteroid, the star, or a spaceborn vessel thousands of light years away a hundred years from now. When you recklessly blow up a planet, you are ruining someone's day somewhere at sometime.”

“Dear sweet Celestia...” Twilight gaped at the revelation.

“Yes, Sir Issac Newton is the deadliest bastard in space,” Ascentia remarked as she took count of the Val'Kyr attending to the device.

“So what does that machine do?” Twilight asked.

“When networked with others across the planet, it with cause tremors to the very core, causing the planet to implode in on itself rather than explode outward. This way the lifeless rock that remains will stay within it's solar orbit,” Ascentia explained, “It takes a month to calibrate everything properly, so we have some time to end this war.”

Ascentia drew her blade with a flash of light. Twilight watched intently, awaiting to see what she might do to assess this situation.

“Twilight, you will have to search for survivors,” she said as she readied her weapon, “I will buy you time to do so.”

Without a word from the lavender alicorn, Ascentia crept out from her cover and up to the Val'Kyr tending to the device, slamming her blade into the back of one and grabbing the neck of the other in her arm and snapping it with a jerk of her shoulder. Spinning on her heel, she drove her boot into the chest of the third, pulling her sword from the first and spinning again to cut along the throat of the last, before finally killing the one kicked to the ground.

“Well buck me, we don't need an army. We just need couple dozen of you,” Twilight said in surprise as she looked over the carnage.

“There will be time for flattery later,” Ascentia replied dismissively, “Find your friends.”

Twilight nodded eagerly before running off into Ponyville.

“And now, let us see what you are up to...” Ascentia murmured as she started adjusting the machine in front of her.

Many of the ponies of Ponyville were overjoyed to see Princess Twilight ease them out of their hiding places, telling them that she would take them to the Crystal Empire, where it was safe. Some even began to cry and throw themselves at Twilight's feet in adoration, something she found both flattering and unsettling.

What in Equestria happened here?, she thought as she gathered more and more ponies from their hiding places to tell them it was safe to leave. It dreaded her to think of what had happened and what could later happen if this continued. She swallowed, hard, a cold shiver running up her spine.

This was not turning out well.

Not everyone was safe. Twilight had discovered the body of Cheerilee in the schoolhouse, alongside Sweetie Belle and Pipsqueak. Twilight's best guess was blunt force trauma to the skull. It took all of her self control to leave their bodies there, for fear of the added weight putting the survivors in danger.

Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, and Applebloom were unwilling to leave their farm, but when they saw Ascentia fry two Val'Kyr in the distance Twilight had managed to convince them to come with her. As well, the news that Applejack was safe in the Crystal Empire was a heartwarming thought.

I can't save everypony... I have to remember that... I can save only who I can... Just because I couldn't doesn't mean I should give up... Twilight told herself, despite her trembling body.

It was almost too much to take, considering the past events. She took a breath, knowing she had to move along. It took a lot to get her body to keep moving, but the process felt like it took no time at all. She continued forward, knowing she had to. With her resolve in mind, she trekked along.

I'll help who I can, I won't let anything else happen to them! Never. I'm not going to back down or fail them. Not before, not this time!

Before long, Twilight had recovered everypony she could find, and was leading them out of Ponyville under the cover of Ascentia's battle with her fellow Val'Kyr. However, the escape was only met with disaster when Princess Luna dropped down in front of her, and incredulous look on her face.

“Twilight Sparkle... you lied to us!” she snarled, tears brimming into her eyes.

“Princess, please,” Twilight begged, “I had to come here to look for survivors. It's our duty as-”

“Do not speak to me of duty, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna snarled, advancing upon her, “Would you have done the same if it was Captain Armor? Would you have left him to die?”

Before Twilight could respond, Ascentia approached from behind, “You and I both know she would not.”

Luna whipped around, enraged at the sight of a Val'Kyr, and launched a powerful blast of dark energy from her horn directly at Ascentia's chest... which she deflected off the blade of her sword and shoved Luna aside.

“Is this everyone, Twilight?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Take them and Luna back to the Crystal Empire,” she replied, “I will go to Canterlot alone and search for Celestia.”

“I'm going with you!” Twilight demanded, furious at the idea of letting her go alone.

