"Really Applejack, did you have to wake me up so late at night? I'm losing much needed beauty sleep you know." Not bothering to reply, Applejack lifted the Element of Magic so that she could see it through the portal. "Is that-?"

"It is," replied Flutter, adjusting the cloak on her back. "We found a mare in the castle ruins three days ago and bought her back. Tucked under one hoof was that. We don't know how she got it, but..."

There was burst of blue fire as the second portal came into existence. From the other side, a pink pony with flat mane and droplets of red on her muzzle waved back. "Hello! Pinkamina's in the house. So what'd I miss out huh?"

"Pinkie dear, I love what you've done with your hair."

"It's Pinkamina!" At her outburst, a confused expression was exchanged by all those present. "And can we please get on with it? I'm right in the middle of something." There was a pause as she scowled to something off screen. "And where's Dashie anyways? I was so looking forward to talking to her."

"We don't know actually," replied Spike. "Nopony's seen her since a couple days ago. She just went out into the woods on a scouting trip and vanished."

"She hasn't been-"

Flutter shook her head. "No Rarity, if she had Nightmare Moon would be parading it around and trumpeting it from the highest walls available."

"Can we please get back to the subject on hand?" yelled Spike. "Element of Magic being wielded by a pony that's not Twilight. Do we trust her or not?"

"Spike, be a dear and hold up the tiara please?" cooed the white unicorn and Spike quickly obeyed. "Just as I thought dears, she may have held the Element of Magic, but I don't believe it's hers to actually use."

"What do ya mean by that?"

"The gem duh! It's still a purple star and not the mare's cutie mark so obviously it's still Twilight's. Um... excuse me for a second." Pinkamina vanished off screen, a couple seconds later grunts and whimpers could be heard and when she returned, there was even more splotches of red on her fur.

"Er... Pinkie...mina darling, you've got a bit of red on your coat."

"Is that blood?" added Applejack.

"Nopey dopey! It's jam, see?" Her tongue somehow extended far enough to completely clean off her face. "Yum!"

"Anywho, has she woken up yet? It's probably easiest to ask her and if she doesn't, you know, want to talk, just give me an hour with her." Pinkamina brushed a lock of mane out of her eyes as a grin spread across her face. "Nah, make that thirty minutes. Ten minutes actually. Ten minutes would definitely be enough."

"Ya probably need less than a minute if ya run your mouth against her."

"Applejack! That's a terrible thing to say."

There was a polite knock on the door before Spitfire stuck her head through. "The mare's woken up, do you want us to bring her up?"

"If she can do so safely," replied Flutters. With a salute, Spitfire backed out the door without looking anywhere near Applejack.

"Is that a smart move sugarcube?" The blonde pony leaned back in her seat. "After all, we don't know anything about this mare."

"She must have the Element for a reason and if she can access it then we need her."

"A tool."

"In a crude manner of speaking," replied the pegasus calmly. "Anything for Equestria remember?"

Nopony dared challenge her on that point.

"-mands to know where it is you're taking her. And where is Trixies cape and hat? Answer her or the Great and Powerful Trixie will reduce you all to ash where you stand this instant!"

The door creaked open as Gilda chuckled, "I'd like to see you duel Silvia actually. I've heard all sorts of things about how awesome she is at magic, but haven't seen anything for all that talk. You don't even practice with the unicorns!"

"Don't ignore Trixie!" In trotted the blue mare and at the sight of the generals froze in mid-step while her eyes narrowed. "You! Trixie should have known you'd be involved. Where's the yellow one and the rainbow one then? Hiding around some corner waiting to attack Trixie? Well she'll show them!"

"The 'yellow one' as you so aptly described her is right here," growled Flutter. "And how are you?"

"Who- You- I- Trixie- GAH!" Stomping over to the table, she jumped onto it and struck a pose. "I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! General to the Reinsville Resistance and most magical unicorn in all Equestria. Bow before her magnificence."

