Standing a couple of feet aside, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia observed their guards as they attempted to force their way into the barrier still surrounding the villa of Twilight’s family.

The magical ritual performed by the best mages Celestia’s school for Gifted Unicorns and Canterlot’s Universities had to offer was powerful, so much so that the two observing alicorns could practically feel the magic emanating from it.

The eight unicorns were in deep concentration as a reddish-blue ball formed in the midst of the ritual circle that had been drawn onto the floor. As the ball grew in size, Celestia could observe even from where she was standing that all of the casters were beginning to sweat.

She knew very well that this particular spell was taxing, even for an alicorn, and she felt truly sorry for having to demand such feats from her subjects. As the first mages began to wobble, slowly showing how truly demanding the spell was of the casters magical power, another unicorn stepped into the circle.

His horn aglow with his dark-blue magic, he tapped into the free-flying mana in front of him to form the raw mana into a spell.

As he channeled the raw ball of energy into his horn, a sick sizzling sound could be heard as parts of his robe and fur began to vaporize from the amount of power he was now holding in his relatively small body. Before it could do too much damage though, a bright and strong beam shot directly at the barrier in front of him as he finally formed the excess magic into a spell.

As the beam hit the barrier, it rippled under the force of its impact, but the majority of the blue power just vanished into the dome, refocused into the magic absorption device which built its distortion field just around the actual physical magical wall.

“Another failed attempt, it seems,” Luna said finally, as the last evidence of the powerful ritual vanished into the cube which they could see quite clearly floating over the house.

Before anypony else could answer, the cube inside the forcefield dumped the excess energy it gathered into the ground where it would safely disperse.

“It seems that way, yes, but at least the magic has made contact with the shield this time,” Celestia answered, looking concerned at the now heaving unicorns who had focused all their magical energy into this spell in an attempt to destroy the magical distorter by overloading its capacity.

The last unicorn who had used then this excess magic to form an actual spell was carefully levitated onto a stretcher from a group of emergency medics. All over his body the two monarchs could see multiple burn marks, exposed flesh and darkened fur, displaying just of how much energy had coursed through his system for not even three seconds.

The young mage had tapped into too much magic and had nearly burned alive, but to their anger, his near-sacrifice was for nothing.

The magical barrier still stood proud in place.

Looking at said barrier, the white alicorn silently cursed that so many good magicians had already been hurt due to this cursed distorter protecting it.

Shaking her head, Celestia stomped with her left front hoof in determination, “I doubt this will work,” she paused, thinking, “but, we have to break through that barrier somehow. For Twilight's sake, we have to free her parents,” shaking her head, she sighed, “But we have already utilized the best of our mages we could bring here on short notice. I don’t know what we have not tried already, and I fear we truly have to hope on a miracle.”

Looking at her sister, Luna was concerned, Celestia normally wasn’t a pony which would hesitate or lose hope, but the situation was quite clearly getting to her. If she didn’t know it better, she would almost think Celestia looked a bit desperate right now.

Thinking for a bit, the Lunar Princess asked, “We thought thou specifically trained a great number of unicorns for exactly that purpose, to fend off any attacker in our Kingdom?”

Raising an eyebrow, Celestia regarded her sister, “Excuse me?”

“Thy School for Gifted Unicorns? Isn’t it supposed to, well… produce mages with such capabilities?” Luna asked.

“Oh, by the stars, no. My school is supposed to help young and powerful unicorns live a normal life or become something that will benefit Equestria as a whole,” Celestia said, worried over the point Luna wanted to bring across.

“Then what about our military? Aren’t there enough battle mages we could utilize for such a task?” Luna asked, desperately trying to find a way for them to have more power behind their rituals to break through the barrier.

“We did, yes, but unfortunately a major portion of our standing forces is employed in the Crystal Empire right now, Cadance can use their help for their recent expansion and restructure of the Crystal Ponies. Having come out of slavery has greatly unsettled them, and they need our help right now.”

“Then, pray tell, what is with the rest of our forces?” Luna asked, going wide-eyed.

“The rest are just guards and commanding officers structuring troop training,” Celestia said, glancing at the troops surrounding them.

“But-“ Luna tried to say but was interrupted by Celestia.

“Luna, we’ve had peace now for over 500 years. The great armies we had in older times are simply not needed these days and a big portion of our military are reservists who live a normal life.”

“So, thou art saying we are defenseless if someone might declare war now, sister?” Luna asked, actually shocked.

