//------------------------------//
// Chapter 25 - Sun's Fall 
// Story: For the New Lunar Republic 
// by Moxypony 
//------------------------------//

	Moxi was entering the castle garden when the rain began, far too late to do any good to the garden’s plants, which had all long since withered and died. The Palace seemed a shadow of its former self with the plant life in its current state, twisting blackened vines framed with palace windows, and what was once a great hedge maze was now a sea of rotting shrubbery stretching off into the castle grounds.
Numerous statues lined the garden, the black vines stretching over their faces as well. Several statues had crumbled away, the stone head of a filly sat at the foot of a plinth bearing a tarnished golden plaque that read “Friendship.” One plinth even appeared to be missing its statue completely, no remnants of what might have stood on the plinth remained, the only hint at its former burden being its own, similarly tarnished, plaque, “Discord.”
Moxi made for the route Luna had showed her on the castle map which she knew would lead her directly to Celestia’s throne room, leading her to a set of heavy doors.
With a steadying breath, Moxi pushed open the palace door only to be hit with a wall of stench. She crossed the threshold to find a long, narrow corridor lined with stained glass windows. 
Several window panes were shattered, spatters of blood, still wet and vibrantly scarlet glistening around the damaged areas. Moxi walked slowly down the corridor, taking each step cautiously, feeling the crunch of glass under her hooves as she walked. Patches of the rich carpeting covering the corridor floor was likewise stained with sticky, wet blood. 
The stench permeating the room reached its climax just outside a pair of massive, ornate doors, where Moxi found a pair of Celestia’s royal guards. Both stallions were dead, and looked to have been dead for a long time. Their eyes were gone, leaving sunken holes in the shriveled flesh stretched visibly over their skulls. 
Moxi eyed the corpses closely, holding her scarf firmly against her nose to block out as much of the stench as possible, and under closer inspection she noticed something strange about the fallen ponies. Both ponies had fallen in nearly the exact position they would have been standing as guards and their bodies bore no visible wounds outside of the horrid emaciation. Their armor was shining and untarnished, and likewise did not appear to have been damaged at all.
A shudder ran through Moxi’s spine as she eyed the corpses before her. Whatever had killed these ponies had done it fast, and had managed to do so while leaving no visible mark on the body. Besides that, they had clearly been lying here for days, right outside of Princess Celestia’s throne room. She must have known about this, which means it either happened under her sanction, or she herself had done it. Moxi swallowed hard and pulled the rifle from her back. She checked the crystal and gripped the weapon firmly. Going up against Celestia, she’d only have the element of surprise standing between her and certain death. 
Taking several deep, calming breaths, she gripped the heavy rifle with one hoof and braced the other against the door. Once she’d calmed her heart rate down, she immediately braced her legs and slammed the doors open, leaned into the throne room and, with a deafening, explosive roar fired her surprise shot directly at the throne.
The ornate chair exploded, the entire upper half splintering and scattering across the room. And Moxi immediately noted that while the rifle had done better than she could have hoped, there had been no target upon the throne for her to hit.
“Gotcha,” came a whispered voice from beside her, and as Moxi twisted to attack her foreleg was pierced by an alicorn’s horn.
Blood spattered across the mosaic floor and the rifle fell from her hoof and clattered away. Moxi beat a wing to regain her balance and swung her unimpeded hoof at the princess, but was tossed like a ragdoll across the chamber at a simple jerk of Celestia’s head.
“My goodness,” came the princess’s lyrical voice as she stepped over to the fallen rifle, “it seems little Luna has been keeping busy. What is this marvelous weapon you’ve brought me, little filly?” 
Celestia picked up the rifle and observed it casually, treating Moxi as if she were nothing but a minor annoyance as the young pegasus scrambled to get to her hooves. “Such simplistic design,” she admired, pointing the weapon at the young soldier, “absolutely no training required to operate it at all, is there?” Moxi’s eyes widened as she saw the alicorn pull the trigger and she dove to one side just in time to avoid the explosive impact in the wall beside her, shards of stone rocketed past, leaving shallow cuts along her body, shredding the NLR fatigues and causing blood to pool in the fabric.  
The princess pulled the trigger again and Moxi heard the familiar click of the weapon jamming, she’d never been so happy to hear any sound in her life. Celestia frowned at the rifle before tossing it aside, “Not a terribly sturdy invention, my sister’s prepared herself. Oh well, it’s not as if I need any toys to dispose of fillies like you.” 
Moxi rose to her feet and faced the mare in front of her, silently berating her pierced limb from being unable to hold steady, but setting her hooves against the tilework in defiance. She made no other move, no attempt to charge the princess or otherwise appear to be more of a threat, she knew from the way Celestia was looking at her that the alicorn’s amusement was the only thing keeping her alive at the moment.
Her eyes wide, looking for some way to turn the situation to her advantage, Moxi cast a quick glance to Celestia’s right. As soon as the princess took the bait, glancing momentarily to the side, Moxi charged, hoping to do as much damage as possible before she could be taken out. 
That amount tuned out to be none.
Celestia’s full attention turned back to Moxi and she felt the alicorn’s magic seize every muscle in her body and thrust her back against the wall. She felt her head hit the ceiling as the princess pushed her up the wall. The force of her magic intensified and Moxi’s frayed fatigues tore away, her cuts and lacerations grew wider and deeper and her glasses shattered, sending shards of glass flying into her face, cutting around her cheeks but thankfully missing her eyes.
She almost laughed through the agony being inflicted on her body, there was no escaping this time. Moxi closed her eyes and embraced the pain. Chillwind was waiting for her. 
Good, hissed a voice in her mind, very good.

