Archive of Our Own

"The key to ending this travesty once and for all came down to the raiser of the moon." This was the thought that went through Celestia's mind as she stared at her sister.

For the past few months- no, YEARS, the Bakers have ruined and ended the lives of hundreds of ponies, all to use their bodies in the baked goods they would sell to their friends and neighbors. Nothing would bring an end to their reign of terror, no matter what the princesses could think of. The Pie Sisters were eventually caught, but this was temporary, as they were broken out by their cohorts not long after. They somehow even managed to execute a terrorist bombing, the Three Days of Destruction, which became the worst tragedy in Equestrian history. Although they had confirmation that not all of Ponyville and Cloudsdales’s residents were killed, the raiser of the sun wasn’t sure how many could have survived the attack.

The princesses’ most recent attempt to try and stop them involved sending in their top spy, a unicorn by the name of Sharpshooter, to join their group and find their hideout. And even after all the training she had been put through, all the nights she spent hoping and praying that she would be alright, it turned out to all be for nothing. All their lies shattered by just one of their enemies.

Now a new idea has decided to present itself. Along with being the one who raised the moon, Luna also had an ability that not even Celestia herself had. The ability to travel through other ponies' dreams. She only ever used it to check on the citizens of Ponyville, but after the Bakers’ attack, her sister had urged her to stop for her own safety. But now that one of the few ideas they had was snuffed out, she felt there were no other options.

"Luna..." Celestia began in a serious voice.

"What is it dear sister?" Luna asked, looking back from their computer.

“You still have the ability to walk through other ponies’ dreams, correct?” 

“Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?” Luna was starting to wonder what her sister was trying to get at.

“If you can find a way into the Bakers’ dreams, we might be able to find out where they’re hiding and we’ll bring them to justice.”

Curses, why hadn’t either of them thought this sooner?! Sharpshooter wouldn’t have had to suffer if they had done this from the start!

Luna looked back at Celestia, a look of hope beginning to form upon her face as she thought about it. “Celestia, this might just be the plan we need to stop them.” She placed her hoof into her sister’s as her look of hope slowly shifted into determination. “After this plan goes into effect, the Bakers are going down.”

Almost a week would pass since that discussion, and as much as she loved her sister’s plan, Luna would be lying if she said it was producing any results. At first, she would sneak into each of the Bakers' dreams and hide in the background, that way she could try to figure out where they were hiding. Unfortunately, not only did none of their dreams appear to be wherever their hideout was (assuming they were even in Equestria in some of those dreams), but their dreams were a lot more disturbing than Luna thought they would be.

The first dream she had entered was from Obsidian ‘Minkie’ Pie, and it was a horrible sight to behold. She saw Minkie trapped in a cellar, the same one she was trapped in as a filly, and she would attempt to end her own life after her mother visited in order to torment her. As much as she hated the mare, she’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel at least a little sympathetic for her. After everything she heard about her time in solitude during the trial, Luna couldn’t help but wonder if she would’ve been the same pony if somepony had stepped in when she was younger. Maybe the rest of the Pie Sisters wouldn’t have been like this either.

Regardless, Luna still knew that they were a threat to all of Equestria, and her lack of progress to track them down was starting to frustrate her. Last night she had entered the dream of Bubbles ‘Derpy’ Hooves, and was shocked to find her walking through the dilapidated remains of Ponyville, while she and the rest of the Bakers took on the appearances of alicorn princesses. If it wasn’t insulting enough, she had even seen the mangled corpse of her own sister, hung up for very few to see. 

She couldn’t just stand around any longer, especially when she saw them kill and torture a mother and her foal. She quickly emerged from where she was hiding and made most of the Bakers disappear. Once they were gone, she threatened Derpy, warning her that she and her sister would find them and kill them for what they had done. And then she made her disappear just like the rest of her friends.

Luna had no idea what the hell she was thinking when she did that. She understood that the Bakers were monsters with no empathy, but she also knew that Derpy was manipulated into this just like Apple Bloom was. And even if she really was aware of what they were doing, confronting the pegasus might have just revealed her and her sister’s plan to them. All she could hope for was that she thought she was just a figment of her imagination.

Still, this incident wasn’t all for nothing.

While the rest of the Bakers were in Derpy’s dream, there was a seventh pony with them. She was a brown filly, though Luna didn’t know which type of pony she was, with a bright pink mane and bright green eyes. Luna was already aware of the existence of a seventh Baker, but she wasn’t completely sure if this pony was real or if she was made up, as it wasn’t that uncommon for ponies to make up other ponies in their dreams. Regardless, Luna felt the need to write about what she looked like in case she was real, that way they could track down the seventh Baker a lot easier.

