Numbers

Wildfire

Daybreaker flew over the buildings of Ponyville, contemplating on which one of them to destroy. If she destroyed one of the homes of Twilight's closest friends, perhaps Twilight would surrender right away.

It was when she was thinking this that her eyes landed on the nauseatingly colorful Sugarcube Corner. Daybreaker grinned until she saw Rainbow Dash run out the front door and fly up to face her.

She expected the blue pegasus to yell at her, but she flew right into Daybreaker's chest plate and started hitting it with her hooves. Her movements became more desperate as Daybreaker flew out of her reach and shot a ball of fire.

Rainbow Dash flew out of the way in a rather clumsy movement, her eyes wide.

"Celestia?" Dash gasped.

Daybreaker took the moment of shock to shoot more fireballs at her, and when Rainbow Dash avoided another fireball, she flew right in the direction of another one. The fireball hit her and consumed her entire body, and after two seconds of agonized screaming, Rainbow Dash was no more than a pile of ash on the ground.

The Element of Loyalty was dead.

Daybreaker wasn't too keen on killing one of her beloved's best friends, but it had to be done. She saw Pinkie and the Cakes escaping out the back door; Pinkie stopping to see the dark blue ash fall on the ground.

Celestia could see the glitter of oncoming tears in Pinkie's eyes before she threw her head to the sky and screamed.

"NO!" Pinkie sobbed. "Rainbow-"

"We have to go!" Mrs. Cake begged. "She'll kill us too!"

Daybreaker saw Pinkie turn around and follow the Cakes, her mane turning straight. She threw a fireball right into Sugarcube Corner, igniting it into flames.

"TWILIGHT!" Daybreaker shouted over the chaos. "I've come to take you home!"

...

Daybreaker's shout had woke up Twilight.

The little alicorn jolted out of her bed, finally being exposed to the desperate screams of dozens of ponies right outside her castle. Her eyes widened as she realized this was no senseless attack from a bugbear or Ursa Minor, or a strategically planned invasion like one from Chrysalis, but a brutal killing spree.

One out of vengeance.

Oh no.

"...Celestia?" Twilight whimpered. She jumped out of the bed and opened her blinds, immediately being blinded by the bright sunlight and fire that cascaded the town. Twilight shrieked at the literal hell her home had become.

"Twilight!" Twilight felt Tempest's foreleg wrap around her shoulders, and her marefriend let out a gasp at the scene before them.

"I'm gonna kill her!" Tempest snarled, bolting for the door. Twilight stood for a few more moments, distracted by the bright flashes of wildfire, before she processed what her love had said.

"WAIT!" Twilight yelled, following Tempest's hoofsteps. She began to cry out through the hallways, even though Tempest was nowhere in sight. "Tempest, she'll kill you! You can't go out there!"

"And what? We're just going to let her kill everyone else?!" Tempest's voice echoed back in response.

Twilight used a teleportation spell to appear in front of Tempest, standing between her and the front door. Tempest stopped moving, staring at the torn expression on Twilight's face. It was the same expression that the purple bookworm made when she was solving equations. After two minutes had passed, Twilight finally snapped out of her confusion, looking at Tempest.