“Imperial forces have us surrounded,” Autumn Leaf shouted to the pegasus messenger who she’d called to take her message and find reinforcements, “we’re holding position on Mane St and Canterlot Way, we need immediate assistance!”
The pegasus snapped off a salute and took to the sky, flying low through the streets and dodging fire from the gathered Imperial troops hammering away at Autumn’s defensive line.
Autumn turned to face Firebrand, the Colonel was nursing several new gashes along his side which he’d earned returning to her. The addition of Chaser Doolit’s ponies was a boon, but the rag-tag group of thugs and criminals wouldn’t do much to turn back the contingent of Imperial unicorns bearing down on the 12th.
“I’m not so sure we’re making it out of this one, Autumn,” Firebrand muttered so that only she could hear him, though Autumn noticed that Cheshire pony’s ear twitch at his words, “don’t tell the troops, but with the way things are going, nopony’s going to be able to come for us until it’s too late. Our only chance is to charge them directly and we’ll likely all die in the process.”
“So what’re we supposed to do,” Autumn said, tears brimming in her eyes, “you’ve never rolled over for anypony before, I know damn well you’re not going to start now.”
“Of course not,” he chuckled, “this thing is bigger than us, I’ll see this thing through or die trying. I just thought, if we don’t make it out of here, I just want to make sure you know…”
Autumn Leaf cut him off with a kiss, leaning against him, though careful to keep her weight off his injured side. Firebrand returned the kiss, both ponies trying to put so many unspoken words into the simple act. 
Finally breaking the kiss, Autumn regarded her commanding officer with misty eyes, “I know.”
“Firebrand,” a voice called over a sudden ceasefire, slightly obscured by the slowly rising hiss of rain, “is that you?”
Firebrand was surprised to hear a voice calling his name from the Imperial ranks, but was even more surprised to realize that he recognized the voice. “Dawnstar?” he called back, surprise evident in his voice, “Yes, it’s Firebrand!”
“My goodness,” came the distinct, cultured voice of Colonel Dawnstar, “it would seem the fates have it in their mind that you and I are to do battle once more.”
“That’s not exactly how I would have put it,” Firebrand chuckled at Dawnstar’s pompous manner, “but yeah, something like that.”
“You know I have you dead to rights,” Dawnstar said, his voice suddenly tinged with something new… sympathy? “Ordinarily, I’d take this all out,” he continued, “but I know you, I know you’re a good stallion and I would rather keep you alive if it’s possible, so I will allow you to surrender peaceably. What say you?”
Firebrand paused to consider for a moment before calling back, “I’m willing to negotiate terms, if you promise your soldiers will hold the ceasefire during negotiations, I promise mine will.”
“You have my word.”
Firebrand stood immediately, exposing himself directly to the line of sight of any number of unicorns capable of firing a heated charge into his head at a moment’s notice. With any other commander in the Imperial military, he would’ve had second thoughts, but after Dawnstar had gone out of his way to act decently and respectfully towards him and his ponies at Fillydelphia, Firebrand had a respect for the other stallion’s honor.
Motioning for Autumn Leaf to stay behind, Firebrand trotted out to the middle of the street, meeting Dawnstar midway, the white coated unicorn was still clad in his shining gold armor, but he greeted Firebrand with an extended hoof and a small, regretful smile.
“Firebrand,” he said his voice soft and sympathetic, “I’m sorry that we have to meet again in such a way. Truly I believe in another life we could be friends, but alas, you must do your duty as you see is right, just as I must do mine. Still,” he gave Firebrand a hopeful look, “I do hope that we can end this without having to kill one another, we are both reasonable stallions. If your soldiers will lay down their arms, mine will have no need to kill them.”
“I’m not decided on anything yet,” Firebrand shook his head, “convince me.”

