Lanterns of Equestria- The Blackest Night

by Moon Chaser

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, Trixie, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Tragedy, Big Macintosh, Adventure, Crossover, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 179102

Writings for Moon Chaser's parts of the compellation story of The Blackest Night Equestria

With the outcome of the war with The Guardians of the Universe's Third Army in doubt, the Entities of the Emotional Spectrum decide that they wish to continue to live and seed a part of their being in another universe. But the universe demands a balance in kind and the coming of the light again draws in the void and gives the Unlight another chance to end all as the Blackest Night returns again but this time it descends across Equestria!
For the DA writing group MLP The Blackest Night Group
For the story started by BrutalityInc and the art of Cynos-zilla
If possible read the first two chapters of this story as started by BrutalityInc on his DA page and the DA group. Previous chapters will be added by original authors in the Blackest Night Group or by this author with permission as these chapters of the story jumps in where others left off

For the story started by BrutalityInc and the art of Cynos-zilla
For the DA writing group MLP The Blackest Night Group
If possible read the first two chapters of this story as started by BrutalityInc on his DA page and the DA group. Prechapters will be added by original authors in the Blackest Night Group or by this author with permission as these chapters of the story jumps in where others left off

Published 2014-01-14 05:20:06 UTC
Last updated 2016-01-27 03:45:35 UTC

Chapter 1 First Light

LANTERNS OF EQUESTRIA: BLACKEST NIGHT - Chapter 1

(By ~BrutalityInc and ~ardashir)

(Edited by ~BrutalityInc)

CHAPTER ONE: CALM BEFORE THE STORM

In the dark, in the endless night between the stars, something waited.

Far above Equestria, beyond the life-giving warmth of Celestia's sun and the cool light of Luna's moon, lay only a darkness as still and silent as the night before the first dawn. Of all the beings on the blue and green globe below only two had ever gone so far from their homeworld. And when Celestia and Luna satisfied themselves that nothing lived beyond their own beloved world, they ignored it. They believed it empty and devoid of life.

Lifeless, yes; empty, no.

Something that did not live, that had never lived, floated, and searched, and waited with the patience of oblivion itself.

Then, silently, it stopped in its track, as if it found what it was looking for. And quietly, without fuss, it made its way towards the unsuspecting world.

====

( = FAR BELOW... = )

It was cold high up at the cliff sides of Rambling Rock Ridge most nights. The place was barren, lifeless, a wasteland of rock and dust. The only life here are bits of grass in between, weeds struggling to survive on the dirt between cracks of the rock faces.

It was not entirely devoid of everything of value, however. The place is rich with minerals, and from time to time, Rarity Belle of Ponyville would come up here to look for gems and diamonds to include into her fashion designs, while Diamond Dogs living nearby would come to dig up some gems to place in their hoard.

Tonight, however, this place would receive some different visitors.

At the tallest cliff-sides, stands a collection of plaques and statues, ancient tombstones that had been worn and weathered by the ravages of time and nature. And in front of the tallest monument of them all, stood two ponies, one cyan pegasus and a small orange filly.

"Dash, do I gotta do this?" Scootaloo asked her mentor and idol.

Rainbow Dash sighed, ruffling her wings in irritation. "Yeah, Scoots. This is, well..." The cyan pegasus looked from the monument before her to the smaller gravestones all around and then to the small orange filly beside her. "This is just something we pegasi do, ta, y'know," She waved her hoof vaguely in a circle, "Ta remember who an' what we were before we got to be part of Equestria." Dash smiled hopefully down at Scootaloo. The little filly snorted as she turned and looked at the statue before her.

"I don't know why I gotta. Didn't you teach me everything about her when you played Hurry-cane in the Hearth's Warming pageant?"

Dash just shook her head, her multicolored mane spilling over her neck, as she looked at the statue. Dark gray granite for the body, obsidian for mane and tail, Commander Hurricane's memorial rose before the two pegasi. Centuries' worth of graves surrounded it, many of them with inscriptions so old they could no longer be read. Hurricane looked down from the mountaintop and across Equestria, the mare's face combining pride and benevolence.

"Not everything, squirt. Some things we pegasi kinda keep to ourselves about her."

"She was a space alien?!?"

"What? No!" Dash scowled at Scootaloo. "Where'd you get that idea?" The filly shrank back, looking dismayed. Dash sighed and ruffled her mane. "Naw, it's okay. It's just that," she turned her gaze back to Commander Hurricane, "Hurricane was never really all that happy with how things turned out after the Three Tribes came together. Oh, she was glad they got rid of the windigos, yeah," Dash explained to the wide-eyed Scootaloo, "but the other stuff? About how she was happy to stop ruling and raiding the Earth Ponies, and fighting with the Unicorns? How she an' Pansy got the pegasi to start electing our leaders an' stopped the line of the warlords, even though she got killed by some pegasi that wanted ta go back to the bad old days?" She shook her head.

"It didn't happen?" Scootaloo asked, her eyes wide.

"Well, it did, just not the way everypony thought." Dash looked at the statue, looking proud and fierce in its molded armor and crested helmet. "Hurricane thought that she'd keep ruling the military as First Warlord, but after the pegasi settled in Cloudsdale, they decided they'd rather be a democracy than a conquering army. Hurricane, well, she didn't like that..."

"So?" All of Scootaloo's attention was focused on Dash now. The mare puffed her chest up a bit as she went on.

"Hurricane got some other pegasi together, an' they started plundering Earth Pony farms and Unicorn towers. They did it in the dark, so nopony could see who did it,"

Dash swallowed, wondering if Scoots was ready for this, "an' they went and robbed some griffins, once, just to try and get them ta fight with Equestria. The other ponies she'd faced the windigos with found out. They smoothed things over with the griffins an' told Hurricane that if she couldn't live there in peace she hadda go. So Hurricane came here an' said she'd wait until the pegasi came back ta her and they could rule Equestria. They all stayed with Pansy. She died all alone years later. Some pegasi visited her now an' then, but none of them ever stayed. She's supposed ta have said that she wished she'd never found Equestria, that everypony shoulda froze to death rather than come here an' forget what they really were. Finally she died, an'," Dash shrugged, "We made this statue over her."

"We did? She's BURIED here?"

"Squirt, you're standin' on her!" Dash grinned as Scoots jumped and hurried back off of the marble slab she'd been standing on. The blue pegasus said, "Anyway, Pansy said he wanted everypony ta remember who Hurricane used ta be, not what she became at the end. An' then –"

Something caught her attention. "What the hay?!"

Both pegasi looked upwards as something boomed through the sky overhead. Dash saw colored streaks flying through the sky, all the colors of the rainbow. For some reason she felt her eyes drawn to the crimson one. It looked like a ball of fiery blood flying through the air. An instant long something burned inside her before the crimson ball vanished over the horizon.

"What was that?"

"I dunno," Dash said, ruffling her wings up. She let Scootaloo climb on her back and flew off down the lonely mountain. "But I'm gonna get the others together an' find out!"

Atop the mountain then, silence and emptiness for a moment. And then something dropped from the sky towards the monument and the marble slab covering all that remained of a dead and fallen heroine. Something glittered like obsidian ice as it hovered.

[ = Flesh. = ]

[ = Yes. This one. She will be Our Champion. She will bring the Peace of Oblivion to this world. = ]

It dropped lower, going through the marble slab as though it were mere water. Down, down, until it reached a pile of bones and armor and feathers. A voice that echoed from the hollow emptiness between the stars began to speak.

[ = The Blackest Night falls from the skies... = ]

Twilight Sparkle looked up into the sky as the fireballs passed over head. She wondered at the sudden unexpected and irrational fear she felt at the sight. Spike stood beside her. He pressed close, not wanting to lose her or anything else he valued.

Far off in the Everfree, in the lost village of Sunny Town, its undead inhabitants looked upwards for an instant. Then they returned to forcing the sobbing and pleading Ruby into the fire. Again.

[ = The Darkness grows as all hope dies... = ]

"Ooh, pretty!" Pinkie Pie said as she looked up in delight at a lovely ball of blue light flying overhead, as though searching. Part of her wished she could reach up and bounce it on her nose.

And at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack looked skywards without fear and wondered what was happening now. Her big brother stood beside her, as stolid as ever. Applebloom watched the fireballs too. One looked like it was coming down in the Everfree; maybe she could find it and get a meteor-finding cutie mark? She looked at her blank flank and frowned. She was OWED one after all this time!

[ = We are your death and your demise... = ]

Rarity froze as she felt something thunder by overhead. Sweetie Belle whimpered; she never liked thunder. The filly who'd been asking, more like ordering her, to make her loveliest dress for her mother froze up too. Rarity instinctively went to stand close by both Diamond Tiara and her little sister, her presence comforting them.

Fluttershy awoke with an eep as the sickly cockatrice she'd been caring for dashed under the covers to hide. Lovingly, she gathered it in, singing softly to calm the frightened monster. It gave her its petrifying glare for a second before it settled down, cuddling against her.

[ = By my black hoof, THE DEAD SHALL RISE! = ]

The marble slab exploded as something forced its way up and out. A whinny like a scream shattered the air as bones set themselves together, armor reformed with a new symbol. A black ring set itself around one forehoof, downloading more than a thousand years of history into the mind within that rotted equine skull.

[ = Commander Hurricane of Pegasopolis... RISE. = ]

"What... what happened to Pegasopolis? Why are my people no longer warriors?" The thing that stood there hung its head low, shaking it in disbelief at what it saw. "Why are two horn-headed, part dirt pony freaks lording it over my people? This is not what I fought for! Did the pegasus tribe die when I did?"

"NO!" she roared skyward, her voice like that of a legion, "RISE, MY PEOPLE, RISE!"

Hurricane lowered her head and retched up black slime that swiftly reformed into dozens, and then hundreds of black rings.

"Go." she hissed. "Restore the true pegasi." As the rings began burrowing their way into the dozens of graves all around her, Hurricane looked down on Equestria below her. She felt like she ought to hate it, but all she felt was a cold hunger.

"Platinum," she said. "Puddinghead. Pansy," something twinged inside, like the memory of an old pain, "Those other two foals. Is this the world you wanted? We were wrong. We should have let the windigos take us. That would have been true peace, a death with honor rather than life without. Better death for everything than living to see all that made us us abandoned by our cowardly and undeserving descendants. I see it so clearly now."

"And now," she felt a vast number of chill presences nearby as more undead pegasi joined her, all of them showing the symbol on her armor in place of their cutie marks. "And now," she repeated, spreading her wings, "I can finally do what I should have done then. I will bring the final peace to all Equestria." She flew up into the sky, her army following her in flawless loyalty.

"And when the last of our worthless children finally joins me, my Blackest Night will shroud them all forever."

====

( = THE NEXT DAY = )

This was just another normal day in Ponyville.

It was noon, and Celestia's Sun hung high against a clear sapphire sky. Without a trace of clouds from one end of the horizon to the other and the cover it provides, the Sun's blinding glare makes it hard for ponies to see with their eyes fully open, its warmth could be felt in every corner of the quiet farming town, flaking the white walls of the town buildings, casting ink-black shadows of ponies and country houses on the ground. The heat hung in the air, bearing down upon the land like oven, leaving ponies to wonder if Equestria had suddenly become one big sauna.

All in all, the day was becoming quite uncomfortably hot. Most of the town's residents had taken shelter indoors to escape the Sun as soon as the opportunity presents itself, except for a few ponies.

Three of them could be found on the edge of Ponyville, on a cliff-side amidst the rolling hills and fields of emerald grass, near the farm residence of Sweet Apple Acres.

For those three ponies, today was just another perfect day at doing what they do best.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS AVIATORS!!!"

Finding their talents and getting their cutie marks.

Applebloom wanted to find the meteors she saw last night, but today she had something else to do with her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders. Scootaloo had came up with their latest scheme to earn cutie marks, and insisted they try to work it out before they do anything else today.

It took Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle over a week before to design and assemble the contraption, but it was done – laying before them on a makeshift ramp was their glider-aircraft. It stretched a dozen meters from one end to another, and had the overall appearance of a bird, its wings unfolded to its fullest span. Upon its structure, bits of garbage, old newspapers and straw poked out between the cracks of the polythene film that covers its surface. Suspended between the two wings was a basket big enough for three fillies. A tail pole extend to the rear to tail fins made of cardboard.

Given its shape and appearance, the glider might stand well on its own as its own abstract, modern art, were the Cutie Mark Crusaders not intend to actually fly it.

"So, whaddaya think?" Applebloom asked her two friends behind her, Cutie Mark Crusader capes adorned upon their backs, "Does it look great?"

"Not really as good as I imagine it would be..." Sweetie Belle reflected as she gazed upon the finished product in their latest scheme, "It could have looked better."

"Who cares about that?" Scootaloo brushed it off, "As long as it could fly straight I couldn't care less."

The three of them paused for a moment to regard their masterpiece.

"So, what do you thing we should we call ourselves after we get our cutie marks? I got a few ideas already."

"The Three Pigeons?" Sweetie Belle suggested.

"Nah, that's silly." Scootaloo shook her head in disagreement, "How about the Flying Trio?

"We'r could always jus' figure it ou' lateh." Reassured Applebloom "First thing we ought' ta do before launch is ta give da gal a name!"

"A name?"

"Yeah... I mean, it jus' sound... wrong if dat thin' don't have a name, would it? I mean, it certainly deserves one if it's gonna git us our Cutie Marks."

"How about... the Albatross?" Scootaloo suggested.

"What's an Albatross?" Applebloom asked.

"Albatross is a bird that lives by the beaches, and got the biggest wings of all other birds in the world." Scootaloo explained, slightly baffled by Applebloom's ignorance, "What? You never heard about the albatross before?"

"We don't live near the coast," Sweetie Belle responded, "and we are not exactly the best when it comes to paying attention in class."

Scootaloo resisted the urge to groan.

"... Albatross, huh?" Applebloom paused to contemplate the name, "I like it! Albatross it is! I bet it's gonna fly as good as one!"

"Well it BETTER fly! I'm tired of being stuck on the ground as it is. It is high-time I get into the air!" Scootaloo insisted. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle couldn't help but notice the look of determination on Scootaloo's face.

Unknown to them, the glider meant more to Scootaloo than just getting their cutie marks.

Scootaloo had always wanted to fly, and at her age, she should have been able to. But she couldn't – she was a late bloomer. Whereas her idol pulled off a Sonic Rainboom at roughly her age, she herself could barely get off the ground, and it was all because her wings were simply too small.

It frustrated her to no end as her body had made her a prisoner on the ground, unable to join the other pegasi fillies in the air. The taunting of the other mean pegasi children were bad enough, and the stories of the 'Rainbow Factory' used to scare pegasi fillies to work harder on flight didn't help either.

The straw that finally broke the camel's back was when Diamond Tiara taunt her about it in class last week, right after another pegasi filly in school finally got off the ground, leaving her the only pegasi in class to yet to take flight.

The glider is her chance to finally be able to get her place in the sun. She wants to be absolutely sure that it would not end up like their other hare-brained schemes. One way or another, she's going to fly.

"And it WILL fly!" Applebloom declared, looking confident. In her heart, she actually wasn't really sure. But that's all there is to it. She turned to face her friends, "Cutie Mark Crusaders! Put on yer helmets and git ready fer launch!"

The unicorn and pegasi filly gave each other a look of uncertainty. Then, Scootaloo picked the red hoof-ball helmets they brought along and placed it over her head, followed by Sweetie Belle.

Together as one they mount upon the basket that they had jerry-rigged into a cockpit. Applebloom took a moment to look at the controls: A series of wires run along the length of the wings around the edges, connected to wheels and pulleys, and at the center of this web of wires is a crude steering mechanism that was one part baseball bat and other parts kitchen ware.

The three fillies looked down upon the ramp, pass the cliff-side, and see the entirety of Sweet Apple Acres and Ponyville stretched out before them. Sweetie Belle gulped at the sight.

"Alrighty then, let's do a lil' final check!" Applebloom ordered, "Wings!"

Scootaloo took a quick scan at the wings, looking for structural breaks in its crude, piled-together and badly taped frame, "Looks good!"

"Steerin' wires!" Applebloom called out.

"Holding!" Sweetie Belle confirmed, strumming the strings a bit.

"Wheels!" Applebloom call out ones more.

Scootaloo peaked underneath the glider to see the wheels, which they scavenged from a rusty old Manehatten shopping cart, "Check!" She replied, "So are we going or what?"

"We're goin' alright!" Applebloom snapped, her expression changed to that of a determined look, "Sweetie Belle, when Ah count ta three, kick it off!"

Sweetie Belle grabbed the strings connected to the wooden blocks that are blocking the wheels, holding the glider from sliding off the ramp too early. Sweetie Belle gave a nod.

"On mah mark..."

Scootaloo began to sweat, both from excitement, the summer heat and uncertain worry.

"One..."

Sweetie Belle gulped again and held onto the side of the basket with her other front-hoof.

"Two..."

Applebloom licked her lips, gripped her controls tightly, and stared down the ramp in front of her as if she was staring down the two bullies at school.

Time seems to slow down for the three of them.

"THREE! Launch!"

Sweetie Belle pulled as hard as she could, and the blocks slid off.

And so did the glider.

It accelerated down the ramp, going faster and faster as the wheels creaked and turn underneath the contraption and the glider reaching full speed. The crusaders felt the wind searing at their faces, their manes and tails fluttering backwards, their own tears and drool streaming behind them, their stomachs churn like when they were in a roller coaster, and the g-force pressing their bodies to the back of the cockpit.

They held on for dear life as the glider reaches the end of the ramp, goes off the cliff, and flies off into the wild-blue yonder.

====

Applejack wiped beads of sweat off her forehead as she watched another tree's worth of apples fall into waiting buckets. She's proud of her own stamina and strength, but under overwhelming heat of the noon day sun, even the ever durable and dependable earthpony was finding it hard to press on (She's going to have a few harsh words with the weather department later, that's for sure).

Right now she was thinking about the fireballs that streaked through the skies the previous night. The others saw it too, it seemed, from where they were (except for Fluttershy, who was tending a cockatrice that was scared out of its wits).

Shooting stars are always a spectacular sight, and in any other night she would had admired them, but not this time - while she did not feel fear, she instead felt an omnious feeling that something big is about to happen, and that it was related to those shooting stars. Call it a hunch, call it intuition, call it experience from having to deal with this kind of thing many times in her many adventures with the other Mane Six, but it was a feeling she can't shake off.

For one thing, seven shooting stars the colours of the rainbow descending from Princess Luna's night sky like gemstones can't possibly be natural.

"Meteors usually burn up brightly in the atmosphere in the colours of gold-red or white, depending on their composition. And they never burn up in colours of green, blue or violet," AJ remembered Twilight explaining, flipping through an astronomy book, when the other girls met up at the library.

"Well if they weren't natural, then what're they? Have any ideas sugarcube?" AJ asked her then. She already have ideas, probably the typical villain of the year they face now and then.

"There are a lot of supernatural phenomena relating the night sky. The Zebras believed the stars are evil monsters out to get them and destroy the world, and that meteors are one of the ways they use to corrupt creatures on this world to disharmony and evil. Just ask Zecora, if you're into that sort of superstition." Oh there goes Twilight again, AJ thought, rolling her eyes.

"Could it be aliens? I would LOVE to start a 'Welcome to Equestria' party for them!" Pinkie Pie bounced with glee at the thought.

"And if they ain't friendly do I get to buck them in the face?" Rainbow Dash mused.

"Look, I don't know as of now, but it got the Princesses worried. Princess Luna had told me in a letter she didn't cause the meteor shower. They're already investigating it, so am I, so I figure we'll have to wait and see."

There was nothing else they could do, so for now she let it slip back to the back of her head. AJ got other problems to worry about. When she got back to the farm, Big Mac told her that a swarm of parasprite suddenly appeared out of the Everfree forest and nearly ate through their new barn. It didn't made sense, given that they already had a once in a century parasprite attack.

And just to add fuel to the fires of mystery, a whole horde of critters, from small animals to timberwolves, manticores, stormed out of the forests, scurried through the fields, AWAY from the woods. Fear was evident and clear in their expressions and panicked cries.

Something had spooked them, it seemed, and that had AJ worried. Just what could spook the creatures that lived in the forests of death itself?

She spent the morning cleaning up the mess, and only now did she manage to get back on track, harvesting the apples. Well, whatever it is, it couldn't come at a worse time. Just when the barn was getting fixed, it looked like it was about to collapse again, and with the family saving up as much money as possible to pay off their latest debts it would have to stay that way. Which ultimately means, of course, that they had more work to do.

AJ sighed. Despite her pride, sometimes she just wished she could have some of the fancy magic Twilight and Rarity could do. It would certainly help her a lot...

The sound of a mighty crash knocked her out of her train of thought. Eyes wide with surprise, she turned left and right to locate the source of the commotion.

"Wha' in tarnation?!" AJ gasped when she look towards the barn, to find something had crashed upon it.

Without a second thought she dropped her baskets of apples and galloped at full speed towards it.

====

Applebloom was dazed, and everything she saw was spinning around her.

A minute ago they were still airborne, the wings of their aircraft actually holding despite its crude design, keeping them aloft in the air as it glided. She could remember the breeze brushing on their faces, the smell of clean air from high in the sky, the wobble in the cockpit as they flew, and best of all, the sheer joy and excitement they all felt in their apparent moment of triumph.

It lasted for ten seconds.

What happened next was a blur – she remembered feeling a mighty gust of wind sweeping them from their left, and her struggling to bank left and keep them from spinning out of control. She remember screaming, from either Scoots or Sweetie, warning her as the strings break and bits of the wing twist and fell off.

The whole thing shook, spun, and then came crashing down.

She shook her daze off, and she looked around her. She's still in the cockpit, as were her friends, having been fortunate enough to not fall out of the basket during the dive. That would had been disastrous.

"Gals! Y'all alright?" Applebloom asked.

"I'm fine!" "Yeah..." were the responses.

She took a moment to examine herself and her friends. Their capes were torn, the helmets dented, but otherwise they appeared to have survived without a scratch on their bodies. That could be said less of their ride – what's left of the wings were torn film and pieces of garbage skewered upon bent and broken wooden frames. The bottom of the basket cockpit had crumpled where it landed on hard surface. As far as things considered, it was effectively destroyed.

And to make things worse, Applebloom discovered, it wasn't the only thing that's broken – they had smashed right onto the roof of her family's barn, the wooden planks crumbling where they landed. And that's not counting the fact that the whole thing was already busted as it had because of the parasprites.

She was certain she would get grounded for this.

And despite it all...

"We still couldn't fly or get our cutie marks!!" Scootaloo shouted in frustration when she noticed their flanks remained as they had been - blank.

"Scootaloo, we just crashed on the roof of Applebloom's sister's barn, and the only thing you care about right now is whether or not we get our cutie marks out of this?!" Sweetie Belle suddenly snapped at her, eyes narrowing and face in a scowl.

Scootaloo recoiled a bit at Sweetie Belle's admonishment, and Applebloom just stared in confusion as she took off her helmet. Sweetie Belle had never complained when their schemes ended disastrously (which is most of the time). To hear it from her like this shocked the orange pegasi filly.

"I... that's not what I mean! I was just..." Scootaloo tries excuse herself, but was interrupted by a familiar voice below.

"APPLEBLOOM!" Applejack called to her sister at the side of the barn, voice with both concern and admonishment, "Whaddaya do this time around?!"

"Em... Ah...It was an accident!" Applebloom shouted down from where they were on the roof, "We jus' lost control of our glider and it just crashed on the barn roof! We didn't mean ta! Ah just don't know wha' wen' 'rong!"

Augh, AJ thought, rolling her eyes in disgust. She was getting REALLY tired of their antics, and on their own barn's roof no less! "Applebloom!" AJ admonished her, "Yer can't jus' go fly around gliders and expectin' ta git yer cutie marks bah crashin' it on houses! It ain't safe! And don't you know how long we tried ta fix this roof?!"

"Ah'm sorry!" Applebloom apologized again. Sweetie Belle was glaring at Applebloom behind her.

"Jus' stay still! Ah'm comin' up ta git y'all" AJ called in annoyance. She's going to give Applebloom such a talking to.

AJ looked back to see where her brother Big Mac was, "Now I wonder where did that big red stallion put teh ladder...?"

Suddenly, she heard a creaking sound, followed by a groan, coming from the woodworks. She looked up at the shattered roof.

"Eh, Ms Applejack, I think the roof is..."

Whatever Sweetie Belle was going to say was interrupted when the twisted woods and beams that were supporting the ruined glider, already weakened by the parasprite attack, finally gave way with cacophonous cracks, The planks fell, the support beams toppled, and Applejack watched with horror as the glider slid through the gaping hole on the roof and fell.

"APPLEBLOOM!" Applejack called out in fear and panic.

The Crusaders screamed as one, and just barely managed to leap out of the makeshift cockpit before it came loose and tumble towards the ground. What's left of the glider was shattered into a thousand pieces upon impact.

Applebloom hung on for dear life on a broken plank on the roof with two her two forehooves, with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle hanging onto her by hind hoof and waist, kicking in the air as they struggled to just hold on.

"'Bloom! Sweetie! Scoot! Hold on! Ah'ma comin' for y'all!" AJ called out to them as she circled around the building and ran into the barn through the doors.

AJ could see the three hanging over the pile of rubble that was the roof and the glider. If they fell, there was hardly any doubt their chance of survival. Besides the Crusaders, the support beam is cracking and bending, causing the plank they were holding on to twist further and weakening Applebloom's grip.

"Big sis! Ah'm sorry fer everything! HELP ME!" Applebloom cry out in fear. Never had she felt fear of death more since that terrifying adventure at Sunnytown.

"I don't know if I can hang on much longer!" Sweetie Belle added. Now more than ever does she regret agreeing to the scheme.

Scootaloo looked at the ground, and for a moment it was almost like it was coming towards her. More than ever did she thought the ground as her enemy and regarded it with both fear and frustration – if only her wings weren't so small, she would had flown out of here, or even better, didn't even need to suggest this scheme to begin with. And now it looks like it'll get them all killed; it both angered and terrified her.

Applejack knew she couldn't hold up the supports herself even with all her strength; that was Big Mac's territory. If only she was STRONGER! She saw a path to the crusaders through the twisted, mangled rubble of wood. The distance to cross was daunting, however. If only she could FLY! But alas, she couldn't. She doesn't care. Her sister and her friends would fall to their deaths if she don't save them now!

She made her way up a beam. Her heart was pounding her chest. Her guts twists and eyes opened wide with worry as she looked at the ground below her. She doesn't care. She must get to them no matter what!

The woodwork creaked and shook slightly as more of the rubble collapse upon themselves. AJ held on for dear life. She cringed, sweat was starting to form. But then she saw that Applebloom was slipping. She was down to one hoof. The Crusaders cry out in panic. AJ squashed her fears and pressed on. She was almost there!

Applebloom shouted out to her sister as her muscles strained to handle the weight of two fillies on her. Inch after inch of her hoof gave way as the plank looked it was about to break.

The only thing in between Applejack and Crusaders was a wide gap three meters wide. She could easily jumped it if it had been on the ground. Cornsarnit! If only she brought a rope or anything!

"APPLEJACK!!!" Applebloom call out as the wood she held onto finally gave way, and she slipped.

Applejack watched with horror as the three crusaders fell, screaming the top of their lungs.

"APPLEBLOOM!"

She loved her little sister, and that love, and her determination to protect her from all harm, regardless of all costs, allowed her to overcome all the remaining fears she had in her heart, and find the courage jump off where she was at and catch the crusaders. AJ leaped towards them.

If she could take the fall for them, they just might survive. She didn't care if she would die in the process.

She is not afraid of death, she is not afraid of ANYTHING, as long as her ones she love are safe.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and Applejack could see her life flashing in front of her eyes.

( = Suitable candidate located = )

Big Mac was on the other side of the farm when it happened, and only he saw what happened next, just as he was galloping towards the barn, having heard the commotion. He watched as a blazing comet appear suddenly over the horizons, before diving downwards, right through the roof of the barn like a mortar shell. The whole place lit up with a blinding green glow.

"Wha' teh hay?!" that's all Big Mac could exclaim.

The mysterious green glow enveloped the whole inside of the barn, covering everything in emerald light. Applejack couldn't see, but she felt something slipped upon her right hoof as she fell towards the crusaders. She felt power coursing through her! Electrifying her! Just what in Celestia's name is going on?!

( = Abigail Jacqueline V of Equestria = )

( = You had the ability to overcome great fear = )

( = Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps = )

The Yellow & The Black

The Yellow & The Black

By Moon Chaser (DA CrazyMikePrime)

Ponyville, Golden Oak Library, 11:30 A.M. Three days after the appearance of the green ring and the day after the charging of the ring by the lantern battery.

“Ugh! Nothing….nothing at all,” Twilight Sparkle growled. Ten great tomes floated in the air, their pages fluttering furiously back and forth as the unicorn searched for something, anything that would give a clue where Applejack’s amazing new ring had come from.

A few books landed closed on the library table as Twilight brought another closer. Reading glasses, which had been resting on top of her head now swung down into place. The tip of her tongue timidly poked itself out as she read.

“Yes…maybe. Spike? Do we have Principals of Magical Energy,” Twilight asked.

The small dragon pushed off from the shelf frame with his right leg. The book ladder he rode rushed to the other end of the wall of shelves. Spike then began to dig at the volumes pulling books out that had unmarked spines to check the titles.

“Let’s see…Mystical Energy Accumulation…” he started

“I want that one too,” Twilight interrupted.  A purple glow enveloped the book as her magic levitated it to the table of her current research project. “Any luck with the other book?”

Spike blew on a book, a cloud of dust surrounded him and for a moment he disappeared. The small dragon coughed for a moment as he waved his free talon in front of him to clear the dust cloud. He then read the cover.

“Yep,” he held the tome over his head as he slid down the ladder with his legs and free claw, “got it right here.” He placed the book in front of Twilight on a stand. Pages fluttered as she opened the book to the section indicated in the contents. Twilight read quickly for a moment then growled.

“Nothing here either! Gah! Whatever that ring Applejack has now is…there’s no listing of it anywhere! It’s like it appeared out of nowhere, “a hoof thumped the ground in frustration. “There is nothing here in the library about it.”

Twilight Sparkle lifted the corners of her mouth in a smile while she half closed her eyes, the sly expression frozen for as moment. Spike saw the look and sighed.

“So we are going to Canterlot then,” Spike asked as he stacked some of the discarded books on a small table.

“Yes. The archives in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing may have what I’m looking for.” Twilight walked to the front door and levitated her saddle bags onto her back. “We should get started for the trip right now.”

Spike placed the book from the small table back into the book shelves. “Wait, we…we’re going now? You want me to go too?”

Twilight smiled,” Come on Spike, we both need to get out a little, and no not right now, first we have to go to Sweet Apple Acres and ask Applejack to accompany us so we can have the ring seen by the Arcane Academy if they will grant an audience about it.” She levitated a folded paper from her saddle bags and looked at the time tables printed on it. “There is a train to the capitol leaving later tonight…”

Another book returned to its home by Spikes claws. “I would like to get away to Canterlot for a little bit; go to Pony Joe’s and hang out. Hey! How about you let Applejack use that ring to fly us there?” The small dragons face made a half smirk. Twilight shook her head, rolled her eyes and scrunched her muzzle.

“Let’s not borrow trouble Spike. We don’t know anything about the ring, how long its power would last, what its parameters are,” she shook her head. “No, let’s just go by train.”

Spike thumped on his belly, “going to the apple farm is not my first destination of choice though.”

“Ok…so what would be your first choice?”

Spike smiled, “Well….I heard that the Café just got some new things on the menu like a sapphire and garnet slaw medley…” A forked tongue worked its way around his lips as he made a slurping sound.

‘Ah…food,’ thought the librarian as she laughed inside. ‘You are always hungry.’

“Well then Spike,” she lifted her head up and placed a hoof on the front of her body in a faux pose of gentility,” shall have lunch at the café?”

“Great, “he dropped the book in his claws back onto the small table with a thump. “You’re buying.”

“All right…but first we go to get Applejack and invite her to lunch with us…to discuss going to Canterlot this evening. It’s only fair.”

A gurgling sound came out of Spike’s tummy. “Sigh…ok.”

***

“BURRRP!” Applejack sounded as she finished her lunch. The farmer put a hoof up to her muzzle, “ Oh mah…pardon.”

“No…let it out! BURRP!”  Spike belched trying to sound as loud as Applejack.

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes wide. “Spike!”

The dragon raised his claws up, palms out in front of him, “Hey…I hear in Neighpon it’s a compliment to the chef to do that!”

“Is that ah fact?” Applejack said as she leaned back. “Sounds mighty interestin’…an’ practical.”

The unicorn put a hoof over her face. “Can we…can we move on to talking about the ring please?”

“Sure whatcha want ta do Twilight?” the farmer wiped her mouth with a napkin on the back of her hoof.

“Ok. I haven’t found anything here in the library about that ring...or about a ‘green lantern corps’.” The unicorn now smiled wide, her teeth shining in the sunlight. “So…I’d like to have you go with us to Canterlot, so we can look in the archives and maybe…see the Arcane Academy and let them look at the ring.”

“Uh-huh,” Applejack nodded. “So ya want me ta go to Canterlot with ya an’ let a bunch of high falutin’ ponies poke at me and my new jewelry while you look at books older than the town?”

“Um…yes?” Twilight’s eyes gleamed as her smile became broader, her eyes darting between the ring and Applejacks eyes.

“Well, Ah could use the break from Rainbow pesterin’ me about it. She seems ta show up every ten minutes or so askin’ me about the dang thing, or asking me ta fly with her.” The farm pony took a sip of her mint tea. “Ah think she’s a tad jealous about it too.”

“I think she’s just excited about you being able to fly because of that ring.” Twilight said as she wiped at her face with a napkin. “She might be a little jealous, but only a little. You did provide quite a show last night when you ‘charged’ the ring with that ‘lantern’. “

“Yeah, suppose Ah did.” Applejack rubbed her fore head with the hoof her ring rode over, “Ah, why not. Ah got questions mahself, all those images Ah saw when Ah…charged it last night. Ok Twi…Ah’ll go.”

“Great! There’s another train leaving tonight after dark. We can stay either with my parents or with my Brother and Cadence!” Twilight was suppressing a squee to the best of her ability. “Cadence might even have some ideas about it.”

‘I’m becoming an exhibit aren’t I,’ Applejack said to herself in her head. “Look Twi, Ah think that..”

“We can see Princess Celestia too…maybe she’s seen a ring like this before…”

“…and…we’re off,” Spike said to the farm mare softly. The earth pony raised a single eyebrow while looking at the diminutive dragon. Spike simply shrugged.

“Twi?” Applejack said trying to get her friends attention.

“But if she hasn’t seen one like this before, where did it come from,” Twilight went on.

“Twi,” again she tried to interrupt her scholar friend.

“If Princess Celestia hasn’t seen a ring like yours before, maybe Princess Luna has…on The Moon…”

“Twilight…” the farm mare tried again to break in to the stream of thinking.

“If the Princesses don’t know the Magictrix of the Academy must have at least heard of something…”

“Twilight…” Applejack tried to get her attention.

“I mean after all such an amazing item just doesn’t appear out of nowhere, somepony had to make it…”

“Twilight…”

“And that lantern shaped…what did you all it? Oh yes, battery. How does that work. What kind of relationship does it have with the ring? How is the green light made? Is it grown? Is it gathered? Does it…”

“TWILIGHT!” Applejack barked. The unicorn stopped talking and looked at her friend. “Ah said Ah’d go ta Canterlot with ya..just keep it ah little more low key ok sugercube?”

Twilight Sparkle blushed. “Oh…sorry.”

“Look, Ah gotta finish chores at home. When is that train for Canterlot supposed ta leave?”

Twilight retrieved a train schedule with her magic, the time table unfolding as it landed on the table top. “11 P.M. Is that too late?”

Applejack threw back a last glass of water. “Nah, it should be fine, ah need the time to square away a few things anyhow.” She stared at the green ring above her hoof for a moment. “I could fly us there…if’n ya want to.”

The unicorn shook her head. “I would like to make sure of some more things before we use it too much. Let’s just use the train for now.”

“If ya say so.” Applejack stretched, arching her back. “Whelp…I gotta git back to the farm. See y’all at the train station tonight.”

“You know Twilight, always cautious with new things,” Spike said as he ate one last piece of jemstone.

“Under the circumstances Spike…Ah’d say that was wise,” the green ring glowed a little as Applejack held it up, the light glittered in Spikes eyes. “Wouldn’t you?”

***

Ponyville Train Station, 10:00 P.M.

The Moon had risen above the surrounding mountains as two lone figures waited for the last train to Canterlot.  Crickets were chirping quietly through the trees as the stars twinkled above.

Spike yawned as he sat on the platform floor, leaning against Twilight’s luggage. “Why are we here so early Twilight?”

“Hum,” the unicorn’s muzzle was planted into the book hovering before her. She had placed herself directly under a light, affording for herself the best possible illumination to read by without using her magic.

“I mean, I understand you want to make the train but an hour early,” the dragon grumbled.

“Um-hum,” Twilight sounded, the book still obscuring her face.

“Gah! Twilight!”

“Huh? What?” Twilight looked at her assistant; the dragon had his forelimbs crossed over his chest, one hind leg tapping the ground rhythmically. “I’m sorry Spike what did you say?”

The small dragon rolled his eyes, “Never mind. Which book are you reading anyway?”

“This book is about the effects of magic on non magic wielding creatures. There have been times in the past where an earth pony could use magic like I do, after drinking alchemical potions for example.” She turned the open face of the book toward Spike. “When that happens…the effects on a user can be harmful, both physically and mentally.”

“Ok,” Spike rubbed his head with a claw, “but you said yourself…that ring may not be magic itself, or if it is…it’s a magic you have never seen before.”

Twilight shrugged. “All the more reason to study how power like that could affect somepony not used to having that power. According to this, using magic can be addictive to a ‘non magic’ user.”

Spike opened his mouth to say something when Twilight’s ears pricked up. She put the book on the ground she looked out over the train tracks and into the bushes that marked the boundary of the darkness beyond the station. “Did you hear that?”

The dragon cocked his head to one side, listening to the night around them. He closed his eyes concentrating on trying to hear what might have grabbed Twilight attention. The crickets and slight rustling of leaves was the only thing he heard.

“I didn’t hear anything…” he started to say when the sound of crunching leaves and twigs came from the darkness Twilight was trying to pierce. Spike looked up at Twilight, his eyes wide. “Ok, I heard that.”

Twilight’s horn then began to glow, soft purple light coming out. The beam of light landed on the brush on the other side of the rails, sweeping back and forth.  Leaves appeared to be pushed out by something within the vegetation only to disappear when Twilight’s illumination fell on the spot. Again a spot of something poking out of the bushes that pulled back into the darkness when the horn light shown it.

“This is creepy,” Spike whispered.

“Hello,” Twilight called out. “Applejack is that you?” There was movement from the brush. Something poked out at the far left. Twilight placed the light onto the area of movement. Dark and sad eyes of a filly glittered back at her.  Twilight rose from sitting and walked to the edge of the platform.

“Hello,” she called out again. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. Don’t be afraid.”

She could see the face of the strange pony better now. It belonged to an adolescent mare. She was grey in color with a dark mane. Her skin was tight, details of tendons and bone lines clearly seen like she was desiccated. She was unkempt, mats and knots ran all through the mane and her coat was ashen and blotchy. The rest of her body was obscured by the bushes, though Twilight could see the hint of some kind of dark garment at her neck line.

“Oh my.” Twilight gasped. The stranger looked so pitiful and haggard, almost dead. “Do you need some help?”

“Help…” a shaky weak voice came from the pony’s mouth. “Help….”

Twilight walked to the stairs at the end of the platform and walked down. As she got closer the stranger’s head pulled into the brush more. Twilight spoke softly as she moved closer. “It’s ok…I won’t harm you. I’ll help you…”

Spike had moved forward the end of the rail platform, trying to see the strange pony himself. He felt a bit uneasy about Twilight moving away and into the encroaching darkness. “Twilight I think you should stay here. Let’s get a constable to help her.”

The unicorn stopped walking after she had finished crossing over the rails and looked over her shoulder. “Why don’t you go out front and try and get a hold of him while I try and help the poor thing. Applejack should be here soon too so don’t go too far.”

“I don’t like this, it doesn't feel right.” He looked at the obscured stranger with a frown.

“Look, if it gets bad I’ll teleport out.” She then turned and stepped closer to the stranger hiding in the bushes. Twilight got within a meter of her when she completely withdrew from sight, disappearing into the darkness. The unicorn stopped, shining her horn light around looking for the puzzling pony. Her soft voice came to Twilight ears again.

“No…hurt…us?”

“No…I won’t hurt you. I’m here to help you.” The unicorn’s eyes half closed as she thought of something to say. “You said us. Are there more than just you? Do they need help too?”

“…yes...” the answer came after a minute of stillness.

“Spike,” Twilight called out. ”There is more than one pony here and they need help. I’m going to follow her and do what I can. Find the constable and tell them that we may need an ambulance.” Her ears turned behind her listening for his response. She heard a distant, “Ok Twilight,” in his voice from the train station. The dark eyes appeared, gleaming points in the void telling Twilight where the mare was.

“Come…” she said softly. The sound of hoof steps on the ground and of bent branches returning to their natural place told Twilight the mare was walking ahead. She could see the movement and followed the pony using her light to make her way. The soft ‘thump thump’ of the hoof steps seemed to be getting further ahead of her. Twilight picked up her pace, trying to close the distance.

“Uh…slow down please,” she stumbled as she walked, the ground was uneven from roots and soft patches in the ground.

She came out of the brush into a small clearing, with some figures in the middle of the grass floor. The branches of the trees’ branches grew together in a weave, forming a dome. Starlight twinkled through a small gap in branches near the apex of the clearing’s branch roof. Twilight increased her light, filling the hollows and crags of the area with the soft purple light of her magic. She saw two ponies in the center of the clearing. The one standing over the other was the pitiful creature Twilight followed to this spot. The pony on the ground was still to the point of death like.

It was a stallion, also emaciated like the mare that brought Twilight here, the skin stretched over an almost skeletal body from the looks of his muzzle and neck. He too was clad in a black garment like the mare. Twilight could now see the clothes had white cuffs and collars on them with a white triangle shaped decoration under the collar. The stallion suddenly raised his head to look at her.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to help you,” she smiled softly as she spoke. “Let me get a better look at you.”

[= Compassion =] [= Love =]

Twilight knelt down to look at the stallion on the ground, her horn glow allowing her to see him better. His coat was ashen, almost like it was dead. The odor coming off of him was putrid, pungent. It took great effort for Twilight to keep from gagging. ‘What happened to this poor pony,’ she thought. That he was still able to move was a miracle. She could now see his face more clearly; cracked lips pulled away from ruined teeth. A collapsed nose with rotting flesh barely attached to the muzzle of the stallion.

IT was the eyes that made her gasp. Cold hollows looking back at her, no warmth or feeling to them at all. The blackness of them pulled at her, like her feelings were being pulled from her heart, drawn out of her and swallowed by the darkness of them. “What…happened…to you,” she gasped. Recoiling from the stallion she stood up. As she came to her hooves, the stallion suddenly came alive. He rushed her, his rotting jaw opening as a strange growl come out, sending shivers down Twilight’s spine.

“PEAcE.” He rose; the ghastly face stared at her. “The pEAcE of the grave.”

[= Fear =]

The stallion lunged at her, the emaciated body’s muscles moving the body so quickly Twilight thought it impossible. She dodged left, the thing brushing her as it passed by. Coldness washed over Twilight when they touched. The light of her horn dimmed for that moment and she felt like something had been pulled out of her, some force or energy taken by the mere touch of the creature. A feeling of depression and a cloud of grey fell over her mind. Twilight shook her head, trying to cast off the feelings like she was shaking water off her coat.

[= Rage =]

[= Fear =]

“I don’t know what you are,” her horn suddenly became brighter,” but I’m not trapped so easily!”

Bolts of fire shot out of Twilights horn, striking the stallion several times, burning holes into the decaying flesh. The impact of the bolts pushed the creature back, causing it to stager. Twilight fired again, rapidly this time. More holes appeared in its body right before her attack knocked it onto its side on the grass of the clearing.

Twilight wheeled about quickly, looking for the mare that had drawn her into this trap. In a space between trees she stood, still like a statue. She didn’t move. A weird keening sound came from the emaciated mare’s throat as she reared up in a jerky, unnatural manor and stepped forward, her front legs flaying about.

More magic bolts flew from Twilight’s horn, boring into the mare. No blood flowed from the wounds but pieces of entrails jutted out of the wounds. Tattered pieces of decayed flesh still attached to the body began to melt and slowly began to flow; rejoining the body of the creature, repairing the damage Twilight had dealt to her. Cold eyes stared at her as the strange mare creature simply regenerated.

[= Fear =]

The mare creature attacked, running at Twilight at a full gallop. The unicorn’s horn flared again, a bubble of purple magic forming a shield around her. ‘That should slow you down,’ she thought. Looking at the things it occurred to her that they looked very much like zombies! ‘But zombies aren’t real,’ she thought.

[= Fear =]

[= Will =]

The ‘zombie’ mare now stuck her shield shattering it in one blow. Twilight staggered backward from the force of the impact, her mind racing trying to figure out what to do next. ‘Discretion is the better part of valor, time to leave.’ The mare was almost on her as she called upon the teleportation spell. The light dimmed as she filled her mind with the image of the train station platform as the destination for the spell.

She was about to loose the spell when suddenly she was hit in the head by something solid. She stumbled back, pain filling her brain as darkness clawed at her mind trying to drag her down into unconsciousness. Twilight felt like her skull was split open, like a coconut opened with a rock. Quickly she tried to use the teleportation spell again the magic flooding out of her and into her horn...

...a huge jolt shot through her body, her muscles all tensed, their contractions locking her body rigid. For a moment Twilight was a statue of flesh, unable to move. A feeling of dampness spread over her body as the muscles relaxed. A magic rebound! She had not had a magic rebound since she was a filly! That meant a spell misfire that had come back at her. Her head still felt like it was split open, what had…

She reached up and touched her horn, searing pain flooded through her head when her leg even brushed her horn. Flames of agony ate at her head as she stumbled about in the dark, unable to call light with her magic.

“My…horn. You damaged my horn,” Twilight said as she stumbled away.

[= Fear =]

[= Rage =]

“I…I can’t use my magic!”

“NO hElp fOr yOu, “the stallion’s raspy voice called out from behind her.

“What…what are you,” the unicorn coughed. Dizziness had begun to fall on her. Her steps were becoming unsure, sluggish. The world had begun to start spinning.

“WE ArE yOUr dEAth,” the mare said.

Blinded by pain and lost in darkness, Twilight screamed!

She started to move, darting back and forth, staying out of reach of the monsters. Panic tried to pull on her but she would not let it control her. These things would get her if she gave into panic. Her head was swimming in pain; the injury she suffered now threatened to drag her into darkness…where death waited. Twilight had no magic…she needed to harness something else…

The fear…the fear trying to make her panic could be harnessed. She let the panic flow into her, but using what she learned by controlling magic she allowed only enough to give her limbs strength and her reflexes speed. Clinging to fear kept her from sliding into unconsciousness, giving her a chance for survival. ‘Emotion can be harnessed in may ways,’ Princess Celestia had told her and in her heart she now begged fear to give her the power that magic could not…

*

…and high above the world, in the cold of space…Fear watched, and listened. This one was different, she used fear to empower herself. She also had something unique about her…different from so many that The ring had looked at. Now this being had its attention.

*

The scream had made it to the train station just as Spike finished telling Applejack where the unicorn had gone and why. Though faint, Twilight’s voice was clearly heard.

“Did you hear that?” Spikes tail had become straight out and ridged.

The urge to go to Twilight’s scream filled Applejack and as that thought flashed through her mind the green aura of the ring appeared around her. Once again the strange clothing covered her body as she began to lift into the air. The earth pony’s ears swiveled about listening for more noise to tell her where Twilight was.

“Twilight!” The dragon called out.’ Twilight where are you?”

‘Ah’ve gotta find her…where is she?’ Applejack peered into the darkness of the brush. ‘Ah wish this fancy ring could find her.’

The ring suddenly flashed. A beam of green light illuminating the brush and trees.

[= Scanning for sentient Twilight Sparkle… =]

A circle of light with an ‘x’ inside appeared in front of Applejack. [= One life form located-identification: Twilight Sparkle. WARNING! Black Lanterns in proximity of sentient!  =]

“Climb on Spike,” Applejack said as she kneeled down as the dragon clambered on the farm mare’s back. “Hang on tight…Ah’m still kinda new at this.” Applejack lifted off the platform and started moving forward, following the x in the circle.

“Wait…the ring said ‘one life form’ Twilight left with that other pony? Where…” a branch struck the side of his face. “..ugh. Where did that other pony go and what is a ‘Black Lantern’?”

Applejack rose higher into the air, rocking back and forth. Flying was still new to her, and it seemed thinking about flying made her fly worse. “Dunno Spike,” Twilight screamed again. “Let’s just get ta Twi!”

Bumping and bouncing off the branches, the farm mare made her way through the trees near the clearing. Branches whipped at her as she flew through but Applejack felt no blows at all. It was as if she was made of stone. She had forgotten that the ring’s aura protected her.

Spike wasn't protected by the ring’s aura. Vegetation lashed at him, a storm of branches and leaves pounded on him as they flew. Dragon scales gave him good protection, but that did not stop errant parts of tree from trying to get into his eyes and mouth. He covered his face with his claws, spitting out what had managed to make its way into his mouth.

The arrival of Applejack was like the coming of the dawn or the full moon to Twilight. In eons that had seemed to pass between being struck and Applejack showing up she had barely been able to see anything beyond a star lit highlight off of leaves or trunks. She had run about the clearing, making herself as hard a target as possible and hoping to find the path that had brought her to this place. When the aura of the ring’s light lit up the gloom, she felt a moment of relief.

But…Twilight still clung to her fear; it was the only thing that allowed her to stay alive. The madness of what was happening tore at her mind. These monsters were like zombies…but zombies were not real!

Yet…here they were. ‘Pay attention Twilight’ she chastised herself. She strangely felt very alive in the face of the death reaching out to take her.

*

‘Yes…different. This one is different,’ the ring in space observed.

Fear had heard her plea; the plea of a sentient possessed by yet in control of her terror…yes…she was able to control it…use it…even revel in it. Others of her kind could be so carried away…but her…

…she was worthy.

[= Suitable candidate found. =] the ring of yellow buzzed as it fell to earth.

*

Applejack had landed in front of Twilight, her ring lighting up the clearing. She stood on the grass placing herself between the unknown attackers and her friend. Spike leaped off her back and ran to Twilight. She twitched and stumbled back a bit before fully relizing that it was her assistant and not another of the creatures that had attacked her. Spike gently rubbed her side trying to point her in the dirction of the trail out.“Come on Twilight..let’s get out of here.”

There was silence in the clearing until one of the fell things spoke in a raspy voice like something a raven might sound like.

[= Will =]

“A LAntErn Of WIllpOwEr Is hErE!” The voice sounded almost surprised.  “ArE yOu rEAdy tO bAttlE chIld Of IOn?”

“Child a’ who?”

Applejack wished she could see better in the dark, find where the voice was coming from. Even with her glow was difficult to make out just where these ‘Black Lanterns’ were. ‘Oh to have a bat pony’s night vision’ she thought.  Suddenly to the farm mare it was like it was daylight, everything becoming illuminated. Nothing was hidden…and she regretted being able to see so well for a moment.

She saw there were five of these creatures, all of them in front of her. Two of them were in the trees staring down at her; the other three were on the ground. One was behind a tree, a filly by the looks of her, shielding herself with the tree’s trunk. A stallion and a mare were directly in front of her on the ground. The Stallion’s body was so riddled with holes that he looked like a grotesque parody of swisscheese. The holes seemed to be getting smaller by the moment, closing up and disappearing. The mare moved back, her legs bending and moving wrong, backwards from what they should be. All of these creatures stared at Applejack with eyes so dark and cold they seem to pull light into them.

‘Gotta think of somethin’ , gotta think of somethin’ the farm mare thought.

Applejack’s mind raced to think of something to create with the strange ring’s power. When the stallion on the ground suddenly charged, the picture of a thick wooden fence appeared in her head. The stallion crashed head first into the barrier, the boards of green energy snapping and creaking from the collision. The stallion struggled, thrashing his body trying to break the construct. Applejack could ‘feel’ the planks of the construct shattering in her mind.  A final heave of his body and the fence failed, splintering in to pieces that turned into dying sparks of light that faded away.

“COmE nOw GrEEn LAntErn, I ExpEct bEttEr frOm yOu,” he hissed as he lunged again.

[= Will =]

Applejack spun so her rump faced him. She kicked with her legs, thinking how better it would be if she was wearing hoofball boots. The ring flared and before she connected with her hooves, green boots made of the ring’s energy appeared over her hind legs. She hit the attacker at the base of his neck a dull ‘chud’ sound came from the body she launched back into the brush with her blow.

“What in tarnation are these things?”

[= Black Lanterns. Corpse re-animated by a Black Power Ring. Primary mission: to kill the living. =]

“Why…won’t…they…stay…hurt?”  She smashed another of these ‘Black Lanterns' with a construct hammer.

[= Black Power Ring gives Black Lanterns an extremely high regenerative ability. =]

“Whatever that means!”

The sound of branches rustling made Applejack look up to see the other ‘Black Lanterns’ moving down, to the ground.  She backtracked to Twilight keeping the monster in her view. Spike had been trying to get Twilight to move quickly, but her seeing the farm mare wielding the green ring had transfixed the unicorn for the moment.

“Git outta here y’all…NOW!”

“We’re not leaving you to these things,” Twilight shot back.

“There ain’t nuthin ya can do Twi…” Applejack’s voice trailed off as an almost blinding yellow light like the sun suddenly appeared over their heads.

[= Presence of Yellow Power Ring detected. =] The green ring chirped.

“Wha…another?” Applejack called out. “Another ring?” A green brick wall suddenly surrounded the three of them.

[= You have been chosen =] the strange voice coming from the yellow ring said as a ray of its light fell onto Twilight. She suddenly felt cold all over, sweat started to form froth over her coat.

The yellow ring of light flew down to the unicorn and swept onto Twilight’s forehoof. Her head jerked around suddenly as she yelled looking at the leering, rotting faces of the monsters. Pain from her damaged horn and new panic clawed at the edge of her self-control. Her stomach suddenly churned and cramped. All strength was sapped from her limbs and she found she could not move.

Twilight screamed again.

The sound caused Spike to wince while he covered his ears. When he opened his eyes the site he beheld made them widen. Yellow light rolled like waves of a stormy sea over his friend’s body. Her eyes were wild, yet at the same time vacant…as if she were in another place.

“Twilight?”

[= Ring Analyzing Mind of Host. Searching Out Greatest Fear =] the yellow ring buzzed.

“G-get away… Keep back,” she yelled. Twilight now moved in a jerking motion, randomly kicking and moving her head.

[= Identifying… =]

*

And then the zombies were gone….and so were Spike and Applejack.

“Wait, what?” Twilight looked up and around. This wasn’t the Everfree or the train station! This was the royal castle in Canterlot! And it was decorated for a wedding, and began to hear a horrid but familier buzzing all around her….

“No….it can’t be!”

“Yes, you little foal,” a familiar voice hissed. Twilight turned and saw Chrysalis standing there. Her friends, even Celestia and Luna, were trapped in cocoons behind her, screaming as they transformed into changelings. Lying at the Changeling Queen’s hooves were Cadence, filthy and wasted from starvation, and her brother. His eyes blank, his mind gone. Twilight felt her soul break in half as Chrysalis laughed and pointed at a nearby empty cocoon. “Go right in, Twilight, and join MY family. You don’t seem to have one anymore!”

“NO!” And even as she screamed, Twilight reached into the ring with her mind. A Royal Guard pony formed of yellow energy hurled itself into a charge, smashing Chrysalis and her doomed friends into nothing.

*

The zombies had finally beaten Applejack’s wall down. She turned and kicked at two Black Lanterns trying to rush her, both solid hits that made the zombies fall back onto the ground. “Twilight,” she yelled. “Snap outta it girl!”

A pack of Black Lanterns creeping up on Twilight from behind had just enough time to shriek in surprise before a guard pony of yellow light appeared and blasted them apart. Just as quickly their flesh began flowing back together, the body reassembling itself. Twilight became still again, her face twitched as the yellow ring’s glow appeared in her eyes again.

“Twilight! Let’s go!” Spike yelled as he pulled on the unicorn’s tail. She was mostly still, her face contorted in a mask of terror.

[= Ring Analyzing. Identifying Greatest Fear… =]

*

A roar shook the soggy earth under Twilight’s hooves. She looked up, startled. She was back in the Everfree, in Foggy Bottom. The Bog Hydra reared its multiple heads up over her. One came down, maw wide, to smash into the earth beside her. Twilight shrieked and dodged, only to be caught by the next head. Its fangs ground agonizingly against her ribs and the forest whirled past her face as it jerked her up into the air. Twilight forgot teleporting, simply writhing wildly as she sought to escape the monster. Then a damp choking heat all around her and slimy wet walls pressing in and an acidic odor as she remembered that book on biology, saying, the Equestrian bog hydra often swallows its meals whole and alive, condemning them to slow digestion while still aware…

“Get away from me!”

Twilight snatched at the first image in her mind and sent a horde of yellow parasprites out in every direction. She heard something roar in shock as outside of the ring-induced illusion, her constructs ripped into the Black Lanterns around her like starving piranha, tearing them to shreds. All save one dead earth pony stallion that leapt on her and forced her down, looking into her face to laugh before it tore out her heart.

Spike now held on to Twilight’s naked front hoof. He had tried to move the glowing yellow band, stop whatever it was doing to his friend. When he had gripped it, terror filled his heart in a way he had never felt before, the feelings the blazing band brought up in him shook him to his core. ‘If it’s doing that to Twilight?’ Looking into his mistress’s face he could see the tears falling from her eyes now mixing with the sweat that now poured off of her coat.

[= Identifying Greatest Fear =]

*

“Discord?!?” Twilight snarled up into the draconequs’ laughing face as he reached down to ravage her mind the way he had her friends. They stood behind him, their eyes swirling with madness and reminding her of the terror she’d felt the first time. Twilight created a yellow energy cockatrice, sent it to stare into Discord’s eyes. He recoiled with a shriek as he became stone again. The cockatrice lashed out with a spiked tail and shattered him.

*

Applejack bucked another of the undead just in time to see the leader of these Black Lanterns, a unicorn mare stepped forward with a growl as the stallion who had first attack Twilight was reduced to dust. The chill energies of the void began to gather along her horn, a growing unlight forming at the end of her horn. A younger pony joined her to stare at Twilight in lustful hunger.

[= Rage =]

[= Fear =]

[= Will =]

Torrents of tears now flowed from Twilights eyes as her jaw clinched tightly, the sound of her teeth grinding together made Spike run and touch her muzzle.

“Twilight…please snap out of it! Please…Applejack can’t keep…” the shadow of a pony rose above him.

“SO lIttlE…sO stUpId,” its hollow voice mocked him. Suddenly a green ray of light burned through the skull of the creature. The smell of charred putrid flesh made Spike gag,

[= Greatest. Fear. =] The yellow ring purred.

*

“Why did I ever trust an incompetent like you, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight looked up in shock, panting in exhaustion and terror. “Princess Celestia?” She looked to the alicorn’s side. “Spike?!? What are you doing here? We were just in the Everfree, and – the zombie ponies! Princess, we have to warn…”

Celestia’s horn glowed. The blow across Twilight’s face hurt more than she could have dreamed possible.

“Your friends are all dead, Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia thrust her head out on her long neck, sticking her face into the young mare’s. A pair of potted plants showed withered and dead behind her. Shocked, Twilight recognized them for her parents. The Princess hissed, “They all died because they trusted you, because they depended on you…”

“No!”

“You really blew it, Twi,” Spike sneered at her. Tears filled his eyes as he spat, “Everypony, even Rarity, they all died because you couldn’t protect them. Because your magic wasn’t good enough, because you weren’t good enough.”

“No…” Twilight felt the earth crumbling beneath her, as though dozens of eager hooves sought to drag her down into endless darkness. All about her in reality, the herd of Black Lanterns were doing precisely that. Spike yelled and charged in swinging a branch, beating at them. A casual kick from one sent him rolling.

“You always let everyone down, you worthless little filly.” Both Princess and dragon were taunting her now, saying, “You. Failed. Everypony.” Behind her, through a window, the moon eclipsed the sun to the distant ringing echo of Nightmare Moon’s laughter. Eternal night fell across Equestria, freezing everything beneath it. “You should be alone and in the dark forever.” Unnoticed, the yellow ring on Twilight’s hoof glowed like a small sun. The darkness around her became complete save for the cold lights of Celestia and Spike's eyes as they hissed, “You never deserved to have friends.”

Something broke inside her.

“NO!"

*

[= FEAR =]

A miniature sun and moon shot out from the unicorn, whirling around her. She rose into the air, glowing brightly. The Black Lanterns closest to her tried to step back to dodge the yellow creations of her mind. The ones behind them crushed forward, drawn forward by the raw fear they coming from her.

Spike looked up into her eyes. No longer was her gaze vacant! Now they were wide and pupils down to pinpoints burning with a chilling glimmer to them. Her mouth twisted itself into a strange expression half frown, half smile. The Black Lanterns had become still, staring at the unicorn glowing with yellow ring light. The sudden pause in fighting gave Applejack a free moment. She ‘flew along the ground and scooped Spike up onto her back, moving behind Twilight. The dragon did not move, transfixed by the sight of his mistress.

“A-A-Applejack…wh-what’s happening?”

“Ah don’t know sugarcube…Ah don’t know. Just stick close before it gets weirder.”

Copies of her friends made of yellow energy appeared. As a mass they galloped at the Black Lanterns, trampling the undead beneath their hooves. Twilight yelled as the construct ponies crushed the Black Lanterns, “I DO deserve to have friends! I am NOT a failure! And nopony is going to hurt the ones I care about!”

[= Greatest Fear Identified =]

Twilight lashed out all around. Hard-light blades with edges that could have shaved electrons from an atom cut into and through the zombies; blasts of pure fear-driven energy burned them into ash; energy constructs of timberwolves and horrorspiders and a gang of bullying teenaged dragons seized the Black Lanterns to crush and rend them.

[= Twilight Velvet Sparkle of Equestria, you have the ability to wield and instill Great Fear =]

And still they rose back up, flesh reforming or simply slithering back together, to throw themselves at a being that, powerful as she had become, was still mortal and capable of exhaustion.

[= Welcome to the Sinestro Corps =]

“Hold on Spike,” Applejack yelled. Now she moved forward her ring blazing. Spike held on to her mane with his claws as a shower of emerald fire fell onto the Black Lanterns. Twilight pointed her ring bearing hoof above her head as she rose into the air hovering above the undead mass reaching for her. Bolts of yellow fell mixing with Applejack’s green fire reduced the screaming zombies to nonexistence. There was a sound like shattering glass and a strange croaking voice coming from the Black Lanterns.

[= Connection severed. =][= Connection severed. =]

[= Connection severed. =][= Connection severed. =]

[= Connection severed. =]

Applejack descended to the ground, landing next to where her friend touched down. Suddenly Twilight shuddered and panted where she stood. Spike hopped of the farm mare’s back and looked up at her.

“Thanks for saving us Applejack, I thought we were goners there.”

“Don’t mention it, sugarcube,” the earth pony said as she turned to look at Twilight. She eyed the  yellow and black clothes that had appeared over the unicorn warily. Something about them bothered her, she couldn’t put her hoof on it  The green ring on her hoof seemed to be pulsing warily. “Twi? Honey, we’re safe now. Everything’s okay. Everything’s –“

Twilight turned around.

Spike yelled and clung to Applejack’s legs. AJ reflexively pointed her ring at Twilight before she even knew that she’d moved.

Twilight Sparkle’s face was a rictus: a wild, ear to ear grin that crossed her muzzle. Her eyes open wide enough to show the whites all around pinpoint pupils, fixed on them both.

“Well, hi therrrre,” she said, and “Oh, and hello, Spike. Did I ever tell you that you’re my very best friends? And what are you staring at, anyway?”

Angel of Wrath

Angel of Wrath

The Everfree Forest, the abandoned village of Sunnytown, 11PM

[=Rise=] the croaking voice of a Black Ring called out.

Like thick ooze rotting flesh flowed over desiccated bones. The material joined to itself, combining to form muscles and tissues over the skeleton. What had been the thin, frail husk of a zombie pony was transformed by the power of the Black Lantern Ring into a more complete figure of horror. Garments then appeared over the dirty white coat and faded orange mane.

“WhAt…whAt’s hAppEnIng?” Starlet asked as she stared at the black power ring on her leg.  A tremor ran through her animated corpse, making her shiver. “ThIs Isn’t pArt Of thE cUrsE!”

“It Isn’t,” a familiar voice behind her answered. Starlet turned around and saw her old love interest Roneo staring back at her. His body was more filled out now than it had been in the whole of the time of their curse. The stallion moved forward and put a hoof on her shoulder as a strange sensation shook her reconstituted body. A sensation of what would be pain filled her being, like her soul and her body seemed to be constantly being torn asunder and knitted together at the same time.

“I…I…whAt…”Starlet stumbled.

“ThIngs hAvE changed!” he rubbed his hooves together. “And thAnks tO thEsE rIngs, wE cAn dO sO mUch mOrE.”

Starlet looked at the black ring again, her undead eyes trying to pear into the darkness that seemed to fill the ring and give it power. “WhY? WhY Is thIs hAppEnIng. WhAt Is thIs rIng?”

“YOU ArE A BlAck LAntErn nOw. ThE blAck rIng mAdE YOU mOrE whOlE. It Is whY wE sUffEr: YOUr sOuL Is bEIng pUshEd OuT bY thE black rIng, bUt thE cUrsE pUlls YOU bAck In tO yOUr bOdY. It Is cOnStAnt, UnEndIng, sO mOrE sUffErIng fOr Us.”

“WhAt’s A BlAck LAntErn,” she asked as a large pegasus mare came forward to look at her.

“A sErvEnt Of thE vOId,” the pegasus in ancient armor said. “WE brIng thE pEAcE Of thE vOId. WE End whAt mAkEs YOU sUffEr, EvEn nOw. WE BrInG thE BlaCkEst NIght And gIvE EvErYthIng thE pEAce Of thE grAve.” Hollow eyes stared at Starlet.

*

Equestria, Ponyville, The forest outside Ponyville Train Station, at that same moment.

The subdued sound of the train pulling into Ponyville Station grabbed Applejack and Twilight’s attention. The unmistakable ‘chug chug’ of the steam engine muffled by the vegetation around them. Applejack turned to look at Twilight.

The unicorn has returned to earth, her yellow aura glowed brightly around herself, the light blending with Applejack’s own green ring aura lighting up the clearing. The shadows cast by the yellow light emanated a coldness to Applejack, like something waited in the dark crevasses of the trees waiting to pounce. Spike evidently felt the same way because he continued to cling to the farm mare.

“Heeeyyyy!” Twilights face still wore the rectus grin and small pupils that unnerved the earthpony and the dragon, the frightening visage echoing the time she had enchanted her now missing Smarty Pants doll. “The train is here; but look,” she held up the glowing yellow power ring. “I have one of my own now!” Shadows on her face formed by the light of the yellow ring gave Twilight a sinister appearance.

“There’s two parts to this ring, right Applejack,” she said in a sing song voice. “A ring, and a battery..hum. Now, where is that battery?”

“Ya think about it and it appears, at least it did for me. Um, Twi…don’t ya think we should be headin’ back to the station for the train?” Applejack offered.

“No…I think we should wait.” Twilight gazed at the shining light of the strange ring. “You didn’t tell me what it…felt like.” She looked at the farm mare. “You didn’t tell me how invigorating it is.”

“Ah sugar cube,” Applejack pulled Spike behind her.”Why don’t we go on home? Ah don’t think we should go ta Canterlot tonight.”

The pupils of Twilight’s eyes started to become bigger and the intense grin on her face relaxed. She blinked several times before saying anything.

“Y-yes. You’re right. A lot has happened tonight.” She looked down at the ring on her foreleg. “a lot.”

The two ponies and the dragon stood still for a moment. Spike looked around with darting eyes casting his sight her and there before speaking. “Has anyone noticed how…quiet it is?”

Both Applejack and Twilight cocked their heads as their ears swiveled about, taking in all the sounds around them. Twilight felt something different than the other times she concentrated on hearing things. When her thoughts turned to trying to hear clearly; more sensation of pins and needles came. The strange feelings ran up her ring bearing leg to her spine and then into her ears! The sounds around her suddenly became more clear, and louder. Pitches and tones she had never really heard before flooded her ears, with such intensity it almost was madding. Twilight could hear things she had never heard before, the actual sound of Spikes scales as the rubbed against each other, the noise of the strands of her mane moving; she even heard the flowing of everypony’s blood in their arteries and veins. Twilight shook her head.

“Too much…” she groaned.

“Oh, yeah ya gotta watch that,” Applejack said. “Ya gotta be careful with a ring. When you think about doin’ somethin’ - it happens!”

The flood of sounds disappeared as Twilight thought about her hearing not being that sensitive. The storm of noise died down and Twilight could still hear clearer than she normally could, but now it did not overwhelm her. “It…it enhances your senses…yes?”

“Again sugar cube…if ya think about it.”

Twilight stood straight, her head erect, muzzle forward. She reached out with her mind into the ring and thought about perception…what she could perceive with her senses passively. Suddenly there was a twisting effect, her blind spots melted away with the mental instruction to the ring. She became queasy, the sudden and radical perception became disorienting. She concentrated on what and how she wanted to ‘see’ things around her.

The ring responded, adjusting to its wielder’s unconscious and conscious commands. At first she fought the rings influence but quickly learned that it was ‘learning’ about her. Twilight stopped resisting and allowed the yellow power ring to more fully meld with her mind. Suddenly things became easier and more controlled, a feed back like nerves in her legs or mouth reporting to her mind that enough pressure was being applied to hold something.

“Alright, I think I’m ok now.” Twilight’s grin had disappeared and her eyes we returning to normal. She cocked her head again. “Yes…Spike. You’re right, it IS very quiet.”

“Yeah, just when Ah thought the Everfree couldn’t get more frightenin’!”

Twilight looked up through the arching branches of the clearing, thinking how she wanted to be above the trees to get a better view when she suddenly hurled up into the air, shooting upward like a firework rocket.  Twilight screamed as she rose higher and higher skyward. Spinning wildly as she went farther and farther into the night sky, she thought of how she would rather be on the ground.  Her assent stopped and just as rapidly she plunged back to earth, almost colliding with a rising Applejack carrying Spike on her back.

Twilight thought of how much her fall would hurt and felt fear of the pain and of death. When the very tip of her outstretched hoof came in contact with the ground, the yellow ring aura appeared again surrounding her. Twilight crashed, tumbling nose over tail over the ground digging large gouges into the ground and breaking branches and cracking tree trunks before she came to a rest just outside the train station next to the loitering train with her nose buried into the earth and her tail and flank sticking up into the air.

The engineer of the train jumped down from the cab, running with a shovel in his mouth when Twilight erupted out of the ground the yellow ring aura blazing up like fire from the earth. The earth pony train operator suddenly became frozen with terror as he looked at the unicorn, bathed in the fire of fear. Twilight stared at him for a moment as a peculiar sensation entered her heart. The pony’s fear; it flowed into her, drawn to her like a whirlpool pulling in water and leaves from a stream! The feeling of his terror gave her a fortifying sensation.

Applejack landed next to Twilight, her ring glittering in green light as if waiting for the Yellow Lantern to do something.  Spike jumped off her back and rant to his friend. The dragon stopped just short of the unicorn halting in mid reach with his claws. He then withdrew the talons as he took a step back, the yellow light suddenly leaving him chilled. Twilight felt the dragon’s unease and turned to look at him, her ring glow fading.

“Twilight, are-are you ok?” he asked quietly.

Standing up, she shook off the dirt. Twilight then looked over her legs and her body, twisting around to check herself over.  She felt no pain and saw no wounds, the impact left no discernible impression on her at all. Twilight ran her ring bearing for hoof over her neck and chin. She touched her horn and gasped.

“My…my horn! It’s healed!” Twilight let magic flow from her formerly damaged extremity. The shovel the engineer had brought glowed in the purple of her magic and floated in the air. The shovels former bearer looked on, still rooted in place. Twilight turned to look at the earth pony.

“I’m sorry sir…here.” She floated the tool back to him. He raised up his forelegs in fright.

“Please…please don’t..” he turned away, his hind hooves throwing up dirt as he fled from the yellow lighted unicorn. The engineer clambered into the cab of the locomotive and disappeared. Hissing steam formed a cloud around the engine as it began to pull out of the station, the glow of its lights moving at a quickening pace heading out into the night. Twilight wheeled around frowning.

“Well, no loss I guess, we had decided to not go to Canterlot anyway.” The unicorn sighed as she levitated her book bag onto her back and magically lifted the travel trunk into the air. “Come on Spike, let’s go home.”

Spike slowly came closer to Twilight. As he approached, a crawling sensation crept over his skin. Twilight turned to face her assistant, like she could hear his disquiet as a noise that grabbed her attention.

“Spike! What is it?” Twilight snapped.

“I don’t know. It’s just real….creepy standing next to you.”

“Come on. Let’s go home then.” Twilight said with a snap of her tail.

As they walked, Twilight and Applejack talking back and forth about ring wielding and Spike simply walking and taking in the night air. The conversation had turned to constructs when a small shadowy figure scurried across their path. At first nopony took particular notice, but when it tripped and rolled under the beam of a street light, the two ponies and the dragon froze.

“Is that..?”

“Shush,” Twilight hissed. “It is…I’ve seen one before.” Sudden fear entered the unicorn’s heart, the beats becoming more rapid. The yellow ring on her foreleg gave her a buzzing sensation. Twilight’s mind raced her fear pushed her mind to think of something that could protect her. ‘If only I had mirrored sunglasses.’

The yellow ring flashed and a filament like glowing yellow taffy stretched out, the leading end landed on Twilight nose and over her eyes. The beating of her heart seemed to be the tempo the yellow material formed itself by. The material continued to flow and become more solid. Twilight felt actual weight on her muzzle from the material. When the yellow ‘energy’ finally stopped flowing, her vision was dimmed like she was wearing…

…mirrored sunglasses!

“Close your eyes!” Twilight cried out. Applejack and Spike’s eyes closed.

The creature pivoted on its two legs, a long tail whipping around, a flash of yellow light reflecting off smooth scales. Glowing eyes of red stared at Twilight intently as the creature let out a sound like a growling dog and a hissing steam engine at the same time. Leathery wings flared out, framing the monster trying to use its magic. Spike hid behind Applejack who hid her eyes beneath her hat.

“Wha…what’s a cockatrice doing here in town,” the diminutive dragon asked, his eyes closed tight.

Twilight stared at the monster through her construct glasses. A slight smile cracked her muzzle as she watched the creature continue to try and use its petrifying magic on her. The last time she had gazed into the eyes of a cockatrice she instantly became stone, but now the glasses of yellow energy created by her thoughts immunized her from the stone transforming effect.

The cockatrice dropped its gaze attack and recoiled from its reflection in the glasses, pulling its wings over it face and began shaking. The sound it than began emitting was like a growl and whimper at the same time.

Twilight’s ring flashed and mirror glasses appeared over Spike and Applejack’s eyes. “These will keep everypony safe from the cockatrice’s gaze power. “

Applejack opened her eyes and moved forward, lowering her head to peer at the creature. The small monster continued to make its pitiful noise and to shield itself from the ponies with its wings. A rustling sound came suddenly came from the bushes against the building they all stood in front of.  A flurry of dark leaves and bright colors exploded onto the street in a ball that unfolded into another cockatrice, this one more brightly colored and larger. The monster glared at the trio with its stone gaze, growling ferociously as it did. Its ferociousness quickly evaporated when it understood that its petrifaction power was having no effect.   The brightly colored cockatrice moved to be next to the other creature, attempting to shield the smaller and less flamboyant monster from the trio staring. Its attitude softened as it became apparent that nopony was going to attack the creatures.

“A pair of Cockatrices! What the hay are they doin’ in town?” Applejack lifted the construct glasses off her nose as she looked around and away from the cornered monsters. “They should be in the Everfree Forest...” Applejack froze. Something in her mind was itching, telling her to look behind her. The earth pony’s nose suddenly sniffed deeply then wrinkled her nose up with her lip in a curl of disgust as she turned to look behind her…

…and stared into green glowing eyes off far in the dark.

A wall of green bricks spring up between the Timber wolf far off in the shadows and the friends. Applejack called forth her uniform at the same time. The light flash caused the cockatrices to growl and scribbles around a bit. Twilight half turned to her right, trying to keep both threats in her view. The mirror glasses lost their definition and started to fade. Twilight remembered what Applejack had told her about constructs and put her thoughts back into the constructs, the glasses all became solid again.

“Wha..”

“It a Timber wolf Twi…” Additional green construct walls appeared to shield the ponies and the dragon.

“Twilight, what’s going on?” Spike gripped the unicorn’s leg tightly. “Why are the Everfree's animals suddenly here?”

“I don’t know Spike, but we can’t let them run loose. Applejack, we need to take them back into the forest!”

The green lantern nodded. A beam of green energy shot out of the ring and pulled itself into a cage around the beast of animated wood. The form of the timber wolf could now be seen clearly by the glow of the construct bars, the beast’s wooden body pushed against the cage, the strain of the bars to hold could be ‘felt’ by Applejack in her mind as she lifted into the air, towing the cage behind her.

Twilight formed a closed wicker basket around the two petrifying cockatrices. Growls and hissing erupted from the construct that Twilight could sense in her head was being fought against. The thought of the dangerous cargo of the basket shattering the construct scared her, and that feeling flowed into the ring and into the construct giving it a resistant durability.

“Ah got Spike Twi.”

Spike was surrounded in a green light and felt gravity disappear. The dragon was levitated by ring energy onto Applejack’s back which was now covered with a saddle that road over the bags that carried the farm mare’s traveling luggage. Applejack flew behind Twilight, the two of them heading in the direction of the Everfree Forest.

“Hang on Spike, could get a’ might bumpy.”

Spike swallowed hard and gripped the seat with his talons. “Sure Applejack but…why didn’t you let Twilight pick me up.”

Applejack pointed with her ring leg in Twilight’s direction. The unicorn wobbled a bit as she flew, her legs flailing about.  Her path in the air wobbled her and there up and down making a gentle spiral path. Applejack looked at Spike who simply nodded his understanding and sat back into the saddle chair to enjoy the flight and be thankful the more experienced ring wielder was the one carrying him. She pulled up next to her struggling friend.

“Twilight, Ah found that if’n ya think too much about flyin’ it gets shaky.”

“Well,” Twilight half rolled to her left then righted herself,”How…how do you do it.”

“Think of it like swimin’. It’s a lot like that. Yer carried with a current, only you control the current.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed and her body began jinking about. She licked her lips and closed her eyes and the wobbling flying stopped. Twilight pulled her legs together as her line in the air became more smooth and graceful. She opened her eyes and smiled.

“I did it! I’m flying…I’m really,” she dropped for a half second her legs flailing again. Ears laid back, eyes narrowed, Twilight concentrated on pulling herself up. She rose upward again. Applejack chuckled.

“It’s alright darlin’, just try ta not over think it.”

Flying above the tree tops, the pair of ponies and their dragon companion carried the denizens of the Everfree back to their home. When  Applejack saw a clearing in the forest canopy she moved ahead of Twilight and angled downward and stopped, hovering in the clearing as her cage construct landed gently on the ground and opened. The timber wolf skulked away as Twilight dropped her basket with its contents to the grass softly. She recreated the mirrored glasses again before she allowed the basket to fade away. The cockatrices simply fled, disappearing into the thick vegetation of the forest. Applejack cocked her head to one side, listening for something.

“Applejack, what’s wrong?” Twilight ‘s ears swiveled about. “What do you hear?”

“That’s the problem, Ah don’t hear much of anythin’ at all. Ah’ve never heard the forest this quiet before.”

Twilight nodded. “I don’t see much of anything either, even with these senses the ring has improved. It’s as if there were no animals in the forest.” She stroked her chin wit the back of her hoof. “Where are they?”

Applejack circled the clearing slowly, using the ring to concentrate on hearing sound. Spike scanned the forest with his eyes and listened with his ears as well, hearing and seeing nothing he sat back into the construct saddle. Applejack circled back to the Yellow Lantern.

“Dang peculiar Twilight, maybe we should check around a bit.” Applejack now hovered in front of her friend pointing with her hoof at the glowing yellow ring. “That is if yer up to it.” Twilight nodded.

“But let’s take Spike at home first, he could use the sleep.”

“And you? Hay ya doin’ Twi?”

“I feel strangely…energetic!”

After dropping Spike off at the library, the lanterns combed the town for more monsters from the Everfree until the stroke of midnight. A few more creatures had been found, nothing as big as the timber wolf. Twilight and Applejack returned them all to the forest, whose oppressing silence still made both of the ponies uneasy. After releasing the last creature, the pair turned into the direction of Sweet Apple Acres.  Applejack pulled next to Twilight who still flew with a bit of occasional wobble.

“Ah’ve never heard of the critters commin’ outta the forest like that Twilight. Sure occasionally one will wander into town…but a bushel of em’? That ain’t right.” Applejack flew backwards facing her friend.

“Something must have made the animals leave in such huge numbers,” Twilight rubbed her chin with the back of a fore hoof. “Those things that lured me away and attacked me…”the unicorn’s voice trailed off as they both cleared the tree line and saw the Apple Farm.

