Shining Armor kept Twilight confined to the Everfree Castle and its grounds for the next two weeks. She balked at first, but felt a bit better when Cadence joined her after a similar accident. By that time, Crimson had put up better safety codes and regulations, but accidents still happened. It was curious, however, that misfires only occurred when one of the princesses was nearby, and when somepony’s rifle was pointed in her general direction, whether by accident or on purpose. They were just lucky both wounds weren’t headshots.
Cadence limped around the castle within a week; her hit only grazed her left foreleg, while Twilight’s was a full-on hole to the bone. She found that Celestia’s job of tax filing was one of incredible boredom and constant slamming of one’s head into the desk over mishaps and complete failures to fill out the form correctly. Her appreciation for the white alicorn grew considerably because of this experience. By the time her husband came in to see what was going on, she had a light bruise on her forehead and a horribly pained horn from hitting the desk so many times.
He told her to lay off the tax filing until later. She was no good working out returns and such with a massive headache and an injured horn, and she’d been working on them for the entire week. Finally, she agreed, and went out for a small walk in the courtyard. When Cadence returned to her quarters, she simply plopped on the bed and fell asleep. No wonder Celestia started so early, with her ministers helping out. This took forever.
She woke up that night at about ten after two. She crawled out of bed and went down to the kitchens, much like Celestia had a month or two earlier the night Cloudsdale was turned to expanding vapor. After getting a midnight snack from the night chef, she walked out of the castle past some sleepy guards playing cards. They didn’t notice her, which was fine. She wanted the fresh air without guards breathing down her back.
Cadence became tired eventually, but was kept awake by the coffee from her snack. That stuff was powerful. She was just about dozed off next to the forest’s edge when a rumbling sound approached her ears. It grew louder with each passing moment.
The princess couldn’t get a clear image of what could be causing the rumble until a bright beam of magic came over the northern horizon. It was an eye-torturing shade of yellow-orange, with hints of at least thirteen - no, fourteen different colors, and it was fast, probably faster than Rainbow Dash. She kept her eye on the beam until its end was in sight, but the thing just went on and on…
It streaked over Cadence by about a quarter mile and slammed into the earth. A heat wave surged from the impact site, setting half the forest on fire and singing Cadence’s mane and tail. She remembered the only major place within walking distance to the south: Everfree Castle.
Feeling a race against time, she was thrown back far, fast, and high enough to go right over Ponyville proper and keep flying to the north by an explosion from the impact. She regained control and flew as fast as her wings could allow her to the castle. Below her, townsfolk came out of their homes, bewildered by the event.
When Cadence flew within visual range of the castle, her heart sank. The castle was no more. She was about to get closer to find Twilight when she saw a fire in the cave below the castle. The Tree of Harmony was burning.
She would never be able to save it. The magical discharge from the impact had ignited the tree, which meant it was soaking up as much magic as it could. The flow of magic was too much, and the Tree was destroyed by an explosion with comparable size to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. The shockwave sent Cadence flying to the northeast, sending her crashing into the ground halfway to Fillydelphia. She wouldn’t open her eyes for another three days.
Shining Armor and Crimson Dawn raced to the castle as soon as the first explosion had gone off. Not far behind them were Crimson’s officers, also running at full gallop. They saw a lone figure high above the forest get flung like a rag doll by the second explosion, but Shining Armor protected them with a shield that received a beating fit to send him to the hospital. Crimson and his officers ran on.
The Everfree Castle was in ruins. There was literally nothing to salvage from the gaping crater within a larger crater. The larger of the two was centered directly below the throne room, just a few hundred feet below where the Tree of Harmony was supposed to be. Fires raged in every direction, and everyone knew there would be no survivors. But Crimson was never one to give up that easily.
“Silver Comet, I want you take a squad to check out the eastern rim of the crater. Dazzleflash, you do the same on the west. Converge on the southernmost point, then come down to the center. Midnight, take two squads to the smaller crater and survey it top to bottom and back to top. I’ll take one down to the center of the bigger one. Look for both the of the Princesses!”
The group split and hurried to find anyone still alive. After three continuous days of nothing, they finally had to accept defeat. They were pulling resources from the battle that ensued two hours after the destruction of the castle, and even though the Equestrian army held pretty well on its own, it still needed to be commanded. Crimson eventually flew to lead the army, and spent the rest of the week pushing the Crystal Empire away from Ponyville.