To Make Amends: ~Luna V. Celestia~

Chapter One: Of Princesses and Perverts

-- The Sun-Baked Plains --

Ninity is not an astoundingly large number for any army. Ninety stallions could do many things, but it took hundreds to fight wars. Ninety was not the size of the army that Celestia had bid into battle, but Ninety was the size that were left after the first assault of the Lunar warriors.

The battle had been short, brutal, and very bloody. Dozens of casualties from both sides lay strewn across a sun-baked stretch of earth, armors of both Gold and Astrum twisted and indented in symbolism of a soldiers' death for each one. This is what it meant to fight for what you loved, and this was the way to fight for it; Tooth-and-horn.

"STALLLLLIONS!" A voice roared across the ninety sweaty, sore, and starved stallions before it. "ASSEMBLE!"

Only minutes after a brutal battle between Gold and Midnight, one would think the warriors would take a moment to breathe, and recuperate before preparing for the next wave. Normally one would be correct, but these were Celestia's warriors.

These were Spartan Stallions. The very best. Within moments, eighty-nine shining stallions were formed in a four-row semi-circle around him.

"Vivat Solarem Imperii!" The voice of a very burly stallion yelled from atop a jumble of rock and stone, which served as his platform and podium; The Captain, as shown by several red-stripes across his breast-plate.

"Defend the Empire!" He roared once more, straining his neck as high as it could go, and his fellow men did the same beneath the blistering sun.

"For the Honor of Celestia!" They sang in unison, voices filling the hot air between them and the heavens.

"Fight for your lives!" He shouted, waving his head back and forth at the crowd.

"For the lives of our people, for their life means our own!" They responded, synchronization coming perfectly to the network of brothers from repeated practice.

"Know your enemy!" He boomed, yelling this time at the heavens itself, as if to claim superiority over them.

"The Mare of the Night! The Mare of the Night! Fight! Fight! The Mare of the Night!"

"WIN THE BATTLE! NO MERCY TO THE ENEMY!" He roared in finality, rearing back on his hind legs and making a display of courage for his allies.

"Victory at any cost! Celestia save them all!" They all yelled, cheering and raising spears high into the air, stomping their free hooves to shake the ground under their massive weight. They quickly dispersed into several groups to share sharpening stones and hammers, and a select few to be attended to by the lone solar mage mare that now also doubled as their medic. But no matter where they went, the words were the same.

Death to Nightmare Moon.

--Celestia's Throne Room --

Three battle-fronts. Three. For the sake of Faust, those Lunar finatics had a way with tactics, but to split their forces that thin was to commit suicide!

Letting her mane free of its' braid, Celestia began to pace below the dias of her throne (something very seldom done in itself,) to ponder her next move. Her next move was already planned of course, as were the next three after that, but revision was key when it came to Nightmare Moon, as she had a craft for being brilliant in the lesser-noticed ways. Only two days ago she had sent twenty of her pegasi on an air-raid on the castle. It was suicide, she knew, and though none of them even made it to the inner-rings of the city (let alone the castle,) it distraced Celestia's troops just long enough to send a lone earth pony to sneak in the back and burn down half of the nation's food supply, escaping unharmed. Needless to say, Celestia had been furious at the occurance.

'What treachery have you bestowed upon us this time, sister?' She wondered in the safety of her own mind. Approaching the bay window on the far end of the room, she couldn't help but to stare at the boards right before the glass. There were far too many memories in that window...

"Your highness," A voice unexpectedly interrupted, making her jump backwards suddenly. Looking back, she saw it was only Light-hoof, her courier. She had made it explicitly clear to her guards that she wasn't to be allowed company for the next twenty minutes so as to think.

Concealing her agitation, she nodded for him to relay his message.

"Your highness, Nightmare Moon has revealed herself at the Sun-Baked Plains." He said nervously. Celestia looked at him without any trace of emotion for a moment, making  sure she wasn't imagining what she had just heard.

"Nightmare Moon is fighting the Spartans?" She asked, slowly approaching him.

A suddenly sweaty courier stepped aside as she brushed past, stammering "Y-Yes, Princess."

"Thank you." She spoke calmly, opening the doors to her throne room. Once they had parted wide enough for her so pass, she flared her wings, and darted out of the room, and into the hallways. Startling more than a few guards, she expertly weaved through the corridors of wood and stone, until she reached the main foyer. Not bothering to open the giant door further than the sliver it already was, she cork-screwed through it, taking several chips of expertly-crafted Elder-wood with her.

She flared her wings once more, and soared into the sky, and straight for the Sun-Baked Plains, with two thoughts to her. The first, the safety of her subjects. The second, 'I hated that door anyways.'

-- The Battlefield --

"The Beast approaches!" A watchpony yelled to his allies from atop his captain's former podium, which now served as his watch-tower. "The beast herself, and the fury of her army follows!"

There was a moment of disbelief lingering in the crowd for a moment. Every eye stared directly at him, and several jaws were slacked.

Nightmare Moon has finally come?

She's here?!

One stallion closed his eyes, and raised his spear.

"Win the battle." He said, opening his eyes once more. Several looked at him without expression. Raising his spear higher, he spoke louder.

"WIN THE BATTLE." The other soldiers sighed and stood, spears in arms, and looking to each other desperately. They may be the best, but they were still no match for a Goddess, and they all knew it.

In their distraction, they neglected to look up, to see an alicorn rapidly descending upon them. Even the Watchman wasn't looking up at the time, but even if he had, it was too late. She plummetted down, twisting last-second to land on her hooves, and sending a dust-cloud in all directions. None of the soldiers could see, and they all fell back, hiding behind whatever rock they could find.

When the dust settled, an alicorn stood there, with ferocity in her eyes, staring at each and every one of them in turn. That alicorn was Celestia.

"He said," She repeated, an acidic edge in her voice as she walked atop the large pile of rocks besides the stunned watchman. Raising a hoof in the air, she yelled in a magically enhanced voice, "WIN THE BATTLE!"

The stallions, spirits reinspired with the presence of their leader, raised their spears high, yelling in less-than-unison voices, "Victory at any cost!"

"THIS ENDS HERE!" Celestia boomed, tying her hair back behind her head. "THIS ENDS TODAY!"

All of the stallions roared their agreement, raising spears and stomping the earth. Celestia allowed herself a smirk, if nothing more, as she watched her soldiers prepare for their final battle.

'Perhaps I should prepare as well...' She thought. Looking to the horizon, she saw they had minutes before the enemy forces marched in. Concentrating a moment, a golden aura enveloped her horn, and a worn crate appeared before her. Magically prying the top off of it, she found her armor uncereamoniously jumbled about it, covered in hay to keep it from rubbing against itself. It was glossed to a perfect sheen, and the levitated the helmet before herself, staring at her reflection in it.

"I will save you, Sister." She whispered to herself, keeping her eyes and voice as level as she could. "I swear it, I will..."

She closed her eyes, and took off her robes to re-equip for combat. Many eyes turned at the princess without her clothing on, as public nudity was not very common among royalty, but they said nothing.

The watchman backed off of the rock-pile, but not before taking a quick peek at her majesty's haunches, and chuckling quietly to himself for being so sneaky. A golden aura appeared beside him, and curtly slapped him.

"Mind your manners." Celestia spoke softly, without even turning around.