Barfrost watched as Dawnstar negotiated with the enemy colonel, he felt his blood begin to boil as he saw the two behaving like old chums.
He treats a terrorist better than his own ponies, hissed a voice in Barfrost’s mind, if you strike now, you can cut a head from the hydra, and kill the traitor as well.
Barfrost pondered at the whispers in his head, shaking it to try to clear a vague haze that seemed to be overtaking his vision, and barely noticing as he reached into his pack and pulled out a grenade.

Autumn Leaf watched Firebrand negotiate with Dawnstar with reluctance, she knew the Imperial Colonel was a stallion of his word, but cutting deals with the enemy still felt wrong to her. She shook her head as a soft, gray haze began to overtake her mind. She returned her attention to the scene in front of her just in time to see an icy blue pony in the front ranks of Dawnstar’s troops haul back and throw a grenade between the two COs. 
With a gasp, she to the two stallions and kicked the grenade aside. She made it in time to knock the explosive away but not in time to escape the blast herself. Autumn Leaf felt shrapnel rip into her legs and abdomen, she used her hooves to shield her face, but felt the rest of her body become mangled as she was tossed away from the heat of fire.

Traitor. The single word, hissed through Firebrand’s mind as he watched his beloved tossed like a ragdoll through the street, was enough to set his vision ablaze. Tearing his sword from its sheath he started after Dawnstar, immediately landing a deep cut across the unicorn’s cheek. 
Dawnstar looked shocked from both the explosion and from Firebrand’s sudden lunge, he drew his sword as well and parried Firebrand’s next swing, and neither pony paid any mind as the battle around them resumed.

Twilight’s head hit the ground hard, and she felt the world around her go hazy as a pair of hooves pressed down on her throat, cutting off her air.
“Damnit, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash’s voice broke as tears streamed from her eyes to mingle with the rain, she pressed down on Twilight’s windpipe with her front hooves, ignoring the pain from her broken foreleg as she leaned all her weight into the grim task, “why did you have to push it to this? After everything we’ve been through, how could you make me do this?”
Twilight did not fight back, she merely turned a baleful eye on Rainbow Dash, and somehow this single look did more damage than anything else she could have said. The memories flooded back to her, from the first time she met the bookish mare to her support through the years, to the adventures they’d been tangled up in together. 
Rainbow wept as she pressed harder onto her old friend and whispered, “I’m sorry…”
“Rainbow! Stop!” The southern voice so distant and yet so familiar was enough to force her to relax her assault, she felt Twilight take a deep gasp of breath beneath her just before the mare set about a coughing fit, unable to lift her head from the ground. 
“Ya don’t have to do this, sugarcube,” Applejack stood beside her, laying a hoof on the pegasus’s shoulder and gently guiding her away from their old friend, “please, we can solve this without more bloodshed.”
“No, AJ,” Rainbow cried, her hooves wavering over Twilight’s neck, “she and I both knew it had to end this way, only one of us can walk away.”
“So why don’t you fly away instead,” Pinkie Pie offered, beaming and taking up her spot on Rainbow’s other side, “if the only problem is in two of you walking, we can easily fix that.”
They are fools, whispered a voice in Rainbow’s head and she felt her mind begin to cloud, optimistic fools. They do not understand the necessities of war. You must finish what you began.
Rainbow shook her head, leaning back and forth in her indecision. Rarity and Fluttershy approached her from either side and wrapped their hooves around her in a hug, Applejack and Pinkie Pie quickly followed suit. Rainbow slid off of Twilight and wept openly on the ground. 
“I’ve done my share of terrible things in this war,” she said through the tears, “but I could never betray my friends…” At these words, a new light flared from her chest where the lightning bolt crystal on her necklace began to glow with a powerful light similar to those of Applejack’s and Fluttershy’s and Rarity’s, though Pinkie’s element remained strangely dark. 
As the light enveloped her, Rainbow felt the haze clear away from her mind and she felt as though she was seeing the world clearly for the first time in years. She turned her attention to Twilight, the mare had sustained a head wound when she’d struck the ground and a small pool of blood was beginning to form behind her, Rainbow rushed to her old friend’s side and scooped her up in a tight hug, whispering her apologies into the semi-conscious mare’s ear.