There was a second of stunned silence before Pinkamina fell over laughing. Gilda quickly followed and even Silvia couldn't resist a smirk at the impressive display. The others though managed to keep their emotions under wraps as they politely waited for Trixie to climb off the table with red cheeks.

"Ah hem, please ignore the uncouth behavior of my friends-"

"Hey! I'm not your friend you prissy unicorn."

Rarity ignored Gilda's outburst. "-they obviously have absolutely no sense of etiquette. We have invited you here because we wish y-"

"You wish for Trixie to join obviously. After all, she is the greatest unicorn to have ever existed."

"Okay, that's it!" Spike was on his feet, face pressed against Trixie's muzzle. "You are not the greatest or the most powerful or anything of the sort! That title belongs to Twilight and Twilight only you got that!?"

"You... you know Twilight Sparkle?"

"She raised me."

The temperature suddenly dropped and mist began forming. Before anypony could react, he was thrown against the wall, ephemeral chains binding him. The warmth decreased even further, ice forming in the air. Applejack was the first to react, leaping forward hooves outstretched, but she was thrown aside without a second thought. Fluttershy, the tables, Gilda, Spitfire – all thrown slammed into the cave walls without a second thought.

Spears of ice hung in the air.

"Stop." The ice melted, the warmth returned and the chains broke.

Trixie turned to face Silvia as her horn flared even brighter, pulsing blue light as she forced her will against the gryphon's. For a couple of seconds the room was basked in blue and purple light then with a final strangled cry, Silvia slumped to the ground unconscious. The chains were immediately back as were the ice and the chill. All Rarity and Pinkamina could do was watch helplessly.

"Why?" That single word pierced through the fog. "Why are ya doing this?"

"He knows Twilight," spat Trixie. "Do you know what she's done? What she is?"

"Twilight's mah friend." At Applejack's reply, a spear of ice was directed at her head, but she carried on, "Ah trust her."

"She's my friend also." The showmare's head snapped across and blinked at the sudden appearance of the yellow pegasus. "I'm sure she has a good reason for what she's done."

"A good reason? A good reason!?" A manic laugh escaped. "Tell me, what possibly good reason could there be to slaughtering an entire village? Answer me that! Over five hundred ponies, all of them dead just like that. Your teammate Misty – Dead! Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead! All of them dead! Every single last one cut down. She's not a pony, she a monster – a cold blooded monster. She deserves to burn for eternity. You deserve to burn for eternity. All of you do. I'm going to burn you all to death!"

"You're wrong." With a flick of her head, Applejack threw her hat to the ground, showing off her half missing ear and glared at Trixie from her spot on the wall. "Ya know nothing about Twilight. She's saved mah life, she saved all our lives. She gave ya that Element for a reason. Listen to me. Ya'll face the truth even if it's the last thing Ah do!"

"How could you- How can you-" Tears were spilling over, but Trixie didn't care, Trixie never cared. All of a sudden she collapsed, her horn flickering out as her magic finally gave out. "Why do you protect her? She's a monster! Nightmare Moon's pet. Why do y-"

"Ya see this missing ear sugarcube? Twi gave me that. She almost killed me too. But Ah have faith in her and Ah trust her." Nods came from all the Element bearers. "We all do. Now, we're all against Nightmare Moon and Ah'm asking ya to trust us and have faith in us." Trotting forward, Applejack held out a hoof to Trixie. "Can ya do that sugarcube?"

Trust? Yeah right. Trust was for weaklings, trusting a pony you didn't know would get you killed. The only ponies you can trust are those who would willingly put themselves in harms way for you and so far, none of these ponies deserved trust. And yet...

Trixie frowned at the outstretched hoof.

She had tried to kill them, threatened to do so and yet here Applejack was, offering her help. How in the world did that make sense? Everypony was out for something, nothing came for free. The only ponies who give unconditionally are parents, but that was about it. There was no reason for Applejack to trust her, in fact there were plenty of reasons against it! So... what in the name of Tartarus was going on here?

