That evening in Canterlot Castle, Midnight had just teleported to the throne room where he found Celestia, Luna, and Sombra, all looking troubled, and he said to them, "I came as soon as I got your message; what's happened?"
"The village of Starlight Glimmer," Celestia began but gave pause for a solemn silence, "... it was attacked."
"Attacked?! By who? When?! Why?!" Midnight looked to each of them for answers.
"We are unsure of the identities of the attackers," Luna explained, "but just yesterday, we received word from Manehatten that a group of ponies arrived in their city, all in terrible shape! Many of them had burns, damaged lungs from smoke inhalation, or worse..."
"Four of these refugees spoke with the Manehatten Police Department," Sombra went on, "I believe you and your friends know them."
"Double Diamond, Night Glider, Party Favor, and Sugar Belle?" Midnight asked and they nodded to confirm, "Are they alright?! What did they say? Who did this?!"
"They told the chief of the MPD that shortly after all of you had left," Celestia sounded guilt-ridden but kept speaking, "two ponies suddenly appeared and attacked without warning! They set fires to the town and hurt anypony that dared to stand up to them... there were casualties..."
Luna comforted her sister while Sombra took it from there, "They were able to describe the two ponies as unicorns but nothing else. One wore a cloak, the other a full-set of armor, so nothing else is known about them except for their apparent use of fire magic."
"...This was no coincidence," Midnight furrowed his brows as he looked to Celestia and they both suspected the same thing. "when we put a stop to Starlight's manipulations, I captured her, but then from out of nowhere a hooded figure stole Starlight away. The figure said she was taking Starlight but... she was leaving me a consolation prize.
"When we returned home to Ponyville, I got word from the hospital about my mother. She's awake!"
"Yes, Twilight informed us the morning after your mother had awoken," Celestia nodded, "but as you have said, this attack is no coincidence... I fear the one behind this all is Catrina."
"As do I. Who else but her could have undone the curse she laid on my mother?" seethed Midnight as he sighed with a bitter realization.
"She must be behind the attack on the village, but why?" Luna wondered.
"Perhaps it was to send a message, or she wanted something or even someone in that village to be eliminated," Sombra guessed.
"Wait... the survivors did say that the two attackers struck a specific house first before they started attacking the rest of the village," Celestia brought up.
"Lemme guess... the last house at the end of the street," Midnight answered, "the house that belonged to Starlight Glimmer."
"It sounds to me like covering one's tracks," Sombra considered, "but why awaken your mother? She must realize that you two would figure out it's her!"
“I agree, it doesn't make sense," Luna nodded with wonder, "why would she do something like this for the obvious risk that we'd be on to her?"
Celestia and Midnight gave each other a knowing and very concerned look that Sombra caught, "There's a history between the two of you and her, isn't there?"
"Yes..." Celestia took a deep breath as Midnight stepped away to look out the window, seeing the city beneath them, the lands surrounding Mount Canterhorn, and Ponyville in the far distance while Luna and Sombra listened to Celestia regale to them of her and Midnight's history with Catrina. When she had finished, Luna looked to Sombra with concern.
“But now that she has Starlight...” Celestia pointed out.
“And Starlight can remove cutie-marks.....” Midnight added.
An uncomfortable, almost suffocating silence draped itself over them all as Sombra finally spoke, having had the bit drop for him.
“As of this moment, nopony with a cutie-mark is safe..." he trailed off.