“No, we are not, for a start, we have the Elements of Harmony, and I am confident they can handle any threats which are actually evil, then we have Discord, who is now also part of our defense, and for the last, if we really need to attack, we can call the reservists back into the standing military in a matter of days… but I won’t break out the alarm just because we have some up rile in the capital,” Celestia explained, already turned around and walking back to the war tent they had just came from a minute ago, “We simply have to find a way to break through that barrier, an army will not help us here…”

“Hmmm, thou art right… have we at least made contact with Twilight by now?” Luna asked, glancing to where the small houses making up Ponyville could be seen.

“No, but I am sure that if our mail has arrived, then Twilight will already be anxiously waiting on the chariot to come here as soon as possible,” Celestia said, also turning around to look at the brightly shimmering castle which could be clearly seen towering over the rest of Ponyville.

“What will she be able to do though? Thou don’t plan on giving her to the zealots who ask after her just to free her parents, do you? We don’t know if we can save her afterward,” Luna stated in worry.

“Of course not, but I am sure Twilight will have an idea on how to break through this barrier. If not, I fear we’ll have to wait for Shining Armor and Cadance, after all, barriers are Shining Armor's specialty.”

“But aren’t they half a day away?”

“Unfortunately, you are right,” Celestia inhaled deeply to calm herself, “but do you have any other ideas?”

Luna glanced down for a moment before stubbornly admitting that Celestia was right with a shake of her head. “Nay…”

In the lull of silence between the two contemplating sisters, an ear-deafening crack could be heard. As the two whipped around to see what happened, Twilight was flying over the barrier, her eyes white and the space around her crackling with magic which seemed like it threatened to rip reality apart, but was at the same time curling safely over her body.

“What in the name of our glorious moon…” Luna said, before a magical beam, thick enough to engulf the whole mansion shot down from where Twilight was hovering with her purple color of magic.

The force wave emitting from where the beam impacted shoved nearly all guards and standing princesses from their hoofs as they watched the purple alicorn landing in front of the entrance to her family property, the forcefield having cracked already in multiple places.

“WHERE… IS… MY… FAMILY!!!” her words carried through the air around her, the force of her words actually knocking the guards back down who were quick enough to have jumped up again.

---

Having read the letter just a moment ago, Twilight stood now in front of her childhood home, her horn aglow with magic, but otherwise she appeared to be calm.

However, to anyone looking closely, they'd be able to see the occasional twitch of some of her muscles, or her wings, as she stared at the barrier, waiting for any kind of movement inside, or outside…

After her spectacular entrance and her display of magical power which she had instinctually produced, Twilight inhaled deeply before the magic lightning and her white eyes faded away with her tension.

Celestia, for her part, who was standing back up again multiple meters away would have been slack-jawed had she not had millennia worth of training in self-restraint.

But in Twilight's head was silence, her single thought and goal was directed at who and what lay behind this barrier as she anticipated the coming response.

Any moment now…

As if on command, the milky barrier suddenly cleared a bit and she could see a sturdily built unicorn with a dark brown coat, a scar over his right eye and a golden ray of teeth, but before her mind could actually store that piece of information away, he cleared his voice… hearable even through the barrier.

“Well, well, if that isn’t our beloved PRINCESS OF FRIENDSHIP I see…” his gravelly voice carried through the silent grounds. “It is truly an honor to finally make your acquaintance, your majesty.”

Grinding her teeth in annoyance, Twilight glared at him, “Where are my parents?” she hissed out, in a voice that even made the slowly approaching guards flinch away in fear.

“Ah, rather direct, are we? Well, I had at least hoped to have a pleasant conversation with you before we would come to business,” he said, chuckling to himself. “Well, just to have you know, they are right here,” he said, motioning to one of his followers to bring them into view.

As another set of unicorns entered the small window in the barrier, Twilight could see her mother and her father, tied up in ropes, with magical suppression rings on their horns and ball gags in their mouths carried on their backs.

Narrowing her eyes, she growled angrily, “What have you done to them?”

“Done to them?” the dark brown unicorn asked in mock offence, “Oh, nothing special, we have drugged them so that they don’t try anything, nothing too complicated or poisonous,” he said, clearing his voice, “at least if they get to see a doctor sooner or later,” he added, smirking as he saw Twilight's eyes narrowing even further.

Before she could respond though, he waved a hoof to his followers and turned back to her. “Well, now that you are here, I presume we can talk about our… ‘price’… if you would say so.”

“What? What do you want?” Twilight cried out, angrily flaring her wings.

“We… oh… we, well we don’t want to have much, Princess, we just want to make a deal, if you know what I mean.”

“What deal?”

“Well, isn’t it obvious? We release your oh so precious parents and I’ll even hand over a list of what we drugged them with, just because I'm feeling nice,” he said, polishing his hoof on his cloak, “in exchange for yourself of course.”

“Why?” Twilight said, the venom in her voice clearly palpable to even the most thickheaded creature in existence.

