The sun is slowly rising up in the east. Daybreaker is standing upon the dunes looking at the South Equestrian sea, she then turns around and looks at the scorched landscape behind her. This was the last corner of Equestria not yet under her control. Daybreaker's new Solar Empire now stretches across all of Equestria, from the Crystal mountains in the north to the southern coast, from border with the Changeling Lands in the west to Stalliongrad in the east, all belongs to Daybreaker, god-empress of all there is.
It was a long and difficult war. After the war with the changelings had ended, Daybreaker at this point still her weak alter-ego Celestia, realised that the ways of friendship and harmony could no longer keep the ponies of Equestria safe. Celestia realised that violence was the future, it was violence that allowed the changelings to almost take over Equestria and it was even more violence that drove the changelings back.
two years ago
Celestia was sitting nervously is her room reading a report about the lessons from the Changeling-Equestrian war, every once in a while she would have an involuntary shiver. She was struggling not to break down in tears. "The failure of the Equestrian government to prepare for a possible changeling invasion proved to be very costly in the early parts of the war when units in the border area where caught unprepared by the changelings, and allowed them to advance further then they most likely would have, had the armed forces of Equestria been properly prepared." Celestia read.
Celestia broke down in tears, she could no longer hold back. Ever since the war broke out every pony told Celestia not to blame herself, "Nopony saw this coming." they would say, or "The changelings are responsible, not you.". Suddenly Celestia furiously slammed her hooves in the table. "Well I should have seen it coming!" she yelled, more to herself then anyone else. "Ever since the attack on Canterlot I should have known they would try it again someday. But instead of doing something about it I put my fate in friendship and harmony." She spat those last words with venom.
After some time Celestia finally managed to stop crying and continued browsing the report. "The fall of Vanhoover, failure to to evacuate the civilian population." was the title of the next chapter. Before she could start reading it the door to her chamber opened. "Sister, please you have to stop torturing yourself like this." Luna pleaded. "Hundreds of thousands of ponies are death Luna. All because of my blindness to reality." Celestia said with a crack in her voice.
"No!" Luna answered vigorously. "You did everything in your power to stop this. You never wavered, you lead us from the beginning of the war until it's conclusion even though nopony would have blamed you if you decided to step down and have somepony else take charge. And most important of all, you never stopped caring about the ponies of Equestria, you always did what you could to save lives. Yes many ponies died in this war and we shall never forget their sacrifices but never forget that we stand here because of your leadership. Hundreds of thousands of ponies may have died, but you saved countless more lives." Luna spoke solemnly.
After Luna's little speech Celestia did feel a little bit better but she still couldn't shake off the feeling of responsibility. After lowering the sun Celestia went to bed but she couldn't sleep. "Luna is right I shouldn't keep thinking about the past, Equestria needs me to be focused. And I will make sure that the catastrophic events of the past shall never happen again." she thought. With that promise to herself made, Celestia finally went to sleep.
After a night of hard work Luna made her way to the dining room. When she entered the room Celestia was already sitting at the table, but instead of eating the mountain of pancakes like she usually would, she was going through a large pile of documents not even noticing that Luna entered the room. "Celestia I told you, all this self-torturing isn't helping anyone!" Luna said angrily.
"I know." Celestia answered calmly, not taking here gaze off her papers. "From now on I am devoting myself only to the future." she continued. Luna slightly taken back by Celestia's quick change in emotional state took a seat at the table and grabbed some food. "That's excellent I am glad you moved on. How will this future of Equestria look?" Luna asked. Using her magic, Celestia floated one of the many papers towards Luna, who grabbed it with her own magic and began to read.
Luna's heart skipped a beat upon reading the paper. "Royal decree 2571: In the aftermath of the changeling invasion, I Princess Celestia have decided to take the necessary precautions to make sure that no enemy force shall ever be able to set foot upon Equestrian soil ever again. These precautions include a mandatory conscription in the armed forces of five years for all grown up ponies, military training for children to prepare them for military service, more power to the intelligence services and armed forces to fight against foreign assets on Equestrian soil, abolishment of local governments (a centralised government can take quicker action in the event of war). These measures can be expanded as I see fit. Also to safeguard our citizens, we shall no longer wait for our enemies to attack us, henceforth we shall engage in offensive operations against any nation that I suspect might be a threat."
"Celestia you can't be serious about this?" Luna asked surprised. "I am. We can't allow ourselves to be taken by surprise again Luna!" Celestia answered exasperated. "But what's the point of protection if we destroy everything that we want to protect." Luna said. "I only want my ponies to be save, to live long and happy lives Luna." Celestia almost pleaded. Luna looked into Celestia's eyes. They were filled with desperation but also anger. She realised that Celestia was too emotional to be reasoned with at this point. So Luna decided to leave for now and talk to Celestia when she calmed down.
After breakfast Celestia went back to her room thinking about what Luna had said. "Am I destroying that what I am trying to protect? Maybe I am, but at least my ponies are alive, that has to count at least for something right? Maybe friendship and harmony are causes worth dying for? But what is the point of friendship if all ponies are death?" Celestia contemplated.
"There can't be friendship without ponies, and there can't be ponies without a strong Equestrian state to keep them safe. So that means that this has to be the correct way forward." Celestia pondered. Suddenly Celestia a thought entered Celestia's mind so hard that it felt like she was hit by a bullet. "The princesses are the heads of state. So if we are weak then Equestria is also weak, which means that ponies will die and then there also can't be any friendship. But if we are strong then Equestria is also strong." As soon as Celestia finished that thought she was consumed by a blinding light. Daybreaker was born.
Present day
Daybreaker gazed upon her Equestria, the burning landscape stretching all the way to the horizon. For the past two years she had been waging war against her sister and all other enemies of ponykind. Daybreaker did regret not swaying Luna to her side, she still hung on to the defunct traditions that almost caused Equestria's downfall at the hooves of the changelings. Unfortunately Luna managed to evade capture and like many other traitors flee the country.
After taking some time to gaze upon her new empire and remember the struggles that it took to get here, Daybreaker spread her wings and prepared to fly back to Canterlot. But while she was looking at all the destruction she brought upon the land she couldn't help to think back to what Luna said all those years ago. "what's the point of protection if we destroy everything that we want to protect."