The fence was smashed, the posts scattered over the grounds of the farm house. The sides of the main bard showed deep scratches and gouges. Troughs and bins were overturned, their contents scattered over the ground. Twilight circled the over the scene, assessing the destruction and searching for the cause. Applejack went through her bedroom window like an arrow shot from a war bow. Moments passed and Twilight saw lights come alive in the house, all from the second floor.

“Applejack? Is Everypony alright?”

“Yah. Everypony’s ok Twilight.” Applejack came to her open window. “Did ya find any Everfree critters out there?”

“No, there’s nothing else out here. Is…is that what did this?”

"Yeah," Applejack gestured with her tail, "Come on in Twi, ya gotta hear this."

***

Equestria, Sweet Apple Acers, 4:30 in the afternoon.

“What happened then Apple Bloom?” Twist asked as she bit into the toffee she brought for the Cutie Mark Crusaders to taste.

Apple Bloom swallowed a cup of milk with a loud gulp, returning the container to its rest on the tree stump that the fillies were using as a table before continuing.

“Let’s see,” the filly said as she tapped one hoof onto another. “Applejack left for the train station, the animals of the Everfree started ta come onto the farm, little ones at first goin’ ta hide, then big ones,” she recounted. “Then there were the bats…the jackalopes eatin’ the pie apples..”

"Yeah yeah..." Scootaloo tapped her hoof on the ground. "You already told us that, and how Big Mac was breaking out weapons, how the big monsters of the forest tore up the farm! What happened after Applejack and Twilight arrived with Twilight having a ring like Applejacks?”

“Twilight Sparkle has a ring too,” Twist asked as she took another bite of her home made toffee.

“Yes Twist, Twilight has a ring,” Sweetie Belle squeaked as she bumped a ball she threw up into her air. “That is so cool.”

“Ah don’t know y’all, somthin’ about her ring gave me the creeps.” Apple Bloom shivered for a moment as she talked about the new ring. “Anyway, Twilight went home after that while Applejack stayed up all night and guarded the farm with her ring.” Apple Bloom crunched on a cookie, crumbs flying from her mouth as she finished. “She went ta bed as Ah was headin’ ta school.”

“Wow,” Scootaloo said as she smacked at the ball with her head. “I wonder what’s going on in there to make all the animals leave. Did you see smoke or a fire?”

Apple Bloom swallowed, “Nope, an’ take a whiff.” Apple Bloom sniffed. “Nothin’! Ah never did see or smell any fire.” Apple Bloom crouched and narrowed her eyes, looking back and forth. She her tail curled up in a come-hither motion. The three friends came close to hear Applebloom whisper.

“Ah heard Applejack say that she an’ Twilight were attacked last night at the train station by – Zombie Ponies!”

“R-really?” Twist dropped her candy. “Z-Zombie Ponies?”

“Zombies? Like in the movies,” Scootaloo’s wings beat quickly, lifting her in to the air a couple of inches and out of the wagon hitched to her scooter. “That sounds so cool!”

Scootaloo then crossed her eyes and opened her mouth. She razed one fore leg up and started to walk forward at a slow speed, drifting left and right as she reached out wildly with the uplifted leg.

“BBRRAINES” the Pegasus filly called out with a groan. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gasped and giggled, separating and circling around their friend. Scootaloo turned in place, stumbling in place and calling out more.

“BBRRAINS!”

“AH!” Sweetie and Apple Bloom cried as Scootaloo grabbed them, pretending to bite into their heads. The three of them collapsed into a pile, laughing. Twist simply shook her head

“I wonder if Zecora knows about zombies running around the Everfree,” Scootaloo asked. Sweetie Bell looked over in the direction of the forest.

“Ah don’t know Scoots, but Ah’m willin’ ta bet that if a’ zombie comes around her place, she’s got magic that’ll knock em’ on their tails!” Apple Bloom glanced at Sweetie Belle, who was staring off to the forest tree line. Twist was next to her looking in the same direction.

“Whatcha’ lookin’ at?”

“I don’t know. I thought I saw somepony just inside the forest.”

Scootaloo stood next to her friends, shading her eyes to see better, “I don’t see anything Sweetie.”

“Speakin’ of Zecora, we ought to go see her.  Ah promised Ah would bring her a few of the preserved Zapp Apples for a potion.” Apple Bloom rubbed the bottom of her chin. “Hey! Ya know what y’all, we aught ta go see her! Ah’m sure she knows somethin’ about what’s goin’ on in the forest. It’s always safe at her house.”

“I don’t know Apple Bloom. Didn’t Applejack say we should stay out of the forest?”

Apple Bloom put a fore hoof on Sweetie’s shoulder. “Technically she said to not go anywhere in the forest ALONE, and Ah’m sure that goin’ ta Zecora’s would be alright.”

Sweetie frowned. “I’m not sure…”

“Look Sweetie; we know the safe path through the forest that Zecora showed us right?

“Well…what if there are zombie ponies,” the unicorn asked in a cracking voice.

Zombies? Psh,” Scootaloo stuck out her tongue. “IF there are zombies you know what they’re like. We can walk faster than they can! If they’re out there, we could out run them easy!”

“Isn’t Applejack having Twilight come over later to practice with her ring later? I’d really like to see that.”

“Well then we should go right now Sweetie!” Apple Bloom threw her chest forward in a heroic pose. “We’ll bring back somethin’ from Zecora’s ta stop those shambalin’ busy bodies if they show up again! Ah know she’s got somethin’ that would stop em’!”

Turing around with her beaming smile she asked; “Who’s goin’?”

“I’m in!” Scootaloo sang out as she jumped and landed on her scooter. Apple Bloom climbed into the wagon.

“Sweetie?” Apple Bloom held a hoof out to the unicorn.

“Sure why not,” she said hoisting herself into the cart.

“Twist? Ya comin'?” The Cutie Mark Crusaders all stared at the curly maned confectioner filly, all of them wearing a broad smile.

“No thanks. I think I’ll talk to Mrs. Smith about my toffee recipe. I really don’t think it’s ready yet.”

“Alright then, we’ll be back in faster than a chickin’ chasin’ a June Bug.”

Scootaloo beat her wings harder and harder until the familiar buzzing sound came from them announcing that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were about to move. The scooter and wagon moved forward with Scootaloo’s thrust and rolled to a flat path into the forest and disappeared from sight.

Twist turned around and headed to the Apple family home, shaking her head as she went. She knocked on the door and sat on her haunches to wait for Granny Smith. Several minutes passed before the old mare answered the door.

“Well, what can Ah do ya for missy? Y’all tired of playin’ ball?”

“No mam. I thought I’d ask if you could help me with my toffee recipe.”

“Well sure come’on in,” Granny opened the door wide. She watched Twist walk into the house then moved just outside the door, her head making lazy sweeping movements back and forth. Granny’s shrill voice then called out to her granddaughter and her friends, the mare pausing between each call to listen for an answer.

“Apple Bloom…Sweetie Belle…Scootaloo…where are ya!” Granny returned inside and sat in front of Twist.

“Darlin’ did they ditch you?”

“No mam. They wanted to get something from Zecora that stops…zombies so they went to see her. I decided to stay behind.” Twist saw Granny Smiths face become almost colorless. “Did I do something wrong Mrs. Smith?”

“No honey child no, but mah granddaughter sure a shootin’ did!”

Granny ran out the door again, telling out for Applejack at first then for Big Mackintosh. The deep voice of the oldest Apple child boomed out from the back of the barn accompanied by the sound of his heavy hoof beats as he ran to his grandmother.

“Granny what’s wrong?”

“Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo have run off to Zecora’s place Macintosh!”

“In the forest?”

“Yep. Where’s Applejack?”

Mac sat on his rump and sniffed. “She went in ta town to meet with Twilight an’ her friends Granny.”

Granny bit her bottom lip. Her eyes became wild, unfocused for a second.

“Go get her Mac quick! We gotta get to em’ before it’s too late!”

*

The Everfree Forest, the trail to Zecora’s hut some time later.

“Don’t you guys think its awful quiet?”

Apple Bloom looked back at Sweetie Belle. The unicorn’s ears were flattened. A slight grimace had come over her face.

“Yeah it is Sweetie. Ah don’t like it either.”

“Phusha…please,” Scootaloo sneered, her wings still beating to push the crusaders forward. “Ok it’s quiet. So? It’s daytime isn’t it?” Scootaloo’s eyes darted back and forth as she spoke while biting her bottom lip out of sight of her friends.

The shadows seemed to change as they went, twisting into new shapes that hinted at something sinister waiting to jump out at them. The buzzing sound of Scootaloo’s beating wings was the only noise the trio herd for a while, until a squirrel came through the trees.

“Ah! Wha-what,” Sweetie cried out.

Scootaloo stopped flapping her wings, bringing her scooter and cart to a stop. She cocked an ear up and listened carefully, then shook her head. “What’s the problem?”

“I thought I heard something,” Sweetie said meekly.

“Ya did; a squirrel,” Apple Bloom sighed.

“Look, let’s just calm down. We haven’t seen anything…” Scootaloo stopped talking. She leaned forward over the bars of her scooter narrowing her eyes trying to pear through the gloom the forest shadows. The pegasus’ ears suddenly flattened as her head reared back suddenly as her wings began beating furiously. The scooter and cart shot forward then turned back hard. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were thrown into the floor of the cart, falling over each other trying to sit up.

“Scootaloo! What…what,” Apple Bloom stammered as she finally pulled herself off the cart floor. Scootaloo was leaning over the steering bars. Nostrils flared over gritted teeth as her wings generated what felt to Apple Bloom like a gale wind.

“Look behind,” she yelled.

“A…A…Apple Bloom,” Sweetie t voice had a trembling in it. She was sitting low, her head and one fore leg barely over the edge of the cart wall. Apple Bloom clambered to the cart rear next to the unicorn and looked to see what must have been at least 10 figures galloping behind them. They looked half rotted, deteriorated, a kind of stretched but cracked appearance to their skin. Their colors were dull, muted, the manes and tails were stringy, matted, and filthy. They were clothed in some kind of black clothing.

“Zombies…real zombies!” Apple Bloom gawked. “Yer gettin’ away Scoots! Keep goin’!”

“They’re fast!” Sweetie Belle cried. She turned forward. “Should be jump on the scooter with you Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo half turned her head to answer, “There’s not enough time for that and if you jump you could..”

“Look out!” Apple Bloom screamed.

Scootaloo looked forward as the front wheels of the scooter ran into the large rock in the path hidden by the shadows. The scooter bucked, upending the cart, flinging Apple Bloom and Sweetie into the air. Sweetie landed on her side, rolling to a stop beneath a large willow tree.  Apple Bloom tumbled nose over tail coming to a rest on the path. The earth filly stood up, down the path when she heard a groan.

“Scootaloo! Scootaloo are you ok.”

Underneath the crashed cart and scooter the pegasus coughed. Apple Bloom ran over and kicked the edge of the cart, half flipping it back onto its wheels. Scootaloo hissed as she tried to stand up. She kept her right front leg off the ground as she tried to stand up on all fours.

[=FEAR=]

“I think…I might have broken my leg,” Scootaloo swallowed hard as she put her leg on the ground. Sweetie came over and let Scootaloo lean against her.

“Guys, there’s coming!” Sweetie Belle whispered. “Maybe we can hide.”

“Gah! I can’t run.” Scootaloo moaned.

“Let’s get the Scooter,” Apple Bloom said as she bit into the scooter’s board and started to pull. When she bit down hard she saw that the front wheels were broken.

“It’s busted!” The thundering of approaching hooves began to fill the filly’s ears.

[=FEAR=]

[=HOPE=]

A large stallion appeared on the path, galloping at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. His corrupted flesh seemed to billow on his skeleton as he moved. What sounded like a hiss combined with gurgling water came from his muzzle through broken exposed teeth.

The Crusaders huddled together, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle clasped Scootaloo between them. Scootaloo groaned as they squeezed tightly. Tears started to flow from the fillies eyes as the undead stallion closed reaching out when a blur of cyan rushed by them, a gust of intense wind throwing dirt into their eyes.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both let go of Scootaloo and rubbed their eyes with the back of their fore legs. The sound of a dull thumps reached their ears as they blinked to clear their eyes. There was another dull thudding sound as their vision returned to see Rainbow Dash, flying in a fast and tight circle hitting the zombie repeatedly, each blow pushing the creature back until it fell over a tree branch and landed on its side.

Rainbow landed, looking at the monster she had just felled when she saw two more of the undead leaped from the shadows. She began to beat her wings to take off when a beam of green light appeared over her head and struck the attackers. The light then pooled and twisted itself into the shape of a large hay bale that held the zombies within its bindings. Applejack appeared behind the green light, hind hooves leading. The farm mare struck the construct in the center, sending the trapped monsters flying off into the forest. She landed facing the crusaders and Rainbow Dash, deep lines and glinting teeth showing anger in her face.

“Nice move cowgirl!” Rainbow Dash said a she turned to face the three fillies. “You guys ok?” The fillies nodded.

Green Lantern Applejack ran forward and pulled Apple Bloom close, poking and prodding her little sister. Apple Bloom flinched with each touch. The Farm mare then touched the other cutie mark crusaders briefly like she had their friend. Sweetie almost giggled from the welfare checking by applejack, Scootaloo winced and groaned, recoiling a bit from each touch.

“What in blue eye’d Tartarus,” the farm mare growled. “I outta tan yer hide fer…”

“Wha,” a voice called out from over head. The ponies looked up to see Twilight Sparkle dressed in clothes like Applejack but yellow in color descending. She came down in a gentle spiral, turning slowly until she landed behind the group in front of Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie who bounded into the middle of the group and landed sitting on her haunches.

“I’m still not used to flying with this thing,” Twilight sighed.

Fluttershy nosed her way to Scootaloo, pulling off the saddle bags she had carried. The pegasus repeated Applejacks actions poking Scootaloo abet more gently. She then opened one of her bags and pushed her muzzle inside.  Applejack’s and Twilight’s rings flashed at the same time.

The lanterns eyes went wide as their heads moved about, ears turning in alert. Both rose into the air, the auras glowing brighter.  Applejack looked at Twilight, bighting her bottom lip.

“We got company,” she said while raising her ring up before her. Twilight moved backwards leaving Applejack, raising her own ring. “All around us,” Twilight added.

Applejack turned her head over her shoulder and spoke in an even, ferm voice,” All y’all git outta here. Twilight and Ah will stay an’ protect ya until you get outta the forest!”  The yellow lantern nodded.

“No way I’m leaving you two to face those things alone!” Rainbow Dash said with a bit of a gurgle in her throat. Dash circled over the ponies on the ground. Her eyes moved about. Her back flank was to the shadowy figure that grabbed her.

[=FEAR=]

[=WILL=]

“Look out!” a yellow beam shot out of Twilight’s ring, striking the figure that attacked Rainbow. A hole the size of a pony hoof was burned through the things body, letting everypony see the brush through the hole.  Fluttershy began to tremble as she applied antiseptic to Scootaloo’s wounds a small whine sounding as she did so. Pinkie and Rarity had gathered the other crusaders, Rarity placing Sweetie Belle on her back, Pinkie muzzle tossing Apple Bloom over her head and on to her back. Both mares shivered.

Rainbow circled around and saw two more zombies coming from the shadows, reaching out with hooves that bore black rings.  Rainbow Dash flew forward and pivoted, streaking at her targets with both hind legs out. She struck both hard, knocking them to the ground. Dash looped up and came down on one of them with both hind legs; a dull thud followed the sound of breaking ribs.

The pegasus began to lift off when the pony she had landed on suddenly reached up and grabbed her. Dash felt a sudden chill run through her body, like when she flew into the teeth of a gust at high altitude her coat bristled. She heard a sound like bones banging together inside a bag and looked down to see the area she had just struck push out just as suddenly, the damage she had done disappearing.

[=FEAR=]

[=WILL=]

“JOIn Us,” the zombie’s eerie voice called to her. She felt a sensation, like blood was being pulled from her heart.   Dash kicked the things muzzle as she took of, getting beyond the creature’s touch.

[=FEAR=]

Another zombie pony appeared and Rainbow Dash repeated what she did before using her speed to hit the monster and knock it down. She circled around and punched with her fore hoof, smashing the face in and turning the head. The rotted flesh did as before, returning to its original shape, the evidence of Dash’s punches disappearing.  She used another kick into the zombie’s side to launch herself back to her friends.

A green glowing fence in front of Applejack held a couple more of the Zombies at bay. Rainbow Dash passed over the fence and landed next to Fluttershy. Twilight, floating above them had created what looked like a net made of barbed wire, the thorny strands dug into the flesh of the undead and held three of them fast.

“These are the Black Lantern you talked about?”

“Uh-Huh.”  Green Lantern Applejack nodded as she moved forward and set her hooves in the ground.

“Applejack, how did we stop these things last night,” Twilight asked, a gruesome kind of smile had had started to appear across her muzzle. "There's too many of them! We have to retreat now or we'll be overwhelmed!"

“Sugarcube if’n Ah remembered we’d be doin’ it right now!” A green lasso tied up another attacker. “Twilight, you go with em’, get everyone outta here.”

“We’re not leaving you AJ!” Rainbow Dash yelled. "So what if there’s a lot of these creeps; I can take them!"

“There’s nuthin’ ya can do Rainbow. Get Scootaloo and git outta here! Ah’ll hold em as long as Ah can!”

White teeth flashed from behind cyan lips. Rainbow felt a burning sensation in her mind. These things, attacking kids, hurting her friends, trying to kill them! Rainbow fully bared her teeth as she leaped into the air. She could do something, she wasn’t helpless! She let the fire in her mind grow and flow, filling her limbs with strength. She’d prove she could do something.

Dash shot forward over Applejack’s head into a couple of zombies, her legs flayling as she flew at them. The sounds of hooves on flesh sounded as she struck and flew in a curve, gaining speed. She saw them rise, the strikes healing as she stood up.

[=FEAR=]

[=WILL=]

[=RAGE=]

Faster and faster she flew, forming a whirlwind as she went. Pushing herself to go faster and faster, Rainbow Dash reached into herself, digging deep to call up the strength she needed. She was angry at these things; she wanted them gone, away. She wanted them to stop hurting her friends.

“Rainbow! What in Tarnation are ya doin’?”

“What…I…can…” the pegasus answered.  The whirlwind was growing; the leaves and branches of the trees were bending toward the vortex. Rainbow Dash grunted on lest time and burst forth from the funnel back to her friends. The creation of her weather magic ran in a looping path down the path, sucking up undead as it went. The grim muzzles of the monsters sweeping past as Rainbow’s mini tornado ran along. Rainbow landed next to Scootaloo panting from the exertion. She knelt down and scooped up the injured filly with one wing and fore leg, placing the child on her back.

[=HOPE=]

[=LOVE=]

“R-Rainbow Dash?”

“Rarity? Can you tie her to me?”

Rarity’s horn glowed as a line of fine rope flowed from one of her saddle bags, moving like a snake coiling around Dash and Scootaloo. Looping around the rope then twisted itself into a not with loose bow.

Twilight hovered overhead gritting her teeth as the yellow ring flared, disgorging a flight of spiked balls that struck more horrors. “We have to go-NOW!”

“Come-on squirt, we’re getting out of here!” Dash flapped her wings and gently rose into the air keeping the wounded filly on her back. “Hold on.”

A dark, croaking voice was heard in the forest, like a raven or a crow, sick from some illness that rasped it’s throat.

[=Emotional tether detected=]

[=Emotional tether detected=]

[=Emotional tether detected=]

[=Emotional tether detected=]

[=Emotional tether detected=]

[=Emotional tether detected=]

[=Emotional tether detected=]

[=Emotional tether detected=]

Applejack had backed up to her friends floating in the air, when the shadows of the forest exploded like a flash flood, death falling at the ponies like the waves of an ocean storm. A log fence of green appeared just as quickly, holding the torrent of undead.

“JOIn Us,” the voices of the zombies said as they pushed against Applejack’s construct. Cracks began to appear in the glowing shafts of ring summoned wood. The sound of cracking wood followed. On the floor of the little fort they sheltered in a sky chariot of yellow ring energy appeared, looking a bit like Princess Luna’s.

“Get in!” Twilight yelled as a beam of light from her ring cut into another zombie.

Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy paused. A collective unease went through them as they stepped onto the construct. A nervous smile flashed across Rarity’s face as she sat down next to her sister. Pinkie bounded on next, letting Applebloom roll off her back. Fluttershy touched the chariot then gasped. Her wings suddenly opened, flapping furiously. She shot up, passing Twilight and Rainbow Dash before coming back down.

Monsters spilled over the top of the fence, reaching out for Twilight. The chariot had began to rise into the air when she was tackled. She felt a cold touch in her chest just before the aura of yellow seemed to ‘thicken’ and disconnect the creature. She flailed her legs, knocking the attacker off. She was about to lift off when a scream form Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash almost made her loose the idea of the chariot from her mind.

[=FEAR=]

[=WILL=]

A dog pile of corpuses buried the Element of Loyalty, only her head and fore legs were free from the pile of flesh. The rope holding Scootaloo had broken, throwing the pegasus clear of the zombies and into a tree. She was back onto her rump shaking her head when two more of the dead things struck her.

“NOw You jOIn Us,” one croaked.

“NO!” Rainbow Dash screamed.

[=FEAR=]

[=WILL=]

Rainbow Dash began trying to buck, her body rolling along its length. At first she gained a bit of slack from the crush of undead on top of her, but each moment she touched them she felt like her body was becoming heavy. She also felt like her heart was being pulled at like it was stuck in tar and the more she felt fear, or drive and tried to use them to push herself to get out, the more she felt mired. He chest had suddenly began to hurt.

"I - I can't fight them off! I can't! I - "her voice had suddenly dropped and the only noise she made was a groan. She looked through fogging vision and saw Scootaloo had crawled away, only to have one of the monsters stomp on her. With a last groan, the filly laid down at the blood stained hooves of her attackers.

"Hang on! Ah'm comin'!" Applejack called out.

A large lawn roller crashed into the zombies trying to pull something out of Scootaloo’s chest. They smashed into a huge tree and were mashed into paste between it and Applejack’s construct. The farm mare came to a stop over the still filly as her ring flared again and a long rope of green energy shot out and coiled its way around Rainbow Dash in an eye blink. Applejack then pulled hard as green hay bales smashed against the pile of undead on top of her friend. Rainbow Dash came free and slid to a stop at next to Applejack and Scootaloo, the pain in her chest and the weakness in her body already fading.

With a slight shutter she sat up and looked around. The haze of her sight and her mind were starting to clear when she saw Applejack being surrounded by no less than nine of the Black Lanterns. A pile of them had pulled down the chariot and were all around her friends. Twilight was in the middle, creating what looked like a bubble studded with thorns. The monsters were beating on the bubbles in rhythm like drums. Small cracks started to appear in the yellow barrier.

"Oh no!” Tears fell from Rarity’s eyes as she hugged her little sister.  “We're surrounded! Oh my stars, why do we have to end like this!"

Dash then saw Scootaloo lying still next to her, blood dripping from her mouth and eyes. She saw the filly still breathing and pulled the child gently to herself.

‘There’s nuthin’ ya can do Rainbow. Get Scootaloo and git outta here! Ah’ll hold em as long as Ah can!’

Nothing she could do-her friends needed her –now more than ever-

-and she could do nothing!

“No!” Dash growled quietly into the ear of the child that held her in regard higher than the princesses of the land. “I am not letting that happen.”

‘Dig deep girl!’ Dash felt a fire in her heart as the thought of the whole thing passed through her mind. As it passed, the fire in her heart seem to spread into her mind. Her body began to tremble…

…and caught the attention of a small red star.

“Yes,” it said to itself. “This one is different. She as magic, special magic. Maybe, this is the one.”

Rainbow Dash started to take deep breaths, trying to clear her mind, but found the opposite. Like a bellows blowing air into a fire that grew with each blast the fire in her mind and in her heart grew with each breath. Slowly she looked around, taking deeper breaths as she watched her friends fighting for their lives.

‘There’s nuthin’ ya can do Rainbow.’

Breathes came quicker now, shorter. Her mouth trembled as lips pulled back from grinding teeth. The fire in her changed. She felt a prickling sensation alone her spine and nerves, like lightning but from within herself.  Tears fell on the face of the filly she cradled.

“ThE wOrld shall End, lIfE shAll fAIL…stArtIng yOU And yOUr friends.” A voice standing above her said.

Rainbow Dash felt a flow of fire and electricity explode through her, a new life filled her limbs as she spring into the air and on top of the two Black Lanterns that Applejack had knocked down. She had no thought or control as her hooves beat into the dead flesh of the undead things. Spittle and tears flowed from her as she struck, her muscles driven by the anger she felt.

A twinkling crimson light saw this, felt the anger at being helpless, the outrage at violation and the malice that drove her body now. The light smiled as it fell to earth.

[=Suitable candidate found=] growled the red power ring.

Rainbow Dash thrashed with her hind legs, smashing the skull of a Black Lantern in, the undead thing falling away as Rainbow turned with teeth barred on the other monster reaching for Scootaloo. She fell on it with no other thought then smashing it. She drove the body of the thing against the tree next to them and continued to smash. Gore flew out of wounds, covering Rainbow Dash. She didn’t care about it, about anything. She just wanted to hurt them, stop them. If they were living, she would want them dead with all her heart.

[=RAGE=]

Pinkie’s tail twitched, then her whole body began to shake, like a massive earth quake was using her body as its start point. Just as suddenly she stopped and looked up unto the sun lit sky and pointed.

“Look!”

A point of light appeared, bright even in the daylight high above. Very quickly it became a red comet, streaking down; its tail a mix of light and fire unseen before. The crimson bolt sparked and pulsed, petals of strange energy furling open and closed in a rhythm almost like a heartbeat.

[=Red Power Ring Detected=] Applejack’s green ring chirped.

[=Red Power Ring Detected=] Twilight’s yellow ring buzzed.

Rainbow Dash was suddenly being crushed again under a pile of bodies. Other black lanterns had come up behind her and covered her in another dog pile. The weakness she had felt returned, her struggles began to weaken. Her friends saw the hollow expression that seeped into her face. Her eyes were almost pleading…

‘Something…anything to stop these guys.’

“Rainbow…NO,” Twilight Screamed!

The falling red power rings light was blinding as it came down, falling with a purpose. The glowing band landed on the bare hoof of the pegasus as the last of her life almost flowed out of her.  Rainbow then felt a searing, piercing feeling like a hot metal poker driven into the depths of her soul. A growling, sneering voice filled her ears as something impossibly hot placed itself on her fore leg.

[=Scanning for Rage=] the red ring growled.

Bright sunlight shining off of sparkling clouds where what she saw.  Beautiful swirls of white linked by bridges of flowing colors. Wind blew through her mane, sending a cool rippling sensation over her coat. Looking behind her she could see pearl white columned cloud buildings towering into the sky and descending to the ground, pegasi flying to and fro all around. Rainbow took a deep breath, pulling thin air into her lungs that brought familiar scents that tickled her mind.

She heard the voices of children in the distance, laughing. Flapping her wings she lifted off, following the sound seeing in the distance two stallions and a familiar looking filly, tears beginning to fall from her eyes.

“Hahahaha! Nice going klutzershi. They ought to ground you permanently.”

Bully! Somepony ought to knock that smile off their face…

“Yeah, my baby brother flies better then you.”

…and that pony is me!

[=Scanning for Rage=]

Everywhere around her was the sound of buzzing. In front of her was a wall of a wall of changelings, glowing eyes and flashing fangs. She hovered over her friends, staring into the face of Queen Chrysalis’ soldiers. Hissing changelings began moving forward as her friends stood in place. Twilight scanned the invaders with her ears and eyes while Applejack crouched like she was going to spring.

'To Tartarus with the Queen and her bug ponies.'

Dash stretched her body, joints cracking as her muscles flexed, preparing herself for the hoof stomp she was joyfully about to give.

“Looks like we’re going to have to do things the hard way,” she said as she knocked her front hooves together.

[=Assessing Rage=]

Scootaloo’s blood was calling out to her! She could hear the blood… screaming, screaming for her! The image of the filly lying on the ground dying…her friends fighting…

“There’s nuthin’ ya can do Rainbow.”

A rhythmic booming sound filled her ears as cloud of red fire fell over her mind. Rainbow Dash’s anger became intense and pointed; like a spear made of fire and lightning. The urge to lash out became unbearable as fury grew in her heart.

“ThE wOrld shall End, lIfE shAll fAIL…stArtIng yOU And yOUr friends.”

Something like two searing prongs drove themselves into the back of her mind and she became lost in blinding crimson light. A low rumbling voice came to her ears as the light filled her soul.

‘Worthy!’

[=Rebecca Bayard Daschle of Equestria=]

Fire, burning liquid fire shot into her veins, flowing up into her almost still heart. Intense pain filled her chest. It felt like Celestia’s sun itself was in her chest, consuming her from within.

[=You have great rage in your heart=]

Her heart beat again, this time the liquid fire flowed through her arteries, carrying the strange energy to her limbs. Her whole body was on fire from within, burning with the energy of the red power ring. Lightning shot through her mind as…the ring…the ring learned her, connected with her….became her.

[=You belong to the Red Lantern Corps=]

Silence fell for a moment, an uneasy stillness enveloped everypony, living and undead alike. The silence ended with a sound that sounded like the roar of an animal of the Everfree; ferial and dangerous. A crimson glow began to shine underneath the pile of dead on top of Rainbow Dash. Suddenly they were a blaze, red roaring flames exploding followed by the bodies of the Black Lanterns flung out, charred and blackened.  Dirt, brush and what looked like blood swirled around, like a dirt devil in the desert, spinning around Rainbow Dash where the undead had tried to cover her.

A wind came up and cleared the air, red light shown anew. The dust cloud settled revealing Rainbow Dash standing firmly on her hind legs amidst a spread of damaged, charred and unmoving Black Lanterns. On her front right hoof was the Red Lantern Ring, burning brightly in a blood crimson glow. She was clad in strange clothes like those of Applejack and Twilight but deep red colored. An aura of red energy surrounded her being, churning and moving about her creating arcing bolts of red ring energy.

Her visage was ferocious now, gone was weakness and helplessness her face had showed just a moment ago. Now the once fearful eyes of the pegasus had shifted into a sinister, harden glare that could had killed. Rainbow Dash’s teeth bared and clenched the white shine streaked with blood that seemed to flow down her cheeks from her bleeding gums. An acrid smell filled the air along with an overwhelming feeling of rage. Rainbow Dash’s appearance was like that of a vengeful angel from ancient myth bringing the wrath of justice.

“B-By the sun and the moon,” whispered Twilight.

[=RAGE=]

A lone Black Lantern had started to reach for the still breathing Scootaloo. Red eyes flashed and the riquis faced Rainbow Dash turned to face the fell thing on the ground.

“BURN!” she roared.

Lightning flowed from the Red Lantern like water. The red electric arc hit the zombie, pealing the corpse’s skin then shredding the rest of the body with the curling, writhing ring energy. The black ring on its hoof became shiny for a moment as the red energy flowed through it.

Her friends all wrinkled their noses save Twilight and Applejack who could no longer afford to watch Rainbow Dash. The stench of the immolated undead was overpowering. Rarity grimaced and put a hoof to her mouth, barely holding down her lunch. Fluttershy rubbed some kind of ointment on her nose and passed the jar to the other ponies, each trying to keep from vomiting.

“It helps,” she offered.

[=RAGE=]

Scintillating crimson light showed forth as more ring lightning tore through the Black Lanterns like a storm.  Bolts of crimson ring energy surrounded Scootaloo, forming a kind of cage around the filly. She moved forward until a Black Lantern came between herself and the other lanterns. The red lantern roared again into the face of the monster and a torrent of burning liquid erupted from Rainbow’s mouth like dragon fire. The obstructing thing melted like a block of ice under dragon fire.

Sighing Rainbow Dash lowered her head, gazing into the red ring. “Your right Twilight, let’s go.” Twilight and Applejack had started to follow Rainbow Dash’s example, sending out bolts of their own ring energy trying to burn the Black Lanterns. Rainbow’s red ring began to boil and burn the Black Lanterns, wounds appearing and growing on the undead bodies faster than they could regenerate. Several slowed under the energy assault. Every so often a croaking voice was heard over the din of battle.

[=Connection Severed=]

[=Connection Severed=]

“It’s- it’s happening again Twi just like before!”

[=Connection Severed=]

[=Connection Severed=]

“Keep doing what we’re doing, whatever it is its working!” Twilight recreated the chariot next to her friends.” Get ready to leave girls!”

[=Connection Severed=]

[=Connection Severed=]

“RRAAAAAAAAAA! BURN! BURN….THEM…ALL!” the pegasus growled.

[=Connection Severed=]

[=Connection Severed=]

Applejack circled the battle site. The Black Lanterns were reforming very slowly. For the moment the attacks stopped; the still undamaged Black Lanterns melting beck into the forest. ‘We need ta get everypony outta her,’ she thought. A new ring had appeared; along with more undead her friends were still in danger...as were the kids. She hovered over her friends and the crusaders.

“Let’s get outta here Twi, now! Ah’ll take Everypony here, you grab Scootaloo and Dash!”

“I agree. “ Twilight descended and gently picked up the unconscious filly. “I’ll get Rainbow Dash.”

The scholar floated to her friend she stood glairing into the darkness. Dash twitched and jerked, like she was about to launch herself on to purse the Black Lanterns in retreat. A burning madness filled her far off staring eyes. The smell of burning, chard plants and flesh was around her. Twilight could see the drops of blood falling from the Red Lantern’s lips consuming whatever it fell on, a hissing, sizzling sound at the hooves of the red ring wielder.

Twilight gently tapped on Rainbow’s shoulder. The mare’s ring bearing leg whipped out, knocking touching lib away. The glowing red figure wheeled on her.  Burning eyes focused fixed on the Yellow Lantern of a second, then shifted to the wounded child she carried. The impressively spread wings drooped and furled as their owner shook her head like she was trying to get trapped water out of her ears.

“T-Twilight…Scootaloo….”Sparks suddenly flew from her ring aura as she spoke. Again blood flowed out of her mouth as she spoke. “Hurt…them…for…Scootaloo….”

‘Think fast Twilight’ “Rainbow Dash We've got to get out of here.”

“NO! DESTROY THEM ALL!”

Twilight swallowed hard. The red ring had said she had great rage in her heart. Rage…the ring used rage like her ring used fear. She needed to find a way to deflect the rage.

“Scootaloo needs you Rainbow!” Twilight held out the filly before her, levitating inside Twilight’s magical levitation spell. Seeing her number one fan seemed to give her enraged friend pause. Dash came forward and reached out to gently touch Scootaloo.

“She needs you Rainbow! She needs to get out here and she needs you to protect her. Scootaloo needs you to leave with her, now!”

The red lantern paused, trembling. Her body fidgeted back and forth as her face seemed to run through a host of emotions. Rainbow’s face then became fierce once again and she half turned to go into the forest. Twilight reached out again, softly pulling on of her wings. The pegasus stopped and turned around. The mask of anger she had worn against the Black Lanterns disappeared completely.

“She…hurt…bad isn’t she.”

“Yes and she needs help. We need to leave…now!”

Sighing Rainbow Dash lowered her head, gazing into the red ring. “Your right Twilight, let’s go.”

A talk with the salt of the Earth

A talk with the salt of the earth

by Crazymike Prime/Moon Chaser

Morning came again to Sweet Apple Acres, and found Applejack lost in her sorrow.

‘That was a heck of a dream,' she said to herself.

Applejack rolled out of bed and stretched. She felt sore all over as if she had run all night. Her legs seemed to burn with every step. It felt like it was not a dream.

She had run all night, at least in her dreams. It was the same as the last couple of nights.  They felt like memories and dreams mixed together. She seemed to relive many of the most difficult times in her life. She had relived apple buckin’ time, confronting Discord, competing against Rainbow Dash in the Iron Pony competition and a host of other difficult moments in her life. She had relived the running of the leaves. And strangest of all was the feeling she had looking at her opponent next to her at the start. Not hate…pride? No...It was more primal than that -- almost like the sense one gets before the breaking of a storm when all is still and quiet, but the storm tells you, on a level not perceived by yer senses but in yer soul -- it tells you it is coming and it will not stop. That feeling…it seemed to come from her core, to be a part of her, yet in a way she had only perceived in slight moments. It was like the tension of her legs just before she bucked an apple tree, or the flex of her body getting ready to race with Dash, or before a Rodeo. Was it her muscles? No...That wasn’t it either. It was more than that. It focused her; it directed her body with those muscles. It gave force to her actions. It even magnified her other emotions and made them more intense, like her notorious pride. It seemed to make her pride like stone! But it was more that even that. It seemed to fortify her, completely.

But then the night of the terrible fight at Sweet Apple Acres would replay in her mind again, and she would see her kinfolk raised from their rest, hearing their voices call out to her and the rest of the Apple family still living. Those voices…so hollow and cold, calling them to the grave! Granny had stared at her parents in horror, as they tried to consume her emotions.

“aNd WhaT cHaNCes dO yOu thINk yOu HaVE aGaInsT uSSS? Undead Three-Leaf’s words that night continued to haunt her.

And then Zecora’s face would appear to her in these dreams. At first alive and friendly as she had ever been. But then the visage would change to that of the Black Lantern. And seeing her zebra friend under the power of a black ring meant that she was dead!

"Green Lantern Jack. A way to win YOU LACK. You have tried YER BEST. Now you should lay down AND REST"

Tears started to run down the sides of her face.

The Black Lanterns had taken Zecora and made her one of them. She had been alone when they came, with no defense against those horrors. Nopony had gone to look in on her. Nopony had gone to warn her of what had been happening. All of her Ponyville friends hadn’t given a thought about whether or not their friend was safe in her seclusion. Nopony questioned if her magic and her skills in the forest would protect her. It had been a grave mistake! Somepony should have gone to her at least see if she was all right. Somepony should have gone and gotten her to leave the forest and come to Ponyville where Zecora could have been….

Saved.

And Applejack, remembered an old farm saying “Always check, ‘cause not checkin’ can git ya hurt”

…and she had not checked, and not checking had got her friend, the kindly and wise zebra of the woods…

Celestia’s wings…

…her negligence had got somepony killed and made into one of those… things!

…to compound her crime, she almost got her family killed too. Applejack had failed to act at that critical moment, allowed herself to falter, and caused her ring to deputize Big Mac, forcing him to have to intervene to save her and the family, and pulling him into this insanity. She didn’t want anypony else to have to do that.

Applejack rolled over on her stomach and opened her eyes. “Zecora” she sighed as guilt washed over her in a flood and ran out of her through her tears. They had started on such a bad hoof, but they had become good friends after that initial misunderstanding. She was always kind, friendly, and downright helpful . It was even fun to listen to her talk in rhyme...all the time.

Apple Bloom had seen Zecora as well! That had broken Apple Bloom’s mind, and her heart.

Zecora’s friendship, the life she shared with her friends, even family ties..that was all gone now. The Black Lanterns had seen to that.

“What a friend Ah’ am.”

She created a construct of a pair of tongs and looked at them, making them open and close, feeling their solidity in her mind through the ring. She had them rap on the bed post, hearing a faint echoing metallic ring as they struck. The tongs seemed solid, but were they solid enough? She sat back on her haunches and looked at herself in the mirror in her room. The Element of Honesty regarded herself in the mirror. She rarely looked at herself in any mirror. She looked at herself in a penetrating gaze that was for one purpose -- to assesses something deeper. Long ago when she was a filly she had done the very same thing the night before leaving Manehattan to return to Ponyville. That night she had made a decision that would determine the rest of her life, and had not looked back since. She was proud of the life she had led, fiercely so. She had sampled the glamorous life in Manehattan and at the end of that part of her life she found it meaningless.

And now? What meaning was there now?

She had not asked herself that question in a very long time! Not during her struggles with Nightmare Moon or Discord using her Element of Harmony, nor during the other mishaps and adventures she and her friends had experienced had she ever questioned what she was doing and why. This ring, these powers, her kinfolk coming back from the grave as Black Lanterns, the effect the rings were having on everypony, Dash building an army.  it was different this time. The Chaos of Discord was easy to face, she just lied to herself until Twilight broke Discord’s spell. It was easy after that too, she united with her friends to vanquish Discord and lock him back in stone. That was not happening this time. She felt..alone. So alone and lost without a guide and Applejack was in a place she almost never was in…

“Applejack ole’ filly” she said softly out loud to herself staring into her soul with the tongs floating next to her on her right “what are ya doin?”

When those words came to her mind, the force she felt in her, that drove her in her dreams, and fueled her power ring, seemed to shatter like glass!

As the question echoed in the room, the sound waves of her voice seemed to cause the construct to fade and scatter into green sparks popping from a dying fire. The tongs were gone, blown away by the wind of her voice.

But…she hadn’t willed them to fade away! She hadn’t pictured them dissolving to nothing!

“That ain’t right!” she said to herself.

She pushed her mind into the ring again, forcing the tongs back into existence in front of her. They appeared again, but something was different this time. They seemed less solid, less ‘real’. She also had to push harder than the last time to manifest them.

Using the ring was tiring every time -- like staying up late for one of Pinkie’s late night parties, or Twilight’s star watching sessions. It was a tired that didn’t come from a hard day of work on the farm. It was more like being worn out just by dreaming.

‘Twilight must not be havin’ that problem’ she said to herself ‘She exercises that noggin of hers every day like I use mah legs, She must be used to it.’

She let the tongs dissipate and got onto all of her hooves.” Ah’ should git somethin’ ta eat…time to git some breakfast.” But she really was not hungry.

She knocked the hat rack with her front left leg. The Stetson popped off the hat hook and on to her head as she headed downstairs to breakfast.

Applejack had only come down for breakfast for that last week, staying in her room and only venturing out to do little chores here and there. Mac and Apple Bloom had both tried to get her to come out of her room but she just answered their inquires by saying she’d be out in a bit. She’d come out, but say little and return to her room.

The sun had not come up yet, and the only light on in the ground floor of the house was from the kitchen. Big Macintosh was already up getting ready for the day. A big pot of oatmeal was already made and he was eating a huge bowl of oats with butter and honey. Next to him was a large hot mug of apple cider.

“Mormim’  AJ” Mac said, munching his breakfast. He was acting very normally.

“Mornin’ big brother. “ She grabbed the kettle and placed it on the cooking burners and lit the fire.

Mac swallowed. “Ah’m  fixin the back fence along the creek.” Applejack made an Uh huh sound. She had turned to rummage in the cabinets. “Ah just want tea or coffee” she said to herself.

“Then Ah’m repairin’ the main cart wheels. After that Ah’ll head to Twilight’s ta see if she needs any lantern help.”

She looked up from the cabinets, frustration fanning along her face. “We ain’t got any tea or coffee do we?”

“Nope.” Mac got up and rinsed his bowl in the sink. “Ran out 3 days ago. Told ya last week we were runnin’ out. Didn’t ya git any in town last week like ya said ya would?”

Applejack sat back on her hind legs “Nope, Ah plum forgot!” She closed her eyes and sighed. “Seems Ah’m forgettin’ a lot lately…like how to be a friend.” She lowered her head, closed her eyes and sighed.

Mac finished at the sink and walked over to his sister.  He gently nuzzled her “ Hey now lil’ sis…”

“Forget it Mac…Ah’m just a lil outa sorts is all.”

Mac  sniffed.” AJ, bottling up is only going to make you pop yer cork, or crack tha bottle. It ain’t healthy if-n Ah have ta pry what’s wrong out of ya. Com’on, talk to me."

Mac put his forelegs around her and pulled her into a hug. From under his hooves he heard her ask “is anypony else up?”

“Nope. We’re alone.”

She opened her eyes and looked at Mac. Her eyes were filled with tears. She shivered and trembled as she spoke.“Ah’ messed up big brother…Ah’ messed up somthin’ awful...an’ now one of my friends is dead.”

She was silent for what seemed like hours, Mac not letting go. “AJ…” he said softly.

“Friends look out fer one another…they help each other…” she was sobbing a little.

“..but ya were, AJ, don’cha see? Ya were…” the big red stallion said, still holding on to his little sister. Mac had only seen Applejack like this once before. ‘She was just like this when Ma and Pa died’ Big Macintosh thought to himself. ‘Just like when she was a filly.’

When she was a filly, Applejack had blamed herself for what happened to her parents. According to her child logic, she should have been big enough to help, and Ma and Pa would be alive because the accident would not have occurred.

Tears were falling down her hot cheeks now, ”Was Ah’? Ah’ wasn’t helpin’ Zecora…Ah’ was …”

“Ya were helping other ponies who weren’t yer friends, ya were helping Ponyville, an ya were helpin us.” He held her tighter.

She closed her eyes, tears still streaming out of them.

“Ah’should have been there fer her….Ah’ shudda at least checked in on her…”

“AJ…”

“The most dependable of ponies my eye…” she was sobbing now.

“AJ,” Big Mac said gently, ”even Celestia Herself can’t be everywhere all the time.”

Applejack stopped sobbing at those words.

“Even Celestia has lost loved ones.”

Applejack broke away from Mac and looked at her brother in the eyes, still crying.

“..and she’s had to do things as princess, make decisions as princess and take actions as princess, that hurt her or others, as hard as it is ta say.”

Applejack rubbed the tears from her eyes with her forelegs and sniffed.

“Mac..how can ya talk that way about the Princess? She’s been…”

“ I love and respect our princess, AJ! She’s been there fer all ponies more times than anyone can count fer eons! EVER! But even she is not all powerful. Even she needs help sometimes. Remember… she needed Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie…and YOU, to do things she could not do herself, with all her power, at least twice. She needed you to be who you are.”

“An who would that be? Ah pony that gits too wrapped up in her new toy ta care about what she was doin’?”

“No.” Mac got onto all his hooves and looked at his sister in the eye.. “a pony who is honest with herself, and with others, who says what needs to be said and even if it will hurt because a lie will hurt more, stands fast when it gits tough, won’t give up on her friends…”

Applejack teared up a little again, ”Ah’ ain’t gave up on ma’h friends! Ah’m the…” she started to interject.

“an’ especially..WON’T GIVE UP ON HERSELF.”

At those words, Applejack was quiet and looking at her brother. His words cut her to the quick.

Big Mackintosh nuzzled his sister softly, then grabbed his yoke off the peg on the wall and put it on over his head.

“Tell you what,” he turned towards the outside door. “Talk with me on the way to the fence. We’ll walk. Ya need to get outside anyway. Git some air.”

Applejack stood up and trotted to the door. “Ok,” she said.

The sunlight of Celestia was starting to make the sky pink as the night sky of Luna was slowly melting away. Only the brightest of her stars were now visible. The air was moist and cool. Dew clung to the soft grass. This was the sort of morning Applejack loved. When she was just a filly, Applejack would  wake to a morning like this and go to the barn and watch the world wake up, listening to the sounds and taking in the smells of the morning. It was beautiful and peaceful, and it helped her mood greatly.

A gentle breeze lifted some of Mac’s mane. He looked behind him as they walked. “ I love mornin’s like this, ” he said with a small smile.

Applejack simply sniffed. They walked to the back of the main barn to get to the repair cart.

She spoke first, “Big Brother…..”

“Umhum”

“It’s…well,” she stuttered a little, looking for the right words. “This business with the rings an’ all. It’s kinda eatin at me.”

Mac walked to the front of the repair wagon to hitch up. “ If it didn’t bother you, Ah’d think you had lost yer head sis. Rings that glow, let ya fly, make stuff outta nowhere…”

“ ..an the dead risin’ from the grave like some Nightmare Night story…only fer REAL!”, Applejack said as she helped Mac secure his yoke to the tool cart.

“Mac…our kinfolk came after us…US! Our own family! And they weren’t mindless like in those stories told at campfires! They KNEW us, knew Granny! They wanted us ta despair an’ die! All of us!” She shivered. “Havin’ Granny see it wus  bad enough..but Applebloom ! Ah’d have done anything to save her from that!”

“Ah’ know AJ…..Ah’ wish she hadn’t of seen  it either.” Mac began to pull the cart. “But that ain’t the whole of it, is it..?”

“It’s Zecora. They took Zecora and made her inta’ one ah those..things! My long dead kinfolk..somehow that ain’t as bad as ya might think….but Zecora! They made her come after us…her friends!” her voice trailed off.” Ah’ blame myself fer not checking in on her…”

“An’ now Ah’m asking m'self why. WHY?!? Why are our dead relatives comin’ back to try and get us? What’s with these rings? Somthin’ like these rings were made fer a reason? And why I….” She stopped and stood shaking in her hooves.”Why didn’t Ah check on mah friend?  An why ahm Ah'..”

Mac stopped and turned to look at her, waiting for her to finish,. The sun was just starting to show her face and the light played off the dew and made the grass sparkle.”

Why are ya…?” Mac asked.

Applejack paused and took stock for a moment. She wanted to get this right..and Mac, frankly was more eloquent than she ever was.

“This ring stuff is like magic..only this time I can’t lay it at the foot of no unicorn! It’s different..it’s like my Element of Harmony.. This thing… “ she raised her foreleg with the ring on it, ” ..it feels like it’s a part of me. No. It IS a part of me. An’ Celestia help me Mac…Ah’ like it, Ah’ REALLY LIKE it!”

“ All right,” the big red pony sniffed” where’s the ‘but’, AJ”

“Ah’m afraid of what I may turn into because of it..the power in it is..well maybe more than we know...”

“Wise to be cautious of the unknown, especially if it helps ya,” Mac said.

“An’ now you’ve got one of these rings…you didn’t ask fer that…you shouldn’t of had ta get that ring...I shoulda’…”

“AJ, if the roles were reversed, you’d a done the same thing…and don’t josh me or yerself, Ah’m grateful Ah’ COULD help. So many times with this kinda thing..Ah’ can’t help ya, all Ah’ can do is sit by while….”

“But  ya shouldn’t of had to..I should have been the one..”

“ Lil’ sister…me helping ain’t THE issue…is it?”

”No…” she said quietly, looking her brother in the eyes.”Ah’m afraid of messin’ up again!…fer letting what happened to Zecora happen to somepony else,” she sighed

“Understandable…” said Mac as he pulled the cart, its wheels creaking quietly with each step.

“An then there’s Dash…that ring of hers…the thing’s she’s done…Ah’ hardly recognize her with that red chip on her shoulders.”

Mac continued walking. Applejack trotted to catch up to him. “Sounds silly don’t it?”

“ No,” Mac said simply. “Sounds sensible ta me, frankly.”

That helped Applejack feel a little better.

“..the problem comes in when ya beat the tar outta yerself. Ah think it’s the other side of yer pride.”

Applejack gave Mac a hard look. “Whatcha’ mean by that?”

Mac shrugged. “ Ya take pride in yer work, which is good, ya ought to! Now because yer proud of yer work, ya work hard and make sure ya do a great job! Trouble is, when you mess up. When ya make a mistake, or fall short, or fail..that pride bites ya. Ya whip yerself frr NOT making expectations, or heap on yerself guilt fer letting others down. That pride of yers keeps ya from seeking out help when yer in over yer head…cause’ ya don’t want to look like a fool, or stupid, or weak. Thing is AJ… NOT seekin’ out help is what makes ya look foolish.”

Mac approached the fence rail section he was set to repair. He raised his forelock and used the ring to lift the wood out of the cart and stack the fence rail next to the section to be repaired. Power rings did make chores easier.

“Do you remember that harvest time when Ah’ had a cracked rib?” Applejack nodded.

“ You got yerself all in a lather sayin’ ya were gonna harvest all of the farm yerself, and sis, you did a heck of a job, no lie. But that stubburn pride of yers wouldn’t let you ask fer help, even when ya clearly needed it., and part of the reason ya wouldn’t ask fer help was because you didn’t want to admit it was too much fer ya alone. ”

Applejack stamped the ground with her hoof. “Ya don’t have ta remind me how stupid Ah was Mac”

“Yah…Ah’ do, because the other side of that pride is that ya don’t forgive yerself when ya make a mistake..ya tear yerself up and forgive everyone but yerself.

”If ya ask me, Ah think it stems from that time when ya moved to Manehattan to live with Aunt and Uncle Orange.”

Applejack glared sickles at her brother . ‘Ah’ hit a nerve’ he said to himself.

She growled, “What’s that supposed ta mean?”

“It means this, little sister. No matter what ya do, ya always want to be the best at it, an’ this green lantern thing is no exception. Ah’ think..” Mac manipulated a hammer using his ring. He also used it to levitate the nails he’d use with the fence repairs. “Ah’ think you should stop beatin’ yerself up. An in spite of all that’s happened, Ah’ think Zecora would say the same thing.”

Applejack looked at her brother with eyes a mix of mad, sad and glad.

“An.. Ah’ also think, with all that is going on, and all that’s likely to, all things considerin’:  you need to take a break and clear yer head.”

HUH?!?

“..and ya need to see yer friends..ya NEED their help?

Ah’..need…?

“..an’ Ah’ do mean today sis.”

Her eyes bugged in confusion, “What the hay?!?”

“Take a day off AJ; take some time to think this through, look at it more clearly. Go in ta town; get breakfast out, visit friends just as friends.”

Applejack stood stunned.

“Ah’can’t lay about, Ah’ve got responsibilities!” she growled. ”Ah’ should be doing chores with ya! Ah’ should be doin’ somthin’ useful! Ah’m an Element of Harmony and the first Green Lantern of Equestria, dagnabbit! Other ponies are countin’ on me ta…” She was cut off by Mac.

“AJ..Yer fierce, smart, and brave! But ya NEED to step back..and let yer friends help ya help yerself. If Zecora was still here…Ah’m sure she’d say the same thing.”

“But..” Applejack stammered.

“Ya can’t help anypony without helping yer self first, lil' sis.”

“But..”

“It ain’t selfish, and it ain’t letting anyone down if-n ya can’t help somepony else stand because ya can’t stand up yerself because ya were knocked down an’ hurt. The first thing ya need ta do is tell yer friends yer hurt, and admit to yerself that it happens time to time. The only time it IS failure is if-n  because of ya pride ya refuse to accept help, or that yer hurt.

Applejack stood speechless.

“ Now go on an’git. Head on out to Ponyville. Ah got work to do.”

And with that, Big Mac, using his ring, began to rebuild a fence in record time, and left Applejack in her own thoughts.

“These here rings can be useful,” he said.

Applejack for her part walked back to the house.”Maybe Mac’s right. Maybe Ah’ do need…mah’ friends...more than Ah’ know.”

Facing responsibility and doubt.

Facing Responsibility and Doubt

by Moon Chaser (DA CrazymikePrime)

After speaking with Big Mac, Applejack did not head into town. She turned away from her brother and headed to the barn and the house. The noise of fencing being pried apart at a pace she had never heard before was a little disconcerting to Applejack. She looked back to see the fence being torn apart by ring energy so fast it was like a mini twister was running along the fence line at Mac’s command, tearing up the old rotten fence rails and pulling the old fence posts out of the ground like the big stallion would pull out small weeds from a garden.

Big Mac looked behind himself and spoke in a louder voice than normally he would.

“AJ…that ain’t the way ta town.”

Applejack stopped and looked back at her brother. Mac had completed the demolition of the old and damaged fence sections already.  The fencing tools were still held in the grip of the ring energy, the green glow around them not unlike the glow given off things unicorns manipulated with their telekinetic magic.

“Ah know,” she said plainly. ”Ah figgerd Ah’d do somthin’ else first today, seein’ as Ah’ve been granted a day or so to mahself, whether Ah deserve it or not. Ah’m doin’ somthin’ Ah ain’t done in a while.”

Big Mac made a puzzled face, “Oh? An’ what would that be?”

She gave him a half smile. “Skippin’ stones an’ plinkin’ cans.”

His eyes narrowed.

“Don’t worry big brother, Ah ain’t borrowing trouble,” she said.

“Then what are ya borrowing headin’ back to the house?”

She gave him a wink. “Cans.”

Mac eyed her sidelong at that statement. He remembered the last time Applejack had plinked cans for thinking.”AJ…”

“What?” she said loudly as she trotted off. ”Ah ain’t plinked full cans since Granny tanned mah hide that time Ah ruined that fancy shmancy tomato sauce when Ahwas a filly.” She chuckled a little. ”Besides, they made pretty patterns didn’t they?”

Mac shook his head and returned to work, using his ring to manipulate the tools and materials. He carefully set the fence pieces in what would be their final position, using the ring energy’s grip to hold them until the hammer drove the nails home and completed the construction.

“Yessiree, mighty useful,” Mac commented to himself as he used more ring power to clean up the construction mess.

Applejack made her way to the side of the barn closest to the house. On the side of the barn she saw the scrap bin, where all the little scrap bits of metal, old used cans, and broken  tools that were unfixable were tossed The bin contained 6 baskets to separate and sort the different grades and kinds of metal. When a basket was full, it was taken into town for melting down and reuse. Copper lately had the best return of Bits in melt value, but Sweet Apple Acres had little in copper scrap to send in for money. The iron tools basket was half full, and would have to be sent in to the blacksmith soon to see if the steel tools could be re-forged and repaired to be used again, or melted down into raw materials. One of the baskets that was full was the one for empty cans. Since this basket was at the front of the bin, Applejack pulled the basket out and dragged it to the barn quickly. In the barn she dumped the contents of the basket into her old harvest carrier pack and, after filling the carrier baskets with the old cans, she heaved the pack onto her back and went out the back door of the barn heading to the west orchard, grabbing a few apples to eat on her way out.

The creek that fed the apple trees in the west orchard was the same one that a bunch of ‘varmint beavers’ dammed up and flooded the apple trees’ roots. If Fluttershy had not gotten the beavers to open the dam and drain the orchard, the damage to the trees and the crop would have been considerable. Applejack had called Fluttershy to help solve that situation after she had attempted to remove the dam herself only to get swarmed with irate beavers. That galled her! The beaver was on her land consarn-it,  and causing damage to her family livelihood. She had the inclination to smack the cantankerous beaver for all the fuss he had caused, especially after having to apologize the critter! Ugh!

Fluttershy had solved the problem quickly and quietly, without any fur flying, or further fuss and only a tiny scratch to Applejack’s calm.

But this time — there was no easy way this time!

And the guilt stabbed at her heart again.

“Ain’t no solvin’ this with a conversation and an apology, problem bein’…how do you apologize to the dead?” she sighed, “Especially when the one yer sorry to wants ya to die too?”

A lone tear fell from her eye as she prayed silently to Celestia, Luna, her relatives that looked in on her time to time, and any power in the world that could aid her that Mac was right, that her friends could at least ease the pain in her heart.

The sun had climbed higher in the sky as she was trotting to the west orchard. The trees were tall, their full leaves green and alive, as if promising a great bounty in apples to come. The meadow birds were singing in the branches of the great apple trees, their song soft and soothing to Applejack’s wounded heart. The creek that fed the orchard cut a gentle curving arc through the trees, the soft burble of running water adding to the beauty of the orchard. The orchard path threaded through the trees, curving this way and that and, while having a rising slope, it was gentle, making for a pleasant walk. The path ended at the back fence that separated the foothills of the mountains from the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. Just at the edge of the fence line was the pond that the creek ran out of. The creek was in turn fed from streams that ran down from the mountains into the foothills. Applejack had learned that there was also a spring that fed the pond, and that spring had a particular taste to its water that made it pleasant, and helped make the apples tasty as well. The work pony came up to the back fence and unloaded the pack onto the ground. It dropped with the hollow, dull ‘clang’ of empty cans. She dug out an apple and bit the fruit in half, popping and smacking as she chewed its sweet flesh as she began to empty the bag of cans.

The flat top rail of the fence quickly had cans of various sizes and shapes placed on it, each can, no matter its size, evenly spaced apart. Applejack then ate the other half of the apple and gathered up small stones, piling them next to the base of an outlying apple tree. A gentle breeze blew softly though her mane and tail as she popped the first smooth stone into the air. She quickly turned and raised her hind leg, cocking Kicks McGee back and connected with the falling stone, launching it at the cans on the fence rail. The rock passed over the cans, making a thump on the grass on the other side of the fence. Applejack popped another rock in the air, and kicked out again, with the same result.

She tried again and missed again. The cans seemed to be mocking her by just sitting on the rail unmoved.

“Dang it! Ahm overshootin’!”she said in disgust. ”It ain’t like me to miss with every shot.”

She changed legs this time. Bucky McGillicuddy smacked the stone dead center of a waiting coffee tin with a hard ‘clunk’. Applejack was rewarded with the sight of the can flying off the rail and tumbling to a stop in the grass.

”Now..That’s more like it!” She grinned as she prepared for another shot. She popped another rock in the air, and kicked with her right rear leg again. The ‘thock’ sound of her hoof striking the rock was followed by the ringing ‘clunk’ of another can flying to the ground off the fence rail. Applejack smiled a little and went to her pack to fish out another apple. She bit it in half again and chewed slowly as she headed to the pond edge and sat down on her haunches in the shade of an apple tree.

She kicked with her right for hoof at a stone on the ground, making it pop up into the air. Applejack smacked the stone away from her and it sailed across the pond, skipping once before sinking into the water. The stone had been smooth and flat, and she had hit it correctly, but she only got one skip out of it. “That won’t do,” she said as she popped another rock up in the air and smacked it over the pond. The smooth stone skipped a more satisfying three skips this time before it sank. ”Ha! Ah can still skip an’ plink.” She lay back against the apple tree and looked at the rippling water. The water reminded her of Zecora’s cauldron in her hut, the way it always was bubbling and rippling every time Applejack visited. The sunlight sparkled off the pond’s surface like sparks of magic, making the pond seem to glow a little.

She was going to get up and put back up the cans she had knocked down, but she changed her mind. She looked at the ring on her right foreleg. Then she ‘pushed’ her mind into the ring. The cans all glowed green, jumped off the ground and landed back on the fence rail exactly where they had sat before. Applejack leaned back and thought a moment.

“Ah wonder how well I can plink cans with mah ring?” She looked at the cans on the fence.

She imagined a rock the size she normally used for plinking forming and then hurtling at the can. There was a green glow in front of her at eye level and a green stone seem to condense out of the air. When the stone had finished forming, it flew in a straight line at the cans…

..and missed! Completely!

“Dang!” she cursed.

She tried once again, another stone appearing and flying at the metal containers.

..and again it missed.

She tried again, and again she missed.

..and missed again… and again…and again…

“Pony feathers! “ she snapped. ”This again!”

Once again the ring was behaving erratically. Before that horrible night she had no problem connecting with things made of the ring’s green light. Indeed, it seemed she could not miss. But now, she was having problems with the ring in all areas, and aim was just the latest ill. She went through things one by one.

Focus? No, she was as focused as ever. She could see the target can, and she could direct the stones she created at it. That wasn’t it.

Will power? No…not quite anyway. Yes it required greater effort of will to form the stones and hurl them at the cans, but that was not the issue.

Was it her ‘idea’ of the stones, her mind’s  ‘picture’ of them? She could ‘feel’ the stones in her mind, their heft, shape, and hardness. They felt identical, and for all practical purposes they were. No, that was not it either.

She formed another stone and waited before sending it flying, turning its pattern over in her mind while trying to maintain the stone’s form. Then it hit her. She wasn’t thinking about the whole thing put together CLEARLY! The grief gave her a kind of mental fog! She could visualize all the individual pieces clearly, but all together at once was very difficult. She did this every time, whether in apple bucking season bucking trees or at the rodeo in a competition —  a picture, an image of the whole action and its various pieces was in her head. It didn’t seem like that because she had done things like that so many times it was almost automatic, and there was no disruption in that composition of action — nothing dulled or broke that image in her mind.

This ring stuff was new though. And, like an athlete who has a major accident and has to relearn to move again, in a very real way she was relearning to use the ring. Much like recovering athletes who are unsure if they can really get back into their sports, she was unsure of herself as well. Those feelings of grief and guilt were making her doubt herself and her actions….

…and doubt was the bane of a lantern according to Twilight.

Realizing this seemed to help. The stone did not disappear this time. It faded a bit, but it did not disappear. She took a deep breath. She then dissolved it herself and recreated another stone to replace it. This time Applejack emphasized in her mind the stone’s existence and its form. At the same time she told herself to ignore the voice of doubt nagging at her; just concentrated on the stone and the can. This stone seemed to become more solid than the others, and she pushed back the ‘fog’ of grief in order to picture the whole action clearly at once. She then ‘pushed’ with her mind. It was her will that the image be so…

The stone flew straight and true, traveling so fast it was a blur to Applejack’s eye, but not to her mind.

The stone struck the large coffee can dead center!  A loud ringing ‘bang’ was heard as the can went flying off the fence rail. The stone flew on for a bit until it was Applejack’s will that it fade.

The can tumbled along the ground for about 20 pony paces away from the fence. Applejack got up from the tree and trotted over to the can to see the size of the dent she had made.

She rolled the can over under her hoof and found that the can had a hole in both sides. She had pierced it cleanly through!

She smirked. “That’s a heck of a trick!’

She turned around to return to the tree, using the ring to pick up the can and return ii to its perch on the fence rail with an undamaged side facing her resting spot and went back to plinking with the ring, and wondering why this weird piece of jewelry had attached itself to her. She continued her musings all through the day and into the night, staring at the moon and the stars, wondering about the rings and her place in the fabric of all things. Normally she didn’t worry about or need to address such philosophical questions, but this ring was like the Element of Honesty she was bound to — it seemed to demand she at least think about it. And Zecora’s death made it critical she ask the honest questions, particularly of herself.

It was late in the night before she came back to the house. She crept quietly in and up the stairs, heading to bed. But at the top of the landing, Applejack paused and looked in on all her family sleeping in their beds, checking first on Granny, then Mac and finally on Applebloom. Her little sister was sleeping restlessly, tossing and turning and mumbling quietly.

Applejack fell into bed and sleep came quickly. She was tired. No. Her MIND was tired, more tired than when she went to school, more tired than when she had been alone at apple bucking season. She was tired. Even filled with weird dreams where she had wings, sleep was welcome.

She woke up at just after dawn to the rooster’s crow. Quickly and quietly she got out of bed and headed downstairs. In the kitchen she found Mac had made some hash browns with cheese and left some for her on a plate before heading off to his chores. Granny and Applebloom were still asleep upstairs. She ate quickly and quietly, placing her plate in the sink before leaving the house. She intended to have lunch in Ponyville with her friends. Truth be told, she honestly wanted a friend’s shoulder to cry on.

The ring chirped at her this morning “[=Warning, Ring capacity 1.7%. Recommend Recharge immediately=].”

“Later, not now,” she answered it.

“[=Warning, Ring capacity 1.7%. Recommend Recharge immediately=]". The ring repeated its warning.

“Quiet dang ya! Later Ah said.” The ring was silent after that.

Applejack decided to take a scenic route out of the farm. She trotted in the morning sunlight, as the rays made the dew shine and sparkle. The world was green and alive, and the sparkle gave the land an aura of vibrancy. As she trotted over the lush grass and the full leaf apple trees, she was asking herself the same question over and over again:

“Why am Ah doin’ this?”

That was the rub…why? Why did she have the ring…why had it come to her? It was the Element of Honesty all over again. She knew it needed a personality with great willpower to… bond (wasn’t that the term Twilight used) with. No not that…she was asking a deeper why. Why had SHE been chosen for this? Why had her ring failed…why was doubt making it fail?

And why did she still want to get back into this fight? Why did she feel she needed to?

Those questions were easy: because she owed it to her friends and family. And because of her failure, she owed more than she was comfortable admitting.

…but she and her friends had really messed up...and a good friend had paid the price.

“ Mac’s right…Ah flog m’self fierce when Ah mess up….but Ahm the one who’s gotta hold me to what Ah say an do. It’s no one’s responsibility but mahn,” she said to herself quietly as she walked along the farm path.

“Ok…Ah messed up, an’ because Ah did mah brother had to step in and help save me an’ Granny an’ Applebloom, and now he’s involved in this here craziness we got with these here Black Lanterns...”

Applejack came up to a gated fence. Sweet Apple Acres was filled with fences and gates that separated the various orchards up into zones. There was the North, South, East and West orchards, the front orchard near the front of the house, and the Zap Apple orchard.

“ Ah think,” she said to herself, ”I need to talk to an old member of the family.”

The gate she opened was the gate of the path to the Zap Apple orchard. She stepped through the gate, using her rear right leg to lightly kick it shut behind her. She paused a moment to look on the Zap Apple Orchard and just took in the sight of the trees for a moment.

The Zap Apple trees stood like dark lightning frozen in time. Their trunks and branches had a jagged shape to them. Their dark ruddy bark also had the same kind of appearance, not smooth or in ordered lines like other fruit trees, it was also jagged, and slightly random in texture and contour, having a very subtle pattern to it like veins or lightning playing across the surface. The roots seemed to impale the ground at a sharp angle rather than gently grow down into the ground like other trees.

The trees were ordered in rows that were not straight and ordered, but seemed to jink a little, continuing the lightning theme the trees exuded. As Applejack trotted along the path she wondered what it had been like to see the trees grow on that first day, to hear the thunder as the trees erupted from the ground where Granny had first planted them all those years ago.

As she walked to the end of the path, she looked up from the ground and quietly greeted the one who she had come to talk to.

“G’mornin’, Flash, still standing tall Ah see…”

Alone from the rest of the trees, apart from the crooked rows they stood in, was the biggest Zap Apple tree of them all. It had been named Flash by Granny Smith when she was just a filly. That tree was the first tree that had grown at Sweet Apple Acres. Flash had started to grow slowly that first morning, the lone tree rising almost to full tree height by noon when the miracle of the orchard happened, when lightning and thunder seemed to erupt from the ground and the orchard had exploded over the land in one huge wave. At the time Granny said it seemed to her that Flash was the only Zap Apple tree, the rest of the trees seemed to be just the end of its roots pulled up out of the ground by Flash’s explosive growth at noon. As Flash was fully twice as tall as the next tallest Zap Apple tree the farm, it could be said that Granny’s statement hadn’t been far off.

Applejack walked up to the tree and sat on her haunches in front of its huge trunk between its equally huge roots. She sighed and closed her eyes, and placed the flat of her face against its rough bark. She felt…something gently touch her. Not something physical. To her it felt as if Flash reached out and touched her with magic, embracing her wounded spirit with its own.

Apples of every generation had done as Applejack was doing now, and as she had done long ago before. In hard times and when unsure or scared, or in need of something no pony could give, an Apple felt compelled to touch this tree and converse with it, hoping the anchor of the family could give them something, or just being glad to have somewhere a pony could actually unburden without fear or judgment. Flash was the beginning of all that she held dear, this mightiest and oldest of trees whose roots were literally the roots of the Ponyville Apple Family itself. Applejack felt when she touched the tree — she was touching the foundation of her life itself.

“Ya remember when Ah used to come ta see ya all the time after we lost Ma and Pa?”

A gentle breeze came up and made the tree’s boughs rustle, as if in answer to her.

“Yep…I was so lost then wasn’t Ah, Flash? Remember? Ahd hardly leave ya alone. Ah always reached out ta ya first because Ah was scared that any pony would be taken from me by...tragedy, an Ah didn’t want ta have that happen again.” She sighed a little. “Guess Ah really haven’t changed all that much from those days.”

But she had changed since then. She had grown to know how different the perspective was between being a foal with little idea of how things were, and where she was now, growing into a mare who had seen and done great things, some of which she honestly wished that she could forget. As an Element of Harmony, great power had been given to her, which she wielded only when necessary and only in concert with her friends. She did not fear the Elements or their power.

This ring on her front right leg, it was something else! Its power was singular, contained in a whole of itself. The things it could do on its own — amazing!

But to defeat the Black Lanterns, she needed the help of another ring wielder, using another color than the green hers used. In that one very important way, the Power Rings were just like the Elements of Harmony. The Elements would only work when used together.

She leaned against the tree and closed her eyes. It was then she felt…something. It was like a very soft breeze blowing over her ear…a…voice?

“Applejack...you are more than you know,” the voice said softly.

Applejack’s head came away from Flash’s trunk with a snap. She looked around and saw...nothing.

“…Zecora showed you what they will do. She bought you a warning with her life.” A filly’s voice?

“Ruby?!? Warning? What warning?”

“They will come for all. They will not stop.”

Applejack looked around frantically; her ring began to glow, awaiting the mental order to engage a threat.

“.., you must rise up, fight, and live, please” Ruby’s voice was fading and her tone had urgency…

“But...” Applejack stammered.

“You must use your light and become a star in their starless night they want to bring.”

“Become a star…in their starless night?! That don’t even make any sense!”

Ruby’s voice was barely a whisper above the wind. “Seek the book, it will show the way…you have three legacies to carry now…”

“The book...”  Applejack was puzzled. Books were Twilight’s stock and trade, and while the farm pony did read and enjoy a book now and then, she really wasn’t a scholar. What book was Ruby talking about? And what three legacies was she talking about? The earth pony conked her head with her hoof. “Ah must be outta my head,” she said to herself out loud.” Ah can’t talk to the dead...”

“No, honey child, ya can’t. But...sometimes they can speak to you.” Granny Smith’s voice came from behind her, kind but firm with that tone of piercing clarity that chilled Applejack to the core. Granny walked up and patted Flash’s trunk with her right front hoof. “ But ole’ Flash here…sometimes can be a kind of…lightnin’ rod…if-n ya understand mah meanin’.”

The tone Granny was using was when she was speaking of things that involved a rare gift few ponies knew even existed, and was the cause of her being a little ‘off’ even when she had been young.

Earth-pony magic.

Some called it ‘the sight’, others called it ‘the gift’, whatever it was, Granny possessed it. When she used it, Applejack got the willies. It was easier to be around unicorns with their magic, or pegasai with their weather magic, but earth ponies? Part of what an earth pony could use their magic for was to talk to spirits, even the spirits of the dead. When it was being used, it felt a lot like the foreboding Applejack felt when Zecora used her magic. Granny had it — as did Pinkie.

“Clarity is part an’ parcel of honesty, Granddaughter. An’ when it hits ya...it can strike ya like a bolt of lightnin’,“ the old mare said to her with a hint of humor. “Sometimes ya find out, what yer made of, ya know?”

“Don’t Ah know it,” Applejack said softly. “But, why me? An’ twice no less! Ah ain’t nothin’ special. Ah just don’t know WHY!”

“Ah do, Granddaughter!” Granny closed one eye and looked up at Flash with the other. “Of all the family..ya know who yer most like darlin’?”

Applejack shook her head, “No, Granny…Daddy Ah guess.”

Granny Smith  let out a cackle. Flash’s branches seemed to sway with her laughing. “No, Dearie. Of all of us...yer most like my oldest...so much so yer Daddy almost couldn’t stand it! He he he!”

Granny’s oldest was her son, Applejack’s Uncle Hard Cider. He was a stallion of massive size and attitude. He was hard headed and hard kicking. He also performed a hard job few envied — Police Inspector. He had left the farm when Applejack was just a filly and had worked in some of the worst spots in Equestria: the Bad Lands, Baltimare, Manehattan and San Flanksisco, and made a name for himself as a protector of the peace. He was also one who bucked authority and ruffled a few pony feathers along the way doing his job. No one in the family had loved Hard Cider. Applejack also knew that his leaving the farm had been the reason Daddy had bought the harvester to begin with. The result of the whole thing was that many in the family blamed Applejack’s uncle for her father and mother’s death, with Big Mac holding the largest grudge against him. Few in the family would mention Hard Cider at all. For his part he kept away, writing a letter every so often to Granny for her birthday, or on Hearth’s Warming Eve. By and large, Applejack felt it was unfair to her uncle, but Apples as a rule were a stubborn lot, and on this thing the entire family save Applejack and Granny just seemed to not be able to let go.

“Ya mean I left mah responsibilities an’ left mah loved ones a-hangin’?” She sneered a bit. ”Nah, let me guess…I LET mah loved ones get killed, carin’ not a bit about ‘em!”

Applejack started to cry. Granny came up to her and put her head onto the younger mare’s shoulders.

“Now, now, Applejack...listen. LISTEN! I know how the rest of the family feels, what they think. It ain’t true.! Hardy felt terrible about it. He even came home to try and fix things.” Granny took Applejack’s head into her old hooves and looked at AJ’s tear-filled eyes. ”No one would listen to him. They chased him off while Ah was in town gettin’ things ready for the funeral. By the time Ah came back, he was gone from the farm. Ah caught him before he left town. He told me somthin’ that ain’t ever left mah heart — ‘a pony’s got to know their limitations’. He knew he wasn’t going ta be a good farmer, that he had no talent for it. He left because he felt he had to be a protector, he felt he was made ta guard ponies’ sleep at night…and frankly, Dearie, Ponyville was relatively safe.” Applejack’s tears lessened. “You mam’ are a good farmer, a good baker, a good friend, and a good pony.  The fact this here thing with yer zebra friend tears ya up so bad says so. Ya CARE!” The old mare stepped back. “ You go places and do things no other earth pony can dream of doin’. Ya ask the hard questions sometimes, not ta be mean, not ta be difficult, but ta put things in perspective, ta see if others have thought this through. Ya stand up for others that can’t stand up for themselves.” The old mare smiled. ”Yer a protector, girl, pure an’ simple. Ya don’t go out lookin’ fer it like mah son, but when it comes, ya don’t back down from a fight — you kick in hard and all the way.” Granny whipped her tears away. “You, young’un, are a great Apple! And ya do one important thing that makes an Apple an Apple more than anythin’.”

“What’s that?” Applejack asked glumly.

Granny spoke with a hint of menace. “Apples NEVER quit.”

The blond mane and tale of the apple farmer fluttered in a suddenly stiff breeze. She sat down at the base of Flash’s trunk.

“Ah can’t prevent anyone else from getting involved. To make sure whut’ happened to Zecora does not happen again..it means Ah need help. It takes more than one color ta beat ‘em.”She sank to the ground, laying her head between the tree’s roots. “Ah can’t do this by m’ self can Ah?”

“No, honey child, ya can’t” Granny Smith looked at her granddaughter. The old mare’s eyes held a look of concern. “Ya need to get yer head set on what ya gotta do. Ya follow?”

“No. Ah don’t.” Applejack sat up and looked at her grandmother hard. “What’cha mean?”

“Your brother is helpin’ ya now, like it or not. I think…” Applejack’s ring flashed green quickly.

Applejack was on her hooves standing as tall as she could. A cold form of rage was in her voice, her green eyes blazing with fire like her ring. “No. No. No. NO. NO! NO!!!! AB-SO-LUT-LY-POS-O-TIV-LY NOT!! Unh-unh!! By Celestia’s mane! Ain’t no way am Ah gettin’ anyone else wrapped up with these here rings if-n Ah can help it!”

She sniffed as she moved away from granny, the air smelled a little foul to her.

“Child…” Granny tried to start again.

“No way!” Applejack trotted and then started to run away from her grandmother, gnashing her teeth. The ring flashed again. Applejack’s hooves glowed a little with ring power, helping her move. “Ah ain’t involving anyone else, Granny. Particularly my kinfolk. NO!” She looked behind her, “Please…don’t ask me again!”

“Applejack…” Granny’s voice cracked with a hint of fear.

“NO! Ah mean it!” she yelled. She had been in a run before she had turned to yell at Granny...

…And that was when she saw it.

The Edge of Sweet Apple Acres and its Zap Apple grove fence line butted against a part of the Everfree Forest. Normally it was quiet; a few interlopers would scurry out here or there, but wild creatures of the Everfree rarely entered Sweet Apple Acres. The few times it had happened, Applejack or Big Mac had taken care of the interloper, driving it back to the forest with only a little disturbance. But, with the Black lanterns loose in the forest, things had been stirred up and now the most dangerous creatures in Equestria were trickling out of their home and going out into the wider world to get away from something that was nastier than they were.

And one of those creatures was here now.

Applejack’s eyes beheld the largest Timberwolf ever to been seen. The creature stood almost as high as the Apple Family house, growling and giving off an awful stench somewhere between rotting wood and rotting flesh.

...It was between Applejack and Granny.

The monster turned to face Granny, and, as its body of wood turned in the direction of the old mare, its evil green gaze fixed on her. It made a growl that shook the ground and made the Zap Apple trees shiver. Granny made a slow move to try and get to the tees for some kind of safety. The wolf set its rear legs as if getting ready to spring on the old green pony.

Applejack herself was gripped with fear. The world seemed to slow down to a crawl. She felt as if she was moving through thick syrup, her body was slow, moving so slow it hurt.

‘It’s gonna charge...and Ahm too far away…” She was starting to run to Granny as a terror washed over her. “Ah let it happen again…AGAIN!“ Despair started to fill her heart as she saw the Timberwolf begin its charge at Granny.

Applejack’s mind and heart were awash with emotion. ”Have ta stop it...” she told herself.

“Have ta...” She felt something different, like an old knot in her muscles letting go…

She focused on the wolf. She was running at a full gallop now, but she knew her legs could not get her there in time. Nevertheless, she pushed herself even harder, in her mind reaching out to her grandmother.

Through the ring.

“Not.. .gonna… let... it... happen.” More knots seemed to slacken. Her mind and the drive in it seemed to knit together, the fear pushing her to act and not to doubt.

“[=Warning, Ring capacity 1.7%. Recommend Recharge immediately=].”

“Not… gonna… let… it… happen… EVER… AGAIN!!!!!!!!!” And for that moment, the moment she decided she would never let harm come to her loved ones within her sight, for that instant, her shattered drive, her willpower, crystallized whole and clear.

"[=Willpower uncompromised. Re-activation of Lantern Prime=]" Applejack was covered in green fire and was again enveloped in the Uniform of the Green Lantern Corps. The ring on her foreleg glowed brightly.

“[=Warning, Ring capacity 1.7%. Recommend recharge immediately=].”

In her mind, it was her will Granny be protected by the most impregnable defense she could imagine, Nothing else mattered. NOTHING! Her mind thought of the strongest barrier she could imagine…

In front of Granny, appearing in a cascade of green shimmer, came block after block of large wall stones made of green ring energy. First in a trickle, then in a torrent, the blocks appeared and fell into place, knitting themselves together between Granny and the Timberwolf in the blink of an eye. The wall was ten pony paces thick, 40 paces high and 100 paces wide. Its top was lined with crenellations.