“Why what, dear Princess… I am afraid I might have misunderstood you.”

“Why me?” she asked again, some magical lightning starting to run over her body again.

“Well, this is easy… because we were paid to do so,” the unicorn stated, smiling innocently.

“And what, do you think, is saving you from me just destroying this barrier and getting them myself?” she snarled, lighting her horn.

“Ah, ah, ah dear Princess, even you should understand your plight here. If you try to break our defenses, we won't hesitate in greeting you with two very dead ponies,” he stated.

Halting, Twilight glanced at where she thought her parents lay now behind the barrier. Thinking for just a second, she looked back to the unicorn and nodded once.

“Fine… my parents’ freedom for mine,” she stated quickly, completely ignoring the logical part of her brain and the shouts and screams from the ponies running towards her.

“Oh, a wise decision, Princess…” he nodded, motioning to his companions. “But we, well we have to make sure that you don’t play one of your games with us here,” he said before a small space opened in the barrier and a small ring and belt was thrown out…

“Wear these, would you? They are, let’s say… safety precautions. They will keep you and your pesky magic and wings where they belong,” the unicorn said, a malicious grin on his muzzle.

“What will assure me that you’ll keep your end of the bargaining and release my parents?” she asked, glancing at the two magic suppressors in front of her.

"Dear Princess, do you not understand? It seems like you have no other option than to trust me. I'm sure as the Princess of Friendship that should be easy for you," he mocked, absently toying with a knife in his magic as if he were trying to be the very opposite of trustworthy.

She was trapped, Twilight knew what they would do to her parents now that she was here and so her decision was easy. Huffing in frustration, Twilight levitated the ring and belt to her and put them on.

The logical part of her brain screamed unheard that this was the dumbest idea she’d ever had, but her heart simply didn’t let her have any choice in the matter.

Picking up the ring and regarding it for a moment, Twilight placed it on her horn and fiddled with her hooves to connect the belt around her waist and wings.

As she clipped the belt in place, the barrier opened once more as her parents and a piece of paper were thrown out before she was seized in a strong magical grip, presumably from multiple ponies at the same time.

Now stepping into the opening, the dark brown unicorn chuckled to himself as he watched Twilight who was slowly levitated into the barrier.

As she passed by her parents, Twilight hung her head a bit and closed her eyes, one tear escaping her eyes as she silently whispered. “Sorry I had to do this, please, please be able to forgive me…” she said, as she was levitated into the barrier before it closed around her.

Having lost all hope of a better solution, Twilight had given up.

---

As soon as Princess Celestia was back onto her hoofs, she could see that Twilight, however she had come here, was standing in front of the barrier, talking to one of the extremists of the group.

“Oh, no… Luna… what is she doing?” she asked, yanking her sister up who had been buried under her.

“We think the more interesting question is how has she com… by Tartarus, what is thine student doing?” Luna asked, her eyes wide as they watched Twilight converse.

“They are talking,” Celestia said… before she shook her head and inhaled deeply. “TWILIGHT!” she yelled, attempting to get the purple alicorns attention.

As her former student didn’t even flick an ear into her direction, she started walking towards her.

Suddenly the barrier opened and two small items were thrown in front of her. “TWILIGHT, NO WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” she yelled again, now beginning to gallop fruitlessly to Twilights aid.

As she levitated the two items closer to her and began to put them on, Celestia tried to teleport to her side, only to realize that her magic was somehow blocked from her.

“Oh no,” muttering to themselves, Celestia and Luna galloped faster and shouted all the while trying to get the attention from Twilight who was beginning to buckle the belt around her waist.

As her former student was finished, Celestia and Luna had to watch in horror as the barrier opened once more and Twilight’s parents had been thrown out while the purple alicorn was gripped in a magical aura and levitated closer to the barrier.

“NO, STOP, TWILIGHT!” Celestia shouted once more, having to watch helplessly as her former student vanished behind the now again milky barrier of magic.

Reaching the spot where her student had stood a moment ago, she cursed loudly before looking at the two bound up ponies in front of her…

Sighing in defeat, Celestia motioned to a few guards to pick them up and to tend to their needs as she tried to summon up her own magic to break through the barrier.

Producing only a couple of sparks with their horns, the two sisters looked at each other in horror as they realized they could do nothing to help her friend right now…

“GUARDS! OPEN FIRE ON THE BARRIER! WE HAVE TO SAVE PRINCESS TWILIGHT!” Luna shouted, having turned around and running back to the line of guards which they had just left.

As Celestia was left behind, she could suddenly feel a violent disturbance in the magical flow around her, as if suddenly something immensely powerful had been released.

---

Having mentally given up by this point, Twilight silently cried as she was set down inside of the barrier.