The sound of somepony knocking on her door eventually brought the raiser of the moon out of her train of thought. “Come in!”

Celestia walked into her room, looking slightly more somber than she’s usually been. “Luna, how much progress have you made with tracking down the Bakers?”

“So far, I haven’t had much luck trying to find their hideout,” Luna paused for a moment, ashamed of what she was about to say. “Though there is a possibility they might’ve caught onto our plan, since one of them saw me last night.”

Celestia sighed in disappointment, not too surprised that something like this would happen. Then she said something that confused Luna. "It pains me to do this, but there is one last way we can defeat the Bakers..."

"And what is that?"

It took Celestia a moment to respond, but when she did, Luna couldn’t believe what she heard. "You have to enter their dreams and kill them."

Luna was stunned into silence when her sister’s plan had sunken in. As much as she wanted to object to it, her sister might’ve had a point. The Bakers had already proven themselves to be an even bigger threat than expected, having somehow wiped out all the troops they've sent to Ponyville as hundreds of other ponies…

But something about just killing them all felt wrong. Despite just how awful they were, two of them were still manipulated into becoming killers. As unlikely as it seemed, Luna thought that maybe there was still some hope for them.

"Is there a chance we could save at least one of them?" She asked her sister in concern.

"We cannot be certain," she began. "But I hope we can at least try." It wasn't a concrete answer, but it still gave Luna hope. Something that she really needed at a moment like this.

Midnight struck with the repeated ticks of an old fashioned clock lightly echoing around the room. Luna had laid on the bed of her dark purple room, fake stars plastered on the ceiling glowing dimly. Tonight, she would hopefully bring a permanent end to the Bakers. Celestia stayed by her side as a way to keep an eye on her, in case their plan backfired in any way.

"Are you sure this plan will work Celestia?" Luna asked her eldest sister.

"I cannot say for sure." She began to answer her sister's worries. "All we can do is hope."

Luna closed her eyes and let herself fall into a land of dreams that only she could control. The realm was composed of calm shades of green and blue, almost looking like clouds. Her first goal like many other times was to try and find the Baker’s hideout. Although she wouldn’t mind seeing them get a taste of their own medicine, Luna wanted to make sure her and her sister would finally be able to find their hideout, that way they could make sure they would stay dead.

Igniting her horn, she opened a hole into the dream of whatever pony she had hoped was still alive after the Three Days of Destruction. Much to her surprise, it was Flash Sentry, one of the members of the royal guard that was sent to Ponyville before the attack. She couldn’t believe it, one of her sister’s soldiers was still alive.

His dream was nothing more than a dark hallway, coated head to hoof in the blood and remains of every other soldier and officer that was present in Ponyville that faithful day. The worst of the bunch was a hollowed out unicorn skull, painted blue with a set of seven cupcakes placed inside, no doubt belonging to Sharpshooter. The raiser of the moon could faintly hear the guard muttering, something about his fallen comrades and Sharpshooter’s demise.

“Fear not, Flash Sentry.” She greeted him in as normal of a voice she could. “It is just I. You are safe for now.”

Upon hearing her voice, Flash Sentry turned around, shocked to have finally seen any of the princesses in so long. “Princess Luna…” He barely croaked out, his voice still damaged even in his dreams from all the torment he was put through.

“Your pleas for freedom have been heard, and you will be free some day.” Luna attempted to reassure him, hoping that this plan could work. “Tell me, are there any other survivors who are still being held by the Bakers?”

Flash Sentry looked a little more somber than before, “There were over three hundred of us by the time the attack ended…” he paused for a moment to quietly sigh. “But over a hundred of them were killed after a while, and just one of them died recently.”

Luna let out a breath, the worst of her fears being confirmed by this. “Do any of you know where you have been held captive?” She asked, hoping for at least some kind of useful information to come from this.

“I’m not entirely sure where exactly the Bakers have taken me or any of the other captives,” Flash Sentry began to explain, “But the room we’re all being held in is like a prison. Though I believe the Bakers mentioned something about a castle at some point.”

Luna was stunned by this, quickly realizing where the Bakers were hiding. How did neither her nor her sister think to check the abandoned castle they once resided in? No one else would’ve thought to hide there, so it only made sense for Equestria’s most infamous killers to have made the castle into their new hideout. As soon as she returned to the mortal realm, she would tell Celestia to ready their guards so they could stage a raid on their fortress.

She nodded at the pegasus, a glimmer of hope painting her features. “Thank you, Flash. With any luck, this may finally bring an end to the Bakers’ wrath.”

After this, she ignited her horn and opened a portal back to the dream realm. Now that she knew where the Bakers’ hideout was, her next goal was to deal with them herself. Since she had already gone into the dreams of all four of the Pie Sisters and Derpy Hooves, it was only fitting that she went into the dream of the last Baker she knew the identity of; Apple Bloom.