“Your ponies will need their Princess,” Ascentia replied, turning away, “They cannot afford to lose you.”

Twilight opened her mouth to argue, but conceded. Ascentia was right. She was a leader, not a warrior. She couldn't do everything nor be everywhere at once. Leading was not the same as fighting; most especially since her duty was to lead her friends to safety above all else.

She looked all around her, determination rising within her heart. If she couldn't fight to save them, she could at least lead to protect them.

Ascentia's boots landed with a crunch onto the rubble of Canterlot. It was a grisly sight with many of the structures destroyed beyond all reason. The very air itself seemed to freeze still in shock, as every footstep she took echoed into the distance.

It was not long before she happened upon a sight she wished she would not have to find. Celestia's body, pinned under a metric ton of rubble.

It was not much effort to lift the rubble off of her, and before long, she had dragged the body into the open. Looking over the wounds, Ascentia noticed that a sword had been plunged into her upper neck, severing the brain stem. An instant and otherwise painless death. It seemed that Ryder kept to his personal policy of not allowing those exterminated to suffer.

Twilight will be heartbroken, to be certain. Ascentia thought, stilling her movements however briefly. But she will need to know the truth.

“Laurie Laurie Laurie...” came a slithering voice behind her.

Ascentia whipped around to see a woman of Eastern Earthen appearance clad in black, bladed armor. She groaned as she realized that this was Riko, a sadistic Val'Kyr who was rarely called to battle. She had been one of Athena's creations after Ryder had gone rogue and was well known for her bloodlust. When she was called to battle, it was never a good sign.

Calm as she was, it didn't stop a stab of dread from pursuing her gut. Regardless, she didn't let it overtake her. Now was not the time. It was nothing she couldn't handle.

“I never thought the Grand Lord would let you off your leash after what happened on Earth,” Ascentia taunted.

“Good behavior,” Riko drawled, casually twirling her swords between her fingers, “But hanging a few Marines by their necks in front of an elementary school is hardly as deplorable as betrayal.”

“Tough talk, coming from one who begged for her life the moment Athena was killed.”

“Oooh, the stick in the mud actually has some wit on her bones,” Riko cackled, “And here I thought you were naught but a big old bore.”

The two began to walk in a circle around eachother, waiting for the other to strike.

“Getting nostalgic, are we?” Riko slithered, examining the wreckage around her with a sadistic grin.

“Somewhat, but it is not my nostalgia,” Ascentia snapped back.

“You're quite detached for someone who betrayed her Master and her brethren simply for the memories of an old woman.”

“Do not speak to me of-”

“SURPRISE!”

Ascentia whipped around, her sword flashing into her grip in time to catch two curved blades against her own with a loud crack. As they fell to the gravel, she whipped around and threw her sword toward Riko, who leapt over the incoming weapon, catching her own in her hands, flipping around to bring them down onto Ascentia's shoulder plates.

The sound of metal slicing into other metal was like music to the demented Val'Kyr's ears as she whipped her left hand up, cutting into Ascentia's neck along her jawline and whipping around to drive her right sword into her lower abdomen.

“You're getting slow,” she chuckled as she ripped her sword from her torso with a sickening squelch.

Ascentia fell back against the rubble of a statue of Princess Celestia, panting as she clutched the bleeding wounds. A cackling Riko advancing upon her, the demented Val'Kyr loving to play with her food before she ate it.

Throwing her palm out, a jolt of orange lightning struck the corpse of Celestia, and it shakily got to it's hooves, locking eyes with Riko and charging full force, horn lowered to gore it's target. Riko shunted her blade, catching the alicorn by the horn and driving her second weapon into it's side, slicing deep into the shoulder and severing the tendons, bringing it down permanently.

“Really, Laurie?” Riko asked, “Reanimating bodies as puppets? How cliché.”

She turned around to see that Ascentia was gone. She quizzically looked around, then back down at the dead alicorn at her feet.

“Aw, I fell for it again,” Riko grumbled, kicking the dirt, “I'm a bad little butterfly, yes I am!”

Twilight and Cadance were sitting in the Crystal Throne Room, Twilight's hooves in her face as Cadance tried to comfort her. Two Val'Kyr were standing to their side, having convinced the Princesses they were friendly when they surrendered their weapons. The fact that Ascentia had warned Twilight she had more friends among the Val'Kyr had been a major help as well.