"Oh, Princess, what a pitiable thing you are, enjoy your title while it lasts. Soon you'll have nothing to cry about, soon you'll be nothing at all," he scoffed, spitting at her face.

“Why?” she said, again, tears streaming down her face.

“Why what?” he mocked, almost amused at his captives seeming stupidity.

“Why me?” she asked again.

“Because you apparently had very powerful and influential enemies, my dear,” he chuckled, “But, rest assured, you of all ponies don’t have to question it any longer, because you, my little princess, are going to sleep for a while,” he said as he swung a powerful hoof at her chin, knocking everything black.

Seeing no way out, Twilight embraced the black as it hit her. Her limp body falling to the floor before any of the extremists around her could catch her.

---

Rocking back as if she was flying backwards, Twilight found herself in a state of mind where she could see and hear everything, but at the same time couldn’t move a muscle. Having never been truly unconscious before, Twilight figured that this was just that right now.

But she didn’t struggle or fight it. Being at her lowest right now, with no hope of a bright future, ever, her only comfort was that she knew her parents where safe, they would be fine. They had to be fine.

They had to be fine, without her. They simply had to be.

As she whimpered to herself, Twilight thought of all the ponies she most likely would never see again.

Her parents, even though she knew they would have to be fine, her friends, to whom she was not even able to say goodbye, her brother, who will probably get sick when he hears what she had just done, her sister in law, her niece, Spike, her surrogate son, and most importantly Celestia and Luna, to whom she never even had confessed how she felt.

She felt as if she had disappointed them all, somehow.

She didn’t even give them the opportunity to help her, she just ran into this like a foal would have run for the first solution. She simply hadn’t seen any alternative.

She just gave up, she gave up like a coward, and she hated herself for doing so.

Suddenly though, she heard a whisper. There were no words, well not in the literal sense, but silent noises, curling all around her, bringing up images and pictures of… of herself?

She saw herself at the entrance exam of Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, losing control of her magic. She saw herself learning, under Celestia’s wing and guidance. She saw herself and her friends fighting against Nightmare Moon, where all six of them wielded the elements for the first time in their life. She saw herself finishing the last spell of Star Swirl, ascending into an alicorn. She saw herself battling Tirek, having been pushed through literal mountains without a scratch.

Every vision she saw had one thing in common. It wasn’t her friends, her position, her willpower. It was how magic had influenced her life. How she had united and activated the elements of harmony for the first time in one thousand years. How her exceptional power had drawn Celestia's attention and how she had been tutored to control this power, and how she had always tried to use this power for the betterment of everyone, not just ponies, for every creature living on Equus.

She saw herself as she stood side to side with her friends, facing one evil to the next, all the way leading them to a better future.

She could see all the things she had accomplished, she saw all the things her friends and family had accomplished, and she could see all the things which they had accomplished because of her.

A warm feeling spread out through her chest as she looked at the images flowing inside her head. A comforting presence made itself known inside her as she thought she would break down into another fit of sobs right then and there.

It was a presence which was much more powerful than her own, but at the same time, just like herself. It felt oddly comforting as it wrapped up around her, blanketing her and soothing away the pain and guilt she was feeling.

Finally calming down, she could feel all the love and passion from those memories, from her friends, her family, behind each and every one of them.

She felt hope, for the first time since she was brought inside of the barrier, Twilight truly had hope again. Her dark thoughts were now completely wiped out and she was calm again.

As if the sudden spark of hope had lit a bonfire inside of her, Twilight could feel the warmth leaving her chest and spreading out into her limps, her wings, her horn. She felt warm again.

Thinking of all the ponies she wanted to see again, Twilight reached deep inside of herself

Deep inside of her was a vast pool of power, one she had never consciously tapped before. Standing over this pool of power, she could look around but did not see an end of it.

Deciding to ignore her inquisitive desires for now, she dipped her consciousness into the pool and was suddenly overwhelmed with images, impressions, locations.

Twilight felt like she was everywhere. All of the impressions blurred into a giant, incomprehensible picture of images and information, all muddled together.

Though, she was able to see a few things quite clearly.

She saw all of her friends, how they hurried into the direction of her castle, she could see her brother and sister in law, sitting in a train speeding to Canterlot, she could see Luna barking orders at the guards in front of the barrier and she could see Celestia who sat inside a tent, streams of tears running down her face while she crumbled up a sheet of paper and incinerated it.

She knew what she had to do. She had to fight. She had to fight when she wanted to see her friends and family again. She had to fight for the hope of stopping the tears of those she wished to continue loving, and she would. Twilight was ready, ready to take on anything and everything that intended to do her wrong.