Despite being one of Pinkie’s closest allies, Luna had hope that she could still redeem the little filly. If she could gain her trust, she could use it to figure out what the rest of the Bakers were planning. Maybe she could even use it to learn the identity of their elusive seventh member, and possibly reform them as well. Luna ignited her horn and opened another portal and made her way to what she hoped would be the dream of the disturbed filly.

She looked around and saw that she was in a dark cellar, this one sharing the same description as the Bakers’ infamous basement where they committed their crimes. Despite never seeing it for herself, Luna was well aware of how the Bakers used their victims' remains for not only the baked goods they would sell, but also as decorations for the room where they committed their atrocities. Unlike those descriptions however, the only decoration she could find at first was a banner made of pony hide, with the phrase “LIFE’S A PARTY” painted onto it in blood. Could the lack of furniture represent something to the filly?

Apart from the banner, Luna had also caught sight of a large metal table with a small gray filly strapped to it, her chest emptied of all its organs. Not too far away from her was a desperate looking Apple Bloom standing over the limp and bloodied body of Pinkie Pie. She was a lot paler than normal, and the reason why was made clear when Luna saw the cut across her throat. The filly wept over her mentor’s corpse, slightly shaking her in an attempt to wake her up.

“Please, Pinkie…” She sobbed as she shook her one last time. “Please wake up… I’m sorry, I swear I won’t slip away again…”

Luna couldn’t sit around any longer. She stepped out of her place in the shadows and slowly walked over to the distraught filly. She carefully put her hoof around her, trying her best to comfort the poor child. “It’s going to be okay, Apple Bloom.” She felt the child tense up as she spoke. “I do not blame you for what they manipulated you into doing-”

Then without any warning, the filly lunged at her.

At first, Luna briefly thought she was trying to hug her. However, upon seeing Apple Bloom preparing to slash her with a knife, she gasped in shock. She tried to push her back, but the filly refused to back down from her attack.

“You made a mistake coming here, Princess…” Apple Bloom grumbled under her breath.

Despite the little filly’s attempts, she couldn’t land any cuts on the dark alicorn. Luna continued to step away as quickly as she could, desperately trying to make sure she wouldn’t injure her. Even with the harm she tried to put her through, she refused to actually attack her, still holding onto any sort of hope that she could be saved.

“Apple Bloom! There’s still a chance to make things right!” Luna called out to her as she illuminated her horn, preparing to open a portal back to the dream realm. “I know what they had put you through, but you don’t need to stay by their side forever!”

“Don’t you dare try to say they manipulated me!” The filly eventually jumped onto the princess, starting to hit her with her hooves. “They’ve done more for me than you or any other pony in my life, and I won’t let you take them from me!”

As she continued to endure the filly’s hits, Luna opened up a portal back to the dream realm. Just as she ran through it though, Apple Bloom had managed to hit her hard in the head, almost getting her horn in the process. This caused her to inadvertently open a portal to another pony’s dream, and she ran into it while she was still a little dizzy.

The dream that her and Apple Bloom ended up in was a light blue void with a floor made of cotton candy clouds. Surrounded by thousands of tinted bubbles was the cross-eyed pegasus, Derpy Hooves. She was flying around without a care in the world, popping as many of the bubbles as she could. That was until her attention was drawn to the loud grunt of Luna falling into her dream, while doing her best to concentrate long enough to hold Apple Bloom with her magic.

“Derpy! Quick!” Apple Bloom shouted to the pegasus, “Help me keep a hold on Luna!”

Derpy nodded to the filly. She soared fast into the air before flying head first into the alicorn’s back. She knocked both of them onto the ground, but the pegasus was able to get the filly onto her back to fly after her. Not wasting any time, Luna opened another portal back to the dream realm to get away from them as quickly as possible. Right as she was about to close the portal, she was shoved to the floor. Derpy and Apple Bloom followed right after her, doing their best to keep her cornered.

“I knew you were real!” the pegasus shouted as she glared down at her, a look of rage plaguing her features.

She was about to slam her hooves into the alicorn’s face, but Luna managed to roll out of the way on time. “Derpy, I know I messed up, but I’m sorry for threatening you for what they forced you to do!” She shouted as she got back up. “You and Apple Bloom still have a chance to make things right! You don’t need to listen to them anymore”

“You’re not sorry at all!” Derpy shouted as she rocketed towards her, trying to attack the alicorn that had caused her pain. “You just wanna turn me away from my friends cuz you think I’m stupid, just like every other pony!” She rammed her head into the alicorn’s body, making her double over in pain.