Shaking her head, Trixie dusted herself off and stood up. "Whatever. Now Trixie believes you all wished to talk to-"

"Rarity! We've got an issue!" All heads snapped to Rarity's portal as a unicorn stumbled into view. "They're here, they're all here – Nightmare Moon, General Sunset Horizons, General Terminal Velocity, General Cinquedea, Twilight Sparkle – every high ranking personnel is here. They've already taken out our bases in the Southern Residential, Factory and Market Districts."

"Where's Midnight?" snapped Rarity.

"He's rallying as many ponies as we can find and meeting back here. Mirage and Bulwark are leading a raid on the prison where they're keeping all of our men. Fleur and Fancy Pants are trying to open as many backdoors out as possible."

"Show me." A map was placed on the table within sight of the portal.

"Nightmare Moon is to the north, taking out as many of our outposts as possible on the way in. She seems to be capturing as many ponies as possible. General Sunset seems to be coming in from our eastern flank through the manufacturing districts and securing all sources of weaponry we've got stashed there. Twilight Sparkle is coming over the Western Bridge as we speak and she's razing everything to the ground. She doesn't take prisoners. General Velocity is keeping a tight net over the city, Ditzy's trying her hardest to get messages through, but I don't know how many more runs she can take before collapsing. The prison is located in the central market district protected by General Cinquedea."

Rarity looked down at the map she had drawn on, a sense of dread descended on everypony present. Both west and east bridges were lost and with Nightmare Moon coming down from the north, there was no were to run. The only place to go was south, but even then they'd eventually run out of room forcing them into the ocean and to the mercy of the pegasi.

"We go east," said Rarity.

"No." The white mare glanced up at Spitfire questioningly. "They expect you to do that. Think about it, they know you won't go after Nightmare Moon and Twilight is far too powerful so they assume you'll go after General Sunset and break through there. So we do the exact opposite, we hit Twilight and try to punch through. If she's on our side like you all believe then she'll try to make holes in her own line for you to slip through."

"I agree with bird brain over there," remarked Gilda, "they obviously want you to go east so don't."

"How much time do we have?" asked Rarity.

"They'll be here in an hour. They're going slowly, making sure to consolidate their hold and get every single last outpost we have before moving on. They know exactly where each one is."

"Applejack! I thought you flushed out all the spies," accused Rarity.

"Ah did!"

The door suddenly crashed open and before they knew what had happened, Rarity had already fired an arrow. "Oh Ditzy are you alright? I didn't hit you did I?"

"Nope!" came the all too cherry voice. "I've got maaaaaiiiiiil! It's... er.. ah! That's right, it was a verbal message. Ah hem, Midnight wants me to tell you that he's currently surrounded and trapped in Warehouse Nine down by the main road. He's heavy outnumbered, but he does have about two hundred ponies with him."

"Dears, I'd hate to ask, but I don't suppose there's a way for you to get here within the hour?"

All eyes turned to the unconscious gryphon, but it was Gilda who spoke, "If she tried to teleport half that distance she'd die. I mean, come on! She hasn't even fully recovered from that mass teleport yet, give her another week at least."

"Well it was worth a shot," sighed Rarity. "Ditzy, think you can make it through one more time?"

"No problem."

"Alright, go through and let them know I'm on my way." She turned to face the unicorn. "Go gather all the other ponies and distribute them into groups of three. I want one group to hit all the furniture, cutlery, technology, whatever stores – if it can be used as a weapon or as a shield, I want them to get it. Second group I want hold Mane Street at all costs. That place has multiple stores, balconies, and it is the main street. Not only is it full of ambush spots, but it's the only road large enough for an army. If she needs to move any ponies, she'll be forced to go through there or take a detour. She may have the bridge, but we are not giving up that spot. Third group I want to run messenger duty and convey equipment between the two groups. We need to fortify our position and we need to do it fast. I will personally save Midnight. Also, if anypony doesn't wish to fight, they are free to hide until this blows over, but considering they're taking captives, they no doubt wish to get everypony."