---

As Twilight's body limply hit the floor, the dark brown unicorn laughed again and turned around. “Bring her inside and prepare the teleport, I want to leave this place as soon as possible.”

Before any of his companions could do anything though, they heard an otherworldly chuckle.

Turning back around, he saw Twilight's body shaking in amusement, her eyes still closed and having not moved an inch since hitting the floor.

“Oh, what is so amusing, little Princess?” he asked, not losing his cool for his apparent failure. “I fear you quite misunderstand the situation, you have nothing to laugh about, especially considering where we will bring you in just a couple of minutes.”

“Oh, what makes you so certain of that?” Twilights voice was ice cold and the question sent shivers down the spines of everyone surrounding her.

Chuckling to himself, the unicorn remained resolute as he shook his head, “What will you do, little Princess? You have nothing. You can’t use your magic, you are bound up and no one will be able to help you. Why don’t you give up and spare us the trouble?”

Twilight laughed with empty amusement, “I ask again, what makes you so certain you have won so easily?”

Flaring up in anger, the dark brown unicorn tensed his muscles. “Because you are a worthless, weak, pathetic excuse of a pony! You are no princess, not mine, certainly! But you have something my client wants.”

Without opening her eyes, Twilight sat herself back up and turned her head to the speaking unicorn. “Oh, and what might that be?” she asked, her voice cool and void of emotion.

“You’ll see soon enough,” he growled, trying to hit her again into the chin with his full power.

As his hoof hit her chin, a sickening crack could be heard as it echoed through the dome.

Having not even flinched a muscle, Twilight stood calm and collected, the hoof still connected to the lower part of her chin as the unicorn’s eyes widened in horror, and then in pain.

As he recoiled his hoof to stare at it, he inhaled sharply to scream out in pain as he realized his hoof had a clear crack through it and had split apart even through parts of his bones.

Having been hit, Twilight took this as the right moment and opened her white glowing eyes to look at the screaming unicorn in front of her.

“H-h-how is that possible?” he screamed, both in pain and in disbelief.

“It is simple,” Twilight said, her voice oddly carried through the wind and echoing many times in of itself. “You failed,” she said lighting her horn while the magical suppressor around her horn and wings exploded into millions of little particles from having overloaded.

Stepping out of the magical confinements the other unicorns tried to enforce on her as if she would step through nothing, she turned her head and looked at them, her expression completely emotionless as she regarded them.

“I offer you this one chance to surrender, or you will feel the consequences of your actions,” she said, oddly calm, as if she would restrain herself from using too much of her new-found power.

As the other ponies glanced at each other, Twilight could see the sudden fear in their eyes, but suddenly, a loud shout could be heard from her right. Turning her head, Twilight saw that a bulky minotaur was running towards her, his horns angled down in his best attempt to impale her.

Shaking her head sadly, Twilight lit her horn and before the bulky minotaur could realize what was happening, he already ran head first into a solid wall of magic, breaking his horns while doing so.

Seeing their comrad taking action, the remaining ponies charged their horns, drew blades or took a fighting stance. The two griffins accompanying the group though, seemed oddly distanced and just kept on watching.

Shaking her head, Twilight calmly sat down in front of them, her eyes still blazing with white power as her mane and tail slowly dissolved into a pure purple vapour of magic. Her normally slightly bigger size grew to a point where she could easily tower over her adversaries.

Already dancing in agitation, two of the extremists couldn’t handle it any longer and charged at her, one his horn aglow with magic, the other trying to wrestle her with his Earthpony strength onto the ground.

As if the charge of their fellows had broken everyone out of their trance, now the rest of the group also got into motion and charged at the purple alicorn.

Before any of them could reach her though, Twilight opened her wings and jumped into the air. The two pegasi instantly attempted to chase her, but as it seemed, she had expected that. Whipping around and gripping their wings mid-flight, Twilight yanked them together so that their heads collided with each other before they tumbled dazed back to the floor.

Settling down behind the rest of her attackers before they could even whip around, she formed a couple of small obstacles before their feet, bringing every one of them tumbling down to the floor.

Suddenly though, Twilight could feel something sharp and pointy at her throat.

“If you move one muscle, or if I see one spark of magic from this horn of yours, I will…” – the griffin didn’t even manage it to finish his sentence as Twilight bucked him into his gut and flung him with her magic to the rest of her attackers who all crashed down into a big pile of hooves, limbs, wings and other appendages.

The last griffin who had stayed behind up until now growled and jumped at her, his claws ready to grab her, but she just turned around and dunked him onto the floor with a mere thought.

As the griffin’s body sunk down unconscious, Twilight could see some of her attackers trying to stand up and she inhaled deeply.

“ENOUGH!” she shouted annoyed, the force of her voice pushing the pile of extremists against the house wall.

