"And that's when Twilight said, "Well, it can't get any worse…", but then! Then Fluttershy runs in with all the animals in the garden shouting, "You're... going to LOVE ME!""

The group around the breakfast table broke down in laughter, and Luna shook her head, glancing at her sister in amusement.

Celestia shrugged. "I had to make the occasion less… repetitive, Luna."

"You sometimes do surprise me, sister," Luna confessed, drinking some coffee from her cup.

"It's hard to keep up with the tediousness of events like the Gala, Luna," Celestia confessed. "Sometimes, it needs some...refreshing."

Rarity rolled her eyes.

A sudden humm made everypony stop talking and look over to the table where the diary waited. Celestia had taken it upon herself to always have the book at hoof. Either Twilight or Sunset could call at any time and she didn't want to risk not being available to them if needed.

Trading glances with the others, Celestia levitated the magical artifact while the table was cleared of dishes and food.

A brief glimpse at the hoofwriting had Celestia smiling. "It's from Twilight."

"Whee!" Pinkie hop-hopped around the table. "Let's hear it out!"

"It has been some time since we heard from her directly," Applejack said, then chuckled a bit. "Y'all know what Ah mean."

"Yeah, yeah." Rainbow Dash grinned. "Maybe she'll have a new adventure to share!"

"Oh my," Fluttershy said. "I hope it isn't anything bad."

"Well dear, why don't we let the princess read the letter?" Rarity said, using a hoof to fix her hair before leaning forward, curiosity written all over her face.

Celestia nodded, and as her eyes scanned the first lines, her smile faded.

"Sister?"

Dear Princess Celestia,

A lot has happened today. It's very hard to even write this, but I can't just keep it inside. Tomorrow morning, one of my friends a former rookie on my class is about to be executed for treason.

"Oh… my…" Fluttershy whispered, raising her hooves to her mouth in horror. "But… why would they do that?!"

"Let the princess read, sugarcube…" Applejack said, a frown crossing her face. "Ah don't think anypony could do that without a really good reason."

"There's never a good enough reason fo—"

"Heed my words," Luna interrupted Fluttershy. "This world where Twilight and Sunset are now, is not our own. And there are plenty of reasons for treason to be punished most severely." She looked at the mares dead in the eye. "'Tis fortunate that you have not had to face moments where it has been deemed necessary. But not all are so lucky."

Celestia nodded and continued reading.

It's very hard to reconcile my feelings on this with who I was before. On the one hand, I feel bad for the loss of one more person. But on the other hand… after what he did… I can't feel bad for him.

When Chrysalis impersonated Cadance and the girls took her side, I felt betrayed. I know now that circumstances, like the way I was behaving, and Chrysalis' own machinations and acting like a misunderstood, stressed bride and her mind control powers were factors in that whole thing… it still hurt back then. It still hurts, sometimes.

The group exchanged guilty glances.

"I thought she was over it…" Rainbow Dash muttered, rubbing her hoof on her foreleg. "We all apologized."

"I think she forgave us," Rarity said, looking at the book sadly. "But whatever happened with this betrayal… it brought back bad memories. I don't think she's accusing us of anything, Rainbow Dash."

But I had no idea what true betrayal felt like. Looking back on those days, had I expressed my concerns differently, I think I could have gotten through to you all.

In any case, I mentioned to you my class before: Galahad being our "teacher", Monique, Ndlovu, Kevin, Alejandra, and... Michael. There were a few others at the beginning, but they quit early on. They're probably living in a settlement or something. Anyway, we went on our first mission yesterday.

This drew a gasp from everpony.

"B-but I thought Twilight was supposed to be a lab-rat?" Rainbow Dash stammered. "Why was she—"

"Oh my goodness… oh my goodness… Twilight…" Fluttershy's eyes were shimmering with tears. "How could you do this… going out to kill?"