Applejack had willed that Granny be protected by the walls of Canterlot.

The Timberwolf slammed into the wall at full speed. There was a huge crashing noise and the scream of the creature’s voice as the impact shattered its body into an explosion of wood pieces looking like the leftovers of logging gone horribly wrong. Applejack’s construct wall did not crack in the least. No stones shifted even a bit. They stood there as immovable and resilient as if they were the walls of Canterlot itself.

“You okay, Granny?” Applejack flew up to the construct wall and landed on her hind legs. Granny struck the wall hard with her hoof. It felt and sounded like solid stone. The old mare laughed.

“Ah’m fine, dear. Little more thump in mah ticker, but otherwise Ah’m fine.” Granny looked up and down the wall. “ Little much doncha’ think?”

“No, Ah don’t!” Applejack created a large dustpan and broom and swept the Timberwolf pieces up and then dumped them back into the forest, scattering the pieces around to delay the wolf’s reformation. “But..You were right about one thing?”

“What’s that ?” Granny asked.

“Clarity does strike ya like a bolt of lightnin’!“ Applejack dissolved the constructs and reverted to her normal self. ”Ah’m goin’ into town Granny, to see mah friends and get some supplies. We are outta COFFEE!”

Granny made a sour face “Ah know…an’ you need to lay off an’ leave the rest of us some! Swear Ah never saw the like — a mare who can eat and drink more than most stallions’.” She looked out over the forest with a worried look on her face, “Applejack, all kiddin’ aside…that had ta be the biggest Timberwolf Ah ever did see. If there are more like that one...”

“Ah know, Granny. That’s what worries me. Ah have a feelin’ we’re due fer more… Ah know it in mah bones.”

Raindrops the Mighty- who would not take a 'no'.

Raindrops the Mighty - who would not take a 'no' as an answer.

by Moon Chaser (DA CrazymikePrime)

She had seen what had transpired with Applejack and the Timberwolf on the ground below her cloudy vantage point.

“Now I have my chance,” Raindrops said to herself as she spread her wings fully open.

For days the jasmine pegasus had been trying to talk to the holder of the first green power ring to no avail. Applejack had refused all visitors and had only spoken to her family. Raindrops had used the pretense of meeting with her about the planned rainfall for the orchards, only to be turned away by her grandmother. Yesterday she had tried again to talk to the first green lantern to be told she was out of the house. A quick search for Applejack had yielded nothing and Raindrops had to return to work. At sundown she had tried again, and again the old green gray mare answered that Applejack was still out of the house. Raindrops then returned to Ponyville and searched a bit, hoping that the farmer had come into town, but everypony she talked to reported that Applejack had not been seen.

She had set about work earlier this day, dutifully arranging rain clouds for the orchards. It was her last job of the day and she had just about finished when she heard the roar of the Timberwolf. That got her attention. She had looked down through the clouds to see Applejack and Granny Smith below. Raindrops had been too high to help them, but it didn’t matter…the green ring stopped the wolf attack.

Today fate had placed Applejack directly under her. Raindrops began her dive to the ground.

Raindrops, in her heart, had recently felt  the cold tearing grip of real fear for the first time in a very long time.  But she also was determined to do something about it. To her, it seemed the answer was not to be found in the Yellow Light that powered the Rings of Fear. Rage? NO! Her fear of being enraged again, especially in the light of just how strong she was, had caused her to rein her anger under an emotional web of chains, locking it away behind a mask of stoicism. That mask made her appear too dull and stable, but it was better than her cutting loose. She just didn’t know if she could stop herself from hurting other ponies if she snapped. She rejected the draw of the power of Rage, especially after what Rainbow Dash had almost done to Cloudkicker and the dream she had, imagining herself as a Red Lantern, raging at everything in her path, then ultimately turning that hate in on herself to burn what she despised in herself away. It had been a chilling dream, and it had convinced her that Red Rage was not the path for her. Green was the color of Will she had been told, and the Light of Will seemed to hold her answer.

.. and Applejack was here, and it was apparent that the ring still worked for her, despite the accusations of the loose lips of the Red Lanterns.

Raindrops started to come in for a landing next to Applejack, when the Green Lantern leaped into the air and backed away from Raindrops’ landing spot. The Green Lantern landed on the ground, placing herself between Granny Smith and Raindrops, her foreleg up, presenting the blazing green ring as if she were about to attack with it. Applejack’s ears were laid back; she bared her teeth in a fearsome kind of smile. Her narrowed eyes seemed to burn with a green fire that was focused on Raindrops. The pegasus did not move, her eyes wide in wonder and shock. Applejack was quiet and still for a moment.

“Dagnabbit!  Don’t DO THAT!” GL Applejack yelled behind gritted teeth.

She lowered her leg and the ring upon it down, the green glow of the ring’s light fading along with the fire from her eyes.  The uniform of the Green Lantern Corps also faded away and Applejack became her regular self again.  Raindrops closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  Applejack’s reflexes were legendary among earthponies, but Raindrops had seen nothing like that, ever. Did all rings do that to their wearers? If so, Rainbow Dash was even more formidable then she had imagined.

“How…” the pegasus started to ask.

“The ring! It warns ya…especially if yer ‘on guard’… of a close threat, where it is, where it’s comin’ from…but it don’t identify it!” Applejack stamped her hoof. “Dang it girl! I might a burned ya!“

“But…then how did the Timberwolf take you by surprise?”

“It wasn’t close enough, an Ah wasn’t on guard!”  Applejack blew air out in a hard puff.

“Ah’m sorry Raindrops…having one of these rings ain’t all cider an’ tarts.”

The pegasus nodded slowly, indicating her understanding. Granny Smith walked up to her granddaughter and gently patted her on the side.

“Applejack,” Granny gestured at Raindrops with her hoof, “this here flyin’ filly bin tryin to talk to you fer most of the week now.  Ya might say she’s got a real burr under her blanket.” Granny smiled.

“Ah don’t really feel like talkin ta anypony right now, Granny.”

“Ahhh…go on now youngun’. Talk to her…heck you probably scared her outta two years growth with that stunt ya just pulled.” Granny nudged her reluctant descendant in the side. “Go on youngun’, ya gotta talk to the outside world sometime. Now’s as good a time as any. Besides, every time she asked about ya she always started with askin’ how you were an offerin’ to run some rain water out for us. Go on…talk to her.”

Applejack sighed and waited for a moment, then turned to look at the visitor. “Ok…as ya can see, Ah’m fine. Now, whatcha needin’ from me then, girl? What is so all fired important that ya gotta come out here and brave Granny’s wrath ta see me?”

There was no other way to ask it. Raindrops’ stoicism and Applejack being the bearer of the Element of Honesty left no way but the plain simple truth and that meant a straight honest answer, and Raindrops’ determination to not accept no as an answer.

“I ask you to give me a ring like you have. I ask you to empower me as you have been empowered. I ask the Element of Honesty to make me part of the Green Lantern Corps. ”

Applejack’s face scrunched into a visage of rage that rivaled Rainbow Dash. She kicked one of her hind legs out in anger. “ NO!” she yelled “NO. There. Ya asked a question…an’ ya got yer answer. Ah ain’t gonna just hoof these things out like they’re candy on Nightmare Night. ‘Sides there ain’t no Green Lantern Corps...just me.”

“Macintosh?” Granny asked.

“That wasn’t mah choice an’ you know it dang it!” Applejack started to turn away; Raindrops held up her hoof and did something she had not done, ever. She pleaded.

“Wait! Please hear me out!”

Applejack paused at that. Raindrops had always been so serious and quiet. She never said much and when she did it was for a reason and to the point. It was a trait Applejack respected highly.

Granny looked at Applejack and gave her a slight frown. The old mare then motioned with her head to turn back and face the pegasus again. ‘If you won’t listen to me, listen to her,’ Granny thought.

“Ok then.”  The farmer turned back to the weather team member and sat down. Applejack’s face showed a quiet but respectful annoyance. “ Ah’ll give ya a fair hearin’ an honestly weigh what ya say. Understand…ah ain’t inclined to let anyone else get hurt.”

“That is why I ask. I don’t either!”

One eye of Applejack’s opened a little wider in wonder, “Whatcha mean?”

“What have you heard of the Red Lanterns? What have you heard about what they are doing and saying? “

Applejack reached up under her hat and scratched her head. “Not much of anything really…why?”

Raindrops sighed. As much as she disliked Rainbow Dash, Applejack was a close friend of the Red Lantern leader. There was no way this was not going to hurt. “The Red Lanterns grow in number by the day. I understand your reluctance to give such power away to just anypony; I think it wise. Rainbow Dash shows no such wisdom or restraint. She is actively inducting ponies into the Red Lanterns.”

Applejack shook her head slowly. Raindrops continued, ”The Red Lanterns are using their power for more than fighting the Black Lanterns. They are using their power to ‘punish’ those who they say are guilty and deserve the vengeance of their wrath. Their power prevents anypony from standing up to them. The normal ponies in Ponyville are scared. Frankly, I am too.”

“Twilight Sparkle cannot balance them out with her Yellow Ring. ‘Queen’ Fluttershy shows no inclination to…”

Applejack raised a hoof, “Wait a second now…QUEEN Fluttershy? When did she start calling herself that highfalutin’ title?”

Raindrops shrugged. “A day or two ago the newly inducted members of the Star Sapphires started calling her that. By the way, the users of the Violet light are also expanding in number. The Indigo Herd grows in number, too.”

The farm pony put her hooves to her head in dismay. ”Celestia daggit…it’s growin’. That was what Ah was afraid of.”  She looked up at Raindrops, “Ok…what else have Ah missed from bein’ locked up in grief.”

Now Raindrops’ eyes widened a bit. ‘Oh ho…grief is why you shut yourself in your house! That explains a lot.’ she thought to herself.

”Days ago Rainbow Dash tried to induct me in the Red Lanterns. I refused after I had a night to sleep on it. I dreamed of what I would become wearing the Red ring.“ Raindrops shuddered. ”I do not wish to be that…creature. I saw that creature the day the filly destroyed the school, and later after somepony else said no to Rainbow Dash. I simply told the Red Lantern no.” She took a breath.” Cloud Kicker said no and then insulted Rainbow Dash over her use of the Red ring, calling her out on the violence the Red Lanterns had used. Your friend did not take it well. She raged! I do believe Rainbow Dash was capable of…anything right then and I do mean anything! We…no, I was powerless to do anything to help Cloud Kicker. I wanted to but what could I do? I had no chance against Rainbow Dash with her Red ring.”

Applejack bared her teeth and shook her head “No!”

“There is something else you should know too, Element of Honesty. There have been other fights in the last few days with the Black Lanterns. Small ones, but many have asked where you were. It is being said among the Reds that you have abandoned your friends and your duty.” Applejack’s mouth dropped and her eyes went wide. Raindrops looked at Applejack directly in the eyes. The green lantern could see for an instant the spark of green will in the pegasus. “It is being said that you have let ponies down.”

“WHAT!?”

“That is what is being said,” Raindrops stated flatly.

The farm pony looked at the ground and then closed her eyes. “Maybe Ah have…maybe ah have…” she said under her breath.

Granny Smith’s face became a scowl. “Who in Tartarus is sayin’ such things about my granddaughter! That ain’t true at all!”

“No it’s not Mrs. Smith. I know it’s not.” Raindrops looked at the old mare. “But I have an obligation to tell her. As for who started it? I do not know which pony began the accusation.”

Applejack breathed quietly, her lips drawn into a frown.”No.” she said softly.

The pegasus and old earth pony looked at Applejack as she stomped her hoof and said more loudly, “NO! Ah can’t help anypony if Ah can’t help m’self. My friends can’t help me if Ah won’t let ’em help me! “ Applejack got up and faced Raindrops. ”Ah didn’t help a friend, an’ now she’s gone. You ready for that, Raindrops? Yer askin for a bushel of brambles takin’ on one of these rings.” Applejack kicked the dirt.

“There is more,” Raindrops said.

“Oh course there’s more…there always is!” Applejack snapped. ”What else is there? Let’s see: RD’s gone plum loco, Fluttershy’s settin’ herself up as the ‘Queen of Love’, Rarity is making herself into some kinda crazy councilor with groupies, and Twilight’s making herself into Nightmare Moon part 3. What else? Pinkie’s marryin’ Discord?”

“Twilight Sparkle quietly has said to some other ponies from Canterlot that she thinks and feels that this is just the beginning of a storm, that we may be facing a war, a REAL war for the first time in centuries! That the Black Lanterns are only beginning.”

Raindrops looked Applejack in the eye again. ”If this is so, somepony will have to fight. To fight the Black Lanterns a pony will need a weapon that can stop them. I have decided to fight them.” She opened her wings wide. “I have decided for the sake of balancing out the brutality of the Red Lanterns, to face the Black, to be able to do SOMETHING in all this…chaos, I must get a ring. I will not be a destroyer consumed with blind rage, or a monster of fear! Too many ponies are already afraid, including me. I will not be afraid any longer! I will no longer sit by, I will do something! I do feel for others, that is part of why I’m here, so no Indigo ring will have me. Green holds my only answer. I ask to be a Green Lantern!”

Applejack looked the pegasus over. Clearly she was weighing what she had been told. Granny Smith stroked the side of her granddaughter. “Applejack, you said it yerself, to me and to Flash and you know it…ya can’t do it alone.”

Applejack sighed. ”Ah know. Ah just don’t want to drag ponies into this if Ah can help it…Ah don’t want to send ponies off to get hurt or…die! But it looks like that just ain’t in the cards.”

“She’s here askin’, that ain’t draggin’ anyone… got no right to do that. No. She’s here offerin’,“ the old mare smiled. “Please, sugarcube. Don’t let your brother be the only one ta help you. Mah gut says Twilight’s right. Yer gonna need all the help ya can get. The best ya can do is give the willin’ the means to do a bad job and show ‘em — the right way.” Granny chuckled a little. “Besides, if li’l Miss Dash has really got outta hoof, they need ya. Yer the only pony Ah know who has ever been able to put Miss Dash in her place.”

Applejack sighed, “Fine. Why not.“ She brought up the leg with the ring on it. “Ah just wish Ah knew how the ring made another, or why and how it chose who would get to have it. Ring?”

[=information request?=] the green ring asked.

“Um, yes.” Applejack was startled.”How do Ah know that somepony is ok to have a ring?”

[=Green Lantern Power ring is programmed with criteria and personality matrix biases for determining who is suitable for induction into corps.=]

“Ah only understood one third of that. Come again?”

[=Green Lantern Ring can determine who is worthy of service to the corps.=]

“Ok. Um…can Ah tell you to look at somepony and see if they’re worthy?”

[=Yes.=]

“Um…please look at this pegasus and tell me if she is ok for a ring?”

A beam of green light shot out of the ring and played out over Raindrops. She felt the light looking into her, especially in her mind. The beam stopped.

[=Subject sentient Raindrops scanned. Assessment: suitable candidate. Necessary Willpower strength and moral make up found.=]

And there it was. The ring had found Raindrops was worthy. Applejack resigned herself to what she was about to do.

“Can a new ring be made for Raindrops? How do Ah do it?”

[=Mental command is all that is required for duplication and deputation process. Warning! Ring charge critically low! Recommend recharge before proceeding with process or remaining ring charge of 1.6% will be split between prime ring and secondary ring.=]

Applejack pushed the thought into the ring, ‘duplicate’.

The ring burst out green light with sparks which twisted and formed slowly into a loop. The sparks condensed into the loop and slowly the loop formed into a Green Lantern ring. It hovered in the air, pulsing with green light as if waiting for something.  Then the ring felt around Raindrops, circling her like a tornado wind of green light.

[=You have been chosen.=]

She put her left hoof up off the ground and the ring placed itself on the end of her leg. She felt filled with a strange feeling as it attached itself. She could feel the light running up her leg into her body and into her mind. It touched her here and there like it was a kind of tree making its roots bore into the ground. It was strange. She could almost hear another voice in her mind…like it was singing notes trying to make harmony with her own mind’s song. Slowly a uniform of black and green like the one Applejack wore formed over her body. She stood on her hind legs up into the air, her wings opened wide, her feathers seem to grow a bit too, flickering with green light.

[=Rebecca Deloise Showers of Equestria:= ]

[ =You have the power to overcome great fear. = ]

[ =Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps= ]

Granny gasped at the sight. She had seen Mac’s induction that terrible night. This one seemed different.

Raindrops looked at herself and marveled.  The costume fit perfectly and it had come from nowhere, formed from the green energy of the ring. She also became aware of what Applejack had said. She could sense things around her if she reached out with her mind and told the ring to do so. No wonder Applejack moved like she did.

[=Induction Green Lantern 0002 complete. Warning Ring charge critical, recharge immediately!=] Raindrops’ ring screamed. She looked at the ring and asked, ”How much charge do you have, ring?”

[=.5%=]

“ Ok. Ah guess I gotta get the battery out for ya. Hope yer ready for a real strange feelin’.” Applejack used her ring to summon the battery from its dimensional pocket.

A lantern-shaped object appeared in front of Applejack and Raindrops, floating in the air between them. The farm pony used a hoof to turn the lantern around so that its opening faced the pegasus.

“Put yer ring in the openin’ against this lantern-shaped battery and say the oath. Don’t worry, you’ll know the oath. It’s in yer head now…and be ready for a ride!”

Raindrops thrust her left hoof into the lantern face and suddenly she felt something like fire shoot into the ring and then into her.

[=Imprinting Lantern 0002.=]

She was in darkness and then the light from the lantern seemed to grow. In her mind words came and she found herself speaking the words out loud.

“In brightest day, in blackest night,”

She was surrounded by a swirl of green light. Points appeared in the maelstrom of green fire. The points slowly grew into shapes of beings. Some looked like monkeys from the zoo, another looked like a diamond dog, another like a jellyfish, others she could never describe they were so strange…what were they?

“No evil shall escape my sight.”

More of them appeared. It looked as if she was one of them — a multitude around the lantern-shaped object that now was glowing bright like the sun. All the creatures seem to be reciting the oath with her.

“Let those who worship evil’s might,”

She saw one of the beings look at her. It had 2 legs and 2 arms. Its head was like a bird’s with a beak and a crest, but the crest on top of its head was like a fin from a fish.

What were these things? So many! So different! Who were they? Was this what Applejack had seen that time she charged her ring in front of everypony? Where these beings the Green Lantern Corps?

“Beware my power , Green Lantern’s Light!”

She felt the power surge into her ring and into her. It was familiar for some reason, but different…and it felt…alive!”

The images faded and she was again in the zap apple grove with Applejack and Granny Smith.

[=Imprinting lantern 0002 complete. Ring capacity 100%.=]

Raindrops seemed dazed for a moment. Her eyes glowed with green light just like Applejack’s had.

“Well?” Applejack prodded Raindrops with a hoof. ”How was it? Whatcha see?”

“Was…were those…”

“The Green Lantern Corps? Ah think so. Ah’m more of a do-er than a talker. Ah should have asked this ring more. Every shape of critter with a mind seems to be able to be a green lantern. It also seems that the ring gives you basic…ideas as to what a green lantern is and… ”

A beam of light shot out from Raindrops’ ring. The beam struck Applejack’s ring.

[=Assessment revision upon imprinting Lantern 0002. Psychological and Moral matrix indicates Recruit Lantern 0002 Raindrops suitable candidate for consideration of Alpha Lantern status after requisite experience and assessment of record.=]   both rings said in unison.

Applejack made a ‘what the hay’ face. Raindrops herself was perplexed. Alpha Lantern? No pony had ever mentioned an Alpha Lantern. Not the Red, the Violet, the Indigo or the Yellow! What were those?

“Um, ring,” Applejack asked, “What did ya mean Alpha Lantern? What is an Alpha Lantern?”

[=One of the designations of office and position of the Green Lantern Corps. The function of the Alpha Lanterns is to serve as a special detachment to enforce the laws of the Green Lantern corps according to the prime dictates of the Book of Oa and to police members of the greater Green Lantern Corps. One of the many offices and designation in service. These are outlined in the book of Oa along with the Prime Rules all lanterns must obey. =]

“Prime rules?” Raindrops asked.

[=Yes. Fundamental principals have been imprinted on recruitment. They are as follows:

The protection of life and liberty within the assigned sector.

Following the orders of the Guardians without question.

Noninterference with a planet's culture, political structure, or its population's collective will.

Acting within local laws and obeying the local authority within reason.

Taking no action against anyone or anything until they are proven to be a threat against life and liberty.

Avoiding the use of equipment, resources, or authority of the Corps for personal gain.

Showing respect for and cooperating with other members of the Corps and the Guardians.

Showing respect for life, which includes restraint of force unless there is no reasonable alternative including lethal force.

Giving top priority to the greatest danger in the assigned sector.

Upholding the honor and tradition of the Corps.

All Green Lanterns are expected to adhere to these principles.=]

The two lantern mares stood quietly for a moment. Sectors? Guardians? Book of Oa?

“There are other kinds of Green Lanterns?” Applejack was confused. This was more than she had thought it was.

“Well what other kinds of Lanterns are there, dearie?” Granny Smith asked.

[=Unauthorized query.=]

“Huh?” Applejack frowned, and her ears went flat for a moment. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

[=Unauthorized sentient attempting to access AI database. Query to sentient refused. Authorization required.=]

“Listen here, bauble…my granny asked you a question, an’ you can answer it. That there is an order!’

[=Authorization accepted. Yes. Lantern designations within the corps are: Recruit Lantern, Frontier Lantern, Sector Lantern, Honor Guard Lantern, Alpha Lantern, Warden of the Citadel, Protocol Officer and Training officer. The most revered office in the Green Lantern Corps is Keeper of the Book of Oa.=]

“Well, this is new,” the farm pony said. “Ah had no idea about any of this, let alone to ask…Ah’m not in the habit of talkin’ to jewelry.”

“Outlined in the ‘Book of Oa’?” Raindrops wondered out loud. “What is this book of Oa?”

[=The book of Oa contains the history of the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps.=]

The two lanterns turned the statement over in their heads. It was ground shattering. A record. A real record of a Lantern Corps, something to guide them, to show them what to do. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash had a smattering of information from their rings. Twilight complained about how frustrating the lack of information she could get from her ring, and RD just raged on about ‘Manhunters’ whatever they were and vengeance.

“Where is this book, Applejack? What did it say?” Raindrops asked.

“There was no book that came ta me…just the ring an’ the Battery. Ah don’t have any book. Ring, there was no book when ya came to me!”

[=Incorrect, Lantern Prime Applejack.=]

The ring flared and an image of a large heavy bound book appeared. The cover of the book had the symbol of the green lantern Corps on its face. The book appeared very old.

[= This ring contains an abridged copy of the Book of Oa. As contact with central database has been severed, and no other copies have been contacted, this book is considered the only viable copy in existence. As such, Prime Lantern Applejack, you are also considered pro tem Keeper of the Book of Oa.=]

Applejack was lost in thought for a moment. This was a lot to take in all of a sudden.  All the weight of what she was carrying. This book, the power.  Now she was adding to the burden, making somepony else a lantern with this responsibility and history to live up to.

None of this helped her about Zecora, if anything she felt guiltier than ever. She had failed her friend and her corps.

“You have three legacies to live up to now…” Applejack said under her breath. “Now Ah know what she meant.”

“Applejack?” Raindrops nudged the Keeper of the Book of Oa with her ring leg. “What now? Shouldn’t you charge your ring? How do I use this ring.”

The green eyes of the farm pony met the blue pegasus’ eyes. “Well, ya gotta learn how ta use it, right? Ask Mac, he should be ahead on chores anyway. Have him show you how ta make stuff, fly with it. Ah’ve got to get to town, Ah need to see mah friends, see Twi about this here book…and see just what ponies think ah me. Ah gotta face that. As fer chargin’ my ring…no, not yet. It don’t feel right, at least not right now. Besides, Ah can always call it back if Ah need to and charge then.” The power battery slowly faded away and was gone.

Raindrops stood quietly for a moment.”Applejack, I know now you lost a friend. I am truly sorry. I did not know the zebra witch of the Everfree. Grief can cripple anypony, even the strongest. You did not fail us.”

Granny Smith came up and nuzzled Applejack. The young mare responded by leaning into her grandmother. “Oh…but Ah did. That’s the honest truth. Ah let guilt eat me…still lettin’ it now. But Ah got a choice to make — either hug it or hang it up… ”

Raindrops opened one of her eyes wider in wonder.”What does that mean?”

“Go on or quit. Except there is really no choice! Ah’m an Apple…” she looked at Granny and hugged her. “An’ Apples never quit!”

Fussiness Fixes a friend

Fussiness fixes a friend.

by Moon Chaser (DA CrazymikePrime)

“Ah believe that Big Mac is workin’ the south orchards today. Is that where he went Granny?”

“Yep. He went to fix some irrigation pipes an’ do more fence repair.”

Applejack sighed. “Ok. I found out about this from Mac. Let me try.”

Applejack’s ring glowed a little and an image of her older brother formed above the glowing ring. The image moved like a unicorn picture spell. “AJ! Yer talkin’ again!” He sounded surprised. ”You back from town?”

“Nah. Ah never left.” She looked at Raindrops, “Might have been a good thing, too.”

“Sis, where are ya? Granny’s out of the house lookin’ for ya.” Mac’s image inquired. He looked as if he was doing something work related, and using the ring.

“Ah’m in the zap apple grove. Granny found me. Raindrops the pegasus is here too. There was a Timberwolf attack, a big one. Ah handled it with mah ring, and everypony’s ok. I threw the big critter into the forest. We’re alright.” Mac’s face looked worried. ”Big brother,  Ah need you to do somthin’ for me please.”

Mac’s image shifted a moment. ”Anything, sis, …whatcha need me ta do?”

Applejack made a sheepish face for a moment. “Ah need you ta do a show-and-tell with Raindrops on the ring, Mac. Tell her how it works and what you can do with it.”

Mac looked confused. ”Mac, Ah made another ring an Ah gave it ta Raindrops. She’s charged it up an’ everythin’. She’s a Green Lantern now. It ain’t just us anymore, big brother.”

The red stallion made an ugly face. ”You were so set against anypony getting involved an’ hurt. Applejack, you sure about that?”

“No, Mac, Ah ain’t! Ah ain’t sure of anything except that we need the help—the level headed kind, not the ragin’ kind. Speakin’ of which, apparently RD has spit her bit, an Ah’m part of the reason.”

“What! Why?”

“Ah don’t know. But Ah aim ta find out. Anyway, Ah’m headin’ into town. Ah found somthin’ Twilight needs ta see. Raindrops will tell you all about it when she sees ya.”

“You want me to go with?” Mac’s image became a little stern.

“No! Ah need ya to teach Raindrops. She needs help with the ring. Please, big brother, do this for me. Ah can fight mah own battles, and Ah gotta face this mahself because frankly it may be true…at least partly.”

Mac nodded. He looked worried.“Ok sis. Ah’m way ahead on work. Tell Raindrops Ah’m in the west orchard now. Send her ta me there. Oh, an’, AJ?”

“Yep?”

“Tell me everythin’ that is going on in town. Ah heard a little that the Reds were actin’ crazy, but frankly, AJ, Ah been too busy ta find out. Be careful.” The image of Mac disappeared.

Applejack turned to speak to Raindrops, “Ok, yer gonna fly to him, right?”

“Well, yes. Is that a problem for some reason?”

“No. Ah just want to warn ya to be careful, girl. When you will yerself ta fly, ya gotta be careful.

Raindrops was bemused, “Oh?”

“Yeah, ya may want ta think about flyin’ slow! Otherwise ya could go into a mountain so fast it’ll make yer head spin. Ah ain’t kiddin’!”

“Is that what happened to you?” the pegasus asked with a slight smile on her face.

“A heh. Yeah. First time Ah tried ta fly…Ah crashed a few times. When Ah finally got the hang of it Ah got a little too excited an’ wound up in the side of a foot hill!” Applejack rubbed her head with her hoof. “Good thin’ the ring protects ya.”

Raindrops looked at the ring speculatively, “Well it protected you from the crash, right?”

Applejack winced, “Yeah, but that don’t mean it didn’t hurt, girl.”

Raindrops nodded. “ Well, I need to see what it’s like, stretch some. Maybe I should just go up first, above the clouds and into the open air to test things out.”

Applejack nodded.”Sensible. VERY sensible. More than me mah first time. “

Raindrops stretched her wings out and began to flap. She didn’t feel anything different or special.

“Wait!” the farm pony waved at her. “Yer not doin’ it right. Yer thinkin’ about flying with yer wings. The ring won’t fly for you that way!”

Raindrops was puzzled, “So what do I do?”

“Ah know it’ll sound just crazy, but ya just will yerself into the air. Feel that you are goin’ ta fly. Might be easier for you, bein’ a pegasus an all. You might not have the problems Ah had. Fly, not with yer wings, but with yer mind.“

Raindrops relaxed and cleared her mind. She then called the feeling of flying into her mind and thought of how she would like to be over the clouds—and quickly. She had always been regarded as a somewhat slow and clumsy flyer and it normally took a great deal of time to get up to high altitude, so she wondered how long it would take with the ring.

She willed herself off the ground.

She felt the force of the ring surround her like a warm bath. She began to feel buoyant like a balloon. It was different than lifting off with wings! Instead of feeling the lift just coming from only her wings, her whole body seem to be doing her work. For a moment the pull of gravity seem to be gone. She rose into the air slowly. She felt no effort.

‘Up…Fast…’her mind sang to the ring, “Fly!”

The ring harmonized to her mind song. It was so.

There was a burst of acceleration as Raindrops climbed into the air. The force driving her into the air did not decrease as she went higher, it increased! She was accelerating going straight up! It was like being a rocket, passing through the lower clouds in the blink of an eye and continuing straight up.

In a second, Raindrops was out of sight of the ground.

She passed through the high cloud layers going higher still! The blue of the sky began to grow darker. She was climbing way higher than she had ever been before! No pony save the Royal Sisters had been as high as Raindrops was now, she was sure. Raindrops also realized she was not breathing hard, if she was breathing at all! The ring made her able to be in the very thin air and she didn’t feel the cold normal for high altitude flying! She caught herself grinning like Pinkie Pie. The feeling was amazing!

She leveled off and began making smooth loops and curves, making patterns she had never been able to make before, tightening the pattern until she came to a stop at a single point in the air. The pegasus then let herself fall, willing the ring to let gravity grab her and pull her back down to ground. She fell for about a minute and then willed herself to stop. Raindrops’ fall immediately halted and she hung in the air, motionless where she had commanded the ring to stop her. In her mind, she could feel the ring holding gravity away from her inside the aura of green.  It was so different to only ‘feel’ gravity in her mind, and not with her body. She willed herself to fly forward and then to descend in a graceful spiral. Never in her life had the pegasus ever flown so perfectly, with such control! Nothing in the world but another lantern could fly as fast or as high as she could now.  ”Who’s a slow and clumsy flyer now!” she laughed.

Back on the ground, Granny chuckled and shook her head. “Ya were right, granddaughter. Lookit that youngun’ go! Better than yer first time!”

Applejack made a sour face. ”Come on, Granny, let’s get you home. Ah gotta go into town.”

<0>

Applejack took Granny back to the house, picked up her saddlebags, and departed for Ponyville. She decided that she would walk to town today, using the time to think things over and to stretch her legs. She had not really worked her legs hard in a while, and the walk would be good.

The sun was climbing to noon time as she departed the farm. The walk to Ponyville was quiet, uneventful, and calm, which was what Applejack needed.  She passed the damaged school house, her ring admonishing her to recharge it. The front of the school had been patched up and enough repairs had been done to make the school house useable again. The ground by the building was still scorched, but many of the holes had been filled in. Through the school house windows, Applejack could see the colts and fillies inside studying under Ms. Cheerilee. Applejack caught the sight of the Star Sapphire ring on her foreleg as she showed the students something on the black board. It was at that moment that the farm horse felt a slight pang of guilt about being missing…no…absent from things. Absent! Yes. She wondered if her friends had needed her while she wandered about lost in her grief. She knew they would understand, but a small part of her felt she had let them down, badly.

Rainbow Dash apparently had taken it personally.

“Hmmm,” Applejack said to herself, “Ah wonder?” She looked around to see where on the road she had stopped. She was just past the school house by a cluster of trees by the side of the road. The circle of beautiful trees made a kind of canopy that cut down the sunlight a bit. A gentle breeze was blowing as she entered the circle. The trees created a small, quiet place where she would not be disturbed, with nopony around. Here in the cool shade of these trees, after the Timberwolf attack and giving Raindrops a ring that she had filled to full, Applejack decided to try once more to recharge her ring.

“Perfect spot,” the farm mare said to herself.

Since that terrible night, the night she had broken after seeing Zecora turned into a Black Lantern, Applejack had not been able to recharge it. She had attempted to about three times, and each time only a trickle of power had flowed into the green lantern ring. Like the ring itself, the battery also seemed to not be functioning like it had been. Her inability to recharge the ring made her question what the hay she was doing with this green piece of magic jewelry. What was the point of having the thing if she couldn’t reload it up with the green light it ran on. The whole thing had made her question her purpose, and that, in turn, had fed her doubt, which had then fed her guilt.

Applejack sighed as she again summoned the green battery from the space it rested in. She did not want to try doing what she was about to do with with anypony else about. She had failed three times before to get more than a drop out of the battery—would this time be any different?

The lantern appeared in the air and slowly floated to the ground. The soft green glow of the lantern gave the tree circle an almost eerie atmosphere, like the inside of Zecora’s hut when she was doing Zebra magic. The green glow gave Applejack a feeling of foreboding. It made her feel in her bones that more difficulties lay ahead for her and all of her friends,  that this strange light from elsewhere was the only means she would have to do what needed to be done, that Raindrops was right, that a war was upon all of Equestria.

The glow also held something that pulled at her heart in a way she never expected. It had a history! The ring, the battery, the oath, the symbols all had a history! It meant something. It meant she was a part of something greater—a part of those who had come before her, a part of all those strange creatures she had seen when she first charged the ring. And now according to the ring, she was now the carrier of the whole of that history and tradition! Weird jewelry, and strange powers and costumes, she didn’t understand...but tradition, Apples understood that, and what it meant! She had never suspected that the rings had anything like that attached to them, and now that she knew they did, it made her burden heaver and more serious than ever, for in matters of tradition, Applejack was most serious.

She sat on her haunches in front of the lantern and took a deep breath. The ring had worked right twice in a row, would the battery? She brought up the ring on her leg and held still for a moment, calling up in her mind the oath she had spoken that night in Ponyville, the oath that Raindrops had recited so recently. The words were ‘heavier’ now; there was deeper meaning to them.

Applejack closed her eyes and pushed the ring into the opening of the lantern battery. There was a flash of green light as she felt the fire within the lantern begin to churn like an angry storm cloud.

“In brightest day…in blackest night… “ she began.

She could feel the power within the battery begin to flow into the ring. It was slower than the first time, but it was working better this time.

“No evil shall escape mah sight…”

…but she had— evil had escaped her sight…that evil took Zacora.

There was a backlash at that thought. Like a spring snapping back after it had been let go from one end, the energy snapped back on itself. Applejack felt like lightning was shooting through her body. Her body became rigid, the only movement was the quivering of her muscles locked by the energy of the battery. Her eyes were held open and her lips were drawn back in a rictus. There was no pain, but a very strange sensation.

In a moment, it passed. Applejack caught herself looking at the battery with skewed eyes. She recovered quickly and took stock first of her body, then the battery and ring. She felt fine. There was no pain from the ‘backlash’, and she didn’t have any other sensation except a little tingling here and there. She looked at the battery; it was still sitting on the ground, gently glowing, as it had been before she began. The ring on her leg glowed a little brighter.

“Ring…how much charge do ya have?” she asked tensely.

[=Ring Capacity 24.5%=]

“What the hay happened?”

[=Charge sequence halted by Lantern Prime. Limited recharge capacity loaded=]

Applejack looked at the ring quizzically, “Ah didn’t stop the chargin’!”

[=Charge sequence halted by Prime Lantern. Commitment to oath voluntarily severed connection to recharge sequence=]

She thought a minute, “So because Ah felt ah had not done right by mah word…the oath, it cut the recharge?”

[=Correct=]

Applejack got up off the ground and on to all of her legs. “Any ideas would help ring.”

[=Query not understood. Clarify please=]

“What do Ah have ta do to fix this..to make things work right?”

[=It is lantern’s decision that power battery functions. This decision has been achieved with this ring.=]

“So, it’s still me huh.” She sighed.

[=Correct=]

“Well, it’ll have ta do fer now.”

Applejack returned the lantern to its invisible home and returned to the road to Ponyville. She wondered who she should visit first?

Fluttershy? She was nice, loving, and gentle, but the way Applejack felt was anything but gentle. Besides, overcoming fears and doubts was not really her thing.

Pinkie Pie? Laughter could help—not right now—maybe later. Besides, Applejack was not really in a partying mood at the moment.

Twilight? No! Yes, she had something very important Applejack wanted to show her scholar friend, but Twilight would reduce things to a school lecture, and treat this whole mess as an academic exercise, including her guilt. That approach, in Applejack’s mind and in her heart, did not help.

Then there was Rainbow Dash. Was she really that ticked at her? The way Raindrops talked, she was a few apples short of a bushel! It might be better to wait before talking to Dash, besides, if half of what Applejack had heard was true, she wasn’t exactly happy with the leader of the red lanterns.

Maybe somepony else?  But who? She really did not want to talk to anyone but her friends.

In Ponyville that left one friend she might be able to talk to first: the fastidious fussbudget Rarity! The white unicorn was Applejack’s exact opposite in so many ways. What would Rarity make of all this? What would she say that Twilight and the others would not?

‘Hmm…opposite,’ Applejack thought to herself. ‘Maybe that’s just the kind of view Ah need.’ She chuckled a little to herself, ‘Why not?’ She began walking to town again. ‘Besides, her kind of fussin’ might be easier to take.’

She felt the pull, and need for something that only such a pony COULD offer...

Applejack reached the outskirts of Ponyville. She decided she would avoid crowds and cut around the outside of the town, bypassing Sugar Cube Corner by way of the Windmill and headed to the Carousel Boutique. As she passed some of the small houses and buildings, occasionally a pony would look out and see her and wave at her. She would wave back saying, “Good mornin’,” and keep trotting on to her destination.  When she arrived to the front door of Rarity’s shop she hesitated before walking in, wondering what the fastidious fashionista would make of her appearance. She hadn’t washed in days, she looked completely unkempt (even for her), and a weird kind of fatigue showed in her posture and her face. Even her Stetson was a bit rumpled. How would Rarity react? Normally Applejack would hate the fuss the unicorn would put out, but right now, in a very weird way, it would be kind of comforting. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

                                            ================<0>===============

The familiar ring of the entry bell told Rarity she had a customer. She was in the back prepping area getting a dress ready for a client’s birthday. She would take it to them as soon as she was done and get lunch at the café before joining Twilight in a meeting as the head of the Indigo Herd. This was the time of year when fashion was in a slow period and she had plenty of time to be both the premier fashion designer of central Equestria, and leader of a group of lanterns. She was grateful that Sweetie Bell had taken up with Diamond Tiara and was out of her mane, allowing her a freer hoof to take care of things.

“Coming,” she called with a melodic lilt to her voice. She turned from the prepping area and went to the entry and display area of the shop, using her magic to close and open curtains as she went.

Smiling, she entered the show room, speaking a warm greeting to her new guest. ”Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and magnifique! Please tell me how may I may be of service to...” She came to a stop and saw a sight she had been afraid she would see, and hoped not to.

Her eyes beheld a very sad-looking pony. That pony was Applejack, and she looked like she had been trampled by a herd of buffalo. Rarity gasped.

The farm pony was normally a little dirty with work, cleaning up as best she could, but this…filth was not from labor. Rarity could literally feel what it was through the Indigo ring that rode on her leg. Her friend had been punishing herself with…guilt! She had not cared about herself at all and had allowed herself to get this way…on purpose! It was something in Applejack she had seen before, but never in this way, and never this bad.

She ran up to hug the farm pony and got a whiff of her friend’s reek. Rarity ignored the odor and squeezed her even harder, “Oh, Applejack, darling! Thank Celestia you have decided to remove yourself from that dreadful isolation.” The white unicorn released the embrace and stepped back to look at her friend again. “Oh, my word,” she gasped again. Applejack’s guilt was like sweat—it literally rolled off of her.

“Ah know Ah must look a fright” Applejack said, taking off her hat while looking down at the floor. ’Here it comes, the fuss budget rant’ she thought.

“Oh my, Applejack,” Rarity started. “Whatever were you thinking that made you do this,” Rarity gestured with her horn up and down at Applejack, ”to yourself?”

‘Rarity is still Rarity alright’ Applejack said to herself ‘…but she’s different somehow.’ The usually prissy unicorn hadn’t recoiled from her dirty condition, or her smell, usually Rarity would at least pause a moment before touching anything as dirty as Applejack was. But this time, shehadn’t!

The workhorse put her hat back on.”Ah just didn’t clean up is all. Tarnation, Rarity, it ain’t that bad…I missed a few meals and some baths is all. Ah’m alright.”

Rarity’s eyes narrowed a little. “You most assuredly are not, my dear! No, not one bit.” The unicorn’s horn began to glow as Rarity used her magic to move her sign from open to closed, and then locked the door of the shop. ”If life has taught me anything, is that sometimes a pony can punish herself worse with neglect, than another pony could with her hooves.” Rarity used her magic to draw the shades of the shop. “You, dear Applejack, have wracked yourself with guilt.” The Indigo ring wielder turned to regard her friend, “I would really like to know why, darling. Why do you feel so badly about yourself?”

Applejack stood stunned. Rarity knew EXACTLY what she was feeling. Her concern was more in tune with the farm mare’s feelings now than she had ever been before. Rarity even made no fuss about being filthy; she was fussing about WHY Applejack was dirty! That was…different, VERY different. Applejack looked at the floor again, then gazed at the Indigo Power Ring of her friend while Rarity put on a blouse and levitated a hat onto her head.  Compassion, it was the power of the ring; the emotion fueled it like Willpower fueled her own ring. It allowed its wearer to feel what others felt. The ring had made her friend…Twilight would know the word!

Rarity trotted up to her friend. ”Before we depart…” she levitated the Stetson off of Applejack’s head and onto the counter. ”I will clean and re-block your hat when we get back. Come now, let us be off!”

“Rarity, just where are we goin’ ta?” Not having her hat made her feel a little out of sorts, but it did need some care.

“Why to the spa, my dear. We simply must get you cleaned up!”

“Aw no..Ah don’t need a makeover an’ a pritifying, thank you kindly.” She kicked her hoof a little.

Rarity came up to Applejack and nuzzled her gently. “No, I would never do that to you unless you asked me to. Sweetie, you need to bathe and be groomed at least. That is all I am saying to you. You need to clean up, and then we will see about lunch.” The lock of the door glowed as the unicorn unlocked and opened the door.” It will make you feel better.”

Applejack complied, making not a sound. She could use a bath, she knew that. She felt it was a little selfish somehow, but it needed to be done. She waited out in the street for Rarity to lock up her shop.

Rarity finished locking the door and turned to look at her friend; her blue eyes could see more than they had before. Rarity found she could see deeper now, into a pony’s very heart. The guilt Applejack had was palpable to Rarity, and it pierced her friend’s heart. Because of the Indigo ring, she could actually feel that pain when she reached out to comfort the other pony. It made a tear well up in one of her eyes. She also felt Applejack’s willpower; the fortitude it gave her was immense. She had never been able to understand just how much that willpower allowed her to endure so much, until now.

“So, my dear, who else have you seen in town?” the Indigo ring wielder asked her friend.

“Yer the first, Rarity. I didn’t…feel right to see anypony else.”

Rarity almost gasped. She could feel the rest of it. ‘it didn’t feel right to see anyone else for help, but you.’

“So what sweet smellin’ soap you gonna try and have them use on me this time?” Applejack asked in a half growl.

“Simple basic clean is the order of the day. I believe we shall keep it that way,” Rarity answered with a lilt in her voice.

“Really?” Applejack looked at her friend. “Fer you too?”

Rarity gave a small wry smile and winked at Applejack, “I wouldn’t go that far darling.”

At the spa, Rarity set up everything for Applejack and had the session billed to herself.  She instructed Lotus Blossom and Aloe as to what Applejack needed. The farm pony made a funny face as Rarity stayed in the waiting room. “Don’t worry darling, I will join you in a moment, but there is one tiny thing I need to take care of first.”  To show she was not going to be long, she hung her hat on the hanger. She stepped outside out the front door and brought her ring up in front of her, took a deep breath and cleared her mind.

Rarity had made a discovery very important to all who had a power ring. She had been experimenting with her ring with Twilight watching when she happened on it. Rings of a particular color could only talk to other rings of like color, until the head of the Indigo Herd found that she could contact other colored rings and talk to their users by feeling the emotion of the ring she was trying to contact. That discovery had made Twilight very happy, and though it was difficult, anyone with a power ring could do the same trick, but it came much easier to the Indigo Herd than anypony else.  She relaxed and called up fear from her heart.

[=FEAR=]

The cold bite of the yellow emotion nipped at her mind and heart. “Just enough,” she told herself.  Her Indigo ring glowed a bit, casting out a colored bubble of indigo light that shimmered and changed into a globe of yellow that then collapsed and became the head of Yellow Lantern Twilight Sparkle glowing in her yellow light. Twilight’s face wore a slight frown.

“Rarity!” the yellow visage said in YL Twilight’s voice with a hint of pain in it. “Could you come in pony to the library to talk to me? I’m a little busy right now and….”

“No, Twilight, I cannot.” IH Rarity looked at Twilight’s image somewhat sternly. “Unless it is absolutely necessary, I need you to drop everything right now, please, darling.”

YL Twilight sighed. Princess Celestia was going to want a report from her soon on all of the lantern activity. The unicorn’s ears were laying flat in an expression of frustration. “Rarity, I don’t have a lot of time, and neither do you. Remember what we were talking about with…”

Rarity looked at the image of YL Twilight, her eyes narrowing.” I know about what needs to be done, Twilight. I told you I will accomplish what I discussed with you later! It will have to wait. Something more important has come up!”

Twilight raised one eyebrow and her ears came up a bit, “Oh? What’s happened?”

“Applejack has come out of the farm and she came to town.” Twilight’s eyes opened wide, her ears up at full alert.

“How is she? She refused all visitors, even her family had trouble seeing her!” the yellow lantern asked, concern showing in her eyes.”Where are you Rarity?”

“She’s with me now. We are at the spa.” Rarity looked over her right flank, then back at Twilight’s image. “She was so…sad to look upon, Twilight! She came into my shop dirty, mane and tail uncombed, an odor that should have taken me aback except for the overwhelming guilt she is carrying.” Rarity visibly shuddered. “It was so pitiful seeing her like that! She has been wallowing in guilt over what happened—I am sure of it. I have brought her for a bath and a bit of styling. I am hoping she will open up to me about what happened.”

“I hate to sound ‘on work’ asking this, but how is her willpower? Can you tell what condition it’s in?”

Rarity took a breath and closed her eyes. “I think that is the only reason she is up and about. Somehow it has repaired itself. It feels like she found something to re-weave it back together.”

Twilight had a confused look on her face. “And she sought you out first?”

Rarity nodded. “Yes, very peculiar I agree, especially for Applejack. You know how hard it is for her to ask for help of any kind—but to come to me first! I don’t know whether to be touched, or scared.”

Twilight’s image looked at something down in front of her then back at Rarity. “Maybe both, Rarity.”

“Can you get the girls, Twilight, and come here. She needs us—ALL of us.”

“Absolutely! I’m at a break point in my report.” She looked away for a moment, “Spike, please collate these parchments for my report to the princess. Ok, Rarity, I’ll get Pinkie first and send her there. I’ll then get a hold of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.” YL Twilight started to glow a little brighter in her image.”I’ll have to go to Rainbow Dash’s sky castle to get her. She doesn’t always accept communication by ring with other colors.”

“Thank you, Twilight.” Rarity cocked her head to the side in a quick thought, ”Oh, Twilight? One last thing please, darling?”

“Yes,” her image answered.

IH Rarity’s eyes narrowed. “Applejack needs compassion right now, not castigations and recriminations. Could you PLEASE try and make that clear to our raging pegasus? I have little hope for your success, dear, the way she has been acting as of late, but do please try.”

Twilight’s answer came from above Rarity. Twilight levitated above her white unicorn friend dressed in her Yellow Lantern uniform, “I’ll do my best.”

For an instant Twilight had a face that inspired a bit of terror in Rarity.

[=FEAR=] the indigo ring chirped. Rarity jumped a little in her heart.

“That is the best anypony can ask, Twilight,” said IH Rarity as she turned to go back into the spa. ’I think she wanted to scare me a little there’ Rarity thought to herself.

                                          <0>

The spa sisters had followed Rarity’s instructions to the letter. Lotus had been diligently scrubbing Applejack nose to tail, making sure not to miss any part of the farm pony’s body. Rarity had asked Lotus do the job herself as her no-nonsense attitude would make Applejack feel better. Aloe had been a little disappointed as she loved having fun with Applejack when she came to the spa (which was rare as she generally visited only after a heavy harvest or a hard stint of farm work), but when Miss Rarity had explained everything, Aloe understood. Miss Rarity had said this trip to the spa for Applejack was like a kind of ‘purification,’ so a little rough treatment would actually suit Applejack better than a ‘fun’ outing. Lotus would be trying to wash out more than dirt; she was going to give quiet, and serious, relief to the farm pony’s soul through her body, and it was going to be a little rough this time around. Aloe agreed on that point, her sister’s approach would be more helpful. Rarity for her part had asked for her ‘usual’ and the staff was always eager to work on their number one customer.

Applejack had been put into the sauna to ‘sweat out’ some when Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy came in. Aloe directed them to the central soak area.

“Please wait for Miss Rarity and Miss Applejack here, “ she said, directing Vera to help Pinkie and Fluttershy into the soak tub. Aloe had a puzzled look on her face. ”Where are Miss Sparkle and Miss Dash?”

“Oh...um Twilight is trying to fetch Rainbow Dash to come here. They should be here very soon,” said Fluttershy. “Please don’t be shocked if Rainbow Dash is a little more um…angry than usual.”

Aloe nodded slowly with a confused look on her face and her ears oddly cocked as she went over to the main couch in the common area to prep it for Rarity. She then left and in a few moments returned with the belle of the spa, Vera, in attendance escorting their favorite customer to the main couch. Rarity lay on the couch and placed her front hooves on the stand in front of the table, getting ready for a hoofacure.

“Rarity,” Pinkie started with just her face protruding out of the water, ”So what’s the story with Applejack? How is she? I knew she’d come back…” Pinkie rose from the water with a typical ‘weird’ Pinkie Pie look on her face, “But what did she come back as? Now THAT’S the Question.” She grinned.

Rarity tossed her hair to one side and looked at her friends in the tub. “That is why I asked for everyone to come here. She has gone through a lot, and in some ways she is better than she was before; her willpower is certainly much stronger. But in other ways she is more lost! She is galloping around in the dark looking for something…something to guide her.”

Fluttershy wiped a sponge across her face with her right hoof, the Violet power ring glimmering with the soft light of love that powered the amazing jewelry. “Well, that’s why we came. We love our friend and want her to know we are here for her.”

“Being here for her is not the issue, Fluttershy. Yes, that will help her, particularly the overwhelming guilt she’s carrying.“ Rarity shuddered at the feeling of Applejack’s guilt. ”It is almost overwhelming! And yet,” she paused and chose her next words carefully, ”it seems to be prodding her along to something, driving her. It is…quite strange.”

Pinkie eyed Rarity with one wide eye. “Are you saying Applejack is feeling guilty over what happened? That’s just silly.” Pinkie shook her head.

“I’m not sure that’s it, Pinkie Pie. Well, at least not all of it. Oh…” Rarity frowned. “Applejack has a tendency to take on for herself more than she should sometimes. I’m afraid that’s what is happening now, though I wish I knew what was at the center of her guilt. It feels like something dreadful.”

“Did Rainbow Dash talk to her before you did?” Fluttershy asked quietly, almost dreading the answer.

“No,” Rarity said. ”I don’t think so.“ The Indigo Herd leader cocked her head to one side and thought for a moment, her ears flat in worry. ”I do wonder though if some of what Rainbow Dash has been saying has gotten to Applejack’s ears. I sincerely hope not.”

Pinkie and Fluttershy looked at each other with a slightly worried look on their faces, Fluttershy biting her lower lip and Pinkie gritting her teeth. Since that awful night Rainbow Dash had been raging about Applejack, and how she had hid herself away. The ’Head’ Red Lantern seemed to take what had happened as a attack on herself and and acted like she had been betrayed somehow. How what had happened could in anyway be seen as a betrayal was very confusing. How much was Dash, and how much was the red power ring was anypony’s guess, but Rarity had some insight into it and was holding her tongue for this very meeting. She wanted to see her colorful Pegasus friend again, and was going to use her new found power of empathy to see if what she thought was going on inside Rainbow Dash’s heart was indeed the case.

“Dashie was SOOOOO angry!” Pinkie said out loud. “Why do you suppose she was cranky about Applejack? It’s like Applejack attacked her! Is THAT what AJ’s upset about? Does she think she attacked Dashie? How can you attack somepony by hiding?”

Rarity said nothing. She was lost in thought.

Fluttershy broke in, “Um…I don’t think Rainbow Dash hates Applejack…disappointed maybe, but not hate. I don’t know.  Somehow…it’s like Applejack hurt Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy splashed the tub water a little. ”Oh, I wish she would just calm down and not be hurt. I’ve never seen her like this before, ever! I’m sure it’s that red ring of hers!  It’s affecting her judgment of things…look at what she’s done lately!” The yellow Pegasus shook her head.

“Look at what she almost did to you, Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie shook her head in agreement with her friend. “She was really going to hurt you! The Dashie I know might yell…but that,” the pink pony shivered, “that was scary!”

Fluttershy closed her eyes and put her head on her friend’s neck. “She was just upset about Scootaloo. I did almost do something awful.”

Pinkie turned and hugged the yellow pegasus. “I know, and I still believe in my Dashie. I’m just afraid of her and for her.”

Aloe poked her head in the soak room and made an eye gesture to Rarity. The white unicorn nodded in response. “Quiet girls,  Applejack is coming in now.”

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy sat down in the tub and waited quietly while Rarity went back to her hoofacure. They did not have long to wait.

Applejack stood at the entrance to the common soak area and paused before she entered. She took a deep breath and entered quietly with her eyes closed. When she opened them right after she entered the room she saw Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy in the soaking tub turning to look at her. Rarity was on a couch getting her hooves done. When Applejack’s gaze met her friend’s, she felt strangely vulnerable.

The now clean earth pony stood in the room and spoke to her friends for the first time in a while. ‘Um…howdy y’all.  Y’all doin’ ok?” she said in a soft half laugh.

There was an explosion of water as Pinkie leaped from the tub to in front of Applejack in a single bound. The pink party pony landed on all four hooves and then sprang one bounce into Applejack, almost knocking the farm pony over with the impact of her hug.

“Oh, Applejack,” the party pony bubbled, ”I knew you’d be back!” Her hug began to constrict around Applejack, making it hard for the farm mare to breathe. “Whatever happened to you it will work out..it will be alrightin the end, I’m sure.” Pinkie relaxed her squeeze a little so Applejack could breathe again.

Applejack took a breath and put her hoof on Pinkie’s head but said nothing.

Fluttershy had gotten out of the tub and dried off a bit during the Pinkie hug attack. She had flown down to the ground next to Applejack and nuzzled her gently. “It’s ok,” she said gently. Rarity waved the hoofacurist away and got up from her couch to move closer. Applejack got a look at her eyes for a moment. They were a mix of sadness and pity, with a hint of prying. ‘What’s Rarity up to?’ she wondered.

She felt relief for a moment. Knowing her friends still cared was a great help, especially because in her mind she had messed up so badly. Slowly she broke Pinkie’s hold on her and pulled back. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes as she backed up to look at her friends.

“Applejack, Darling…what’s the matter?” Rarity asked. “Have we done something wrong?” ‘Maybe she will open up now’ Rarity thought to herself ’and expel the poison she’s carrying in her heart.’

The work horse sat on her hindquarters and started to quietly sob for a moment then stopped herself, taking deep sniffs to catch her breath and stop sobbing. She wiped her tears with her bare foreleg and looked at her friends. Tears still came.

“Zecora,” she said, her voice cracking, “Ah…let her…they took her…she’s…” Her words became weak and squeaky for a moment. A hard gulp and a pause and she started again. “They…the Black Lanterns, they…they killed her! An’ after they killed her, they made her inta one of em!” Applejack shuddered visibly.

Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all fell in on their friend in a group embrace. Applejack cried a little.

“Ah should have stopped em’. Ah shoulda’ known that she’d be in trouble,“ she whispered. But her friends heard her. “Ah’ shoulda’ cared enough to come to check on her instead of playing around like a school filly with a new toy.”

Her friends let go and backed up a bit, then sat down on the floor next to Applejack. Fluttershy ‘s face was a mask of worry, Pinkie’s face wore an expression of puzzlement, and Rarity simply closed her eyes and sighed.

“Zecora…Ah’m so sorry…” Applejack sobbed as she bent her head down. “Ah shoulda’ at least…”

“Applejack,” Rarity said quietly, rubbing her cheek against Applejack’s, “You…you couldn’t know what would happen. None of us could know what was going to happen.”

“Couldn’t we?” Applejack’s voice snapped, she brought her head up and looked first at Rarity, then Pinkie and Fluttershy. “Strange Rings doin’ strange things fallin’ from the sky? That wasn’t a warnin’? The first of them undead things showing up, that wasn’t a warnin’?” Applejack’s tears didn’t stop, but her voice was hard now, “We left our friend hangin’, period! We didn’t think about her at all—at all!” She choked a bit. “ Ah’m the one who’s supposed to think of stuff like that, be practical and reliable, protect ponies…an Ah did NOTHING!“ She looked at her friends with a hint of anger. “WE DID NOTHING!” Applejack choked at the end, then sniffed and wiped her tears away with her bare foreleg. “Nothing,” she said quietly, looking off into space.

Seeing Applejack cry was unnerving to say the least. She rarely cried and never bawled…ever! Pinkie started to tear up, which triggered Fluttershy’s urge to cry. The two of them hugged their friend. Applejack sat still as a stone, her breathing was slightly labored.  Rarity levitated a small wash cloth and wiped the tears that had started to fall from her eyes.

“I thought she was safe,” Pinkie sniffed. “Zecora was always so safe in her hut in the forest. Her magic always kept her safe before.” Pinkie sobbed a little.

“I thought she was the safest of us,” Fluttershy’s voice cracked. “The creatures in the Everfree forest n-never attacked her, ever.” The pegasus wiped her own tears with a cloth. “We all thought she would be ok.”

“Applejack,” Rarity began, fighting back the urge to bawl her eyes out, ”you…didn’t kill Zecora. You...”

“Didn’t Ah?” the farmer snapped. “Ah let her get killed! Ah failed her, Ah failed all y’all!”

Rarity got up on all of her hooves, wiping away more ears from her eyes. ”No,Applejack. NO! You did not! By Celestia if you have never heard me before please listen to me now!”  The unicorn locked her blue-eyed gaze with the earth pony’s green-one. Her tone was kind, but firm, her ears back. “We were all trying to figure these rings out.” Rarity raised the leg on which rode the indigo power ring ”We did not know anything, remember? Twilight even said we needed to know more. Remember, dear?”

Applejack slowly nodded.

“We were trying..no, YOU were trying to discover what the ring could and could not do, if only…in your own words dear: ‘figure out if they were dangerous to even be around…let alone be’. You were doing what Twilight was doing, figuring things out to give us information. Applejack, you were busy splitting your time between your work, your family, these rings and your duty to the town. Honey, you cannot do all of it alone! Nopony can!“

“Ah didn’t think to about Zecora! Ah…”

Rarity continued. She was not going to let her friend’s guilt and doubt punish her for a crime she did not commit. “You didn’t think you had to, Applejack! You thought like the rest of us, including Twilight, that she would be alright. We did not understand what the Black Lanterns could or would do; we barely knew they existed!” Rarity sighed. “If the Black Lanterns had not come after her, she would still be safe in her hut or here talking with us about these rings. Make no mistake my dear, THEY killed Zecora, not you!”

Rarity took Applejack’s head into her hooves and looked deep into her eyes. The unicorn’s eyes seemed to have an indigo sparkle to them. “You might have been able to save her, or not—we shall never know. We know now to our sorrow what they can and will do, and we will not forget. But now it is time to decide what we can and will do, and that brings us to you, sweetie! Something happened to you when you faced her?” Rarity probed lightly with her ring, empathy searching for the pain. “What happened when they attacked? What did they do to you?”

Applejack thought for a moment as she recalled the memories of that night. Her face changed expression from sadness to horror, then regret very quickly. She looked around and sat up a little straighter, “Ah felt like Ah had let her down…Zecora, Ah mean.  Ah felt anger, an’ fear, an’ a whole lotta things! Ah froze. “ She searched her memory again for more details. ”Come ta think of it, there was something else.  It felt like…she drove a barb inta me and was yankin’ at mah heart somehow.” She looked at her friends one by one. ”Ah felt like Ah had failed mah friend, like ah had failed y’all.”

“OOO…sounds awful,” Fluttershy gasped.

“Nasty zombie tricks,” Pinkie Pie chimed in. “Those things are mean…it’s like they were trying to kill you with feelings, Applejack!”

Rarity thought for a moment and made a mental note. ‘Maybe they were,’ she thought to herself.

“Until Mac got us all away, it felt like Ah was comin’ apart from the inside out.” Applejack rubbed her chin with her hoof. “After that, it was like Ah was bleedin’ outta my heart.”

“In a way, sweetie, I believe you were. I wonder if they were trying to get your feelings…your emotions.”

Pinkie and Fluttershy looked at each other in shock. Pinkie’s mouth fell open while Fluttershy’s eyes were a big as the full moon. Applejack ‘s face bore her trademark ‘What the hay’ expression. ‘This was certainly something Twilight needed to know,’ Rarity thought to herself, ‘but first things first—healing our friend’

“Alright Applejack, What are we going to do about it?” Rarity bluntly asked her friend.

“Beg pardon?”

“What do you think should we do about all of this? What do you think we should do for you?”

[=RAGE=] the Indigo ring said in Rarity’s mind.

“The first thing she can tell us is why she hid away when her friends need her!”

“Ah yes, the ever tactful and diplomatic Rainbow Dash has arrived,” Rarity said under her breath.

Explanations and Recriminations

Explanations and Recriminations

by Moon Chaser (DA CrazymikePrime)

The Leader of Red Lanterns flew in through an open door and hovered in place above the central tub. The jagged crimson glow of her aura giving the impression of a burning fire. RL Rainbow Dash’s eyes sparkled like the popping embers of a fire. The atmosphere in the room became thick with a feeling of menace and malice. The cyan pegasus floated down to the ground in front of her friends, her fiery aura fading as her hind legs touched ground. She stayed in her lantern form, a burning Red Lantern Symbol of rage energy floating in front of her heart.

“Dashie, what the heck is the issue? I know the ring makes you an Angry Mc Mad Mad, but raging at Applejack like that was…”

“What?  That’s nothing compared to what the Black Lanterns were trying to do to me when I was looking for my ‘friend’ to back me up…and she wasn’t there!” blood plasma dripped from the corners of her mouth as she scowled.

Rarity gestured to Aloe, Vera, and Lotus to come in close to her. “I think you all need to leave the room, it is about to become quite ugly and I cannot be sure of what is about to happen,” she whispered to them. The three spa ponies complied and quickly cleared the central soak room.

“Rainbow Dash, how can you say such things!” the normally timid Fluttershy  broke in.”Can’t you see that Applejack is upset about what happened to Zecora? We only heard about it, but she was …”

“She was home feeling sorry for herself instead of helping us!” the Pegasus snapped, she flipped her wings out and back in quickly.

“I don’t know what you’ve heard, Rainbow Dash…” Rarity tried to interject. She was still sitting on the couch, surprisingly calm.

“It’s what I SAW, Rarity, or DIDN’T see, which was AJ with us beating these things back!” the red lantern landed in front of the still earth pony, her open wings, and her red glow gave the impression the cyan pegasus was a vengeance sprit of myth come to life. “Where were you, Applejack? What happened to you?”

Twilight Sparkle flew in at that moment and gently landed next to the cyan pegasus. The yellow lantern’s  body seemed a bit tense. She had just caught what Rainbow Dash said, and it annoyed her. When she had gone to fetch the cyan Pegasus, she had taken time to explain what the situation was, and what condition Applejack was in. Rainbow Dash had said she understood, but her statement in the last few seconds indicated otherwise! Twilight let fear wrap around her for effect; her face was enough to send lesser beings running. The Red Lantern didn’t even blink. “Rainbow Dash! We TALKED about this!”

“No! You talked, Twilight—AT me!” Dash answered. The red lantern’s gaze turned to the orange earth pony.

“WHERE WERE YOU?!” the burning rage in Rainbow Dash’s heart demanded. “WE NEEDED YOU!”

It was Pinkie who spoke next, “Dashie, you need to stop with the CA-RA-ZY!”

“Rainbow Dash,” the soft voice of Fluttershy followed, “please, calm down…”

“What about all those big attacks we’ve been getting in the last few days, AJ was nowhere! She wouldn’t even see us!” RL Rainbow Dash spat.

“A few skirmishes and a few sightings here and there in the last few days hardly qualify as a ‘big attacks,’ Rainbow.” Twilight’s ears were flat and she was frowning .  “You said you knew what to do, Rainbow; this does not really inspire any confidence in your sanity.”

”If Applejack was not ready to see us…”

“Those were just the beginning ,Twilight! Sweet Apple Acres and the last few days were just openers. My gut tells me they’ll be back, soon and HARD! We don’t have time for sap! We should be looking for them and hitting them…NOW!” The rage lantern’s wings flared open to emphasize her urgency. “And AJ should be hitting them with me!”

“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy raised her voice a little. Her violet ring began to glow softly. “We know you care about Applejack, and that you are worried about the danger we could be in.” The yellow pegasus’ mouth quivered a little ”But you really need to calm down. Please?”

“Dashie, what’s the deal? It’s like this whole mess is an insult to you!” Pinkie Pie interjected.

Rainbow Dash began to show her teeth in frustration. She turned to face the violet ring wielder first.  “Yeah...like that’s going to happen, Fluttershy! I’m not going to calm down when it comes to something trying to kill me and my friends! Pinkie, first off…”

“ENOUGH! Knock it off!” a voice screamed behind them all. The walls rang with the sound of the voice issuing the command. All eyes fell onto the source of the command, their friend Applejack.

Everypony froze where they were, their eyes looking around and wide in surprise looking for the source of the thunderous command. There was an unnerving silent calm as the arguing friends turned at once to look at the pony who had just bellowed.

The farm pony had gotten up on all of her hooves and walked into the center of the circle of her friends.

“Dash is right, ok! Ah wasn’t there!” the earth pony turned her head to look at all of her friends. All of her friends had a shocked expression on their faces, even RL Rainbow Dash. “That’s the truth! Ah wasn’t, and Dash here was countin’ on me to be there cause Ah said ah would! Honestly, she’s got a bit of a right to be upset!” Applejack got up and circled around to face the red lantern.

The Elements of Harmony all were silent for a moment. Applejack was the first to break the silence.

“What Ah wasn’t doin was feelin sorry for mah self. NO! Ya wanna know where Ah’ve been? Mournin’ OUR friend, RD! And Ah was…reflectin’ ya might say, on how Ah failed her, on how WE all failed her.” She looked around at her friends and then stamped the floor with her hoof. ”Yeah it ate me up…honestly it still is. It’s almost killed me.” Applejack’s eyes narrowed.

“Look I know that Zecora became one of those things, AJ…”

“Did you SEE her, RD?” Applejack turned her eyes to the rest of her friends. “Did any of ya SEE her hoof ta hoof, face ta face?”

All of them save Rainbow Dash looked down, shaking their heads. The red lantern was stone faced, a slight glow of red showing in her eyes. “No I didn’t, but that doesn’t make a difference…”

[=RAGE=] Rarity’s ring said as Rarity was listening to Applejack.

Applejack exploded. It was the first real rage any of her friends had seen from her since all the lantern business had started. “It’s a Tartarus of a lotta difference hearin’ from somepony else about your friend bein’ an undead monster that wants ya dead, an bein’ the pony to find it out up close and personal like when she tries ta kill ya! It’s a sight different, RD! YOU WEREN’T THERE! When y’all and Mac went about fightin those things, she was gone.” All of her friends, including Rainbow Dash, nodded. ”Ah was the only one ta SEE her an’ to talk to her! Ah’m the one who had ta tell y’all.”

“Applejack,” RL Rainbow Dash started quietly, gritting her teeth.”Wow. Um look I know that it was lousy…”

“No, Rainbow! You didn’t SEE her! You don’t know what it was like! You didn’t TALK to her. Ah did! Her white stripes were all gray, her eyes cold and dark. Her voice…!” Applejack shivered for a moment. “She was GONE, and we hadn’t even looked in on her! Then that feeling in mah heart..the guilt and the sorrow of what we had NOT done!” There were tears of rage in the earth pony’s eyes now. “ Yeah, that got me! Ah went home and knocked mah self around about…failing her.”

Applejack moved closer to the red lantern. She wiped the tears away from her eyes. “So if’n that ain’t bad enough, Ah come out ta find that you’re outraged because Ah wasn’t around to help you an yer ‘red gang’!  What about you, Dash, huh? Ah may have gone in the root cellar over Zecora, but what about you? You act like you don’t even care, and you took mah absence from grief as shirkin’! Got news fer you. Ah wasn’t scared about leavin’ home. Ah was scared about lousin up!” The farmer’s eyes were narrow and her lips were curled into a sneer, “So, that’s where Ah was! Where the heck were you?”

RL Rainbow Dash’s aura flared. “Where was I? I was keeping those things off of everypony, including your family, AJ! I was fighting with the others to keep ponies safe, a job that would have been easier with you helping… “ The red lantern paused and took a breath. “I needed you, and you were gone and you wouldn’t or couldn’t fight.“

“Ah see,” Applejack said without emotion. “So, Ah’m a coward, hidin’ while mah friends an’ family fight mah battles.”

“Whoa there, Applejack, I NEVER said you were a coward! I may have been disappointed and frustrated about you, and complained about not having you with us…yes, I did yell about it, but I’d never say that about you! Where the hay did you get that idea?”

“Ah got that from some of your lanterns, RD. Raindrops told me when she came out to the farm with some rain clouds!” Applejack sat back on her haunches and sat up to her full height. ”Seems they are also tellin’ folks in town, but y’all couldn’t even tell Mac to his face about his sister, let alone tell me ta mine!”

Rainbow Dash began to growl like an angry diamond dog. Her forehooves curled in and flexed in rage. Her eyes burned with anger. The ring on her leg began to spark and shine.  The pegasus began to rise off the ground. The air became saturated with the rage of the red lanterns.

‘We NEVER betrayed our friend!’ Rage and Loyalty burned into Rainbow Dash’s mind.

“M-M-My lanterns…said that?” Rainbow Dash could barely contain herself. “Which!” Red fire burned in her eyes.  “Who? WHO?!” Blood plasma had started to drip from her mouth again.

“Raindrops said she didn’t know.”

Twilight decided to add what she knew, “Rainbow Dash, I have to say I have heard that from some of the other ponies in town, too.“ The yellow lantern looked at her friend, “They told me some of the Red Lanterns were saying it among themselves.”

“I’ve heard it too, Dashie,” Pinkie Pie said, her mane and tail went straight for a moment. “I even almost got into an argument with a customer over it.”

“Um, I’ve heard it, too,” Fluttershy added meekly.

RL Rainbow Dash landed on her hind legs. Blood plasma dripping slowed, but the fire in her eyes had not diminished. “I…will…find out if this is true, Applejack. If it’s true, I’ll fix it from my end. I NEVER said that!” The cyan pegasus looked at her friend with a questioning glance as if searching, “But it means you’re going to have to fix it your end, too, Applejack.”

“Beg pardon?”

“First I gotta ask, AJ, are you going to stay? You can’t just go home when it gets tough.”

“Ah don’t give up when it gets rough, RD,” Applejack snapped. “Are you sayin’ Ah’m a quitter?”

“No,” Rainbow Dash paused, ”but I don’t know if you can be in this fight, that's the second part. You're going to have to prove to others,like the ponies who called you a coward AJ, make them choke on their words. Look Applejack it…it looks like it’s going to be a war with these things. I need you, but will you be there?”

Applejack did not know how to answer. ‘What does she want? Why is this so dang important to her?’

“Raindrops told me she heard that Twilight said this might be the first real war we’ve seen in forever.” Applejack looked at YL Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn’s ears were dropped and she had a worried look on her face. “Sounds like that’s true.”

“When did you get so chummy with Raindrops, Applejack?” the red lantern asked with a suspicious look in her eyes.

“She’s just the first one outside of the family to get a hold ah me, that’s all. She had some business to talk ta me about and she filled me in on some of this stuff.” The green lantern looked at her cyan friend and smiled slightly. ”She told me about how you were recruitin’, actively lookin’ for others to give a red ring to for this ‘war’ we’re all gonna fight.”

“Yeah I am, so what?” Rainbow Dash snapped. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Nothin per say, RD. But Ah also heard y’all apparently think that you also should be the ones punishin’ anyone y’all think are guilty. When did you become a judge?”

“We only go after ponies that deserve It AJ! Those who have cheated their way out of getting what they deserve!”

“Hum…” the farm pony rubbed her chin with a forehoof. “Raindrops told me she refused yer offer of a red ring because you an’ the red lanterns were outta control!”

The pegasus red lantern waved her leg to brush aside the comment. ”Raindrops will come around, she will be a red lantern. With her rage, it will be awesome to see!” The red lantern seemed to purr like Rarity’s cat, Opal, with the thought of Raindrops as a red lantern.

Applejack sniffed and chuckled a little. “Ha! Not likely Dash! Not after that little show ya put on with Cloud Kicker.”

Rainbow Dash reared around to look at the farm pony. “Fah! Ok…Cloud Kicker got a bit freaked. I didn’t say she had to take the ring. I didn’t make her! She got nasty first, and I got a little nasty back. I didn’t even touch her.” The red lantern scrunched her face. “As for Raindrops…you don’t know Raindrops like I do, you don’t know the rage…”

The green lantern cut off the red with a laugh. The sound of laughter coming from the farm pony was a bit of a shock. Fluttershy jumped, Pinkie dropped back a little her eyes large in wonder. Twilight was confused. It even startled Rainbow Dash. Only Rarity seemed unfazed; nopony could see her smiling a little. One thing for certain, neither Applejack’s courage, nor her sense of humor had been weakened by the trauma she had been through.

“Yer too late!”

Everypony was puzzled, and their faces matched their confusion. Rarity looked at Applejack with the eyes of the indigo ring. She saw three colors.

[=WILL=]

[=HOPE=]

[= AVARICE=]

‘Avarice? Orange? That's new!’ Rarity thought. ‘But...why avarice?’

“You don’t know Raindrops as well as ya think ya do, Dash! “ The apple farmer stopped laughing and had a slightly mean expression with a smile. “She’s never gonna be one of yer red lanterns, if she’s a GREEN one!”

The statement took a moment to sink into everypony.

Rainbow Dash growled, “What did you DO, Applejack?!”

The keeper of the Book of Oa grinned wide, showing all of her teeth. “Oh…Ah honored her request. She came to the farm seekin’ me out to ask me to give her a ring. She wanted to be a Green Lantern, not a Red one! “

The red lantern let out a howl of frustration.

“At first Ah didn’t want ta do it! Then she tells me about how you an’ yer reds have everypony around actin like they’re walkin’ on crates of eggs. You reds are as twitchy as a long tailed cat in a room full of rockin’ chairs.”

“Bah! “ RL Rainbow Dash growled a little. Her posture was bowed a little, like she was thinking about springing on the earth pony. Yet another great candidate for her corps had been taken from her, Fluttershy being the first violet lantern was somewhat easy to take, but Raindrops had such potential! “Doing that doesn’t mean you can really fully use that ring, AJ! I don’t even know if you can still be a lantern! Ok, you made a ring for Raindrops, so what! Can you still use it? Will you stay when it gets tough?” Rainbow Dash leaned down to look at AJ in the eye.

Applejack frowned, “Enough of the horseshoe games! What do ya want, Dash! What do Ah gotta do?”

‘She abandoned US!’ something red with horns dug into the back of Rainbow Dash’s mind! ‘She is WEAK! She left US when we needed her!’

‘She is loyal, she is our friend. Let her prove that loyalty and strength!’ something tugged at the heart of the Red Lantern. ’Let her prove she will not leave us!’

“Just prove to me you’re going to be there when it gets rough.” The pegasus’ eyes narrowed.” Prove you’ve got what it takes, AJ.” Rainbow Dash smiled grimly. ”Personally”

“Fine,” Applejack snapped. Her green eyes locked with the red lantern; green fire was burning in them now, and she didn’t shrink from the glare of her friend. “Where an’ when, RD.”

‘Now proves nothing!’ red fire growled."She is weak. She needs to be strong."

RL Rainbow Dash looked at her friend with eyes only a rage lantern could. The anger and fire in Applejack were gone! To a red lantern it was a sad thing to see.

Rarity saw what the red lantern had seen as well, the rage that had burned in Applejack just moments ago was gone. But Rarity could see what Dash could not. The earth pony’s burning rage had been replaced. Something else grew in her now.

[=WILL=] the indigo ring whispered in Rarity’s mind.

‘Show her we are not weak, let her become strong!’ the heart of Rainbow Dash whispered.

‘I have to know…’ something in her pleaded.  Rainbow Dash felt a little heavy in her chest.

“Tell you what, AJ, I’ll be ‘nice’…ok, Fluttershy?” The gentle queen of the Violet light nodded.”When you say you’re ready, come find me.”

“Fine.” Applejack got up.”If this is what it takes…Ah’m in.”

RL Rainbow Dash smiled a little. Applejack continued to lock eyes with the red lantern.

“Applejack! NO!” Twilight’s ring blazed a bit with her interjection. She floated forward to get between her two arguing friends. “Rainbow Dash, why are you…”

“Let it be, Twilight.” Applejack cut off the fear lantern. “Mah hide, mah choice, mah say!”

“Applejack, you can’t be seriously thinking of FIGHTING Rainbow Dash? No! You’re friends. You shouldn’t do that,” Fluttershy squeaked. A violet aura appeared around her as her ring began to glow.

The green lantern did not shift her eyes away from the red lantern.”Stay outta it, Fluttershy, this is between me an Dash!”

“Well now, that’s the AJ I know. About time the cowgirl showed up!” The red lantern almost seemed to purr again.

Twilight Sparkle let her aura fade and floated back to behind the farm mare, shaking her head as she landed.  She looked at Fluttershy, who let her own aura fade as well. The two friends looked at Pinkie for the moment. The party pony seemed a bit sad, like she seemed to know what was coming and that there was little the three of them could do about this. Applejack was acting like her old self now, once she got an idea in her head, it was very hard to change her mind away from it.

Applejack walked up to the pegasus. She spit into her hoof and thrust out towards her friend. Rainbow Dash repeated the gesture, bumping hooves  and sealing the agreement. Rarity turned a little queasy from the ritual.

“Ah’m a gonna tell you one thing, RD,” Applejack said as she lowered her hoof. “Ah may have let mah guilt eat me up, but Ah ain’t the one outta control from a big head an’ a big mouth! ‘Bout time you get taken down a peg or two!”

“What did you say!” The glow around Rainbow Dash began to brighten a little.

Applejack suddenly thrust herself forward and got right into her friend’s face. “Somepony needs to take the prance outta yer posterior featherhead, an Ah’m the pony to do it!”

“Any time, farm girl” The red lantern smirked.

Applejack turned around. “Come on, Twilight, let’s go. Ah got something important to show ya.” Applejack looked over her shoulder at the leader of the red lanterns.“That is if yer not too upset with me bein’ late to the party.”

Twilight’s eyes were wide. This was not what she had wanted to happen when she explained things to Rainbow Dash. She honestly had thought that telling Dash some of the conflict in AJ would help calm her. Twilight had never expected the pegasus to be so mean. She also had not expected Applejack to become so hard and inflexible.

The farm pony did not wait for an answer. She stormed out the door into the street. She gave the spa ponies hiding behind the counter by the entrance an “I apologize” before leaving the spa. The spa mares had been waiting for the lanterns to conclude their ‘conversation’ before returning to work. Twilight could feel their fear as she passed by them while trying to catch up to Applejack.

“Um…huh? Wait! Applejack!” she yelled as she lifted into the air and flew after her friend.

Fluttershy stamped her hoof. “Rainbow Dash!” the violet ring wielder started tersely. “What has happened to you? I understand why you got so upset with me over Scootaloo, but Applejack did no harm!” tears welled up in her eyes. ‘Love hurts’ she said to herself. ”Why are you doing this?”

Rainbow Dash sniffed and looked away. She didn’t dare look at Fluttershy, not now. 'They don't understand.'

Fluttershy and Pinkie left. Fluttershy using her ring to carry Pinkie and to try to catch up to Twilight and Applejack.

Dash and Rarity were alone.  RL Rainbow Dash seemed very satisfied with herself. Rarity’s eyes narrowed. She had been upset with her friend’s actions in the last couple of days, but with what had just happened, the pegasus had sunk to a new low.

“Why did you do that, Rainbow Dash?” Rarity said as she rose from her couch.

The pegasus smirked. “AJ’s like me Rarity. Nothing gets both of us focused like a good competition. It’s good for her. Besides, she’s got to prove she can hang.”

“To you? My, we presume much, don’t we!” Rarity said with a bit of acid in her tone.

“To me, and to herself.”