The leader of the small group, who had sunken to the ground in pain and who clutched his hoof to his chest, tried to sit up a bit, but was seized in a purple aura of magic to keep him in place.

Lighting his horn, he attempted to break free while he shouted with all the energy he could muster, “This can't be right. NO! I WILL END YOU! I WILL KILL YOU! I DON’T CARE WHAT MY CLIENT WANTS! I WILL KILL YOU!”

As he couldn’t move an inch and his every attempt of escape was futile, he had to look on in horror as Twilights gaze slowly fell onto him and she narrowed her eyes.

“You can insult me..., you can hate me..., you can hurt me..., but what I won’t allow, and what your biggest error was, is that you went after my FAMILY!” Twilight shouted, her horn pulsing with a wave of power that quickly filled up the whole dome and pushed all the extremists against the wall, their hoofs, feet’s or claws not even touching the ground anymore.

“I along with my friends have risked ourselves time and time again. For the sake of Equestria and the world’s peace, my life was forfeit. Not for anyone special, but so I could offer a brighter future for who I could, when I could...” she said, her voice trailing off into an unnaturally calm silence.

“AND YOU COULDN’T LEAVE ONE THING ALONE!” Twilight cracked, her tension unsettling in the air. “ALL THAT I DID, ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING, AND ALL I WANTED WAS ONE THING. ONE THING!” Taking a deep breath Twilight seemed to calm down again. “And you couldn’t even do that...” Twilight’s eye was left unwavering in its newfound gaze of the terrified ponies in front of her. “You, you couldn’t leave it well enough alone, the one thing... ONE. THING!”

She broke out, her horn flaring again and exploding in another wave of power, now crushing all of them into the wall, some of them screaming in pain.

“You have deliberately chosen to hurt those I love, and now I wonder. Those times when my life was at risk for the world was it worth it? For the sole reason that you live today, was it WORTH IT?” she demanded, walking up to the pressed-up extremists, all care of good sense long since banished from her mind as she stood in front of them. “TELL ME!”

Hearing no response Twilight shouted again, “YOU ALL TREAD OVER WHAT I DID! FOR YOU, AND FOR SO MANY OTHERS... YOU MAKE ME SICK!” Her horn flared again, crushing the extremists even deeper into the wall while her magical surges had drained the shield completely from the inside. As the big barrier cracked and finally shattered, Twilight took another step towards the now screaming extremists.

“You are the worst!” she said, a dark tint slowly creeping into her magical aura, as the yells of pain only grew in volume. “And I never want to see you ever again!” she shouted, as some cracking noises could be heard from her captives.

Just before Twilight could do anything else though, she heard a faint call of her name somewhere at the edge of her hearing. Blinking once, and annoyed at the interruption, she turned around to see that the barrier around her had vanished and that she now stood in front of a great assembly of guards, all aiming their spears into her direction.

But the most important thing of that all, was that she could see the two sisters looking at her, both with shock on their muzzles at seeing her.

Turning back around though, Twilight quickly could think of why, and her eyes widened in shock.

Cutting off her magic, and scrambling backwards, while falling over her hoofs, Twilight shut herself out completely. Turning back into her usual form and posture, she stared in horror at what she had nearly done, and as she heard her name called out once more, she looked back before her eyes rolled up in her head as she hit the floor, falling into unconsciousness.

---

As Celestia stepped back into the tent, she had nearly lost her composure already. Luna who had seen her sisters’ distress had reassured her that she would be fine for a minute or two if she would need some time to recompose herself.

And so Celestia found herself back at the much too small table where she just fell down into a chair and stared ahead.

Having lived and controlled her emotions for many millennia now gave her usually the ability to appear calm in the most stressful of times, but it also had given her a fine sense on when exactly this control would slip, and it was definitely slipping right now.

Sitting on the small desk with a map of Canterlot on top of, Celestia stared ahead as she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

Having seen her former student, her friend, so utterly desperate that she had given up on the spot was something new for her. She had dealt with many losses over her long life, but none of them stung so deeply as the loss she felt in her heart right now.

Twilight Sparkle, her biggest success as a teacher and a fellow Princess, a fellow immortal had given up on the spot as she was unable to see an alternative on how to care for those who she loved.

Celestia felt weak right now, she felt as she had disappointed Twilight.

She had, and she was sure of that.

She was unable to protect the one and only thing she knew of which was important for her friend.

She was the ruler of the strongest nation in the known world and she was unable to protect her friend’s family. She was unable to help her friend like she had done so many times before when she had saved Equestria from one threat or another.

Celestia felt as she had done a great disservice to the one pony she loved as much as her sister. To the very pony which had freed her sister from her dark path and returned her to her side.