Rarity finally turned back to all her friends. "Sorry darlings, but it seems like I've got some house cleaning to do. Same time next week?"

As the portal faded to nothing, they caught one final glimpse of their friend donning a suit of scale armor that somehow managed to accentuate her figure despite covering her from neck to flank. Greaves went past her knees like a pair of high boots and on the side of her flank was her cutie mark, emblazed for the word to see.

"I wish I was there," muttered Pinkamina mournfully.

"Ah know what you mean, Rarity could really use our help," sighed Applejack.

"Er... yeah... help." The pink earth pony chuckled, before her right eye twitched. "Anyways, I've got stuff to. Busy, busy, busy. Later!" The portal shut with an audible snap.

"So... what now?" asked Trixie.

"Now?" A look was shared by all those present. "We tell you about us, about what's going on and most importantly, about the Elements of Harmony."

"Elements of Harmony?"

"Yes," whispered Fluttershy with a shy smile. "It all began when Twilight Sparkle arrived in Ponyville to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration..."

Rarity half ran, half teleported through the empty streets. Off in the distance she could see flares of magic blooming and the occasional shockwave as a particularly strong spell went off. Part of her was proud – proud that those under her were willing to fight, that when push came to shove they were fully willing to shove right back. That not only were they deemed a threat, they were one so large that Nightmare Moon bought down the entire army and herself to personally take care of the matter. It gave her hope that perhaps, this wasn't a wild dream they were chasing after.

The other part was sad, depressed and most importantly horrified. Dead ponies littered the ground, their pearly white bones a mocking reminder how just far out of her element she truly was. All those ponies depended on her to lead them and keep them safe and yet here they were, dead on the ground. Never will they smile or laugh or dream and cry. Their life was simply lost, all that beauty – gone, never to be experienced, never to grow.

Casting a light filter, she teleported across the gap between buildings. Overhead pegasi wheeled about, every so often darting down to intercept some poor pegasus who decided to take to the sky. She wanted to help, every fiber of her being told her to help, but she couldn't. She was not only a general, but an Element bearer, she couldn't afford to give away her position for just one pony.

Over the edge she went, landing silently on the balcony below. With the potted plants as shelter, she drew out two glass tipped arrows before adding a diamond tipped one just in case. Making sure her illusionary disguise and light filter were on, she took a peak from her hiding spot and her jaw dropped. This... this couldn't be real... No... it was impossible, it- it had to be! But no matter how many times she said no, the answer stared back at her like Applejack's eyes.

Warehouse Nine no longer existed. All that remained was a pile of rubble and bodies. So many bodies. Had they... had they been eaten? It was impossible to tell from this distance, and truth be told, she didn't want to know. Turning to the side, Rarity threw up. With shaky hooves, she stood up and put the arrows away before teleporting up onto the roof.

She was General Rarity, she couldn't afford to slow down, to mourn, to stop. Ponies were counting on her. Teleporting from roof to roof, she evaded all the rubble and flames down below. Then out the corner of her eye, she caught a flicker of light. A second later a massive explosion sent her sprawling to the ground. Climbing onto her hooves, she watched as a group of ponies scramble out through the ruins of the building and behind various fallen debris for cover.

Twenty of them. A block over Rarity could see another ten ponies making their way over as they tried to get away from whatever was hunting them. She had been too late to save Midnight Sparkle and the two hundred ponies with him, but she was not going to fail these ponies. She would never fail another pony again.

With a sweeping motion of her horn, five bows appeared. The captain was the first to go down followed by three unicorns and a pagasus. Teleporting, she appeared on a sign on the opposite of the road almost directly above the enemy. A fireball was immediately fired down, catching another three and before the unicorn could put out the fire, he wound up with an arrow through the head.