This gave Apple Bloom enough time to climb onto the alicorn’s back and start punching her head again. After a few hits, Luna had managed to get the filly off of her back, but not before one particular attack caused her to open a portal to another pony’s dream. Out of the portal came four earth mares, those being the infamous Pie Sisters. They all glared menacingly at the raiser of the moon, with Inkie smirking and Pinkie grinning madly.

“Well, well, well, look who’s finally come to play!” the party only giggled as she taunted the alicorn. “You should’ve waited for us to visit you and your sister in Canterlot, then this would’ve been way more fun for all of us!”

“How did you find out about our plan?” Luna said, rage slowly starting to consume her as she stood face-to-face with the ponies who caused Equestria so much harm.

“Derpy told us about how you threatened her in her dream last night,” Inkie spoke calmly, but she glared at the alicorn coldly, furious that she had threatened her friend. “So we came up with our own plan to get back at you.”

“I find it odd that you wanna say we manipulated her because of her disability, but for some reason you felt it was okay to threaten her life.” Blinkie sneered as she began to walk around the alicorn. “If I didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t have realized you only did it because you thought she wouldn’t remember well.”

“Tsk, talk about double standards,” Apple Bloom chided, with her and Derpy looking angrily at her.

Minkie then stepped forward, glaring at the princess she once viewed so highly. “I can’t believe you were my favorite princess…” She asked, rage slowly seeping into her voice. Before she could go any further with her rant however, she took a deep breath before continuing, now looking down on the ground. “You know what, it doesn’t even matter.” She giggled darkly as she looked up at her. “Because no matter what I say, you’re going to die tonight, and I’m going to have fun watching every second of it.”

Luna quickly backed away from Blinkie, staring darkly at each of the Bakers. There wasn’t any point in trying to escape this anymore, and there sure as hell wasn’t any hope she had of reforming any of them, not even the ones that needed her help. As she ignited her horn, she spawned an obsidian scythe into her hooves, its blade made of the sharpest iridium ever seen.

“If I’m going down…” She said firmly as she looked down. Then without warning, she swung her scythe at the ponies, each of them narrowly avoiding her attack. “THEN I’M TAKING YOU ALL DOWN WITH ME!” She roared at the group, her voice echoing throughout the realm.

None of the Bakers had anytime to think before they had to dodge another swing of the alicorn’s scythe. Each of them had to run as quickly as they could, trying desperately to avoid getting attacked by the raiser of the moon. Luna didn’t even seem to care much about if she was truly making progress or not, she simply swung her scythe as much as she could, trying and failing to get at least one of the Bakers to go down.

After a few minutes of each of the Bakers running around trying to avoid getting hurt, Pinkie had an epiphany. “Girls!” She shouted as she jumped out of the way of another attack. “Look what I can do!” With this, she pulled out a near one-to-one replica of her party cannon.

She lit the fuse on it and- BOOM! A harsh flurry of confetti and fireworks rocketed towards Luna, hitting her square in the back. She almost fell over, but quickly regained her composure as she started running after the bright pink pony. “You can summon your own weapons too!” She shouted to the rest of her friends, continually hopping away from the alicorn’s attacks.

Taking note of this, Inkie and Blinkie summoned up recreations of the weapons they wielded during their attack on Ponyville. Inkie had whipped out her chains, only this time they were covered in razors by some unknown means. Blinkie’s razor covered armor remained relatively the same, but the metal that surrounded her was a brilliant gold, and she had claw-like daggers attached to her forehoves. With a nod, they ran head first into the fight.

Before Luna could finally land a hit on their youngest sister, Blinkie rammed her body straight into the alicorn’s body. She roared out in pain as the razors attached to the mare’s armor made various cuts along the side of her body. She turned her sights to her, lighting up her horn and began to hold her and Pinkie in the air with her magic. Before she could do anything with the two, she was caught off guard by the snap of a chain on one of her hindlegs, making her drop them on the ground. She turned around and saw Inkie gearing up to hit her with one of her chains, only backing down when the raiser of the moon began running after her.

As the sisters continued to fight Luna, the rest of the Bakers snuck off to get their own weapons, with Apple Bloom summoning her own bow and a couple arrows. Derpy had already summoned a machete, but kept it in a sheath so she could aid the filly in the air. “You ready, Derpy?” When she received a nod, she climbed upon her back.

Before they could take to the sky however, they looked over at Minkie, who stared at them intensely. “Do your best to distract them.” She said quietly. “I have a plan…”

With a final nod, they soared into the air and joined their sisters in the fight. Apple Bloom aimed her bow at the raiser of the moon, and shot one of her arrows at her, barely missing one of her hooves. Upon the princess noticing this, she began to swing at them, and the filly and the pegasus almost had no time to avoid getting slashed. This kept her distracted enough for Pinkie to load up her party cannon with more fireworks and fired them at her, the impact making her fall to the ground.