She had failed the one pony she truly could consider more than a friend.

And now that pony would be gone.

Celestia had no idea how they should break through that barrier without harming her, or without giving her captives enough time to harm her.

Celestia had no idea how she was supposed to react now.

She wanted to do something… she wanted to help Twilight, but how?

All she was able to do was look on, as her friend had been dragged out of her reach.

Shaking her head to push away the dark thoughts, Celestia grabbed a quill and ink alongside a paper. Sulking around didn’t help anything and she had to do something if she wanted to have at least a chance of getting her friend out of this situation.

So, she drew.

She drew a set of the most potent spells she knew. She recreated from memory the most powerful shield breakers she knew; the most devastating destruction spells she could remember and the most terrifying display of power which would help her in any possible way right now.

Her efforts consisted of spells long since forgotten, long since buried under the mantle of time, with her and her sister being the only two beings in existence who still knew of that kind of power.

As she reached the end of the paper, Celestia realized that each and every one of those spells would make the skin crawl of even the most sadistic pony or creature out there, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was how she would use them to free her friend from the clutches of her captives.

All she knew of was how she would save her Twilight like she had done so many times before with her.

Inhaling once more, Celestia formed a plan in her head and stood up. Crumpling up the paper into a ball, she quickly lit the paper on fire and watched it burn to ash as she would not allow the knowledge of those spells to ever come back.

Having decided a course of her action, she turned around to leave the tent.

As she stepped outside, briefly blinded from the light of her own sun as she stared at it, Celestia looked back at the magical barrier in front of her.

Lighting up her horn, she prepared a series of spells that would probably melt the floor or light half of Canterlot aflame, but she didn’t care right now, her only goal in mind was to rescue Twilight. All consequences may be dammed. Before she could proceed to cast even one of them though, the ground shook slightly, causing her to look back at the barrier.

Wondering for a brief moment on what had just happened, Celestia glanced over to her sister who had also stopped mid-step to look at the commotion.

As another tremble in the earth could be felt, Luna finally glanced back to her sister. Before Luna could react, Celestia shouted with her royal voice. “Get back into lines! Something is happening!”

As the guards crumbled and run back into line and to surround the two princesses, all of them lowered their spears and focused their attention on the barrier.

Waiting on anything that might happen next, Luna had run over to where Celestia was standing, but before she could ask anything concerning the matter, another powerful blast could be felt, this time shattering the barrier in one go.

As the last remanence of the magical shield fell to the ground and the two monarchs could see through the magical mist, Celestia had to restrain herself from letting her mouth fall open.

There, burning with magical energy stood Twilight, her horn aglow and not even realizing that she had just brought down the barrier single hoovedly.

A great wave of relief washed over Celestia at seeing her former student standing there. “Twilight!” she called out in hopes to get the young mare's attention.

This time, her call had worked at first try as the purple alicorn looked startled before turning her head. Glancing around, her eyes widened as soon as she saw the two of them and she looked back to where she was holding the extremists in shock.

Suddenly recoiling and stumbling backward, Celestia began to run towards her, some of her concerns though crept back seeing her fall. “Twilight!”

As her former student turned around once more, she looked at her briefly before her eyes rolled up into her head and she sunk to the ground.

Catching her before she landed on the floor, Celestia held the purple alicorn in her grasp and cradled her head. “Twilight, Twilight, hey, Twilight please… Twilight, speak with me… please…” she called again, nearly crying again.

“Bring a doctor here!” Luna shouted from her side, “We need a doctor immediately.” She shouted again, her concern palpable in her voice.

Looking back down to the now unconscious alicorn, Luna shook her head sadly.

As a series of groans and coughs managed it to come to her ears, Luna looked back up to examine her surroundings in search for more ponies which might possibly need medical attention.

Finding the source of the sounds, her look darkened and she practically glared at the group of extremists who slowly tried to shuffle out of the pile of rubble which was left from the once so glorious house of the Sparkle family.

The former mansion appeared to be completely destroyed, the front wall was nothing more than a pile of smoking rubble, while the roof was hanging dangerously low to the ground. The few rooms Luna could see were completely destroyed and multiple burn marks, piles of shattered glass and pieces of wood littered the once clean and well-furnished hallways.

Gingerly positioning herself between her fellow princesses and the extremists, Luna watched them trying to get up and going again. One of them, the unicorn they had seen earlier representing the rest of the group seemed to have passed out entirely, his left forehoof pressed to his chest which had a rather visible crack all the way through the sole of his hoof through the coffin bone and up into the upper parts of the leg.

Wincing at the mere sight of it and knowing full well the pain such an injury could cause, Luna looked over to the rest of them, who appeared fairly bruised, cut at various places and some even unable to stand on their own.