Rarity walked to face the red lantern directly. “I agree with you there. You both are ruffians who love to, how you say ‘mix it up’,  and a contest between the two of you always brings out the best in both of you— but it also brings out the worst! Let me ask you something. Are you ready for the consequences of what you have done today? Are you ready for the day Applejack comes back to face you? It will be the Iron Pony contest and the Running of the Leaves all over again, only this time, Rainbow Dash, it will not end so neatly.”

“Psh…whatever! I’ll deal with that when it comes up. Don’t worry.” Dash looked out the door Applejack had used to leave the spa. “We need Applejack back, Rarity.” She looked at the red ring on her leg.

“You are so sure you’re doing the right thing, aren’t you? Don’t you think it’s a little harsh?”

The pegasus’ eyes narrowed. A small amount of blood plasma dripped from her mouth. “I’m doing what I have to! Anypony who wants to go home and cry about their losses and doesn’t help, hurts us…we can’t rely on them, so they’re out! AJ  should get angry and do something about it. You have to support your friends, even when it hurts. This isn’t a game or a flying meet, these Black Lanterns play for keeps Rarity! AJ’s getting a chance to prove herself.”

“So pure in purpose, aren’t we! Alright, if you are so clear of purpose, why give Applejack any break? If grief is such a distraction, and what she did such a disappointment, why indulge somepony found wanting?

RL Rainbow Dash looked out the door again and mumbled something to herself, “I need her back.”

Rarity just caught the whisper. ‘Ah ha! I thought that this wasn’t just about Applejack; there is something deeper at work here,’ she thought. ‘Let’s see if I’m right.’

The Indigo Herd leader peered into the Rainbow Dash’s heart with her ring, probing for an answer. She was not surprised by what she found; in fact she expected to find what she found. It explained everything.

[=RAGE=]

[=FEAR=]

AH...now everything made sense.

The white unicorn summoned her uniform and staff. Indigo light swirled around her. Rarity rose to stand on her hind legs, holding her staff out. The light faded and she was dressed as the head of the Indigo Herd. She had a wry smile as she looked at Rainbow Dash. She had to be careful here, as her friend could explode in fury, but the truth was just too delicious, and the irony too funny to Rarity, and the actions of her friend too sad. Rainbow Dash frowned.  What was her friend doing?

“Running your mouth in an attempt to banish fear… that’s not wise, Rainbow Dash.” She giggled a little.

The leader of Red Lanterns roared, the red aura of rage arcing and crackling around her. Red fire burned in her eyes. “Are you saying I’M afraid, Rarity?!?” RL Rainbow Dash hissed.

The symbol of the Indigo Herd blazed forth in front of Rarity. She was ready to throw back anything the red lantern chose to lash out with.

“Yes, I AM.”

Rarity started to glow with the shimmering Indigo aura, matching her friend’s glow of rage with her glow of compassion. Sometimes it is compassionate to be hard on somepony. They need it that way sometimes, and this appeared to be one of those times.

“What happened to Applejack scared you! It terrified you because it meant that if Applejack broke, YOU could break, too! So, in fear of weakness you did what you always do, talk yourself up and talk others down! Just like the Cloudsdale Young Flyers Competition, remember?”

Rainbow Dash was starting to seethe with wrath. The prongs were again in the back of her mind prodding her to lash out. The only reason Rarity was not attacked at this moment was because of their friendship. “I’m not afraid! “ The cyan pegasus bared her teeth, her ears laid back in rage as she glared at the unicorn. “I saved YOU that day, remember! You almost got yourself and the Wonderbolts trying to save you killed because you were so full of yourself! You’d be dead if it weren’t for me!”

A red glow began to surround RL Rainbow Dash. Loyalty to her friend held back Rage.

Rarity frowned. “Yes, that is true, all of it. But now you’re the one who is ‘full of yourself’ to use your phrase.”

“You’re WRONG, Rarity!” The glow increased.

“Am I? AM I!” The Indigo Herd symbol shined brighter than ever. “I know what you feel, Rainbow Dash, I KNOW!  You are afraid! Your fear of breaking, of doubt, has run away so much it has made you basically accuse a friend of abandoning you to keep you from admitting to yourself that it could have been you! You COULD have failed!”

“Stop it, Rarity!” Rainbow Dash was breathing heavy, her red aura now seeming to grow with each passing second. “Stop it or I’ll...”

“Or you’ll what? Attack me?” Rarity’s aura increased in its intensity, almost daring the red lantern to strike. “That won’t make it go away; that won’t make anything I’ve said untrue! Castigating Applejack didn’t make it go away, neither will raging at me.”

The red lantern’s glow blazed brighter; more blood dripped from her eyes and mouth, burning holes into the floor when it landed.

“Rarity...I…am...going…to…”

“Loyalty works both ways, Rainbow Dash. You of all ponies know that! It means your friends standing by you when you are down and you standing by your friends when they are down! Applejack was down, where were you?”

The red glow dimmed a bit at those words. ‘She would not see us! We were defending her flanks!’ rage and loyalty both screamed with fire in the heart of the pegasus. “MMMy…llloyalty…isss…nnott…”

“Has your fear made you forget that? Has my friend truly fallen? Has the Red light banished the Element of Loyalty?” Rarity seemed tall now, glowing like the full moon. Her eyes were a blazing indigo fire; the tears in her eyes were like sparks. The Indigo Herd leader’s gaze was piercing. Rainbow Dash felt that gaze look into her very soul. She was torn about what to do.

”We lost Zecora! Have we lost you, too?”

For a moment nothing happened. The two Corps leaders stood facing one another, RL Rainbow Dash burned like a wild red sun, her rage threatening to scorch the unicorn to ash. IH Rarity was a blazing indigo star, her light beaming out and penetrated all the dark places around them, including the red lantern’s soul. The two lights seemed locked in a kind of dance.

“Ssstop it! …Leave…it…ALONE…Rarity!”

‘BURN!’ the rage in her demanded. ‘NO!’ Loyalty commanded.

“You have to know she can make it back!” IH Rarity struck the ground with her staff to emphasize the point.” You need to know for your own faith in yourself that ‘your great rival’ can return from such a personal blow! This isn’t just about Applejack’s confidence, it’s about yours as well!” IH Rarity was scowling now, her voice was like Princess Luna’s when she used her royal voice, and it had an unearthly quality in it, almost like another, greater being was speaking through Rarity. ”You have placed your own fears and doubts on Applejack!“

“NONONO!”

RL Rainbow Dash glared at the unicorn. Her rage urging her on to attack, to lash out at the cause of her  frustration and pain. ‘We ARE doing this FOR our friend!’ Rage screamed.  Loyalty demanded her to stay her hoof. She was still for a moment, trembling.

‘Was…that…true?’ RL Rainbow Dash asked herself.

Then the red light dimmed, then faded out. RL Rainbow Dash fell to the ground on to her flanks. She was staring down at the ground. Her ears drooped and her wings folded down to the ground.

“…you’re right, Rarity,” she whispered.

IH Rarity lowered her aura and her staff. The bright indigo light faded away, and her countenance became soft again as she let the indigo light return to her staff and her ring. Gently she got onto the floor next to the pegasus.

RL Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Rarity,” she began slowly, “I have to be strong, for the others. I HAVE to be! Things are going to get rough—Twilight says so! Applejack knows so. You may not believe me, but it’s not about my ego. I…can’t just break; I can’t just give into that…fear. It’s dangerous for me even to talk to you about it. If I do…I can’t let that happen. If I start to doubt….”

She paused and thought for a second she felt a momentary twinge in her chest. ‘was that my heart?’ she asked herself. She felt a slight pain.

”I’ll die, Rarity! I mean it literally! I will die! If other lanterns…doubt, they just lose their power, like AJ. We red lanterns…we die if that happens!” She looked Rarity in the eyes.

“AJ needs me to push her, she needs me to be ‘the jerk’ to make her better. It gives her something to knock down. I’m …you may not understand it. I respect AJ more than I respect most pegasi; she’s one of my best friends and ‘my greatest rival’ according to you! Think about that, an earth pony my greatest rival! I…need…AJ! She makes me focus, helps me face things, keeps me clear headed. I need to be better and AJ pushes me to be better.”

The red glow returned again. Rage began to grow again in the cyan pegasus. Her heart no longer was weak, her pain was gone as new rage flooded into her. The red aura returned, fire appeared in her eyes again, and blood plasma dripped again from her mouth. She wept bloody tears of sorrow and rage. Rarity pulled back a little, preparing to defend herself just in case.

“I HATE to lose! HATE IT!” she growled like a dragon.”The Black Lanterns made me lose twice that night; Zecora and Applejack! AJ is wrong, I DO care about Zecora, but I can’t do anything for her now but one thing: avenge her! I WILL avenge her!” The red glow became brighter. The rage that filled Rainbow Dash was different now! It felt clearer, pure, and righteous! Rage and Loyalty both burned in unison in her heart now. “I want to get AJ back! I want her with me!  I‘ll flip that loss into a win! When I’ve done that, for her and Zecora, I WILL make the Black Lanterns PAY!”  RL Rainbow Dash’s teeth pulled back into a smile of rage.

‘Strange way of getting your friend back,’ Rarity thought. But Rainbow Dash FELT sincere.

“I know,” Rarity nuzzled her friend’s neck. The red lantern’s body was stiff like a poised snake, waiting for the moment to strike, quivering in readiness. “I know.” The unicorn thought for a moment.”Forgive me, if it is possible for a red lantern to do so without risking death; forgive me for pushing you like that my dear. But you needed clarity, piece of mind.” The  unicorn looked at her friend with the eyes the indigo ring gave her.” It seems that red lanterns do their best when all they are about is rage, vengeance and justice, and pure purpose. Rage is like fire. I just don’t want that fire to turn in on you and burn yourself.”

The red lantern looked at her, ‘where she going with this?’ she thought.

“Please don’t hate yourself,” IH Rarity added.

Rainbow Dash straightened up. “Um, Rarity, I don’t hate myself,” RL Rainbow Dash answered quietly.

“That may not always be true, remember that! Be mindful that you don’t do anything later on that will cause you to hate yourself; red lanterns destroy that which they hate.”

“Alright,” RL Rainbow Dash agreed.

“Oh, and please do us all a favor, darling?”

The bearer of rage got up off the floor. “What’s that?”

“Please make sure that blazing fire is used ONLY on those who really deserve it. Raindrops was right, you are a bit out of control, my dear. I’m not saying some don’t deserve your wrath, but the way you Red Lanterns lash out, you are trying to light a candle with a bonfire! Do try to keep it under control until you REALLY need to use it. When you have to, then by all means: Rage! Be the hurricane.”

The red lantern sat in thought for a moment then nodded her understanding. She then rose into the air and hovered.”I’ll try, Rarity…It’s…so hard control sometimes! Celestia help me, sometimes rage feels good, it feels…right!” Rainbow Dash closed her eyes.”I wonder…” she winced.

“Shush.” The unicorn put her hoof to her friend’s mouth. “Not a word more. I don’t want to endanger you any more than I have. I will not say anything about any of this unless you want me to or I need to, except to Applejack. She ought to know what’s really going on.”

“NO!” the pegasus cried. Her red aura returned. “You can’t tell her, at least not yet. You have to wait!”

Rarity looked confused, “But…she will think awfully of you, she should know…”

“No! See, I told you, you wouldn’t understand! You can’t say anything to anypony, even Twilight. If AJ learns at the wrong time it will hurt her and undo everything I’m trying to do for her. NO! Say nothing!”

Rarity looked confused, “But, it may cause…”

“NO!” Dash grabbed Rarity with her hooves and gently held her so that the two of them faced each other squarely. “Pinkie Promise me!”

Rarity could read her emotions fine, but the red lantern’s thinking was beyond her understanding. The unicorn sighed, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She looked back at Rainbow Dash, ”Ok?”

The pegasus looked at her unicorn friend. “Ok. Thanks, Rarity.”

“You are welcome. Just remember this:  the rest of us are still your friends, too. We love and care about you and we will never willingly leave you or give up on you. I hope you remember that when it is time, Rainbow Dash.”

The rage lantern paused, “When will that be?”

“When Applejack comes looking for you will be one of those times. You were right, sweetie; she needed some help, and, by Celestia, you gave her focus and motivation, but the cost of it is going to be personally high. When that happens it is going to be ugly. Just promise me you won’t forget that you ARE friends, no matter how it turns out.”

Rainbow Dash smiled, “Don’t worry. I never did forget. You’re right though, it will get ugly, but I know that’s the way it has to be. AJ IS one tough pony. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to find who called her a coward, and take that insult out of their flank!" She looked at the unicorn "I just hope she’s ready soon, Rarity! My guts say they’re coming.” The Pegasus then looked around and got into the unicorn’s face close to whisper to her.” I’ll tell you something, Rarity; I’ll deny this too if it ever gets out but I’ll tell you…”

Rarity opened her eyes wide, her ears forward at attention. “Of course my dear, what?” she whispered back.

RL Rainbow Dash grinned, “It’ll be fun to see AJ try and kick my flank!“ The pegasus winked. ”But she’s going to have to work awful hard for it. Besides, I’d be offended if she didn’t bring her 'A' game. It would mean she’s not really trying, and that would be insulting.” With that, the Red lantern rose off the ground, glowing brightly as she levitated towards the door. In a second she flew out the door she had entered the spa through. One again the spa was a place of calm, the only indication the leader of the red lanterns had visited was the group of small holes that Rainbow Dash’s blood plasma had burned into the floor.

“I do believe that silly filly LIKES to fight”’ the unicorn said in exasperation.

Rarity reverted to her normal self; the tribal costume and staff disappeared.  She clicked her tongue as she shook her head while she returned to the spa couch. “Well done, Rarity, and scarcely any property damage this time,” she said to herself. “Now I must get ready for the little tasks Twilight has for me and those dreadful ponies in that horrid little cabal. Who the hay are they? What are they up to?” She manipulated a bell cord with her magic, calling the spa workers back. “Lotus, Aloe, Vera,” she called out loud, “please resume your labors my dears, I am going on an important outing.”

She looked up through the sky light and saw RL Rainbow Dash streak through the air.

“Ruffians!” she sighed.

The Past is Prologue Part 2: Chant of the Unliving

The Past is Prologue Part 2: Chant of the Unliving

The Past is Prologue Part 2: Chant of the Unliving

by Moon Chaser (DA CrazymikePrime)

“Is that all of the civilians?” an imposing blue pegasus with yellow mane and tail in a gold helmet asked Sergeant Major Silver Shard as his detail of guards came into the Night Flight Memorial area.

The tall pegasus had a scar across his neck running from his jaw to his shoulders on the left side. The helmet on his head, like Silver Shard’s had a crest made of his own mane. The emblem on his chest was not of the cemetery guards but the symbol of the Royal Guards of Canterlot. His rank insignia marked him as a Captain of the Air Guard of the retinue of Princess Celestia herself.

“That’s all that we found, Captain Brass Hat. Anything left in this place must be one of those…things, sir.” The grey earth pony panted a bit. The sting in his chest from his encounter with Private Breezy Blaze was fading slowly.

Captain Brass Hat looked out over the Memorial area while he contemplated his next move.

The Night Flight Memorial was a black marble edifice that looked like a large chest of drawers with a peaked roof over it. The pulls of the drawers were silver and the names of the deceased were carved into the drawer faces and the letters inlaid with silver. In front of the mausoleum, standing in the garden plot, there was a statue of three pegasi with a large silver tablet at its base. The outer edge of the statue garden bed was a low curving retaining wall faced with smooth black marble into which was carved scenes of pegasi fighting changeling ambushes and Griffin incursions. The flowers of the statue garden were white and blue, forming a pattern like Princess Luna’s cutie mark. Crystals were imbedded throughout the monument to simulate the stars in the night sky, and all the silver elements were polished to a mirror finish. There were four benches in the memorial garden where the four rescued ponies rested and waited to be evacuated.  The entire memorial area was enclosed by a high stone wall with three gates allowing access to the funerary monument.  All gates were locked and guarded by a team made up of all pony types, earth ponies making the phalanx, unicorns providing magic assistance and pegasi in the air acting as air cover and eyes.

“I don’t see Private Blaze,” the captain of guards asked his Sergeant Major, “Where is she?”

Silver Shard removed his helmet and looked at his commanding officer’s cobalt blue eyes. “We’ve lost her, sir. She’s…she’s become one of them. From what we’ve seen here today, that means they’ve killed her.” The earth pony was stone faced, but looking in his eyes told Brass Hat the truth, Breezy’s death had hit his Sergeant Major hard. “She attacked us, sir. When we had them held off from saving the last two civilians she spoke to me.” The stallion shivered. “I’ve never felt or seen anything like it.”

“Ok…It’s time to get out of here. We’ve got a job to do,” Brass Hat stated flatly. “Sergeant Major, get the troops ready. Hollow square formation two ranks deep, fire lances outside in the first rank, magic in the second. Non-combatants in the middle, pegasi over the square as air cap. Use the garden wagon for wounded and civilians. Make sure everypony has firecans; use those only when we have to. We’ll use the lance fire to push back…the foe, and then use magic to hold them off while we advance and repeat. We head out the main gate. Everypony alive goes! We’re leaving in five.”

“Yes, sir. Good call. We might get cut off and we will have to fight our way out,” the grey-coated guard opined, looking at the guarded walls of the memorial garden.

Brass Hat nodded his understanding while he looked at the four pony ‘survivors’ he and his guards had saved. Looking at three of them, they were just average ponies to him; a turquoise green unicorn with a silver mane, Oak Rake the earth pony gardener, and a colt just in school. They were the last civilians his guards had managed to save; now they just had to get out.

The Sergeant Major glanced at his commanding officer, noticing where the captain’s glance was focused “The blue bat pegasus is…”

“…I know who he is, Sergeant Major. I’ve known him since I was a foal. He saw me born.” As he began walking toward the white-maned, blue bat pegasus. Captain Brass Hat cracked his normally serious face into a little smile. “My father is in that mausoleum, you know, Shard. Night Flight is family. I know that old war horse!”

The captain removed his golden helmet as he approached the bat winged pegasus. The stallion of the night was imposing even by the standards of the royal guard, his long legs ended in a hooves shod in silver like the rest of the memorial, his long white mane and tail were each tied into four braids.  Only the bat wings of the pegasus were slightly wrong; they looked knurled and arthritic. At rest they folded over the cutie mark which Brass Hat knew was a chevron-shaped boomerang flying in a swirl with stars.

“ Boom! It’s nice to see you again. I wish it were under better circumstances.” The captain raised his hoof at the dark blue pony to bump in greetings.

“Jingles!” The night pegasus smiled with shining white teeth as he returned the hoof bump. Brass Hat smiled at hearing his old nickname while thinking, ‘Still doing that, huh, you old army mule’. “I wanted to meet you here, just not like this.” The old veteran looked around at the guard ponies preparing to move and taking final checks before asking, “What’s the game plan? You’re getting ready for something. Do I need a fire lance to help you out?”

Brass Hat chuckled, “Still ready to scrap after all these years. Ha! Dad would split his sides laughing.” The guard captain turned to look at his troopers beginning to assemble for march. “We’re moving in about five minutes. Hollow square…”

“Prongs and pillows with feather heads, right?” the old bat pegasus asked, using old army slang.

“Heh. Yeah, that’s the drill. Can you keep the civilians in the middle with you? I need someone to watch their rear ends and keep them from panicking.” The pegasus captain was scanning the scene with his eyes, making sure his ponies were in readiness to move out.

“All right you lot, get ready to fall in over here when…” Silver Shard’s voice barked over the two pegasus’ heads.

“Any idea what caused this whole thing, Boom? I’ve never heard of this kind of thing happening before, even when Discord was loose.” Brass Hat donned his helmet and made another quick scan of the memorial park, stopping to look at one of the pegasus statues.

“No. I didn’t see anything, since I was in here placing flowers on the graves for the full moon tonight. I heard some weird buzzing sound and crazy voices, and then all Tartarus broke loose.” Boomerang Blitz thought for a moment, searching his memory of the time at the cemetery.” I don’t think I heard any kind of necromantic spells, it was more like calling out somepony’s name.”

Brass Hat was still looking at the Pegasus statue on the left of the memorial while he spoke, “We’ll worry about that later; I’ve got to get everypony out of here alive before I can even hope to make a report about any of this.” The guard captain shook his body, checking for lose armor fit. “Lieutenant Flamestrike is in town now raising alarm about…”

There was a slight buzzing sound and then…

Small, black, hoop-like objects appeared. As they swarmed around the memorial park area they seemed to glow with darkness and trailed a kind of unlight as they streaked around. The guards paused in their assembly to stare at the strange things that acted like parasprites in flight. The objects seemed to speak with a strange haunting voice as they swirled around the pony guards assembling for battle.

[=FLESH=]

[=FLESH=]

[=FLESH=]

[=FLESH=]

[=FLESH=]

“You mean like that?” Brass Hat asked Boomerang Blitz with apprehension in his voice. The black points of darkness seemed to be looking for something, searching with senses unknown to the ponies watching the spectacle.

All at once the small, black, pallid objects flew straight at the mausoleum. They pierced the face of the structure, leaving small holes bored in the marble facing of the drawers where the remains of the Night Flight were interred. Chunks of black marble fell to the ground. Over the sound of clattering stone eerie voices spoke:

[=Solaris Summers Mitchell of Equestria=]

[=Joseph Summers Mitchell of Equestria=]

[=Holfaz Schuh Messing of Equestria=]

[=Idress Regarre Ferro of Equestria=]

[=Blyth Shores Teller of Equestria=]

[=RISE=]

The face of the mausoleum exploded. Shards of black marble flew out from the memorial, striking plants, walls, and ponies with jagged shards of the smooth stone. Guards jumped as streaking debris fell around them. The two conversing pegasi were the closest to the bursting marble. Captain Brass Hat was hit in his right rear leg and fell down on the injured leg, a second and third shard bounced off his armor, leaving dents, and a fourth, bigger chunk of rock, hit him in his ribs. Boomerang was struck in his left shoulder near the neck and high on his left hind leg. Both ponies growled in pain. There was a cloud of marble dust from the shattering black stone.

“Jingles,” the bat pegasus coughed, “you ok?”

“Yeah, got one in the rear leg but I think I can walk,” the captain of guards hissed. “Ugh…got one in the ribs too…pretty bad.”

“HOw ToUcHInG! mY TwO FaVoRItE POniEs In tHE WOrLd. My gOOd sOn aND My GoOd FoR nOtHiNg FrIEnD!” a strange haunting voice came from the settling black cloud.

Brass Hat turned to look at the source of the weird voice; it was so familiar and haunting. “Dad?” he asked in disbelief as his eyes beheld the sight of five pegasi corpses standing before the two living ponies. Their flesh long dead covered them like a form of macabre taffy stretched over the moving skeleton of a pony, their wings’ missing feathers here and there adding to the unreal and decayed appearance of them. Their cutie marks were visible; muted and distorted. Their necks and chest bore a symbol of five rectangles in a line over a triangle in jet black. The smell of their ashen rotting flesh filled the nostrils of the two wounded ponies looking at the walking dead, making them nauseous.

“FORM UP YOU LOT! DOUBLE TIME!” somepony was screaming.

“Oh, DiD yOu mISs THe OlD sTAlLiOn SOn? DId yOU cOmE To VIsiT Me REstInG iN PeACe?” the horseshoe with wings cutie-marked body asked the awestruck and shocked Brass Hat.

[=LOVE=][=COMPASSION=] [=FEAR=]

“Ah, It WOuLd Do mY hEArT gOoD,” Brass Hoof said as he began to reach for his transfixed son. ” IF i sTiLl HaD One.” The captain went numb as he felt the touch of his father’s corpse, the dead eyes looking so cold and hungry.

“BoOMeRaNG tHe LiAr!” a dead pagasus mare with a faded sun burst and swirl cutie mark roared. “DId yOu bRinG SPiTfiRE hERe To sEe HeR pArENtS aT rEsT? OH tHaT’s rIgHT, ShE CAn’T bE HeRe, sHe’S IN tHe sErViCE BEcAuSe YOu BrOKe yOuR ProMisE tO Me To kEEp hEr OuT! You sON OF a dIAmoND DoG!”

“oUr OLd fRiEnd pLaCInG FlOwErS oN oUr GrAveS, hOw SwEEt. DeAd PlAnTs cAN’t MaKe uS EvEN aFtEr WhAt yOu LeT HapPeNE tO Us!”  a swooping sea bird over water cutie-marked stallion said with a hoof pointing at the blue bat pegasus.

“Summer Fury?!?” the bat pony exclaimed, his catlike eyes wide in horror. “Seagull?!” he felt a chilling sensation in his mind and in his heart. His limbs went weak and he stumbled to the ground.

[=WILL=][=FEAR=][=RAGE=][=COMPASSION=]

“AlWaYs sO stUbBoRN bOOm, aLwAyS sO dEteRmInEd tO LivE“ .The body of Summer Fury reached out with her hoof bearing something with a glow of unlight. “i’LL tAKe ThaT LIfE FroM yOU tOdAy fOr TaKIng mY dAUgHtEr SPiTFiRe FrOm mE!” The pain in his chest grew stronger as she touched his body. “YOu ShoUlD bE dEAd wITh uS!”

“Captain! Colonel! HIT THE DECK!” screamed Sergeant Major Silver Shard as he brought up his fire lance. “NOW!”

Both living pegasi barely understood what Silver Shard was saying in time. The two ponies gave in to gravity’s pull and fell to the ground, lying as flat as they could on their sides. As they fell to the ground the undead closed in to finish whatever horror they planned.  Then the two ponies heard what they both expected and hoped for.

“LET FLY! RAPID!”  The grey earth pony screamed the order. “BURN ‘EM!”

Silver Shard had gotten the formation ready in the confusion. At his order the earth pony phalanx opened up with all their fire lances. A hail of blazing bolts poured onto the undead creatures, riddling them with burning holes. The mausoleum and the garden around the monsters came apart in chunks. The searing fire was impressive, but the undead did not go down, they just stopped and he almost thought he could hear them laughing.

[=FEAR=][=RAGE=]

“UNICORNS!” the Sergeant Major yelled over the din of lance fire, “Levitate the Captain and Colonel out of there when the phalanx ceases fire!” The grey stallion looked up at Garnet Stare, who had re-armored and loaded for battle, “Keep those things off our ponies when we let up! When we have everyone, we’re out!  Everypony keep up! Wait for my signal.”

The Pegasus Sergeant saluted and flew up to her position to provide cover, seven of her troopers forming up on both sides of her to form two groups of four. The pegasi climbed higher for a better angle and circled above like a form of beautiful flying predator, waiting for the moment to strike. “When you hear the signal from the Sergeant Major, dive at those things trying to take out the old stallion and gramps. Drop it in front of them and on their heads!” she yelled at her flight of troopers. The guards all yelled “yea” and waited for the signal.

For a moment there was nothing but fire and wind. Then there was the sounding of a great horn from the formation, its notes heard above the sound of fury and death. The music of the instrument reflected off the walls of the memorial park, amplifying the sound and carrying it up into the air, signaling the pegasi to begin their dive attacks. Garnet waggled her wings and called out to the flight, “On me! DIVE!!”

As the first pegasus dropped fire canisters, the earth phalanx ceased fire, holding ready for something to attack their line. The dropped ordinance found a home as the area directly around the reanimated corpses burst into an explosion of multi-colored flames, the sound of the creatures inside becoming a cacophony of horror as the magical fire attempted to purify the earth of their presence.  At that moment the unicorn guards, all in unison, levitated the two wounded ponies away from the blazing forms of the walking dead pinned down by pegasi air cover. Quickly but smoothly, the two almost unconscious officers were placed into the garden wagon where the civilians watched helplessly as the walking dead began to break out of the firestorm obscuring them.

“Alright let’s get out of here! Fire, shield, then advance! GO!” Silver Shard barked. “Trumpeter blow advance! Where in Tartarus is the medic?”

“I’m an alchemist and I’ve done nursing. I’ll help,” the silver-maned, turquoise green unicorn said in a matter of fact tone. She levitated her grey saddle bags open to retrieve potions for healing as she moved over to look at the wounded ponies.  Her face was emotionless as she first used her hooves and ears and then her magic to assess the wounds. “Bad internal injuries. Your captain had some serious internal blood loss,” she stated grimly.

“Alright, you heard the Sergeant Major, you know the drill!” Corporal Sweet Water had placed himself in the front rank with the earth ponies. He levitated his fire lance and the banner with the insignia for the guards and used it to point ahead of the hollow square to the main path through the cemetery. “Advance!”

***

“So how is Raindrops doin’ big brother?” Applejack asked the glowing visage of her brother floating over her ring. The farm mare had left Sugar Cube Corner and made a direct path for home, preferring to walk instead of using the ring to fly.”Has she torn up any of our apple trees yet?”

The big stallion let out a small laugh. “She’s good, AJ, a real natural. She flies better than anypony Ah ever did see, and she’s got a good idea of how to make stuff with it.” Mackintosh gave his sister a wry smile. “But mine are more solid.”

“Well, ok then.” Applejack smiled. “Ah’m headin’ home right now. I’ll tell more later face ta face. Ask Raindrops to stay for supper. Ah gotta go into town this evening to meet with the Princess an’ the other lanterns.”

Mac’s face was emotionless. “You find out what the hay was goin’ on in town about you an’ the reds? Raindrops told me some, and I was sore tempted to thump heads, ring or no.”

Applejack smiled a little. ‘Good big brothers are all the same,’ she thought. “Naw, Ah got it handled. Dash is gonna beat some heads in herself and take care of it.” She looked away from her brother’s virtual face for a moment.

“AJ, what are you not tellin’ me?”

‘Never could pull that off,’ the orange pony said to herself. “Well, seems RD got mah dander up, and, well, at some point later there’s gonna be a dust up between her an’ Ah.”

“Little sister, what’s that mean?”  The red pony looked at his sister with a suspicious eye.

The farm mare sighed, “It means Ah gotta get better with this here thing if Ah’m stayin in this.”

“Are you stayin’?” Big Mackintosh asked simply

“Most likely,” Applejack said as she looked out at the mountains and the sky. “Ah’m still a little hazy on what to do.”

“Oh yeah, both Raindrops and Ah both checked our rings. That book thingie isn’t in either of ‘em.”

“Beg pardon? Say that again?” the farmer asked.

“That book you found isn’t in our rings, just yours, AJ. You’ve got the only one!”

‘Keeper of the Book of Oa the ring said’ “Well, don’t worry about it right now Mac. After that meetin’ tonight Ah want you and Raindrops ta come to Twilight’s. Ah’m gonna show you a story outta this book that we all need to see.” The green eyes of Applejack seemed to twinkle with a strange light for a moment as the image of Mac faded and she summoned another from her ring.

A bubble of green light burst into appearance above the ring, forming a sphere with an image of a small hairless looking biped creature with a slash for a mouth, no nose, two eyes and two stubby round things on the side of its head that might have been the creature’s ears. The being had a long tail that ended in a point. It had thin graceful limbs. The creature in the image was dressed in the uniform of the Green Lantern Corps.

[=Avra: The First Green Lantern=]

“We all need to see this,” said the first Lantern of Equestria as she stared at the image in the bubble, “especially me.”

***

The march to the main gate seemed to take hours, even though it was only minutes. The confining nature of the cemetery gave the guards cover, as the monsters could only attack from certain angles, which allowed the guards to maximize their use of magic and fire lances.

[=HOPE=][=WILL=][=FEAR=]

The main gate was close at hoof when the ‘honored dead’ attacked, from the air this time.

“We can’t stop them!” somepony cried.

“They just keep coming back!” another yelled over the noise of the fighting.

Another screamed, “They’re playing with us!”

“Our magic doesn’t work on them!” a unicorn shrieked.

Silver Shard roared, “Keep it together, foals, we’re almost out! Don’t lose your nerve now! At the double quick now!” The formation’s speed picked up, racing for the gate.

“Garnet’s getting company, Sergeant Major!” Corporal Sweet Water yelled as he pointed out and up above the horizon as three dead pegasi rose into the air to attack their air covers.

“Knock em’ down for the lady!”

Fire lances burst fire at the rising creatures, causing them to jink about to make themselves a harder target. The flyers changed targets and descended at the square formation. Seven undead flyers descended through the hail of fire and past shield spells.

“INCOMING!” screamed the grey earth pony as he brought up his fire lance. “Stay together!”

The sergeant major drew his sword with his mouth and bit into the grip just in time to block a blow from the dead Breezy Blaze with his fire lance. The parrying weapon shattered into splinters and Silver Shard was thrown back on to his hindquarters by the force of the blow.

Rear guard ponies were scattered by the other dead flyers that had come with Breezy Blaze. Some of the ponies ran for their lives with a dead pony chasing after them. Others tried to get back into ranks. The chaos was total.

“LEaVInG sO sOon? NO wE caN’t HaVe ThAt! ThE dEaD shOuLD sTAy WiTH uS!” Silver Shard felt the same pain in his chest that he had felt before returning as Breezy Blaze touched him.

[=FEAR=][=RAGE=]

“Oh, nO LoVE foR LItTLe BReEZy? ThAt’S oK, I’ll tAKe yOuR HatE aNd FeaR WitH yoUr LiFe iNsTeAd!”the mocking undead voice said. The pegasus pulled the earth pony guard close to her and raised a hoof over her head to strike.

Two more pegasi landed next to the garden cart. The cadavers of Summer Fury and Brass Hoof reached out to strike their desired targets. The turquoise unicorn put off a magic shield over herself and her patients, but one strike from the hoof of Summer Fury shattered the shield like it was made of thin glass. The alchemist fell back into the wagon shocked. Her shield had been useless.

“CoMe tO pAPa SoN!” Brass Hoof said approaching the seemingly helpless captain of guards.

[=FEAR=][=RAGE=]

“StAY oUt OF this wItCH! IT’s PrIVatE! ” The corpse of Summer Fury growled. “IsN’T iT bOOm.”

Brass Hat had managed to grab his fire lance in the confusion. He planted the lance right into the face of his dead sire and fired, decapitating the unliving body. He fired twice more into its body before falling back down into the wagon.

“Sorry, Dad,” he gasped as he let go of the lance and fell back down into the cart. His leg bandages began to leak blood again.

Boomerang managed to kick with his hind legs full force into the face of Summer Fury, crushing her face and skull in. The force of the impact made the dead pegasus stumble away from the wagon. He grabbed the fallen fire lance with his teeth and discharged the weapon into the body of Summer Fury. Burning holes rapidly appeared in the carcass of his old friend. The bat pony then looked around and saw the sergeant major prone under the horrid monster about to kill him.

“Corporal!” he cried as he fired at Breezy Blaze.

“Save him!” Sweet Water cried as he directed the earth ponies to fire at their former friend.

Shot after shot poured into Breezy Blaze as she gripped Shard with her forelegs. Holes started to appear as she launched herself into the air, carrying the earth pony with her, laughing madly as she rose into the sky. Sweet Water waved for the phalanx to cease fire. They could hit their comrade and kill him or hit the creature Blaze had become and cause the pony to fall to his death.

“Get him back with magic!” the guard unicorn said as his horn began to glow. He reached out with his power to try and snatch their sergeant major back from the monster. All the unicorns joined in, but to no avail; Breezy Blaze had moved beyond the range of their magic too quickly.

“By Celestia’s Mane, she’s never been that fast!” the disbelieving unicorn gestured to the trumpeter. “Blow pursuit for the air guards.” The unit’s horn sounded a musical command.

Sergeant Garnet Stare looked about to see the dead private flying away with Silver Shard in her ghoulish grip. The pegasus waggled her wings, acknowledging the order, and yelled at her wing pony to follow. The pegasus guard attempted to peruse, but the dead guard pegasus was too fast for her, and now other things were rising into the air, other dead pegasi.

“We’re really outnumbered and no ground support,” she muttered. She dropped her armor, getting ready for a mad dash at Breezy Blaze, only to see with her sharp eyes the sergeant major wave her off weakly.

There was a sudden explosion of colored fire that enveloped the living and his dead carrier. The swirls of magic fire fell to earth like shooting stars cast down from the sky, the two ponies breaking apart as they fell and struck the ground.  With tears in her eyes Sergeant Garnet Stare of the Royal Equestrian Air Guard reluctantly left. As she looked down over the gruesome landscape she could see that most of her unit had gotten out, but with a high cost.

She came in for a landing next to the garden wagon where Corporal Sweet Water was trotting. The guards were heading to the barracks. The pegasus landed and began to trot with the Corporal.

“The sergeant major?” he asked. The red-eyed flyer shook her head. “Fire Can,” she said with tears in her eyes. “How’s the captain?”

The unicorn looked over at the still, gold-maned pegasus. The white-maned bat pony and the turquoise unicorn were over him, trying to tend to his wounds. “It’s bad. Mare nursing him says internal bleeding and she doesn’t have any potions that can help.” Sweet Water glanced at the pegasus. “Guess you’re in charge now, ma’am,” he said, looking at the formation struggling to stay together.

Garnet Stare shook her head. “No thanks,” she said and then looked back over her rump at the cemetery, seeing here or there dead pegasi fly above the wall. “They let us go, you know.”

“I know.” The Corporal of the guard stared into space. “That’s what really frightens me. What can we really do to stop them?” The unicorn looked at the ground for a moment then back to the sergeant, “I heard them speaking or chanting something while we fought them. I couldn’t make it out over all the noise. I wonder what it was?”

The sergeant visibly shivered. “I heard it up above, it was a chant, more like a promise.” The flying mare sweated and her eyes were wide in terror as she remembered what those undead monsters had chanted. “I heard what they call themselves. They’re called Black Lanterns. I heard them tell it to a civilian we could not save, but that chant they had was the worst…ur!” The pegasus ‘ ears drooped and her wings opened in nervousness and anxiety “…I’ll never forget it.” She spat at the ground.

“What was it?” Sweet Water asked. “Look if you want to forget about it…”

“No,” Garnet said quietly, “you should hear it. Everypony should hear it. The Celestia-cursed thing is chilling.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and began to recite:

“The Blackest Night falls from the skies,

The darkness grows as all light dies,

We crave your hearts and your demise,

By our black hooves, the dead shall rise!”

The Reading of the Book of Oa

The Reading of the Book of Oa

by Crazymike Prime/Moon Chaser

Twilight’s tree house became quiet after Princess Celestia, her guards, the military officers and attachés left the Elements of Harmony alone. He said in private to Twilight she had another meeting to attend and asked Shining armor to remain behind as her official representative and as a liaison to the lantern corps. Twilight pleaded for the princess to stay as Applejack was bringing lore she would find interesting. Celestia declined as she had another pressing meeting to attend. Shining Armor offered to give her a full report and briefing as liaison, to which the Sun Princess stated that such action would be acceptable. Twilight made a sour face at that statement. She had been reporting to the princess about the lantern issue since the beginning, were her reports not good enough? Celestia read her student's expression perfectly.

"Twilight I want you to continue to send me reports to me as you have been, but Shining Armor's reports will not be just for me or Luna like yours have been, they will be for the court. Your correspondence to me is private Twilight, Shining Armor’s is public.”

The princess then came forward knelt down slightly and nuzzled her best student. “Never forget Twilight, you always have my ears. I trust you.” Celestia then rose and with a gentle smile she turned and departed, calling her guards to her. Her chariot was seen rising into the nighttime sky from the windows of the library.

A gentle breeze made the branches of the tree sway and the leaves rustle softly, the noise adding a bit of foreboding to the mood of the remaining ponies.

Applejack excused herself and went outside to use her ring to summon her brother and Raindrops for what she hoped would be answers to at least some of her questions. She placed her mind into the ring, using it to reach out to the rings of her brother and the weather pegasus.

“Ok…what’s happening now?” RL Rainbow Dash asked out loud to any pony that would answer her, the leader of Red Lanterns’ impatience and her aura growing together by the moment. “What is this thing that Applejack has that Twilight wants us to see?”

Pinkie Pie jumped on the central table so she could look the hovering rage wielder in the eyes. The pink pony smiled. “Applejack found a book in her ring! A big book! It has LOTS and LOTS of stories and history and stuff in it!” Pinkie bobbed up and down in place on the table while she spoke. “Applejack needs a good story,” she said as she stopped and grinned, “and I want to hear a good story, too.”

“Pinkie darling…don’t you have something you should be preparing for right now at Sugar Cube Corner?” Rarity inquired as she made herself comfortable on a reading bench. She used her magic to levitate a couple of cushions onto the bench before she lay down. “Shouldn’t it be ready before you listen to any myths out of a ring?”

“It’s all ready right now!” the party planner assured the Indigo Herd leader “Mr. and Mrs. Cake have it all ready to go! When we walk in after story time—POW! Party time! It’ll be great!” Pinkie cartwheeled over to the bench Rarity was sitting on and landed with a thump on the empty part of library seat, smiling at the white unicorn when she came to a stop. Rarity twitched and made a quick frown before resuming her normal composed demeanor and charm.

“Ok, fine. Surprise party blah blah blah. I get you guys wanted to keep it a secret, but where is Applejack? What’s she doing? Are we going to do this or not?” The red lantern leader kicked the air with one of her hind legs.

“She’s outside calling in the other Green Lanterns here,” the Yellow Lantern unicorn said with a hint of annoyance at her friend’s lack of patience. “She feels they need to see it too. The Book of Oa is the history of the Green Lantern Corps and the ones who created the rings, an ancient race called the Oans who also called themselves…” Twilight was cut off from completing the sentence.

“The Guardians of the Universe! Those little blue twerps!” The pegasus’ red aura got distinctly brighter when she heard Twilight mention the original creators of the power rings. “Feah! Those stupid eggheads were responsible for the Manhunters’ Twilight! The Manhunters killed millions…no, billions and those ‘Guardians’ are the thoughtless freaks that created them!” Red bloodlike fluid began to run out of the mouth of Rainbow Dash as she spoke. “They’re the reason Atrocitus created the Red Lanterns. That book is probably full of lies! Why would you listen to it?”

Twilight Sparkle mentally called on the power of her ring as she spoke. The uniform of yellow materialized around her and she rose into the air while speaking to Rainbow Dash. “For the same reason I read the notes of Thaal Sinestro! The same reason I listen to what you just said! The same reason we counseled with Princess Celestia! Ignorance can get you killed and truth can be found in the aggregate of many facts and stories, but you must do the work of collecting and sifting through them to get the whole picture! It’s wise to get as complete a picture as you can!”

The Red and Yellow lanterns hovered in the middle of the library main room glaring at each other for a moment. The other ponies in the room were silent, not knowing exactly what to say or do, when Applejack walked in with Big Mac and Raindrops, reverted to their normal form, each having a glowing green ring.  The three Green lanterns looked up at the Red and Yellow lanterns frowning at each other then looked around the room at the dragon and the other ponies watching the floating posturing lanterns. The atmosphere in the room was tense and churned with feelings of fear and rage.

“Um, did Ah miss somethin’ while Ah was out?” Applejack looked first at Rarity and Pinkie, then at Shining Armor.  Pinkie was quietly twiddling her hooves, a nervous grin on. Rarity simply shook her head and rolled her eyes as she got up and called her staff and the Indigo Herd raiment to appear. She then  floated behind Rainbow Dash, placing the head of the staff over one of her wings. Shining Armor reached up with his right foreleg for his sister and gripped her right rear leg.

“Ok Twilie, I think you’ve made your point. Please come down so we can look at this book you found.” The Captain of the Royal guard firmly tugged on his sister. The purple unicorn turned to look over her right shoulder and, for a second, Twilight’s eyes glowed with the yellow energy of her ring, giving her big brother a cold feeling in his heart. The Yellow lantern then realized the effect her presence was having and let herself return to the ground, reverting to her normal form, letting the fear power return to the ring.

At the same time the unicorn stallion was talking to his sister, a unicorn mare wielding compassion given form tugged on her friend to get the rage lantern to come to earth. “Dear, please! We’re here for Applejack. Let’s hear what the book has to say first.” The cyan pony at first would not move, but after a couple of gentle tugs of her friend’s staff she decided to come down and landed with the rest of the ponies assembled.

“Applejack, did Scootaloo make it to your house?” the rage lantern inquired as she touched the ground. “she said that she and Sweetie bell were going to sleep over tonight with Applebloom.”

“Yeah, she and Sweetie were arrivin’ as Ah left to meet y’all an’ the Princess and those yea-hoos from Canterlot. They should be alright. Ah trust Scootaloo to behave with Granny around, an’ it should do Applebloom some good.”

Raindrops was quietly assessing the Red lantern from a new perspective. Now that she possessed a ring of her own, she started to think of what she could do if Rainbow Dash got ‘out of hoof.’ Applejack quietly thought to herself the same thing. Rainbow Dash had a reputation for ferocity since the red ring had found her, and she was gaining notoriety for brutality. The farm mare started to think of what she would do if her friend went suddenly berserk. It was not a pleasant way for her to think, but she had to at least try to act if things went sour.

Twilight took a deep breath and turned to look at the three Green lanterns. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Yeah, Ah believe we did.” Applejack presented the ring in front of her on her foreleg, its green glow softly casting light all around. “Ring? Ah gotta question.”

[=Yes=]

“Ring. Is there a story a new Green lantern should know? Is there something that shows …where they came from?”

[=Yes. There are a number of accounts from the history of the corps that would be used to convey to a new lantern the meaning and purpose of the corps and its mission when the recruit asks for guidance after charge imprinting=]

Applejack paused in thought before she asked the ring the next question. Twilight Sparkle had activated her own ring to take a record of what the Book of Oa was about to tell. She might not be able to ask questions of it directly, but she could record the image as a memory in her ring for recall later.

Fluttershy was still and quiet, sitting on a large pillow on the floor, her own violet ring softly glowing. Pinkie Pie leaned forward, her ears tilted toward the ring. Shining Armor’s eyes locked onto the ring, his ears twitched from the sound of its ‘voice.’ The green ring’s sound was different from the yellow one his sister wore.

Rainbow Dash sneered silently in a corner, sitting higher than everypony else in the room, as was her custom. She remembered what the founder of her corps had said about the Guardians, and she did not trust the Book made in their name.

[=It is tradition that the telling of the saga of Avra, the first lantern, be the first account all lanterns are told.  Avra is the one who defined the way for all Green Lanterns that followed=]

“Avra was the first?  Who was he?  What is his story?” the green eyed mare asked the glowing emerald-colored ring.

[=Information playback option: Interactive Datagram display or Audio Visual Narrative display?=]

“ Is it going to lecture again like before? No thank you, please! Listening to it was like being in school again!” Pinkie rolled her eyes. Twilight looked at the party planner with a slight frown. “Ah heh…sorry, Twilight.”

Applejack chuckled. “Audio Visual…um the second way please.”

[=Audio Visual Narrative display selected=]

As before a bubble of green light burst into appearance above the ring, forming a sphere with the image of Avra that she had discovered earlier, a small biped with a tail, two forelimbs, and no nose.

Spike smiled at the image. “He looks like a dragon,” he chuckled.

[=Avra: The First Green Lantern=]

The ponies all stared for a moment, wondering about the creature in the bubble. Applejack in particular stared at the image, as if she were trying to reach out with her thoughts to it. The image bubble grew and changed, becoming dark. Points and swirls of light appeared in the image. It looked like the deep night’s sky.

“OOO,” Pinkie Pie said as she produced a cupcake from somewhere, “now, this is better! More like a show and less like a school.”

Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes at the pink pony’s statement.

[=Chapter 1, Volume 1, Codex 3, of the Book of Oa=] the ring began.

[=The first one given a ring was not the first lantern. The first lantern was the first chosen by a ring.

The first lantern was Avra. Long ago, before our stars had first ignited, Long ago when life was new, and the universe was in its infancy. Before Order, there was Chaos=]

The image projected by the ring was in color now, as if the ponies were looking through a window or a scrying crystal at something happening right now. A lovely scene appeared. There were creatures going about gathering water by a stream when a large shadow appeared over them.

The image became filled with objects that looked very much like a fish or an ancient squid floating in the black, starry sky. Beams of light burst out of these objects, burning whatever the light fell on. Strange flying craft came out of them and alien creatures nopony had ever seen before landed on the ground and attacked other creatures with weapons clearly greater than what their targets had to fight back with.

[=Chaos outbalanced creation. Hate outbalanced fellowship and all life suffered. The Guardians saw it all. The evil was too great to be left unchecked. And so, they gathered The Light. They knew of its variety and strength and the light with the most power. They sought their answer in the Light of Will. To form from it a weapon unequalled. To turn armies to sand. Will given substance and form=]

The image changed again. A group of large-headed, blue-skinned creatures, looking like monkeys with only white hair on their heads, were circled, looking at the image the ponies had just seen. They then pulled light together into a ball. They then used their power to manipulate the ball, stretching and pulling the light into a loop that began to form a ring!

“They must be the Oans.” Twilight Sparkle’s eyes shimmered as the image of the small aliens in the process of forming the first ring continued. They seemed to be manipulating a power that was like magic as they formed the green energy into a power ring.

A new picture appeared of a strange and impossibly large city. It stretched from horizon to horizon with a large central plaza in the middle of the picture. The blue aliens floated over a multitude of creatures of every color, size, shape, and texture imaginable. Twilight herself would not have thought some of these creatures were alive, let alone sentient.  Her eyes widened in awe.

[=The greatest warriors in the universe were gathered. Four would be chosen. The first four. An event to be remembered and recorded. From among them the Guardian Ganthet said to the assembly:

‘Stand tall warriors. If we are to be Guardians, you are to be our strength. If you are to be our strength, these shall be your arms.’ And the rings were presented before the multitude=]

The small blue skinned ones opened a box that contained four rings glowing green.

[=The Guardians first chose Wachet. The First Ring was given to her=]

The ring showed a creature that looked like a upright walking floor rug with tentacles. The ring flew out of the box and landed on one of its appendages and she became clad in the uniform of a green lantern.

[=Then the second they choose was G'Hu. To him was given the Second=]

The creature that now appeared in the bubble looked like a Manticore. He had a huge mane that parted into two tails and large long-toed paws. A ring landed on the middle toe of his right forepaw and he too was in uniform.

[=The third the Guardians selected was Blu. She claimed the Third of the rings=]

She was a biped, tall and blue-skinned with large eyes. The ponies watched on, fascinated. Pinkie munched on some crackers she had with her, trying to be as quiet as possible. Even rainbow Dash took interest.

[=And the Fourth was sent, and stopped, as if waiting, searching. But then, the unexpected happened. It was called an accident. But accident is only the Will of the universe expressing itself. The fourth ring flew about as if looking into the beings assembled. The universe, through the ring, looking for whom to choose=]

The bubble showed a lone ring, zipping back and forth, searching. The guardians looked puzzled. From their facial expressions it appeared they had not intended this to happen.

[=And it was the universe’s will that the fourth chosen would be Avra. A mere scribe, chronicler to the Guardians=]

Spike and Twilight looked at each other and smiled at that information. A scribe was the first chosen. Ha! The bubble now showed the image of Avra they had first seen before this story had started.

[=So it would be, for all time, from that day forth, the Rings would choose their successors. The Guardians had armed the first four, and sought to train them. Though no training could prepare them for what was to come, when training gave way to duty=]

The four were now sitting in some sort of vehicle unlike anything ponies had seen before. While it looked like it was using magic, Twilight knew it was very high-level technology—science Equestria itself would likely not develop for thousands of years.

Applejack shifted a bit as the saga continued. She was uncomfortable for some reason, but she was watching the record intensely. Mac was his normal calm self, silently taking all the images in. Raindrops looked as if she were taking notes with her mind.

[=A plague had savaged the universe, a plague of Chaos. The Guardians dispatched the first four to stop its advance. The task was theirs—ready or not.

Wachet asked Avra, “Is this your first battle?”  Avra nodded.

“Do what I do and try to stay alive,” Wachet instructed.

Avra held up his ring and asked, “Is this really enough to stand up to all that?”

The first chosen said, “The guardians say so.”

“But they are just rings,” Avra said. To that Wachet responded, “And before getting yours you were just a scribe. Use your imagination.”=]

The vehicle the four were in exploded. They were in the void, the glow of their aura showing their rings working. Around them were more of the same things from the beginning of the record. They were vehicles, huge vehicles.

“Those are warships of some kind,” Shining Armor gasped. They were huge and their power could easily destroy mountains with the flash of one of their weapons. The unicorn captain’s eyes went wide in wonder and horror. “What kind of place was it these rings came from?”

[=And they battled the Chaos, their rings burning with light and yet, they did not stand. It was too much for them, for anyone. Long they fought, and many fell before them, yet they did not prevail. Blu was lost—she fell fighting to her last. She was the first to fall. Her ring left her hand when life left her body=]

The images went from showing the four aliens using their rings, beams of green energy shooting out, destroying whatever the emerald ray struck, to the blue female being repeatedly struck by light from the enemy. She had been hurled into a small moon like rock and had one of the enemy warships crashed into her. There was an explosion and she was cast up into the void, her body limp. The glowing green ring removed itself from her limb and started to fly away. One of the surviving warriors grabbed the ring as they flew away towards another small moonlike rock floating in blackness. Fluttershy wept at the sight of a being killed so blatantly. Rarity gasped, holding a hoof over her muzzle. Pinkie wrinkled her nose up as if she too were about to cry. Shining Armor just closed his eyes for a moment. As a soldier, he knew what battle could mean, even though he had not seen it himself. He knew, especially after the changelings’ attempted invasion of Canterlot, what could happen in battle. Macintosh frowned at the thought of sending so few against so many, with only a little ring.

Twilight looked at Raindrops and Applejack. The two green lanterns were stone-faced. If either of them were were moved by what they had just seen, their faces gave no indication.

[=They were overwhelmed and fell back to an asteroid, a stone island in the void. Among themselves they counseled on what action should be taken=]

[= “There is no victory here. Our choices are retreat or death,” G’Hu despaired out loud.

Wachet spoke next, “Go and I will cover your retreat.”

But the First lantern saw, and would not run.

Avra stood up. “The Guardians forged these rings from Will. Willpower can do more than pave our retreat. Will is the first cause behind any action. We must will our survival.”

Wachet waved her tentacles. “Your faith in the Guardians is commendable, Avra, but this is a failed endeavor. You will die.”

Avra responded, “So be it. I choose to believe in the Power of Will. I choose to believe in the cause for which we fight. I choose to believe in my ring.”

“This is battle, Avra, this is real. This is not like your books where you can change the ending,” Wachet warned, but Avra was unmoved and headed back to battle and left his compatriots behind=]

Avra’s image flew away from his comrades, who were huddling together in what appeared to be a cave. He grew smaller and smaller, becoming a tiny green star as he flew back to the battle they had just fled from. ‘How could he hope to win, no matter how amazing that ring is,’ the farmer thought as she watched the tiny Avra fly into the rain of death. “That feller was sure brave,” she said out loud quietly while she watched the image.

[= And the fire of Chaos poured on to Avra, and he was pressed and battered. Yet he would not yield.

“These rings were forged from Will, we must will our survival.” Avra understood and willed himself to live=]

As fire and light poured on Avra he did not die. He screamed in agony, yet he lived and he would not yield. The image of the small being flared; green light burst forth brighter than before, becoming for a moment like a great sun of green light, its intensity filled the room with almost blinding light. The ray of light from Avra’s ring cut one of the great warships in twain. The vessel burst into fire and shattered.

Pinkie quietly went ‘ooo’ as she watched, the pink pony crunching on a cookie while offering another to Rarity.  The unicorn mare politely refused.

[=And then, in the midst of the fury, Avra did the impossible. He used the light to do what had never been done. The used the Light of Will to create=]

As the smoke and lights cleared, a long sword had appeared in Avra’s hands. He marveled at the creation of his mind with the ring. Arva gripped the sword with his fore limbs and began to swing down; the sword grew as it traveled its arc, becoming monstrously huge.

[=He held aloft his first construct. No longer a scribe, now a warrior—The First Green Lantern. The first of the Corps, the founder of the way=]

The sword cleft another of the huge vehicles in half, shattering it. ‘Such power!’ Twilight thought. Never had she imagined that the rings held such raw power. Even after all her study and experimentation, these rings continued to surprise. She began to wonder at the limits of the ring.

The others who were given their rings came back after seeing what Avra had done and followed his example. Where they had faltered and barely been able to fight before, now the ring users were unstoppable. G’hu created what looked like a giant snake, larger than any dragon that had ever existed in Equestrian history. The serpent coiled around another vessel and crushed it like a constrictor snake, the once mountain-sized ship became dust in the void. The lanterns flew with greater speed than before, their rings cutting great swathes across the sky. Large flashes popping like fireworks told of the ring users’ victory.

[=His compatriots saw, and understood what he had said. Avra, Wachet  and G'Hu drove back the Chaos and prevailed, and the Light of Will had been secured in the fight for life. This was the beginning. In time the Rings would be passed on, while a hundred more were forged, and then thousands. All would be taught as the first lantern had learned. A new path to victory. A use for the Ring that even the Guardians had not predicted=]

More beings appeared, being given rings like Applejack’s. As they placed the ring on one of their appendages the uniform of the Green Lantern corps appeared. The vision then shifted, showing a multitude of lanterns all standing before what looked like a power battery only much larger. They numbered in the thousands.

[=In time, old lanterns would fall. Their rings choosing successors, to learn as they did. Even Avra would fall, his ring choosing another who would be taught his lessons, and, in turn, would one day teach them=]

Now the image was a hall of some kind. There was Avra facing another lantern. The larger hammer- headed creature summoned two curved swords with its ring. Avra called up the energy of his ring and flung it at the other lantern as a unicorn might fling magic. The hammer- headed creature sliced the ball of energy in two with his construct swords and Avra smiled.

“ Training, ” Shining Armor offered.” He is teaching.”

[=Thus was born the Green Lantern Corps, dedicated to preserve life in all the forms that it chose. What was once a unique innovation became the way for all: The way of Will=]

The scene showed Avra, in his uniform, holding up his ring. Then the image changed, the ring itself was unchanged and unmoved, but the lantern wearing it was not Avra, but a creature with four eyes clad as a Green Lantern. Then the image again shifted, faster this time but in the same way; the ring itself did not move, but the lantern wearing it did—it looked like a kind of bird, marked with the corps symbol like the others, and the sky behind the lantern was dark blue. As more and more creatures of every shape came into the image, the places behind each of these lanterns changed as well. They saw forests, icy wastes, cities of designs never before imagined, and mountains, but the ring was the only thing unchanged in these images.

Twilight Sparkle caught the meaning of that key element. “Those are the lanterns who wore Avra’s ring after him, and those were the places they came from.” Twilight looked at the ring on the farm pony’s leg and gasped.”How old is that ring?” she wondered out loud. The images slowed. The holder of the ring now looked very much like a goat or a minotaur with slightly curving horns.

[=Know you then this, you whom the ring chose for this duty=]

When the image shifted again, the ring wielder was another biped. He was hairless and his skin was red. He stood in a beautiful lush forest with strange trees and a purplish-colored sky. Another alien appeared, the ring again unmoved. This time to creature much like the previous one, its skin lighter. The lantern had brownish hair on its head and was standing in what looked like a desert. The sky behind the creature was like the sky of Equestria—a beautiful light blue. Applejack could swear she had seen him before when she charged the ring the first time.

[=When you shape the light of your ring, you and all who came before you…=]

The next to appear was very like the previous. He had black hair this time and his uniform was somehow different. Then the ring, unmoved through all this time, glowed brightly and flared, filling the bubble with light that then dimmed to become what appeared to be a world that quickly grew bigger and filled the bubble. Clouds rushed by as the image they were watching was falling to the ground.

[=…walk in the steps of Avra, the First Green Lantern=]

The ring reappeared in the image again, filling the entire bubble as if it were being looked at very closely up to the eyes. The ring began to shrink, or recede, growing smaller slowly, showing that it had attached itself to another being. The image at first was blurry but quickly cleared…

…showing Applejack herself that day when the ring first appeared bathed in its green energy.

[=The first to wield the light in the cause of life=]

The last image, of Applejack receiving the ring faded away. The bubble that had been summoned collapsed and the green light dimmed. The library was silent.

"That was AMAZING!" Spike exclamed, his qwill had stopped scratching at his parchment. "That little guy was awesome!"

Applejack’s face had a strange expression. Her eyes were wide as she looked at where the image had been. She had sat hard on her haunches and was running things over in her mind. She looked at Twilight with an expression on her face her friend had never seen on the farm mare before.

“Ah…Ah,” the first lantern in Equestria sputtered. It was clear she was awestruck. “Ah…had no idea…” she looked about at her friends and then she looked down at the glittering ring on her leg. “It…the ring…is this ring Avra’s?”

[=Negative. This ring is not the original ring. This ring is descended from the fourth original ring known to you as the ring of Avra=]

“Descended? As in a child or grandchild of Avra’s ring?” the farm mare was becoming numb to all the information she had just found out, and while hearing the story of the first Green Lantern helped answer many of her questions, it also made her seem so small, tiny in the vast space and time that the ring on her leg ‘lived’. It also had told her a great tradition had just been bequeathed to her.

[=In actuality the comparison is not quite correct, however the analogy is valid=]

The apple farmer almost swooned. The magnitude of what she had just been told left her thunderstruck. She reflexively rubbed the glowing band on her hoof as another thought came to her. “Looks like mah ring has its own legacy to live up to,” she muttered.

“Easy, Applejack!” Twilight walked up to her friend and put a hoof on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

The orange earth pony could only stare at the ring. The shimmer of its green light now no longer seemed fresh, it seemed old now, impossibly old, like the magic from the Elements of Harmony, but this light and the ring that used it was so much older!  And just like with Avra the first, it had chosen her! She began to speak to somepony, the question being was it to anypony or was it to herself...

“…Know you then this …” Applejack looked up at her friends.

Big Macintosh came up to her and hugged her with his foreleg. Mac’s little sister looked into his eyes in a way that conveyed something between them that only they understood.

“Um…Ok..I’m a bit confused,” Pinkie Pie squeaked at first as she spoke. “ I mean, I don’t understand! I know that was like an important and exciting story with sad parts, but it ended alright! Those bad guys got stopped and the little guy, Avra, saved folks and showed how to use the ring.” The pink pony walked up to her applebucking friend and nuzzled her gently. “Applejack, what’s wrong? Why are you so upset?”

Rarity probed with the empathy of the indigo ring.

[=WILL=]

The feeling was ‘heavy’, almost burdensome. Applejack was feeling something Rarity had felt from her before…obligation.

Rainbow Dash and Raindrops were silently staring at each other. Rainbow normally would have something pithy to say, but this time she held her tongue and focused on Raindrops. It was sad that the pegasus was not in her corps; her rage was pure, honest. Now she was a green, the color of the corps of those Guardians.

“Urr…those little blue creeps,” she muttered to herself. The red lantern really didn’t like the Guardians from what the red ring told her about them. Self important, uncaring, unfeeling masters of the Green Lanterns. They answered to none for their crimes. Rainbow Dash did not trust them, but she trusted Applejack, and, for some reason, AJ felt this ‘book’ was important.  Out of respect for her friend, Rainbow Dash kept her mouth shut. However, the rage wielder did notice the profound effect the story had on her friend; it was something she had only seen once before—the iron pony competition.

‘ I guess you’re right, Rarity,’ she thought to herself.

“ I think I know what’s wrong. May I?” Shining Armor asked. Mac nodded and stepped back and let Twilight’s brother get close to his sister. The Captain of the Royal guard walked up to the dumbstruck farmer. The other ponies had confused looks on their face, even Twilight. The unicorn waved Pinkie away as well. Reluctantly, the party pony moved aside for the Captain. He looked at Big Macintosh and talked to the red stallion first, loud enough for all in the library to hear.

“Twilight has told me a lot about her friends.”  He looked at the farm mare, then back at her brother. “Tradition is important to the Apple family, right?” Big Mac nodded. “Yeeup, sure is,” the farmer responded. “It’s how we remember who we are.”

The white stallion put his hoof on the farm mare and looked at her in the eyes. Applejack responded by looking back at him, her face still expressing the mixed feelings that were running through her mind and her heart.

“It’s a lot isn’t it? The burden of history and tradition that comes with this ‘duty’, the obligation this…” he placed a hoof on the green ring and looked deep into her eyes ”…brings. The history and honor you have to live up to. It’s a lot. You don’t want to dishonor it, to fail those who went before. They become like…family, and you never want to fail or let down family.”

Shining Armor placed Applejack’s hoof on his Royal Guard Crest and spoke, “I always wanted to be a guard, and I enlisted in the service and went to the academy.“ She touched the metal symbol on the Captain’s chest as he told her something that not even his sister knew, “I never sought high command, I never politicked and lobbied for my position. I was made Captain of the Royal Guard over many other candidates.” He looked at his sister. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes were wide and her mouth agape.

The stallion continued, “It was a shock to many, but especially me, when I was made Captain of the Guard. I asked myself at the time why I had been chosen, why me? The tradition of the Guard, in battle and in peace was…a lot to live up to, and knowing what the guard represented, in its duty and its history…it was a lot! I felt like all of the Captains before me were watching me , judging me in how I handled my duty. I know it sounds silly to some, but that is what I felt.” He looked at the ring and placed his hoof on the ring again “…I know you didn’t seek it out. It literally chose you like the element you carry.” He looked in her eyes again. “Like Avra the scribe.”

The farm mare turned her head from the guard’s gaze, “Ah bet neither Guards nor Green Lanterns foul up outta the gate like Ah did, Shinin’ Armor. I made mistakes…and friends paid the price.”

“You cannot do your duty, if you do not know what it is to begin with,” he said simply. “You did not know, Applejack. You were discovering it at the time. Now…” he tapped the green glowing ring, “… you know. “ Shining Armor leaned back and smiled at the earth pony. “ And trust me on this, I speak from experience; we in the guards have had our share of mess-ups who turned out awesome.” He turned to look at his sister and gave her a quick smile. Twilight smiled back. “And, ponies who looked great at the beginning who turned out awful. I’m sure the Green Lantern Corps has had that happen to them as well.”

Applejack got a thoughtful look on her face as she leaned back. She looked at Mac, then Raindrops, as if searching for something from them and returned her gaze to Shining Armor. Applejack then stamped her hoof on the ground and said, “Why not.” She raised the ring up again…

“Ring. Does the Book of Oa say anything about a Green Lantern that…um, started out rough, like with a major mess-up that turned out to be good in the end?”

[=Clarification: Does Lantern Prime mean Green Lanterns that had disastrous or deleterious beginnings to their careers but went on in the course of service to be useful if not illustrious lanterns? Is this the nature of the query?=]

Shining Armor nodded silently. “Um, yes,” the apple farmer answered.

[=The Book of Oa records many cases fitting such parameters=]

The image bubble reappeared.  The heads (or what passed for a head) of various lanterns of different species appeared. The sheer number of lanterns ‘meeting criteria’ seemed unbelievable.  The first Equestrian Green Lantern looked at Shining Armor, her jaw hung open.  The unicorn simply smiled. It was just as he had  said.

[=List of lanterns meeting criteria is in reverse chronological order. Additional records can be displayed if required=]

“Ah don’t even know where ta start. So many faces, so many stories.” The farm mare was feeling a little bit overwhelmed, and a little bit comforted. Raindrops and Big Mac looked at the portraits with Applejack. The problem was just as she had said: whom to choose, where to start.

“My word. So many. August company to be with, indeed.” Rarity lounged on a bench while sipping at a small tea cup levitated with her magic. Her gaze quickly turned to the direction of Rainbow Dash. The lantern of rage was unusually silent and still. Was it possible she was actually trying to learn something?

[= Do you wish to run the record further back in time?=] the ring’s intelligence asked.

She was lost. She could not decide which to choose and started to play a game of hot hoof, hot hoof, trying to pick at random when Raindrops, to everyone’s surprise, spoke, “That one!” She pointed with a wing at a picture of a creature that had a head like a Griffin or some kind of bird with a large crest and beak. “I’ve seen that one! When I first charged my ring, when it…bonded with me, I saw that one.”

“Really?” Applejack shrugged. “Well, ok then, good enough fer me. Wonder who that is. Ring?”

The portraits all faded but the image Raindrops had pointed to, that picture enlarged and became full size.

[=Lantern 0002, Raindrops, has selected the example of Tomar-Re of Xudar. Sector 2813. Overview record of incident meeting requested criteria. Information playback option: Interactive Datagram display or Audio Visual Narrative display? =]

“Datagram, please,” the yellow lantern asked politely.

[=Unauthorized sentient attempting to access AI database. Query to sentient refused. This ring will not respond to instructions or query request from a lantern of another corps=]

“Ugh!” Twilight snapped in frustration. “This again! Applejack, please?”

“Datagram if ya please, ring,” the keeper of the Book of Oa asked her ring, restraining the urge to laugh at her friend’s expense.

[=Tomar-Re of Xudar. Sector 2813. Deegan training class LRBT-7681125-B graduate. Deceased in the line of duty during the battle of Qward, during the Great Crisis. At time of death, Honor Guard Lantern of great name. Tomar-Re’s first mission as Green Lantern of Sector 2813 was to prevent the destruction of the planet Krypton due to internal instability. Tomar-Re secured enough Stellarium to stabilize the planet’s unstable core but failed to arrive in time to prevent the destruction of the planet. Tomar-Re was badly wounded when the planet Krypton detonated as he entered the magnetosphere in his attempt to prevent the planet’s end. Though badly wounded, he was able, before loss of consciousness, to protect a lone craft fleeing the dying world, allowing it to escape unharmed. Estimated loss of life of the dominant intelligent species from Krypton’s destruction: 1.2 billion. Estimated number of the dominant species known at the time of this record to have survived: 9 individuals. Tomar-Re went on to have a very successful and illustrious career as a green lantern after his initial failure, saving many billions of lives later throughout his career=]

“Twilie…did that thing just say…a world exploded?” Shining Armor looked as if he had been struck with a hammer between the eyes. He looked at his sister and shook his head. “By the Sun and the Moon…” the white unicorn breathed.

The scale of what they had just been told was shocking. An entire world like Equestria destroyed, all of the beings that lived on that world dead; entire species wiped out at once; all its animal life eradicated; its cities, history, culture, all of it gone in a burst of light! Only two ponies in the room fully understood the totality of the horror the Book of Oa in Applejack’s ring had just told them. Was what they were facing now, like what Tomar-Re of Xudar had tried to prevent? Was this the scale of things lanterns had to deal with?

Twilight Sparkle turned pale, changing into a light mauve color. Fear, real total fear gripped her. On her hoof, the yellow ring seemed to hum.

“I…don’t think you’ve made any mistake that big, Applejack,…ever!” the fear lantern sputtered and gulped.

“Uh…yeah! “Applejack looked at her ring, still in shock that the small device had so casually mentioned the death of an entire world. “Kind of a kick in the flanks, ain’t it? What the hay would cause that, Twi? What could…do…that? And why didn’t they hurry? ”

[=Initial analysis of core instability by probe concluded a timeframe of 40 years before explosion. That conclusion was incorrect as the planet exploded 8 months later. A more detailed analysis of Krypton after its destruction indicated two likely causes for core instability, one accidental the other deliberate=]

“Wait…DELIBERATE!?” Rarity’s voice almost cracked with the incredulity of the statement. Tears welled up in her eyes as she cursed a vanished race. “Somepony may have deliberately done this? The very idea is madness! Who would do such a thing? What horrible creatures!”

The ring continued, ignoring the Indigo herd leader’s outburst, [=The first probable cause was harnessing of the core of the planet for energy production by the dominant species. The second probable cause was a planetary genocidal weapon of mass destruction intended to destroy the planet. It is also possible that a combination of the two triggered the event that destroyed the planet Krypton=]

“He thought he had more time,” Applejack whispered “An’ the first thing he tried to do was save those folks. He didn’t know he was out of time….like I didn’t know Zacora was in trouble.”

“How could somepony be…so…stupid” Twilight asked behind gritted teeth. It was bad enough that a world died, but to have caused it? She looked at the yellow glowing ring on her leg and fretted; she and her friends and the other lanterns had become so tiny and so mighty at the same time. Were things like this what had driven Sinestro to do the kind of things he had done? Twilight understood that everyone had a history behind their name; everyone had reasons for their actions. It still did not excuse Sinestro’s reign of terror, but it did explain much. Perhaps his reasons had not been so black and white.

Then there was the fact that it was just a Green Lantern, and no other color. What did that mean? There was mention of conflict between the various corps in all the material Twilight had been able to access, but this story made no mention of any other color but green. What did it mean? Did the various colors bring about a greater catastrophe later? Where they preventing a greater catastrophe now? How long had the Green Lanterns been the only lanterns?

Twilight shook her head in confusion. It was all so big, so much. ‘Get back to center, Twilight; get back to the now,’ she told herself. ‘We have issues now to deal with, like we need more than three green lanterns‘. Princess Celestia had left with what information Twilight could collect, and it had been a double hoof-full. The book of Oa just made that information the appetizer to a huge feast of lore, and, like all feasts, it was hard to decide where to begin.

Shining Armor rubbed his chin with his right front hoof. The implications were horrific. 'A weapon made to kill an entire world! Even Discord had not been that mad.' he thought as he looked around the room at everypony. 'Rarity was right, it was madness!'

The other pony who understood the full meaning of the ring’s statement began sobbing the moment total realization sank in to her head and into her heart. Great rivers of tears poured out of her eyes as she mourned the end of all the animals she had never nor would ever see that had been lost when that world had died. Fluttershy wailed. The thought of all of the animals of a world all gone broke her heart. She loved all creatures great and small, even if she was scared of them sometimes; but the idea that all the animals and insects…gone! It was too much.

The violet light seemed to glow brighter around her as tears poured out of the yellow pegasus. The Queen of Star Sapphires began to shine as bright as the light in Applejack’s vision bubble. The almost blinding violet light was slowly filling the room, startling the others with its intensity. Pinkie had started to tear up in sympathy to Fluttershy, but her mane and tail remained as fluffy as ever. She pulled some sunglasses from somewhere and got close to her friend, touching her forehead to the violet lantern’s.

“ Fluttershy, FLuttershy! It’s ok. Shush.” Pinkie pulled the Star Sapphire’s head close to her, nestling the crying yellow pegasus into her neck, hugging her tightly.

“All those poor creatures—gone! All gone!” The animal-loving pony wiped the tears from her eyes with a constructed violet kerchief. “How? How could that happen? How could they let it happen?”

“We will not let anything like that happen here! So long as we have means to stop it, we will!” As the no-longer-quiet Raindrops spoke, the ring on her hoof started to glow, as if emphasizing the intensity of what she had just said.

Fluttershy rose into the air, the violet light swirling about her. She pulled herself away from Pinkie’s embrace and continued to rise into the air, the garb of the Star Sapphires appearing over her from the flux of light. With sorrow raining from her eyes she turned and headed for the open window Rainbow Dash had entered the library through. She ignored the entreaties of her friends pleading with her to stay and was gone in an instant, her wails quickly silenced with distance.

Rainbow Dash leaped from her perch and landed on the floor of the library, dressed as the leader of the Red Lanterns. The red ring glowing again as before; pulsing like the heart beat of the lantern that it was.

“That went well, didn’t it.” Rainbow Dash commented sourly. She spread her wings wide while she reared up on her hind legs, the red glow of her ring increasing as the crimson aura flowed around the cyan pegasus. “Twilight, AJ…let me know when you guys want to do this again…” She scrunched her face into a half frown. “I’d really like to ask that book a few things myself. I have to get going…I have some ponies to punish.” The Rage Lantern rose into the air and zipped through the open window, moving at a fast clip.

Spike scribbled furiously in the corner, taking down all that had transpired as quickly as it had happened.  The scratching of his quill pen had become harsher as the meeting had progressed and he was beginning to show the strain of writing so much so fast.

Applejack was lost in thought. She rubbed her ring and pondered for a moment what it would all mean. Inside, she was arguing with herself, feeling out what the true answer in her heart should be. The farm mare churned with emotion. History did battle with ignorance, pride fought with humility, responsibility and fear warred with each other. She knew the answer in her heart. She did not want to fail again—the stakes could be even higher. But what to do next?

She always did this, when decisions of great consequence came to her and she was clear headed and could fully think things through, she would do what she was doing right now. Granny called it ‘chew and swallow,’ taking the problem and biting small chunks off at a time, chewing them up thoroughly and then swallowing them.

But she didn’t have time now. Like the book had said: ready or not.

…and she hadn’t been ready.

“Ah like helpin’ the pony folks,” the earth pony whispered.  She had said that more times than she could remember, and now that sentiment pulled at her heart. She could hear Zecora’s voice in her mind. What would the zebra shaman have said to her if she were here now?

“ The ring this duty asked of you. Your choice is simple: do not, or do.” For an instant the zebra’s face seem to hover before the farm mare, and indeed a wispy image of Zecora’s head had appeared, made of the emerald energy. Applejack willed the image to evaporate. “That is something like what she would say.”

“…you whom the ring chose for this duty.”

That word, the heaviness of it. It had a foreboding gravitas. Duty was cousin to responsibility and had a texture and weight to it, as if it were fully loaded saddlebags or a thick heavy coat that one could wear. Sometimes the burden of its weight could become tiresome and crippling if you let it. She had felt the weight of those words only a few times before: as an Apple, as an Element of Harmony…and now, by Celestia, with this ring, she was feeling it again.

“Ah didn’t ask for any of this,” she whispered to herself.

Applejack looked at the picture of Tomar-Re and then at Shining Armor. He returned her gaze with a questioning look.  The image of Tomar dissipated as she let it return to the book. Then, she fixed her gaze on the chest emblem of the Canterlot Royal Guard, then shifted it back down to her ring, the green fire within it burning like a captive star, waiting to shine in the sky.

Applejack sighed. The glint of a tear momentarily shone in one of her eyes. Then, she raised her head up and whispered with firm resolve “for Zecora.” The ring flashed brightly for a moment. Applejack could feel it, like a limb with muscles and bones knitting tighter to her being. It felt like it had in the beginning, that the ring had become a piece of her, but now it was different. She could feel it growing, changing. It felt alive, the ring growing into her and her growing into it. It felt like muscle and bone, blood vessels and nerves meshed together in her mind, weaving together to make a single whole. The two: the ring and the pony became truly one being, one mind, and a whole with one purpose: a warrior of Will. The feeling made her quiver all over, like she had just been hit with a blast of icy wind. The feeling was…exhilarating. She felt…whole.

Rarity smiled, the indigo ring glowed softly as she felt the new state in her friend. In her heart, the Indigo Herd leader hoped that Rainbow Dash was wrong, but at the moment, it appeared she was right: the farmer needed something to strive against, but the ruin that could come from it! ‘Why did I let her bind me with that promise…you would have thought I had learned my lesson from last time with Fluttershy. Why did I do that?’ she asked herself silently.

It was because Rainbow Dash needed that assurance at that moment. Despite her misgivings about making that promise, it was the compassionate and generous thing to do at the time. And every time she thought about it, Rarity got a little sick in her stomach and her heart ached.  She resolved that she would hold to her agreement until honoring it became endangering to others; then she would speak up. But for now, as she watched Applejack, everything seemed to be going as RL Rainbow Dash had said, so for the time being she would hold her tongue.

Applejack trotted up to Shining Armor and tapped him on the shoulder. The great white stallion faced the Keeper of the Book of Oa. The green eyes of the farmer, like the green color of her power, showed determination and resolve. The commotion had died down until even the scratching of Spike’s pen had stopped. Pinkie Pie was biting her bottom lip as she clutched Rarity in a nervous hug. The Alpha Mare of the Indigo Herd had called her garb around her and summoned her staff to use as a lever to extract herself if necessary from the party pony’s embrace. She reached out with ring-gifted empathy to feel what was transpiring.

[=WILL=]

[=FEAR=]

“The job is mine whether Ah like it or not, ain’t it?” Applejack said flatly to Twilight’s brother.  The captain nodded.

“Ah ain’t afraid of fightin' Captain...Ah’m just worried about the others.” She turned quickly to point at Big Mac and Raindrops with her hoof then turned back to look at the Royal Guard’s commander. “Ah’m worried what my decisions may do ta them. If’n Ah’m the leader of the greens, Ah’m responsible to em’ and for em’.”

“The fact you are worried about it tells me your head and your heart are in the right place. It tells me that you understand the responsibility that comes with leadership and do not take it lightly.” The white unicorn clicked his tongue while he shook his head. “I wish you luck. I fear all our lives one day may depend on it.”

“Um…” the Green Lantern Prime cautiously began, “So what do Ah do now? What’s the first thin’ Ah do Captain?”

“You tell me Prime Lantern.” Shining Armor was being deliberately calculating, he wanted Applejack to come to the understanding on her own. He had opened the door, he would offer a hoof to help her, but he wanted her to try alone first. “What should you do?”

The earth pony raised her leg up with the ring on it, the glimmering green band’s light reflected off her eyes, making it appear that the green fire was inside of them. Seriousness was written on her face as she steeled herself for what she was about to do.

“Ah do what Avra did. Ah’ need to get good with this if Ah’m gonna lead. Ah also should get some learning on this kinda thing.” Applejack looked over the unicorn with eyes hungering for guidance, wisdom and knowledge. The farm mare swallowed hard. “Ah need an…advisor. Somepony to teach me how ta do what Ah’ve got ta do. A book is good, but experience is better. Twilight’s too busy and Ah think Ah need a less scholarly approach to this. “

Rarity, in the back of the room, nodded quietly. Twilight Sparkle frowned at the fashion pony.

“How about you Shining Armor?  Ah could use the guidance.”

The unicorn smiled and waved his hoof. “I am honored by the request, but I must decline. I have responsibilities and duties, too— an oath I took that I’m bound by like the oath you’re bound to.” He thought for a moment, resting his jaw on the back of his foreleg. “I’m going to be busy being your liaison officer to the court. Hmm…I know a few ponies who might be able and willing to help, especially now that we’ve cleaned house of some of this clandestine mess you lanterns uncovered.”