Seeing that her attempts to attack them weren’t going anywhere, something seemed to snap in her head. As she ignited her horn, Luna used her magic to grab everypony that had been attacking her at that moment, and threw them far away from her. They all fell hard onto the ground, with various groans and shouts of pain faintly echoing through the realm. Still keeping a hold of them with her magic, she dragged them back to her as they continued to wraith in their confines, trying to break free from her grasp.

Minkie continued to watch in fear, shocked that the alicorn had managed to actually hurt her friends. She had managed to hide herself in the fog that surrounded the dream realm, trying and failing to come up with a new plan. It was only when she saw her pull a cowering Derpy closer to her that she felt something break. 

“Now,” Luna began in a much calmer but stern tone, “It’s time to finally bring an end to the tragedy-”

“RAAAHHHH!!!”

Whatever the raiser of the moon had planned was stopped as she heard a shrill scream echo across the realm. Then a flash of light illuminated the area, temporarily blinding everypony there, and even making her drop the Bakers she held with her magic. When the light had finally dissipated, they all turned to look at who or what caused the disturbance, only to be shocked by what they saw.

Standing far away from them was Minkie, but rather than just being a normal earth pony like before, she was now an alicorn. A long, sharp horn laid atop her head, and a set of two large, beautiful wings were perched upon her back. Her eyes shined brighter, and her deep blue mane blew in an invisible breeze, almost looking like the sparkling abyss of space itself.

The rest of the Bakers looked in awe at their friend, while Luna looked in shock and horror. Before any of them could react however, Minkie ignited her newly acquired horn and shot a beam of dark magic right at the other alicorn, making her fall to the ground. She didn’t have enough time to get up before the other mare rocketed right towards her and started to hit her with her hooves, yelling in rage at the one who tried to kill her family. “NO PONY HURTS MY SISTERS!” She shouted as she continued her assault.

She was so caught up in her rage, that she was too distracted to notice Luna kicking her away with her hind legs. Although it got her away from the rogue mare, this also enraged Minkie even more. Using her newly acquired magic, she summoned a sword and charged at the princess. She had fully intended to behead her at that very moment, had Luna not raised her scythe to meet her blade.

“So, you choose to make a mockery of Equestria by taking the form of the one who will bring you to justice?!” Luna roared, swinging her scythe at the dark mare, only stopping her attack as it hit the blade of her attacker’s sword.

“It only seems fair to keep things even between us!” Minkie roared as she continued to swing her sword at the raiser of the moon, in spite of her attacks being deflected each time.

As the two continued their duel, the remaining bakers picked up each of their weapons and prepared to get in on the fun. Inkie and Blinkie were the first to run up to the raiser of the moon, trying to corner her from both sides. Right as Inkie was about to jump onto her back to choke her out with her chains, Luna managed to use her magic to grab her and throw her at Blinkie before she could ram into her with her armor. They fell back with a groan, but Luna paid them no mind as she went back to fighting the other alicorn.

Seeing them get attacked, Derpy had both Pinkie and Apple Bloom climb onto her back so they could attack her at the same time. She soared into the air, aiming to dive after Luna and pin her to the ground. Before they could reach her however, Luna had grabbed them with her magic, having noticed them right as the filly was about to hit her with an arrow. Just like the other Pie sisters, she threw them as far away as she could, hearing them groan and yelp in pain from the impact.

Minkie was only made more furious by this. She continued to swing her sword at Luna, growling in rage every time her blade was deflected by the other alicorn’s scythe. “Why won’t you JUST. STAY. STILL?!” Each of her words were pierced by the sounds of metal clanking against metal. She was just about to land an attack on her when-

Slice!

A long cut stretched across the mare’s chest, blood slowly starting to trickle out. Minkie paused as soon as she felt it, looking down in horror at what the princess had just done. She dropped her sword, eyes closing shut as she fell to the ground almost instantly.

“MINKIE!!” Each of the Bakers cried out in shock, horrified and devastated to see their sister and friend get killed. Derpy had even begun to cry at the sight of her best friend.

“Finally…” Luna muttered rather loudly. Though she couldn’t hide her shock, she was just glad to finally bring an end to one of them. Now it was time to deal with the others.

Igniting her horn once again, she held each of the Bakers in the air with their magic, ready to finally bring an end to the nightmare. “So, do any of you have any last words?” She asked each of the mares, no longer caring what would happen from this point forward. Much to her confusion, she heard a quiet chuckle far away from the rest of them.