Appearing behind a billboard, Rarity stepped out from behind her cover and fired three shots. The first caught a pagasi through the wing, the second fell to the ground dead, while the third found an arrow in her flank. Before she could figure out where the shot came from through, Rarity appeared above her. Slamming into her unprotected back, the pegasus was thrown to the ground. Still in mid air, the white unicorn teleported away to land safely on her hooves beside those she had just killed. Ripping each arrow free, she placed them back in her quiver and trotted over to those she had just rescued.

"Come on, we're all meeting up on Mane's Street, if you see any ponies let them-"

An army pegasus suddenly hit the ground beside her and on his back was Ditzy. "Reporting for duty!" Behind her were the ten ponies Rarity had seen before.

"This here is Colonel Ditzy Doo," I said, "I want you all to get to Mane Street and help out where you can. Ditzy, you're with me."

One look at my necklace and cutie mark and they knew who I was. With a salute they raced off down the road. The unicorn and pegasus gazed at each other. "I need to know what happened to Midnight."

"I..." For the first time in Rarity's life she saw the bubbly mare with a frown on her face. "I don't know. When I got there they were... They..."

A pair of arms wrapped themselves around Ditzy as tears leaked out. Together the two cried in the middle of the street for the loss of their comrade, perhaps even friend if their circumstances had been different. After a full minute, the two disengaged and shared a tear stained smile.

"We've got a job to do."

Ditzy nodded. "That we do. And thanks for the promotion, wait till Dinky hears about this! Momma's a Colonel now. Hmm..."

"No Ditzy, you can't make them give you their complimentary muffins," chuckled Rarity.

"Awwwwwwww..."

Laughing, the two friends began trotting down the road, making sure to keep an eye out for any other ponies they could help along the way. There was just something about the grey pegasus that could make any pony smile – then again, she did always claim her cutie mark was for her bubbly personality. Within the minute they made it to Mane Street and the place was deadly silent. The entire place had been fortified with tables, boulders, rubble from buildings and they even went so far as to destroy sections of buildings that hindered their defensive position. Whoever was placed in charge of this place had done a seriously good job.

"Pssst, General, over here." A yellow hoof waved at them from the window of a florists shop.

With just a bit of concentration, Rarity teleported them both into the room with their weapons drawn just in case it was a trap. At the startled cries and lack of ponies trying to kill them, the two mares relaxed, but they only put away their weapons when they saw Fancy Pants, Fleur and the Wonderbolts Wave Chill and Blaze.

"Okay, what news do you have and I've promoted Ditzy to rank of Colonel. Wonderbolts are now considered only subject to General orders and have the authority to out rule any pony with a rank lower than general in emergency situations. Fleur, Fancy – both of you are now Colonel's along with Mirage and Bulwark if they haven't done anything stupid. Now tell me the situation."

"Twilight has set up her own fortifications at the edge of the river," replied Wave Chill, "she's in an optimal position and can easily fall back if required. If she knows anything about tactics, she'll retreat as soon as she starts losing ponies in an attempt to draw us into a bottleneck on the bridge. The sole reason for setting up a defense on this side is to deter us and make it costly for us to take and if you look at the number of ponies station there, there's definitely not enough to stop a full frontal assault. It's a trap."

"Fleur and I have managed to obtain some maps of the sewers," said Fancy Pants while Fleur unrolled a parchment that had been drawn on, "From what we've been able to tell and if Wonderbolt Blaze's scouting is accurate-"

"I've got the best eyes on the team old man."

"-then there are three potential exit areas. The first will let us appear on the northern side of Manehatten well behind Nightmare Moon's barricade. A second will take us east out of Manehatten entirely and on the other side of the bridge. There are less exits in that area so and it'll be in a densely populated area so getting out without being detected will be difficult. The last one will have us appear behind Twilight on the coast to the southeast. It'll put us a lot closer to Twilight though compared to the others, but I should be able to procure transport out. There's also only one exit so everypony will be bunched together," finished Fancy.