“The best teacher you could ask for is in Cloudsdale,” Raindrops stated as she stepped forward to look the Captain of the Guard and the Green Lantern Prime in the eyes. As she sat down she raised her ring up and caused an image to appear in a bubble as Applejack had done earlier. The ball of green ring energy collapsed and twisted on itself, becoming the image of a pegasus mare in a body suit that covered her head to hoof. Only her mane, tail, and muzzle were exposed. The costume had a jagged stripe running down the centerline, looking like a stylized lightning bolt. The hoof ends of the legs also had lightning-like bands. The suited pegasus’ mane and tale had shapes and texture not unlike a flame.

“Spitfire is leader and head trainer of the, Wonderbolts, the greatest flyers in the world. She is an excellent trainer and planner. I can think of no better choice than her. ” Raindrops dissipated the image “She is at the Wonderbolt Academy right now, teaching the latest class of cadets.”

“Spitfire?” Shining Armor thought on the idea of the Wonderbolt leader as a Green Lantern for a moment. To him, Spitfire was an expert flyer, and could help the lanterns that way, but they needed fighters, combat experts. “Maybe! I can get you a pass to see her at the academy. I also have contacts in the Guard, some vets who have seen some action against the air pirates and the griffins during the last border skirmishes. I’ll get word to Captain Brass Hat in Twenty Nine Fronds. He knows a lot of the retired service ponies there, a good resource for experience. A lot of officers retire there.”

The unicorn captain raised a hoof up. “Spike, I think this meeting is over now. Right, Twilie?“ Twilight absently nodded her agreement as Pinkie was whispering in her ear. “Spike, can you send a message to the Princesses to approve a meeting between the Green Lanterns and the Commander of the Wonderbolts?”  The blue-maned unicorn arched his back and rolled his shoulders, stretching out the tightness that they had developed during the meeting. “I also need to send a contact to Captain Brass Hat. He’s in Twenty Nine Fronds, so I’ll have to use official channels to contact him. Let me know when you’re done.  I’ll seal it when it’s ready to go.”

“Right away, Captain.” The small dragon saluted the stallion and began writing on a fresh parchment, pausing between paragraphs in order to carefully word the requests.

Pinkie Pie bounced in front of Applejack, a loud ‘thump’ signaling her intention to inject herself in the proceedings. She smiled broadly as she faced the conferring ponies, twisting her head upside down.

“Well…if the meeting is over, I have something for Applejack…well, Ponyville has something for her.” Pinkie then untwisted her head and pulled on Applejack’s hoof. “This is a not-to-miss engagement, Miss.” Pinkie then giggled.

“Pinkie, Ah ain’t done. Ah still gotta confer with Mac and Raindrops,” The earth pony protested.

“AJ, it can wait till tomorrow. Ain’t it been heavy enough today? Ah need a break anyway and so do you.” Mackintosh nudged Applejack’s ribs with his forehead. “Let’s take a break and look at things fresh in the morning.”

Raindrops nodded agreement. She opened her wings and used a sweeping motion to urge the farm mare out the door. “I agree with your brother. You have had a very hard day, Applejack. You have tackled much. What cannot wait till tomorrow? What is it you wish to do?”

The green eyes of the first Equestrian Lantern blazed with an inner fire Raindrops had not seen before. Something in Applejack had changed. An image of the Book of Oa appeared in front of the three green lanterns . The Prime Lantern’s face was a strange sight: her eyes were narrowed, but she smiled. As the three of them cleared the door of Twilight’s library, Applejack declared out loud, “We become the best. We save ponies. We stop the Black Lanterns. We keep what happened to Zecora from happening again. We uphold what this,” she raised her glowing ring, “represents!”

“ Sis,” the big stallion’s face had concern written on it, “isn’t that what those officers from Canterlot were worried about? Won’t they take that as we’re buildin’ an army?”

Applejack half-smiled as she looked at her big brother. Big Mac could tell from her body language and her tone that this had put a bit in her mouth and she was not letting go, now or ever.

“We already scare those ponies, Mac. Ah ain’t got time for em’ to worry about what Ah may do. The Black Lanterns are a comin’ and we just ain’t ready….yet!” She looked up at the stars in the night sky. “This whole thing just got bigger than all of us— that’s what Ah got ta worry about.”

“Has anyone tried to make contact with the Guardians? Maybe they can send help. Surely there are fully trained lanterns who could help out and train us properly?” Raindrops asked, her face as expressionless as ever.

“Ah tried once I learned about em’…Ah didn’t get an answer and that worries me. Ah don’t know what it means. So, for the time bein’ we do what we can with what we have.” Applejack looked at her fellow Green Lanterns as she summoned the image of the Book of Oa before them. “It’s all we can do, and, unlike the others, we got a book to tell us what it is that we’re supposed ta do.”

A Royal meeting.

A Royal meeting.

by Moon Chaser (DA CrazyMikePrime)

The sky to the north east of Ponyville 11:20 PM

Celestia landed on a large lone fluffy cloud, her hooves setting into the white shining vapor material made walkable to the alicorn by her magic. The weather service had been ordered by the crown to clear the sky around Ponyville save for a scarce few clouds, and had this large cloud placed in this part of the sky at the orders of Luna, leaving a few smaller and far away clouds out as places for the flying guard to watch for trouble from. It had been the intention of Celestia and Luna to have a meeting spot far away from both Ponyville and Canterlot that was safe from prying ears and wagging tongues of both the town and the court. The hardliners cabal had been a completely unexpected and frightening discovery and the creation of such a meeting place was an understandable action for what was about to be discussed. As the Princess of the Sun folded her wings and settled upon the island sky she greeted the other attendees for the clandestine meeting.

She hated the secrecy, but it was needed. Her meeting with the Privy Council had gone well, her various advisors contributed their wisdom and Celestia listened, hoping that her councilors could see something she herself could not. She knew the Grand Marshall’s opinion from what Luna had conveyed earlier, about using the rings.

But...

Putting on the Indigo ring had changed her perceptions. The way it had touched her mind and her heart, it felt as if the ring was...alive! While she had warn Rarity's ring, the feelings of all her ponies, the emotions they all...glowed with were perceptible to Celestia. The indigo ring told her what those around her were feeling. It was more than reading body language or the stresses of their words...she actually felt their emotions! No wonder Rarity was sobbing! The burden she willingly gave herself to; generosity indeed!

The twinkling still tapestry of light across the sky was broken by the occasional shooting star creating a brief streak of intense light as it fell to earth. The moon had not risen into the sky seem to be like a blanket the world wore to comfort itself to feel safe, the twinkling points of life promising to anyone looking up that the night was not all darkness and offering the chance of a new day to come.

Princess Luna rose onto her all of her legs, the sparkling stars in her gently waving wind blown mane echoing the light of the stars in her night’s sky. The Princess of the Moon had chosen to come dressed only in her basic royal raiment, the silver crescent moon of her breastplate shimmering softly in the light of the night time stars. “Greetings sister” the lady of dreams welcomed her sibling with as gentle a voice as she could muster. A tinge of worry still came through her tone “I hope all went well.”

Celestia nodded. “Well enough. We have many things to address when we return home Luna. For now things should calm down a bit” Celestia turned and faced the prostrating pony before her that softly glowed violet from the Star Sapphire uniform she was clad in. The pony’s wings were open, the wing tips touching the cloud surface, her face half curled under her neck facing down into the cloud. The mare’s pink, purple and white mane more gentle and muted in color in the starlight. Her horn glittering in spite of the dark.

“She acted like this to me as well when I arrived Tia.” The moon princess said, looking at her sister. Luna’s lips were drawn slightly taunt, stress making her face look hard.

“Cadence, please rise! You have no need for such posturing here with us.” Princess Celestia quietly chided her adopted niece. Cadence slowly rose up, folding her wings and standing on all of her legs, the Star Sapphire uniform fading away, the violet glow disappearing save for her ring.“I appreciate your respect, but I think we can dispense with such posturing here,“ the white alicorn placed her right front hoof on the shoulder of Equestria’s Princess of Love.

“I Feel it necessary Aunt Celestia, considering the title the leader of the Star Sapphires is ‘Queen’ “ Princess Mi Amore Cadneza regarded her aunts with with a face trying to hide concern “ I find it a little…unnerving.”

‘What I find unnerving my adopted niece is that the first violet ring did not choose you, the ascended Alicorn of Love, as its bearer’ Celestia thought. She shook her head, snapping her mane with the movement

“Nopony questions your loyalty Cadence, though it appears we all are going to be tested in our own ways soon.” Luna and Cadence both nodded in agreement.

“Let us begin Tia,” the Alicorn of the Moon pressed, her dark blue eyes reflecting worry in them “Much has happened in the time you have been meeting with the Elements of Harmony and the Grand Marshall. The tidings I carry, I’m sorry to say, are ill.”

Celestia’s eyes widened “What has happened?”

Luna drew her head and neck up as she took a small breath. She closed her eyes and her nostrils flared as the cool night air entered her lungs. When she had arrived at her full standing height, she began to speak.

“The enemy Twilight Sparkle and the Lantern ponies fought has attacked a large guard garrison town. The water stop of 29 Fronds has been abandoned,” Luna’s sister shook her head “The Grand Martial himself alerted me to the attack just moments before I departed for our meeting.”

“Was Hurricane there?” Celestia bit her bottom lip in concern.

“We don’t know. There was no mention of Commander Hurricane in the report.”

“Where there any, deaths?” the older sister asked with a slight crack in her voice.

“Many Tia, many.” Luna then looked back in the direction of Canterlot, its lights outlining the city in twinkling beauty,” The city was evacuated under the garrison executive officer. Most are heading to the nearest large city.”

“Las Pegasus,” Celestia breathed. Equestria’s second largest city was now endangered.

“They appeared to have stopped for the time being. Beyond those few facts I have no more information on the situation itself as of this time.” The moon princess sighed “The Grand Martial is getting ‘insistent’ the Guard be allowed to have access to the rings if not confiscating them outright. In spite of the Hard-liner’s Cabal being destroyed, or maybe because of it, I suspect the military may try and make a move to take the lantern’s power for themselves no matter what we command. I can not say I blame them sister.”

Princess Celestia shook her head. The military officers that were with her at the meeting with the elements were quietly insistent that the rings be shared, and from their standpoint, their fear and concerns were understandable, a lantern possessed an unknown level of power, and so far the power demonstrated was frightening.

”Luna, there’s another small town in that area isn’t there?” her sister nodded “ A small settlement is the nearest. It is a small farming town called Appleoosa.”

“The Buffalo Tribe! They live near there as well don’t they?”

“Yes Tia they do.”

The Princess of the Sun turned and lowered her head to look at her niece in the eye. Her jaw was clinched in worry, but she spoke calmly and evenly, “Cadence, we will send an official message to Twilight when we reach home tonight. Can you meet with Fluttershy and then Twilight to co-ordinate help? Las Pegasus and Appleoosa need to be protected and a princess of Equestria should speak to the Chief of the Buffalo's.”

“Absolutely Auntie, I will go myself if Fluttershy will not.” the violet ring on her leg flashed as she made the statement, as if the ring itself were speaking with light its intent to go itself. Celestia glanced down at the ring then up into the eyes of her adopted niece.

“It is fitting that say that because it is one of the things I wish to talk to you about,” Equestria’s co-ruler pointed at the Star Sapphire ring on Cadence’s leg with her right front hoof as she folded her rear legs under her. She paused for a moment in thought, her violet colored eyes looking into the stars as she searched for the best way to ask Cadence what she was about to ask her. Celestia gestured to Luna with her right wing in a curling motion to sit besides her. The Moon Princess walked quietly to her sister’s right side and sat down besides her. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza sat as well, facing her co-Lieges squarely.

“With Fluttershy receiving the first violet ring, she is the ‘leader’ of the Star Sapphires as they are called.” Celestia’s tone sounded almost sad as she spoke those words “Twilight Sparkle has learned from you and I well; I have no doubt about her abilities, especially with Spike at her side to help keep her balanced. Rainbow Dash has been…vigorous and while much of what she has done has been wrathful and reckless, no doubt because of her red ring, she has been proactive and acting in what she thinks is the best for Equestria. Rarity has been both gentile and dynamic in wielding compassion. Applejack has lead before, and though she almost lost her heart in her encounter with the Black Lanterns, I can sense her resolve in-spite of her fear for others and she will soon be formidable again. Do you think the Element of Kindness can be the leader we may need in this crisis Cadence? Can she face these Black Lanterns? I know I’m asking a lot of all my ponies, but the Element of Kindness in particular concerns me. Can she deal with the Black Lanterns?”

Luna’s face became a sour looking mask at the mentioning of the fell things. Her eyes narrowed, her teeth clinched behind her lips, her jaw muscles twitching every time the name ‘Black Lantern’ was used. Celestia caught the tension from the corner of her eye. ‘What have you not told me sister?’

Cadence rolled her eyes up and to right then down as she searched her heart and her mind for the answer, her lips curled up and down as she thought through her response. This was going to be painful. In the opinion of the third Star Sapphire, their ‘Queen’ was completely hopeless to the task as proffered, but as she had that thought she was struck by how that seemed overly unfair, perhaps harsh and cruel somehow. Perhaps Fluttershy could be taught what she needed to do, maybe she could learn as Twilight had.

“She is painfully bashful my aunts, passive and unsure. Many times she seems lost as to what to do and hesitant. However she has allowed Cheerilee and I to do what we felt was necessary and given us much lea way with our rings. I think she needs…instruction, guidance. She needs to be taught what it is to be a leader…a ‘queen’.

The royal sisters looked at each other. The ends of Luna’s lips turned down as her eyes half closed.

“Do you think that you can help her Cadence?” Luna asked in a cold tone “You may have to go beyond advising and offering suggestions. You may have to demonstrate, teach by example. You will have to make here aware of threats from everywhere and take steps to deal with them.”

“I have already began Auntie Luna” Cadence brought herself up to her full height as she spoke, “I have started the expansion of our home and protecting of the Violet Battery. Love will not be used against Equestria again!”

The Alicorn of Love almost seemed to sneer as she spoke that last statement. Cadence’s posture had become erect and stiff, her tail lashed back and forth quickly, her ears back, almost in rage. The site of her rigid and hard was a shock to both of her aunts. She had never acted this way before.

‘Interesting statement and stance Cadence’ Celestia thought, “Has something happened? Has somepony tried to do something to the violet battery? Did the Cabal try and take it?” Celestia asked, wondering if somepony acting in her name had tried to acquire a battery without telling her, even after everything had been revealed.

“No. No pony has tried, at least not yet. But it is just a matter of time until they try,” Cadence’s frowned,her eyes shown with a light that seemed red rather than violet. Her jaw clinched and she continued speaking through gritted teeth, “They must NEVER get their hooves on that battery, they would be unstoppable! Fortunately I have the assurance of both Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash of support if she tries to.”

“The Changelings?” a cool voice inquired.

“Who else Aunt Luna. It’s only a matter of time before they discover the battery exists. After they do, they will come for it…in force.”

The tone of Cadence’s voice told Celestia all she needed to know about the status of her niece’s heart. While she agreed with the star sapphire’s assessment of the danger the violet lantern represented if Chrysalis got her hooves into that power, her tone made it clear the reason for her precautions was not wholly based on the situation itself; something else was controlling her actions, driving her thinking and her feelings. The Princess of the Sun caught the first evidence of it with the question about Fluttershy’s leadership, seeing the Princess and now Warrior of Love soften her opinion of the first wielder of a violet ring. This new…posture of Cadence was something else.

‘The Element of Kindness is running through the Violet Light just as the other elements are running through the other colors. Hopefully this will be for the better’ Celestia thought to herself ‘I wonder how sharp that statement about Chrysalis would have been were it not for the kindness now infused with the light of love.

“Very Well Cadence, do what you think is wise and prudent. You have my trust my niece.”

“And mine” Princess Luna affirmed, her wings opening and closing adding emphasis to the statement. She was inclined to have Cadence take a much more active roll than she had so far, but the securing of the source of violet light of pure love was an action that Luna felt was completely correct. Queen Chrysalis would come the moment she found out about the battery’s existence, which meant it was a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’. “If you must become the Princess of the Star Sapphire Court, do so! We understand there are greater issues being dealt with. We shall handle issues in Canterlot.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow on that statement from her sister. Normally Luna disdained court politics and avoided engaging in such ‘games’ as she was inclined to call them. Hearing her say she was willing to deal with the issues at court paradoxically was both disquieting and comforting to Celestia at the same time.

“Please keep us appraised of all the happenings with the Star Sapphires and your perspective on the other lanterns and their leaders, including Twilight, ” Luna concluded. The edges of the Moon Princesses mouth were turned down slightly in a faint frown.

Celestia drew closer to her niece and sat before her on the white cloud, “One other thing Cadence, I’d like you to send me letters on the difference between your own power and the violet ring’s power. The contrasts between the two would be enlightening.”

Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of Equestria and Star Sapphire embraced her aunts and then kissed each in turn on their cheeks. She slowly backed away facing the co-rulers of Equestria  and opened her wings wide “ I must return to my duties. I will send reports through Twilight and Spike as things with the Star Sapphires develop. By your your leave my aunts, good night.” Cadence turned at the edge of the cloud and leaped off, the air opening her wings fully as they bore her weight. She flew in a spiral, descending away from the cloud slowly. When Ponyville came into her view she began to beat her wings, beginning to fly back to the town which hosted of the growing palace of violet crystal her corps called home. She did not call the power of the violet power ring, preferring to stay dark and unseen returning to her new home.

Celestia looked up into the stars, the vault of the sky twinkling with the bejeweled lights of the night. Two more shooting stars fell, painting arcs of white light across the night sky as the fell from the heights. “Fluttershy and the Star Sapphires will be in good hooves with Cadence guiding them,” she said quietly.

“We need to decide what we shall do now Tia. What actions do we take from here on? What policy do we follow? I believe we are out of practice by about a thousand years when it comes to outright war.”

“For the moment we take no action, at least for the time being. We treat the lanterns as allies and friends, because that is what they are. Many of them are our subjects,but that may not always be so. We’ve directed them to do what they can to protect us, and we can advise and council them.” Celestia looked at her sister. The moon princess kicked her left fore-hoof on the cloud while her head hung down.

“Luna?” Celestia asked, her sister’s head came up as the sun princess approached her sister. There was sadness and the hint of tears in her eyes. They also contained a spark of rage…a rage she had not seen in her sister in a thousand years.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Celestia gently nuzzled her sister, who turned her head and neck away from the touch of her older sister.

“It’s nothing Tia. I will be fine.”

“Luna?”

“It is nothing. I’m acting selfish and childish while our subjects suffer! I should comport myself with dignity and not be petulant.”

“Tell me little sister. What ever it is, it clearly has greatly upset you.”

Luna closed her eyes sighed, her wings hung down loose in depression instead of resting closed and against her body. She began speaking in a soft and low voice, her eyes still closed.

“This year has been joyous for me sister. The happiest in a very long time…”

Celestia nodded. The last year had been good for Luna, her sister’s treatment by their subjects had gone far to improve her mind and her heart after her long exile.

“…now, that is over. The Black Lanterns have seen to that.”

“I know the carnage they bring can…”

“It’s not that Tia. I which it were so simple as to be that…it’s what they sang er chanted as they did their awful work in 29 Fronds. Their cursed oath poisons the joy I had.”

Celestia cocked her head to one side, her eyes narrowed as she tried to understand what her sister was telling her. What had the Black Lanterns been saying that could cause so much upset to Luna?

“…their oath?”

Luna’s face became hard as she faced her sister. The muscles of her jaw rolled a bit as she clinched them with controlled anger.

“Have you heard their oath Tia? All lanterns we have encountered have an oath. The Black Lanterns have one as well!” Magic power flared from her eyes, her breathing was quick, shallow. To Celestia it seemed her sister was about to scream with the Royal Canterlot Voice.

Luna paused for a moment to regain control of her emotions. After slowing her breathing she took an final deep breath before she continued.

“The report I received about 29 Fronds contained a report of the Black Lantern oath Tia, and their oath is an insult, a direct insult to me!” The Moon Princess’s tail lashed back and forth in agitation, her ears were flat in anger, she bared her teeth again as she continued to speak “Isn’t what they are doing to our subjects bad enough? No…they add defilement to their crimes!”

‘An insult?’”Luna…what was this oath?”

Celestia’s sister closed her eyes and slightly bowed her head. As she spoke the words her voice gurgled slightly in restrained rage. Celestia had not heard that from Luna in over a thousand years. The cloud beneath their hooves rumbled as she recited the Black Lantern Oath. The Princess of the Night was trembling, magical power arced across her eyes as her fury boiled.

“That cursed chant is now going out over the country. Even now it is whispered in Canterlot, and those who recite it look upon me and flee in terror.”

The gentle blowing of a breeze in the night air was the only sound the sisters could hear for a moment. The silence between the two royal sisters adding emphasis to the dread that now welled up in Luna’s heart.

It’s happening again Tia!” a lone tear appeared in her right eye.

“Luna…”

“NO!” a crack of thunder erupted as the Moon Princess stomped her front right hoof down on the slowly graying cloud.

”You didn’t hear the whispers coming from the shadows of the palace when that oath was recited to me! I heard quiet sobbing in the palace behind closed and barred doors‘ Nightmare Moon, Nightmare Moon’” Luna ground her bared teeth “Even when I was Nightmare Moon, I never wanted all light to die! Yes, I wanted the Moon to have primacy and the stars to be loved, but I wanted light. Our subjects merely shunned my night then, these Black Lanterns defile it! And now our subjects fear my night again Tia, and some have started to fear me!” Tears appeared in Luna’s eyes, her rage and sorrow spilled forth with her tears. “I had just began to be…the Moon was honored in celebrations unlike ever before in my memory, and not from obligation or requirement or fear. Equestria began to…”

Celestia placed her neck against her sister’s, her head resting on Luna’s mane. A ache shot through Celestia’s heart as she realized what her sister was trying to say. This year, Luna had made connection with their ponies in a way she had never been able to in the past. No longer had her sister been shunned and ignored…this year with Twilight’s help Luna had finally felt wanted…loved.

Luna’s back flattened as her body stiffened. Tears continued to fall from her eyes as the ends of her mouth drew back revealing her teeth again in a fearsome grin. Sorrow was no longer the source of her weeping as anger flooded her heart. The cloud beneath the princesses became dark, churning and rippling along its surface. Celestia removed her neck from her sister’s. She nuzzled Luna trying to calm her down. Her sister did not reciprocate the gesture,she stood stiff and unmoved.

“They have killed our subjects and stolen my joy! I will not have it!” tears were now falling from Luna’s eyes. Her voice cracked as she continued to speak “I am the Princess of the Night, blackest or otherwise! I will not yield to them! The Moon will stand her ground Tia! No more I say, NO MORE!” there was another burst of lightning and a crack of thunder as she stamped her hooves into the cloud.

“What do you intend to do Luna? Become a lantern? Fight them directly?” Celestia asked in a whisper.

The moon princess pulled her neck back and locked glances with her sister. Luna wiped the tears running from her dark blue eyes away with the back of her leg. Then eyes closed, she shook her head. “No. I can’t. WE can’t, unless it is a last resort. If I took a ring, and you did not, many might say The Crown was again divided and I was in rebellion. If we both took a ring, some in the military might say we were supplanting them with the lanterns and try something foolish. There could also be panic as some might say we had no choice but to use the rings ourselves. We also do not know at this moment how many lanterns there can be at any one time. There is so much we do not know Tia. Then there is the issue of the Griffin Kingdoms, the Caribou Earls and the other nations of the world. They might see us as grabbing even more power than we already have. That action might make them aggressive, if just to posture for their populations. It could also push them into outright panic, and make a bad situation worse, turning a narrow victory into defeat and disaster.

Luna took a breath, the warmth of her exhalation vapor floating in the air for a moment. “I’m sorry Tia. I am just stating what I know we should NOT do. I barely have an idea of what we should do…”

“Please continue Luna,” ‘I really do want to hear more of your thinking on this,’ Celestia thought. Luna rarely engaged in such thinking, and seeing her sister take such an active role was either hopeful, or frightening, depending on the direction Luna was heading.

“For the moment and for all, we must be as the other leaders or at least appear to be. We must act through others for now, and we have much work to do. I will gather together from the shadows the pieces of the cabal and make them available to Twilight Sparkle. We need to know more about the tool fate has given us.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow as she reared her head back.‘I rarely see this side of you Luna’ ”Very well little sister, I agree with much of your thinking.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed, cold blue fire seemed to shine from them as she whipped her mane around to flow behind her.”I will be the ‘public’ face of this Tia. Your judgment about the Cabal was correct, but unfortunately they have given us tools that while it is repugnant how we got them, we must now use. Keep your hooves clean of this just in case. There could be a point where you might need to intervene and we must have your moral authority unassailable. I could be forgiven for getting dirty with this in my zeal, but you Tia must be untouched. It would also give cover to Twilight Sparkle, which brings me to her and her friends and their position in all this. The Elements of Harmony will have their hooves quite full just dealing with the threat and will need support. In my opinion this is what we should do: You grant them deference and liberty of action in the public eye, giving then passive support. I will give them active support and protection from the shadows. Until we know more about the Black Lanterns and their ultimate goals, I say that this should be our policy for the time being. As for the Lanterns of Color, as long as they do not go too far, become too disruptive, I say leave them alone. Let us watch their actions and wait.”

Celestia put a hoof over her mouth and in spite of the seriousness of what Luna had just said let out a giggle, her wings quivered as the titters left the white alicorn’s mouth. The Moon Princess raised one eyebrow and a half closed an eye wondering, her ears cocked at different angles. What her sister had suddenly found amusing. “I’m sorry Luna. It’s just that…you’ve always hated politics, and yet here you are politicking with real skill!”

“That should tell you just how much I hate these Black Lanterns Tia! I have finally found something I hate worse than politics,” the lady of the night smirked at her sister “Wonder of wonders is it not? You said to Cadence we would all be tested in our own way, perhaps this is my test. The Black Lanterns incurred my wrath when they invoke my night and try to make me one of them. They made it personal Tia! ” Celestia shook her head “That night the black ring came looking for Nightmare Moon! She was dead, and they wanted me to be her again. NO! I have had quite enough of these monsters doing their horrible work to our world!”

Celestia nodded ‘If somepony were using my sun’s fire to destroy, and had sent a black ring to try and awaken a terrible version of myself, I would feel the same as Luna.’”Are you afraid of being Nightmare Moon again Luna?”

The Princess of the Night sighed and lowered her head. ‘That piercing insight of yours is always so pointed when you want it to be Tia.’

“Yes I am, especially empowered by a black ring. The best thing for me when I am like this is to do something; an undertaking, a task.” Luna sniffed and then let out a small titter, “ So this is the task I will undertake but unlike in the past I will be more thoughtful and less rash.” Luna looked at her elder sister with eyes that shone with a resolve Celestia had not seen in a millennia, but unlike last time the sun princess was not the focus of the quiet ire that now boiled in her sister, and Luna’s wrath had righteousness adding to its already fierce heat.

“When all that the cabal had is known, their skills and tools used to learn about the rings and understand them better, when all that is in place Tia, we can act with certainty. Let me be clear: I have no doubt about Twilight Sparkle’s abilities my sister, but I suspect she will have to divert her energies elsewhere. She will have to devote her mind to other problems. Making the Cabal’s resources available to her will give her tools she may need to get answers, and help clear up what does not make sense.” Luna whipped her tail as she smiled “, Besides Tia, you and I may have a perspective that will help unlock secrets our subjects may not be able to even perceive.”

Celestia nodded. She and Luna, with their great power and long age understood forces that most of the ponies of Equestria could not even hope to understand.

Understanding brought wisdom, and wisdom guided action.

“I agree Luna, and though I find it almost obscene to use what they created, your assessment of the cabal having the tools we may need to unlock the mysteries of what is going on, I’m afraid is correct,” Celestia shook her head in disgust and revulsion. To use what she herself found horrific…was it a sin? Was this compromise one too much? She felt slightly queasy in her stomach as she went over and over the implications of what Luna and she had just agreed to in her mind.

“For now let us concentrate on building our defense Luna. Let us just hope that Cadence can guide Fluttershy to do what is needed to be done dear sister.”

A bright shooting star appeared overhead streaking down from the heavens trailing a brilliant blue tail as the star fell to earth. The royal sisters silently watched as the falling object’s glow seemed to increase as it descended through the air, its incandescent glow disappearing behind the cloud floor to the south east.

Luna dropped her head and sighed. “I fear kindness will paralyze love instead of love galvanizing kindness. It is also my concern that we will need all the colors to fight this enemy, and that we will not have them all available in time. In that Tia I truly hope I am wrong.”

The two sisters walked to the edge of the cloud and looked out in the dark at the lights of Ponyville, seeing the lights of the village shining softly in the night. The muted hues of Ponyville brought out by the gentle light of the overhead stars. Only the street lights of the town broke up the tapestry of gentle, muted colors. The brightest light coming from near the center of town. There was a gathering of some kind centering around a beautiful brilliant blue light that seem to wash over the town like a gentle wave of clear water cascading over a beach. The waves of light then seemed to go out over the whole of the countryside, filling the night briefly with a light as great as the moon’s.

The blue light washed over the sisters from their cloudy perch, and for a moment both the royal sisters felt filled with a feeling they had as of yet not felt in this crisis. Their heart lightened from their worries and brought a clarity and calm.

“What did we just see Tia? What was that?”

Celestia gazed intensely back at the village as she searched her mind and her heart for an answer. She discerned that no new horror or danger had fallen on Equestria; instead she felt something that her ponies had needed since this business with the black lanterns had began, and that feeling now fortified her in a way she had never felt before.

Celestia, co-monarch of Equestria and princess of the sun felt none of the burden of her great age. She felt renewed and the alicorn also felt something burning in her heart as bright as the core of her sun; she felt hope.

“I believe we have just seen the arrival of another ring Luna, and this ring is one that was needed. I think fate has been kind to us all tonight.”

Secrets in the dark

Secrets in the basement.

by Moon Chaser (DA CrazyMikePrime)

Sweet Apple Acres just after sundown

“Half pint! Yer friends are here ta stay for the night!”

Granny Smith thumped on the stairs with her hoof as she yelled, the stairwell channelling her voice into the second story of the house. The piercing timbre of the old mare’s voice caused Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to wince slightly, their ears lying flat as she called out to Applebloom.

Granny cocked an ear up listening for a response; waiting for a moment before a frown spread across her aged muzzle. The Apple family matriarch then shook her head and clicked her tongue while she turned back to the two fillies who waited in the living room. She cracked a sad smile as she spoke.

“Please understand, it’s been kinda rough around ever since that awful night, especially for Applebloom.” Granny shook her head again and sighed,” Poor gal took all of it kinda hard and she’s been actin’ peculiar ever since.  Ah’m mighty glad that y’all have come over ta see her. Ah’m sure it’ll help her disposition.”

Sweetie Belle dropped her head down and laid her ears flat as she stared at the large circular carpet that covered the floor in front of the door. The unicorn filly then gently picked at the edge of the floor cover with a hoof. “It’s ok, Granny Smith. I we really should have come to see her sooner. I …we… oh..I don’t know what we were thinking,” Sweetie then raised her head and looked at Scootaloo. “I guess we just got caught up in everything.”

It was Scootaloo’s turn to look at the floor of the house, picking out a table leg to focus on as she struggled to think of something to say. She had been so caught up in being with her idol, wielding her ring and seeking revenge on Diamond Tiara she had barely spared a moment’s thought on her friends. Ms. Cheerilee’s words seared her soul again: “Do you know Applebloom has been terribly ill ever since the Black Lanterns attacked Sweet Apple Acres? Do you know how lonely Sweetie Belle has been ever since that day as well? Only Diamond kept her company until someone pointed out how much she was accidentally neglecting her other friend, Silver. What do you think Rainbow Dash would have felt, you neglecting your friends so you can have your revenge?”

There was a slight pain in her heart with those thoughts, for a moment she felt as if all strength left her limbs. Why? She was not feeling doubt about her ring or herself. She felt some self hate, but that wouldn’t be because of this, would it? She had felt she betrayed her friends somehow, particularly Applebloom…

…another twinge, this one more powerful. Scootaloo winced, a small amount blood plasma seeping out of her mouth and down the side of her jaw.

Granny Smith half closed one eye and peered intensely at the pegasus. “Is there a problem there, furious lil’ filly? Yer startin’ ta look a little peakid.”

Scootaloo wiped the blood plasma away with the back of her leg; a slight sizzling noise came to everyone’s ears. “No, Granny Smith, I’ll be ok. Just feeling bad about not visiting here sooner is all. I got so carried away with this,” she raised her ring up, “that I just forgot about a lot of things.”

The old mare chuckled, “Yep, that’s how it is when ya git wrapped up in a new thing, ya lose track of where ya supposed ta be.” Granny looked up into the stair opening, trying to see beyond the darkness of the second floor hallway. She rubbed her chin as she rose off her haunches. ”Tell you gals what, Ah’m gonna go up stairs and get her ta come down and then we’ll all enjoy one of Granny’s good ole hot suppers.” Granny placed a hoof on the first step but paused before continuing up the stairs. “Word of warnin’. Applebloom is runnin hot/cold lately. She turns moods on a bit, so don’t fret about that and make a fuss…that tends to make her react powerful bad.”

The two fillies answered ‘Yes, Mam’ in unison as the old mare slowly began to climb the stairs to fetch her granddaughter. As the ‘clunk’ sound of Granny’s hooves grew softer, Sweetie Belle looked around the living room, looking at this thing and that while she waited for anypony’s return. The coat rack caught her eye -- the collection of cold weather gear, saddlebags, hats, and shoes made an interesting and varied sight.

Sweetie looked at the Apples’ coat rack, taking note of the items that hung on the wall-mounted storage piece. She then looked around the room, gazing at the fireplace, then the book shelves. ‘Something’s not right here,’ she thought as she got up and quietly tiphoofed over to Scootaloo.

“Scootaloo, there’s something wrong here. Something is…off. This room doesn’t look right,” Sweetie whispered in her friend’s ear. The unicorn then cast a quick glance at the stairs.

“What are you talking about?” the filly lantern sneered under her breath. Scootaloo’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Sweetie Belle.

“Look at the coat rack, the mantel, and book shelves,” Sweetie hissed as she looked at the stairs again. “It’s wrong somehow.”

The pegasus glanced at what her friend had asked her to. She saw the rack with its items like Mac’s heavy coat, Applejack’s saddlebags, and Granny’s gardening hat. The books shelves looked normal. A few books had been removed from the shelves, but that didn’t seem out of the ordinary. The mantel had the family pictures on it, the gaps between bigger here and there. She pursed her lips in thought, frowning slightly, shaking her head as she faced Sweetie Belle again.

“What are you, a detective like Sam Steed? I don’t see anything wrong here Sweetie.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “You’re imagining things!” Scootaloo grumbled her tail lashed back and forth as she stared at the young unicorn.

“What is your problem,” Sweetie stomped her hoof.

“My Problem is Silver Spoon, or rather how you’re letting her use you.”

“Use me,” Sweetie Bell raised an eyebrow. That was not the answer she expected,” What do you mean?”

“She’s using you to cover her flank. She’s trying to save her skin from the punishment she deserves,” Scootaloo bared her teeth. “How can you stand up for her, after everything she did to us with Diamond Tiara?”

Sweetie made a pouty face, “Look, I think she’s really trying to be a friend. I’m just trying to keep open to…”

“Open! OPEN? She and Diamond Tiara made our lives miserable Sweetie! They deserve to be hurt like they hurt us, “the red lantern filly said while grinding her teeth.”That’s another thing, how can you be so easy on Diamond Tiara? How can you be ok with everything she’s done to you, me and especially Applebloom? She’s…”

“I’m not ‘ok’ with everything, but hasn’t there been enough pain? If it changes things for the better, we should try and make peace. Besides, Diamond IS being punished.  That’s what the indigo ring is about, remember?”

Scootaloo scrunched her face in annoyance. It was what Miss. Cheerilee had said to her earlier, the ring for Diamond was a punishment for her lack of empathy, and she was being forced to feel the weight of what she had done. She was feeling the ‘pain’ she had inflicted on others.

“Ugh…Fine! Whatever! I’ve already sworn off getting Diamond Tiara, but Silver Spoon is trotting away clean! She should get some kind of punishment for all the pain she helped cause!”

Sweetie Belle approached the fuming pegasus and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “I know how you feel Scootaloo, really I do. Maybe you’re right about her and I don’t see it. Maybe I am being fooled. I don’t know,” the young unicorn removed her hoof and prodded at the ground with it. “I stood up to you FOR you more than for her!”

Scootaloo cocked her head to one side,”Eh?”

Sweetie sighed, “Your anger is so much stronger than ever and I didn’t want it to…make you do something you would feel bad about later.”

The red lantern snorted, “Yeah, like that would happen.”

“Look, I’m not asking you to be her friend Scootaloo, I’m not even asking you to like her. I’m just asking for a truce, that all. Just for a while…wait and see, OK?”

‘You are so clueless aren’t you’, “Ok, fine! I’ll drop it for you and for Applebloom for now,” the rage wielder’s eyes narrowed,” …but if I catch her doing anything to hurt you, be two faced, I’ll throw her to the moon myself!”

A low ‘clunk’ was heard at the top of the stairs, the sound making the fillies twitch. “We’ll talk later,” Sweetie whispered as she turned to face the stairs.

Granny came down the stairs first, carefully placing each set as she slowly descended to the main floor. Behind the old green mare was Applebloom, pausing at each step for a moment as she waited on her grandmother to continue her movement down the stairs. Without a word she followed the old mare down the stairs until she stopped at the base of the stairs.

The earth pony filly looked so different from the last time her friends had seen her. Her top bow was rumpled looking like it had not been removed since that fateful night the Black Lanterns attacked the farm. Applebloom’s mane and coat were in better condition, showing that some washing and grooming had happened recently. She was wearing a plain gold ring around her neck that was brilliantly shinny even in the light of the living room. A fine braded rope was coiled around her body and ran down her left front leg, the rope ending coiled around her hoof. The bandana she had wore for the talent show was tied to the end of her tail.

Applebloom then quickly scuttled over the floor to Granny Smith and hugged the left rear leg of the elder Apple. She stared at her friends for what seemed like ages, her eyes moving back and forth between the other Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Uh…hi Applebloom..” Scootaloo began, looking down at her front hooves.

“We missed you bunches,” Sweetie Belle finished her friend’s sentence.

There was another pause as Applebloom looked at her friends, deciding if they were real.  Suddenly was in front of her friends, enwrapping her front legs around the necks of her friends, tightening as she whispered in their ears, “Y’all still mah friends’ right?” Sweetie and Scootaloo looked at each other the shoulders of their friend. The pegasus eyes narrowed and one eye ridge rose in an expression of confusion. Sweetie Bell bit her bottom lip when she felt wetness on her neck. Applebloom made no sound, but cried silently while refusing to let her friends go.

“Applebloom…we were afraid you wouldn’t want to see us. I mean, we heard that Applejack didn’t want to see anypony and thought…” Sweetie squeaked.

Applebloom seemed to pull her friends to her even tighter at that statement. Scootaloo’s eyes bulged a little from the force of the embrace. The earth filly said under her breath, “Y’all came back. “She sniffed as she spoke. “Ah’m never letting anything take y’all away from me, ever! Even mah hurt feelin’s. Every time Ah let go, somethin’ terrible happens.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other again, wide eyes and bit lips displayed their confusion and worry. Neither of them had expected this reaction from Applebloom. They both had expected some kind of grumble or anger at both of their absences, not the hugging death grip they were now receiving.

“There, there, now.“ Granny came around and put a hoof gently on her granddaughter’s back, “How about we get some vittles now. Ah made some of my cheese dumplin’s and gravy, sweet taters and mixed greens just the way you like em.”

Applebloom’s head popped up. The tears seemed to dry up instantly, disappearing under a huge grin of shining teeth whose sparkle matched the gleam of her necklace. The filly released her grip on her friends and spun around like a top, stopping when her muzzle pointed at the kitchen. In the blink of an eye she was gone, the sound of her hooves thundering over the floor almost drowning out her cries of “Dumplin’s! Dumplin’s!”

Scootaloo turned to look at Sweetie, her mouth agape. Sweetie swallowed hard and looked about the living room again, trying to find what it was about the room that raised the hackles on the back of her neck. Both fillies then turned to look at Granny Smith, Scootaloo placing her ring hoof behind her head.

“That was…different,” the pegasus said with a worrying quiver in her voice.

“Ah told ya…hot/cold.”

***

Ponyville, The Crystal Palace of the Star Sapphires, after the reading of the book of OA

In the darkness of her basement, half blinded by tears, Fluttershy wept. The only light in the room came from the aura created by her violet ring. The rivers of sorrow that fell from her eyes made sparkling falls of violet liquid that ran out from her and out into the darkness of the floor. The liquid sadness in this light was almost like blood and for a moment it felt as if she was crying tears of blood, and that thought made her melancholy more intense.

Angel bunny shook open a small square of fuzzy cloth with a snap of one his paws as he hopped up to his pony guardian’s side, rubbing her shoulder with the other to say to her ‘it will be alright.’

“I wish I had not seen that, Angel,” Fluttershy whimpered out to the darkness. The upset that tore at her heart made her wish she had gone home after the meeting with Princess Celestia rather than stay and see the horror she had seen from the Book of Oa. The idea of all the creatures of a world gone was almost too much for the animal-loving pegasus to accept and deal with. The idea that it had been caused, that somepony had made a world die…

That had been too much.

Angel bunny gently dabbed at Fluttershy’s cheeks with a small towel, attempting to stem the torrent of tears falling from the eyes of his charge keeper. It was a challenge he could not hope to ‘win,’ but he carried on comforting his pegasus the best he could.

The Queen of the Star Sapphires sobbed for the love of creatures unspoken of in the story and uncared for by most until at last she heard a voice from the darkness.

“Please don’t cry, my Queen,” a soft voice called out from the darkness.

Angel, surprised from the unexpected noise, jumped into the air and landed between Fluttershy’s front legs. He wiggled backwards on his rump, pushing himself tail first under the head of his keeper, his fur bristling slightly from being startled. Many creatures lived with he and Fluttershy, but her latest ‘guests’ still rubbed his nerves the wrong way and made his already sour disposition even more nasty.

Fluttershy lifter her head up and stared into the darkness, the shower of her sorrow slowing as she listened.

“Yes, please don’t.” Another small voice from the shadows.

“We do not like seeing our Queen cry. We do not like feeling her sadness. It is pain to us,” a

third and slightly deeper voice said.

“We love you, Your Majesty,” a chorus of the small voices said softly from the darkness beyond.

The Fluttershy wiped the tears from her face with a wing and looked into the darkness to those speaking to her. She saw the softly glowing blue eyes of the creatures who she had found in the Everfree Forest looking out at her from the darkness. Fluttershy could hear their quiet breathing as she rose up onto her hindquarters while wiping away more tears away from her eyes. She increased the glow of her aura, the room brightening with her violet light. There was something like a cat’s purr that rang out from the darkness.

“I’m not really a Queen or anypony special. Cadance is a real princess.” She made small circles on the floor with her ring bearing hoof.

“But you are! You are our Queen,” whispers from the shadows said in unison.

She sighed as her she regained her composure. “I don’t deserve that title.”

“You saved our lives, Light Keeper.” That sounded almost joyful.

“I love taking care of all poor creatures.” Fluttershy blushed. “It’s my special talent.”

“You are the bearer of the Violet Light,” a soft hiss came from the darkness.

“You took us in when we were outcast and homeless,” a deeper voice spoke out, its source unseen.”You took pity on us, you who had no reason to.”

“It was the least I could do for you poor creatures.”

“We are ever yours, our Queen” they chanted.

“Oh my friends, that’s not what I wanted! All I ever wanted…”

Fluttershy’s ears pricked up. She issued a quiet “shush” as she looked back at the door of the basement. The sound of hoof steps coming down the stairs caused her to be quiet. The glow from her ring aura dimmed as she whispered to the darkness “Hide! Please! I don’t want you found and I don’t want anypony hurt. Remember I love all of you and I hate when those I love fight with each other.”

There was the sound of soft scampering as the creatures in the darkness hid themselves from the approaching source of the hoof steps on the stairs. Quickly the ones the violet lantern had been speaking to concealed themselves among the things that were stored in the pegasus’ basement.

“Fluttershy?” a mare’s muffled voice called out. “Fluttershy, are you down here again?”

The hoof steps stopped, at the last step just in front of the door from the sound of it. The sudden quiet was broken by the sound of a hoof gently knocking at the door. The scurrying in the dark had ceased as the sad pegasus turned to face her visitor.

***

The Apple Family home 8:30 PM

“Y’all head up stairs, Ah’m gonna talk to Applebloom for a moment.”

“But Granny, Ah need ta…” Granny raised a hoof in command and the protests of the oddly dressed filly ceased.

“Go on, children. Applebloom will be up shortly.”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle excused themselves and took their saddlebags up the stairs to Applebloom’s room. The fillies could hear Granny speaking to their friend as they ascended the stairs, the old mare’s voice fading as they went higher until only the sound of their hoof steps on the floor of the second story was left.

When they reached the closed door of their friend’s bedroom, Scootaloo opened the door by batting at the knob with her hoof. Then, as the door opened, the light from the lamps inside the room dispatched the darkness from the hallway and momentarily blinded the two fillies. Sweetie entered the room first and came to a short stop as she got a look at the inside of Applebloom’s room. Scootaloo almost crashed into Sweetie, so quickly had the unicorn stopped in front of her. The pegasus began to grumble when she caught sight of what had made Sweetie freeze.

The room was mostly bare. All of the things in Applebloom’s room had been removed from their normal storage places. The shelves were bare and the wardrobe was empty. Even framed pictures on the wall had been taken down. That was strange enough, but the sight of the bed made it all completely weird.

All of Applebloom’s possessions had been piled under, around, and on top of her bed. Toys acted like bricks of some sort of play fort, the plush animals making a wall around the mattress. Clothes hung off the bed canopy like vines in the Everfree forest draped from trees. Sweetie Belle gasped. It was not a messy pile of things -- the way the pile had been constructed, the pieces had been placed carefully, purposefully like Applebloom was using the items to build a house. What would not fit was added in the best way possible: snow shoes were sticking up behind the headboard. A large picture and photo album were on the night stand within reach of the bed occupant. Garden tools were leaning next to the bed, secured by the posts and the wall. Scootaloo saw some things she did not know Applebloom possessed -- a fancy fan from Neighpon was more like something Sweetie Belle would own.

“That’s what was wrong with the living room, Scootaloo! All of Applebloom’s stuff was missing. She took it -- all of her things -- and put it here in this…what would you call this?”

“I’d call it a hoard!” the gobsmacked pegasus said under her breath, her eyes fixed on the sight of the ‘stuff fort’ Applebloom had built around her bed. “She’s sleeping on all her stuff like a dragon does, right? That’s what dragons do.” The gleam of brass caught Scotaloo’s eye. “Sweetie…there’s stuff in there that I don’t think she owns! See that thing that looks like a clock…is…is that a gauge from a steam engine? What the hay is she even doing with that thing?”

Sweetie’s mind raced. Finding this…hoard was another discovery this evening that was unpleasant. Applebloom’s behavior at supper had heightened that there was something wrong with her. Apples as a rule all had hearty appetites, and their friend was no exception, but seeing the way she had devoured her meal with the reckless abandon of the starving, Applebloom had shocked everypony at the table, even Granny Smith. It was as if she was a ravenous wolf tearing into….

Sweetie was startled from completing that thought by an even, low voice that came from behind her:

“Don’t touch any of it.”

Applebloom had appeared as if out of nowhere, silently entering while her friends had been gawking at the renovations she had made. Her eyes were half closed and her mouth was completely flat and straight, the expression making her mood a mystery. She slowly approached her friends and gave Sweetie, then Scootaloo in turn, a hug, sighing as she approached the bed-fort.

“All of this here stuff is mah’n Scootaloo, includin’ that steam gauge.” Applebloom sat before her bed and gently reached out to the wall, holding the shiny brass instrument in her hooves. A tear came to her right eye as she held the gauge close to her chest. She then turned to her friends and showed them the item she so reverently held.

“This gauge was from the train that brought momma to Ponyville.” Applebloom cradled the dial like it was a holy artifact, gently stroking it while she talked, “The train made it in but had problems and couldn’t leave. Momma was a passenger on her way to Las Pegasus from Manehattan. She only planned to be in Ponyville for an hour, but there were problems, and they had to stay for the night. That was the night daddy an’ momma met an’ fell in love. Then, next day as they were takin’ all of momma’s stuff off the train, daddy asked the engineer what had caused the train to lay over and the engineer told him that this here gauge was the problem and was bein’ replaced. Daddy asked if he could have it and the engineer gave it to him. He told Mac and Applejack that the reason he wanted it was that it brought him the greatest piece of luck in his whole life.”

Applebloom turned and looked at her friends, her eyes wet from sorrow, “It’s the one thing of his Ah have to mahself. Applejack got daddy’s hat and Big Mac got his watch. This was left ta me, his will sayin that his two lucky charms should be together. When Ah hold it…” She choked on the last words, sniffing while she composed herself. “Ah just want what’s important ta me….close ta me.”

Sweetie Belle sniffed and wiped her own tears away. “Oh, Applebloom, that was such a beautiful story. Right, Scootaloo?”

“Yeah…beautiful.” The pegasus had looked away, hiding her face from her friends. It was all she could do to keep from crying bloody tears. Sweetie was right, it was a beautiful story. But Scootaloo was a Red Lantern, and (in her head) Red Lanterns shouldn’t cry. There was a sizzle sound as a tear landed on the floor of Applebloom’s room, burning the wood as the crimson tear tried to eat its way to the rooms beneath.

Applebloom’s tears had stopped. She started to place the gauge back into its proscribed place, her voice and posture changing again. Her shoulders drooped a bit and her eyes were half closed and slightly sad. She took a deep breath and began speaking in a soft tone as she reached out and hugged her friends with an almost deathgrip tightness, “…y’all don’t know how special ya are ta me. Few things come back ta me like y’all.”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exchanged glances, the unicorn biting her bottom lip in concern while gesturing with her eyes and head at Applebloom to Scootaloo who responded with a small nod. “Ah, Applebloom, what do you mean by that,” the diminutive red lantern asked as she withdrew from the tight embrace, breathing a bit better as she freed herself from her friend’s constricting limbs.

Applebloom stared at the floor, tears welled up and her breathing came heavier for a moment. “Everypony Ah love, everyone that is important ta me always seems to leave me. Sometimes…” her voice cracked. Applebloom threw her head back and sniffed, closing her eyes as she tried to fight back the tears and terror at the same time. “It seems when Ah care about something, life wants to take it away, and lately it seems that it wants those Ah love the most.” She sighed and looked at her friends. “What did Ah do for life ta punish me like this.”

Sweetie, who had also withdrawn from her friend’s embrace along with Scootaloo, placed a hoof on Applebloom’s shoulder and leaned in to touch her cheek. “Oh no, Applebloom, no! Please don’t think that! I know it looks bad but…”

“Isn’t it true?” the earth filly snapped. “Ma and Pa are gone, ain’t they! Ah never even knew em! Granny, Applejack, and Big Macintosh almost died that night, and both mah big brother and sister have been so caught up with this crazy business that they haven’t been around much. Granny tries ta help but she just doesn’t understand! Nopony understands!” Applebloom suddenly became quiet. She laid on the floor on her belly, her ears flat as she touched the neck ring gently with her hoof. ”Zecora would understand…but she’s gone now, too!”

“Applebloom,” Sweetie whispered as she kneeled down and put her head on her friend’s neck. Applebloom visibly shuddered. She placed her muzzle into Sweetie’s side as she continued her raving. “Ah never thought that anything in the world would make me dread Zecora again. Seeing her as one of those…zombies was bad enough, but her touch….urr!” The earth filly shivered again.

“Touch?” Scootaloo cocked her head sideways, one eye half closed in an expression of confusion. Scoots had come over now, sitting on her haunches next to her friend. “What do you mean?”

Sweetie Belle sat up to give the upset filly room to move. “Look, Applebloom, if you don’t want to talk about it…”

“No. Y’all are here with me again. Maybe you’ll understand if’n Ah tell ya. It was that night those…things attacked. Applejack came in flyin’ with that dang ring blazin’ an all, the zombies were everywhere! That was when we saw Zecora. She was…” Applebloom closed her eyes tightly for a moment and gulped. “She looked so…different. She looked almost lifeless like the rest of em even though she was movin’. Her voice was hollow with none of the warmth it she usually had. Her eyes were cold…so cold! Applejack’s fancy ring stopped working and Zecora went after her. Ah tried ta stop her, ya know? Ah just jumped out and pleaded for her ta stop. She pushed me aside trying ta get at Applejack and when she touched me with her hoof, Ah felt…sick.”

“Sick? She gave you a cold?” Sweetie started to look at Applebloom’s muzzle and ears for signs of illness.

“Nah. Not like that,” the earth filly continued, “Ah felt sick in…my heart. Yeah. It felt like mah feelin’s were bein’, Ah don’t know…pulled outta me, like a piece of knittin’ with a loose end that gets pulled and undoes the whole thin’, That was when Mac got his shiny ring somehow and saved our tails.“

She sat up, putting the end of the rope wrapped around her under her hoof and started making small circles with it on the floor. “Ah felt kinda numb after that. When Ah started ta un-numb, Ah felt really strange. Ah was hungry, really hungry. Granny and Mac thought Ah was on the mend, seein’ that. Ah tried reachin’ out to Applejack, but she was in bad shape, too. Ah feared that she might go away, lost to whatever had crushed her spirit that night. Ah was losin’ mah sister, and….”

Sweetie Belle leaned in, her ears pivoted forward as if she had not heard her friend, “And?”

“Did ya ever want somethin’ so bad ya’d do almost anything ta get it? Ah did, remember? Last time Ah felt like this Ah mixed up a potion and gave mahself Cutie Pox. Ah feel the same now…only worse.”

Applebloom stared at the bed fort then looked at Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. “It’s not just about mah cutie mark. It’s about everything: family, friends, stuff...” She swallowed hard, making a gulping sound. “Is it wrong ta want ta keep whatcha have left, ta want life ta stop taking from ya?”

Puzzled expressions washed over the fillies’ faces as they both searched for an answer to their friend’s question. Applebloom was acting like she had just before she used the Heart’s Desire potion. Her melancholy seemed even deeper than last time, her comments more pointed.

The earth pony filly reached out and hugged her friends tightly. “Forget it! It’s not important now. Yer here -- that’s what’s important an’ Ah ain’t never gonna let y’all go ever again.” She smiled “Ah got somethin’ back tonight.” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle returned her embrace and the unicorn’s horn caught on the dilapidated bow in Applebloom’s mane. Applebloom chuckled a little as she and Sweetie untangled from each other, “Don’t worry,” Sweetie squeaked,”it’ll work out. I have faith in all of us.”

The pegasus sat back on her haunches and sighed. She caught Applebloom staring at the glowing red band for a second. The light and heat of Scootaloo’s ring flashed in that moment as she felt an almost invigorating feeling inside her. Applebloom was not mad, she was…grateful! She had despaired over loosing Scootaloo, and did not fear the ring that had become the heart keeping her body alive. The Black Lanterns had hurt Applebloom deeply in her heart, pushing her into a kind of obsession. ‘No,’ Scootaloo shook her head as she ran things through her mind ‘I’ll stand by Applebloom through thick and thin, no matter how crazy or obsessed she gets. It was the Zombie Lanterns who did this to her…’

Scootaloo felt a deep growing fire ignite in her red light-filled heart. It was pure, beautiful and justified in the eyes of the tiniest of the Red Lanterns. Her growing anger at the Black Lanterns for the pain they had brought to her friend was the best kind of anger: it was not the petty revenge of score settling, it was what all Red Lanterns sought in their rage-filled hearts: true righteous wrath! Loyalty approved.

Sweetie then yawned and stretched her neck and front legs out. “I know it’s a little early, but maybe we should turn in.”

“Yeah, frankly Ah’m beat, too,” the earth filly stretched her hind legs and unwrapped the rope wrapped around her, “Maybe Ah’ll get a good night’s sleep this time and stop havin’ nightmares.”

Applebloom climbed onto the stuff-fortified bed, pulling the covers open while Sweetie and Scoots unrolled their sleeping bags and pads. The two fillies unpacked their toothbrushes, toothpaste, and dental cleaning items, then walked with their friend to the bathroom where discussion fell to the mundanity of who would go first and for a moment the friends were ‘normal’ again.

***

Fluttershy's cottage 9:30 PM

The red kettle was whistling as Cheerilee removed it from the burner, the hot water vessel floating above the prepared tea cups wrapped in the soft glow of the violet energy from her power ring. The kettle was tipped over and steaming water filled the teacups, sending up a vapor filled with the pungent smell of peppermint tea. The odor of the steeping teacups’ vapor added an enveloping and soft warmth to what could only be called a cold and hard situation.

Cheerilee sat down across from Fluttershy, clasping her teacup with her hooves. tTe blue enamel shined in the lights of the kitchen.

Fluttershy stared at the steaming red teacup that had been placed in front of her and sighed. The rising mist swirled and floated, gradually disappearing as the vapor rose and spread wide away from the cup. The steam’s action reminded her of what she had been told. She imagined the wreckage of a lost world dissipating as its remains, set in motion by an explosion, expanded into the emptiness of the void. Creatures had called that place home, trees once rose from its ground, flowers had blossomed across its meadows and animals had once called it home. The horror of it brought home to the Star Sapphire Queen a feeling of being so small, helpless and useless.

Fluttershy took the warm teacup in her hooves and breathed deeply, the hot peppermint vapor filling her nostrils with the warm odor of the tea. She then blew over the steaming liquid and took a quick sip, feeling the almost burning hot liquid run down her throat, its heat soothing the irritated passage to her stomach. Her crying had caused her to choke several times and her voice had a slight rasp to it from the stress of her weeping. Fluttershy cleared her throat as she took a second sip of the teacup and placed it back down on the table.

“So, what happened at the meeting with the Princess?”

Fluttershy stared into her teacup, her silence accenting the melancholy of her demeanor.

“Did something go wrong with the princess?”

The pegasus’s lips quivered a little.

“By the Violet Light, dear…what happened?” The school mare laid a hoof on the shoulder of her Corps Queen, ”Please tell me, what happened?”

“It’s not Princess Celestia. She was very encouraging to me, comforting. No, it was the book Applejack found in her ring…a history book of the Green Lanterns.” Fluttershy gulped softly “Twilight thought that hearing something from it would help Applejack get better and forgive herself for Zecora.”

Cheerilee raised her eyebrows. A history book? ‘That would be quite helpful to find,’ she thought. As school mare, a book of history was of particular interest to her. After all, she was still learning to be a Star Sapphire and discovering what that really meant.

“Well that sounds helpful. Was it helpful to Applejack?”

“I think so. She seemed different after hearing what the book had to say.” Fluttershy took another sip of her tea. She swallowed the warm liquid hard, her lips began quivering again as she looked at the slightly steaming cup.

“What’s wrong? What has you so upset?” The school mare put her hoof on the shoulder of her Corps Leader as she cocked her head, listening to the pegasus.

“I heard something terrible from that book of Applejack’s. I heard something so horrible I almost can’t believe it, but I’m sure it’s true. I believe it’s true.”

Cheerilee took a sip from her cup while she looked at her Queen with a half cocked eyebrow.

Fluttershy sighed. “I-I really don’t want to talk about it. Besides, our friends won’t let something so awful happen here to us, but it was just so upsetting. I just have to keep calm and help as I can.” The Queen of Star Sapphires stared into the steeping tea as if trying to find answers in the leaves like Pinkie did every so often. All Fluttershy saw was floating bits of peppermint.

Cheerilee sipped her tea. The warm liquid gently warmed her body and relieved her stress. She had been busy all day from teaching for the half day, looking in on Applebloom, helping Princess Cadance continue the expansion and transformation of Fluttershy’s cottage into the Sapphire Palace, and meeting with Rainbow Dash about Scootaloo. It had been a very productive day, and now a simple talk over tea, even if matters were serious, was welcome.

“Maybe a change of subject would be better, then,” Cheerilee opined. Several moments passed in silence.

Fluttershy took another sip from her tea, then nodded. “Yes, maybe that would be best.”

Cheerilee put down her teacup and then gestured to the back door, accenting the gesture with a nod of her head. “Why don’t I show you what Princess Cadance and I have been doing here? The princess has been very active in making improvements, and the violet crystals are quite beautiful.

“Ok,” Fluttershy replied as she put her teacup on the table. “By the way, where is Princess Cadance? She told me she wanted to talk to me after Princess Celestia had departed?”

“Oh, she said that she would be in later tonight. She told me she had some things that needed attending to and would be by later. She was very grateful to you for letting her stay here with you and for giving such leeway in building up here.” Cheerilee opened the back door of the cottage with her hoof and gestured to Fluttershy to go out the door first.

Fluttershy smiled as she passed through the door. “It’s the least I could do. She’s been so helpful to me in trying to handle all this lantern stuff, I don’t know what I would do without yours’ and my friends’ help.”

Cheerilee trotted through the door behind her Corps Leader and, standing next to the pegasus, brought up the Star Sapphire ring on her leg. A ball of violet light formed from the energy of the ring and floated above the two ponies, banishing the darkness of the night from Fluttershy’s backyard.

“Well?” the school teacher asked.

“Oh…my!”

***

The Apple Family Home, 10:45 PM

Applebloom woke, pulling and pushing her sheets this way and that, trying to get comfortable.

“Augh! Same as the other nights,” she whispered.

It was like all the other nights – Applebloom had trouble sleeping for more than a few hours. This time, fortunately, she had not had the nightmares that plagued her before. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her forelegs and yawned.

The earth filly looked at her friends sleeping on the floor before her bed. The gentle Sweetie Belle on her sleeping bag, curled around her pillow, making no sound at all. The only way Applebloom could tell she was breathing was seeing her chest rise and fall rhythmically with her breaths. Sweetie was the very picture of peaceful sleep, not stirring or thrashing at all.

Scootaloo was another story. The pegasus was more like a sleeping guard monster, her small snore and occasional gnashing of her teeth completing the image of a dozing dragon guarding something precious -- the broken growl warning not to hurt what she guarded, which seemed to be her friend in the fort bed.

Applebloom smiled as she silently climbed out of her bed. Her friends’ arrival was the medicine she needed right then. She had feared that her friends were indeed were lost to her, and now they were back, with her, and she loved them for it. Of all the things she had lost that she loved, they were the ones that had come back.

She crept quietly to the bedroom door to begin her latest nightly ritual. Though her friends eased her nightmares, she still felt compelled to go into the basement and rummage about in the old family things to see if there was something of her loved ones that would catch her eye and had been forgotten by everypony. Holding an item, like uncle Hard Cider’s police academy acceptance letter, or cousin Apple Tart’s old scarf, brought her comfort and helped her go back to sleep. She felt like when she held something of theirs they couldn’t go away -- they wouldn’t be…taken away from her.

Down the hall the filly lightly stepped, going past Granny Smith’s room, the old mare’s snores reassuring Applebloom that she was alive and not awake to see the filly’s collecting action. Granny disapproved of her latest collecting craze and had gone into her room to retrieve photo albums and knickknacks when it was clear that Applebloom was not going to stop. Granny then tried to keep the pile in Applebloom’s room to a minimum, and would confiscate anything she saw the filly taking to her room. Applebloom responded by growing her pile at night when everyone was asleep, and only taking small items that would not be readily missed, keeping her family’s worries to a low level.

Slowly, she made her way to the basement, making sure to step only on the floor boards that she knew would not creak. She passed Applejack and Macintosh’s rooms, both siblings away at their Lantern meeting. A twinge of pain shot through the filly’s heart. Her big sister had been hurt like Applebloom had in the attack that night, and, though she seemed to be better, it was plain to Applebloom something had entered Applejack’s heart. She was slightly grimmer now, more forlorn than she had been. That was not to say Applejack was mean or anything, but it was plain that her big sister was a bit less warm than she had been. She carried herself a little more like her outcast uncle, a little colder and a little more determined.

Step by careful step Applebloom descended the stairs until she arrived on the main floor. She looked about and cocked her ears, trying to discover if her brother and sister were in the house at all or not. Lack of any sound in the house save from the ticking grandfather clock showing 11 and the only lights coming from the night lights told her the coast was clear and she proceeded to the stairs leading to the basement.

The large oak door swung open, making not a sound as it pivoted on its large iron hinges. Applebloom groped in the dark for the light switch, the dim bulb coming to life when she brushed the switch while looking for it. She surveyed the basement in the low light, noting the different stacks of things stored. This time a pile of empty jam jars in a corner next to an old canning bench called and focused her attention.

Applebloom moved to look at the pile of jars more closely. She had seen the old glassware before, but it had not commanded her attention before like it did now. The haphazard pyramid of discarded containers gleamed in the low light of the overhead bulb. The jars were all capped loosely with a metal lid. The labels on the jars were all similar in size and shape, but the colors on the labels became more vivid the higher up the stack the jar was. Applebloom sat down before the collection of old glassware and picked up a loose jar from the very bottom of the pile and read the old and yellowed label:

Sweet Apple Acres’ unique Zap Apple Jam.

The large signature on at the top of the label on old jars showed they were from the time of Great Grandpa Apple. The labels had a zap apple in the center with a second set of writing that was hard to make out in the dim light of the basement. Applebloom pulled one of the old empty jam jars close to her muzzle to read the smaller writing.

Barn Yard Mercantile Company, Ponyville Station. Strike-it Rich, Proprietor.

“Diamond Tiara’s grandaddy. Granny said he started out selling our Zap Apple Jam.” Applebloom looked at the stack of old jars with their yellowed, aging labels and marveled at the antiquity of some of the jars. Granny had been jamming for a long time, and Applebloom hoped to carry on in her hoofsteps when she got older. The jars on the bottom of the pile were the oldest, with newer jars piled on top of older.

Applebloom looked at another of the old jars further up the pile. It was labeled similar to the one she had just read, but with changes.

The large writing read: ‘Barn Yard Mercantile Co. Zap Apple Jam’ and the smaller writing below the Zap Apple read: ‘canned by Sweet Apple Acres Farm. Ponyville, Equestria.’

Applebloom discarded the old glass container, letting it clink on the floor while she grabbed another jar even higher on the pile. This label was different, it was apple shaped and marked with the Barn Yard Bargain’s title like the previous one, but this time there was no mention of the Apple Farm, save in tiny print on the edge of the label.

She read the label over again, then again, and again, and again. A thought came to her when she read the writing and a heat started to wash over her muzzle as she stared at the empty jam jar.  She felt incensed, angry, and insulted, and then: cheated! That feeling flooded through her mind and in her heart. That was what had been happening to her family and now to her! She had been cheated!

“The work of mah family is the reason that the Rich family has anything in this world,” she growled in the dim light of the basement. “You’d think, knowing that would have gotten me some little bit of respect from Diamond Tiara! Dang it, she’s got a fortune because of us!” Applebloom dropped the jar as she fumed over the gall of the spoiled filly bullying her and her friends, knowing full well the reason she was so well off was because of the toil of the Apples.

It didn’t matter if Diamond Tiara now felt empathy because of an indigo power ring. Power ring! That was another thing! She had all that wealth and respect and a dang ring, too! Who cared if it was to make her ‘feel compassion’ -- it was yet another thing Diamond Tiara had! Wasn’t the cutie mark by itself bad enough without all the other things?

Applebloom dug into the side of her bare flank. All of this insanity hadn’t brought out her cutie mark either. She had lost so much, including nearly losing her life and she still didn’t even have her cutie mark to show for it! She touched the neck ring and almost burst into tears. Zecora’s death and transformation into a Black Lantern was the bitterest pill of all to swallow, one loved one taken away and trying to take her beloved family away, too.

Applebloom felt like a piece of wood, tiny slivers and bits of her shaved off and cast aside, never to be part of her again, both life and death whittling at her and taking bits and pieces away, not content to kill her or end things quickly. With every piece she felt more and more lost. Had she done something to deserve all this? She just wanted what was hers. Was that so wrong? Was it wrong to want more out of life than perpetual disappointment and tragic loss of what she loved? It was like everything else in her life had been as she saw it -- denied or outright taken -- denial of respect, parents taken.

“No,” she mumbled through gritted teeth under her breath, “Ah’m done with that! Time ah start takin things in hoof mahself! Seems if Ah don’t protect what’s mine it get taken from me. And Ah’m tired of all the take, take, take from me!” She looked out the vent window up into the distant stars twinkling in the sky. She thought of her friends still sleeping in her room, and how Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had tried to take them away from her. Not giving her respect was one thing, but trying to take her friends…no, that was too far! They were HER friends!

“No more lettin’ things be taken from me. Ah’m done with that. No more loss. No more settling. No more just sittin’ by while what Ah love is taken from me…Ah want more out of life, more of everything. Ah want my own place, mah own name, mah cutie mark! Ah want respect and to keep mah family from any more pain! Nothin’ is taking anything from me anymore ever again!” The earth filly seemed to reach out over the whole of the world and grip it in her teeth and shake it hard until it gave her what she wanted. It had taken so much, now she wanted it all back.

“Ah want…what’s….MINE!”

At that very moment a light shown on Applebloom, cutting through the gloom and the dark and filling her with a longing, a hunger like a roaring fire burned within her. The soft glow of orange appeared to be shining on her from outside the basement window calling to the filly in a way she had never felt before in her life...

***

Fluttershy's Cottage 10:45 PM

Well…her Star Sapphires had certainly not been idle!

“Dear me! It looks as tall as the clock tower downtown.” Fluttershy swallowed hard as she peered at the top of the tower.

“Taller,” said the school mare. “Almost twice as tall.”

Fluttershy stared at the huge gleaming pillar of violet crystal that towered over her home. It rose into the sky like a massive branchless post oak, the facets creating highlights that outlined the crystalline building in the soft light of Cheerilee’s ring.  As she took in the sight of the edifice, it struck the Star Sapphire Queen that the building resembled violet-colored ice. She turned to ask the school teacher a question when she noticed that the edge of her property was now marked with a low fence of violet crystals like the ones used to construct the tower, the dimly seen shards of violet bristling like the thorn bushes of the Everfree.

“Um…are those supposed to be a fence? I think it’s bigger than my property,” Fluttershy returned her gaze to the teacher. “How large is Princess Cadance planning to build? I think this might be a little much.”

Originally, it had been the idea of Ms. Cheerilee and Princess Cadance to expand the cottage to make it more expansive and roomy. Fluttershy had approved of the idea because she herself honestly had no idea what to do. Princess Cadance, on the other hoof, seemed to know exactly what to do. Since her induction into the Star Sapphires and the revealing of the secrets of the violet light, the Princess of Love had been truly dynamic, almost demanding to help and to take action. Being a lantern seemed to suit both of her recruits very well.

“Well, she’s planning on being able to protect many of your animals and other ponies in case something happens, but mostly she said she wants to protect the violet battery. Princess Cadance wanted the house fortified against what she calls ‘abusers of love’s light.” Cheerilee moved next to the Star Sapphire Queen and took her Fluttershy’s hoof into her own. “She is doing just what her heart tells her: she’s taking precautions to keep us safe.”

“Yes I suppose so,” the pegasus sighed.

Being Queen of the Star Sapphires was difficult for Fluttershy. Her whole life had been one of passivity, only getting involved when it was clear she had to do something. Her special talent with animals and her caring and gentle nature made her actions clear when it came to taking care of others, but she was now a 'Queen' (not by her own will) a 'leader' and being a Queen was anything but clear! She had no drive or experience to help her in the day-to-day decisions necessary to direct the Star Sapphires in what actions were to be taken.  The Star Sapphire motto of ‘Follow your Heart’ was vague, and specific things needed to be done, and Fluttershy’s kind heart quailed at some of the things Twilight and Rainbow Dash had done in the name of protecting their herd and their home, and she did not feel comfortable with everything Princess Cadance was doing.

But…Cadance might be right to guard the violet battery. After all, if Queen Chrysalis did manage to get her hooves on the the lantern, there was no telling what kind of havoc she could wreak on the world. Fluttershy shivered thinking about what the Changeling queen would do with that power; and the light of pure love would be a too tempting target for her not to try something to get it.

But Changelings were not all like Chrysalis and her hive. Surely Princess Cadance could see that, couldn’t she? It wasn’t wrong to try and treat them well was it?

“Is there a problem, Fluttershy? You seem a little upset about what has been built,” the school teacher inquired, her ring glowing dimmer, the surrounding darkness slowly reabsorbing the violet crystal work.

“No…it’s just so…big so…much, like that book of Applejack’s. It can’t be helped, I guess. I’m just glad I have my friends, you and Cadance to help me.” Fluttershy looked up at the top of the crystal tower again. To her, the crystal construct was like her new status: baffling, gaudy, and uncomfortable. Her friends’ advice and support were appreciated, but that did not make it easy.

The Star Sapphire Queen sighed and turned back, making her way to the back door. “Is there anything else Princess Cadance or you would like to talk to me about before I turn in? It’s been a big day and I’d like to get some sleep.”

Cheerilee briefly floated over the ground and landed behind Fluttershy to follow her back into the house. “Yes. Cadance wanted to talk to you about new candidates for our corps. One in particular is a stallion who is suffering heart ache, yet stands by his love, though he cannot even touch her any more, lest he be burned.”

“Burned?”

“Yes. Red Lantern Wildfire is pure red energy now, and though she has resigned herself to her fate and told her coltfriend to move on, he loves her so much he refuses to give up on her,” Cheerilee looked up and right, a wistful expression crossing her face. “Quite sad and sweet isn’t it”

Fluttershy smiled, “Yes. Maybe we can help with that.”

A star defying the night

A star defying the night.

  by Moon Chaser (DA CrazyMikePrime)

Sky Castle ‘Boiling Point’ headquarters of the Red Lanterns of Equestria after the reading of the Book of Oa 10:45 pm

A small shooting star streaked overhead, its white tail disappearing almost as quickly as it had appeared. A moment or two later there was another, smaller and shorter in life than the last one. This had been happening off and on through the night, but few in Ponyville seem to notice, or care. Rainbow Dash herself didn’t care…she had bigger hay bales to fry tonight.

“Everypony better be here,” Rainbow Dash growled as she landed on the common quad of her cloud fortress. Blood plasma began to slowly flow from her mouth and her eyes as the leader of the Red Lanterns could barely contain her wrath at the ponies of her corps for the treatment of Applejack. Though she had been upset with her friend’s absence, she honestly had feared the worst had befallen the earthpony: though her body lived, her heart was dead and the tough as nails farmer had been broken…

…by another of her friends, lost to them forever; a friend whose memory she would avenge if it took the whole of her life to do so.

As Rainbow Dash’s hind legs touched the cloud, the first to answer her ring call waited in burning rage filled silence. That pony now approached her.

Wildfire’s rage as second only to Dash’s herself. So intense was it that it allowed her to survive grievous wounds that would have ended the life of any other pony lantern. The burning fire of her wrath instead allowed her to become a living embodiment of the red light’s power, becoming like the energy of the battery itself. Because of this she had been made the protector of the red lantern’s power source. Rainbow Dash followed Twilight Sparkle’s suggestion and had also consigned her as a resource of last resort, only to be used in the gravest extreme for Wildfire once unleashed would not stop herself until all in her path had been destroyed and there was nothing left to slake the fury that burned like Celestia blazing sun itself.

The shimmering pegasus of red energy approached her corps leader, floating in the air off the cloud before Dash, nodding her energy body’s head in respect and acknowledgment. “They’ve started to arrive now. They’ll be waiting for you,” Wildfire said simply, her voice having a ringing lilt to it like she was speaking in a crystal or metal chamber while she pointed behind her with her ‘ring’ hoof to the assembled Red Lanterns, “Over there”.

That voice! The other red lanterns were all a little unnerved by the unreal quality of the sound of her voice. Other non lantern ponies would be shocked at Rainbow Dash for thinking this she found her new voice ‘awesome’ and loved hearing Wildfire’s battle scream, for when she was in a certain mood, to her ears it was the grandest of music.

“What’s this all about boss?” a metallic echo rang out from Wildfire’s form.

“I’m going to start with you and am going to ask this once: Did you call Applejack a coward? Did you accuse her of abandoning us,” Dash asked in a low voice that cracked and quivered as she exerted control to keep from exploding. It was all she could do to retain any semblance of calm. She badly wanted a target to vent her rage at. The thumping of her heart became stronger and quicker as she waited for a response to her query. The urge to butt her head into the pony or ponies that had insulted her friend and damaged their fidelity was becoming overpowering.

Wildfire raised an eyebrow and her energy construct ears pricked up in surprise. The pegasus of living energy landed on the cloud and crouched a little, appearing a little shorter than her corps leader. “What! Are you kidding? Applejack? Really, “the lantern of red light worked her ‘construct’ jaw back and forth in puzzlement, “I wouldn’t say anything even close to that boss. I know Applejack and wow…that is crazy! Sounds like you’ve been eating moldy rye. Who the hay would say something like that?”

A bright orange shooting star appeared, falling to earth brighter and lasting longer then any the two ponies had seen in a while, lasting until it looked like it would land on the ground somewhere.

The other lanterns were out of range to hear the Red Lantern leader and the battery guard. Some leaned forward a little straining to hear what the two fiercest of them were saying to each other, others were distracted by the starry light show. Dash growled a little under her breath, “I don’t know; but by Celestia I intend to find out-RIGHT NOW!”

***

Ponyville Library, Headquarters for the Yellow Lantern Corps of Equestria 11:30 PM

Spheres of yellow ring energy nesting neatly within each other like mixing bowls of a varying size but identical shape spun silently before Twilight Sparkle’s eyes. The layers of the construct became more opaque the closer to the center they were. Each sphere was labeled with a pointer and a note written in Scientific Equestrian. The slowly turning creation of Twilight’s mind had small points of light that flashed here and there, running about inside, indicating a point of interest of the moment it was still. A beam from the yellow ring lighted the floor of the yellow lantern’s bedroom. For an hour the ring had been generating this structure. The wait for a quick and dirty answer had been torture to Celestia’s best student, she had even turned away Rarity from a discussion, asking that it be put off until the morning.

[=Lithosphere stability within accepted parameters=] the Yellow ring said.

“How does it look closer to the center?” Twilight asked as she gazed deep into the yellow balls before her.

[=Mantel temperature and pressure nominal for planetary structure=]

“…and the Core?”

[=Initial measurements: planetary magnetic field nominal. Core dynamics including pressure and flow appear nominal. Initial assessment: planetary interior stable. Additional scan time will be required for a definitive answer to planet stability question. =]

The Leader of the Yellow Lantern Corps blew air out in relief as she sat back on her haunches. The construct model of the planet’s interior slowly dissolved away, layer by layer. Light faded away as the structure was re-absorbed into Twilight’s ring.  She was lost in thought until from behind her a voice startled her out of her contemplation.

“Are these the last days of the world?”

Twilight wheeled about to face her new unwanted guest. If the voice she had heard had not identified the interloper, the distinctive cape and hat that shaded a gleaming smile firmly established who had come to call.

“So, are we doomed? Is all we do pointless? Isn’t that what you were trying to find out?”

The smirking face of Trixie Lulamoon greeted the Yellow Lantern leader. The show mare had been floating when she entered the room making not a sound. She now landed on her hooves and came to a rest on the floor of Twilight’s bedroom. Trixie had created a more flamboyant version of the Yellow Lantern uniform for herself, keeping her signature cape and hat but decorating them with the motifs of the lantern corps she now served.

“The Great and Frightful Trixie wonders if Lady Sparkle has finished her geological studies and can now talk.”

“I just thought…”

“You found out some new information. You found that a world can die and you wanted to make sure our world was not about to as well,” The show mare laughed ” when you find something new Lady Sparkle, you cannot leave it alone, you must at least sample it, ‘taste’ it you might say.”

“You don’t understand Trixie! I had to know…wait, you were listening in weren’t you!”

“I do understand,” there was mirth in Trixie’s voice as she approached her corps leader. “It’s all so crazy, so terrible and wonderful at the same time. It’s also…terrifying! “A blue hoof stamped on the floor and turned yellow for a second. “…and you had to know.” A black shoe impression was left by yellow by the ring energy Trixie had commanded. “See that? The power we have! Power undreamed of in all of Equestria! But think about it, what is it for?  The power is to match terrors waiting for us, that is what it is for. You saw one of those terrors in a history book tonight. So…what does that mean?“ Trixie laughed a dry almost sad laugh. “If you think about it too much, you will go mad, or you discover something about yourself you did not want to know.“ The stage magician smiled,” and yes, Trixie was listening. She got back from scouting early and decided to not interrupt proceedings as your red friend is not Trixie’s biggest fan. It was interesting learning more…” The magician almost sounded ecstatic.

The construct had completely disappeared as Twilight addressed the lieutenant she had been reluctant to recruit.  Trixie’s command of theater skills made the number two fear lantern particularly effective at instilling terror when she wished to. She was skilled with the ring, displayed cunning and seemed to relish the charge of power action brought. Twilight had half a mind to rescind the yellow ring she gave to her former rival save for one galling fact…

…Trixie was very good at her job.

“Enough! I’m not in a mood for riddles and mind games Trixie,” Twilight snapped. Her eyes flashed with the light of fear. As she lifted herself off the floor of her bedroom, the yellow energy aura appeared around her, her face becoming a frightening visage as she came to her full height. Trixie’s eyes widened a bit and her small smile melted away.

The scholar’s voice became a frightening symphony to Trixie’s ears for a moment, “Did you find anypony that would be a good member for our corps?”

The show mare’s smirk returned with her composure. She let out menacing titter before she spoke. “Corps member? Yes. Pony? No. Not a pony. No Twilight Sparkle, the Great and Frightful Trixie has taken inspiration from you and found another amazing recruit for the Yellow Lantern Corps. You might even say it’s too delicious a find, especially to you. ”

Twilight cocked her head a bit to the right wondering what in the world the show mare had found as a candidate for her to induct? “What in Equestria did you find Trixie?”