“It seems you’re missing something…”

Without any warning, a shot of dark magic was blasted right next to her head. Luna turned around at that moment to figure out what had caused it and- CRACK! Another shot of dark magic had been fired at her, this time directly targeting her horn. Small cracks slowly began to form as the raiser of the moon began to lose her grip on the other Bakers. She didn’t have time to look at whoever caused this when she closed her eyes and cried out in pain. “ARGH!!!”

Her horn shattered into several pieces, sending a roaring pain through her head. She lost her grip on the Bakers, letting them free and allowing them to run away from her. She held her forehooves up to her forehead, holding it in agony as blood began to trickle from where she once had magic. After a few seconds, her mane stopped flowing through its non-existent wind, a sign that she had truly lost her magic. She opened her eyes and looked to the one who caused this, and a wave of horror washed over her.

Minkie Pie was standing once again, surrounded by the rest of the Bakers, all glaring at the ex-alicorn with sharp smiles. The cut on her chest had disappeared without a trace, making it seem like nothing had happened to her. “You really should’ve checked to make sure I was truly dead.” She said as she began to giggle menacingly. “Not like it would matter, because you can’t kill what’s already dead inside.”

Luna began to back away from them, only stopping as she almost tripped on her scythe. She picked up as quickly as she could, holding it in her hooves as her last line of defense against what was one of Equestria’s worst threats. There was no way she was getting out of this realm, but it would be a cold day in Tartarus before she surrendered to anypony.

“Before we let the fun hit its climax however,” Minkie looked away from Luna, staring at nothing behind her. “It only seems fair that we let our other friend join in on the fun…”

Quickly lighting up her horn, Minkie fired a beam of dark magic behind Luna, making the ex-alicorn jump out of the way of what could’ve been an attack. Instead, what came from this magic was a portal leading to one last pony’s dream. For a brief moment, everything went dead quiet…

Then running out of the portal was a small earth filly with a warm brown coat and two-toned pink mane. Luna barely had time to register her as the mystery pony she saw in Derpy’s dream, she was kicked in the head by her as she ran to the rest of the Bakers. She couldn’t believe this, they had another filly working with them this whole time?!

“Right on time, Babs!” Apple Bloom called out as she high-fived her. “Glad you could join us for this!”

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world, but I wish you could’a invited me a lot sooner!” The other filly, ‘Babs’, said jokingly. “So, this is the pony who used to be Nightmare Moon?” She asked, cocking her head to the side. “Heh, if she weren’t so pathetic lookin’ right now, I’d feel more confident in saying she looks kinda badass.”

“Little filly, you do not need to side with them!” Luna called out to her, in spite of the filly’s indifferent look. “There’s still a chance for you to turn over a new leaf, but you mustn't side with them-”

Babs chuckled at this, baffled at what the ex-alicorn was saying. “Oh man, let me guess, ya’ said that exact same crap to Apple Bloom and Derpy, thinking that those stupid words would actually convince them to stop killin’ ponies?” She asked mockingly as she began to chuckle again. “God, if that ain’t the STUPIDEST plan I’ve ever heard!”

“B- Babs-” Luna attempted to say something again, but was caught off before she could even think of anything that could convince her to leave.

“Don’t give me any carp about them ‘manipulating me’ or anything like that!” Babs snapped as she began to summon a baseball bat covered in barbed wire. “Even before I joined these guys, I had killed three of my bullies in one night! Does that sound like somepony who was ‘manipulated into killing’?” She asked, glaring deep into her eyes.

Luna was stunned into silence by this. None of these ponies could be redeemed, not even the ones she still had some hope for. Before she could think of something else to say, she realized that the rest of the Bakers had disappeared. Then without warning, she felt a small filly land onto her neck, flailing her hooves in an attempt to punch her in the head. Luna struggled as she tried to get Apple Bloom to get off of her, but was taken off guard by the sound of a fuse being lit.

“FIRE IN THE HOLE!” Shouted the voice of the familiar party pony.

Without any other warning, Pinkie fired her party cannon, this time launching Inkie and Blinkie right at the ex-alicorn. The two tackled her to the ground as they helped Apple Bloom beat her up. After a while, the two sisters wrapped Inkie’s chains around Luna’s limbs so they could hold her down. As they did this, Apple Bloom had taken one of her arrows and used the tip to try and carve a circle around Luna’s cutie marks. Despite looking rather messy, it still looked way better than she thought it would. Luna began to scream in agony as this all went down, with blood seeping out of the cuts being formed around her marks.

“Hey Blinkie, how should I remove her marks?” Apple Bloom asked, unable to cut them away from the muscle that held them together with just an arrow.

“I think we should leave them as is.” Blinkie replied as she finally managed to get Luna to stop struggling as much as before. “Besides, we sadly won’t get to keep them when we’re done playing with her.”

