Tear Jerker / Spectrum

Spectrum, like its predecessor, has many heartbreaking moments.—-

Main Story

• Chapter Five - "Nightfall Over Boston"
  • In one of the few moments Spectrum recreates a scene from the original story largely beat-for-beat, we again see the flashback where Queen Celestia petrify Luna in Reykjavik. Unlike in the original, however, Celestia acts visibly broken up about this, and sings a lullaby to the frozen statue. Since the event was caught on camera, characters in the present-day scene comment on this display of soft-heartedness from the Solar Tyrant.

• Chapter Twelve - "To Seize The Day"
  • Twilight tries to rekindle her friendship with Moondancer, ala Season 5's "Amending Fences", but this time around all her efforts fall flat.

• Chapter Thirteen - "Concordia Maxima"
  • Alex's flashback to how he got sent to Sunny Equestria fills in a few gaps; he was called to a location in Boston by Amethyst Star, who'd received a message from Galatea speaking through Oracle Bonbon. In turn, Galatea communicated with Alex in this same fashion throughout their conversation, right until she was ambushed by Queen Celestia; the manner of death for the Galatea of the Imperial Timeline is heartbreakingly anticlimactic, perishing at her own sister's hand with no-one present to witness it, her last words abruptly cut off.
  • Continuing the trend of anticlimactic deaths in this chapter, the Imperial Redheart's is similarly inglorious. Her final moments are spent regretting her actions, too late, in front of the assembled representatives of the Concordia Maxima, right before Princess Luna unwisely reads out a transcripted message from Queen Celestia that triggers a killswitch in her.

• Chapter Fourteen - "Silent Night"
  • Hanne Adler's segment is a sobering look into the situation on Earth. Basically, humanity is losing, and until Princess Luna and Discord arrive, on the brink of giving up altogether.

• Chapter Sixteen - "An Angel's Wings"
  • From a villainous perspective; Scootaloo witnesses Twilight, someone her and the Empire look up to, pull a Last Stand just so everyone else can escape.

• Chapter Seventeen - "Thus, Lift Me Up"
  • The whole chapter shows just how much Archmage Twilight has suffered and what made her into the Imperial loyalist that she is. At the climax of the chapter, Luna is forced to let her go before she can fully save her.
  • The fate of Imperial Spike is both this and Nightmare Fuel. Like in the original story he and Imperial Rarity tried to escape Imperial Equestria but failed. Unlike the original story he was severely injured when he was stopped from escaping and Archmage Twilight and Imperial Equestria rebuilt him into a weapon of war. It's flatout stated by Princess Luna's horrified reaction to the sight of him that whatever Imperial Equestria did to rebuilt him crossed many lines and has likely severely traumatized him to the point their is very little of him left. To make matters worse? Rarity didn't escape either and mysteriously was willingly working for Imperial Equestria not long after.

• Chapter Twenty - "Accept The Dawn"
  • Act Two's final chapter ends with a happy tearjerker; Luna, after all she went through in Act Two, learning about how everyone in this world has suffered, is met with a silver lining in the form of a Happily Married Pipsqueak and Dinky. The sight of someone she cared about living a happy life even in the face of an apocalyptic, genocidal war drives Luna to shed Tears of Joy.
    Cadance: "Aunt Luna? Are you alright?"
    Luna: [choking back tears] "I am, Cadance, I'm very much alright..."