Luna sighed, shaking her head and motioned for Celestia to continue. They of course knew that Twilight had gone out on a mission, thanks to Sunset's last missive, but they had hoped not to tell the girls for now. However, things had not gone well for Twilight, and they had a right to know, in the end.

Looking no less distressed than Twilight's friends, the princess continued reading.

I can imagine how you feel… you're probably horrified. You and everypony there, if the girls are with you... to think that Twilight Sparkle, "Princess of Friendship", would willingly go out there and… fight. And kill.

I did it.

"Oh Twilight," Pinkie whispered.

Celestia paused, closing her eyes. "That I could have spared you this. Both of you..."

"We had no say in this matter, sister," Luna said at length. "Neither Sunset nor Twilight inhabit a world where one can stay idle for long."

"What are you saying?" Rainbow Dash asked. "That Twilight was going to fight? Our egghead would have never done this on her own!"

"I… must agree," Rarity said, carefully looking at both princesses. "I hate to say it so brazenly, but it fits more what Sunset Shimmer might do, than our Twilight. Is is possible that she convinced her?"

"Please my little ponies," Celestia whispered. "Please do not speak of my Sunset like that."

The others looked at each other with a mixture of confusion and worry.

"Mayhaps I should continue reading," Luna said, clearing her throat. "If you would permit me, sister?"

Celestia barely nodded, but Luna gently levitated the book up to herself, placing it on the table and reading aloud.

I thought about how to explain this decision to all of you. I thought, maybe Rainbow Dash and Applejack would understand, just a little. I thought Rarity would begrudgingly nod in the end and respect it… I have the feeling that they three would in the end understand the why I would do this. And… Fluttershy, Pinkie… if you're reading this, I'm so, so sorry. You must be very disappointed in me.

"Never," Pinkie whispered, her hair deflated. She shook her head, wiping away tears. "Never disappointed, Twilight."

Fluttershy just looked away.

Some people tried to dissuade me from doing this. Dr. Tygan wanted me in the lab. Chrysalis ordered me to sit down and think thoroughly if I wanted to do this. She told me straight out that no-one would think less of me if I didn't go. That my work in the lab was just as important as any mission. Shen said it was a bad idea, but that it was up to me…

Sunset—she argued with me, but then I used her own words against her.

About loyalty.

About being there for her team when they needed her.

She knew what I was doing, but she also knew I was being honest. That these people were my friends, and that I owed it to them to be the best I could be on their side, not just… hiding. I think she hated feeling proud of me.

"Oh." Rarity looked down. "I-I'm sorry princess. I just thought…" She gulped, shaking her head.

Celestia's smile was sad. "Sunset has grown to care for Twilight, Rarity… I am glad that she attempted to stop my student. But Twilight can be very stubborn."

"I'm just glad Spike is in Ponyville taking care of the library," Fluttershy said bitterly. "And that he can't see what Twilight is turning into."

"Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash gasped. "What's wrong with you?"

"Killing others should never be an option!"

"ENOUGH!" Luna's voice boomed across the room. "I will continue reading now."

My relationship with Sunset has become very interesting, but as much as I want to talk about that and all the things I have theorized about magic here… even a method so I don't use all of her diary's space… I can't ignore what's going on right now. I'm sorry if I'm ranting, it's just so hard to say this.

Things were going well at the beginning of the mission. We were going to rescue a VIP, try to avoid conflict as much as possible and evacuate as soon as we had the package. Point A to point B to point C. Couldn't be more simple.

But we were ambushed. A siren name Aria, who has been modified horribly by the Elders into a being they call The Assassin killed Galahad and Ndlovu, and then captured me. Another alien, of a type we hadn't seen before, shot this strange bomb that completely melted Monique and splashed Kevin's arm. Alejandra was in the pickup zone waiting for us to catch up so she was ordered to evacuate.

Luna ignored the horrified and sickened looks in Twilight's friends, glancing at Celestia. "It was my understanding that Starswirl had destroyed those beasts."