"Any news on Mirage and Bulwark?" asked Rarity while pouring over the map.

"Last I saw they were getting captured," sighed Wave Chill. "I told them not to go in and that they were outnumbered, but they couldn't listen."

"Damn it!" All eyes were on her in shock. Running a hoof through her mane, she began tying it into a bun. "Blaze, how much longer till the other two groups get here?"

"Thirty minutes max."

Generosity... the virtue of giving. What was a greater gift than life?

"Here's the deal. Get everypony into the sewers. I want a half of the ponies lead by Fancy and Ditzy to head towards the southeastern exit. Fleur and Blaze will lead a third out west. Rest of you, you've got the rest going north. Blow a hole in the floor of the buildings if necessary, but make sure you move and you move fast. As soon as they figure out what's going on, they'll send ponies after you and towards the exits. I'll give you ten minutes head start before distracting Twilight. We've practically got a base in every town by now so finding a safe location shouldn't be difficult."

A cacophony of sound assaulted her ears as they all objected at the same time.

"Silence!" For once, it actually worked. "The priority is getting as many ponies out as safely and quickly as possible. They are Equestria, they are why we're in this fight, without them Dawn is nothing. I am the most qualified and the one Twilight is least likely to immediately blast into a million pieces. Furthermore, they'll want me alive – a guarantee none of you have. You will do as I have ordered or I will personally kick all of your flanks to the moon. Got that?"

The only sound was Rarity's heavy breathing.

"Good. You know your jobs, get to it. And try not to make too much of a commotion, I don't want them catching onto what's going on. Ditzy, stay behind if you will, I've got extra orders for you." Once the two were left alone once more, Rarity threw up a light and sound filter to stop any and all spying. Unclasping the Element of Generosity from her neck, she wrapped it around Ditzy's before stepping back. "What I am about to tell you is a secret, you cannot tell any other ponies other than the General's. Alright?"

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," she recited dutifully.

A sad smile touched the unicorn's lips. "That right there is the Element of Generosity. When combined with the others it is the only thing that can defeat Nightmare Moon. Your priority and only priority is the get it back to Dawn safely you hear? That artifact will win us the war."

"Rarity..."

"No Ditzy, you've got a daughter to look after." Placing it into Ditzy's bag, Rarity closed her eyes. Creating the most complex illusionary spell she could, a second Element of Generosity appeared before her eyes and she laid it gently around her own neck. Sure, it wouldn't pass a close scrutiny, but it was enough.

There was a polite knock on the door before Wind Chill poked his head through. "The first ponies have entered the sewers General. Blaze reports no movement from Twilight and the others are still thirty minutes out. Also, we've set up some packets of glass shards, nails, et cetera all over the place for you to detonate if the need arises and don't worry, we've taken enough for us if we run into trouble."

"Thank you." Blue eyes met yellow. "Goodbye Ditzy, tell Dinky I said hello."

"No." Though tears leaked down her cheek, the pegasus returned the look with one of pure determination. "Not goodbye. I'll see you later... alright? I'll have a muffin waiting with your name on it."

"Ditzy..." A small smile graced her muzzle. "I'll hold you to that promise."

With one final hug, Rarity watched in silence as Ditzy made her way out into the street leaving her all alone. Ten minutes. Was it enough time for the to get away? Hopefully they won't get caught. Hopefully this was the right thing to do.

Twilight...

If you're still on our side, is this how you feel every day? A sense of doubt and fear, an inability to look yourself in the mirror every morning – fearing what'd stare back. Every night a prayer is sent to Princess Celestia, hoping for a sign to show that this is the right thing and every time there's no reply. Trying so hard to not kill ponies, to give them the chance to redeem themselves or to use none lethal methods, but sometimes... sometimes there's no helping it.

How is a monster defined? How many ponies have to die before a pony is labeled a monster?