While the alicorn was faster than Dreamcatcher, the earth pony shaman was able to use his dreamsight to see his moves shortly before he made them and as a result he was able to match his opponent blow for blow. After several minutes of constant use, however, the dreamsight was taking its toll on his body, his muscles strained and his eyes were becoming clouded as the blood vessels in them began to tear under the stress.
Dreamcatcher finally closed the dreamsight and faced Radiant Sol on his own strength, he parried and dodged, but the alicorn was fast and his sword packed much more of a punch than Catcher’s own knife
Radiant Sol swung his sword in a ferocious swipe and caught Dreamcatcher’s knife at just the right angle to send it skittering away from Dreamcatcher across the courtyard. He rolled aside as Sol swung with the sword again, cleaving a large chunk of cobblestone in half with the blow. 
Catcher chased after his knife, but he could feel the assassin on his tail, he ducked and managed to roll out of the way just as Sol swung through with a strike that would have taken his head from his shoulders.
Landing on his hooves, he stood in a combat stance, unarmed, but still ready to fight. Sol stared him down, there was a strange madness in the alicorn’s eyes that hadn’t been there before they’d burned the lab down around him, but he still 	spoke nothing.
“Dreamcatcher!” came a familiar voice and both Catcher and Radiant Sol turned to see a pony, slightly larger than Dreamcatcher himself and bearing markings and features distinct to the Navapony charged into the courtyard wielding a tomahawk. 
“Silverwind!” Dreamcatcher called, his eyes wide as he turned from the assassin to his brother, “What are you doing here?”
“Figured you could use a little help, squirt,” he smirked.
He abandoned the Navapony. Dreamcatcher was shocked at the thought which passed through his head. Where was he when your people needed the leadership of the shamans most? He could not be bothered to help when they needed him, so why should he be worthy of your forgiveness?
Dreamcatcher shook off the thoughts and turned to smile at his brother, “I’m grateful for the assist, two shamans against one alicorn? This thing might as well have a bow on it.”
Sol charged Dreamcatcher, roaring in fury as his sword swung down at the spot Catcher would have been standing had he not managed to duck off to the side at the last moment. Silverwind used the opportunity to make his move, brining the tomahawk down on Radiant Sol’s shoulder, crippling one leg. 
Dreamcatcher made another run for his knife, tumbling across the ground to scoop it up and turn to see his brother still engaged in combat with the alicorn. Dreamcatcher could see that his brother had managed to land a couple new hits, but that he’d taken a few too. 
Charging back into the fray Dreamcatcher sank his knife to the hilt into the back of the alicorn who let out a roar of anger and pain before spreading his wings and knocking Dreamcatcher halfway across the courtyard. 
His attention locked on Dreamcatcher’s flight for just a moment too long, Silverwind made a critical mistake and missed a parry as the assassin’s blade swung for his gut. 
Blood poured onto the ground before him and Silverwind fell in a crumpled heap. 
“No!” Dreamcatcher screamed, rushing the alicorn without any heed to his own safety.
Suddenly, without warning, Silverwind leapt up from the ground and used all of his limbs to restrain Radiant Sol. The alicorn swung his blade at Silverwind’s head, but the stallion ducked the initial thrust, grabbing the blade in his teeth before Sol could gain any momentum for another swing, Dreamcatcher could see the blood emerging from his brother’s mouth as the blade sliced open his lips and cheek.
“Dreamcatcher,” he heard Silverwind call through gritted teeth, “do it now!”
His eyes wide, Dreamcatcher instinctively whipped a hoof-made dream catcher from his saddlebag and attached it directly to the alicorn’s horn, applying his focus before feeling both himself and the assassin drifting away from the warzone…