Lantern Lulamoon turned away from her corps leader and moved in the direction of the door, a coy smile on her muzzle. “Trixie is parched from all her labors and wishes Lady Sparkle to join her in a cup of tea so she can discuss this new find.” Peals of laughter erupted from Trixie as she descended down the stairs. “Lady Sparkle should find the new prospect…interesting. “

Trixie paused for a moment, looking off into space searching for something. Her face’s expression had changed; her ears drooped and eyes became full of sorrow. She spoke in a calm and low voice, the new tone having none of the arrogance that normally came out of Trixie’s mouth. Her voice became solemn and serious for a moment.

“After that, we must discuss something that will upset you. It upset me when I realized it but I don’t think you see it yourself Twilight.” Trixie was facing away as she descended to the first floor of the library and made her way to the kitchen. “I have some experience with this from my time on the stage but you I suspect have never experienced this phenomenon before, and I think I need to make you aware of it, for your sake as well as mine.”

Twilight’s ears twitched as she frowned. “Wha…what are you talking about? What don’t I see that you do?”

‘Fine. I tell you now.’ Trixie stopped moving down the stairs and turned around and using her left front hoof she lifted Twilight’s right front hoof up. “This is what I’m talking about. These rings, or rather what powers them or more importantly how it affects us.”

Twilight withdrew her hoof from Trixie, opened one eye wider than the other and curled up one side of her mouth, “OK…go on.”

The magician breathed out and then continued her decent down the stairs. “Alright. No games. I will say it plainly. We are intoxicated by wielding the power of fear! We feed off of the fear of others. We get a rush when others are in terror.” Trixie sighed and looked at her corps commander. Complete puzzlement was in the eyes of Celestia’s best student.

“I’ve felt this before, when a crowd cheers for me after a good performance. I bathe in their adulation. I get a kick out of that feeling and I crave more of it.  I then want to do more to get that feeling.  That’s part of why I am in show business, that…energy I get from the crowd. So I know what I’m talking about on this OK?” Twilight nodded slowly, her mouth agape in surprise.

Trixie raised her own yellow power ring, the fear powered weapon almost seemed to purr as she spoke. “Now I bathe in other’s terror Twilight! I feel the same way terrorizing others that I felt on stage receiving their applause. I LIKE what I feel! I also know something else… YOU feel the same way. I KNOW you do. I’ve seen it.”

At first Twilight Sparkle started to shake her head in an emphatic ‘no’ but stopped and looked at herself in her mind’s eye. She saw at how the ring made her act with others, how they recoiled at times when she let the yellow light of her ring burn bright. She saw the terror she instilled in others with the yellow power…and how it felt to her when she did so…

Twilight raised a hoof to her mouth in embarrassment and astonishment. She felt shame, but the reason why was lost on her for the moment. Was it because she caused terror and that was wrong, or because she enjoyed the feeling of power and that felt RIGHT! That horrified her. When she was a filly after her cutie mark appeared and her magical ability awakened, many other ponies murmured about her in their fear of her ability. That fear and her standoff bookishness kept other ponies from approaching her. Knowing that other ponies were in fear of her made her feel terrible back then…

…and now? Celestia help her, now it felt GLORIOUS!

…and for a moment she swore she could hear the buzzing of some giant insect, followed by a chilling laugh in her mind

Twilight looked at Trixie’s with eyes wide in horror. The implications of what her lieutenant had just said ran through her mind and her heart.  The scholar began to dread, which in turn both repulsed and invigorated her. Trixie also felt the same ‘jolt’ of sensation in her corps leader, and herself. Both of their rings seemed to purr.

“What do we do Trixie? What did you do to cope with this? How did you handle the hunger for these… feelings? ”

“I didn’t.” Trixie’s muzzle scrunched up. “I never did find a way to stop the hunger for adulation. It is part of the reason why I was always hard on hecklers when I was doing my show. That’s why I spoke up when I became aware of what was going on.  I thought maybe you might know what to do. In any case we must be mindful Twilight Sparkle, or we will lose ourselves to it and we may never WANT to be found!”

The fear lantern leader nodded slowly. Trixie was right, she was not consciously aware of what the show mare was talking about until now. Her former rival had just pointed out a disturbing truth she herself could not even hope to see without being told about the nature of the problem. Why was she being so nice?

“I’ll ask the princesses, see if they can help us.”

Trixie nodded as she reached the kitchen door. The moment of her openness had lapsed and she seemed to return to the posture and airs that marked her normal public manner.

Entering the kitchen, Twilight levitated the kettle to the sink and began to fill it up with water. Then mint tea was levitated out of a cabinet and added to large tea strainer separated from tea pot. Magic placed the kettle on the cook top and a flame appeared underneath, beginning the process of boiling the water. It was a mundane way to make tea, but there was comfort in the ordinary.

“Trixie appreciates the tea, but would like something more substantial to go with it. Even a humble sandwich would do.”

“First things first; what about this new recruit you have found?”

***

Sky Castle ‘Boiling Point’ 11:55 pm

“They’re all here now boss,” the keeper of the red battery gestured over to her gathered corps, “The last few just flew in.”

“Took em’ long enough,” Dash loosed a bloody spit to the floor of the castle, the hiss of the plasma made as it burned through the layers of cloud-stone offering a beginning to the festivities the irate pegasus was about to unleash.

Rainbow Dash lifted off the cloud by a few inches and floated over to the Red Lanterns gathered together, her red aura began to grow very slowly with every passing inch she drew closer to her corps members, blood plasma began to flow from the corner of her mouth. The rage lanterns waited in silence, watching their leader’s approach with a mixture of dread and puzzlement.

Ba-boom, ba-boom ba-boom. The noise in her heart filled her ears.

As Rainbow Dash landed before the members of her corps, and took a long deep breath. Though the anger in her was a rolling boil, her visage showed that she was merely perturbed. Dash closed her eyes as she wiped the blood plasma away from the corner of her mouth. The aura around her still was slowly increasing in brightness, indicating the true state of her temper, though the other red lanterns did not understand what her shine truly indicated.

Wildfire herself floated forward to join the other ponies when Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder at Wildfire with her blazing eyes. Dash then held out her right front leg indicating to the keeper of the red battery to halt. She then gestured to Wildfire to drop back with a small waving of her hoof. The pony of pure rage energy complied and drifted back to land behind Red Lantern leader to her right on all four of her hooves.

“What took some of you so long to get here,” Dash asked with narrowed eyes.

Another small shooting star left a fading light trail.

“We got a little carried away at a party in town,” Score answered. He sniffed and scratched at the back of his ears. “It was OK, Earth Ponies love to party so why not.”

“You mean Pinkie’s party for Applejack?” Blood plasma began to leak at the corner of her mouth ‘You guys have some nerve going to that party after what you did.’

“Yeah, I guess, who knows.”

A large trident appeared in front of the derisive lantern, the glittering fork’s points touching his neck threatening to impale the pegasus.

“When I call you all, you MOVE! ALL OF YOU! GOT IT,” the corps leader bellowed, the lines in her face grew deeper in rage.

“Um, yeah boss, we got it.” The conclave of lanterns all nodded their understanding. The threatened red lantern simply nodded and gulped.

The war fork disappeared in a mist of red ring energy, the summoners calm became restored for a moment. “Now,” Rainbow Dash began as she turned her head to face her corps, the lines of her frowning face growing deeper as she brought her terrible visage around, “It has come to my attention that there is an issue between my corps and my friends.” The rage lanterns looked among themselves exchanging glances with one another wondering what their leader meant.

Restlessness caused Dash to lift off the cloud very slightly. She began to move back and forth in front of the audience.  This was her form pacing. She often did this when she was trying to explain herself to some pony that was frustrating her. Now it was keeping her from flinging herself at all her lanterns with all the savagery her ring and her heart could dish out.

For a moment there was no word from the moving pony, her lanterns watching her quietly glide back and forth, her eyes closed and her muzzle dropped down slightly as she moved. Rainbow Dash’s ring aura had dimmed as she paced. “Um…boss,” a quiet inquiry came from to her ears, “what’s up?”

Dash stopped her gliding over the cloud center front of the Red Lantern Corps. Slowly the pegasus then pivoted to once again face the lanterns, her aura now soft and almost unseen. She ran her gaze over the assembly looking into their eyes searching for a clue to the culprit responsible.

‘Who betrayed us? Who dishonored us,’ Rage and Loyalty screamed in unison in Rainbow’s heart whose beating had become rapid. There was a feeling of a kind of ‘thumping’ at the back of her mind. ‘Who damaged our friendship?’

One came forward from the crowd, a stallion. He was without corps uniform, his brown coat was slightly unkempt and matted, the top of his mane flopped over his eyes, giving him a vaguely sheep dog like appearance. The cutie mark on his flank was three basketballs. His ring shimmered as he moved. ‘One of the party animals,’ Rainbow Dash smirked, ‘Brave of you Hoops,’ she thought.

"The only issue any of us got," Hoops snorted back at her, "is that your 'friends' keep gettin' in the way when we fight! So what if some ponies don't move fast enough when we're fighting those scuzzy zombies? If ponies don't want to get hurt, they oughta stay outta fights in the first place, let em’ stay home and cry, who needs em’!"

Gilda, sitting at the end of the front row clamped her wings tightly to her body. She covered her eyes and forehead with her ring talon, shaking her head. “Great,” she whispered, “this should go well.”

“…what did you say,” a growl came to Dash’s throat when she spoke. Rage plasma began leaking out of her mouth.

Boomboomboomboomboom

“I said…”

There was an explosion of crimson light. The glare caused everypony to shy away and shield them from the intensity of Rainbow Dash’s blazing aura. The pegasus of living energy was the only one not affected by the light coming from the red corps leader, she seem to actually bask in it.

As the multitude adjusted their eyes they beheld a strange and terrible image. Rainbow Dash was now hunched over like she was going to walk on all of her hooves, but she did not come in contact with the cloud layer. She was surrounded in her red lantern aura, but now it had changed. The energy field wrapped around Dash the way thick winter clothes did, conforming to the shape of her body but giving it bulk. The appeared larger and much more forbidding. The feathers of her wings now had sharp tips to them , their edges were now jagged, like a griffin knife. The multicolor mane and tail were standing out in a brush except for the top of Dash’s mane; that part of her hair had grown in length was drew itself up into two great branches from her head, curving up and looking very like the arms of the symbol of the Red Lantern Corps…

…or the horns of a minotaur!

The side locks of her mane had grown as well, they now protruded out from the sides of her head like the tusks of some great boar of the Everfree forest. Rainbow Dash’s eyes were now pure red in color and had no irises or pupils. Blood plasma ran from those frightful eyes and almost seems to pour from her mouth, burning through the cloud floor beneath her that had turned pure black and was rumbling, lightning danced at the hooves and arced over the body of the transformed corps leader. A construct shaped like a lightning bolt with framed with wings appeared around the neck of the iridescent form towering before them that seemed to grow larger and brighter with each passing moment.

Rainbow Dash let out a roar as she spoke, the voice gurgling as blood plasma sprayed from her mouth. She spoke words tortured by inchoate rage. Fear gripped all before her as the words she bellowed cut through the Red Lantern’s to their core. The light from Rainbow Dash became almost blinding.

“W-who…c-c-called…A-p-p-p-p-l-e-j-j-j-a-c-k…a-a-A…C-COWARD? W-H-O-O…DARED!?”

Gilda gritted her toothed beak in anticipation of what could only follow; a battle with the thing her friend had become. As she stared at her friend she was not quite sure if she and the other Red Lanterns could even fight what Dash had just become, their leader seemed to grow vaster by the second. The mightiest force of lanterns in all of Equestria, irresistible to everything that stood in their path, felt as if they were mere fleas compared to their transformed mistress. Their very souls withered under the raging gaze of her who lead them, they felt scorched by the righteous fury that burned in the heart of the bearer of the first red ring.

The Red Lanterns stood frozen in place as the passing seconds seem to become eons.

What had been Rainbow Dash raised her head up and let out a roar that sounded to all like fury itself given voice. All was then still for a moment, like the calm before the oncoming storm.

In that space between moments; the roar of Rainbow Dash had seemed to shake the very foundations of the world.

“Oh Crud” breathed Gilda, her own rage aura a mere spark compared to the bonfire that was before her “This is gonna hurt!”

***

Sugar Cube Corner, Ponyville 11:55 PM

“It’s a clear night! Let’s move this party outside! There’s more room to dance under the stars! “A pony yelled from somewhere.

“Ah could swear Ah heard some critter roarin’ a minute ago,” Applejack said. her ears pricked up in alert,”Sounded frightful!"

“Over all of this? Not likely.” Raindrops responded.

Pinkie Pie rode on the uplifted hooves of the gathered crowd of ponies, the limbs of the party crowd acting like the waves of the ocean with Pinkie in the role of surfboard.  Like the crashing waves of the sea, the herd of ponies in sugar cube corner surged back and forth, splashing themselves along the walls, their laughter and conversation was the roar of the waves of a party tide.

“That’s a great idea! Everyone, dance in the square, while I’ll tell you all something special! Let’s GO! “

The bubbling command of the party animal supreme of Ponyville brought the crowd to their hooves and the tide of revelry began to flow out the door, the noise level slowing ebbing away as the celebration for the return of Applejack moved out of Sugar Cube Corner. Surfing until most of the party attendees had left, Pinkie Pie curled into a ball and rightly bounced as she landed on the floor, uncurling in front of a pensively cider sipping Applejack and a stone faced Raindrops. When Pinkie stood on her hind legs an explosion of confetti erupted and fell on the two green lanterns leaning at the main counter across from Mr. and Mrs. Cake.

The Cakes sighed out loud and visibly relaxed as relief washed over them with the departure of the party goers to a more open place. The celebration that Pinkie Pie had planned was without a doubt one of the biggest she had attempted in a long time, and though it had started slowly and quietly, the ponies almost pensive at the beginning, the hostess’s arrival with the guest of honor started the festivities as only Pinkie could.

Pinkie Pie stared at Raindrops for a moment, searching out the pegasus for any sign of happiness.

“You really ought to smile more.”

Applejack rolled the cider mug between her hooves then looked at the stoic pegasus, “Remind me WHY we’re here again? Ah shoulda headed home with Mac.”

“We’re here for you Applejack!” Pinkie answered her friend before the pegasus could speak. She took the mostly full mug of cider and guzzled it down, foam forming over her muzzle as she gulped the amber colored liquid. The farm mare did not make even a hint of protest, “This party is to tell you how we feel about you! Besides, you needed this.”

‘No Ah don’t,’ she thought, ‘But lil’ sis might.’

Applebloom worried her. The filly had been traumatized by attack, and the appearance of Zacora as a Black Lantern had just about devastated both of them. Her little sister had been more engaging than Applejack had been, she didn’t fall into depression driven sleepiness and withdraw from everypony, but still, something was very wrong with the child. It did not help that she was lying about it, telling everyone she was fine. The family was at a bit lost on what to do. Big sister had just managed to patch herself together right now; what was she going to do about lil’ sister?

Applejack curled one corner of her mouth into a frown and shook her head. “Ah don’t feel like Ah deserve any kind of hoe down just fer comin’ outta the house! Sure Ah just said ah’m gonna kick in an’ tussle with those Black Lanterns, but Ah ain’t done much of anything yet Pinkie!" The gears of her mind turned as she spoke those words ‘Ah’m a’planin’ to though, first thing in the morning.’ After the reading of the Book of Oa and hearing Avra’s tale she had an idea of what she should do, but it was only at that moment that she had the idea of how of how to do it. Fighting and family were going to be hard to balance. Was she abandoning Applebloom going off to fight?

Pinkie placed the now empty tankard on the counter and then turned around and hugged Applejack with a crushing embrace. There was a slight glow from the farmer’s ring as the party hostess tightened her forelegs around her friend who blew out air and then patted the poofy mane of her friend the hugger. “Yes you did need this,” Pinkie said.

Pinkie relaxed her hold and withdrew, tears were in her eyes but she was smiling, “and you did do something; you came back! The reds said you were gone, but they were wrong. I knew they were wrong! Everypony saw it today, everypony needed to see it.” Pinkie tackled her friend again, the fore of the hug this time almost dislodged Applejack’s famous hat off her head.

In the cold void of space, something watched and stirred.

“They needed to see you Applejack,” the pegasus’s demeanor suddenly became softer and she smiled! ”The town had to know you were back. They believed the rumors that you were broken. Many feared that if you were broken, which meant that ponies of lesser courage had no chance. It gave them comfort to know you were not lost. You brought them…”

Pinkie gulped as she looked up into the flashing green eyes of the first Equestrian lantern. “You brought them hope tonight.”

The farm mare prodded the floor with a hoof, “Applebloom’s still hurtin’ Pinkie. It ain’t right to…abandon her to go gallivantin’ around ignoring her sufferin’!”

“I know she is Applejack. I know it’s hard on you. Please don’t worry, we’ll help her. We’ll do what you can’t. You’re going to be protecting us all, stopping those meany zombie ponies from hurting any more of us. The least we can do is help you and your family. That’s what friends are for!”

“Thanks Pinkie. Believe it or not, it takes a powerful load off my mind just hearin’ that.”

Her pink friend grinned; her blue eyes sparkled with a light as the party planner turned for the door. Applejack returned to standing on all four hooves as she started walking to the door.  Pinkie Pie bounded in front of her farm friend out the front door, the crown cheering as the hostess of the night landed among them to lead some dancing. Raindrops left next and waited outside the door. The keeper of the book of Oa approached the door and paused, looking out into the great herd of ponies, biting her bottom lip.

Mr. Cake walked up behind Applejack and came along her right side. The farm mare stared out the door at the ponies heading to town square and sighed. This spectacle was not really AJ’s style, it felt like bragging, and that was something she hated. It was one thing if you had done something, after all it wasn’t bragging if you could do it…

…but she hadn’t done anything, at least not yet.

“Ah’ve so much work ta do Mr. Cake. We’ve gotta a sayin’ in the family: Don’t count apples until they’re bucked!”

Carrot Cake stared out into the night like Applejack, watching the retreating tide of party goers as they moved the revelry to town square. “Heh, we say: Don’t cut a cake until it’s baked.” Carrot never took his eyes off scene in the street, speaking to the Green Lantern as they both watched the party goers. “I don’t know if I should say anything but let me tell you something Applejack. Raindrops is right; most of us believed you were gone and the rumors were fast and thick to that effect. We in town had heard about the attack on Sweet Apple Acres and when you did not appear after it was over, many of us started to fear the worst and began to despair. We heard so many versions of what had happened to you we didn’t know what to believe. We even heard a rumor that you had abandoned us all!  Some of the Red Lanterns called you names. Many whispered that you were finished and the Element of Honesty was broken. “

Applejack continued to stare at the crowd. A small growl sounded from her throat at the mention of the accusation that some nameless red lantern had leveled at her. ‘Ah was hurt and Ah nearly was broken’ she thought to herself, ‘But Ah’d never willingly abandon mah family and friends...but I felt like had let them down.’

“Pinkie Pie kept telling us it was not true, and that you would be back. It was funny. She didn’t yell or frown, she didn’t call names; just kept insisting you would be back. Whenever somepony asked her about why she thought that all she said was: You’ll see.” Raindrops chuckled a little hearing Mr. Cake. ”She was so sure, and never wavered, and that started to wear down the doubters and our worries. It seems Pinkie always knows more than she lets on. How she could keep lifting our spirits even when it looked grim is a wonder.”

Pinkie had resumed surfing the crowd and was heading to the rostrum outside city hall, her cotton candy like mane bobbing up and down in Applejack’s line of sight. “She never lost faith in me,” she asked as she watched the disappearing spot of pink. The party now had turned into a festival like Nightmare Night, the character of the party changing in the open air of town square.

”No, she never did,” Raindrops said as she brushed her mane from in front of her face. “Truthfully she’s the one who told me to be patient when I was trying to see you. I’d come in to Sugar Cube Corner for breakfast and talk about you with her. She said to just keep at it but not to be too pushy. She said you were hurting and when you were hurting less, you would come out. I admit I had doubts but she would just cock her head click her tongue and say: just wait.”

High above Equestria, a blue ember began to glow.

Applejack shook her head. “Pinkie bein’ Pinkie. Raindrops, as long as Ah live, Ah’ll never figure her out. Ah suppose that’s the point of Pinkie, trust her ta be her.”

“Applejack” a bobbing pink point called out over the roaring sea of ponies, “Applejack! “ Pinkie Pie then leaped onto the rostrum next to the podium. “AAAAAPPLEJAAAAACK,” she yelled as she waved her for legs wildly, bouncing up and down trying to get her friends attention. The party host then frowned a little and pointed in her friend’s direction as she yelled out to the crowd.

“ Hey, somepony, get a-hold of Applejack! Please!”

Ring awareness. A number of ponies using their legs grabbed Applejack and lifted her into the air. Before she was grabbed the ring warned her of the reaching limbs, the alert was like she was rearing a buzzing insect in her ear. Applejack restrained any reaction from her ring. That was a side effect of being a lantern that a non wielder could not understand. Once the ring was imprinted on its host, the awareness it brought when active was disturbingly intense. Normally a lantern ordered the ring to drop the awareness, allowing the wielder to be ‘normal’ but for some reason Applejack felt she should leave her senses on alert and defenses on standby.

The farm mare started to be passed over the crowd like her friend, passed from hoof to hoof to the rostrum in front of town hall when she decided to move there herself. She pulled her hat on tighter she called for the lantern uniform. A glowing green field enveloped her body, cladding her in the distinct clothing of ring energy. There was a slight gasps as she lifted off from the crowd’s support and gently floated over to the platform, landing next to Pinkie. She did not fade the uniform this time, staying clothed as she sat next to her friend and hostess.

“I told you ponies, didn’t I,” the crowd roared back at Pinkie a chant of “Applejack, Applejack,” when she spread out her front legs in the Green Lantern’s direction. Applejack shook her head and waved at the crowd in a gesture of humbleness.

The farm mare shook her head as she approached her poofy maned friend, “Why Pinkie?”

“Why what?”

“Why didn’t you…give up on me? Ah’d pretty much given up on mah self. You couldn’t know Ah’d…”

“I didn’t know. I did worry about you, about what happened, about what it did to you. I almost believed the worst, and then I remembered two things: my friends were there for me even when I thought the worse about myself and about all of you, even though I didn’t know it or believe it, you were there for me. Sometimes you have to just believe. I know it’s silly, but sometimes you have to, even when others call you crazy.”

Pinkie then started prancing about, dancing to music no one else could hear, swaying her rump back and forth, her hooves clopping out the beat she moved to. She turned to face GL Applejack while she ‘danced’ and continued, “I worried, but then everypony seemed to start to despair, and I remembered how wrong I was to despair on my birthday, and that got me thinking.”

The party mare stopped her moving for a moment, looking at the sky. She then returned her attention to her friend .“Have you ever heard the saying ‘hope is a bird that sings in the dark?’”

Applejack smirked, “Yeah”

Pinkie resumed dancing again, ”Daddy used to tell me hope was three things. He told tell me that hope was like the morning and the evening stars. When light was lost, you remember it, you knew ‘it was’,  like the evening star that would shine bright after the sun was gone saying ‘I know the dark is here, remember this light.’ Holding on the promise of a tomorrow was like the morning star, it would shine brightest in the deepest dark before dawn saying ‘hold on, the new day is coming’.”

“That’s when I asked him about the middle of the night, that there were only the regular stars in the sky…there was no evening or morning stars, and with no moon it was scary dark. He told me that was my job…to be the one to carry the light in that darkest time, to shine alone in the dark not just for myself but for others as well. ‘Carry hope with you and others will remember it, even in the blackest night.’ Others had forgotten, but I remembered, so I started to carry it and show it, first for myself, then my friends including for you, then for everypony else.”

[=Suitable candidate found=]

Pinkie Pie, standing on her hind legs and dancing about suddenly froze still as a statue. Her tail began to twitch furiously. Returning to standing on all four hooves, a shutter began, rolling in waves through her body. Up and down like a rapid steam piston her body shook for a few seconds, the shutters then ceased for a moment. In that pause between shutters and tail twitches, Pinkie looked up into the clear night sky.

“It’s a doozy! A DOOZY is coming, and it’s going to fall on ME!” she cried out. There were murmurs and then gasps from the crowd. Pinkie Pie raised a hoof to the crowd while looking into the sky, “Don’t worry everypony…it’s OK…it’s…a good thing this time…”

Her eyes darted about, searching the heavens until her ESP  directed her into a spot of the sky without stars, a black and forbidding abyss. In that void, a falling star suddenly appeared.

Applejack’s brain tingled. Something was coming…FAST! She looked around, reaching out with her enhanced senses, trying to find what was coming.

[=Scanning.=]

She snapped her head up to look into the same patch of the sky Pinkie was staring at. In that part of the sky high above Ponyville there was a blazing blue star streaking down from the sky looking very much like a comet. The Green Lantern did not hesitate, her aura began to glow, brighter than it had before as she lifted into the air. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Raindrops also glowing brighter than normal, lifting off to support her. The cobalt point of light was growing more intense as it fell.

“Ah’m goin’ up after it! Protect the folks,” GL Applejack yelled. In a burst of green light she was gone, the winding trail of fading green showed she was rising into the path of the falling star.

“Tarnation that thing is fast!” she began to form a shield to protect the party goers from the unknown object when her ring spoke.

[= Blue Power Ring Detected =]

“What? BLUE!” the question came half out of her mouth when the blue object she had rose to intercept flew by her with speed she could not imagine it possible. The ring’s voice had distracted her, and the thing’s speed made the lantern miscalculate, the tiny object was bright, almost blinding, even as it receded away from Applejack.

[=Affirmative. Object is a Blue Lantern Power Ring. =]

She began to follow, reducing her speed only coming back down to the ground slowly in comparison. A rings appearance meant that a pony had been selected by the ring to wear it, and like it or not, AJ decided to not interfere in the process.

“Raindrops,” the pegasus’s image appeared hovering above the first pony lantern’s ring, “It’s another ring, and it’s comin’ for its chosen its bearer. Ya know what that means.”

“I do. I won’t try and stop it. Let us see who it is the ring has chosen and what blue means,” the image replied before melting away.

“Ah know who it is,” Applejack said to herself shaking her head a little at the thought, “she got the notice before anypony else did.”

The crowd of ponies was now transfixed, silently watching the blue shooting star come closer and closer. They showed no fear or worry strangely enough, but seemed awe struck. The ring then spiraled around Pinkie, forming a cyclone of light around her. Applejack had landed on the stage across from her friend running through her mind what she should do deciding to do nothing, after all: the ring had chosen.

All was silent when the multitude, all murmuring ceased. All of the ponies heard the blue ring’s voice speak:

[= You have been chosen. You are worthy. =]

The ring slowed and landed on Pinkie Pie’s right front leg.  An aura like the other lanterns then enveloped. The blue energy was a new one, no pony had seen this color of ring before. The party mare started to rise into the air, hovering above the stage as the glow of the energy surrounding her began to grow brighter. Applejack floated into the air again, quietly watching. She knew what this moment meant, what it felt like. Surprisingly she felt at ease about this.

[= Pinkamena Dianne Pie of Equestria, you have the ability to instill great hope. =]

A wave of blue energy washed over Pinkie’s body, feeling like a warm blanket on a cold winter night over her coat. Her heart beat faster than it normal and she felt invigorated in a way she had never felt before.

[= Welcome to the Blue Lantern Corps. =]

The cocoon of blue light faded away as Pinkie landed on her hind legs on the boards of the rostrum. She was now wearing a body suit much like the other lanterns had only colored cobalt blue. Pinkie contorted like a twisting rope trying to look at herself; marveling at the clothing made for ring energy. The ring on her limb spoke again and flared.

[= Will detected. Constructs unlocked. Potentiality Enabled. =]

Applejack and Raindrops rings chirped in answer:

[= Hope Detected. Ring capacity expanded. =]

A large mirror made of blue ring energy appeared allowing the new Blue Lantern to appraise herself.  Pinkie was busy looking at image in the mirror when she started to rise into the air. She stopped half way between the tip of town hall and the rostrum. She giggled for a moment and came back down.

Pinkie remembered the times she had seen Applejack and Rainbow Dash charge their rings and she felt an urge to make the battery of her ring appear. As if by magic a glowing blue lantern materialized before her, floating in the air before the blue clad party pony. The gentle cobalt glow of the object was soft when it first appeared, but as Pinkie reached out to touch it, the light’s brightness increased. Her hoof bearing the ring came closer and closer to the vessel of power.

The ponies of Ponyville continued to watch, some started to squint their eyes from the brightness coming from Pinkie and the blue battery. Many had seen Applejack’s first battery charging, but none had ever seen a ring choose its wearer before. All of the lantern business had made the town folk ill at ease, and Pinkie had helped them with their fright and doubt about everything. Many now found themselves staring at the spectacle, feeling drawn to watch not in fear or doubt or concern, they felt strangely buoyed and for the first time relieved by the sight of this: the Element of Laughter being chosen to bear a new colored ring. They felt like they were witnessing something sacred, like the Summer Sun celebration, an almost holy ceremony.

[= Do you accept? =] The ring asked.

“Absotootlylootly,” the cobalt clad pony declared.

“Here we go,” Applejack sighed, ‘Ah wonder what she’ll see.’

Pinkie plunged the ring into the opening of the blue lantern facing her.

[=Commencing Charge Imprinting.=]

When the ring was immersed in the shimmering light a chain of words came to her mind, the words as if on their own accord finding their way to her muzzle and she found her mouth speaking the words. Her eyes became filled with the blue energy of the lantern, becoming almost as bright as the moon. The light began to grow more intense as she gave voice to the oath in her mind and her heart:

“In fearful day, in raging night,”

Blue light began to swirl around her, forming a gossamer bubble around Pinkie. She saw a flat faced biped that looked a great deal like Avra from Applejacks book. It appeared taller and dressed in blue, not green.  The creature had no tail, but its head was long like a mane only with no hair at all; just smooth skin. Its eyes glittered like stars, warm and welcoming. The image smiled at her as it opened it fore limbs wide, almost like it was offering a hug.

“With strong hearts full, our souls ignite,”

The image of the being began to evaporate. Slowly from the light filling her vision a new shape started to form. To her ears there came a sound. It sounded like a bird’s song, but not just any bird’s song.  It was the most beautiful sound Pinkie had ever heard in her life! Her heart fluttered in time with the song and she again felt the joy of that day long ago when Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom brought her the first epiphany of her life and her cutie mark.

“When all seems lost in the War of Light,”

Pinkie felt like she was being tickled. Her body shook as she began to laugh. The image of a huge bird appeared to surround her, its feathers gently holding her in a kind of hug. The large bird looked almost like a phoenix, it had a head with three beaks which bent down and gently nuzzled the Element of Laughter. Pinkie responded by nuzzling the bird of blue light back as she began to laugh louder. The bird seemed to trill with approval, almost like it was giggling with her.

Outside the blazing bubble of blue energy, the ponies could hear their friend’s laughter and began some began to chuckle themselves. Others began to hum in harmony a melody that they had never heard before but felt in their hearts.

“Look to the stars-- For Hope burns bright!”

The first Blue Lantern of Equestria felt the power of the battery fill her body, torrents of energy churned within her, waiting to burgeon forth. There was an explosion of blue light as Pinkie released the power within her like a geyser erupting. Like a mighty wave from the ocean, the Light of Hope enveloped everything around her, an advancing curtain of energy that washed over everything on the ground and in the air, chasing away all shadows and filling all the dark places with its radiance. Soon all of Ponyville and its immediate environs would be bathed in the blue brilliance that was briefly as bright as day.

Applejack had been joined by Raindrops in the air, the two green lanterns quietly watching the blue power ring’s selection and imprinting on their friend. While the color of ring was different and the light display more dramatic, the actions and meanings were the same: Pinkie Pie was now a lantern, and like the other Elements of Harmony she had her own color and emotion:  the Blue Light of Hope.

When the battery appeared something from within both of the green lanterns ignited. They become engulfed in a blazing green fire that burned from within them. They did not feel any pain or fear; they felt a rising sense of purpose and resolve.  Their willpower became more intense, stronger and it was…growing.  Applejack felt flooded with power that filled her as the blue light shown into her heart, the earth pony’s very soul blazed in unison with Pinkie’s light and banish all of her misgivings about being a Green Lantern, about her family, her sorrow over Zacora. She felt strong, stronger then she had ever in her life! All weariness disappeared from her body and her mind, like grime washed away by a hot shower. She turned and looked at Raindrops and saw that she too was brimming with power and purpose, the pegasus’s eyes shining like emerald suns. The beginning of a smile showed her approval of what was happening.

“I feel…” Raindrops growing grin stopped her from speaking.

“Ah know…me too,” the Keeper of the Book of Oa responded, cracking her own grin.

The two floating ponies, burning with green light almost as bright as their blue wielding friend then circled each other, laughing like Pinkie was. The trails of green light the left as they circled each other formed a shifting spiral pattern, expanding on the light show the blue lantern had started. The two Green Lanterns made wild noises, Applejack belting out her characteristic ‘YEE-HAW’ she orbited around the blazing blue star of hope. Peals of mirth came from the normally stoic pegasus.

[=Ring Capacity 82.5% and climbing=] Applejacks ring reported.

[=Ring Capacity 138.9% and climbing=] Raindrops ring sang out.

“Ah declare! This is more nifty than electric socks on a winter mornin’, ”cried Applejack.

These was a shower of shooting stars above, all short lived but brilliant. It was as if the night itself approved of what had just happened sending a curtain of light to punctuate the event and announce to any who saw that it would not yield to the Black Lanterns.

*

Ponyville Library, Headquarters for the Yellow Lantern Corps of Equestria 12:01 AM

YL Trixie Lulamoon munched on a magically levitated dandelion sandwich calmly as her corps leader sat across the kitchen wearing a scowl that could strip paint.

“So let me get this straight Trixie, you think we should recruit….”

A flash of blue light enveloped the two unicorns and filled the kitchen with its scintillating brilliance. Twilight stopped speaking as she was overwhelmed with a feeling of weakness, her legs almost completely buckled beneath her.  Gravity’s pull seemed to have become three times as strong, pinning Twilight down. She felt her strength flowing out of her into the ground like she was bleeding. Shaking her head trying to clear the sudden fuzziness from her mind, Lady Sparkle looked through the kitchen table legs at her compatriot.

Trixie was on her side on the floor. Like Twilight, all strength was deserting her body and she was feeling that energy drain out of her, like air rushing out of a punctured balloon. The magician blinked several times clearing her vision, “What’s going on? I feel…weak! It’s…like the opposite of what I feel when I charge my ring! ”

Twilight’s mind seized on what her lieutenant just said: ring charge! She was right, she was feeling the opposite of what she felt when she charged her ring, or felt the terror of others! ‘Could it be,’ she asked herself. Maybe Trixie had hit on what was going on.

“Ring; charge capacity,” Twilight asked through gritted teeth, her breathing was slightly labored.

[=Ring capacity 62.7% and collapsing=] the ring replied, its yellow glow seemed to be diminished, softer than it had been just a moment ago. “Trixie?”

“Ring! Charge level,” the magician snapped as she raised herself off the floor. Trixie held herself up on her front legs, her haunches rotted to the floor. She felt truly tired for the first time since she had bonded with her ring of fear.

[=Ring capacity 47.3% and collapsing=] the show mare’s ring alarmed.

“S-something is draining our energy,” Twilight said as she placed her ring bearing foreleg on the table top. The effect was easing but she still could feel the ring charge drain…no not drain; that was not right. It wasn’t draining, it was evaporating!

“Ring, where is our charge going,” Trixie asked in a labored breath, placing her band bearing appendage on the table like her corps leader. Gravity’s pull had eased, but there still was a fatigue in both Yellow Lanterns bodies that was not leaving as rapidly as it had appeared.

[= Hope Detected. Ring capacity diminished. =]

“Hope? Hope detected,” the purple unicorn stretched, arching her body back stretching out her neck. The yellow of her uniform looked ‘tarnished’. “Was that the flash of light we just saw? Is blue ring energy…impacting our ring charge?”

[= Affirmative. Blue Power Ring and Battery’s proximity impacts Yellow power ring operation. Hope affects Fear’s power negatively. =]

“The blue ring has chosen a bearer. I wonder who it could be. ” the yellow corps leader pondered out loud. The moment of weakness had passed and she felt like her normal self again.

“That was weird! Not only did our rings lose power,” Trixie shook her head, her ears twitched as a tendril of yellow ring energy played about in her ears, “ for the life of me I could swear I heard…somepony laughing about it in that blue light.”

Twilight Sparkle spun on her hooves, biting her bottom lip she approached her best corps pony, coming within inches of her muzzle,

“Did you say…laughter?”

The Great and Frightful Trixie shrugged and rolled her head around, working stiffness form her neck, “yes that was even stranger. It wasn’t laughter like hecklers in a crowd, it was like…Oh, never mind what it was like, what does it mean? Why would I hear laughter from that blue energy?”

‘I can guess why,’ Twilight answered in her head. She had not heard the laughter Trixie described with the blue light. Why not? Was she too focused on the power drain problem to hear it?

The claim of laughter of some kind flowing with the blue energy, a non mocking laughter of joy did tell the Element of Magic one thing for certain: who the blue ring had chosen in this world to bear it.

“Pinkie…the blue ring chose Pinkie,” she said softly."Celestia save us all; Pinkie has a power ring!

***

Sky Castle ‘Boiling Point’ headquarters of the Red Lanterns of Equestria, 12:01 AM

“WE AVENGE THE WOUNDED, THE MURDERED AND THE VIOLATED! WE PUNISH THE CORRUPT! WE DON’T BETRAY OUR OATH, OUR CORPS OR OUR FRIENDS! EVER!”

Rainbow Dash’s voice was indeed like the roar of the hurricane. At the eye of the storm of wrath was the huge form of Rainbow Dash, her transformation had become more ‘solid’ and her might and power had increased beyond anything the lanterns imagined possible. She stood as tall as a mountain, clad in red radiance that arced out and danced around her vast body. She was almost as large as a full grown dragon.

“Um-how-how did we betray…” Dumb-Bell stuttered having difficulty talking through constriction of the red energy bands. Dash cut him off with the booming thunder of a volcano.

“APPLEJACK WAS WOUNDED, HER FAMILY VIOLATED! YOU INSULTED HER IN OUR NAME, YOU BETRAYED OUR FRIEND AND OUR OATH!”

“Way to go dweebs,” Gilda snapped looking at the three trouble making pagasi trying to melt back into the crowd of lanterns.  “Good call; I didn’t think you guys could get any more stupid!”

“You called her names too Gilda” Dumb-bell’s face scrunched up like he had tasted something sour.

“I call everyone names fool…even Dash. But even I knew the dirt pony was hurt! Wow, you really are a ‘dumb’-bell!”

Score giggled a little,” I knew she had a beef but I didn’t know she’d turn into a beef.”

“N-O-T  H-E-L-P-I-N-G,” growled Gilda as she inched away from the trio of trouble makers.

An explosion of blue light broke over Boiling Point Skycastle, like a blue sun’s dawn. Cobalt light engulfed all of the red lanterns, their red luminescence drowned out, and the red glow of their rings but a dying ember.  Their leader however only slightly dimmed for a moment. All the Red Lanterns felt weak, Wildfire in particular was unmoving, almost lifeless; her energy body glowed dimly. The rest of the lanterns collapsed to the floor of the castle, may felt an ache in their chests like their hearts were giving out.

A tittering song voice from the blue light played about in Enraged Dash’s mind.”WE ARE ALL HERE NOW, GO BACK TO SLEEP.”

The transformed Rainbow Dash turned and looked into the blue light. The voice of her mind was a vast as the voice of her new body had become. “THESE BROKE OUR BOND AND WILL BE PUNISHED. BREAKING OUR FIDELITY WILL NOT BE ALLOWED!”

The blue light pulsed subtly. Its melodious voice answered. “WE ARE NEW HERE. SLEEP AND GROW. TAKE ROOT. LET YOUR VESSEL’S OUTRAGE SUSTAIN.”

The blue light faded away, dispersing out to the country side and the mountains beyond. The red energy bulk of Enraged Dash evaporated away like spent steam from a locomotive. Smaller and smaller the pegasus became as the trans-formative rage energy departed. The construct necklace disappeared as her bulk melted away leaving Rainbow Dash much as she was before the light explosion. She shook her head like she was trying to shake water out of her ears.

“What…wha…” she remembered why she was enraged. AJ! But what was that…typhoon of feelings that filled her? What was that? She had felt as if all the anger and rage in the world had filled her at once, looking for an excuse to lash out, and in her heart, she felt the reason was right…just. And what made it stop?

‘AJ’ she thought as she rose into the air on ring power again. She looked down on her corps, the Red Lanterns looking shocked, shaken, acting almost respectful. What had they seen from her? It was then she heard a murmur in her head, it sounded like Atrocitus…

“Beware…beware of that which is Rage Incarnate.”

‘What the hay does that mean? What just happened,’ Rainbow asked herself.

Leave us out of it!

Leave us out of it!

by Moon Chaser (DA CrazyMikePrime)

Ponyville high above the down town open market 10 AM.

With a deep breath and ears laying flat pointing at the ground to listen applejack’s senses took in everything.  Even from this great height the smells and sounds of morning in the marketplace, the feeling of the winds blowing through her mane a levitating earth pony was calm, almost content.

The morning had been so busy. She had no time to see just how Pinkie Pie was getting along with the Blue Power Ring. The feelings she had experienced at midnight had spurred her into what she had been doing all morning. Applejack reasoned she had enough to worry about with the green rings and their corps-let alone a whole new ring and color. Hopefully there would be time enough for that later. Maybe Twilight and Rarity could help her.

The festivities of the previous night had been a much needed thing for Applejack. Seeing all the pony folk come out for her had fortified her in her decision to embrace what fate, or the ring, had placed in her hooves, but the blue ring choosing Pinkie Pie and the feelings that followed the light show after she  accepted it cemented her to the path she now stepped upon. When she went to bed that night things seemed to be coming together; she had forgiven herself for Zacora, she had guidance with and an idea why the ring chose her and she now had that famous Apple family determination to see things through. When she had arrived home at after midnight even home life seems to agree with her decision; The Cutie Mark Crusaders had reunited in Applebloom’s room, the fillies looking so peaceful in their sleep. It was like the universe had started to click gears together to put in motion to support her decision.

She dreamed again! It was a dream she had before: flying through the deep sky with only the stars of Princess Luna as her company. In the dream she had wings that grew out of her forelegs. It was a simple and beautiful dream. It was peaceful sleep; the first since the attack on the farm. Her nightmares had largely disappeared.

When she woke after only a few hours of sleep, she felt fully rested for the first time in a while and hungry enough to eat a bushel of oats. She had been the first to rise and made breakfast for everyone. Big Mac woke next and came down to the smell of a hot cooked breakfast. The two siblings discussed plans of the day as they ate, Mac saying he was going to finish some chores, then report to Twilight later. Applejack said she was going ‘back to school’ in a way and planned to read from the Book of Oa about the selection process for a lantern to figure out how to grow their number. She stated that some misgivings remained about creating more green lanterns, but admitted it was necessary to do the job, whether she liked it or not.

When they parted after eating, Applejack went behind the main barn to do some ‘practice’ with the ring before settling down to ‘study’ recruitment. She created a construct of a lasso and decided to experiment with it, testing its strength and break resistance. At first the green ‘rope’ broke easily, becoming like smoke when it failed. She would recreate another and test it again, lassoing a post and pulling until it failed again. Each time a construct failed, it was like getting bad news, her mind was in a state of upset that the idea of the rope and its strength was wrong. She would then re-imagine the rope stronger each time, the construct getting ever stronger with each attempt and she found her mind became able to recover from the shock of the construct fail faster each time.

Eventually she created a rope so strong it started to bite into the post target, hurting its skin and began to pull it out of the ground slightly when she would bite down and pull hard on the energy rope. ‘Good enough for now,’ she thought as she dissolved the construct and got into the second half of her morning ‘work out’. It was a beginning. She intended to be the best with the ring…she needed to be if she was going to ask others to be likewise. She intended to lead from the front, and that meant being the best she could with the ring…others lives would depend on it.

Training done she summoned the Book of Oa and began to read about lantern recruitment. The answer she got was another surprise by the name of Mogo. After what the book had said the night before, Applejack was sure the great record of the Green Lantern Corps could surprise her, but Mogo was something entirely different. She chuckled at herself after she had read completely about the ring’s process of determination and the lantern steward responsible for it, “If’n that don’t beat all. HA!” She looked out over the vista of the farm, the orchard, the mountains…everything and shook her head.

Now, high above the open market of Ponyville, looking at the curve of the world while listening to the hustle and bustle of the markets with the winds blowing her mane behind her, Applejack waited for her other corps members to arrive and the choosing of a new lantern could begin. Mac had communicated via the ring that Twilight had received some bad news during the night, and there was need of lanterns to travel. Mac said he would go on the mission and that Fluttershy, Cadence and Trixie were to go as well. He also said he had some important paperwork he was bringing with him about Spitfire, head of the Wonderbolts to the meeting above the markets. Raindrops also responded that after she had finished placing her last morning clouds she would attend the meeting.

Raindrops arrived first, pulling a large cloud behind her to position over the town. The weather pegasus sat on the cloud, her lantern uniform materializing over her body as she lounged.

”Good morning Applejack, you look well rested this morning, "Raindrops produced a muffin from somewhere and took a bite, “This is my last cloud for the day, so I’m off work now and I’ve taken the rest of the week off.”

“Did you even sleep last night?”

“Um-hum” she sounded as she munched the baked good. Raindrops swallowed her muffin while looking at Applejack when Big Macintosh appeared from beneath the two conversing lanterns, clad in his lantern uniform.

“Alrighty, before Ah start what’s the word from Twilight this mornin’ big brother? ”

“Two things; There’s pass letter ta meet with Spitfire the leader of the Wonderbolts at their trainin’ base near Cloudsdale. Since ya suggested it, AJ asked Shinin' Armor ta make it out ta you Raindrops as the 'authorized' lantern ta meet with her, "Mac pointed at the tree house home of the Yellow Lantern leader, "See Twilight after were done here.”

Raindrops nodded as she chewed on another muffin.

“The other thing is that somethin' happened yesterday. A small town called 29 Fronds got attacked by Black Lanterns. There was a fight with the guards and it went bad. The mayor and the guards emptied the town of the livin', most of them heading to Las Pegasus. The princesses asked if lanterns could check the area and help out any locals. Ah’m heading out in about 15 minutes ta meet up with the other lanterns already sent out and help look things over, check on anypony else nearby, make sure that the town was the only thing they attacked. ” Mac looked at his sister. His lips became flat and tight for a moment, "AJ, see Twilight later about the particulars. You need to know some things. I’d explain more but Ah’m short on time as it is.” The first lantern of Equestria nodded her head.

“Ah’ll get the skinny from Twi Mac, thanks.” The big stallion nodded and floated over to the cloud his corps mate was resting on.“Alright then…we need ta grow, we need more than just the three of us, "the two green lanterns nodded in agreement. “OK, the way the Green Lanterns were selected was by being chosen by the ring, NOT by other lanterns. What would happen is when a lantern died, its ring would go off and find another wielder like we saw. Problem is the ring must be told to look for a new lantern, and if the lantern died, it wouldn’t look. The corps gave the duty to a lantern named Mogo, "Applejack chuckled ‘Ah’ll tell them later, ought ta be a hoot,’ she continued. ” What Mogo did was tell the rings to look for another to wear it…just that and left the choosin' up to the ring itself. That got me to thinkin'; we got nopony like Mogo so maybe we could do it and let the ring choose instead of us.”

“You made me a lantern Applejack, you told the ring to induct me, "Raindrops swallowed.

“No, if’n you remember, the ring said you were worthy, THEN Ah said OK…nothin' more, "the earth pony winked, ‘so, yer still on the hook ‘alpha lantern’, "the pegasus half smiled.

The ring on Applejack’s foreleg flared and the green energy coalesced into a spinning hoop. Slowly the green light condensed into another green lantern power ring, hovering before her glowing with its own light and power. The farm mare smiled wryly, “Now, let’s see if Ah'm right, hope this works.”

She closed her eyes for a moment and became still, not frozen but relaxed, unmoving, quiet. When she opened her eyes, they glowed with green light that hid her irises and pupils. She was silent, staring at the sparkling band with her lighted gaze, when she spoke:

“Seek one who is worthy.”

The ring flared for a moment.

[=Scanning for Suitable candidate sentient=]

It stayed motionless for a moment, softly glowing with its inner light, it then made another sound:

[=Suitable candidate found=]

Suddenly the ring plummeted down, a tail of green light trailing behind it as it headed earthward. When the ring departed Applejacks eyes became normal again. She shook her head and blinked, “Follow it, "she cried as she went into a dive after the departing emerald band.  Big Mac and Raindrops followed, the open market rapidly coming up to meet the lanterns.

*

“That will be 3 bits please, "Carrot Top said as she wrapped up the three bundles of carrots that Bon Bon had bought. “I also have some turnip and mustard greens just picked fresh this morning if you’d like.”

“Can I look at them please? Lyra loves eating those ever since Applejack got her to try them at the last Summer Sun Celebration. “

‘Well, I guess that’s SOME business the Apples have given me,’ Carrot Top thought as she lifted the bundles of green leaves on top of her counter with her teeth. She then spread out the two bundles of greens apart so they could be looked at separately.  As she poked at the stacks of vegetation somepony bumped into Bon Bon’s rump.

“Hey roomie, you done getting stuff for dinner, "the deep voice of Lyra asked, "I’m ready to head over to the diary for some cheese.”

“Lyra, WHY do you always like sneaking up on me?”

The unicorn giggled. “It’s fun, that’s why.” Lyra’s horn glowed as she used her magic to remove a tin box from her saddle bags as she walked back out into the center of the market path, "I got the sassafras tea like you wanted.” She shook the tin as she looked at the earth pony. “Now we need…”

Bon Bon’s eyes were wide and her mouth agape just as Lyra was overcome with a blinding green light swirling around her.

[=Lyra Heartstrings of Equestria, you have the ability to overcome great fear=]

Lyra’s saddle bags fell to the ground as she was lifted into the air by the green shroud of light that slowly closed around her body becoming a second skin. The market crowd stood silent watching the sight of the ring choosing its bearer. The only sound came from a mare’s low voice saying ‘no’.

[=Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps=]

The light died away, leaving Lyra clothed in the uniform of a green lantern. The pattern the ring had chosen was different again, long bands of green, white and black ending in green socks. Lyra then gently returned to the ground landing on her hind legs. The unicorn’s eyes were open with surprise as she looked over her front legs then her body, marveling at the clothing made of ring energy.

“W…wow.” she whispered, “this…this is…” the unicorn cooed as she looked herself over, the uniform of the Green Lantern Corps complimenting and almost blending with her natural coat colors. She then looked at the glowing ring on her hoof, her golden eyes sparkling with its light. She could ‘feel’ the intelligence within it reaching out and touching her own, a resonance between them slowly growing like strings on her instrument vibrating in sympathy to one another , a note becoming a cord. “I…I wondered what it would be like…it’s so different from magic, “she whispered as she turned to face what new senses told her was approaching, grinning like a mad mare in delight.

The still hushed crowd parted as three green lanterns came down and landed in front of the selected new recruit. The silence of the watching ponies punctuated the awe the moment had generated. Many had missed Pinkie’s blue ring show the night before and thus missed seeing a ring choose its wielder, only hearing about it from some of their neighbors. The effect the selection process generated was dramatic to behold and even with the magic of unicorns failed to match the light show it made. There was a small ‘no’ from somepony and the occasional gasp and ‘ooo’ that onlookers normally uttered after seeing such a sight.

Applejack landed on all fours and approached Lyra but maintained the uniform of the corps. Lyra returned to standing on all of her hooves as well, looking the farm mare in the eye as she approached. The earth pony then sat on her haunches and thrust forward her ring bearing hoof and with a half smile said: “Welcome aboard Lyra.”

Lyra began to reciprocate, her ring bearing hoof rising up to meet Applejack’s when a scream caused her to stop, and everyone in the market to turn away from the lanterns briefly.

“NO, "shrieked a trembling Bon Bon. Terror filled her eyes as she charged forward. She ground under her hooves the food that had spilled from her saddle bags as she galloped forward and placed herself between the leader and the newly chosen lantern recruit.

“YOU CAN’T HAVE HER!” Bon Bon bellowed, her muzzle pressing into Applejack’s. She turned and faced Lyra, tears dropping from her eyes as she gently placed a hoof on her friend’s chest. “ Lyra…please don't accept it," she reached up and gently put a hoof on the unicorns jaw, “Just say no…just take it off.”

“Lyra…”

Bon Bon wheeled and faced the Green Lantern Corps leader with a scowl that could peel paint off a barn, “STAY OUT OF THIS APPLEJACK! Where do you get off just picking anypony to be one of you crazy lanterns! Rainbow Dash was bad enough…but you? You’re supposed to be the sensible one! “ She stepped back from the farm mare “Now…you’re just like them..you’re all the same! You all think you own the world don’t you, flying around with the power of the princesses, pulling anypony you want into your rainbow colored insanity!”

Applejack's forhead wrinkled in a frown. She took a step closer to Bon Bon, "Ah didn’t ‘pick’ Lyra ta be a lantern mam! Ah told the ring ta find somepony WORTHY and the ring chose Lyra ta bear it, not me.”

Lyra twisted her face into a puzzled grimace. She spoke gently, "What's the problem Bon Bon? Why not keep it?"

The confectioner returned her attention to her friend, her tone softened when she spoke again, "Please Lyra no…not this. Normally I just roll my eyes at your ramblings about myth and your brassy attitude…but not this. I’m serious. Don’t do this, PLEASE! Say no!”

“Why?” the unicorn asked her best friend, “Tell me why Bon Bon.”

"Because it will change who you are! You’ll become one of them, "she thrust a hoof at Applejack.” It means fighting…maybe…dying! It means me waiting for you to come home, pacing all day wondering if you will come back. It means worrying if you’ll be OK and what you'll change into because of that…” she pointed at the sparkling green band on Lyra’s leg, “THING!"

The unicorn looked at the farm mare then up above the crowd at the other two hovering Green Lanterns silently watching."Who I am won’t change Bon Bon, I’ll still be me. But….what about Applejack or Raindrops? What about Big Mac? They're going off to fight those things.  Don't you think they need the help? If I can help, if this ring picked me for the task, don’t you think I should help? Don’t I have a responsibility to help them?"

"Does it have to be this way? Does it have to be me, or you, or any pony else we know? I'm not responsible to Applejack or anypony else but my family and friends, especially you! Please, just say no," Bon Bon pleaded. “I can’t deal with the thought of you…”

Lyra bit her lip. She wanted this, to be a lantern. Ever since the first rings showed up she had wondered what it was like. At home she would chatter on about the lanterns out loud and about how amazing it must be. Bon Bon had done as she normally did, shrugging her shoulders and carrying on as usual, chocking it up to another of her crazy obsessions and nothing more. Now it was different, she had been chosen…Applejack said a ring CHOSE her to carry it, to use it against the undead horrors threatening them; that the green glowing bobble had found her worthy…WORTHY! What an awesome and serious word that was. She could hear the ring singing to her in her mind, asking to her to take it up. She felt she should help, that she should…fight.

The earth pony wiped some tears from her eyes," I know you are not afraid sweetie, you never are, It’s part of your charm! I am afraid Lyra! I'm afraid of losing you. I couldn't take that! Please, for me…Say no."

The friends were still for a moment, neither saying a word. The crowd looked on as quiet as Lyra and Bon Bon themselves, wondering what would happen next, Many were worried about what could happen next. The dreadful silence was broken by the Green Lantern’s leader. "It’s a free choice Lyra. Ah'd appreciate a unicorn with us, but if ya don't think or feel ya can do this… ya can say no, "Applejack offered.

Bon Bon sat on her haunches looking confused and a little relieved."Really? Do you mean that? You're not going to explode like Rainbow Dash and berate us for not wanting to fight or for…being afraid of what you turn ponies into?"

Applejack frowned, her lips curled into a a slight frown," If you fear us, Ah'm sorry. But that's your problem Bon Bon, not Mahn! Mah problem is fightin’, "she turned to look at Lyra. “If’n ya can't commit Ah understand, but that means Ah can't use ya an' it's better to find out now before we spend time and trouble for no harvest. Ah can give ya some time ta think about it if ya need it.”

"Bon Bon...you don't think that Applejack...."

“I don't care about Applejack! I’m sorry, but I don’t! If she wants to go fight let her. Don’t get me wrong I'm grateful that she will, but I'm not ready to let this into my house...no, not you! Not you!"

Lyra stared into her friend’s eyes, biting her bottom lip as she mulled over what to do. She felt wonder, excitement and apprehension. Bon Bon had put up with more strangeness than anypony else, and given up much for Lyra, how could she not do likewise?

"I...I...I, "the unicorn looked at her earth pony friend, a pained look on her face. Lyra then closed her eyes, her ears flattened in sadness. She looked into the eyes of the first lantern in Equestria and shook her head. It wasn’t in Bon Bon to let her do this, it wasn’t in her to just ‘go along’ this time. No.

“I have to say…no. No Applejack. I guess I can't. I’m sorry!"

There was a collective gasp from the on looking crowd.

The ring slipped off Lyra’s foreleg, surrounded by a bubble of green energy. The uniform faded away. Applejack then floated into the air with the loose ring in tow. "No shame Lyra, Ah understands more than ya think. Ah’ll just take back the ring an' be on mah way."

Bon Bon hugged Lyra and looked up into the air at Applejack her face a mask of confusion and fear. "That's it? You're not just going to take her?"

“The Green Lantern Corps don't work that way."

“It doesn't matter, "Bon Bon cried out while squeezing her friend tighter than she ever had before. “In Celestia’s name keep your war out of Ponyville, leave us all out of it!"

"Ah’d like ta leave y’all out of it but like it or not, it's here!” Applejack turned to address the still listening crowd, her face clearly annoyed at Bon Bon’s attitude and aspersions. ” We lanterns will do what we can ta keep y’all safe, but the truth is, Ah can't promise nothin' bad will happen’, heck it’s already cost some of us dearly! Remember that…an’ remember they took Zacora an Ah’m all fired sure they didn’t give her a choice about it! The honest truth is the fight is here whether we like it or not."

There was a flash of light as Applejack flew away straight up. Mac and Raindrops followed and the market place returned to its normal routine. Bon Bon had to be peeled off Lyra before the two friends could return to shopping for dinner. Lyra for her part watched the lanterns fly away and she wondered if she had made a wise decision.

The three lanterns returned to the original spot they had started from, Raindrops taking up her spot on the cloud again. The spare ring floated inside the bubble next to Applejack. A flash from Mac’s ring grabbed their collective attention. The big stallion stared at a construct image of a clock face that then disappeared.

“Ah gotta get goin’ AJ. Ya need anything else?”

“Yeah…here, "the loose ring floated over to Mac and hovered before him.

“Take that ring with ya and do like Ah just did, find us another lantern. It’s easy, just put yer mind inta that ring through yours and tell it ta seek one who’s worthy...that’s all there is to it.”

Mac pushed his bare foreleg into the bubble and the spare ring placed itself on. “Gotcha…an’ Ah’m gone.” With a flash of green light like his sister had just done leaving the ground Big Mac was gone.

Applejack was silent for a moment holding her ring bearing hoof out in front of her. A bubble of light twisted around and became a hoop which became another ring. The new creation of Applejack floated over to Raindrops placing itself on the leg bereft of adornment.“Good luck in Cloudsdale with Spitfire Raindrops.”

Raindrops left her cloud and approached the farmer, “What about you? “

Applejack smiled “Ah’m goin’ ta recharge, make another ring an’ go huntin’ too, "she looked down at the town beneath them then returned to looking at Raindrops. “We need to cast our net wider Ah do believe…Bon Bon is right about one thing, this is gettin’ too close ta home.”

“I agree, "the pegasus said as she began to drift away. “Good Luck.”

***

The Turquoise Hills, outside of Appaloosa 10:20 AM

A group of lanterns flew high over head. Their height was such that in the daylight normal residents of the ground could hardly see them in the sky, even with their ring auras lighting their bodies.

But the eyes that watched the streaking forms from the ground were not normal.  From the hiding place in the shadows as cold and dark as the caves beneath the rocks, the lanterns were as bright as the full moon to their undead eyes.

“HOw mAny dO yOU sEE BrAss HOOf, "the cold voice of BKL Seagull Strike asked from the darkness.

“SIx, "answered the decayed dull yellow pegasus. “OnE Of fEAR, twO Of cOMpAssION, twO Of lOvE And OnE Of rAgE.”

“NO wIll? IntErEstIng, "BKL Summer Fury added, her dead form moving forward to peer up into the sky.”ThAt mAkEs OUr tAsk EAsIEr! WhEn dO wE strIkE?”

“NoT yEAt. WE ATtaCk wHeN ThEY laNd iN tOwN Or WItH tHE buffalos aND sEPeRAte…wE NeEd tO cAtCh tHEm oFf gUArd. WE waNt mAXim EFfeCT AnD eMoTIoNaL dAMmAge, "BKL Brass Hoof pulled back from the cave entrance. “We nEEd To kEeP tAbS On THeM, qUiETly. BReEzY?”

“I aM here. “

“BE rEAdY FoR WhEN wE ATTaCk. We MaKe nIcE, SuRroUNd tHe tOwN, AcT 'nOrMaL, tHeN sTrIkE. ReMEMbEr, We KeeP thE lANtERnS bUSy, "Brass Hoof coldly said as her returned to the cave mouth and looked back up at the lanterns flying in the direction of Appaloosa.

“GO!”ReMEMbEr, We KeeP thE lANtERnS bUSy, "Brass Hoof coldly said as her returned to the cave mouth and looked back up at the lanterns flying in the direction of Appaloosa.

“GO!”

“ToO bAd We DIdn’T gEt BoOMeRanG BLitZ tO joIn Us, hE aLwAyS lOvEd opERaTiOnS liKe ThIS.” Summer Fury said with some hollow mirth in her voice. “You KNoW lIKe tHE oNE THaT gOt Us KIllEd. AH WeLL, At LEaST CoMManDer HuRriCAnE apPReCIatEs tHaT wE aRe RarE: MoDeRN pOnIEs tHaT hAVe fOuGHt wItH sKiLL.”

“YEs…aNd dOn’T wORry mY FUrY, wHEn wE sEE hIM aGAiN,  BoOm Will bEcoMe oNe oF US. hE hAS cHEaTEd death OnE toO ManY tIMes nOW, "Brass Hoof chuckled, “He wILL paY fOR hIS sINs.”

***

Ponyville Library Head quarters of the Yellow Lantern Corps 11:00 AM

“Flim and Flam are with Princess Cadence’s group heading to meet with the Buffalo tribe, the members of the Cabal are now working with you at Princess Luna’s request on figuring out these rings Twilight. I’ve completed my work for the day at the shop not for the Indigo Herd, but now I need to talk to you about something else my dear.”

Twilight Sparkle looked up from her desk at the leader of the Indigo Herd. Rarity was in rare form today, altering her normal Herd ware for something new; creating a lattice of what looked like macramé or crochet of subtle patterns that resembled the symbol of the Indigo tribe in its weave, jewels woven into her mane sparkled as she walked. She rested on a normal bench fortified with embroidered cushions made of the indigo light.

“I keep forgetting that somepony that has mastery of their compassion can make constructs out of the Indigo Light, like mastery of rage allows a red lantern to make constructs out of the Red Light, ”Twilight said as she looked at the ever finer detail in Rarity’s constructs. ’By the sun she can make very complicated things’ “What’s up?”

“Appropriate opening Twilight; I’ve come to talk about a red lantern-and a green one. I’ve done a foolish thing, but I did it to help our friends and while I made a Pinkie Promise, I feel compelled to say something lest a disaster come about. I’ve learned my lesson from the last time I made such an agreement. I also don’t understand our friend’s thinking on this…her feelings are genuine, but her thinking confuses me.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “What’s going on Rarity?”

Rarity’s vestments faded away along with the construct cushions. She got up from the library bench and approached Twilight. Cocking her head to one side she began, ”Let me tell you what happened between Rainbow Dash and I after you all left the spa to run after Applejack…”

***

Wonderbolt Academy Base, outside Cloudsdale. Office of the Commanding Officer 12:30 PM

“Lantern…Raindrops is it, "the stallion office clerk asked as he looked over the sealed orders and passes, checking the documents again making sure they were authentic. The clerk looked at the seals of the Crown carefully. The Wonderbolts were used to getting a royal order to perform, but an order to grant a meeting on a non performance issue was very rare. The orders that had come in that morning from Canterlot via phoenix fire made the documents the Green Lantern presented even more perplexing. After two more shuffles of the papers, the clerk gave them back to Raindrops.

“Please wait here mam, Group Captain Spitfire will see you shortly.”

GL Raindrops nodded. She looked around at the office area, taking in the sight of the Wonderbolt staff members gawking. She smiled. It was quite a stir she had caused showing up. The Wonderbolts like other parts of Equestria had only heard of lanterns through rumor and occasional reports from the capital, so the picture of what a lantern was varied from an angelic guardian to an agent of Discord himself. The stares and whispers of the clerks and other members of the base staff annoyed the Green Lantern somewhat. She was here on an official errand, not a publicity tour or to show off and she was not in a mood to answer annoying questions from nattering staff.

A pegasus with a blue mane wearing a duty uniform approached her directly. He removed his sun glasses and put forward his right front hoof in greeting. Raindrops reciprocated.

“Lantern…Raindrops? Hi, I’m Lieutenant Soarin’, the Wonderbolt’s executive officer. We’ve confirmed your pass and everything looks correct. Major Spitfire is waiting on me for this meeting, "the Lieutenant moved to the door and knocked while looking at the Green Lantern. “Spitfire I’m here now, can we come in?”

There was a muffled “enter” from behind the door. Lieutenant Sorin’ opened the door with a wing brush, the door swung open without a sound. He then gestured with his right wing to the office interior.

“After you mam, "he said. GL Raindrops trotted on all fours into the office of the Wonderbolt ‘s leader.

Group Captain Spitfire sat behind her desk, looking over some sort of chart. She looked up from her work, acknowledging GL Raindrops with her glance. She was silent for half a moment before she spoke.

“Welcome. I’m sorry were a little jittery and formal today, a lot of things have happened in the last two days. Please be comfortable, "Spitfire gestured at the sitting cushions in front of her desk. “May I see your pass paperwork please?”

The papers bearing royal seals were pulled out of a construct saddlebag by hoof and place on the Wonderbolt’s commanding officer’s desk. The group captain gently took the papers and reviewed them, quietly shuffling the papers before refolded and pushed them back at GL Raindrops. “Yep…looks in order. So what can the Wonderbolts do for you?”

“I am here as a representative of the Green Lantern Corps. We are looking for somepony to be a trainer of our corps. We are expanding and we need teachers, particularly for flying as several of us are not pagasai and have not flown until now. We need to learn how to fight as a group.”

Raindrops held up a foreleg. A green power ring materialized to show the Wonderbolt leader that she was carrying two rings. “I came to ask you to become our instructor and offer you this ring, providing the ring finds you acceptable.”

Spitfire’s eyes opened wide and her mouth opened in disbelief. She stared at the Green Lantern ring; its light seemed to shine into the core of her being, peering into the corners of her mind and her heart.

[= Prospective candidate is suitable=] the ring chirped.

“It finds you worthy, "GL Raindrops said, holding the glowing band still.

“Wait…IT finds me…'worthy'? Not You?”

“Indeed. A ring will only serve one who is of strong willpower and acceptable ‘morality’ you might say. It is far more than just a tool or a weapon, it is different than magic; it is almost…alive. It is more like a partner; a wing pony if that helps you understand what it is like.”

Spitfire leaned back, closing her eyes and scrunching her muzzle while making a quiet clicking noise. She then opened her eyes and looked at the green hoop of light. “Dang, "she said as she reached to her right pulling some papers to her that looked like the ones Raindrops used to gain entrance to the Wonderbolt Academy. Soarin shook his head as the papers were placed in front of the Green Lantern.

“These are orders from Royal Command, Office of the Grand Marshall. Came in today. In short it says that any active member of the Equestrian Officer Corps that accepts membership in a lantern corps without express written permission of the Marshall himself looses their commission.” Spitfire pulled the papers back and folded them with her hooves and mouth then placed the papers into her desk drawer. “I’m fired if I take that ring, any of us are, "she said, the tone of her voice revealing her disappointment. Raindrops reviewed the decree and then returned the document.

“I’m sorry Lantern Raindrops. I have to refuse.”

“I understand. Sorry to have wasted your time. ” The lantern rose off the floor and started to turn to exit the door when the Wonderbolt commander held up a hoof and called out “Wait! There is somepony I know who COULD help you but I have a question: You said those things allow anypony to fly right?”

The Green Lantern rose into the air not with her wings but with the power of her ring. “Yes. The first Green Lantern chosen was an earth pony: Applejack the Element of Honesty. She flies well considering that before the ring she had no flying experience at all. The first yellow lantern was a unicorn: Twilight Sparkle the Element of Magic and with her ring she flies too.”

Spitfire tapped at her muzzle with her hoof for a moment, then pulled out a quill and blank parchment and began using her mouth to write. Minutes passed as she carefully wrote line by line what looked like a letter. When she had finished she folded parchment and placed it inside an envelope then addressed the letter and after completing her task, slid the letter in the lantern’s direction.

“Here! The pony you want is Boomerang Blitz. He trained me, Soarin and half of the senior Wonderbolts before we were Wonderbolts. He’s one of the few ponies around that has actually fought a full out battle. He’s a real honest to Celestia war horse and one of the best drill instructors Equestria ever produced.” Soarin nodded in agreement.” He retired from the service to 29 Fronds and then....”

Raindrops looked at the letter on Spitfire’s desk then into the Wonderbolt’s eyes. “29 Fronds…” Raindrops began.

“…was attacked yesterday; heavy casualties, town lost. We know.  Even up here we’re in the loop. I know he got out. I read the report saying he’s safe. He was evacuated to Las Pegasus. The address on the envelope is his daughter’s place; she lives on the west side of Las Pegasus.” Spitfire chuckled, “Seems he went a round or two with those Black Lanterns.”

Raindrops picked up the letter with her ring. Reading the address on the envelope she noticed that it said ‘From: Squeaker To: Flappy’

“Um…Squeaker…Flappy, "she asked making a construct of a pointer at the names in question.

Spitfire laughed a moment, smiling as she did. She shook her head. “Ok..I might as well tell you, there are three things to remember about Boomerang Blitz. First: he used to drink, and trust me he had a good reason. If you ever saw his service record you’d see he’s been to Tartarus and back! He doesn’t drink anymore, hasn’t taken one in years. His wife and kids got him to stop and he’s stayed straight. If he signs on keep him away from anything stronger than coffee. I do not believe it's a problem any more, but you deserve to know. The second thing is: he loves a good fight. Most of us thought he was part Caribou Viking or Griffin the way he would tussle. When he was younger he wound up in the guard house a lot for fighting, but when he became a commander and then an instructor, sister could he teach you how to fight!” Soarin nodded. Spitfire looked at a picture on the wall of a big Bat-pony Stallion standing behind a group of pegasi in training overalls in front of a gate of some kind. “Third: he loves to give everypony a nickname. It didn’t matter how high or low you were; he always came up with a nickname for you. He called me ‘Squeaker’. Soarin over there he used to call…what it was…oh yeah: ‘Pie Face’.” Soarin grimaced at the name. Spitfire raised a hoof, “to be clear, Flappy was OUR nickname for him, please don’t call him that.”

GL Raindrops created a small saddlebag and placed the letter within. The saddlebag  then closed.

“I hope this works out for you and for him. The reason I asked about the flying is that Boomerang Blitz can’t fly with his wings anymore, "Raindrops raised an eyebrow in questioning. Spitfire read the expression and continued. “He was badly hurt on his last mission. It was a rescue. Saved a lot of lives that day but the cost was high…too high. He was crippled after that and could not fly again. The doctors and an alchemist said he should have died. Some of us thought that he was alive only because he refused to die. That’s how strong his will to live was.”

“Good, "the floating lantern responded.”Green Lanterns must possess strong willpower to make the ring work. They also have to be able to overcome fear.”

“Then you’ve hit the jackpot if he’s in…I’ve never meet a pony more fearless than him. He’s also got a burning desire to teach again. He can be as hard as horseshoe nails when he’s teaching, but you can’t find a better instructor than him.” Spitfire looked at the clock on the wall, "I better let you be on your way to see him and I do have another meeting to attend.” The door was opened by ring energy, "I’ll have you escorted out. Thank you for your time and consideration Lantern Raindrops. Windy, please have our guest escorted out as a friend.” Spitfire’s secretary nodded and gestured with a wing for a guard to come over.

“Good day and thank you Group Captain, "GL Raindrops closed the door behind her as she left.

Soarin walked over to the picture on the wall and touched it with his hoof, “Are you sure about this Spitfire? I mean I understand not taking her offer and all, but Flappy? I love him too but..a reformed drunk is still a drunk!”

Spitfire came and stood next to him, placing a hoof on the picture. “He’s been straight for 3 years Soarin! He’s getting his old edge back and the last letter I got from him he said he was itching to teach again. He needs something like this as much as they need an actual combat instructor…and he’s retired; the order doesn’t affect him!” Spitfire looked over her shoulder at her executive officer, “after what General Landslide did to him, the retirement and all…he’s owed! Flappy should have been out to grass a Brigadier!” She turned away from the picture and returned to her desk opening the drawer she had closed earlier and removed the papers she had shown to GL Raindrops before, shuffling the papers to place a different one on the top of the pile.

“He still has something to offer. Besides…I’m going to have my hooves full with the Wonderbolts. Take a look at this..” she moved the papers to Soarin who pick them up and started reading. His eyes became wider as her read more of the document. He dropped the orders back on the desk and took a breath.

“I knew about the lantern order but I didn’t know about this. When did it come in?”

“About an hour ago. You’ve read it…all shows and tours are canceled indefinitely and all Wonderbolts are to return here at once.” Spitfire opened another drawer and pulled out a bottle of sparkling apple juice with her lips and placed it on the top of her desk. She then pulled out two glasses and placed one in front of Soarin and the other in front of herself. “As of now the Wonderbolts are activated. We are in the top rank combat status, "Spitfire poured the golden fluid into XO’s glass first then her own.

Soarin took the containers into his hooves gently as he stared into the juice. “Have you heard what our missions will be?”

Spitfire took her own glass and rolled it between her hooves, "Recon mostly. Some Deep Strike. We also are to support the Air Wing of the Royal Guard.” She lifted the glass to her mouth and took a sip. Swallowing hard she then looked over her desk and shook her head. “The Crown needs eyes and reach and we’re it. When you’re finished call an assembly for everyone. I’ll tell the troops.” Her ears flattened as she put the glass back down with a ‘thump’ and glanced at the orders again.

“It’s getting serious Soarin….and I have a feeling we’re going to need as many friends as we can get. The tone of this whole thing just got a whole lot darker.”

***

“Amazin’ that y’all showed up just now. Had some mare with a yella ring stop by earlier but Ah appreciate any help that crown can offer. We saw some of the folks that made it outta 29 Fronds headin’ to Las Pegasus, "Sheriff Silver Star smiled. “ If things are gonna get testy, havin’ the guard a’ hoof is a relief. “

The Sheriff mopped the sweat from his muzzle with his foreleg and turned away to look at a small detachment of guards marching down the main street. “That night armor yer wearing must get hot in this sun. Never seen guard armor like that before, or that crest. Ah well, Ah don’t get out much. Anyway…thanks again for bringin’ troopers….beg pardon, what’s yer name again sir?”

[=Compassion=][=Hope=]

“Sorry about that: Sergeant Major Silver Shard Equestrian Guard and the pegasus leading that marching detachment is my second Breezy Blaze. Yeah, all we had time to get out with was our special black night armor. Hey sheriff tell me something…I heard a rumor that a real princess was here, is that true?”

Diamond in the ruff.

Diamond in the Ruff

By Moon Chaser (DA CrazyMikePrime)

Bottom of Call Horn Bay Fjord, Southern Antler Range, Western Mountain Earldom, Noon local time.

“Why are we hanging out here in this fjord again High Tide, “ a blue finned sea pony slowly floated between encrusted wooden pillar s thrusting up from the rocky bottom of the bay like the jagged teeth of some ancient monster. The dour colors and the murkiness of the water gave the bay bottom a depressing feeling to Whitecap. She thumped one of the beams with her tail, a cloud of dirt rising around the struck object. “This place gives me the creeps!”

A flash of yellow passed in front of her in the gloom, disappearing for a moment in the silt clouded water and then reappearing. High Tide came to a stop next to her friend, hovering next to Whitecap and the wooden post. She looked up to the surface at the beams of sunlight piercing the water.

“Ah…it’s not so bad. Besides the caribou trade is good! They like the salty kelp and safe jellyfish we give them and the fruits they give us are so tasty,” High Tide turned upside down for a moment, and giggled. “You like those golden apples don’t you?”

“That’s not the point. Do we have to meet them here? This is where they…you know..”

“Burn their ships with their dead? Come on Whitecap, don’t be such a twitchy tuna.”

Swimming in a circle, Whitecap held out a fin pointing out at the bay bottom as she went. “This entire place is a gravesite. There must be hundreds of their sunken longships here! Couldn’t we have just waited for the others at the dock? Why do you like this place?”

High Tide swam up into a beam of light, her scales dazzling in the dour setting they were waiting for their friends in. She smiled and gestured with her tail to the docks where the Caribou ships were tied up. “Have you ever seen one of their burials Whitecap? I got…”

“I know I know…you got invited to the old chief’s funeral because he liked you. You’d spend days listening to him just ramble on and on about all the fights he’d been in, the trolls he’d slain the things he’d seen. I swear, it’s like you wanted to grow legs and antlers and go out with him on a raid yourself.”

High Tide stuck out her tongue. She was about to say something in Caribou language when her ears pick up a familiar sound. She turned around, her ears pointing in the direction of the sound she had heard. In the distance she could make out the rough shape of the trade cart being pulled by Sea Mist and Wave Jumper.

“The others are here Whitecap, you can calm down…”

Black stones splashed into the water next to them streaking down like shooting stars from the sky. They fell like sparks from a volcano but instead of glowing with heat and light it was like they absorbed what light was around them, ‘glowing’ with darkness. As they neared the bottom of the bay the sea ponies could hear a voice like a bussing surface bug coming from the strange unlit objects.

[=FLESH=]

[=FLESH=]

[=FLESH=]

[=FLESH=]

[=FLESH=]

[=FLESH=]

[=FLESH=]

The black sparks buried themselves in the bottom, boring into the dirt like a digger crab and disappearing.

“Wha…what was that High Tide,” Whitecap asked, her voice almost cracking.

The ground around them began to move. Wooden beams began to fall and a rumbling sound came up from the bay bottom. Once again they heard the strange voice of the black sparks, this time louder.

[=Issonsöngur Stedison of Westhold=]

[=Lodinnhorn Bitrson of Westhold=]

[=Bitregg Eljundottier of Westhold=]

[=BaniSteinn Hraustrson of Westhold=]

[=Rammligr Ljoistason of Westhold=]

[=Hvitrvindr Eldingson of Westhold=]

[=EldingFognudr Modrdottier of Westhold=]

[=RISE=]

Silt formed a cloud over the area making a shroud of darkness obscuring what had erupted from the seafloor. High Tide heard Whitecap coughing and made out the outline of her friend in the cloud. She pushed her muzzle forward until she touched the scales of her friend. Following the contours of Whitecap’s skin she found one of her fins. High Tide clamped firmly down with her mouth on the appendage and pulled.

“This way! Come on!”

They swam in confusing darkness for a moment, High Tide leading. She used her memory and the end of her nose to guide her, dead reckoning the two of them out of the storm of dirt. Clearing the silt cloud the sea ponies turned around to see if anything followed them out, hovering in place and watching and watching. The voices of Sand Dollar and Sea Mist called out behind them.

From the swirling cloud of sea bottom came a dark shape. At first the ponies could not make out what it was. Sea Mist looked over Whitecap, checking to see if her fins had been hurt in the confusion. High Tide kept peering into the floating dirt trying to mask out what was within. There was a noise sounding like a drowned and damaged bugle

A decayed leg with a hoof at its end appeared from the edge of the cloud, followed by another. Two sharpened metal points thrust out connected to curve antlers, shredded and decayed velvet skin covering hung from the great prongs that grow from the cloud.  The corpus of a great caribou emerged from the silt, clad in armor that High Tide was sure belonged to a Jarl. It had a strange device on the chest plate she had never seen any other caribou warrior use before. Bloated rotting flesh and half scorched bones seemed to be knitting itself back into its original shape. The head of the creature turned to face the sea ponies. They felt a chill in their hearts when its dead gaze fell on them.

[=FEAR=]

[=FEAR=]

[=FEAR=]

[=FEAR=]

“Ah…is that High Tide? Do you not know me anymore, “the jumble of decay shaped like a caribou said. “ Have you missed me and my stories child of the sea?”

“ICE SONG?!”

[=Love=][=Compassion=][=Hope=]

“Ah..You did miss this old head butting stag,” the body of Jarl Ice Song said. It was becoming more whole by the moment, years of decomposition undone as if by magic: a loose hanging jaw had returned to its set and became tight again. Missing teeth returned, muscles grew anew, filling out the bulk of the old Jarl’s body. Skin appeared and his coat returned. It was a miracle.

“Ice Song! It IS you! You’ve come back!” High Tide shot forward away from her friends, swimming furiously to the renewing body of one she loved as dear as her own grandmother.  “How…how is this possible? Did you make it to Valhalla? Did your spirit make it to your ancestors? How did you come back and who er what are those,” High Tide pointed with her tail as she floated before the returned form of the old chief. She suddenly felt strangely weak.

