It had been only a few days since the Civil War reenactment had ended. Ponies were no longer numb, the booming of cannons was no longer heard at night, and Equestria had gone back to work in an attempt to eliminate the on-year prediction of negative 8% GDP change due to a full twentieth of Equestria's labor force simply dropping off of the map for a month.

Twilight smiled in her seat. Even though Celestia had made her promise to not punish Spike, Twilight had him quite busy with a whole litany of extra chores, most of them involving the cleaning and reorganizing of the library, particularly the history section.

Spike, for his part, had quietly accepted Twilight's orders, with only the occasional mutter about "rising again".

Nonetheless, it was not a time to reminisce about the war, but a time to be happy. Twilight and her friends were sitting on the upper balcony of Ponyville's town hall, viewing a pleasant rendition of Our Equestrian Cousin put on by Ponyville's schoolfoals. They had come to support the Cutie Mark Crusaders, all of whom were in lead roles, and it appeared from the amount of ponies seated in the square that the performance was highly anticipated.

Little known to Twilight, however, a pony going by the name of Trixie Lulabooth was waiting just inside of Town Hall, preparing to strike.

Just as the play was reaching its comedic climax, Trixie Lulabooth slowly opened the doors and snuck towards Twilight and her friends, being careful not to wrinkle her gray suit or dislodge her false moustache.

The group of ponies launched into a raucous fit of laughter, giving the assailant just the opportunity she needed.

She slowly raised a single hoof, and...

SMACK!!!

Twilight rubbed the back of her head. "Ow!" she turned to face her aggressor. "Trixie!? What are you doing?"

"FREEDOM!" Trixie Lulabooth yelled, jumping over the railing.

Twilight and her friends rushed to the railing, looking down to see Trixie collapsed on the wooden stage below in the middle of a group of surprised and frightened schoolfoals.

Trixie slowly rose to her hooves, although she was clearly favoring one side, as if she had twisted a hoof. She looked up to face the balcony she had just jumped from. "Sic Semper Princessus!", she cried before making a pitiful, limping escape off of the stage.

"Umm..." Fluttershy began, "what just happened?"

Rainbow Dash leapt into action, hovering just beyond the railing. "Twilight," she called with fervor, "you want me to track her down and haul her back here?"

Twilight's face was blank. After a few moments, she responded slowly and without any emotion. "...No. I want you to track her down...trap her in a barn...and set the barn on fire."

Rainbow Dash saluted and without another word sped off after her prey.

"Not my barn, ya hear!?" Applejack called after Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash was already far out of earshot.

Author's Notes:

Please don't expect too much from this...but I had to complete the story by writing this. Thank you to those in the comments who pushed this.
Extra Thanks to Gapeagle for the naming idea ;)