	“Honey, can’t you stay home tonight?” a yellow coated unicorn mare said to Dreamcatcher, he tried to respond, but quickly realized that not only did he have no control over his voice, but he could move, breath, or even blink on his own. He was going for a ridealong in Radiant Sol’s dream. “We hardly seem to have you home anymore,” the mare, who Dreamcatcher took to be Sol’s wife, continued, “the children miss their father, and I miss going to sleep beside you.”
“I’m sorry, my love,” the voice came from Dreamcatcher’s mouth, but was not his own, “the princess is concerned, there seems to be some sort of political turmoil building in Cloudsdale. She requires my council as well as that of the other nobles.”
“But does she really need you every night?” she pouted, “Couldn’t you perhaps stay home tonight, let the others handle things?”
Dreamcatcher felt a smile curl his lips and he placed a kiss upon the mare’s forehead. “I’ll tell you what,” he said jovially, “I can’t just abandon the meeting, but there is most often a dinner before any real politics are discussed, how about I stay home with the family for dinner and leave after. They can manage without me for a short time at least.”
Beaming at him, the mare nuzzled his neck gently before turning around to set about cooking in a pristine, noblepony’s kitchen.

When Dreamcatcher arrived at the palace and approached the banquet hall, the entire area seemed completely deserted. Even the guards appeared to be absent from their posts. He continued cautiously, approaching the heavy oak doors of the banquet hall and peering through the gap between them. The sight before his eyes not only made him gag, but he could feel the pony in whose mind he was riding do the same.
Corpses were strewn about the room, many lay dead at their chairs around the dinner table, blood pooling about their heads from sliced necks, but others had clearly attempted to run or fight whatever had done this, their bodies winding up strewn about the room.
Dreamcatcher could only see one living pony in the hall. Princess Celestia sat at the head of the table, talking to somepony that he could not see.
“One of the nobles was not here,” she muttered, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin, “curious, I never took Radiant Sol for one to ignore an order from his princess…”
It is irrelevant, the voice burned into the mind, rather than in his ears and Dreamcatcher felt the stallion’s stomach turn again, I had hoped to remove all of them at once, but one or two loose ends to tie up are to be expected.
Loose ends? Radiant Sol had thought, Oh no…

Dreamcatcher burst through the door to Radiant Sol’s house and shouted, “Shutterbug! Where are you? We need to get the kids and get out of here, there’s no time to explain!”
“Oh please do explain,” said a calm, collected voice in his dining room, “come in and take a seat, and tell me all about your little treasonous plans.”
“Princess Celestia,” he said in shock as he turned the corner to see the princess sitting before him, he could just make out the crumpled body of Shutterbug behind her, her once pristine apron stained crimson, tears streamed from his eyes and he turned in anger to the mare sitting before him, “Why are you doing this? Where are my children!?”
“With their mother,” she spoke simply, remarking upon their death as if they were simply out at the market. Dreamcatcher felt his knees buckle as Radiant Sol had fallen to the floor, unable to contain his anguish. “They have moved onto what lays beyond this life, Radiant Sol,” she said, approaching him and laying an ornately decorated hoof on his shoulder, “their part is over, but I have much bigger plans for you.”
Dreamcatcher’s vision went red with anger and he used his magic to grab a kitchen knife off the counter and swing it at Celestia’s eyes. The princess caught the knife in her own magic and slowly turned it back to him, placing the blade against his throat. 
“Much bigger plans,” she spoke softly and with a smile, “and you shall serve me so much greater in death than you ever did in life.” Without another word, the knife tore through Dreamcatcher’s throat. He fell to the floor and saw the blood pool around him as he looked into the blank, lifeless eyes of Shutterbug. With his last bit of strength he reached out a hoof to her, not even reaching the table before it fell to the ground and everything faded to black.