“You can't blame yourself for what happened, Twiley,” Cadance said softly, her motherly tone a great comfort to her, “It's something you need to learn to accept. I don't like it either, I hate it. But we won't survive this if we agonize over everyone we lose.”

“So, I'm just supposed to stand back and say 'Oh well, lost another one!' just like that?!” Twilight yelled, tears in her eyes. “I thought were supposed to respect the dead, not brush it off!”

Not the least bit fazed, Cadance brought a foreleg around her body, “No. Not at all. Of course mourning and grieving the loss of a loved one is understandable. But what I meant is that we have to focus on what's really important, which is survival. We'll have all the time in the world to give those who lost their lives an important memorial later. Right now, we can't afford to let anything bring us down. We have to keep going.”

Twilight wanted to yell again, but found she didn't have the strength to do so. All she could muster was leaning against her former foalsitter and trembling. Once more she felt less like a leader and Princess and more like a scared filly. This was her childhood all over again, with the fear and uncertainty of “big adult stuff” raining down on her faster than she could register.

“I know this is hard,” Cadance soothed, holding her closer, “But the best we can do is to make sure their deaths were not in vain. A lot lost their lives, and maybe they didn't die as heroes. But that doesn't mean we can't honor the sacrifices that were made.”

“I-I know,” Twilight uttered in a rare moment of stuttering, “I just don't know what to do anymore...” She sought Cadance's warm, comforting scent, trying to calm her nerves.

“Hey, I don't know what to do sometimes, either. Nopony has all the answers,” said the Crystal Princess, soothing her former charge with a nuzzle. “There are times that we have to take things as they come and learn from there. We do what we can with what we do know.”

Unable to stop the tears in her eyes, Twilight shook with grief. All she could feel was numb, as if her legs were jello and her wings were clipped. Her mind flashed with all of the hardships faced, how it was going to affect everypony and herself. A sinking feeling overcame her stomach, to where she even felt aware of its movements.

“Sometimes I wish this never happened... None of it,” the lavender alicorn uttered in a broken voice.

Cadance stroked her mane, “I know, and I can understand. But there isn't much we can do about that. You just have to hang in there, Twiley....”

Sniffling loudly, Twilight closed her eyes as she nuzzled into the light pink coat of her sister-in-law, calming herself. “I just know how powerful they are and what they're capable of. I don't want to lose anything else, or anypony else. I want to be able to overcome this.”

“And we will. We might lose a lot in this, but that doesn't mean we should give up. Whatever happens in the long run, at least we'll have made it through and tried.”

“...Thanks, Cadance...”

Smiling, Cadance nuzzled her hair, “Hey, no need to thank me. Sometimes we do just need to remind each other of what we're fighting for.”

“Yeah... you're right,” Twilight murmured.

Cadance and Twilight's discussion was cut off when Shining Armor burst into the throne room, looking panicked.

“Twilight, Ascentia has arrived,” he said anxiously.

“Why are you so nervous?” Cadance asked, “Shouldn't that be a good sign?”

“She was mortally wounded when she arrived,” Shining explained, only for Twilight to bolt upright, shocked, “She was escorted to the infirmary.”

“What kind of injuries?” Twilight demanded, “Tell me, NOW!”

Cadance and Shining stepped back, surprised by Twilight's outburst, “Very bad bleeding, and it looks like she was impaled in the right kidney. Twilight... is something the matter?”

Twilight stormed down the hall, pausing only for a moment to turn back, “Ascentia has valuable knowledge about how the Val'Kyr fight, also she's an experienced tactician. She also wields more raw power in her pinky finger than the rest of us have in our whole bodies. In a game of chess, you don't sacrifice your Queen for the sake of a few Pawns.”

With that, Twilight stormed out, looking for the infirmary.

Meanwhile, Shining leaned in to Cadance, “So... Ascentia is our Queen now?”

“I think it was a metaphor, sweetheart,” Cadance replied, “In chess, the Queen is the most agile piece on the board. Losing it early can easily cost you the game.”

“Okay, follow up question.”

“Shoot.”

“When did Twilight start making cryptic metaphors?”