Rarity looked down at a shard of glass and at the tear stained smile being reflected back up at her. Easing out the door, she breathed out, letting it mist up the air before her and with one last prayer to Princess Celestia, she walked out the door. Disappearing in a flash of light, she reemerged on the roof of a bakery and from this vantage point, locating Twilight was a simple matter. Drawing a normal arrow, she took careful aim before releasing.

It arced through the air perfectly and just as Rarity expected, the purple mare snatched it midflight. Their eyes met across the impossible distance between them and with simultaneous flashes of light, they appeared on the street below, three alicorn lengths between them.

"Rarity."

"Twilight."

"If you give yourself in, I'm sure Nightmare Moon will go easy on you." She gave an exaggerated glance down at her collar and Rarity peered at it closely – so that's it then, some sort of listening spell.

The white mare snorted in amusement. "And I'd trust you why?"

"I was hoping you'd say that." Twilight smiled cruelly as she drew out her short swords, sending shivers down Rarity's spine. "Tell me, how's Applejack doing?"

The two began circling each other.

"She's still in a wheelchair." Three glass arrows were selected.

"Oh that's a shame, I was hoping she'd still be in hospital."

Twilight suddenly lunged forward, a blade aiming straight for Rarity's neck, but it only met thin air. Appearing beside her, a powerful buck sent Twilight through the air. Both disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing in their original positions.

"Teleporting in battle, impressive."

"I could say the same to you. Taking that buck must have hurt."

A nonchalant shrug. "I've been through worse."

Dashing forward, Twilight went once more for the thrust and Rarity teleported yet again to evade. This time though, Twilight vanished as well, reappearing beside the fashionetta. The blade ran across her armor, but failed to cut through. Blinking up onto the roof, a volley of arrows rained down. In one second, Rarity fired off another five arrows before she leapt off the roof and fired at her previous position. There was flash of purple followed by an explosion of as the arrow hit.

Tumbling through the air, Rarity shifted herself over to the building opposite and hit the ground. Rolling with the motion, she came up on one leg, three bows drawn and a quick telekinetic wave just in case Twilight wasn't caught in the blast. Firing just one bow, it hit the wall, exploded and sent the entire building to the ground.

From the swirling dust, three boulders were tossed out, each slamming into the building Rarity was on. Stumbling, a tense second passed before the entire structure began groaning. It tiled dangerously to the side and with a hasty teleport, she found herself on the building on the right just as the entire thing collapsed.

"Glass tipped arrows." The two stood with their backs facing each other. "Clever. And here I thought you had somehow found beauty in war."

"There is no beauty in this."

"Wrong!"

Two kinetic waves crashed into each other, the shockwave throwing both back. Hitting the ground, she came up on one knee and fired a volley a shots. Responding with a blast of wind, Twilight scattered the arrows in all directions. Immediately grasping them with her magic, Rarity flung them back towards the purple mare.

A look of shock came over Twilight's features as she stared down at the arrow in her flank. Then grasping it, she ripped it free and magic immediately danced over the wound, healing it up. Tossing it back to Rarity, she raised both swords once more.

"There is beauty in everything," said Twilight calmly. "There is beauty in the night, beauty in the sea and even beauty in war."

"Even in torture?"

That made her pause for a second. "Yes. There is probably even beauty in that if I looked hard enough."

"No." The air around Twilight crackled with magic as a dome of celestial arrows formed around her. "You're wrong. My cutie mark is beauty and I say there is no beauty in war!"

Every single last bolt slammed into the roof. Cracks spread throughout, snaking their way between Rarity's hooves, but she didn't care. Closing her eyes, she conjured the remnants of her magic into a single point and teleporting well outside the kill zone, unleashed it.

A pillar of pure light slammed into the building. It was as though a dozen party cannons went off right next to her ear and even looking near the pillar rendered her blind. The shockwave decimated several buildings nearby and even from five buildings away, Rarity found herself thrown to the ground. Below her, the restaurant groaned in protest, swaying dangerously, but not tipping. As the dust settled out and the light faded, the first thing she noticed was that the building was gone. Not destroyed, not in pieces, it was gone.