Celestia shook her head. "It appears that he didn't have the stomach for it... " She sighed. "I wonder how many lives more that decision will cost."

Luna frowned and continued reading.

I watched my friends die. I… I knew it was a possibility. Galahad never minced words on that. He never took out the horrible parts of it. We watched videos of entire teams being wiped out. We knew… we knew it was a possibility.

We've never been naive, princess… we have death and we've had war in Equestria… these concepts are things we understand—we see it in nature, we have predators and creatures that would kill us without hesitation in the Everfree or the wastelands.

I knew it—all of that—and yet, Princess, even when I knew it might happen and that one of us might die I didn't...I'm sorry... I have to force myself to write this.

If I keep it inside I feel like I will explode.

I was captured. I was transported to a nearby building and Aria and I talked about many things… at one point Kevin woke up… he couldn't take it. He snapped, he lost all control and he… he took his own life.

Pinkie was holding Fluttershy, who had broken down as the reading continued. "Twilight…" Pinkie whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"Ah can't even—" Applejack looked away, hurt and angry. "How can that be a decision anypony would make when there's a chance you'll live?"

"Mayhaps my sister and I should read this in private," Luna said. "It appears to be too—"

Rainbow Dash flew up above the princess, ready to say something.

"No." It was quiet, but they all heard it. Fluttershy sniffed, giving Pinkie a thankful look. "No. I want to hear it. I need to know."

Luna matched glances with the others, finding only the same conviction. "Very well then."

Sunset and I managed to communicate thanks to the Element. There's something going on there with Sunset but .

The Commander launched a rescue mission and Sunset and her team got me out, and took out Aria for now. She can't die. She'll return later, and she knows Sunset and I are from Equestria.

When we got home, I found out what had happened. We had been betrayed by that son of a bitch by Michael. I'm sorry princess, I… I don't want to swear but I'm so angry!

He passed the details of our mission to ADVENT. That bastard His betrayal was at the cost of the lives of my friends! He took good people away from me. People who he had eaten with, and laughed with ,and bled with, and trained with!

How could he do this, Princess? How could he send us all to die just to save his own hide? How could anypony do this kind of thing and live with themselves?

The room was quiet.

"How… can you betray your friends?" Rainbow Dash asked, sitting down. "If you make a mistake… o-or an accident, or if you were tricked… I could understand but—intentionally sending them to die?"

Luna shook her head sadly. "May you never live to learn that, Rainbow Dash."

I want him dead. I want him dead more than I've wanted anything. And I know it's wrong! I know I shouldn't—I know that it won't bring them back!

And I know I won't feel better… and it won't stop my tears any more than writing all of this down has.

And it won't fix any of this or what I saw or how much I hate myself for living through it and them being gone.

I never thought I would say this of anyone, ever, princess.

But, by all that's sacred and magical and honest… I want him dead. And I can't stop thinking about how much I hate him!

Luna paused and sighed. "There is no more writing. That was the last of Twilight's message."

Fluttershy slowly stood up and walked out of the room.

"I'll uh," Rainbow Dash got up. "I'll check on her."

"Shucks," Applejack managed to mutter. "Ah never imagined…"

"Can you blame her?" Rarity asked, using a handkerchief to wipe her eyes. "She saw many of her friends die because one of them decided that whatever it is they wanted was more important than the lives of everyone they knew. That such a selfish beasts could exist…"

"Ah don't blame her," Applejack sighed.

"Twilight must be really, really super-duper sad right now…" Pinkie said. "She's always tried to see the best in everypony and now one of her friends betrayed her like that." She gulped. "I wish I could be there for her and bring her some cupcakes."

"Sister," Luna spoke up. "You should write to your student."

"I know, Luna," Celestia said. "I need to write to them both. If you don't mind, I'll do it on my own."

Luna and the three remaining ponies looked at each other, but one by one, they left Celestia alone.