Shaking her head and wondering why any of them were still alive, in her time, such tedious acts would have been enough to punish the attacker with instead death on the battlefield.

Hearing the sound of rushing hooves Luna was abruptly made aware that she had company, company of which was not entirely unwelcome, despite the captain in question.

“Princess Luna, I” – Steadfast paused, looking around at the surrounding chaos – “if I may speak plainly, what in Celestia’s name happened here?”

Narrowing her eyes in scorn at the culprits, Luna replied, “That, Captain, is a good question. I am still unsure myself, needless to say Twilight somehow... overpowered the situation. The details, however, remain elusive. For now, these criminals need to be detained, I doubt there are any more in hiding but the area should still be searched as well.”

“As you wish Princess, just one question, how badly wounded are they? How much attention will they need?”

“As much as I loathe granting them the reprieve, I fear they will need extensive medical attention. Before they bleed out, I would prefer to the have the opportunity to talk,” sighing in frustration she continued. “Check for internal injuries, beyond that I have little expertise.”

“Sounds reasonable, I will excuse myself then, I am sure there will be further discussion at a later date.” Luna knew the stallion had little sympathy for the worst of people of the world but he still had an almost oppressive tendency to ignore any personal vendetta for the greater good. Though that didn’t stop him from spitting out some spiteful insults at the grouped abductors when he thought Luna wasn’t listening.

Leaving the captain to carry out his duties, Luna turned away from the hateful sight to make her way back to where Twilight was being watched over by her sister.

Still stroking her former students’ mane soothingly, Celestia tried every spell she knew which would check, heal or help the pony in her hooves. As Twilight didn’t seem to wake up though, she rose her head and looked around to find a medical pony running towards them.

As soon as the white unicorn, with a red cross as her cutie mark, came to a stop next to the three rulers, she bowed quickly before standing up again and looking at Twilight.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, my name is Chariot Heart,” the white unicorn explained in a rush, “I came as soon as I could, but I didn’t see anything hitting Princess Twilight,” she hesitated shortly, “have the two of you maybe seen anything so I might know what to look for?”

Shaking her head, Celestia watched the young medical pony perform a few tests on her former student. “No, I didn’t see anything, as the barrier shattered, she looked at us and then collapsed to the ground.”

“Maybe she was hit from a spell earlier?” Luna asked, trying to not get in the way of the white unicorn.

“I didn’t pick up anything which would have such a lasting effect,” Celestia stated, shaking her head.

“I can’t find anything either,” Chariot Heart said, carefully opening one of Twilights eyes with her magic and looking at it with a small lamp, “her heart rate seems a bit slow, but other than that, she looks completely healthy from what I can see. Her pupils though react poorly to the tests, it seems Princess Twilight has passed out from shock from what I can tell,” the medic stated, packing her lamp back into her bag.

Touching her horn to Twilights, she tried to get a read out of her mana level, but upon contact, her eyes widened. “I-I-I nearly can’t detect her magic signature, your majesties,” she gasped.

“WHAT?” Celestia asked in shock, attempting to do the same to her former protégée. “H-how is that possible?” she asked, her eyes wide, “If she would be drained, she would still be able to…”

Shaking her head, the unicorn bowed deeply. “I am sorry your Highness, but I don’t know. In all my life as a nurse and emergency medic, I have never seen this to this degree.”

“Then, doest thou have any way to help her?” Luna asked, her gaze fixated on Twilight.

“I fear there isn’t much we can do… a pony suffering from magical withdraw needs to rest and rebuild their magic reserves before they wake up again. If there is a very serious case, we give the patient a couple of drops of phoenix essence.” Shaking her head, the unicorn looked at Celestia, “But I fear we don’t have any of this essence in stock since the changeling attack, it is quite rare and hard to get so I fear we have to wai-“

“Phoenix essence?” Celestia exclaimed, her eyes widening, “of course, yes… I think I can extract a bit of Philomena’s essence out of her feathers,” she said, looking at the medic.

“Erm, that could be possible, my princess… I suggest you should seek advice from a more reliable source though, I fear I have no more insight in this,” she said.

Glancing down to the peaceful seeming pony in her hooves, Celestia mouthed her name one more time before hugging her and slipping her on her back. “Thank you, miss Heart, I will take care from here on out,” turning to her sister, Celestia continued, “I will take her to my chambers immediately, we should have everything available to help her for the time being.”

“Of course, sister, we will come along shortly. We fear we have to calm the press for now,” She said, visibly souring.

Watching her sister depart with a bright flash of light, Luna nodded once more and turned around towards the quickly gathering crowd of ponies behind them.

Next Chapter: The Good, the Bad and the Crazy Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 36 Minutes