Vaporized.

And not just it, the buildings directly around it were in rubble and ponies that were guarding the bridge found themselves in the water. An entire block had been destroyed. A single spell had done all that in the blink of an eye.

"The power to destroy an army," whispered Rarity in awe. "This is the power of the Elements."

A slow clap ran out through the night.

"Not bad, not bad at all." Twilight appeared before Rarity, magic coating every inch of her body even as her armor laid in tatters. "But you used all your magic in that one single move."

"Stop playing with your food and bring her in already," sighed Nightmare Moon appearing beside her. "I swear if you would just take this seriously, Dawn would have been destroyed already. At least you got Trixie I suppose."

Rarity backed up, eyes darting around for an escape route, but that's when magical overload hit. Searing pain erupted at the base of her horn, absolutely consuming every coherent thought that could be made. All she could do was whimper like a foal as tried to push past it, but it was no use. All that magic all at once coupled with using all her magic had left her severely crippled. She might as well not have a horn at all.

"Picky picky, I was merely waiting for that to happen." Stepping forward, Twilight bound her friend up in chains and slipped a magic suppression ring over her horn. "At least we have one of the El- Oh come on! Nightwish!"

The pegasus was immediately by her side. "You called sweetie?"

"Oh shut up. Search the entire area, she doesn't have her Element on her so she must have passed it off before distracting us. Tell Silent Spell to go through the rubble as well, there's a slim chance it might have fallen off in the fight, though I highly doubt it."

"And I shall take our prisoner back to the castle," said Nightmare Moon. "We have one Element bearer and that's almost as good as having the physical element. You have done well Twilight."

With a flash of her horn, the alicorn and white mare vanished into the night.

Rainbow Dash bucked the thundercloud as hard as she could. Her hooves stung, her mane was slick with sweat and each time she breathed, her side throbbed, but that didn't stop her. As the lightning bolt shot out, she directed it with her innate pegasus magic so that it went exactly where she wanted. It was fine grain precision work and it was giving her one heck of a headache.

Gliding down onto the ground, she made sure to hover in the air instead of landing as she examined her work. With a nod of approval, she ruffled through her sack, she bought out the next dog tag before flying back up into the sky. Taking a deep breath, she took a second to force the pain away. Then with a carefully aimed kick and an equally careful use of magic, she began writing.

Back and forth she went. One minute in the sky the next down by the stone monument she had carved. It was rough, it was ragged and it was nowhere near enough to make up for what she had done, but... But it was better than nothing. A simple stone monument with their names and the date carved into the stone surface.

It had been eroded by days of rain and wind as she worked through the night and though it was perfectly smooth, it still wasn't enough. It should have been made from marble and ten times a pony's height. It should be located in the main Canterlot Castle courtyard and not in the middle of the Everfree Forest. The names should have been done by a professional, an unicorn who could write in that fancy cursive style rather than her barely legible writing.

Nothing would ever be enough, but it was a start.

With the dog tags safely in her saddlepack, she had no doubt she missed some ponies in the search through the Everfree Forest, but over a hundred was a good start. Not perfect, not enough, but it was a beginning. And maybe, just maybe, someday she'd forgive herself for what she had done.

"And when this is all over," whispered Dash into the wind, "I'll find your families and I'll hand them your tag and I'll apologize. Though I don't deserve to be forgiven, I am still sorry for what happened."

Tears dripped onto the soft ground, but for once Dash wasn't ashamed.

"I won't stop though. I am fighting for Equestria and that does mean hurting other ponies, but... It is an evil that must be done. Maybe someday I can forgive myself. Maybe..."

Leaning forward, she touched her forehead to the cool hard stone, staining it with her tears. Then, without another word or a backward look, she took to the air and began carving once more.