Dreamcatcher fell back from the assassin screaming bloody murder, clutching at his own throat. Once he was able to steady himself, he was reminded that what he had experienced was not really happening, it all existed within Sol’s mind… within his memory.
He watched as the alicorn felt his neck, Dreamcatcher could just barely make out the line across his flesh where the knife had torn out his throat.
“Shutterbug,” Radiant Sol said, his eyes welling with tears as a scowl spread across his features, “I remember… I remember everything…”
The alicorn roared in fury and took to the sky, flying toward the palace. Dreamcatcher watched him go before turning to see his brother collapsed in a steadily growing pool of blood.
“We got it, Catch?” He said, a weak smile playing across his features.
“Yeah, Silver,” Dreamcatcher said, putting on a fake smile as tears began to spill from his eyes, “we got it. Now we gotta get you some medical attention, we gotta find a medic quick.”
Silverwind shook his head. “Nah,” he said, groaning and wincing, “I’m done for, bud, sorry. Looks like the burden of leading the tribe’s gonna have to fall on your shoulders.”
“No,”  Dreamcatcher grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him slightly, letting go as he saw him wince in pain, “don’t you put this shit on me, you’re going to make it through this! You have to!”
“Someday,” he said, smiling and placing a hoof on Dreamcatcher’s cheek, “we’ll do the fire dance again, I promise. Until then, take good care of the tribe. I love you, little brother.”
And as he lay back against the cobblestones, Dreamcatcher could see the light fade from his eyes. Tears streaming down his cheeks, he closed his fallen brother’s eyes and took up his tomahawk. “I love you too, big brother…” With a growl of fury, he turned to face the palace and charged.