Apple Bloom looked a bit disappointed at this, but moved on rather quickly. After all, they were still having a lot of fun, with or without stealing another pony’s cutie marks. It was then that Derpy had flown over, pulling out her machete as she smiled darkly at their captive. With an enthusiastic laugh, she swung her blade and hit the princess’s left wing. Luna began to scream even louder at this, unable to bear the soaring pain that rippled through her back as the pegasus swung at her again.

Derpy continued to swing her machete into Luna’s wing, sometimes even hitting her in the back, not even bothering to make any progress as she continued to laugh. After one last swing, the wing was left to hang onto her back by just a small sting of skin and muscle. Rather than ripping it away from her however, Derpy decided to start hacking away at the ex-alicorn’s right wing. “This is what you get for trying to take my family away!” She exclaimed as she continued to mutilate her.

Luna didn’t even try to respond with actual words, she just continued to scream in agony. Her shouts echoed through the dream realm, possibly impacting the dreams of any other pony who was asleep that night. Never once would she wish this torture upon her worst enemies, not even the other creatures that posed a threat to Equestria. If this was what they were doing to her, then she did not want to know what they were doing to the rest of their captives. Despite the pain that coursed through her body however, Luna wasn’t even close to fainting, a cruel side effect from what little alicorn magic she still had left.

After what felt like hours, Derpy had finally finished hacking away at her wing, leaving them to dangle from her body. Inkie and Blinkie dropped the chains they were using to hold the ex-alicorn, watching her drop to the ground with a gasp. The rest of the Bakers soon surrounded her as she slowly tried to get up, desperately trying to ignore the pain in her back.

Pinkie stood directly in front of her, smirking at her menacingly. “Well Luna, it would be rather easy to end you ourselves, but we still wanna give you one last chance.” She took out a knife from seemingly nowhere and placed it in front of her. “If you surrender now, then you’ll be going out the easy way. But if you choose to keep fighting-”

Before she could continue explaining the ex-princess’s options, Luna got up and attempted to charge at her. After only a few steps however, Babs had tripped her. Right as she was about to hit the ground, the filly bucked her hind legs into the back of her neck, paralyzing her instantly. Luna was shocked by this. How could a little filly like Babs know how to paralyze somepony?

“Welp, there goes the easy way out.” Babs said mockingly. “Can’t say we didn’t try to be merciful!”

“Minkie, would you do the pleasure of ending our most special playdate yet?” Apple Bloom asked, heavily invested in how this is all going to end.

“It would be my pleasure.” Minkie replied with a bow. She ignited her horn, levitating the pony she once viewed as the best of the three princesses with her dark magic. “Try your best to have fun…” She giggled as she looked down with her creepy smile. “Because I know I sure will.”

Then a loud crack was heard through the realm. Minkie slowly began to use her new magic to break every bone in Luna’s body, starting with her hind legs. Despite the agony she was faced with, the ex-alicorn was unable to scream or fight against what was done to her, all she could do was suffer through it all. Once she was done breaking her hind legs, Minkie set her sights on her front hooves, grinning as they slowly started to crack under the pressure of her dark magic. The rest of the Bakers watched in excitement, never imagining how fun it would’ve been to actually torture an alicorn as powerful as Luna.

Right as Minkie had finished breaking each of her hooves, all that was left was to crush the only other things that kept her alive. She raised her dangling body to her face, grinning devilishly at the ex-alicorn. “I never thought I’d live long enough to say this, but I’m more alive than you’ll ever be.”

As she whispered, she slowly started to burst each of the organs in Luna’s body, starting with her intestines. The further she went through her chest, the more her light in her eyes began to fade. Right as she was about to get to her heart and lungs, she paused. “Goodnight, Luna…” And with one last snap, she broke her neck in half.

Minkie slowly put down the ex-alicorn’s corpse, shaking as everything started to set in. The rest of the Bakers all stared at her in shock, but that slowly turned to the greatest joy they had ever felt. “We did it…” Blinkie whispered as she walked over to her eldest sister.

“We did it!” Pinkie cheered as she dragged all of them into a massive group hug.

They all began to cheer at their accomplishment. What could’ve been their last night alive ended with their greatest victory yet. They had really killed one of Equestria’s most powerful rulers, and it was amazing!

“Celestia has no idea what she’s gettin’ herself into!” Babs cheered as she ruffled Apple Bloom’s mane.

“Wait, girls!” Derpy exclaimed, drawing the others to look at her. “Look at Minkie’s cutie mark!”

They all looked to where her flank was, and they were all amazed at what they saw. The lock that made her mark had changed so that it looked like it was finally unlocked. “Oh my gosh, Minkie, your mark changed!” Pinkie exclaimed, squealing in excitement.