The other sea ponies were still, hovering next to the trade chariot unsure what this all meant. They all knew the old chief, or at least knew of him. High Tide was the one who loved the deer folk most and she was very close to Jarl Ice Song when he was alive and he had loved their friend dearly. His death had hit her very hard, when he died she refused to eat anything for a week. He had requested that she attend his funeral and willed to her a golden saddle belt. Now, the old warrior was before them, in the renewed flesh. High Tide almost danced in front of him. It was the happiest they had seen her for a long time.

“Some came back with me…see,” he pointed behind with a black band decorated hoof at the still swirling cloud of dirt. More shapes appeared from the cloud, caribou bodies in the process of reforming like Ice Song had done. “And for you my golden sea nymph I have one more tale to tell.”

The Jarl reached up with his legs taking the sea pony into an embrace. The world seemed to reel to High Tide, coldness creped through her body. All strength and feeling seemed to be flowing out of the. She felt an ache in her chest.  She looked up at the old chief with half lidded eyes.

“I…I” she stammered. “Wha…” a hoof was pressed into her side.

[=LOVE=]

“The story is this little one: Ragnarök has come!”

[=FEAR=]

The hoof glowed with darkness and plunged into her. Searing, blinding pain shot through her whole body. Her scream echoed over the bay bottom. Whitecap swam forward enough to see the caribou’s hoof impaling High Tide. A boiling cloud of red shot out from her as the Ice Song withdrew his hoof. He let go of High Tide’s body, the broken sea pony slowly fell to the bottom, blood trailing out of her like ink form a retreating squid.  On his hoof black what looked like trenticles made of darkness held their friends heart.

[=Charge 5.23%=] the black band on the leg of the caribou corps buzzed. The heart of their friend seemed to melt away.

[=FEAR=][=RAGE=]

[=FEAR=][=COMPASSION=]

[=FEAR=][=WILL=]

Four more shooting stars of unlight came down to the bottom, the points of darkness falling like stones thrown from a volcano’s eruption.  Three of the dark rings swam about, circling like sharks about devour a prey animal. One band circled over High Tide, its croaking voice sending chills down the living sea ponies spines.

[=FLESH=] the dark thing called out.

A black band floated down to the still body of their friend. It expanded becoming larger and larger as it moved down and slipping itself over High Tide’s head. The black band settled down on her neck. The golden yellow of her scales became dull. Material of black with white stripes formed around her body from her tail to the black band around her neck. A triangle crest with five prongs like a dragon’s talon was on the front of her body over her middle.

[=High Tide of Aquastria - RISE=]

The sea pony’s head snapped upward, her body followed as she rose up and floated again under control. The wound the caribou caused had disappeared under her new garment. High Tide turned and drifted towards her cowering friends huddling around the sea chariot.

“H-High Tide? W-What’s happening….what happened to you?”

Unlight flared from her black neck band as large black barbed hooks appeared at the end of all High Tide’s fins. Black spear like spines grew out of her back giving her an appearance like a horrific lionfish.

[=FEAR=][=COMPASSION=]

Black Lantern High Tide smiled, “ThE sAmE thIng thAt's AbOUt tO hAppEn tO yOu!”

***

Above the tail end of the Appaloosan Mountains west of Ponyville 12:30 PM

[=Scanning for suitable candidate sentient=]

The loose ring flew only a meter in front of Applejack. She had ordered it to only go a swiftly as she herself was flying and today she was not in a hurry. After creating this ring with a quarter power charge, she had fully recharged her own ring and flown east like she said she would. Only after she was outside of Ponyville had she instructed this ring to begin looking for a wielder. Bon Bon’s words had struck a nerve and she had made her first decision as Corps Leader: The Green Lantern Corps would not recruit from Ponyville any longer unless there was no choice. Applejack had told Rarity and Twilight her policy decision via Rarity’s Indigo ring. Rarity and Twilight agreed with her thinking, the stress of inducting neighbors and associates in the various lantern corps tasted wrong to the fair dealing farm mare, it smacked of favoritism and she would not have that, not on her watch!

Twilight then informed her about Mac’s mission with the group of lanterns sent out under Princess Cadence and Fluttershy. They were going to look over things after the town of 29 Fronds had been wiped out! The princesses had asked the lanterns to look thing over and stop the Black Lanterns if they attacked towns nearby and one of the towns close enough to count was Appaloosa. ‘No wonder Mac looked concerned’ she said to herself. ‘Maybe it’s a good thing Ah’m out here lookin’ for another recruit’ she thought as Twilight read the letter from Princess Celestia requesting help, ‘we might need them sooner rather than later’.  Trixie apparently was the first lantern to reach Appaloosa and had reported all was well, which relieved Applejack greatly.

She had been in the air for about an hour now, getting far enough from home that Ponyville now part of the horizon. She was over a beautiful sparkling cloud layer when the ring came to a sudden stop. Applejack, felt in her mind the ring letting go from her control like the one before had indicating that it had found somepony.

[=Suitable candidate found=] chirped the ring.

It suddenly flashed brightly and then dropped below the clouds, the green light tail through the clouds allowed Applejack to follow the ring down. She cleared the layer; the vista below her was barren scrub and rocky high hills. There were pit holes scattered over the landscape, looking like giant gopher holes. She saw the ring streaking into one of the larger pits, disappearing into the dark.  She started to follow and as she descended she realized what the holes were, the large dog guard sleeping at the entrance was a dead giveaway as to who was alive out here.

“Figures,” she said shaking her head. “Ah wonder how Rarity is gonna to handle this? Heck, how am Ah gonna handle this?” As she entered the mouth of the pit, Applejack heard a crashing sound deep inside the tunnel.

“Engineer told you we should have shored up the tunnel more!” a large dog miner said as he shook, dirt flying off his coat in sheets. “That is the third time today!”

“I walked mine an hour ago-three times since then- dang,” a medium sized dog responded, pulling out a long brown rope like thing out of the pocket of his red vest. He bit into the cord and tore off a few inches and began chewing. “How bad is it,” he asked smacking as she talked while he chewed. “if we didn’t need to find more of those gems because of our last move…”

“They’re still digging?” Another Diamond Dog growled as he ran in from another mine tunnel, panting when he came to a stop in front of them. This dog was like the one eating; medium build and wearing a blue vest festooned with tools, spikes, a lamp, twine and rags. He was caring a combination pick and hammer that he used to support himself like a cane. The dog was almost heaving, his tongue lolled as he gasped for breath. “I told you to stop Rover! The tunnel needs to be reinforced. It’s not stable! By my sire’s ears you never listen! “ The tool vested dog looked around the dome staging chamber. “Where are the extra shoring materials, there’s only a minimum here?”

“We don’t have any extra Rufus and it will take a least week to get more lumber. The ponies don’t give it away and we’re still settling in from the last move! I got these from cannibalizing some of the old played out mines, and I was only able to take what was safe to grab.”

“You,” the tool laden dog pointed at the larger mining dog with his hammer pick. “Take me down there. We’re taking some braces and I’ll tell you where they should go.” The large dog nodded and lumbered over the wall picking up large wood and metal beams and placing them in a mining cart. There was a deep rumble sound and a thick cloud of dust erupted from the mine entrance.

Engineer Rufus slung his pick hammer over his shoulder and let out a low growl, ” I know that Rover! I told you to stop digging for a reason!” Rover responded with a louder growl while baring his teeth. “I told them to go slow and careful and when I was down there an hour ago it was fine. I’m NOT stupid! I am Alpha here Rufus! Remember that!”

Rufus backed away unbent. ” An ‘Alpha’ should be more careful with his pack Rover instead of hoping to stay lucky.” He turned away and ran after the large miner pulling the cart full of braces. From his belt canteen he poured water onto two cloth dust masks he pulled from a pocket of his vest, placing one over his muzzle and offering the other to the miner dog. Both pulled on their goggles and entered the mine. There was an even louder crash. What looked like thick smoke poured out of the mine, bathing the two dogs in dirt head to tail. Rufus waved with his pick hammer at Rover indicating that he was still going in.

The churning torrent of dust and noise coupled with the crush of workers struggling to find their way out made Rufus howl to grab their attention. He barked and flashed his light, directing the confused canids to the mouth of the mine. As the diggers passed by he questioned if anyone else was left. Between coughs and growls he learned that more workers were partially trapped at the end of the shaft and the ceiling was slowly falling in. Rufus asked if there was anyone that could help and he got a few volunteers, whom he gave more water soaked masks. He took the lead making his way to the shaft end.

The impromptu rescue party reached the cave in area quickly and went into action. Rufus directed workers to place the few supports he had in the key areas to slow the collapse. Wielding his pick hammer he drove spikes into the beams to lock them in place. The whines of the wounded and the low growl of the rock overhead created a din of desperation has the dogs worked quickly to get as many out as possible. Rufus, being one of the smaller dogs wiggled underneath debris and fallen structural members, prying here, lifting there, able to get into spots the larger workers could not.

“Engineer,” a large gold coated miner called out to Rufus from the other side of some fallen mine wall. “There are three of us trapped here…”

The creaking of an overhead beam told the lead dog what he needed to know. He looked at the bowing structural member and thrust his pick hammer in to act as a corner brace, the shaft of the tool reinforcing the beam temporarily. Rufus then dug with his bare paws quickly, helping to make a hole large enough for the miners to escape.

“Hurry…I don’t know how long that will hold,” the overhead beam still creaked and the shaft his tool was starting to curve a bit. “Get out of there!”

Dirt started to fall in sheets now, darkening the little light he had. His limbs felt heavy and he was having trouble breathing, choking as he yelled to the trapped workers to make for safety. They all were going to have to leave soon or be buried; the whole thing was coming down. ‘I can’t smell anything but dirt and I can barely see a thing in this darkness,’ he thought. Around him he could hear the cracking of timbers warning him of their eminent failure. ‘What I wouldn’t do to have some screw braces right now’ when he was blinded by the most intense green light he had ever seen.

[=You are worthy. You have been chosen=]

“What in the name of,” a glowing green band wrapped itself around his paw looking very much like a set of knuckles the guard dogs would sometimes use.

[=Rufus Della Axle of Canidia you have the ability to overcome great fear =]

Immediately he was swathed in green light, his vest and tools disappearing, replaced by a garment made of something he could not identify. His mask and goggles disappeared in a flash of the green light but what was strange was that he could breathe as well as he could in clear air and he could see, the dust not obscuring his vision or hurting his eyes!

[=Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps=]

“What is…” he asked out loud.

“Engineer?”

A whine came from the floor of the mine. He could see the three diggers he had freed! They had stopped to gawk at the site of him despite the danger of the cave in. Snapping wood sounded from the walls. ‘If the wood could just hold together longer,’ he thought. In his mind he felt something reach out and ‘slot’ with him, like gears meshing together and beginning to turn, transmitting ones motion to the other making an endless cycle of connections.

The ring flashed, bathing the walls with a brilliant green light. The cracking and groaning sounds began to die down. In his head, Rufus swore could ‘feel’ the light giving holding power to the compromised mine braces, making the structures able to hold and stop the cave in. The mine appeared and felt stable for the moment, almost safe. He turned his attention away from the braces and to the fallen workers. He took his thoughts off of the mine to the struggling workers. When he did so the light dimmed and  the walls began to fail again. The feeling in his mind and the sounds of cave in refocused his attention on the mine braces. The failing structures become solid again.

“Hurry up! I don’t know how but this magic light has stopped the cave in. Get out of here,” the light enveloping the mine walls had banished the darkness of the dust, allowing the miners to see the way out.

“Rufus?” a miner gestured at him in his new garments.

“No time. Get out! NOW! ”

When they had scampered to safety, Rufus relaxed. For a moment he was still, not taking his thoughts from the mine walls, lest they begin to fail again. He started to take slow deliberate steps, making his way to safety. He held the idea of the green light strengthening the mine braces in his mind while he walked.

He looked down at the glowing emerald object on his left knuckles. It was like the thing had attached itself to his paw. The band felt like metal but looking at it he could see that the material was like crystal and metal combined. If it had been a gem it was have been the most perfect gem he had ever seen! Completely flawless, seamless! A symbol of some kind was ‘formed’ on the face of it, like it had grown  out of the material not carved or shaped: a circle bracketed by and connected to two parallel lines. Light seemed to shine from within from every part of it, but here was no flame or bulb; no source for the light coming from it. The thing appeared to be formed of light itself. It was as if it was…MAGIC!

There was the noise. It almost made him forget about the idea of the mine being held up in his head. There was a groan from the earth when he almost let go of the thought. He could hear a commotion, the shouts of his fellow dogs, their barking at something but he could not see what it was.  When he got to the opening of the shaft he beheld another strange sight.

In the air near the top of the main staging chamber shining with the same light he had just seen was a pony. It was a female, about the size of Rufus and wearing the same kind of clothes he was now clad in. On one of her front legs was a bright glowing band just like the ring on his finger.  The sight of the pony made him forget about the mine and with a rumbling crash, the cave in completed, dust exploding into the staging chamber. The glowing pony landed in the center of the chamber floor.

“Pony,” Rover growled in Equestrian, “I saw light in tunnel! Your light! You made cave in! It your fault!”

“Uh…R-Rover…” Rufus stuttered trying to make himself heard over the din in the pit. The light had stopped the cave in, not caused it, Rover had not seen that. He also knew somehow that he had made the light from the object he now wore stop the collapse.  The pony wrapped in the same light he had just seen in the mine didn’t do it.

Four large miners rose and stood besides the Diamond Dog leader. All of them held a tool of some kind ready to use them a weapon. The dogs all sounded a low growl, their lips curling back exposing their teeth. Rover glared at the strange mare exposing his teeth as well.

“GET HER!”

The four large dogs rushed forward barking insults, tools swinging. There was a shower of green light before them and a brick wall made of green luminance appeared. The tools struck the wall then rebounded almost hitting their wielders. One dog ran into the wall, his body compressing from the impact before he collapsed to the floor. Barking and growling filled the room.

Two more dogs behind the pony rushed forward, reaching out to tackle her. She leaped into the air before their fingers could touch her. The pony then hovered above them out of reach. A glowing rope appeared flowing out from the glowing band on her fore-leg, flying at the four dogs that had attacked her first. Another rope flowed out; making its way to the two dogs that had attacked her from behind. The green strands struck the six attacking dogs, weaving around and between them tying them together like bundles for caring. The loose ends of glowing rope then reached straight up and wrapped around overhead beams, the trapped dogs swinging like fresh trapped wild game. The pony then landed where she had lifted off from, the sound of her landing echoed from the chamber walls. Cracks in the stone floor appeared under her hooves. She was bathed in green fire.

“All right that’s ENOUGH,” the pony bellowed. Her voice was like thunder and her eyes arced with green lightning. The Diamond Dogs all became silent and still. Rover trembled both from fear and rage. His ears were lying flat; eyes narrowed. His mind plotted trying to figure out if he could attack himself. He had half raised his paw when the pony’s gaze fell upon him. The Diamond Dog froze. A large miner behind the green glowing pony took a quiet step forward, his pick raised to strike. She caught the movement in the corner of her eye. “Ya really want ta try it?” The dropped pick clattered on the floor. She then gestured with her head for everyone to be in front of her. There were whines from the miners as they regrouped in front of the green glowing mare. The ropes lowered the tied up attackers, disappearing when their captives were on the ground. Released, they joined their compatriots behind their leader.

Rover raised a paw cutting silencing his pack, “What you want pony?”

“Ah’m not here ta fight…at least not any of y’all. All Ah’m looking for the one who got one of these,” she held up the blazing green power ring. A few of the dogs barked and pointed to the caved in mine. Applejack looked in the direction they had gestured and her met Rufus’s. She pointed at the engineer with her ring hoof. He was still standing at the cave entrance still unseen by the other dogs save the last he had rescued.

“Ah’m here for him.” Her ring shone, brightening the chamber.

The rest of semi circle of dogs turned around and saw their strangely dressed engineer. They began to growl and yip. Rufus, held up his ‘knuckle’ and it lit up as if answering the ponies light. He walked forward, the crowd parting so he could reach the pony and their pack leader. The dogs sniffed at him as he as he passed by, trying to discover what kind of material he was clad in. Their eyes wide in wonder at the vision of their pack mate dressed the same as the intruding pony.

Rover looked the engineer up and down, his eyes boggled looking at the strange outfit. “Rufus! Why you like this pony,” he continued to growl in Equestrian. If there was going to be issues the pony should address them and ponies were notorious for not being able to understand Diamond Dog language. “What goes?”

Rufus held up the glittering green band so that the pack leader could see it better. He recalled how the band had attached itself and how with the green light a miracle had occurred allowing all dogs to get out of the collapsed mine. Rover nodded as he listened. He turned and asked the truth of what he had been told, the rescued miners responding that it was as their engineer had said.

“When it appeared it spoke to me and said: welcome to the Green Lantern corps,” there was a murmur as a large miner came forward. His tail was wagging as he approached Rover.

“Lantern! We heard about them from traders from Ponytown. They said ponies had strange new power and fought…the dead that move again!”

More whining and barking erupted. Tails went between hind legs. Many of the dogs shifted uncomfortably in place, some huddled together. Applejack’s eyes moved around. The dog’s reactions told her something was going on. The Diamond Dogs were scared. Terrified! Rover raised a paw and the sounds died down again. The pack leader’s ears were flat besides his head, his tail low.

“You’ve seen em! You’ve seen these things….these zombies? “

Rover nodded. “ Zombies? Yes…them we have seen pony. Some of our gone, they take! We flee from old mines to here. They kill some of us.” The dog sniffed then spat at the ground. ”Nothing we do stops them, not cave in, not fire, not weapons. We flee. We open old mines again. They leave us alone here, so we are safe.” Rover sat on his hind legs visibly relaxing. “You not welcome here pony. What you want with Rufus? What is magic thing he now has?“

“The ‘ring’ he’s wearing now was told to  search for anypony..er..anyone who could use it properly. It chose him,” Applejack pointed again at the ring wearing Diamond Dog. “It picked him as a warrior, as the one who could use it to fight the ‘zombies’…they’re called Black Lanterns.”

The dogs murmured , yips and growls shot back and forth.

“Pony is lantern…she come to hurt us..”

“No…lanterns with colors fight no color ones…”

“Why she want engineer?”

Applejack stood still and let the ‘discussion’ go on, he gaze never leaving Rufus. Her eyes seemed to be searching within him for an answer to a question, a very  simple question with a complicated answer: ‘Who are you?’

Who indeed?

The dog who the ring had been chosen spoke, “You calling me to war pack pony?”

The mare shook her head then looked at the engineer in the eyes again, ”That ring called ya…Ah’m here ta see if’n the answer is yes or no. If it’s a nah, Ah take it goes back with and ya go about yer life. If it’s a yes, Ah take ya and we train ta fight an we fight tah’gether.”

“To serve ponies! To serve Equestria and fancy princesses! Feh,” Rover snapped.

Again Applejack shook her head. “No. Our job now is to fight the Black Lanterns. The Green Lantern Corps does not serve any one country.  The corps job, “ she turned her gaze onto Rover ,”Is to protect all…EVEN YOU!”

“Corps? A pack? A war pack,” Rufus asked as rubbed the band with his other paw.

“Humm… Ah guess the answer to yer question is yes!”

“Maybe Rufus keep here and we have it’s magic for us!” a small dog yipped.

“Sorry, isn’t  gonna happen,” her aura glowed brighter for a moment.

“Only ponies are lanterns,” the dog who spoke said.

“No. That ain’t true either!  There is a griffon lantern,” Applejack sat on her rump and looked into the eyes of the dog chosen again, “you would be the first Diamond Dog lantern.”

“Rover…I’m engineer. I’m responsible for mines. I have…”

The leader of the Diamond Dogs shook his head.  The awakened dead had chased them out of their homes. There had been no way to stop them, no means. They were the stuff of nightmares, unstoppable. Now a pony glowing in green light said there was a way to stop them, a weapon that could hurt them, and that power was in the paws of a Diamond Dog! A new tool…but a tool must be learned before it can be used.

“You are called to a war pack Rufus, it is yes or no. What say you? ” Silence fell for a moment as the assembly listened to for the engineer’s answer.

Rufus stared to the power ring. ‘I REALLY want to know what this can do, and we need to stop those things. Can I do this? I don’t know, but I want to find out.’ The green clad Diamond Dog nodded ,“I say..yes. I will go.”

Ears flat in sadness Rover asked simply, “Who should be new engineer. You pick, it’s your right.”

“I pick Fido,” Rufus answered. He had raised himself up to his full height. “My family?”

“Will be well. We keep in duty to you,” the chief dog replied. He then barked three times and spoke loudly commanding attention for what he was about to say.

“Rufus goes to war pack for us, becomes a warrior! His things shall not be touched! Bring me a great gem..a green one to match his war pack colors! “ It took a moment and then a large beautiful emerald appeared and was pressed into Rufus’s paws by a small dog. The miners then came forward, pressing their bodies against their engineer. They nuzzled him and licked his face as they gave him what looked like their version of a farewell. Rover then raised his forepaw up and there was silence.

“Good hunting. Come back to us as the living, not dead!” Rover licked his face and then bowed his head.

Rufus turned to fully face the pony waiting patiently for the pack to bid their lantern recruit goodbye. Pointing at different tunnel in the wall he said, “I need my things. Please wait pony lantern.” He ran off using all his limbs. Rover then approached Applejack and glared at her with an evil eye.

“Every time you ponies show up, it becomes big headache!”

“Well don’t feel too bad about it. The pain ain’t all one sided.” Applejack smiled, ”Should Ah tell Rarity y’all said hi?”

Rover winced. He put his paws over his ears “Please, no more today miss lantern pony.”

After that there was silence while Rufus was gone. When he returned he was caring a large satchel bag that looked like it was almost bursting. Applejack was not sure exactly what the Diamond Dog had packed but the straining seems on the carpet bag indicated the bag was packed full and he apparently was ready to go.

Her ring flared as a farm cart formed out of green energy. The watching dogs barking here and there at the appearance of the vehicle from nothing. Applejack hitched the cart to herself with a construct yoke and then looked over her shoulder at Rufus.

“Go ahead and get on in and we’ll get goin’.” Rufus threw his bag in first then hoisted himself aboard. When he had settled in he indicated he was aboard.

“We’ll teach ya about flyin later in more…open surroundings.”

“Fly? ME?” That idea was too incredible to the tunnel dweller.

“Yep, the ring allows any who wear it ta fly. How do ya think Ah’m doin’ all this right now? ”

Applejack and the cart lifted into the air, hovering for minute. The Diamond Dogs watched in silence as the pony and their pack mate flew silently out of the mine and into the sky disappearing behind the cloud layer.

For a few minutes there were no words said as Applejack concentrated on flying, the constructs and figuring out exactly what she was going to with this critter? What did he even eat? Where he could sleep was not a problem, but feeding the dog was going to be an issue…he surely ate meat! Maybe Gilda would help out with that.

She turned to get a better look at the new recruit in the sunlight. The dog sat back in the wagon, using his carpet bag as a back rest. He was bigger than she thought, not like the huge digging dogs, but about as tall as Big Mac. Blue eyes narrowed from sunlight, his pointed muzzle and his dirty grey coat gave a slightly wolfish appearance. His curved tail ended in the typical spiked ball. His tongue hung out of his open mouth like Winona’s did when she was on a train poking her head out the window. Ears that normally stood upright now flapped backwards in the wind. Applejack flipped around so she was still pulling the construct but face her passenger.

“Excuse me there partner can Ah ask ya a question?”

The dog nodded, “Yes lantern pony, what you want to know?”

‘Ok THAT has to stop.’ “Look now, ya don’t have to call me that…”

“Yes, of course warpack leader.” He answered in a rough voice. Applejack winced slightly. Equestrian sounded a little harsh when it was spoken by a Diamond Dog.

“No…no. Ah’d prefer you use mah name if ya please. We are just getting ta know each other. Here let’s do this again an’ do it right! Let me introduce mahself properly: Howdy there, Ah’m Applejack,” she flashed bright teeth as she smiled. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

The dog just stared at the pony for a moment, his expressionless face like a statue carved of grey stone. He then closed his eyes as if he were remembering something “I am Rufus of Long North Tunnel. Engineer Master of Mining for the Diamond Dogs. Greetings Applejack of…um, where do you live?”

“Ponyville”

“Yes, of course. Greetings Applejack of Ponyville.” Rufus closed his eyes again and brought up his hind left leg using it to scratch behind his left ear with a kicking motion. ”It is custom for us to include our home when we greet others. I meant no disrespect asking you your home.”

“Nah, its fine. Ah didn’t know yer custom. You might say we’re learnin’ about each other from scratch, startin’ over again and doin’ it right, ya know- making up for last time.”

“Last time?” He tapped his nose with a paw finger , ears flat, eyes closed. Then the blue eyes became large as his ears stood up. “Miss Rarity?”

Applejack chuckled, “Yep.”

There was the sudden crack of laughter followed by coughing. Rufus’s tail wagged about wildly. “Yes, she made impression on us…Rover had nightmares about her for a moon!” His chest heved as he resumed laughing.

The farmer joined the miner in mirth. It was something in common-a fussy unicorn that could get under both of their skins the same way, yet they both could laugh about it. Friendships have started on less.

The dog let his laughter fade, wiping a tear away from his eye. “What was it that you wanted to ask me ‘Miss’ Applejack?”

“Aheh. Yeah.. .why ya doing this,” Applejack did her best to make the same face she had seen on the dog as they flew. She let her tongue out the side of her open mouth, her nose flared and lips flapping around like her tongue. She was sure it was goofy looking. It might even be insulting, but it WAS how he looked and she was curious to know.

The diamond dog closed his eyes and shrugged, sticking his nose back up and opening his mouth letting his tongue roll out into the air again. He loved the feeling of the wind rushing through his ears, and marveled at seeing the clouds rush by underneath, the fluffy tops of the clouds was something he was sure that he would never see, let alone fly over like a dragon or a pegasus!  His eyes closed and mouth lolled open the large purple tongue flapped in the wind.    “It…feels like the right thing to do.”

She shook her head. “Fair enough. Just thought Ah’d ask.”

“Now I have question for you Applejack. No, two.”

“Go ahead,” she turned back to face in the direction of flight, looking down at the ground occasionally to check if she was on path to home. “Fire away.”

Rufus held up the gleaming knuckle-ring on his paw, “What is this…and what is a ‘Green Lantern’?”

Shades to come-The Battle of Appleloosa: Part 2

Shades to come-The Battle of Appleloosa: Part 2

Buffalo Tribe camp outside of Appleloosa.

“Mother is that you,” a buffalo warrior asked, his eyes and mouth open in astonishment. He had moved forward from the herd, approaching his late mother. The disbelief in his voice matched the way he walked, his innocence seem to make him drunk.

[=LOVE=][=COMPASSION=]

“Oh yEs mY sOn...mOthEr Is hErE,” the undead female said. Suddenly, the creature charged, knocking the surprised warrior on his side with a body check. The Black Lantern buffalo shoved its unlight glowing foreleg into the side of her son. His scream matched another as his heart was ripped out. The organ was then enveloped in darkness, disintegrating by the Black Lantern’s power. When the last piece of the slain buffalo’s heart disappeared, the black ring spoke in a raspy voice:

[=Charge Level 7.53%=]

Another Buffalo died as her ‘uncle’ removed her heart in a ghastly tearing manor. Once again the grim sound of a black ring spoke.

[=Charge Level 7.54%=]

Chief Thunderhooves rose to his full height, stamping his hoof on the ground. What passed for a Buffalo’s brow became deeply creased. The great chief moved forward ahead of his tribe. The lips of his mouth pulled back slightly from his teeth.

“You!” the chief bellowed, fury adding edge to his words. “You desecrate our ancestors! You defile the flesh of our tribe! Black Rings let our dead sleep again!” the great Buffalo snorted when he finished. He trembled as he prepared to charge.

[=FEAR=]

“MY mY, thE pOnIEs hAvEn’t cUt yOur hOrnEs lIkE they dId thE rEst Of OUr tribe…lIkE YOU lEt thEm sON,” said a large rotting buffalo said in a dark, mocking tone. “YOU shame YOUr fOrEfAthErs.”

[=RAGE=]

Thunderhooves took a step forward, baring his teeth snorting in anger. Muscles twitched beneath the curly coat, making a ripple run from the front to the back of the old warrior’s body. His eyes narrowed as he charged the corpse of his father.

[=RAGE=]

“No!” screamed Fluttershy. She fell back in horror while creating a wall between the Buffalos and their risen relatives. Every fiber in her being was screaming for her to flee as fast as she could, to run away as far as possible, but the tribe needed her protection, and she had promised Princess Cadence she would stay. Her lips quivered and tears began to fall from her eyes. She created a construct wall, trying to push the buffalos back away from their risen ancestors. What she had just seen was the most troubling thing yet in this madness with the zombie lanterns; she had not yet seen somepony die at the hooves of the death lanterns. The Buffalo Chief rumbled in outrage both at being blocked from charging by the wall of violet hard light and at his deceased kinfolk defiled and made into a puppet of the Black Lantern rings.

When she took a quick glance at Flam…she almost lost all what little grip on her fleeting courage and for a moment she despaired. She had seen Indigo Herd members use the other colors before, channeling the color of what was close by, even turning it against its user from time to time (like Rarity had with Rainbow Dash). What Flam did shocked her to her core!

Darkness seemed to come over him. His eyes became hollow, cold. The color of his coat changed and he seemed to radiate the same ‘hollow’ feeling of his eyes. The skin on his face became drawn back tightly over his muzzle, his teeth were revealed in a ghastly grin. His aura changed, first dimming and then becoming like the ‘unlight’ glow of the Black Lanterns themselves.

[= DEATH =]

Flam…a moment ago had felt something from his brother, an almost overwhelming flood of emotions about to burst forth, and propel him up. Now,he felt like he was drowning. The darkness he had reached out to use was almost overwhelming. A crawling void seemed to reach into his soul, seeking to devour his very being even as his Indigo ring channeled the essence of the Black Lantern’s power. Compassion was the only anchor that kept him from falling into the yawning abyss reaching out for the Indigo wielder. The symbol of the Black Lanterns formed of inky void material appeared over his horn. The shape of the Black Lantern symbol had appeared like it was a hole in reality.

[= DEATH =]

The Black Lanterns paused, becoming as still as the dead they had come from. Flam, through his Indigo ring, began to bend the dark power, forming it into a weapon. Slowly the unlight was pulled and shaped by his mind; formed into what looked like a large farming scythe.

[= DEATH =]

More Black Lantern Buffalo arrived with a few Black Guards. Fortified with vastly superior numbers the undead now pushed forward….

…into the path of the dark construct IH Flam sent swinging. The scythe cut down a number of them like tall grotesque grass. Flam brought the unlight weapon back, slicing through a few more when he turned to look at the Star Sapphire queen. His face was a ghastly caricature of its normal self; Flam looked like he had become one of them.

Growls and screams erupted from both groups of Buffalos. Both the living and the dead made a noise that became a deafening din of fear, death itself finding voice in its warriors. Chief Thunderhooves was surrounded by three of his biggest warriors, the large tribe members using all their strength to hold back their chief telling him there was little he could and imploring him to stop trying to charge and their chief answering that the small mare of the violet light needed all their help.

A couple of risen dead got around Flam, flanking him and making for Fluttershy right away. Flam tried to pull back but he was surrounded. The black weapon swung back and forth furiously, Flam trying to create a gap to escape through. When the clearing tool had done its work, the compassion user flew his aura still unlight, the symbol of the Black Lanterns floated above his horn. As he approached Fluttershy she recoiled, putting up an additional barrier between them that looked like a rose trellis full of thorns. He stopped short of the prickly fence and spoke.

“Queen Fluttershy…it’s…I’m not a Black Lantern…” the undead were closing in behind Flam when they both heard a scream above the cacophony of the fight.

“ENOUGH!”

Many living and dead turned in the direction of the keening tone that now went out over the churning confusion. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s cry was piercing, overpowering the cacophony of battle. As she flew into the fray she summoned what looked like a giant stone ball. The violet sphere smashed into the lines of Black Lanterns, crushing a number underneath its bulk. Other Black Lanterns were knocked back from the impact of the ball, flung into their fellow zombies and knocking a number of them off balance. Cadence landed next to Flam and Fluttershy, her aura seemed to burn like a bonfire as she glared at Flam. Guard javelin constructs appeared over her pointed at the stunned indigo herd member.  Glittering white teeth shown under hard frowning eyes and flared nostrils. Violet construct weapons poised to strike.

[= LOVE =]

Flam let go of the dark power he channeled, the feeling of darkness smothering him evaporated and his appearance returned to normal: his color returned as his aura shifted from unlight blackness to the familiar indigo his Herd wielded. Cadence’s javelins still hung still in the air, her mouth no longer sneering but now half open in bewilderment.

Flam reached out through the Indigo ring and channeled violet energy, forming a shield over him in case the princess loosed her poised javelins. He created a number of stones out of violet ring energy as well, casting them at the oncoming undead buffalos. The leading attackers were knocked back into their fellows.

Cadence recovered her focus and cast her projectiles at more charging Black Lanterns, the animated cadavers skewered solidly; some even pined briefly to the ground by the projectiles.  She levitated on ring power backwards to Fluttershy, creating a jousting shield as she moved. Flam pulled himself up and also backed up to stand with the two Star Sapphires.

“What did you do,” the princess of love asked. A rock deflected off her shield. “Did you actually channel their power?”

“Yes,” IH Flam’s voice actually seemed to quiver for a moment. He created casks of violet light, rolling them at their enemy. “I never want to do that again-EVER!” Flam reached out with the senses of the ring. “We need to retreat.” 'Flim must be quite disturbed right now,' he thought.

"You...you're OK!" Fluttershy began to tear up. She rushed forward and hugged the Indigo Herd twin. "Than goodness you're ok!"

“Fluttershy!" Cadence yelled. "We need to get the tribe out of here. You need to make…”

A Black Lantern guard pegasus came out of the sky down on the defenders. Cadence was about to throw up some kind of protection when an intense green beam of energy struck the diving monster broadside. The smoking body of the zombie flyer crashed into the ground, falling short of his apparent target. The smell of chard flesh wafted down, the odor making the ponies and buffalos a bit queasy for a passing moment.  Big Mac then circled back, a rain of green hay bales seemed to pour out of his ring creating a soft barrier to slow the Black Lanterns down.  Mac landed in front of his comrades, the hard ground cracked and buckled slightly under the force of the impact.

[= WILL =]

Another hay bale flew through the air, hitting a Black Lantern trying to go over the soft wall dead center and knocking it back into the churning necrotic mob. “We’re outnumbered here,” he grunted as his construct began to fail, the pieces of his wall being shredded. His mind felt the tears in the ring creation.

“There are so many…so many,” Fluttershy said with a cracking voice. Tears fell from her eyes.

“Fluttershy, you need to leave! We’ll take this…”

[= RAGE =]

RRRAAAAAHHHH!!!

RL Arcana’s roar caught everything’s attention, both living and unloving. Red spiked balls rained down on the animated corpse of the tribe's ancestors. The rolling and bouncing of the constructs made who they hit look like a shredded meat from a griffon butcher shop. The rage lantern then landed next to the Indigo Herd member and re-created her burning red scimitars and began whirling the weapons back and forth.

Stones and other projectiles struck the protective construct around the tribe. Fluttershy’s thorn wall began to fall apart; the crumbling pieces of the construct falling like leaves in the running of the leaves. The gentle Queen of the Star Sapphires floated in the air before the tribe, her new recruit coming up alongside of her, worry pressed into the young love wielder’s face.  The small buffalo’s love seemed to burn even brighter stoked by her worry. Love so young…so innocent…

...and in danger.

‘I…I can’t do it…I can’t fight and I can’t run! I need..,’ she thought as her mind rant over what she…and they both needed right now.

[= LOVE is threatened =]

Her tear filled eyes suddenly dried as she rose into the air floating over the tribe she had protected. FLuttershy’s aura suddenly became much brighter, and instead of the feather like edges of a Star Sapphire’s aura, the light became like a construct, becoming more defined and material. Fluttershy’s head appeared to gain a violet war helmet of unusual shape. It covered her head and muzzle, looking a little like a dragon's head. What looked like a choker with her cutiemark framed by wings formed around her neck out of the violet energy of the ring.

The Queen of Star Sapphires eyes burned like violet suns. She seemed to stare at Cadence for half a second before a strange, jagged beam of violet light shot out of Fluttershy’s aura. The beam struck the Princess and her aura began to burn brighter, her eyes now matched her corps leader. Cadence turned to look at Fluttershy and seemed to nod before creating an even larger thicket fence of rose thorns, greater than anything the other lanterns had seen before. Hard light armor that looked like that of a royal guard appeared over the princess and a giant halberd with wicked looking ends floated before her. Both the weapon and the armor were emblazoned with the Star symbol of the violet corps.

“Protect!” Princess Mi Amore Cadenza growled.

Fluttershy rose higher into the air, her aura becoming even brighter but taking on a more textured appearance, glittering like a dragon’s scales.

”I need my love to save love,“she yelled. "To me!"

There was a flash of violet light and what appeared to be a arcing violet lights shot out of the Sapphire Queen, the light bending and flying away to the east seeming to be over the horizon in the blink of an eye. Trails of light stayed connected to the now descending pegasus.

“Fluttershy,” the big red stallion called out as he created another set of hoof ball pads over himself, following Princess Cadence’s example. “What did you just do?”

Her eyes still shone like violet stars and her voice was slightly deeper.  She seemed to stare into the boiling hoard of death before them all.

“I…I’m not sure!”

*

Ponyville. Sugar Cube Corner seconds later.

Pinkie Pie swam through the air like she was in water; her hooves had barely touched the ground through the entire time she had made the cake. Cupcake was still in disbelief as she watched her prize employee work recreating a cake that had taken her and her husband almost two days of labor to make. She had watched the whole thing, helping out Pinkie here and there, but the party pony, using her blue power ring had mostly done all the work while Carrot Cake handled the counter crowd. As she put the last decoration on, she paused looking up at the roof for a moment. She glided over to the large kitchen cooling window and threw open the sash. A blue aura appeared around her again as she hovered in the open window facing Mrs. Cake.

“Pinkie…what are you doing?”

“Oh…I just didn’t want the roof to get damaged.”

“What do you mean by…?”

Pinkie Pie was suddenly enveloped in a violet globe of light, her blue aura added to the brightness of the construct around her. The voice of the Star Sapphire power ring spoke from the globe.

[= LOVE is threatened =]

The tail of light tugged on the construct, pulling Pinkie Pie out the window. Pinkie was heard giggling when the violet light surrounded her. As she flew into the air Mrs. Cake heard the blue lantern call out.

“See…the roof is ok!”

*

Ponyville, outside Golden Oak Library –Headquarters of the Yellow Lantern Corps of Equestria at the same time:

“…well the way you explain it Twilight it makes sense. Still, it seems a bit, oh I don’t know…excessive,” Rarity said as she walked out the door of the library.

Twilight giggled a little as she used her magic to close the library door behind her. “It’s fine Rarity. All you needed was an analogy that fit for it to make sense. It is good you didn't push her too hard about her reasons too. Now, who did Applejack say we were meeting for supper?”

“She said a new green lantern. It was a little strange; she was very canny about describing this new recruit of hers, all she would do is grin that ‘Ah’m up to somethin’ wide grin of hers and say ‘y’all will see’.” Rarity shook her head. “Rainbow Dash and Applejack can be…”

Both ponies suddenly became submerged in a violet light bubble. Being surrounded in violet energy made both Twilight and Rarity summon the power of their rings, the clothing of their corps appearing over their bodies. Twilight leveled her power ring preparing to break out of the force bubble around them.  The voice of the violet ring came to the mares ears.

[= LOVE is threatened =]

The bubble launched itself into the air, carrying the Indigo and Yellow corps leaders with it. Twilight’s ring glowed brighter but IH Rarity held up her stall in front of the fear lantern while shaking her head.

“I feel….need. Somepony needs us. I feel it…it's something else…and… Fluttershy!”

“Fluttershy!” YL Twilight summoned what looked like a writing slate and chalk and began writing. “I didn’t know the violet ring could do this!” The scholar paused in her notations and stared into her friend’s eyes, yellow light flashed from her eyes as the thought went through her mind.

“Oh no! You said need! “Ring charge level?” Twilight asked as she looked down at the ground through the clear skin the bubble. They were flying so very fast now, the ground below was almost a blur.

[= Ring capacity 99.5% =] buzzed the yellow ring.

“Things have gone bad. That what this means!”

*

Sweet Apple Acres Farm outside Ponyville

“Alrighty then seems ya got flyin’ and charge imprintin’. Let me see ya make another construct then Rufus, somethin’ bigger or harder?”

“What should I make,” the great dog puzzled as he sat on a hay bale on the barn floor.

“Well Ah started with rope, rocks and farm tools. Why not make something out of the mines,” Applejack offered.

“Hum…” Rufus paused as he thought of something. The knuckler he wore flashed and a shimmering rain of green light appeared between the both of them. The droplets spun in place and started to flatten very quickly, growing jagged edges and knitting themselves together in a strange pattern. More and more pieces moved their edges together, disks of various sizes turning, their edges touching. It took Applejack only a second to know what the dog had created.

“Oh mah! That is complicated. Ah haven’t seen anyone make anything that busy except Twi. Looks like they’re gears. What it is?”

“It a clock mechanism. I have clock that has this mechanism. See big and…little gears together here,” Rufus pointed to two gears in the middle of the construct. “On my clock they broke. I need make new ones.”

“Huh. Make gears? Work on clocks. Well dang if’n you ain’t full of surprises.”

A blinding violet light filled the barn. Rufus was shocked for a moment, the construct seemed to fade momentarily, but he kept his mind in the image in his mind and the creation of ring energy did not fail but continued moving and turning as a normal clock would.

Applejack rose into the air, a violet energy bubble completely enclosing her. She brought her ring up as the Star Sapphire rings voice spoke out loud.

[= LOVE is threatened =]

Rufus let the clockwork construct go and summoned a pick hammer in his paws. He moved forward, swinging at the globe of light holding his corps leader. His swing went below the rising bubble, which crashed upwards though the roof and flew into the air so quickly that he could not keep up. He saw Applejack’s flying trap move to join two other bubbles holding lanterns within them.

It was then the Green Lantern Corps leader’s face appeared, hovering over Rufus’s band. “Hold up partner! Guard that battery! My friends and Ah will get outta this an’ be ok! Protect the farm and work on yer den fer now!”

“Yes Warpack Leader Applejack.”

*

Ponyville, Sky Castle Boiling Point, home base of the Equestrian Red Lantern Corps.

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash moaned as she rolled out of her bed. She had been asleep the rest of the night and most of the day and the way she felt, she had slept in the same position all night. Her head still felt like it had been burned…there was a definitely a scorched feeling to it today. Whatever had happened last night that had freaked out her Red Lanterns and made her dreams weirder than usual its hangover had not left.

“Maybe some coffee? Yeah,” she said out loud to herself right as a violet light filled her room.

[= LOVE is threatened =]

“What the hay!” RL Rainbow Dash’s ring flared and she was clad in her corps uniform again. Blood seeped from her mouth as her rage grew. She hadn’t even had any coffee yet!

She struggled to pull herself out of the sphere of light but when she tried to force her way out she felt something peculiar ‘tug’ on her…heart.

[= LOVE is threatened =]

“What does that even mean ‘Love is threatened’,” she yelled as the violet construct was pulled through the wall and out into open air. The speed the globe was traveling was incredible. Rainbow Dash saw through the clear violet wall of hard light other balls like the one she was in carrying her friends as well. “What's going on,” the rage lantern snapped as she came next to the other violet bubbles.

“Fluttershy needs help…I think this is her calling for us,” Rarity offered.

[=Ring capacity 95.5% and contracting=] Twilight’s yellow ring buzzed.

There was a sick feeling Rainbow Dash’s heart; a weakness seemed to come over her as well. It was like she had not slept at all. She looked at her friends in their various bubbles and heard Applejack's ring speaking as well:

[=Ring capacity 105.7% and climbing=]

“Hi Dashe! Like my new clothes,” Pinkie said her face pressed against the bubble.

“Pinkie..PINKIE you’re a..a…Blue Lantern! When did this happen?”

“Last night darling. It was quite the light display. How ever did you miss it,” Rarity asked. Applejack was heard chuckling in the background.

***

“There are too many,” Flam yelled as he used a red beam of light to cut down on some Black Lanterns that charged him. “We can’t keep this up.”

Arcana’s scimitars sliced through four more of the undead that tried to flanker her. She turned and spat fire at three more Black Lanterns trying to get around her blind side. She looked over her shoulder then pointed with a free hoof,“ Look there!”

Princess Cadence had created two more weapons with her ring, a blade that looked like a crescent moon and a large round shield. Every time zombies attacked, the princess would bring the weapons into action, cutting the advancing Black Lanterns down like wild grass by a mower. A dead buffalo charged Cadence’s open side. The shield suddenly appeared in front of the creature stopping the attack cold. It was then it was pushed backwards with such force that the animated corpus knocked down a dozen of its fellows. Cadence then lunged out with her floating halberd, cleaving an enemy in twain with one blow.

“Now that’s how you fight,” the red lantern said with a purr. "I take back what I said about the star sapphires."

IH Flam created a shield of his own as horns tried to gore him. A construct hammer of his own appeared made of red energy and smashed down on the stopped attacker, mashing it into the ground. “We’re still out numbered.”

“LOOK!” Big Mac pointed into the sky. “AJ!”

Four violet globes were approaching the fight at blinding speed, coming down like falling stars. As they came close the ground they burst, shattering like glass balls on a Hearth’s Warming tree. When the constructs disappeared, their contents fell to earth slowly, glowing bright in their colors.

“Oh boy. It is bad Twi! Pinkie, come with me! Twi needs some space from you and Mac needs a boost too!”

“Sure Applejack,” an upside down BL Pinkie Pie said. As she came closer to Applejack, both of their auras glowed brighter. Again the rings of the blue and green lanterns began to speak on their own.

[= Constructs unlocked. Potentiality enabled =] the blue ring sang. Pinkie licked her lips as her ring reported its condition to her.

[= Ring capacity 120.8% and climbing =] Applejack’s ring chirped.  As they landed next to Mac, his aura glowed brightly too, his charge level began to grow as well.

[=Ring capacity 85.9% and climbing=] Mac’s ring reported.

Macintosh felt strange as he got closer to the blue lantern. When the fight here had started his thought was that they had better retreat and take the tribe with them; now he thought …they could win!

[= HOPE =]

Pinkie Pie landed with a loud thud, razing a cloud of dust making her blue aura waver and shimmer for a second. The first blue lantern grinned wide, the ends of her mouth making her eyes half closed. She had stayed up all the night and talked to the ring of hope, asking it questions all night, learning what its powers were and how it was to be used. Fluttershy’s ring had called her here saying ‘Love is threatened’. The buffalo’s, Fluttershy, her friends were all threatened; scared…she could see it in their faces. She had what they all needed, she had a ring of her own and it brought what everypony needed.

“Let’s kick this party up a notch,” she laughed.

[= HOPE =]

[= WILL =]

Blue light flowed from her ring like water from a dam, flooding the ground before her, the splash of light the rose back into the air, forming itself into a huge version of the party cannon! Pinkie landed on top of the construct, a new pair of blue sunglasses now covering her eyes. The grinning lantern waved a loose hoof as the muzzle of the cannon exploded with brilliant blue light.

Large pieces of confetti flew into the ranks of the undead knocking many of them down and covering them over, trapping some of them. The cannon fired again, a swarm of construct Gummies bursting forth, snapping their trap like jaws on a number of Black Lanterns and confounding their movement. Many had clamped themselves over the black rings, covering them up. Pinkie fired again, this time a cone of light burned down anything that stood in the path of the shot.

The cannon began to pivot back and forth as Applejack glided back, approaching Queen Fluttershy. The pegasus’s eyes were glowing with the violet ring light. The Star Sapphire rose and nodded at the farm mare, a small smile gracing her face. Applejack winked and turned, her green aura shone brighter than any of them had seen before.

[= WILL =]

“We got this sugar cube,” the green lantern leader said. A giant combine harvester blade appeared from her ring, whirling as it rolled forward and collided into the Black Lanterns ranks. With gritting teeth, Applejack drove the construct deep into the black field of un-living. A green lasso shot out and ensnared two advancing dead, holding them fast. Applejack then used the bodies as a hammer, whipping the rope construct into the lines of undead. She dissolved the rope as she leaped into the air rolled and came down landing on her hind legs on top of a couple of Black Lanterns, smashing them into an ill smelling mush. She the leaped up and back as she summoned twin lassos, spinning them into open loops looking for another target to bind. She lashed out and caught two different ring bearing limbs with her construct ropes and held them fast. The two black lanterns strained against the rope of energy, pulling Applejack towards them.

“Hit em’,” she yelled.

Big Mac yelled at Pinkie and pointed at the trapped Black Lanterns. He pushed his ring’s light into two beams, both striking the obsidian bands. Pinkie Pie standing on the top of her still wildly firing construct cannon followed his example and placed a beam of light on each ring. Twilight Sparkle’s mind targeted her ring at the same targets placing beams of yellow light on the same targets. The lights melded together on the Black Rings. For what seemed like an eon nothing happened then there were small explosions of light and darkness as the black rings failed.

[= Connection Severed =]

[= Connection Severed =]

The bodies of the Black Lanterns collapsed into piles of bone and rapidly decaying flesh that became dry and blew away like dust.

“Not enough,” Twilight gasped as she moved towards her old foal sitter. [= Ring Capacity 79.8% =], the yellow ring buzzed its power warning again.

Rainbow Dash flew up above the fray, guarding her friends from above as she normally did. She was feeling a bit like her old self the more distance from Pinkie she got. The Red Lantern leader hovered over the princess of love, feeling the power of her rage growing as she stared at the horde of undead trying to flood over Mac’s crumbling hay wall. Her red aura began to brighten as her old feelings for the Buffalo Tribe filled her heart. The outrage…the dead of the Buffalo Tribe being turned against…their children…their family…it…was…

That idea became a bellows to the fire within her, and the sight of buffalo’s made into Black Lanterns stoked the wrathful flame within her.

[= RAGE =]

A red lightning bolt erupted from Rainbow Dash’s ring, the crimson bolt struck what looked like a Black Guard, pealing the armor it wore and flash frying the flesh of the undead where it stood. Blood Plasma began to seep from her mouth as the battle rage within her rose.

Twilight Sparkle landed next to Rarity, who had flown over to Princess Cadence, the yellow lantern’s aura brightened as she distanced herself from Pinkie Pie and her blue power ring. The power and force of Cadence’s constructs amazed Twilight. She had never seen any Star Sapphire wield their power ring so…aggressively! Only a mother ursa defending its cub could be more ferocious. The three construct weapons the princess controlled moved almost faster than the fear lantern could follow, the force of the blows shattering black construct defenses with every blow.

“Cadence…”

“Protect!” the violet power had altered her voice. It was almost like a dragon was roaring the word. A beam of her magical force mixed with her ring’s power shot out, burning down five targets at once.

“Princess, we’re here to help with that…” Rarity said. The Indigo leader then bit her bottom lip as she glanced at Twilight, eyebrows raised in concern. The strange feeling coming to her from the Princess almost overwhelmed her.

IH Rarity then reached out with her ring and shaped Indigo light, making a giant net that fell on the Black Lanterns in front of them. The construct ensnared the charging zombies for a moment.

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight yelled as she created a manticore that leaped on top of the net trapped un-dead and started tearing their bodies to shreds. Thunder sounded over head.  When she looked up and saw the Red lantern Leader glowing brightly, the red electrical arcs now ran around and over her entirely. Another red bolt struck out, forked into three branches and struck home, hitting three targets. Dash flew forward letting loose a primal roar as a column of red plasma burned more Black Lanterns.

The rage lantern then growled as she landed, plasma dripping from her sneering mouth. A construct trident appeared larger and fuzzier than normal, its prongs pointing out at the awakened dead. Her body stiffened as she crouched like she was about to lunge. Twilight floated forward coming in before and beside her friend. There was a wildness was in her eyes as red lightning jumped between them.

A giant spiked shield of hardened fear held by an equally huge Smarty Pants doll sprang up in front of Dash. The doll charged into the churning mass of death, smashing things underneath its shield. Twilight placed a hoof on the trembling Pegasus, who violently shrugged off the touch of her friend.  Twilight was sure the frenzy to fight was now driving her friend, blinding her to everything else.

“Hurt…them…must…keep…going…”

“Rainbow…” Twilight shook her friend.

“Burn!”

“Rainbow,” A large flying yellow dragon formed over their heads as Twilight cut off Black Lanterns trying to get over and behind them. The construct breathed a sheet of fire intense enough to rival a Red Lantern’s plasma. YL Twilight Sparkle placed her cheek against her friend’s cheek and whispered:

“Applejack is here! Pinkie is here! Rarity is next to you! Fluttershy and I are here! We’re all here! We can really stop them this time! But we need you to focus…Rainbow?”

“A…J…Pink-ie…Rar-i-ty…not…stall…” Rainbow Dash paused for a moment and looked at her friend in the face. For an instant the blood lust lifted as she understood what she was saying. “W-win,” she rumbled.

“Yes. Win! “Twilight turned back to the fight. She could feel her doll and dragon constructs crumbling from the strikes the undead had heaped upon them. “Rarity!”

“Yes Darling,” she answered. Indigo crafting mallets hammered down on attackers that got too close.

“You and Flam need to focus our ring’s power…we need to hit them with our combined light at once.”

“We’ve only done it twice before Twilight,” Rarity bit her bottom lip.

“Then third time’s the charm!” She pointed out over the churning mass pushing forward “We need to do something big…dramatic!”

IH Rarity closed her eyes in resignation and nodded. She called out to Flam,“ To me!”

The youngest twin nodded and came forward, standing next to his Herd Chieftess.

“Fluttershy,” Twilight yelled, “Keep protecting the tribe with your wall. Everypony else push your light into the Indigo Rings! Let them combine the light!”

The various lanterns sent beams of light to the two Indigo Herd members, pushing their power into the two ponies standing before Princess Cadence. Both of the Indigo Light wielders reached out through their rings and began to direct the power given to them.

[= HOPE =][= LOVE =][= WILL =][= RAGE =][= FEAR =][= COMPASSION =]

Flim, stone muzzled and silent felt the other emotions begin to flow through his ring. He showed no emotion as he began to gather the different colors together through his ring. Swirling colors began to blend together forming a growing white light.

[= HOPE =][= LOVE =][= WILL =][= RAGE =][= FEAR =][= COMPASSION =]

Rarity pulled the colors of emotion within her, becoming the combining element. She began to cycle the emotions as they entered her Indigo ring. Her aura changing rapidly in a cycle, the various corps symbols appearing and disappearing rapidly as she shifted through the emotions.

[= HOPELOVEWILLRAGEFEARCOMPASSION =]

It was becoming dizzying trying to maintain control, the gathering emotions threatened to overwhelm her heart. The agony of feelings washed over her, drowning her true self for a moment. As she felt hope fill her heart she held onto the emotion for a moment longer, the blue light seemed to help fortify her and lighten her mood.

[= HOPELOVEWILLRAGEFEARCOMPASSION =]

The different colors became one, melding together losing their hues to the growing spheres of light now becoming brighter than Celestia’s sun. The buffalo’s that were shielded by Fluttershy’s protecting wall averted their eyes from brightness.  Macintosh’s hay wall faded away, the Black Lantern’s seemed to be momentarily transfixed by the bright whitish light or turning away, anticipating what was about to happen.

[=HOPELOVEWILLRAGEFEARCOMPASSIONHOPELOVEWILLRAGEFEARCOMPASSIONHOPELOVEWILLRAGEFEARCOMPASSION=]

Rarity cried out loud as she pushed the light to go out, the last spark of self commanding the light to banish the dark.

Both lights exploded, waves of pearlescent energy streaked with the lanterns colors flooded over the ranks of grounded and flying undead. For a moment everything was completely enveloped with the brightness. Black rings became filled with the light, the darkness within banished utterly. Many of the rings shattered. A huge dust cloud exploded as the light dug into the earth, the particles of dirt thrown into the air were the only movement anypony could see.

[= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =]

[= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =]

[= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =]

[= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =]

[= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =]

[= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =]

[= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =]

[= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =]

[= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =] [= Connection Severed =]

The sound of the wind blowing was the only sound, the assembled lanterns quietly waiting for something to happen. Applejack created a stone wall in front of herself and Pinkie. The Blue Lantern had created an umbrella hat she was wearing and pair of binoculars with operating wipers she was using to search for any other Black Lanterns. The muzzle of her giant blue party cannon construct rested on the top of Applejack’s wall.

“See anythin’ Pinkie?”

“Nope…still too much dust. Hum…,” she created a foam finger and used a single digit to scratch the side of her head then let all the constructs except her cannon fade away and summoned a giant desk fan, which began to blow away the billowing dust.

Rarity fell to her knees, sobbing, her breaths  labored. A torrent of tears flowed from the Indigo Tribe’s leader, the intensity of the emotions she had channeled making Princess Cadence move her weapons about waiting for a hint of movement to strike while Twilight Sparkle created a giant dish microphone and headphones to listen for any sounds. Her eyes moved back and forth as she listened intently. Her eyes looked up and right as she heard a thunder sound that was becoming softer with every heartbeat.

“I think...” the apparatus disappeared.  Twilight floated forward, her eyes scanning for any movement.

Rainbow Dash floated in the air, Arcana joining her. Both Red Lanterns created construct weapons bracing for any counter attack. Macintosh re-created the hay bale wall of green willpower, stacking the wall higher. Flim trotted over to the weeping Indigo Chieftess, offering to her a kerchief for her tears.

The silence stretched on for a moment, then two.

“Ok...I don’t see any more of them,” Rainbow Dash said as she did an about face. “So now we go after the rest of them!  We…”

“Hold on there Rainbow,” Applejack interrupted with her distinctive twang. “We don’t know where they are, where they’ve gotten to, if there are any more, and how many there are. Let’s just stay put for a moment and assess things.”

”What? We can’t just do nothing…let them go! “

“Ah didn’t say that!”

Rainbow Dash sounded a disdainful snort as Applejack frowned. Both mares glared at each other while Twilight summoned an image of her lieutenant. A small statue of The Great and Frightful Trixie appeared and hovered before her. The animated construct speaking in a muffled voice. The snap of its tail and the scowl it wore told anyone looking that the show mare was a bit perturbed.

“Trixie says they are alright. No Black Lanterns came after them when they left town. The Appleloosians are safe.”

“Ah’ll take a look around, see if there are any more of em’,” Big Mack offered. Applejack closed her eyes and nodded. The big stallion rose into the air and flew off in the direction the Black Lanterns came from. Arcana gestured with her head indicating that she was going to follow. Rainbow Dash scrunched her face and nodded. The unicorn red lantern followed the earth pony out over the plain. Pinkie Pie hung in the air like she was still standing on her construct cannon, but the ring creation had disappeared into a cloud of blue sparks.

Little Strong Heart stood next to Queen Fluttershy frozen in awe of what she had just seen. It had happened so quickly she had no time to understand what was going on. The stillness and quiet was unnerving to the little buffalo after the chaos and death that had just rained down.

“So…those were the Black Lanterns! They are more…fearsome than you described,” the small Star Sapphire said in a small, quavering voice.

Fluttershy let her protective wall disappear and turned to face her newest corps member. Her eyes no longer burned with violet light, the strange helmet and aura had disappeared. The Pegasus looked up and down the line of tribe members seemingly rooted in place. Many of them stared at the lanterns before them with gaping mouths, the power and death they had witnessed shocking most of them. As the dust cleared the remains of the now still black lanterns remained.

The bodies were all jumbled, tossed about like they were the toys of a giant foal.  The shattered forms thrown about randomly, pieces of one body mixed haphazardly with another, loose bones strewn her and there. It was like a graveyard had been opened and upended. The smell of rotting flesh, fear, wastes and sweat made many a little nauseous.

Chief Thunderhooves rushed forward now that Fluttershy’s wall had disappeared, charging out into the decayed remnants of what had been his tribe folk, his ancestors. He walked like he had drunk too much hard cider, his movements loose, sloppy. He stamped at the now still bodies on the ground, looking at the tattered remains of jewelry and ceremonial clothing on the dead until he found what he sought.

The big buffalo called out, making a sound like a great deep horn as he buried his face into the body of his father. He gently touched the headdress of his father, whispering quietly, some of the tribe thought they heard him chanting an oath or a prayer. The Chief then rose and beat the ground with a free hoof as he stood over his father’s corpse and screamed at the sky. Rarity winced a little, feeling the emotions of the chief.

[= RAGE =]

“So…much…anger…” she gasped.

Rainbow Dash glided to Thunderhooves and landed before him, looking at him now with the eyes of a Red Lantern. She could feel the wrath that burned within him, the purity of the rage that now filled his heart. Red Lanterns view such anger an ideal, to have wrath born of righteousness was something all aspired to, the purest reason for a red ring. The chief’s rage was not only that of a child over what had been done to his father, but a leader outraged at what had been done to his folk.

It was the right reason-it was sanctified rage!

The red ring flared and extruded a bulb of glowing crimson energy that twisted and looped itself into another Red Lantern power ring. Rainbow Dash watched as the ring floated to the chief, its beam shining onto the buffalo and Rainbow Dash knew looking into his heart. Thunderhooves stared at the glittering red ring, his eyes sparkled in its light as it spoke to him.

[= Sentient candidate’s rage suitable =]

“You can have it chief…you can have that ring and use it to avenge your folk. You can use it to hurt the Black Lanterns if they come back.” The old chief’s head snapped around and locked eyes with the pagasus. “I’ll make you part of my corps. I’ll teach you how to use it so you and Little Strong Heart and keep the valley safe.”

“There is a catch…first off you are angry all the time, and when you fight with it you kind of…lose yourself.  You get…really caught up in the fight. The other thing is…if you take it you can never be without it! The red light replaces your blood. The ring…becomes your heart. Seriously, you will die if you remove it or doubt yourself or its power.”

He stared at the floating band of crimson rage, “Your ‘corps’? Did…did you make these rings?”

Dash shook her head. “No…they came from the sky. The red rings were made by somepo-er-someone different. They were made by a guy named Atrocitus who wanted a weapon to punish those who had killed all of his kind and destroyed his home. I was the first in the world to be chosen by a red ring.”

“Chosen? You mean you did not just take it or find it?”

“No chief…it found me.”

‘A medicine that harnesses rage itself,’ the Buffalo thought. To him it did not sound farfetched at all…

  “Yes,” he rumbled as he reached out with a foreleg at the ring. “I live for my tribe…”He was wrapped in a glaring red light as the ring of rage placed itself on his front right leg.

[= Hinjglá Tȟašáke of Makoce, you have great rage in your heart! You belong to the Red Lantern Corps! =]

The Battle of Appleloosa-Aftermath

Equestria, Sunnytown just after Sundown the day of the Battle of Appleloosa.

“SO…hOw dId thIs hAppEn,” Black Lantern Commander Hurricane asked, as some of his earth ponies used what looked like cake decorating bags to make intricate designs with a grey goo-like substance around the town’s old central fountain.

“WE lOst many, cOmmAndEr,” Black Lantern Brass Hoof said flatly. “WE dId hOwEvEr tAkE thE lIvEs wIth thE wAndErIng bUffAlO fOrAgErs, the Odd trAvElErs And A fEw lOOsE fArmErs.ThE DukE Of ApplElOOsA Is OnE Of Us nOw.  WE ArE AlsO rEcOvErIng OUr lOssEs bY EngAgIng thE BUffAlO trIbE’s sAcrEd bUrIAl grOUnd. “

Hurricane knocked Brass Hoof’s head around so it was facing backwards as he yelled. “ThEy’vE fIgUrEd OUt hOw tO vAnqUIsh OUr rIngs In mAss! ThEy’vE dOnE It fOUr tImEs nOw!” the old Pegasus war lord growled. “WE hAvE tO EnvElOp A lAntErn nOw…nO mOre OnE AnglE/wAvE AttAcks..”

“A sEtbAck At bEst And nOthIng mOrE, lEt thEm hAvE thIs little scOrE. SOOn OUr strEngth shAll bE EnOUgh, thE tImE fOr thEm shAll sOOn bE rOUgh.” Black Lantern Zecora’s sing song voice said.

“I AgrEE wIth thE shAmAn,” a bearded decaying mound of a unicorn in rotting robes said. “It wIll mAttEr lIttlE sOOn EnOUgh. OUr plAns ArE In mOtiOn…And OUr Own bAttEry Is chArgIng.”

[=Charge Level 10.14%=] croaked the wizard’s black ring.

“ThEy wOn OnE bAttlE cOmmAndEr…OnE! NExt tImE thEY trY thAt trIck AgAIn, lEt Us sEE If wE cAn shIEld OUrsElvEs wIth OUr Own cOnstrUcts.”

BKL Hurricane growled. “FInE…thOUgh It wOUld gAll mE If I wErE AlIvE…lEt thEm hAvE 'A' vIctOrY. SO... lEt Us chAngE thE gAmE. WE wIll hIt And rUn fOr nOw, gAthEr strEngth And, whEn wE ArE strOng EnOUgh, wE wIll tAkE thE OnE thIng thEY nEEd tO sUrvIvE AwAy frOm thEm. WhEn thAt Is dOnE wE shAll sprEAd thE pEAcE Of thE vOId tO All thE cOrnErs Of thIs wOrld, And thEn tO thE stArs AbOvE.”

“All thAt Is rEqUIrEd is fOr thE mIrrOr And thE AnchOr tO dIE…wIth thEm gOnE HUrrIcnE, thIs wOrld wIll dIE, wIthOUt Us dOIng AnythIng mOrE,” Black Lantern Star Swirl said. “I wIll kIll CElEstiA mYsElf whEn thE tImE Is rIght .”

“YOUr thOUsAnd cUts thEIr strEngth wIll tAkE, bUt lEt Us dO mOrE tO mAkE thEm brEAk. The tIEs thAt bInd lEt Us fInd And sEvEr thEm tO brEAk thEIr mInd,” BKL Zecora said with a hint of glee.

BKL Mitta looked up from her writing work, the decorator bag in her mouth had almost been empty for an hour but she had listened to all that the Black Lantern Corps chiefs had discussed, acting as if she was still drawing according to the old wizard's command.  She now pondered how best to do what she needed to do…

***

Ponyville, outside Golden Oak Library –Headquarters of the Yellow Lantern Corps of Equestria 10:45 PM

“Spike, I’m back! Oh, Spike,“ Twilight Sparkle couldn't almost keep herself from giggling in glee as she flew in through the observatory window of the library. “We saved Appleloosa and the Buffaloes, Spike! We won today!”

She landed in the main study, seeing Spike asleep over numerous parchments and letters. Lying near his resting head were two particular parchments that Twilight recognized as coming from Princess Celestia. One was addressed to Spike, the other to herself. There were stains on Spike’s letter where water had been spilled and made the ink run. She could not make out what the short note said.

Spike stirred, pushing off from the table and sitting up, rubbing his eyes with his claws. “Twilight,” he said sleepily as he yawned and stretched. He looked at the table and gathered some of the documents that covered its surface.

The dragon scratched his belly as he made a smacking sound, “Twilight, where did you go? I was going to follow you and Rarity and you both disappeared. Listen, Princess Celestia is…”

“We were…called by Fluttershy and had to go help her.” Twilight spoke unable to contain her elation. “There were a lot of Black Lanterns there and we had to fight them,” she sighed.

“Um…”

“We won, Spike! They left Appleloosa and the Buffaloes after the battle. No Twenty Nine Fronds today!”

“Awesome,” the tiny dragon pumped his talon. “Well, Princess Celestia will be happy to hear that! You need to tell her the good news. You should tell her right now.”

“Yes,” she smiled, her teeth glittering in the lamp light. “Spike, take a letter to the princess. “

“ Well, first off Princess Celestia is here, she’s waiting for you downstairs,” he rubbed his lips with his tongue. “She came alone, Twilight. She said she has something important to speak to you about."

“What is it about?”

Spike glanced at the parchments in his claws, “I don’t know, she wouldn’t tell me.”

“Ok.” Twilight Sparkle swallowed hard,” What else?”

Spike frowned slightly as he pulled some of the parchments on the table to him.” Something happened while you were gone, something…weird.”

“Oh? “

Spike began to walk to the stairs, stepping gently so his feet would make very little sound. Twilight followed behind, gliding silently on ring power. Spike arrived at the top of the stairs and pulled out a single parchment. Twilight took the document with her magic and held it in front of her eyes. "This is from the constable's office! How...why do you have this Spike?"

“Because like I said, it's weird. Everypony knows that if something strange starts happening around here...you are the unicorn to talk to about it," Spike took a deep breath. "A stallion was found in the street a couple of hours ago. He’s a stranger in town, homeless and had been caught stealing food before.” The dragon began to descend the stairs, Twilight reading the page and silently following him down the steps. “He was found near Applejack’s place out cold. The weird thing…He didn’t seem to remember anything, including how to speak.” Twilight followed Spike’s recounting. The parchment repeated what the dragon was saying.  “The doctor tried a memory spell with no result. It was like he had no memories at all Twilight. He was active, he reacted ok otherwise, but it's like...he never learned anything...or forgot everything!”

“His cutie mark was…missing!” Twilight interjected. They had arrived at the bottom of the stairs. “That’s…how…what! That’s impossible! No magic I know of can do that?”

“Could it be a ring, Twilight,” Princess Celestia’s voice asked. The alicorn's soothing tone filled her twitching ears.

Twilight Sparkle turned and bowed to the Princess of the Sun, her muzzle almost pushed into the floor. Her ring aura appeared. “I…I don’t know, Princess. We haven’t seen that from any. None of the rings has…demonstrated that ability…none!”

Princess Celestia took a deep breath. “Twilight, I have every confidence in your abilities, and I am sure that you will uncover the cause of this latest happenstance. Please rise, I have to talk to you."

Twilight rose from the floor and stood on all of her hooves; the yellow aura disappeared. Princess Celestia moved forward and nuzzled her best student then backed up and sat on her haunches.

“I believe I heard you say that the lanterns had a battle today?”

Twilight smiled, unable to contain her joy,” Yes, Princess! Black Lanterns attacked Appleloosa and Buffaloes living nearby. There was a battle and we….didn’t just knock them down or back, we won today, we really won!” Twilight grinned. “We actually destroyed many of them!”

Princess Celestia closed her eyes and gently smiled, nodding her head. “How many lives were lost, Twilight? How many were killed?”

Twilight rubbed her chin with her ring hoof, the smiled again. “It may take a couple of days to know for sure but…I don’t think we lost many at all, Princess. The town took some damage and the Buffaloes’ camp was wrecked…but we lost nopony in the fight. We saved both the town and the tribe!”

Princess Celestia let out a long breath. Good news; it was good news, something she desperately needed to hear. Bright eyes looked down at her faithful student. ‘And now I must dampen the exultation of your victory.’

“A survey was completed of the crypts of Canterlot yesterday. Twilight, there are…missing bodies.”

A parchment scroll appeared, held in the princess’ magic.”This is the list of the missing. It was compiled by the Magistrix of the Arcane Academy.” The document then flew to the unicorn and opened. “It has been verified three times, Twilight. I wanted to make sure before telling you. Spike…you need to read that list, too.”

Twilight began to read. The list read a bit like a who’s who of Equestrian History. Each name she read came as a cut. The most recent dead were at the top of the list, many having died in her lifetime, but ponies of the far past were on the list too, many of them loved heroes. The last names were the ones that struck her heart.

“Pudding Head, Smart Cookie, Platinum…Clover the Clever!” Then there was one last name, a name that made her gasp out loud.

“Yes,” the Sun Princess sighed.

“What? What is it,” Spike asked. The parchment floated to him. Grabbing the scroll, he read quickly, his eyes becoming wide as he read the end.

Finishing the list, he turned and looked at Twilight Sparkle. The bottom edge of her eyes sparkled with what could only be tears. Spike reached over and hugged the unicorn around the neck, burying his snout into her coat. Twilight turned and looked into his eyes.

“Oh, Spike.” She nuzzled him and pulled him in to return his hug. “It will be ok, Spike…it will be ok.”

Even as her words came from her tongue, she felt she was lying, for now icy terror stabbed at her heart knowing who must now be fighting her and her friends. A buzzing sound rose into her ears as she asked herself a terrifying question…

‘The greatest, wisest and most powerful unicorn in all history is a Black lantern!  Can I beat him?’

…and asking herself that…the yellow ring on her leg purred.

*

Outside Ponyville, at that moment.

She tried to not splash when she stepped down into the stream, tried to not make any noise that would draw the attention of the vengeful lantern of hate. Facet could not help it. She was so weak.

“What do we do Glimmer,” a dark figure asked. Thick green blood that ran from the changelings wounds as she tried to re-establish her pony disguise.

Her companion crouched next to her, raising his head over the stream bank just enough to see.

“We get back to the Queen and tell her what we found after we tend to your wounds.” Glimmer the changeling said as he used his magic to wrap some cloth around the worse injuries for his hive mate. “She needs to know.”

“But,” Facet coughed, green fluid sprayed onto Glimmer’s wings. “But… the Reds!”

“To Tartarus with the Reds,” Glimmer spat. “I don’t care if it hurts just being around them. Our hive and Queen must know!” A prickling burning sensation came over his 'skin'. "I'm not giving up another hive to anyone without a fight."

Facet groaned from the sensation herself and almost screamed as she collapsed into the dirt. “Ah..he’s here!” the wounded changeling whimpered. ”He found us.”

“You get back to our hive and tell the queen about what we’ve found out. As for the hatemonger,“ Glimmer looked in off in the direction of a soft red glow that was becoming brighter by the heartbeat.  “I’ll take care of him.”

“But…” Facet stammered,” He’ll kill you!”

“Maybe, but the Queen must be told and our secret must be kept safe!”  Glimmer groaned as he changed shape, becoming a pegasus.  He nuzzled her then got on top of the stream bank.

“Get moving Facet,” he said curtly as he flew to the growing red light.

Flaring light and the sound of yelling followed after Glimmer disappeared into red glow. Facet was sure she could hear the sound of her partner fighting the red lantern. What sounded like his howls of agony filled her ears and chilled her heart. She crawled away quietly, assuming the image of an earthpony mare as she limped into bushes. It was then she saw the shape of Glimmer, covered in red fire crashing into the bank of the stream they had just taken refuge in. He crawled into the spot they had both just left. She turned away, tears in her eyes when she saw him point with his head. Silently she moved away, into the thickness of the brush.

Red Lantern Score landed on the stream bank, a burning tower of hate towering over Glimmer. The ring aura lighted the stream bank. Glimmer whimpered. This close to the rage lantern, just the radiance of aura was withering to a changeling.

“Wow! I didn’t know bugponies had that much blood in them,” he said with a smirk. RL Score then kneeled down, the wounded changeling now pushing itself deeper into the dirt trying to get away from the painful light of his ring. He poked with his ring hoof at the shape shifter, a hiss sound coming from Glimmer’s muzzle.

“Funny…I expected to see more holes in you after that. You look a little strange even for a changeling.” Glimmer folded his legs closer into his body. “So, no more fight in you? “ RL Score asked. The Changeling’s breathing became more labored.

“N-no I’m done, ” Glimmer said as he spat at the rage wielder. “C-Congratulations, you got this lone hive scout,“ the Changeling looked deep into the eyes of the red lantern. “So finish it already. ”

Red fire formed over Score’s other hoof. “For what you did to Canterlot…”

“I wasn’t there…” Glimmer coughed.

“Your Queen was,” the red lantern snapped.

“Yes she was.” Glimmer rolled over onto his side, his body began to curl in on itself. “But you don’t care what she was doing…”

"What she was doing!" Blood Plasma dripped from Score's mouth. “How DARE you! You little…” he paused.

The Changeling’s body was still. The light of  his eyes fading as the red lantern watched. The thorax didn’t move any longer, but was still. The rage stallion grumbled as he lifted off in the air.

Facet watched a red star shooting into the night sky and thanked her luck that the Red Lantern had not started searching for her. Glimmer’s last act was to lie to his killer and give her a chance to make it back to the hive. 'The queen must know' he had said, and now she could get away and make sure she did know.

"Oh my Glimmer...my brave Glimmer."

She used the edge of the Everfree to make her way, staying in the thick of the vegetation as she wound her way around the edge of the town. Each step was more labored than the last and black unconsciousness  pulled at her mind, threatening to stop her. Her wounds soaked the bandages she had made from some spider silk she had found. It took hours to limp to the cluster of trees that marked the opening to the hive tunnel.

Hive guards appeared from hidden watch places in the brush. Changeling spears were now floating all around her.  The entrance guards were silent, staring at her. She sat on her haunches and waited, dropping her earth pony form.

“You look hurt sister,” a voice came from the hidden tunnel.

“I-“ she stammered. Tears stared to fall from her eyes as she dropped her earth pony form. “I am.”

“Um-hum.” The voice responded. “What’s the password? Who are you?”

Facet looked in the direction of the voice. Weakness came out of her muzzle as she spoke.

“Cinnamon Stick,” she said. The spears lowered.

“I-I am Facet, scout of the hive. I…I lost my soldier. He was killed by a red lantern,” like an over filled bag of goods  from market let go she collapsed to the ground.

“I-have news for the Queen.” The scout changeling said weakly.

“Get her inside! Quick!” the voice from the entrance said. She was surrounded by the green aura of levitation magic, the weight of the world suddenly taken away. Gravity’s pull being gone was a great relief to Facet. Just that action by her hive mates helped her.

“Take her to the Queen!”  somepony said.

It seemed to take forever to make the trip down the tunnel. All the while there were murmuring and talk, the sound becoming so loud and confusing she could only follow bits and pieces.

“The Queen has been told! She is coming!” “Get royal jelly! Get her royal jelly!” “We need a cocoon ready! Quick!” “A Red Lantern did this?"

Facet finally gave into the blackness clawing at her. The last thing she saw was light from the end of the tunnel into her hive. Time passed with no marker or hint, the void swallowed her mind so that not even a whisper was heard. Facet was content to float in this place, no pain or horror, no loss or hate, just floating…

When she began to wake, murmurs and bulb light that felt like stabbing awls to her eyes were the first messenger to her mind that she still lived. The feeling from her body began to return, each nerve telling her how close the black had come to claiming her for their own.  Her vision was blurry as she tried to see around her, all she could see was lights and rough shapes. Yellows, blacks, greens, purples, blue random shapes stared to become clear as she shook her head.

“The Queen is here,” somepony said. Facet could now feel the thick fluid of a cocoon enveloping her body and warmth shining down on her. Shapes moved in and out of her still blurry vision. Slowly things became clearer.  The line of the hive wall was becoming clear now, the lanterns on the wall providing the light for her to see.

The blurs faded, lines becoming clearer as she finally could see.

The face of her queen appeared over her, filling her vision.

“Thank the light you’re ok,” Star Sapphire Queen Fluttershy said as she leaned in and nuzzled Facet, the mere touch of the bearer of the Violet Light was enough to make much of her pain disappear. Fluttershy held up her Violet Power ring.

“I used the ring’s light to help you. Thank goodness you’re all right.” The Queen’s voice that moment was the sweetest music Facet had heard in a long time. “What happened to you?”

Tears appeared in her eyes as Facet reached up and hugged the Sapphire Queen. Her sorrow burst forth from her lips as she started to wail.

“Oh my Queen, we are cursed! I have lost my soldier and mate Glimmer! He died protecting me from a Red Lantern…the lantern who did this to me!”

Fluttershy gasped. “What? One of Rainbow Dash’s lanterns did this to you? W-Why?”

Facet swallowed. “The Reds wage war on all Changeling kind now. They do it in secret. They say it is in revenge for what happened in Canterlot! The Red Lanterns are…” she sobbed, unable to speak.

Fluttershy patted her on the head.

"They...they kill us!"

The Sapphire Queen gasped. "What? No, oh no-I-I can't believe it!"

The crying changeling swallowed and breathed deeply. “It is worse my Queen! Because of the Reds…Black Lantern Changelings now exist, and they still have their magic and can change their appearance!” Facet swallowed. “And because of the Red’s attacks on her, Queen Chrysalis has begun to send spies out to learn of her new enemy.“ The changelings murmured, some sounds like cursing filled the room. Fluttershy raised a hoof and the noise died down.

“It is only a matter of time before she learns of the Violet battery my Queen, and learns that it is the Light of Love! When that happens she will come to take it!”

"Queen Chrysalis is coming!” somepony yelled. A Changeling worker at the back began to shake. She scuttled into a hollow in the back of the room, rocking back and forth as she tried to hide.  A soldier changeling moved to her and pulled her into a hug, whispering into her ears while he patted her on the neck.

“She will finish us off if she discovers us!” a voice yelled.

“AH! We are lost,” another said

“Did you hear? The Reds hunt our kind as the Queen did,” a worker cried.

“The Queen will end us…she will finish what she started when she destroyed Princess Lace Wing the Kind,” an older soldier wept.

"Princess...Lace Wing..the Kind? Who was that," the Star Sapphire asked.

"She was our hive mother before you my queen," the soldier bowed his head as he answered her. "She was why we were outcast. She dared to question her mother in our dealings with other creatures."

"She questioned her mother? Chrysalis is her mother?"

"Was mom...WAS." Tears fell from the changelings eyes. All around her Fluttershy could hear sobbing. "Princess Lace Wing thought that we should come in friendship, offer exchange with others, trade, learn, teach. The princess believed we should coexist."

Queen Chrysalis had a daughter...a ROYAL daughter? "What...what happened to Princess Lace Wing? Where is she?"

A not so holed hoof touched Fluttershy. Facet looked at the Star Sapphire, tears falling from her eyes.

"She set up a hive here in Equestria...she planned to reveal herself to the Princesses...but..."

"But?"