Moxi’s vision was fading to black when she saw the streak of red pass into the throne room and dive directly for the princess.
“You monster!” he heard a voice scream as if from a great distance, and she felt the magical grip on her body loosen, causing her to fall down the hard stone floor, “You absolutely horrid, sickening beast!”
“Your usefulness has expired,” Celestia said back, Moxi opened her eyes to see her holding the alicorn assassin, Radiant Sol, in her magical grip, “I gave you life anew, and now I will take it away.” 
“I’ll kill y-” Sol was cut off mid word as Celestia touched her horn to a spot on his throat. What looked like an electrical current passed through the smaller alicorn’s body before he fell, limp, to the ground.
“Any more distractions?” Celestia called out, her answer came in the form of Dreamcatcher slamming through the chamber doors, “Now that’s what I call timing, good show, my dear.”
“Moxi!” Dreamcatcher called, seeing her crumpled off in the corner, “Where’s the rifle?”
Moxi pointed a hoof, gurgling out the word, “jammed.”
“Little foals,” Celestia sneered, “to think you actually believed you would be able to kill me! I who have witnessed the rise and fall of nations, I who have seen your very ancestors take their final breaths! You are as insects to me!” A flare of her horn and the end of Moxi’s scarf was lit aflame, the fire quickly climing the fabric up to Moxi’s neck, the pegasus mare immediately tried to beat the flames out with her hooves.
“You are toys,” she continued, “things to be played with and then discarded, I should never have looked on you as anything other than what you are.”
“Moxi!” Dreamcatcher called, “Take off the damned scarf!”
“No!” Moxi screamed back, desperately trying to put out the flames, “I can’t it’s all I have left of her!”
“Chillwind’s not in a scarf, Moxi! You’re not doing her a favor by doing this!”
“I don’t care,” she screamed back and at that moment, the flames reached her neck. In an instant the entire scarf was on fire, burning away at her neck as she screamed in agony.
“Damnit, Moxi,” Dreamcatcher snarled, “I don’t have time to take care of you anymore!” Dreamcatcher charged, activating his dreamsight as he neared the princess, but even that was not enough to stop her, he was lifted up in her telekinetic grip and he felt her begin to choke the life from his body. His vision began to blur and he thought he saw something standing behind the throne.
Dreamcatcher’s vision went black, and a moment later, he fell to the ground, coughing and trying to regain his composure. He opened his eyes to see a truly spectacular sight. Princess Luna, garbed in armor the color of moonlight had thrust her own horn through her sister’s heart. Celestia slumped over Luna, her body beginning to give out as she began to speak, “Freedom.”
“What?” Luna said, pulling her bloodied horn from her sister’s body and turning to regard her.
“I’m finally free,” Celestia said, smiling as tears formed in her eyes, “Luna, thank you. I had been trying to fight for so long, but I couldn’t I was powerless I’m so sorry…”
“What!?” Luna spoke desperately, shaking Celestia as the mare slumped to the ground before her, “What do you mean? Tia? Fight who? Fight What? Tia!”
Well done, spoke a voice in their minds, and Dreamcatcher watched as a massive figure emerged from behind the throne. The figure’s features were equine, but strangely long and thick, its eyes glowed red and while its flesh was an indistinct mass of shadows, the obsidian plate mail it wore, decorated with loose, hanging chains, was clear as day.  I must say, she was a most useful link. It’s been so long since I had a proper link to exert my will on the world, it was good to get out and stretch my legs with a good old fashioned war.
“Who are you?” Luna snarled.
You don’t recognize me, Luna?  The being said, You’ve been living among the mortals for too long. Have you succumbed to their memory and their perception of the world? You’ve only been gone from the ethereal plane for a few millennia, but the blink of an eye for eternal beings such as us. Your link to the world was clearly too strong, you’ve become like these mortals.
Luna charged the being, but passed straight through it as though it were made of smoke.
Tsk Tsk, Luna, you should know better than that. I  do not have an avatar like you and Celestia, I have no physical presence on this plane… yet. Unfortunately, with Celestia gone, I don’t have a strong enough link to the world to exert my will quite so strongly, oh but you should have felt the anger in her, Luna, it may have been small once, but even a gentle anger can be nurtured and grown into an almighty WRATH. For now, I’m afraid I must return to the ethereal plane, I’ve exerted as much influence as I can and your world is an angrier place for it. You’ll see me again, soon enough. This time, Luna, don’t forget me, and don’t forget my name, I expect you’ll be encountering a lot more of me from here on out, so never forget Wrath.
The being faded away, the smoky figure simply dissipating before them. All three ponies stared in shock until a new pony charged into the room. “Princess Celestia!” Twilight Sparkle called, her friends hot on her tail as she embraced the fallen princess, “Princess, wake up, please I need you!”
“My most faithful student,” Celestia said, raising a weak hoof to brush against Twilight’s cheek, “I am so sorry for everything I put you through these past few years. I am so sorry I… I am so sorry… I am…” As Celestia’s hoof fell limp, Twilight looked as if she could not believe her eye. 
She turned to face her friends, tears welling up in her eye. “Oh Celestia,” she said, quietly, “What have I done? The voices, what have I done!?” The mare began screaming and crying, curling into a ball beside the fallen princess. All of her friends gathered around her.
Dreamcatcher rose from where he’d fallen and quickly trotted to where Moxi had fallen, the scarf was completely gone, and Moxi looked nearly catatonic. The burns had not spread beyond her neck, but there they were severe, the cuts on her face and body were deep and numerous, she turned to regard Dreamcatcher and forced a small smile even as her eyes began to well with tears. 
Dreamcatcher returned the smile and wrapped her in a hug as she began to weep.

Luna stood on the palace balcony, Moxi and Dreamcatcher behind her, and did something she had not done in years, she used her royal Canterlot voice, “CITIZENS OF EQUESTRIA, CELESTIA HAS FALLEN. I PLEAD WITH ALL OF YOU TO LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS AND EMBRACE PEACE! THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE OLD REGIME OF CELESTIA’S MONARCHY TO COME TO AN END, WE MAY NOW BEGIN ANEW WITH A LUNAR REPUBLIC! I BEG YOU ALL TO JOIN TOGETHER AS ONE, THAT WE MIGHT ALL REBUILD AND RECLAIM OUR HOME!”
And, as one, across the city of Canterlot and across the nation of Equestria, the cannons finally fell silent, and the battle finally came to an end.