Minkie stared at her mark for a moment. It may not have seemed like much to most, but this meant the world to her. She had always associated her mark with how she would always be trapped, even when she was rescued from the cellar, but to see it unlock after all this time…

“I’m free…” Minkie began to smile, not like her usual unsettling smile she’d show her victims, but a genuinely happy smile. Tears began to well up in her eyes as it fully sunk in what her mark really meant. “I’m finally free!”

Each of the Bakers also began to smile, realizing what this meant to her. They all gathered to have one more group hug as they began to sing songs with one another. Even if this was just a part of their shared dream, the happiness was still there, and they would never let it die.

A loud crack echoed around the bedroom of the two sisters. Luna laid motionless on the bed, her breathing having stopped. Her mane and tail stopped glimmering, her horn dawned several cracks, her wings bent at unusual angles, and dark scars appeared on every part of her body. Celestia had stayed by her side the entire time and was unfortunate enough to witness her sister’s demise, staring wide-eyed at her corpse in horror. She started to gently shake her, desperately hoping this was all some kind of twisted prank.

"Luna, please wake up!" She cried out in anguish. "This isn't funny, please stop this joke at once!"

The raiser of the moon simply did not move. Her body continued to lay limp in dead silence. Celestia couldn't handle it anymore, she held her sister's corpse in a tight embrace as she broke down in tears at this unexpected loss. Her tears stained her deceased sister's hide, unable to keep her sobbing down as she was faced with the most devastating tragedy in all of Equestria.

This was the worst possible outcome. She didn't know how, but the Bakers had managed to kill her sister. Her cries were left unanswered, with no pony present to console her as she grieved the loss of her sister. Any hope she had of stopping the Bakers had broken in that very moment. If they could kill her sister, then what was stopping them from killing her, or even Princess Cadence?

Soon, her tears had dried up and she had none left to cry. She gently placed her sister back onto the bed where she passed away and exited the room. Celestia walked through the hallway of the castle until she found herself in front of a book shelf. She pulled a peculiar purple book from it, causing the shelf to move out of the way to reveal a staircase that led to a secret room. She didn't want it to come to this, but she did not want another tragedy like this to happen again.

Celestia walked down the stairs until she was met face to face with a statue. But not just any statue, it was the stone imprisonment of the Lord of Chaos, Discord. When Rainbow Dash had gone missing, she ordered that his statue be relocated to the castle until the pegasus was finally found. She previously had hope that the Elements of Harmony could reform him, believing that he could use his powers for good. But upon three of Equestria’s protectors being found dead under the home of the element of Laughter, she knew there was no use in trying anymore.

There seemed to be no other choices she could turn to. A part of her knew that not even Discord would be okay with what the Bakers were doing, but she couldn't take any chances. She ignited her horn with her magic, and with a heavy heart, Celestia screamed as she began to blast away at Discord’s statue.

Everything had blurred from there. It was a frenzy of stone breaking and falling tears as the raiser of the sun cursed the Bakers for everything they had done. She had even accidentally hit herself during the frenzy, but it didn't matter to her. If it weren't for the Bakers, she wouldn't have lost everypony close to her. No pony would've had to lose their neighbors, their friends, their families. She wouldn’t have lost her student, she wouldn’t have lost her sister, she wouldn’t have lost… him. “Nothing should have ever gotten this way!”

By the time she had stopped her frenzy, Discord's statue was nothing but an incomprehensible mess of broken stone and even a bit of dust. The only part that remained even slightly intact was his stone face, forever locked in a look of fear and panic.

Celestia stared at it in horror at what she had done. She couldn't believe she had actually destroyed Discord's statue. She had practically killed him when he could have helped her...

He would have helped her.

It was her fault that Discord, the lord of chaos, was gone. It was her fault that Luna, her dear sister and the raiser of the moon, had been killed by the Bakers. It was her fault that Twilight, her very own student, had been driven to the point of insanity and her eventual suicide.

She remembered the trial held against the Pie Sisters.

When Blinkie had made fun of her for wanting to make Twilight into her next successor, she couldn’t help but believe her, especially when Inkie blamed her for her student's fall into insanity. When Minkie pointed out how she banished her sister, she still felt guilty for what had happened, even if it was for the good of Equestria. And when Pinkie snapped at her... Dear gods, she could never forget how the party pony screamed in rage as she was held back by a guard's magic. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND FRIENDSHIP!"

No matter how hard she tried to reason with herself, a part of her knew that Pinkie was right. Not only was she responsible for her own student falling victim to their hooves, but she failed to see the warning signs that lead to one of the worst tragedies in all of Equestria.

All hope was lost that very day.