“Since she became buddy-buddy with a harbinger of death.”

Twilight burst into the Crystal Infirmary, her eyes catching several ponies and Princess Luna surrounding the tall form of Ascentia, who was seated back in a chair while a doctor examined her. As Twilight got closer, she saw a sharp cut in her shoulderplate and her chestplate, and a deep gash in her neck. The nurses seemed confused as to what they were supposed to do to treat her.

“Ascentia!” Twilight snapped, approaching her, “What happened?!”

Grunting as she clutched her bleeding torso, “I was ambushed by one of Ryder's commanders. A demented Val'Kyr named Riko.”

“What about Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked, hopefully.

“I regret to say that I was forced to defile her corpse to make my escape,” Ascentia replied, blinking around for a moment.

Stricken, it took all of Twilight's strength not to keel over in broken grief. She felt a numbing feeling overcoming her heart, knowing that she'd lost her beloved teacher. Her second mother. Her equal... All of the memories of the past flooded her thoughts, reminding her of the good and bad times.

She held back her tears, trembling ever slightly. No. She could mourn later. Right now, they had to focus on the tasks at hoof.

“So my sister is...” Luna began, but choked up as she turned away.

“Are you going to be okay?” Twilight asked as a nurse pony examined the wound in her neck.

“I should be,” Ascentia replied, “But I am suffering a particularly annoying headache, and I am not sure to the cause.”

“What kind of headache?” Twilight asked.

“Outward, as if there is a pulsing energy nearby that contains the properties of strong ultraviolet radiation.”

“It might be the Crystal Heart,” Cadance spoke up as she entered the Infirmary, “It pulsates with a powerful magic fueled by the love of all Crystal Ponies. If you're expecting me to disable it, it is out of the question.”

“I will adapt,” Ascentia replied, nodding to Cadance, “But if it affects me, it would likely affect the other Val'Kyr.”

“Your apprentices mentioned having headaches when they got here.”

“Then that settles it,” Ascentia replied, shifting her weight to put less strain on her torso as the nurse stitched her neck, “We will lure them here.”

“What?!” Cadance, Luna and Twilight all shouted in unison.

“You did not expect to hide from the Val'Kyr until they left, did you?” Ascentia asked, “No, they will come here eventually to set a shock point. They will need to. We must gather what allies you have, and bring them here for the fight.”

“But why here?” Twilight asked.

“This Crystal Heart has afflicted myself and my apprentices. It will afflict the others as well, which will give us the advantage.”

Twilight, Luna and Cadance nodded in agreement. It did make the most sense to fight on higher ground.

Ascentia reached up and slammed the heel of her hand into the wall, watching the crystal crack only slightly, “Also the structure is durable, which will give cover for magical support. Now, onto important matters. What forces does Equestria have?”

Twilight spoke up quickly, “Most unicorns have strength in magic, though many are limited to only certain schools that coincide with their special talent. However, the students of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns were powerful in all schools of magic, both offensive and defensive.”

“Did any survive the assault on Canterlot?”

“Most got out in time, but they're scattered across different towns in Equestria.”

“They will need to be tracked down before the Val'Kyr hit those towns. What else is there?” Ascentia asked.

“The dragons are particularly powerful, but their packs are not very large. If you're thinking of enlisting them to help, you'd need to find and appease the Dragon Lord. And he's not very fond of ponykind.” Cadance explained.

“I'm sure extinction will get his attention,” Ascentia smirked, making a note of their options, “What about the Changelings? They were particularly helpful two years ago.”

“We're in luck!” Twilight replied, “Queen Chrysalis' new hive is in the Badlands, so it should be easy to track down. Plus she likes you, so that should be an easy call.”

“And the Matriarch is still nowhere to be found,” Ascentia made a note of all this new information, when something struck her mind, “Princess Cadance, you mentioned that disabling the Crystal Heart was out of the question. Why?”

“It is the only force that keeps King Sombra at bay. Without it, he would have access to the Empire,” Cadance explained, “You're not thinking of turning him loose, are you?”

“Any reinforcements are good reinforcements, providing he can be reasoned with,” Ascentia replied, “But I will not press the issue unless we absolutely need to.”

“So, the only question that remains is... where to first?” Luna asked.