Rule Four.
The claws of pain that dug into her and promised oblivion gave her no choice. So Daybreaker acted. This is not the battle I longed for. she growled with irritation to herself as Twilight's doom raced towards her.
Three different flavours of regret played through her. This was wasteful, this was needless, and even though she knew Celestia would not want this, Daybreaker had no more free will than an arrow in flight.
Twilight deserved better than this. No matter how she felt, all she could do was put a little extra power behind the attack.
With the slightest of mercy, a swifter end granted, she turned her attention to the other gathered ponies. Luna would have to be first, then Candice. Neither would stop to listen, not after this. Not that she would or could blame them.
As anticipated, Luna lept to Twilight's aid. So, without a second thought, Daybreaker plunged a mental blade through the weak spot Celestia had implanted. Luna, too focused on saving her plaything, did not even notice the attack before it was too late.
Daybreaker let out a mental sigh. Disapointing.
Celestia screamed.
What? Back in Celestia's Garden, her holy Radiance lay sprawled on the floor, a blade of dark crystal stuck through her barrel. Another projectile busted through the stone wall, this one Celestia just managed to deflect with a wing. White feathers exploded from the contact point, being devoured by black flames.
Daybreaker did not even need to check. To Celestia, such an attack was just a scratch. So she turned her attention to the breach. "Clever… using that backdoor as a trap."
With baying howls, the large construct ploughed through the remnants of the shattered wall and turned its burning gaze to the prone Alicorn. The magenta flame of its eyes gave no doubt who had sent it.
A bolt of golden magic was all it took to knock the timber wolf back, abruptly halting its lunge. "Bad, boy."
The thing glared at her and rose back to its paws, claws dug into the soft loam of the Garden, and its eyes darted between Tia and herself. Then three more burst in, and things became serious. The dozen more in the distance made her heart pound in her chest.
This is what it was to be alive! Daybreaker's savage grin was a thing of nightmares. "Well, this is more like it." A blazing halberd formed, and she gleefully advanced over the smashed game board to face the hoard of wooden beasts that dared to violate Celestia's Bastion.