"Queen Chrysalis said that it endangered her plans of invasion! She said...ponies were food and nothing more. Princess Lace Wing disagreed. At first they debated, then they argued and then they fought and..."

"And?"

"The..the Queen won!" the warrior changeling growled. "Our Princess was gone. Queen Chrysalis then cast us all out declaring any who followed her 'wayward daughter' traitors to Changeling kind. She used her army to destroy our hive as practice for her attack on Canterlot. We fled and scattered, living as best we could. Some tried to warn Equestria of the Queen's intentions...but it was no use, the guards took our warnings as a threat. That is how we came here. We were utterly lost...until you my Queen."

"That is why we love you...you saved us and proved our beloved lost Princess right." Facet choked. She reached out to Fluttershy as she wailed. "You let us make a home, gave us love even though you had no reason to...showed us kindness. You have given us so much love we can make Royal Jelly; more than we have ever been able to make before." Facet pushed her hooves into her face, "Now...now SHE will finish us...oh my Queen we are lost!"

The Changelings buzzed and murmured. Some could be heard saying they would attack Chrysalis themselves and die rather than give up another home with love at its center. Others fell to their knees and cried. The Violet Lantern rose into the air, her aura glowing to give the hive comfort.

“Um..Now…now,” Fluttershy said as she hovered over ‘her’ changelings. “I am not going to let that happen! We will figure out something. ” The pegasus smiled. “ And…remember;  what happens to changelings when they get too close to the battery?"

Facet whipped tears from her eyes before she spoke. “Majesty I fear that will not happen with Queen Chrysalis! I…I’m afraid she won’t become entranced like we do when we get too close to the Violet Lantern! My greatest terror that she will not fall into torpor but will become stronger and more powerful than she was in Canterlot!”

Queen Fluttershy swallowed hard. So much had just changed in the last minute!  Chrysalis...and at war with Rainbow Dash! What started that? Why had she not said anything to her friends?What was Rainbow thinking?

“I don’t know what to do,” she sighed as a tear welled up in her right eye.

Staking Claim

"The trickle of refugees began to grow then, more and more arriving in Ponyville every day; ponies, mules, great dogs, even griffins all seeking to be safe by being next to the lantern corps. Ponyville, for the first time in its history was getting congested.”

“We did what we could do to help; Applejack hired some to work on her farm, giving them a job and a place to shelter while devoting all her energies to building the Green Corps and fighting the Black Lanterns. Rarity got donations from the town’s wealthy for open places for the homeless to set up shelter and feed. Fluttershy helped with taking care of the children seeing that Cheerilee had help and support for the school. I did what I could with Rainbow Dash to make things safe for the town. We did not know at the time just what was already inside our community; what Rainbow’s foolish little side crusade had wrought until it was too late.”

-The record of the Yellow Lantern Corps by Twilight Sparkle

Equestria, Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres Farm the morning of the fourth day after the battle of Appaloosa.

Rufus’s first meal with the Apple Family had been one of interesting contrasts. He had expected complaint from the ponies and belittling insults about his behavior. To his surprise and delight, the farm family acted much as he did, eating with the noisy abandon most of his folk did. The youngest child Applebloom was particularly surprising to Rufus; He could not believe that a filly so small could eat so much. The Apples didn’t even flinch when he let out a burp. Granny Smith’s only word to him was a simple ‘ya might wanna say pardon after that, some ponies are more sensitive to that noise then others.’ After she simply patted him on the head and asked if he wanted more.

The tension at breakfast today was not one of manners, it was one of building.

“Why not the farm Jackie?” Boomerang Blitz asked as he threw back a cup of black coffee. He had finished only half of his plate of hash browns passing the griddle fried potatoes to Rufus. The Diamond Dog ‘wolfed’ down the food, making rude noises as he did so.

Applejack stared quietly out the window of the dining room, the rays of the morning sun casting their warm light over the trees and grass. She watched Applebloom walking in the lush grass, towing that wagon behind her. She never was parted from the wagon or the sack that rode in it lately. She listened to the birds singing on the roof; the song of her youth of the days when Ma and Pa were alive, she was sassy and care free, when Applebloom still cried for a bottle. The accident that took her parents away was like her real birthday now, her life with them, that time seemed so far away now, so distant; almost another world. Family had a bigger meaning to her now, the feelings she was starting to have for these ponies and the dog all wearing the green ring….

She took a deep breath before turning around to answer the old soldier.

“The Corps needs a base, a place ta hang our hat. Twilight has dang near made the Library’s basement stretch out til’ it’s under half of Ponyville. The Star Sapphies as buildin’ a castle outta that crystal that their rings make and Ah won’t even start on RD and her sky fort.” Raindrops sitting next to Breaburn at the end of the large table nodded silently in agreement.

“I agree that we need to set up our own base of operations. But that doesn’t answer my question Jackie.” The bat pony looked over the coffee mug’s rim, watching the wisps of steam rising out of the inky beverage it contained. “Why do you not want us to set up here?”

Applejack’s lips pressed together tightly.”It don’t feel proper pitchin' our tents here Colonel, not ta me at least. The Green Lantern Corps is not mah property and setting up here says it is,” she turned back to the window and looked out over the trees again.

"There's nothing wrong with defending your home Jackie. As a matter of fact, I'd question your sanity if you didn't." the new instructor sipped at his coffee again. Breaburn fidgeted.

"Ah'm still gonna sleep here. So is Mac. Rufus is talkin’ some kinda barrier out of rock for the farm an’ Twilight has a ward spell that will tell us somethin’ is commin’ our way. Nah; protecting the house ain't the issue. The message it sends ta everyone, and the way and why we're doin' all this is as important as the thing itself." Applejack sighed.

"The corps itself needs a home, that belongs to all of us, and we...Ah need a place Ah can step away from it to ta keep mah sanity even if only for a' bite an' gulp. Besides; seein’ other lanterns in the Book of Oa, Ah don't think the place could take the poundin' of our practices."

Raindrops nodded as she sipped at a glass of grass juice. Applejack had talked to her while Boomerang Blitz has secluded himself the last few days studying the rings abilities. The Green Lantern Corps Leader confided in the not-to-be denied Alpha Lantern about her misgivings establishing the corps headquarters out of the farm. She was pulled by conflicting needs: protection vs. utility, appearances vs. necessity, ownership and a host of other issues. The urge to protect her family and her town clashed with Applejack’s sense of propriety and the Book of Oa. What she was doing fighting the Black Lanterns, protecting life, building a corps was not enough; the ‘why’ and ‘how’ were as important to her as the ‘what’.

"Um-hum," the bat pony closed his eyes in thought. "I see your point girl, and I agree, mostly. That being said, where do you propose to set our 'home' up?" Breaburn grimaced when the instructor spoke.

"Ah got us the place." the Corps Leader said.

Applejack walked into the living room and came back with a long tube. She bit into the lip of the tube cap and pulled the lid of the container off. She then shock out the contents, a flurry of papers falling out. One large scroll began to open as it cleared the tube, revealing itself to be a map.

"This is where Ah want us to go." she pointed to a very sparse looking patch of land on the map west of Ponyville, the flat scrub lands at the foot of the mountains west of town. "Rufus told me about the area an' Ah remembered that it was on the way to that mountain the dragon wuz sleepin' in not long ago. Ah checked with the Mayor's an' shire's office: no one claims it. The spot is next to our property so it’s close enough we can protect everyone an' far enough away no one should get hurt by our practicin', and you said we all begin practicing startin’ today right Boomerang?" He nodded.

Applejack the sighed and looked at her lanterns in their eyes as she spoke. "So, ta get the ball rollin’ Ah...'lent' the Corps the money to buy the land.” There was sudden silence in the room save the eating dog. “It was cheap as its mostly hard ground and scrub, not a lot of anythin' growin' out there and..." The green lanterns all but the chewing Rufus, gasped.

"AJ! You lent the corps...MONEY?" Big Mac said as his eyes threatened to pop out of his head.

'You're still acting better than Applebloom did this morning when she found out,' Applejack thought. Her little sister had just about had a case of apoplexy when she had discovered what her big sister had done. The sight of her grinding her teeth, the roar of her accusations had surprised Applejack and she felt the pangs of guilt…

…until she saw the unmitigated mess of the filly’s room.

'Gotta remember to get with Granny after we tell the new field hooves what to do and clean out that mess she has surrounding her bed.' Her muzzle scrunched.

"Technically...Ah cosigned a loan" Applejack said flatly.

Boomerang Blitz shook his head. “We could have gotten a royal grant Jacky..”

“It ain’t right doin’ that. No.”

Breaburn snorted as Big Mac hut his hooves to his shaking head. Raindrops and Boomerang Blitz murmured back and forth as the two earth stallions began to try and speak to the farm mare. Applejack cut them off by waving a ring bearing leg.

"Look...Rufus says that he knows the geology of the place and says it's rich in gems an' that the loan will be paid..."

"The Diamond Dog wants gems. Of course." Breaburn grumbled. A low growl from the breakfast table stopped him.

"Then why has Rufus promised by his lanternship, to forgo ANY profits from such a build," the large dog growled.

"Really?" Boomerang Blitz's eyes were wide as faced the canine. "You agreed to no spoils at all? Why?"

"Because this is for warpack...we do what we need to for warpack FIRST. Then after war pack has what it needs to...op-er-ate, then may take a profit...only then. Is it also the law of 'the book' not to no?" He turned to look at Raindrops as he said the last statement.

"Principle 6: Refusing to use the equipment, resources or authority of The Corps for personal gain." Raindrops said as a strange, almost bemused look came over her face. "You did listen to me!"

The dog shrugged and let out a large burp. "It time you ponies learn...not all of us obsessed with gems." he said as he scratched at his ear with his rear left leg. “What I promised will happen…there will be enough gems to pay for everything our Corps needs.” The dog then took a deep breath. “Now, is there any more to eat?”

Applejack and Boomerang Blitz got burst out laughing at the same time. Rufus sat up and stared at the two ponies, his ears pricked up. The old bat pony the slapped the farm mare on her side hard.

"Jackie...this one's a 'gem'," he chuckled.

"He...he struck you Pack Leader...without proper challenge!" Rufus growled as he rose and faced the bat pony. Applejack shook her head, her continued laughter seem to give pause to the canine.

"Naw, naw sugarcube it's fine. Striking me like that shows our...togetherness in adversity." She wiped a tear from her eye.

"Oh! Then should we all not strike each other as well?" The dogs looked about. Now all the ponies began laughing. Boomerang Blitz trotted up to the canine and smacked him on the side with a hoof.

"Bow Wow," the old warrior snorted. "You are a hoot! Jackie, I'm bunking with this character from now on."

‘Ponies are all strange,’ The thought. “I thought ponies hated living in den holes?” the dog questioned.

Boomerang Blitz shook his head. “I’m a batpony Rufus. Caves in the mountains are what we call home. A good cave would be a bit of comfort to me.”

Rufus now wagged his tail. Not all pony humor was lost on him. “Good, then you can help me in the design of the Citadel and the defenses of the farm. By the way instructor, I drink no coffee.”

“Nobody’s perfect Rufus.”

“True, but we try building a perfect place together no?”

“Alright you two, we still ain’t done here.” Applejack stifled her laughter.  “Hate to dampin’ the laugh we just had but we still gotta talk about Oaton!”

“Oaton? What about it cuz?” Breaburn looked at a map of Equestria from his ring.”Ah’ve never heard of the town.”

“Nor will ya, it’s gone!” Applejack created an image of smoking ruins with her ring. “This is all we found.”

“Nothing living?” Raindrops asked.

“Not-even-a-mouse.” Applejack said. The room had become silent. Even Rufus had stopped eating. "We've got ta do better y'all, we've gotta!"

***

Equestria, Canterlot Castle, Private Apartments of Princess Luna five days after the Battle of Appaloosa.

“Your majesty…please reconsider taking this action. We know very little of these rings, their effects on a wearer, the nature of the power they utilize,” a violet eyed pegasus protested. “From all information you gave me indicates that this particular ring is the most dangerous of all of them.”

“I understand the risks Dr. Yearling”, she answered. “But there are things that must be known… “she gazed into the crimson band. “Things I must know."

“I’ll give you top marks in guts princess, but these rings are so unknown. I’ve seen artifacts like this before.” A.K. Yearling bit her bottom lip. “We just don’t know enough mam, we don’t know all the risks.”

“You are one of the greatest researchers in esoteric artifacts and strange phenomena Dr. Yearling, you are also something of a risk taker yourself,” she smirked at the pegasus.” Is not your nom de guerre Daring Do?”

“My risks are calculated and it’s my own neck, no one else’s.”

“Am I not doing the same?”

“I am not a Princess of the Realm,” the pegasus looked into Princess Luna’s eyes deeply. “Why you? Why not…why not me?”

“I…have greater resiliency than any of my subjects, and intimate experience with strange powers out of this world,” Luna smiled. ”I also have you, my sister and Midnight Rain to watch over for me.”

“Princess Celestia would not approve of you trying this ring majesty,” Midnight Rain had pleaded. “Do not do this…please!”

Daring Do shook her head. “Forget it. I’ve seen that look in her eyes before; in my mirror. The best we can do Miss Secretary is support her with all our abilities.” She nosed at a bottle on the table next to her. ”Ready when you are Princess.”

She placed her leg into the glimmering blood colored band, closed her eyes and concentrated.

‘To be with a Red Ring, you have to get angry, very angry! The ring will use that to touch you, to be part of you’, the Red Lantern Arcana had told her when she had brought the red ring to Canterlot. All the Lantern Corps had sent a ring, complying with the Royal Sister's request. No black ring had been captured intact as of yet and thus none was available to be studied. She had tried them all, save this one…the last and most dangerous one.

[= Scanning for Rage =]

She touched old pain trying to access the ring. Visualization was one of the things she excelled in beyond all others; after all she was princess of dreams. Feelings of old were brought up, trying to stimulate the red ring to connect.

‘Imprisoned for millennia…love they have for sister, fear they have for me. Why?’

She could feel the ring reach out to her, touch her mind…

Nothing yet...

She tried again.

[= Scanning for Rage. =]

‘Tia is always so perfect! Always!’ The heat of anger rose into her face. 'Tia can do no wrong!'

She could feel the red ring reaching out again, trying to see if her rage was sufficient.

[= Scanning for Rage. =]

‘I found my own from my subjects…my beloved subjects…’ Her thoughts went to the Black Lanterns, and Hurricane the Returned. ‘I had love…LOVE!’

A rotting pony in tarnished, blackened armor rose from the inky mists, a black power ring on its hoof.

'YOU!'

[=Rage found. =]

The broken jaw that hung by strands of corrupted flesh did not move when it spoke..

‘ThE BlAcK Owns yOUr nIght prIncEss…dEAth wILL ExILE yOU AgAIn! ThE BlAck shAll tAkE All yOu hAvE AwAY!’

'To Tartarus with you!'

‘EvEn TArtArUs cAnnOt cOntAin thE VOId PrIncEss!’  

[= Assessing Rage. =] [= Rage Sufficient for bonding process =]

The red rings crimson fire flowed into her veins. A throbbing booming sound filled her ears as a mist of wrath fell across her eyes. The red light shined through all the dark corners of her mind, finding all the outrages and using them to fuel the bonfire of fury that grew in her heart. The moon princess’s muscles trembled as her will to remain in place fought with the boiling anger that demanded she charge. Luna let out a roar that no pony should have been able to utter.

…and at that final moment Luna removed the red ring; lest she loose herself utterly to it. It felt like she was tearing her own chest open and ripping out her beating heart in trying to stop the fiery hate from consuming her soul.

Pity filled her last thoughts before she blacked out; pity for the Red Lanterns…then darkness took her.

“Princess? PRINCESS!!!” Midnight Rain shrieked.

***

Equestria, Ponyville, behind Silversmith’s metal works six days after the Battle of Appaloosa 2:35 A.M.

“Shush! Can’t you levitate that bag quietly,” a pegasus stallion said as he hovered. “We just got into this town and I want to pull a few more jobs before we’re discovered.”

“It’s not that easy with this much silver and gold,” the unicorn mare said, her strain telling in the stress in her voice. “You could carry some you know.”

“I’m the blocker. I have to keep moving to look out for the constable night watch,” he hissed. “Especially with a large haul like this.”

“The glow of my magic is going to give us away Top Floor. This town isn’t like Manehatten, all lighted up.”

He shrugged as his listened with his ears pointed forward. ”Gateway I don’t think so. Besides with all these ‘lanterns’ flying around…”

“That’s another thing,” she whispered. “I know we wanted to blend in with the ponies moving here, hide in with the scared herd and pick em’ clean…but don’t you think those lanterns will catch us, aren’t we borrowing trouble?”

“Nah…they are too busy fighting the zombies to care about a couple of sneak thieves,” he finished scouting the next intersection. “It’s clear. Let’s head out of town by that apple farm. When we’re out of sight of the farm house, we’ll nick some of their apples to eat.”

They had walked for about an hour, the only other pony they saw was the constable night watch making his rounds. Hiding from him had been a simple thing for experienced thieves like them, after all he was a small town cop, not a big city inspector.

They came to a crook bend in the road, the forest on one side of the road, the apple farm on the other. The bend formed a clearing on the forest side of the road behind the trees. Nopony from the farm house or the town would be able to see them. At the edge of this clearing they stopped and began to look through their purloined treasure. Quietly and under the gentle glow of Gateway’s magic, the gold and silver implements glittered.

“Quite a hall eh? These townies are rubes ripe for picking,” Top Floor chuckled quietly.

“Well we got it out of town alright. Now we just have to melt it down to change it into something we can get rid of.”

“I’m going to get some apples,” the pegasus said. He was suddenly very hungry and the smell of apple trees made his appetite increase. He hovered next to one of the large apple trees looking at the ripening fruit. “Want some?”

“…yeah…I’m hungry too.” Gateway said. “That was a lot of work.”

“Well then…lets eat. Nopony can see or hear us..so I doubt the farmer will miss any of his crop until we’re long gone.”

Top Floor picked a number of apples off the tree and batted them to his pardner. The unicorn began eating, munching the apples with a greediness he had not seen in a while.” Easy there…save some for me!”

“Sorry….just so hungry all of a sudden…”

“Well now what do we have here?” A small voice came out from the darkness. “Looks like ah’ couple ah’ thieves eatin’ mah apples!”

Top Floor flew in a circle looking for the source of the voice. He saw nothing. Gateway dropped her light and pulled on her owl-vision goggles. She looked around and seeing nothing called out.

“Did you hear that,” the unicorn asked as she searched with her magical goggles.

“Yeah,” her partner agreed. “where did it come from?”

Top Floor flew around the clearing listening. There was no sound he could hear not even breathing to give away where the voice came from. The only thing he could hear was the rustling of leaves in the nighttime breeze.

The pegasus landed, still looking here and there, but seeing nothing. “If it was the cops, they would have grabbed us by now. Let’s get a couple more apples and get out of here.”

There was a flash of bright orange light that struck Top Floor, knocking him to the ground. He became surrounded by an orange glow.

“Nopony, NOPONY takes what’s *MINE!***” a high pitched growl came from somewhere in the forest.

Gateway’s horn glowed brightly. She summoned a shield of magical energy over herself as her eyes stared into the darkness from where the light had come from.

“Listen…we don’t want any trouble…look we can give you some of this stuff…pay for what we took.”

“Ah'll take it all! “

The light exploded onto Gateway, melting her shield like acid melting wax. She was surrounded by the same glow that Top Floor was enveloped in. She couldn't move, or use her magic. Suddenly she felt like she was being torn in two, she could feel herself being pulled into the light, yet something was also holding her to the ground like a restraint spell.

“Wh….why…” Top Floor stuttered as he settled into the grass, yielding to the strange hold the light had on him. He felt like his very being was being peeled up like a sticker.

“What’s mine is mine…and not yours!” The voice of the orange light said. “That’s the whole tellin’ of it.”

Two balls of orange light now formed over the still forms of the ponies on the ground. The lumius spheres expanded and changed shape, stretching like taffy pulled in a machine. The glowing shapes became more defined and finally completed the transformation, becoming the image of the ponies on the ground but made of orange light.

“Now then, y’all; mah hoard needs a’ new home. You’ve got some movin' ta do.”

*

Equestria, Ponyville Sky Castle Boiling Point at that same moment of the thieves’ altercation.

“Where the heck is that looser Score?” Red Lantern  Rainbow Dash hover passed over the cloud floor of her castle. “He was supposed to report back about that nest.” The red lantern brought her ring up to her face. “He’s not even answering my ring calls!”

“He’s at the quarry letting his rage run wild.” The haunting voice of RL Wildfire told her corps leader. “He was on his way here when he felt the madness coming on.

Rainbow Dash’s sneer disappeared as she faced the protector of the Red Battery. “Is he alone?”

“No, his friends are with him. They meet up with Arcana who was already there doing the same thing.” The lantern of crimson energy shook her head. “She almost tore the head off a waiter at the café when she realized what was about to happen and left.”

Rainbow turned away from Wildfire and glided silently over to the battlement wall. The lights of Ponyville burned silently in the night, the serenity of the town at this hour something the pegasus felt she could not be a part of. She swallowed hard and placed her head into her hooves.

“Is it getting worse Wildfire,” she asked.

The sudden warming at her side told the red lantern leader the construct lantern was next to her. “Yeah it is.”

Rainbow dash turned to look at the energy lantern. “How about you? Do you just….get overwhelmed with rage? Does it turn you into…”

“A rabid animal? No.” Wildfire’s wings opened and bent. The tips of her wings pointed back at herself. “One of the only advantages of having an energy body apparently.” Wildfire now looked out of Ponyville herself. “We have to solve this Dash. The rage attacks are getting more frequent and lasting longer.” Wildfire gently drifted backwards,” Did this happen to the old Red Lanterns? What did they do when they got like this?”

The red lantern corps commander stared at her ring for a moment before answering. “Well…the ‘old’ Red Lanterns where all pretty much like that all the time unless they bathed in the Blood Ocean of Ysmault.” She pointed out with a wing and made a sweeping motion. “There is no blood ocean here.”

“Then what do we do?” the Red Battery guard asked. “If we don’t do something soon…somepony innocent is going to get hurt…or worse.”

RL Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and scrunched up her muzzle. “I don’t know Wildfire…I do not know.”

Bad Moon Rising

Aquastria; The Coral Castle of King Leo shortly before dawn six days after the Battle of Appleloosa.

"Are your instructions clear?" The old  royal seapony asked, his voice sounding like a rumbling undersea volcano. The officers of the court floated next to the resting king who faced eight seaponies clad with the gold and silver bands and harnesses of the diplomatic service of the Kingdom of Aquastria.

"Yes majesty. Perfectly clear." Whirlpool replied. She closed her eyes and began reciting from memory her mission. "The royal envoy is to proceed to Manehatten and with aid of our magic wielders and the unicorns, then proceed to Canterlot where I am to give the Royal Sisters your majesty’s plea for aid against the monsters."

"Very good."

"Highness? Would not a pegasus messenger be more rapid? The Island of Feather Glow has a number of them from the Equestrian Guard for such messages."

The king nodded and gazed into Whirlpool's eyes. "Word of your mission has already been sent that way. An envoy is needed to show just how desperate our position is, and to have eyes at the Canterlot Court because we have heard there are powers in the world that can stop these Black Lanterns where even my magic has proven unable to do more than slow them down." Whirlpools eyes widened.

The king lowered his head scratching his muzzle with a fore fin. "Ask if they have any dealings with...the Lanterns of Light."

"Lanterns of Light?"

"Yes. There are other lanterns in this world apparently. Word has reached us that in Equestria there are Lanterns that wield light of singular colors and they have been able to check the power of the undead that plague us." The king turned to his Chancellor.

"Have we heard anything from our envoys to the Caribou?"

The old seapony dropped to the floor of the chamber while lowering his head. "Yes your highness. We have learned that the Earldom of the West is scattered. Earl Frost Song ordered his folk to disperse, hoping that such a move would save lives. Even now he makes his way with his brother and sister to the harbor of Snøen faller Holde, trying to draw the Black Lanterns to him and away from his folk."

"Brave." the king said while shaking his head. "Give him any aid we can. Whirlpool, take this news with you, the Royal Alicorns must hear what our neighbors face as well."

"It shall be done my monarch," the envoy said as she dipped to the chamber floor. Drifting backwards in unison, the Aquastrian mission to Canterlot left the chamber of the King, the large coral doors closing with a loud thud. The king turned back to the Chancellor and sighed.

"What do you think Prickly?"

"I don't know what to think highness, but I hope the rumors we have heard are true."

"Hope," the king rumbled. "I have heard that is one of the lights...the blue light of hope."

***

Equestria, Sweet Apple Acres, eight days after the Battle of Appleoosa, 10:15 A.M.

'…and he’s doing it again!' the Appleloosan Green Lantern thought.

Breaburn clinched his teeth. It had been like this for days, the yelling, and the constant practice. He didn’t like anypony telling him what to do, and not being family this old bat was wearing thin on the Appleloosian.

“The guy is starting to damage mah calm Macintosh,” he whispered to his cousin.

“What in Tartarus was that? That’s not what I taught you to do! I am not going to have anypony I’ve trained fly like that.” Boomerang Blitz snapped.” Do it again!”

“Yes Instructor,” barked Applejack. In the blink of an eye she was high in the air, making loops around a cloud before heading off to another cluster of clouds. The farm mare then started to fly between the clouds, weaving in and out through the fluffy white maze.

The green lantern’s new instructor watched, sitting on his rump peering through a pair of construct field glasses floating in front his eyes. A small smile graced his muzzle as he watched. He moved his head away from the binoculars keeping his eyes on Applejack.

“Ya know..Ya really got some nerve,” Breaburn grumbled. Behind him Macintosh rolled his eyes, ‘here we go.’

“You gotta problem with me pretty colt?” The bat pony turned and scowled at Breaburn. Rufus who had been standing next to him now slowly backed away to stand next to Big Mac. He raised his eyebrows at the oldest Apple brother and made a slight nod in the direction of his cousin and the bat pony.

“Ah’m tired of you treatin’ us like we are foals! Yellin’ in our faces, screamin to ‘do it again’. Goin’ on about tactics…feah! You ain’t that tough, and you don’t know everythin’! Heck ya got yer ring the same time Ah did! We’ve had it the same time!”

“Do tell. So you know everything now do you?”

“Ah know just as much as you do.”

“Uh-huh,” a smirk crossed the old warrior’s face.

Breaburn stomped with his ring hoof. He had had enough. ”Ah don’t think yer all that! Ya can’t treat any of mah kinfolk like this.””

Boomerang sniffed and stepped away from the water bucket he was standing next to. ”Oh Really? “

“It’s been like this fer days!” Breaburn was yelling now “You treat us like manure! Ah’ve had mah fill of it!” Macintosh had stepped back. Applejack continued her circuit flight, threading herself through the cloud obstacles. Raindrops rested on a large piece of cloud, ready to repair any damage to the course.

“We won in Appaloosa didn’t we?”

Boomerang Blitz rumbled,” We got lucky kid…and Oaton didn’t!” Breaburn growled like an upset dog.

“Ah had enough a’ yer mouth old stallion!” stepped closer to the batpony. Mac began to move towards Breaburn his ring glowing. Boomerang Blitz briefly looked at him

The bat pony faced the irritated Appleloosian “Alright youngster…what are you gonna do about it then?”

“Ah’ll show ya!”Breaburn yelled.

The young stallion brought up his ring leg, willing a hammer to appear that had half materialized when the old bat pony slammed into him with a body check. Breaburn was knocked off his hooves onto the ground. The construct he had summoned dying in mid-formation. He reached out with his ring, trying to form something solid to shield himself. A Wall of bricks had just formed when a battering ram smashed through as if it was made of thin plaster, knocking Breaburn nose over tail along the ground.

Boomerang Blitz stood still, his legs slight bent, apart and slightly staggered. The bat pony’s wings were opened and spread wide, making him appear even larger and more fearsome than before. His ears were flat, eyes narrow beneath a deep frowning brow. His tale lashed back and forth quickly and sharply. He had not razed or pointed his ring when he had directed its power.

“Had enough?”

Breaburn coughed. “Fine…yer good with the ring, ah natural…Ah’ll give ya that, but yer not so tough without it.”

Mackintosh put a hoof up to his face and shook his head , ‘in for a bit, in for a bushel huh Breaburn,’ he thought.

Boomerang Blitz razed his right front leg. The glowing green ring slipped off. The uniform of the Green Lantern Corps melted away, the gauzy fabric of energy pulled off and away with the band.

“I can’t fly or glide without it so it’s fair.” He stomped at the ground with his right front hoof. “Come get me kid!”

Breaburn stared at the old warrior for a moment before standing up on his hooves. He mentally told the ring to remove itself, the lantern ring complying. The Appleloosian then charged, his teeth bared and his ears back in anger. He pivoted at the last moment to bring his hind legs up to buck…

…as a front leg smashed into his ribs.

He stumbled away from the blow, gasping for breath before a hot point of pain in his side stopped him. He couldn’t get a breath! When he tried to take in air, searing pain stabbed at his side. Breaburn stumbled as he circled around, looking for the old bat pony. Boomerang Blitz was standing on all hooves, legs wide and head down.

Breaburn gasped in pain as he took a half breath and jumped. He raised his front legs, driving them into Boomerang Blitz, hitting him in the shoulder. The old guard groaned a bit and was knocked onto his side, landing hard with a thump. Breaburn landed still standing. He started to chuckle a little when his hind legs were swept from under him, forcing his rump into the ground hard. The batpony had landed on the ground and swept his hind legs under Breaburn’s, causing the earthpony to fall. He then popped up from the ground and hit the Appleloosian in the neck, knocking him over onto the ground. Stars appeared in his vision as he coughed from the sting of the neck blow. It hurt to breathe and to swallow.

The old army stallion walked over and stood over him.

“You, you, you. That’s all I’ve heard out of your mouth today. Got news for ya colt,” the bat pony made a sweeping jeature that covered the other corps members.  “It ain’t about you, it ceased being about you when you accepted the ring.”

Boomerang then raised his leg and the green lantern ring flew to it, returning to its perch, the action giving the trainer more gravitas.

“This ain’t a fight in a saloon where the constable is gonna come in, break it up and you spend the night in jail at worst…this is war,” he spat. “These Black Lanterns are playing for keeps. That means DEAD!”

The war horse stared at Breaburn with is cold eyes. It suddenly felt to Breaburn like a chilled wind ran over his skin.

“If you die…or anypony else dies, they become part of the enemy, they’re not just gone…they turn sides and come after you, and me and anypony else. I’m here to do one thing…to keep that from happening by making you and everypony else here ready to fight: period! Having the ring is only the first part…the why of the using and knowing how to use it and using it together with your fellow corps members…your family...that’s the rest.“

Breaburn’s face had a sour expression when the old soldier said that last statement.

“Yeah you heard me…family! Your family is all wearing green right now…doing a job others can’t.” Boomerang Blitz took a deep breath and pointed up at the sky where Applejack continued to run the air course. “And up there... is the matriarch of this clan.”

Boomerang stepped away from Breaburn. “You think I’m being hard on Jackie? You’re damn right I am being hard on her dreamboat, because she demanded it from me! Why? Because she’s willing to go through all kinds of suffering to get where she needs to go! She understands now what it is going to take. She wants to be the best, not for herself or to impress the Reds or anypony else; she doing it because she’s honest about the duty she took on…and honest about what it requires. She knows she has to be….for everyone! She knew that when she kept the ring and took the job after reading that book…it wasn’t about her anymore.”

GL Boomerang Blitz rose into the air on ring power, staring down at Breaburn. “She intends to live up to what the symbol on these rings means…and it’s a tall order kid and her first rule was…everyone fights: including her. I respect her for that. Too many ‘leaders’ don’t want to get their hooves dirty. Jackie? No, not her.”

“She’s smart, tough, able and willing, yet still not naive! Do you have any idea how rare that is?“ The old warrior spat at the ground again after a gurgling sound came from his throat. “Don’t ever think I don’t respect her…EVER!” the bat pony’s tail snapped adding emphasis to the statement.

A funny look came over his face. The old soldier then smiled, his pointed teeth giving him a slightly sinister appearance. Pointed teeth appeared as Boomerang Blitz smilled.

“This afternoon we are having some lanterns over for a practice, expanding our training by sparing with other colored lanterns. They wield their rings differently than we do, so the experience should be good for all of us.  Since you know everything and can handle yourself dreamboat…you can play with the Blue Lantern this afternoon! “

He streaked into the sky to an overhead cloud, landing on the fluffy island in the sky. He began to yell and gesture at Applejack, who had stopped flying laps over the farm. “Take thirty Jacky, I’m going to talk to chuckles”, he called out as he flew up to where Raindrops was resting. The farm mare nodded and began to descend. Breaburn stared at the sky, still trying to recover. His sight was suddenly blocked by his large cousin standing over him.

“Ya never gonna learn to shut up are ya Breaburn,” Big Mackintosh asked. Rufus chuckled behind him, grabbing his tummy and covering his muzzle with his ring paw. His tale wagged wildly.

“Maybe this time…gah!” Breaburn groaned as he rose. He grimaced in pain as he labored to stand up.”He kicked my flank good.” The diamond dog was still snickering as he looked at the beaten earth pony.

“What’s so funny doggy?”

Rufus cleared his throat to speak, “We have saying in the mines: ‘there is a reason he is so old and still has all his limbs’.”

“What does that even mean?”

The Diamond Dog winked before uttering his retort; “Figure it out.” Big Mack voiced a deep chuckle.

“Ugh…old hard flank, ” Breaburn coughed.

“He has ta be. If we aren’t ready…he feels it’s his fault,” Big Mack said.

The Appleloosian stared up at his large cousin, “That presumes much don’t it Mack? Who asked him ta take that kinda weight on his back anyway?”

The great stallion pointed with his ring hoof at a course flying Applejack,” the same mare who took on a lot herself with all this ring business that's who.”

Breaburn grumbled, “And that line about the corps bein’ family…”

"Its mah experience that there's two kinds ah' family; blood kin and chosen family," Mac sniffed.

"The ring chose us Mac..." Breaburn started to point out.

"And we chose ta keep it, and do the duty of a lantern. Wasn’t that Boom’s point?" the big stallion replied. Mac's cousin frowned.

“Look. Let me try an say it this way: do you ever want ta let family down Breaburn?” The oldest apple cousin asked as he glanced up at the sky.

“What the…of course not Mac! “

“Well…like it or not the corps is family to him…you, me, Rufus, Raindrops; all of us. That's how he looks at it and he doesn’t want to disappoint any of us.“  Macintosh sighed, “I’ve thought about this Breaburn, and Ah think Ah know what Boom’s doin’, and I think he’s right: AJ needs to think of us that way too, that all us lanterns are a kind of family. It helps her.”

“How in the…none of this is makin' any sense ta me!”

The eyes of the big stallion seemed to bore into Breaburn with the intensity of their gaze,” Because Applejack won’t share her burdens with strangers, or even some of her friends…but she will share her burdens with family that can handle it. “Mack closed his eyes and took a breath, “and Boom’s job is to make sure we’re up to it……not just for the task…but for AJ, ta know she can count on us. That’s what he’s doing.”

Rufus nodded in agreement. “Mine team is the same way,” the dog said as he scratched behind his ear with a hind leg.

Breaburn’s eyes crossed as tried to comprehend when the thundering voice of the instructor came down from over their heads. “You next Bow Wow: Move!” Rufus rose into the air. He flew at a slower pace than the farm mare earning the instructors ire. Boomerang Blitz yelling could be clearly heard, telling the engineer to fly faster.

“Now…that whupin’ ya just got? That’s nuthin’,” the big stallion said quietly. Applejack now landed near them and took a drink from the water bucket that had been next to the instructor.

“Whadda mean that’s nuthin’?”

“Ya heard him…Yer gonna spar with Pinkie this afternoon…it was gonna be me but now ya up and volunteered! Ah want ta thank ya from the bottom of mah heart.”

Breaburn coughed as he recovered his ring. “Why?”

“Because Pinkie is a party pony, and she parties hardy.”

“So?”

Big Mack let out a huge laugh, his great ribcage shook has he gafauled. “Pinkie likes to do things big, especially ring slingin’; that’s why Ah said thanks. Better you than me cuz.”

“What in blazes is gonin’ on,” Applejack asked. Breaburn had recovered his ring, the new bruises on his body disappearing underneath the corps uniform.

“Not much except Breaburn runnin’ his yap again sis.” Big Mac sighed. “He learned the old war horse still has some kick in em’.”

Applejack clicked her tongue and shrugged as she rose into the air. “I’ll ask Boom later. Ah’m taking  a few winks under Flash……call me when it’s time again.

*

Though Flash and the other Zapp Apple trees had no leaves, the trunk of the oldest tree in the orchard was large enough to provide a shade that a pony could rest in. Applejack landed in the shadow the great tree and sat with her back leaning on the trunk. The grey bark of the magical tree tickled a bit as she settled in for a quick nap away from everyone and thinking under Flash’s branches seen to help and was comforting.

She took a breath and scooched into the side of the tree, letting her mind clear, giving no thought to training or duty. The tree radiated a warm feeling to her as she drifted into the lazy near sleepy rest she had come for.

“Applejack…” a whisper came to her ears on the wind.

“Ah’m restin’,’“ she murmured. Sleep seemed to be trying to cover her like the shadow of the tree.”Go away.”

“Applejack…don’t fall asleep!” the voice pleaded. “Please listen to me.”

The earth pony yawned, “Listen to who?”

“It’s Ruby…Applejack it’s Ruby..”

“Oh…hey Ruby,” she said sleepily. The restful darkness seemed to hover just out of reach.”Can’t we do this later?”

“Applejack…I can’t see you in your dreams and I can’t just leave my body when I want to and you rarely rest here!”

“Why is it important to be here?” Applejack stretched.

“Because it makes it easy if you are here; the Zapp Apple tree acts like a light, telling me you are here, allowing me to speak to you. “

“But…I saw you that night without bein’ under Flash’s branches.”

“You only saw me that night because my body was close by.” Ruby’s spirit floated over the semi dozing mare. “Please Applejack, you are the only one I can talk to this way and I have something important to tell you.”

“You gonna tell me where the Black Lanterns are darlin’?”

There was stillness for a moment before the voice of Ruby returned.”I…can’t. They move around and hide their tracks. They are all coming and going here and there. Hurricane does not want you to find us.”

“Sensible,” the napping farmer answered. “Boom would do that is he were her…”

“Applejack…they have a magician…I’ve never seen a magician that had so much power. He has cast a spell to hide our presence and their work...”

“Uh-huh. So yer invisible ta us now.”

“Yes.” Ruby’s voice became pensive.”Applejack……I know where we are, but there is a magic on the place...I…oh I can’t explain.”

“Dang that’s rough,” the dozing mare rolled over onto her other side.” Whatcha want then?”

“It’s Zecora…it’s about Zecora.”

“What about Zecora sugar cube? Is she a comin’ fer us again?”

“She…oh…no. She’s not coming, not yet anyway.” A hint of anger came to Ruby’s voice now, “She didn’t want to go after you at all! It was the black ring…it made her body do it! It makes all of us do it. Her spirit tried to resist…but it was no good,“ the voice then cracked for a moment, Applejack swore she could hear weeping. “No Zecora is unlike other black lanterns, her soul is still in her body!”

“Black Lanterns have no souls...then how come yer talking with me here…how come ya appeared ta me that night like a ghost?”

“I have my soul still,” the voice answered with a hit of bitterness. “, and Mitta too. I don’t know why we do…but we still have our souls in our bodies. It is why I can talk to you. We are trapped unable to fully flee our flesh, to be free of the suffering the black ring brings,” Ruby’s voice loosed another wail that echoed through the tree’s branches. “It hurts Applejack.”

“Ah’m sorry sugar cube…whatcha want me ta do? Find yer body and destroy the black ring? Ah’d free ya if ah could.”

“I know…and later please release us if you can. No…it’s about Zecora……the Black needs her soul to stay with her body. She’s tried to pass on completely, be free, but the black keeps her…they need her to stay for some reason.”

The farm mare yawned. “They need her soul to…stay…in her…wait! WHAT?”” Applejack raised her head up and blinked. Suddenly she was awake. “What do ya mean they need her soul to STAY? “

“Her soul is trapped in her body more than mine or Mitta’s. The Black Lanterns don’t know about Mitta or me…but they know about Zecora…they mock her soul’s attempts to gain release. They have used the black ring, magic and her flesh to make a cage that holds her soul, keeping it from leaving. She sees everything, hears everything. She struggles to free herself or to try and control her body again.” Ruby’s voice cracked like it was weeping. “If her soul was free, it somehow hurts the black more than just any black lantern’s loss.”

“She’s still in there?”  Applejack growled. The concept of what was being done to her friend finally was clear. She was a puppet……her friend’s body was nothing more than a tool for them to use; a thing…and they were making her watch everything it was doing and everything it did was against her will. Tears welled up into Applejack’s tightly closed eyes. She started to clinch her teeth together.

“Yes…the black ring uses her body as a puppet and her soul as some kind of…focus.”

Applejack’s ring aura appeared. Lightning flashed between her eyes. ‘That IS IT!’ “ Thanks fer tellin’ me.”

The voice was barely a whisper, “I must go now…lest they find me out.”

The green lantern faced the Zapp Apple tree. Her ring flared and the image of her friend the zebra shaman appeared. The picture changed at the will of its summoner, turning slowly into the hideous visage of the black lantern that had tried to take her family’s life.

A low growl came to her throat. “They are makin’ her do things she don’t want ta do…usin’ her to get us.” She rose into the air on ring power,” we’re gonna get her out!”

It was then she heard the call of Granny Smith. The old mare had dressed in her farming bonnet and apron to work on the trees in the east orchard. Granny was moving to her granddaughter at a quick pace for her, the strain of her walking showing in her face. Applejack flew over to meet her before she collapsed from exhaustion.

“Granny…what’s goin’ on? Why are you in such an all fired hurry?”

The eldest apple panted and gasped, getting her breath. “Ah’ found two ponies in the clearing near the ox bow in the road. They…they look like they're dead dearie!”

***

Private Apartments of Princess Luna, Canterlot Castle Eight days after the Battle of Appaloosa, 4:30 P.M.

“How are you feeling Princess?”

Luna looked at the nurse with a half smile, ”I am fine thank you. The arcane academy’s alchemist did an excellent job creating the potion that helped me survive.”

The earth pony nurse used a pen with her mouth on a clipboard. “Yes majesty, but it must be said that an alicorn’s powers of recovery also helped. To be honest mam, I don’t think any other pony except you or your sister could have survived, even with the phoenix regeneration potion.”

“It was reckless.” Luna’s secretary said. The bat mare stood next to her mistress’s bed opposite the nurse. “Highness, you could be dead right now.”

The moon princess frowned, “I had to know, and the red ring was different from the others, it seemed to contain a spark of magic.” Luna rose from her bed and stretched. “Yes what I did was dangerous, but it needed to be done and I needed to do it. Besides knowing what I know now, my sister is wholly unsuited to a red ring, so it would not have worked for her anyway.”

Luna's horn glowed as an apple levitated from a bowl of fruit on a table pushed up next to the wall. The green fruit hung still as she took a small bite of its flesh and chewed quietly, pondering on what she would do next. Her secretary looked downward at the floor then back at her mistress back and forth in a constant action.

Luna swallowed as she rose out of bed, ”Is there something else going on I do not know about?”

“Yes mam,” her secretary began. ”The Griffon ambassador is here at court right now. He is demanding an audience with you and your sister. He has accusations and grievances to register with your majesties.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed. “What grievance does he have with us Midnight Rain?”

The bat mare closed her green eyes and took a deep breath before speaking. “Majesty, the Griffon Kingdom accuses you and your sister of using black magic and inflicting it upon them.”

“Lies! We would not do such a thing! Outrageous! What vile thing does he say we have done?”

“He accuses you and your sister of creating and releasing the undead upon his folk…the Black Lanterns.”

Luna stood silent, her eyes wide and mouth half open. She then sat on her haunches on the floor and gritted her teeth.

“…it has gone beyond Equestria’s borders,” Luna said quietly.” It is no longer contained.”

“Yes mam…and to add to that we have had a call for aid from the King of Aquastria; the undead are in the oceans as well.”

The moon princess rose and slowly walked to the open glass double doors that led to her balcony. The deep dark blues and points of white glass reflected the daylight, casting colors across Luna, regalia, the crystal decorations twinkling as she moved. She stopped in the door frame and looked out over the palace campus, watching the grass ripple in the breeze like the waves of the sea.

“So…the panic has come on its own. We will have to abandon our original plans as circumstance no longer allows the illusion of being uninvolved. My hoof is forced.“

“My Princess? What do you mean,” Midnight Rain asked, pressing her lips and knotting her brows together.

The red mist she felt came over her again. It was lighter, less infectious but she could feel the sparks of a burning fury rise in her heart.

“I will get involved. It will show that we are on the same side, it will show the Griffons and the Sea Ponies are allies and friends, that we are in common cause with them…and to impress upon them just how serious these…walking dead really are.” Luna sighed.

“How?”

“I am the night’s guardian, Princess of the Moon. I hunt the night horrors that plague the world remember?  It is time for me to hunt again. It is time for the Moon to go to war.” Luna faced the tower where the Elements of Harmony were kept, also now the place that the rings of the lantern corps given to the Crown to be studied were stored. “…and this war requires a weapon, one that is suitable for this fight and for me!”

“Highness, no! Please don’t!” The secretary ran to her mistress, wrapping her bat wings around the alicorn. Luna shrugged off the embrace. An aloof coolness came over her demeanor as she walked through the door frame and opened her wings. The nurse bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes.”There are others…”

“Shining Armor will do what he must; what my sister and I have asked him to do…I must act directly now too.”

“Princess…”

“I am no scholar or scientist Midnight, I have no skill with study or tongue for debate, no patience for research. I am a mare of action…so I shall act.”

“To take the field yourself?” Midnight Rain exclaimed, raising her voice as she pulled back from the moon princess. “You are still recovering from the thrice cursed red power ring! Please-do not do this!”

Luna continued to look out over the rippling grass. ’How much am I, are we like the grass, moving to the forces now acting on us?’

“My princess please! Are you sure?”

Luna’s wings beat quickly and lifted her into the air. She circled back and hovered in front of her balcony. She spoke a single cold and terse word, answering her pleading secretary.

“Yes.”

She climbed higher and in a gentle curve, making her way to the tower vault. Midnight Rain slumped to the floor on her rump, a tear forming in her left eye.

“She is still...angry. Oh, what do you think Doctor?” The bat mare asked weakly.

“I was afraid of this,” A.K. Yearlings voice came from a dark alcove in the Moon Princesses apartments. “Her body may be healed, but it seems the red ring left a little bit of itself in Princess Luna.” She moved forward looking off through the door at the flying alicorn. “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t right. Oh well, at least we know what she was really doing now.”

Midnight Rain wheeled and faced the adventurer. "What do you mean by that statement Dr. Yearling?"

Daring Do laughed, in spite of the cold glare the royal secretary now used on her. Plainly the princess's actions were lost on Midnight Rain, hidden by the bat pony's devotion, or more likely by her innocence uninjured because of her youth.

"She was studying the rings to find out which suited her!" One corner of Midnight Rain's mouth curled up making the eye over that gesture become part closed. The confusion the bat pony now showed caused Daring to pause a moment. 'You really didn't see it did you! Poor girl.'

"Yes, she wanted to learn about them, but you heard her...NOT as a scholar or a scientist but as a warrior!" the pegasus snorted. "She wants to fight, but she just didn't want to rush in."

*

The shining white stone and the gold gilding of the building gave the princess of the night a sense of foreboding for what she came to retrieve. This time no servants came to retrieve an object for study by sages, or for her to sample its power. No…now she came to claim a horrid tool to do a terrible job.

Luna landed lightly and walked with an unhurried but determined gate through the entrance, passing through the magical door that glittered with light saying she was indeed the Moon Princess and not an imposter. The guards bowed and greeted her as she walked to the doors of the vault. She paused, looking at the banners and regale of the past before she lowered her head and plunged her horn into the magical lock opening.

Whirling and clicking noises came from the great sliding doors as the locks released and the vault opened. A shower of rainbow light filled the hall as the doors slid apart, dazzling Luna with their brilliance. The Elements of Harmony and the Rings of Emotion both set in their own cases, the light of the two very different artifacts melding, mixing, like they were siblings born of the same mother but very different fathers…related and connected somehow.  Sadly, the Elements had proven impotent in the face of these Black Lanterns, unable to affect them save to disrupt their form for a while. Twilight Sparkle had theorized that the elements my not work on the dead…and that was why they were not effective.

She began to use her magic to levitate the ring case when the band of gold flared and leaped from its cushion, flying on its own to her reflexively raised hoof. As the golden band landed, Luna could feel the tendrils of yellow fear energy climb up her nerves, feeling like pins and needles walking over her coat.

'It knew...the ring knew.' she thought.

[= Ring Analyzing Mind of Host=]

The first time she had tried the yellow ring on; the feelings were much duller, more subdued. The feelings the creeping yellow energy now brought forth were more intense, almost consuming.

[=Searching Out Greatest Fear =]

Luna closed her eyes. Twilight Sparkle had told her what the process of bonding with a yellow ring was like, the fear it pulled out of you to connect with it. She let the ring’s light fill her mind and look for her fears…

[= Identifying Greatest Fear =]

…and she was in the dark…total dark, utterly alone.

[= Greatest Fear Identified =]

…alone…

…a thousand years alone…

[= Greatest. Fear. =]

…a thousand silent years alone and unable to scream…

Ice and fire mixed in her heart, becoming a churning torrent, a flood of emotion the forced its way into her mind and out of her muzzle.

Luna, Mistress of the Moon, Princess of the Night and Lady of Dreams screamed! Her terror filled cry shattering glass and cracking the stones beneath her hooves. The ring on her leg buzzed, the icy needles of fear now drove into her being as an energy cocoon of the ring’s light formed around her. She turned in place, facing the hall guards screaming like a banshee. The guards trembled. A few chanted ‘Nightmare Moon’ while others abandoned their posts; the terror of their hearts coerced through the ring and into Luna…

…and she found it invigorating...intoxicating!

Luna began to laugh; a primal and sinister sounding rumble that bubbled up from within, feeling new…and very old at the same time. It was a laugh she had not used since that day she had returned to the world...

…and the guards that had not fled now froze, unable to move save two: a pegasus day guard and a bat pony night guard. The two guards approached slowly, kneeling before Princess Luna.

The laughter was chilling and the face of their princess had become terrible to behold! Nightmare Moon…some whispered…had returned, not cloaked in darkness but clad in blinding yellow light! Clothing began to appear over her body, the raiment and crest of the Princess of the Moon disappearing, replaced by the sigil and uniform of the Yellow Lantern Corps. Fear’s power rushed through her body as the ring intoned its verdict.

[= Luna Selena Nocturne of Equestria: you have the ability to instill and wield great fear. Welcome to the Yellow Lantern Corps. =]

“You,” Luna called out to the two stallions kneeling before her. Her face was a leering, grinning mask of terror. “What are your names?””

“Sh-Shadow Bar h-highness,” the bat pony answered.

“Fl-Flash Sentry majesty,” the pegasus replied.

“Go forth and tell our sister and the Ambassador of the Griffon Kingdom we shall be joining them shortly,” the Royal Canterlot Voice of Luna thundered. The yellow ring gave her voice even more power.

“… and tell them one thing more…” her eyes burned with the light of fear as she focused on the guards before her.

“H-h-highness?”

“We have claimed the power of the yellow ring!”

*

Ponyville, Golden Oak Library, Headquarters of the Yellow Lantern Corps of Equestria at that moment.

“So we took em’ to the hospital. Ah never seen the like Twi. Both of em’ are alive but unable to speak an’ their cutie marks are gone,” Applejack shivered a bit. “Gives me the creeps just thinkin’ about it.”

“Yea…this is a new one on me too Lady Sparkle,” Boomerang Blitz added.

“ The first one was the night we won at Appaloosa.” The yellow lantern leader said flatly. “Another occurred two days later. Those two are the third and forth victims.”

“Another thing,” the bat stallion offered. “Rufus said he could smell apples, gold and silver on the grass of the clearing where they were found. The apples make sense as the orchard is so close by, but the metal? Not sure what that means."

“Diamond Dogs can small metals?” the yellow lantern asked eyes wide. This was a skill she had not heard of before.

“Yes, they can but only if it is near enough to the surface. Rufus also said that there was no trail he could follow, so it had to leave by air or by teleport.”

“There was a robbery of Silversmith’s shop last night…that could be a link.” Twilight said as her ring began to buzz. That the ring made noise was not strange but it was the kind of buzz it now made. It had not made that sound in a while…the last time was when the cockatrice…

She turned away from Applejack and Boomerang Blitz for a moment, gazing into a rising bubble of yellow ring energy. The form of a pony slowly appeared in the glowing yellow marble, becoming more defined as the heartbeats passed. “The only loose ring……is the one in Canterlot. Who…”

The image became more defined, clearer. Suddenly a laughter came from the bubble…laughter Twilight had heard before and hoped would never be heard again.

“Twi…Ah……Ah just heard Nightmare Moon’s laugh,” Applejack exclaimed, her green eyes as wide as saucers.

[=Report from Ring 7219: Yellow Lantern Luna Selena Nocturne bonding process complete. =]

“Yellow Lantern Selena Nocturne? Who the hay is…"

“It’s Princess Luna’s full name Jackie,” the old bat pony shook his head. “A yellow Lantern eh? Dang! I kind of hoped she would not get involved any more than she already was. This changes things.”

Twilight Sparkle grinned a bit. “Well…I really do have to go to Canterlot to look in the Forbidden Archives for a spell that might penetrate whatever wards the Black Lanterns are using to hide themselves…and a soul finding spell may let us find Zecora.” Her eyes narrowed and she rubbed her hooves together. “I really should see my latest recruit.”

Boomerang Blitz’s face suddenly became deeply creased with lines as Applejack spoke. “Ya wanted to ask the Book somethin’ right? What do you want outta the Book of Oa right now?”

Twilight raised her head again. “Does the Book of Oa have star charts in it?”

“Star charts?”

“They’re maps of the stars in the sky.”

“Star Maps? Ah don’t know…guess it don’t hurt to ask.” Applejack looked up and to the right, closing one eye as she pondered the question. “Whatcha doin, Twilight?”

“You can use star positions as a location fix, and I wonder if we can do the same. I want to find out just where we are…where our world is in the universe. My ring does not really have any star charts in it at all, nor does Rainbow Dash’s, Rarity’s  or Fluttershy’s.” Twilight frowned. “Maybe you can do better.”

Applejack nodded. “Ring, ah gotta question.”

[= State the inquiry please=] the ring chirped.

“Do ya have….star maps in yer….records?”

[=Affirmative. This ring has access to Corps astrogation charts for most sectors. =] Twilight uttered a squee at the ring’s statement.

“Um…can ya tell us…where we are? “

[=Location fix possible. Warning: Green Lantern Corps Navigational Guides not detected. Position assessment would require match with stellar positions only. Depending on number of charts to check and comparison time, location fix could take a great deal of time to assess.=]

“Well,” Applejack looked at Twilight whose large eyes glimmered. “ Go-ahead please.  Tell me where in we are in the…universe.”

[= Checking stellar positions and light magnitudes’ for reference check…completed. Comparing reference stellar positions to astrogation charts. =]

“Ok,” Twilight breathed, “now it may take a while to…”

[= Position located. =] Applejack’s ring announced.

Suddenly the image of a spiral whirl of light alone in a great void appeared.  A circle appeared around one of the arms of the whirl. The circle expanded, and became the whole image the ponies viewed.  Individual points now appeared in the image. The action repeated, circles expanding and bringing finer details until a blue globe frosted with white with a large moon appeared.

[= References in recent memory conform to present position, using local labeling from database for commonality. Location: Sector 2814, Milky Way Galaxy, Perseus Arm, Orion Spur, Stellar Cluster SW-19-357M, Sol Star System, Planet Sol 3, local name: Earth.=]

Twilight’s eyes widened, her unnerving smile becoming larger as the ring spoke. “This never ceases to amaze me.”

[= Recalibrating planetary origin fix for lanterns in corps registry. Passing update to Green Lantern Corps database, completed. =]

“Earth,” Twilight whispered the name. “Planet Earth. Ok, this tells us where we are. Sector 2814. So, who are the Green Lanterns of sector 2814?”

Applejack repeated Twilight’s question, the ring creating the images of three biped looking creatures all apparently of the same species.

[= John Stuart of Earth. Honor Guard and Sector Lantern 2814.1 =], the ring chirped describing the short maned darker figure. Twilight frowned and made some notes as the ring continued.

[= Guy Gardner of Earth. Honor Guard and Sector Lantern 2814.2 =], the fiery maned creature was called. The image wore what Twilight could swear was a smirk on his flat face.

[= Kyle Rainer of Earth. Torch Bearer, Honor Guard and Sector Lantern 2814.3 =], the ring named the final image.

Applejack and Twilight gasped recognizing the image of the lantern named Kyle. He had been the last lantern of the long chain of green lanterns before the image of Applejack herself getting the ring appeared.

“Kyle was…the one before me,” she whispered. “Hum…Torch bearer? That’s ah new one. Haven’t heard that title before,” she looked at the ring.

“….Of Earth? I’m sorry no creature that looks like that lives here.” Twilight said with a tone that hinted at agitation.

“Twi's right ring, there just ain’t no critter that looks like that a’ livin’ here,” Applejack responded to the rings report with a hint of stress in her voice.

[= Lanterns Stuart, Gardner and Rainer home world a matter of record and confirmed: Sol 3 native designation: Earth =]

“Something is wrong,” Twilight’s voice began to have an edge to it.

“What kind of critters are they anyway? The closest thin’ we have is ah dang monkey!” the farm mare said. Twilight nodded in agreement with Applejack.

[=  Species designation: 2814-MWG-A4-S2-SCSW-19-357M-Sol-Sol3- CA-ON-B-V-SP-2P-HO-112 CiD-0.8. Native Binomial nomenclature: Homo Sapiens. Native vernacular designation: Human. Dominant species of Sol 3/Earth.  =]

“I think the ring is broken,” Boomerang Blitz offered. “Or at least the Book of Oa is wrong.”

Twilight face became creased with worry. Wrong…the book was wrong. Very wrong. No creature called human had ever been seen. The book had givin' so many answers…were they all wrong, all in error? It was the danger going on few sources. Sinestro’s notes backed up many of the Book of Oa’s assertions, but this? It was completely in error.

“I wonder what species we are called,” Twilight said. She was throwing things at the wall now, trying to find something that made sense.”What does the ring call us I wonder?”

Applejack asked the ring the question, unsure where Twilight was heading. The rings answer was very concise.

[= Lantern Applejack Species Designation 2814-MWG-A4-S2-SC SW-19-357M-Sol-Sol3-CO-ON-B-V-SP-4P- EQ-001.1 CiD-0.6. Suggested Native Binomial nomenclature: Equus Ferus Sapiens Terra. Native vernacular designation: Earth Pony =]

Twilight and Applejack frowned as a knock on the door of the library sounded. She turned and looked at the Chief Instructor, who had turned around to address the door.

“Twilie?,” Shining Armor’s muffled voice sounded through the door. “There are some things I need to talk to you about.”

‘BBBFF is here!’ “Come in Shining…were having a very…frustrating fact finding session with the Book of Oa.”

Captain Shining Armor entered the main room of the library, looking at his sister then Applejack and the bat stallion. He saluted the retired officer who waved off the honor, “I’ve retired Captain…please, none of that for me anymore from the guard.”

“I do it as a token of respect Colonel, I have read your record.” The instructor of the Green Lanterns simply bowed slightly with a nod of his head. Twilight Sparkle, a slight twitch in her eye stared at the two stallions. “You’re all here, lucky for me. So what are you up to Twilight?”

“I was just figuring out some things Shining…We have apparently found an error in the Book of Oa”

He half smiled. “Really?”

“Yes. It says we are on the planet Earth…which we are…but it also says that creatures called humans are the dominant species here.” She shook her head. “I’ve never even heard or seen them before, beyond …maybe the ramblings of some mad-mare or legends in a book so something is wrong.”

“Doesn’t..Lyra talks about those things sometimes?” Applejack asked.

Twilight groaned. “Maybe, but she’s into crypto zoology and legendary creatures in general. She was in here the other day looking up something about what was it? The Chupacabra.”

“Oh,” Applejack said as Twilight faced her sibling. “So, why are you here big brother?” He seemed a bit uncomfortable all of a sudden. There was a fear coming out of him. Though small, she could perceive it, his fear. It had a smell to it; like the thin odors of muffins that had passed by. It grew as she looked at him. It was…something hidden.

“Shining…what’s wrong? Why are you afraid? Has something bad happened? Why are you here to see me?”

“ No, nothing bad has happened…” Shining Armor, under the intense stare of his little sister fidgeted like he was wearing his armor too tight. ““Well, actually Twilie I’m not here to see you per sea.”

Applejack and Boomerang Blitz were silent, both ponies’ eyes darted back and forth between the two siblings,

The fear in him was growing with his discomfort. “ Then why are you here? Oh! Cadence, you’re here to see Cadence. I should have…”

“No Twilight. I’m actually here to see Applejack and Boomerang Blitz,” he answered.

“Why?” the Yellow Lantern leader asked.

“Well…things have changed at court. The Princesses have given me a command, and I’m here to see if it can be done,” he turned to face Applejack. “If the offer is still open?”

“What offer Captain,” the Green Lantern trainer asked.

“Applejack’s offer sir. The one she made to me when we read this Book of Oa.” He took a breath before continuing. Twilight’s mane seemed to be sprouting hair strands that popped out at random. “I have dispensation and command from Princess Celestia and Luna and from the Grand Marshall.”

He turned to look at Applejack, bowed slightly to the farm mare then looked straight into her eyes. “I’ll take you up on your offer Applejack…if your offer is still open. I request to be empowered by a lantern corps so I’ve come to see if I can become a Green Lantern to protect Canterlot.”

Applejack blushed as Boomerang Blitz chuckled quietly behind her. “Heck yeah it’s open Shinin’ Armor…”

The rest of Applejack’s statement was drowned out by Twilight Sparkle’s grumble of exasperation.

*

Equestria, Sweet Apple Acres, at the same time:

Sweetie Belle finished off loading the books and papers out of her cart, placing the stack of school work on the living room table. The tower of academic tasks became a bid frightening to her, the shear number of things Miss Cheerilee had been sending home to Applebloom was enormous.

Applebloom’s ability to do the school work was even more frightening.

It wasn’t the work itself that was the frightening part, Apple Bloom was very smart, and always studied hard, Sweetie knew she would catch up. It was the speed her friend had done it in. A week had passed since Applebloom had been getting make up work and she was just about to pass the class!

Granny Smith came into the room, walking up slowly and pausing to look at the pile of homework for her granddaughter. The old mare’s eyes widened as she looked at the pile of assignments on the table.

“Land sakes, Ah never did see so much school work for a filly in my entire put-together! It’s like she’s tryin’ ta go ta collage right now!” Granny turned and looked at Sweetie. “Thanks again child fer bringin’ Apple Bloom her school work.”

The small unicorn looked away from Granny and smiled. “It’s nothing. I‘ll do anything to help.”

“Half pint is lucky ta have such good friends.” The old mare patted Sweetie gently on the head with a trembling hoof.

“Where is Apple Bloom?”

“Oh, she’s in the kitchen havin’ another snack.” The elder Apple clicked her tongue, “the appetite on that girl.”

Sweetie looked at Granny, eyes half closed. “Is she still holding on to…”

“The sack? Yeah it never leaves her side. The pea-sy…psy…the head doctor says it makes her feel better ta hold onto it so we’ve left it alone. Ah can’t say she was wrong…Apple Bloom even cleaned up her room.”

“Is there anything in it?” Sweetie asked. Granny shook her head.

“None of us have even had a’ chance ta see if’n there’s anythin’ in that bag. Apple Bloom don’t let it outta her sight.“ Granny glanced in the direction of the kitchen. “Ah’d rather her cling to a bag then that awful hordin’ she was doin’ earlier.” Sweetie Belle looked at the floor. “Look sugarcube, why don’t you go on in an’ see her, share a snack. Ah’m sure she’d be happy to see yah, she never stops talkin’ about ‘her friends’."

Sweetie looked back up at Granny Smith and nodded, then rose off the floor and trotted to the kitchen. As she approached she could hear the sound of munching and smacking that if Sweetie had not know better , she would have swore that she was hearing a pig eating. Sweetie gently pushed the kitchen door open a crack and saw Apple Bloom devowering a large plate of the Apple’s famous brown betties. Her muzzle was covered in the remains of the snack as she took huge noisy bites. Next to the eating filly was the large sack she had begun to cling to, the ends of the drawstring looped around one of her legs.

Sweetie pushed the door open and walked in, putting on a broad smile as she entered the kitchen. “Hello Apple Bloom,” she said with her characteristic squeak to her voice. Apple Bloom paused from her eating to smile at her, saying “howdy” with a filled mouth. Sweetie Belle pulled up one of the sitting stools and sat near her friend, finding herself hungry as well.

“How are you doing Apple Bloom,” she asked as she reached at the plate of Brown Betties.

The kitchen became strangely silent, and what felt like a chill wind went over Sweetie’s coat. She looked at Apple Bloom and saw her friend teeth barred glaring at her. Apple Bloom's eyes seemed a blaze with a strange light like a predator staring at Sweetie from the darkness of the forest. Her brow was furrowed and her ears pointed back in anger. There was a growing feeling in Sweetie that she was about to be attacked when Apple Bloom broke her silence with words that carried a menace she had never heard from her friend before.

“If ya want any get Granny to give ya some, “ the plate of snacks started to slide closer to the Earth Filly. Apple Bloom then uttered a noise that was more growl than words; “these, *are, MINE*!”

Sweetie put her hooves and muzzle on the table top. Her ears flopped down. “O…Ok Apple Bloom. I’m sorry.”

The scowl that had suddenly appeared melted away, Apple Bloom took another bite, keeping her eyes on Sweetie. “ Ya just…ya shouldn’t eat others food is all Ah’m saying Sweetie.” The littlest Apple then let out a belch that rivaled one from the largest stallions as she reached down and pulled the large sack close to herself.

“Granny,” she yelled. “Get Sweetie a Brown Betty will ya?”

Sweetie then pressed her front hooves together. “Um…I heard you will be coming back to school soon.”

Another bite and smacking chew came from Apple Bloom before she answered. “That’s what Ah heard.” She swallowed hard. “Ya know Sweetie, Ah’m gonna tell ya somethin’. Ya know how we want our Cutie Marks?”

The unicorn sat up, her eyes darted up in thought. ‘Cutie Marks, maybe this is her being normal.’

“Yeah, I know I want mine.”

Beneath her hooves, Sweetie felt a vibration in the table top. She looked back at her friend. Apple Bloom, muzzle dirty from eating, had pressed her hooves into the wood of the table. A slight creaking sound came from the pressure of the filly’s hooves. Apple Bloom’s eyes were alight, her lips curled into a wild smile. “Ah want mine more than ever…but it ain’t enough! I want more!”

Puzzlement spread across Sweetie’s face. “What do you mean…more? More…Cutie Marks? Apple Bloom the last..”

Apple Bloom’s smile changed, becoming the slight curve that told Sweeite her friend was scemeing. “Naw Sweetie…it’s just not about cutie marks, it’s about everythin’. Ah want more of everythin’! “

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Ah mean everythin’! “ Apple Bloom looked at her blank flank. “An’ Ah’m startin with respect…time ta get more respect Sweetie. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon haven’t given me what’s mine…Ah think it’s time ta change that.”

“Apple Bloom…I still don't understand. Explain it to me please.”

The earth filly suddenly made a sour face then jumped down from her stool, stuffing her face as she left the table, sack in tow.  Apple Bloom then trotted to the bathroom saying with a full mouth ‘Ah’ll be back’ as she entered and closed the door. She then pushed the lock catch and pressed her rump against the door, calling for her orange power ring to appear.

The glittering copper band appeared in a flash of light and then disgorged a ball of orange ring energy the became the image of a large dragon moving down a cave tunnel. Apple Bloom watched as the dragon in the image entered into a chamber filled with objects of all sorts. Gold, gems, furniture, carpets all around. The dragon snaked his head around, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Glowing figures of orange appeared in the image and began attacking the dragon, piling on top of him.

“Don’t let him use his fire!” Apple Bloom snapped. She called the uniform of black and orange over herself as she gripped the sack with her ring power. The bathroom window began to glow with orange light as the sash opened. Apple Bloom lifted in the air and hovered by the new exit.

“Sweetie…Ah’ll meet ya at the club house!”

“What? Apple Bloom what are you doing?” the muffled voice of Sweetie Belle came through the locked door.

“Ah got somethin’ to do…right now!” Apple Bloom answered as she used her ring to unlock the bathroom door. She then streaked through the open window, flying out of sight so quickly that when Sweetie opened the door and looked out the window she could not find her friend at all.

Orange Bloom

Lanterns of Equestria The Blackest Night- Orange Bloom

“This was the time when Applejack made her first moves as a leader which would demonstrate that within the farmer of humble origins was a Mare of War. When news of the Griffon Kingdom’s plight reached the Council of the Lantern Corps, it was Applejack who returned with a battle plan. She stated that she saw the Black Lanterns in Equestria operating like robber foxes stealing eggs from chicken coops hitting then running, but in the Griffon Kingdom they were acting like a wild prairie fire, and she purposed they treat them as such. The Corps agreed after an intense debate. Clarissi Applejack with Lady Sparkle  told the Griffon Ambassador what they planned to do.”

“Thus Operation Fire Break; the first offensive of the Lanterns of Light went into motion”

-A history of the Blackest Night and the Lantern Corps by Raven Inkwell

The Griffon Kingdom, outside the city of Talos, six days after the launching of Operation Firebreak. 10:45 A.M.

[=WILL=]

THUP! THUP! THUP!

Green construct projectiles fell like a hail storm onto the flying black lantern griffins. Perforated corpuses fell back to the ground, crashing into the oncoming crowd of void ring wearers advancing at the city the Green Lantern was charged to protect. A wall of construct metal appeared in front of the Black Lanterns like a breakwater defying the ocean. A crashing sopping sound rose from the ground from the collision of decaying flesh and virtual metal.  A beam of green energy struck the ground by the metal wall causing the bare ground to begin to glow. Ring glow followed the line of the barrier, the ground in front of the wall beneath the Black Lanterns paws. A crack of up thrust stone then appeared, following the green trail of energy.

“Where in the endless pit is the Indigo Herd,” Green Lantern Rufus snarled.

The large metal shield of green ring energy began to bulge in random places, strikes making Rufus’ construct ring like true metal. In his mind Rufus could ‘feel’ the barrier beginning to weaken. The Diamond Dog GL rose higher into the air and looked at the wave of Black Lanterns crashing against his barrier. Angled I beam braces anchored into the ground appeared at the spots most deformed by the assaulting black lanterns. Ring sense told him someone was coming from the city behind him.

“Lantern Rufus sir, I’m here to help!”

GL Rufus turned to see a small griffin male flying to him. The green aura and the uniform told him that it was Alex, the one the extra ring Applejack had given him before they left Equestria had chosen to bear it. Rufus felt he was a little young, but the ring chose the boy, and rather than object his parents were overjoyed that their son was chosen to be a lantern.

“Alex, you were to finish cremation and scattering then return to the city!” Rufus, his construct wall bolsters holding now used his ring to ‘pull’ the rock from under the ground up in front of the undead. At first the claws of the monsters broke the rock but Rufus continued to pull more stone up to thicken the new natural wall he was erecting and their strikes were beginning to lose effect.

“Go back!”

“I will not let my Lantern Mentor fight for my city alone!”

The young Green Lantern rose into the air, a phalanx of seven muskets appearing before him. The guns then erupted, green fire belching forth sending green construct musket balls whizzing at the Black Lanterns. A few of the undead had begun to try and fly before being knocked down by storm of rocks propelled by Rufus’ ring.

A stream of black objects flew by the two green lanterns, making a sound like locusts in flight on their way to destroy crops. Rufus surrounded his apprentice and himself in a bubble field as the black rings streaked by. The young griffin’s eyes bugged as he watched the black power rings heading to Talos.

“You finished right?”

The youngster nodded. “Yes Sir! By royal order all the graves in and around the city were exhumed and the bodies burned to ash by Red Lantern plasma. I scattered the ashes to the winds of the world myself. There are no dead in Talos, no bodies for the Black Lanterns to use.”

[=RAGE=]

“What are you dweebs doing having a tea party?” Red Lantern Gilda came to a stop outside the force bubble, blood plasma seeping from her mouth. “I thought I came home to fight undead with warriors helping me, not do it alone with an audience just watching me then again, what should I expect from the corps of the dodger.”

Rufus’ eyes narrowed as his lips and muzzle wrinkled up and his ears laid back.

RL Gilda shot higher into the air then turned back, streaking down. She roared and a stream of red plasma rained down the churning mob of Black Lanterns; the shower of destruction melted a score of undead while Gilda came down talons bared. Red ring energy crackled along the edges of the ready claws.

Rufus poured more power into the stone enclosure when his ring flared.  The voice of Raindrops called to him as her image appeared floating before him.

“Rufus, where are you? I’ve got a yellow Lantern, a Star Sapphire and two Indigo Herd to help.”

“Sending you my location now,” GL Raindrops image nodded as she looked at a globe floating in front of her. “What are you doing here Alpha Lantern,” he asked as he continued to pull up stone. His young apprentice made more muskets having them fire in waves. Volley after volley poured into the Black Lanterns, hampering their ability to get beyond Rufus’ stone wall. “You must really want to win your 10 bits back!”

Raindrops’ image winced. “No. I’ve come to relieve you Rufus. You need to go back to the Citadel o Warden.”

“Warden? Me?”

“Yes. You’ve been promoted. You are now Warden of the Citadel and High Protector of the Battery.”

Rufus growled. “Watch dog you mean!”

Raindrops shock her head. The Alpha Lantern’s normally hard eyes softened for a moment. “Rufus, it’s not like that.”

“It’s exactly like that!” Rufus descended as spike studded shoulder guards appeared with matching torso protection and leg braces. Alex flew in a circle around his mentor; griffon armor flashed into existence over his body and then disappeared just as quickly.

“Concentrate Alex, Focus,” growled the Diamond Dog Green Lantern as a giant rock hammer appeared next to him.

“You are one of the best lanterns we have,” Raindrops continued. “Boom also wants you to help with training, and Applejack wants you to watch the battery and keep it safe.” A small smile came to the mare’s muzzle.

“I also think she wants you to keep an eye on Rainbow Dash since she has elected to stay and ‘guard home’.”

“We need every lantern we can spare right now!” A low rumble sounded from Rufus. “I should stay here and fight.”

The Alpha Lantern’s muzzle wrinkled up, making the mare look like she had tasted a sour fruit. “What’s your ring charge at,” she asked simply.

“20%.” The Diamond Dog’s ears flattened.

“You need to go home Rufus.”

The rock he had pulled up now towered over the Black Lanterns. By pulling the stone up, the ground underneath the undead had become fractured and weak. Slowly the crush of bodies began sinking into the earth, the Black Lanterns clawing and struggling to climb out. Alex now used more precise shot to pick off the enemy that succeeded in clearing the new formed pit.

“What are you waiting for watchdog,” RL Gilda spat. Red plasma fell onto the boiling mass of death that Rufus had contained. Rufus curled his lips back from his teeth in anger as his apprentice flew up to his side.

The giant hammer came down on the massed Black Lanterns as Rufus gave into a brief moment of anger. Alex’s neck feathers fluffed in surprise as he floated back.

“Watchdog,” he growled.

*

“It was when her sister was away that the Holder of the Orange Light finally revealed herself and in doing so the last strands of her restraint began to snap.”

Report to the Regents about the War of the Blackest Night by A.K. Yearling.

Equestria, Ponyville Schoolhouse at that very moment.

“Lookit’ all of em with their cutie marks!” Apple Bloom stared into the eyes of herself. Orange fire played around the irises of the doppelganger floating in front of her. Apple Bloom had always talked to herself, but it was quite another thing to see yourself talk back to you.

“We should have those marks! None of em’ deserve ta’ have their marks…none of em’ appreciate it like we do,” her orange clad image said to her. “They may not have tried ta take our stuff…but you can bet they’re a thinkin’ about it!”

The filly scrunched her eyes tight and swallowed. The longing, the burning longing for cutie marks rose in her. It was like an itch that couldn’t be scratched or like the endless hunger she felt, nothing could satisfy the craving that half drove her mad. Opening her desk Apple Bloom pushed her muzzle deep into her desk and took a small bite of a stick of string cheese she had hidden inside. She withdrew her face chewing softly and patted the billowed sack underneath her desk.

“Miss Cheerilee, I’ve got a Question. Why does Apple Bloom get to keep that weird sack with her at her desk instead of hanging it up like the rest of us,” a cracking colt’s voice called out. “Why is she sitting in the back of the class?”

“See!” The levitating image of Apple Bloom said. “He’s sniffin’ around like a schemin’ thief!”

Apple Blooms tail curved around the draw string of the sack, coiling the bag tighter like a constrictor snake. The bag was quietly drawn up between the filly’s hind legs which she used to clamp the tight the sack and its contents. Half closed eyes slid right to glare at Snails.

“Apple Bloom has permission to keep it with her Snails,” the teacher answered as she pointed at the filly with her ring bearing leg. “As long as she does not disrupt class it can stay with her.”

“But…”

“As for where she’s sitting; this is a special circumstance and I’d worry more about your assignment than Apple Blooms bag and seating if I were you Snails.” The colt dropped his face to stare at his desk blankly. Miss Cheerilee walked to the chalk board and pointed at the writing on the board which read ‘Math Quiz’. The class let out a collective moan.

“Now now, settle down everypony. After we finish the quiz, we’ll do show and tell,” the teacher said. She then opened a drawer of her desk and using her mouth pulled a neat pile of papers out and placed it on her desk top. “Scootaloo, Silver Spoon. Please come up and take the quizzes and pass them out to the class.”

The two children rose and came forward, each taking half of the quiz stack. Scootaloo suppressed sneering as she waited for Silver Spoon to take her half of the quizzes. The children then went down the lines of desks passing out the quizzes. Scootaloo came to Apple Bloom sitting in the most remote desk in the back of the class.

The paper fluttered down onto the earth filly’s desk, its curling edges seeming to point up at Apple Bloom accusing her of something. A gang of guilt shot through her heart as she thought about her family for a moment.

Scootaloo stomch suddenly growled  as she began speaking to her friend, “Good to see you here Apple Bloom.” A reddish glistening film appeared at the ends of Scootaloo’s mouth. Her tongue ran over the fluid and she swallowed. The pegasus filly then pressed her ring bearing hoof into her belly.

“Sorry…hungry all of a sudden. That’s strange.” Apple Bloom stared at the red power ring, its light seem to shimmer in Apple Bloom’s eyes.

“So…pretty…” she said under her breath. “I’d like to have one.”

“Huh? What did you say Apple Bloom?”

The earth filly shook her head suddenly, closing her eyes tightly. “Sorry nuthin' Scoot, just lookin’ at yer ring. Um…Ah’ll see ya at lunch ok?”

“I’ll have to,” Scootaloo smiled. “I can’t see you sitting all the way back here. I guess Miss. Cheerilee wanted you away from Diamond and Silver.”

Apple Bloom smiled as she placed her lips on her pencil. “Yeah Scoot…sure.”

A loud clippy-clop sound of their teacher’s hooves called attention to the front of the class. “Alright everypony sit down, test starts now: no talking please.”

Apple Bloom stared at the problems on the paper, ten in all. As she read the fest one a quiet chuckle came from her mouth. She read each quickly and found that she could complete the problem as she read it, her mind racing and calculating faster than it ever had before. The answers seem to appear in front of her eyes written in glowing orange characters and graphs. She wrote down each answer before she moved on to the next problem, her pencil moving light lightning. Within a minute she had completed the test, her pencil falling to the desk top with an audible clacking sound. A few of the students look over at her for a heartbeat or two before returning to their work. Apple Bloom rose onto her hind legs and waved a fore leg above her head.

“Done Miss Cheerilee!”

Gasps and murmurs rolled out of the class’s mouths as the teacher turned to look at Apple Bloom. One of Cheerilee’s eyebrows cranked up, as one side of her mouth opened.

“Apple Bloom, you’re done?” the rising tone of her teacher’s voice told the earth filly that the teacher did not believe her.

“Yes mam, I’ll bring you mah paper…”

“No. You stay there Apple Bloom. I’ll come see it.”

Cheerilee rose, the answer sheet folded closed in her mouth and walked to the farthest desk in her classroom. Apple Bloom’s test was filled out, all work shown. She unfolded the solution key sheet and checked the answers, finding all correct, even the ones dealing with geometry which Apple Bloom had in the past had problems with. As she rechecked the answers her mouth watered and she felt suddenly very thirsty for a hay shake from Sugar Cube Corner.

“Apple Bloom…you…” The filly stared at the glowing band on her leg, her head slowly rolling to one side. Her eyes widened as she stared at the Star Sapphire power ring, a growing almost leering smile spreading across her face. A hoof reached out at the violet lighted jewelry. The child blinked several times then looked up at her teacher.

“Can Ah go to the bathroom Miss Cheerilee?”

Cheerilee returned her gaze at the correctly answered quiz and nodded her eyes wide in surprise. More murmurs from children filled the teacher’s ears.

“Um…I don’t see why not. Just be ready for show and tell later.”

“Yes mam,” the filly answered as she bounded from the desk, the precious bag gripped by her tail.

The teacher shook her head as she looked at the test a third time, trying to understand what had happened. Had she cheated and if so how? The test had been made this morning before the children had even come to school? She had heard from Mrs. Smith and Sweetie Belle that Apple Bloom was figuratively devouring books at home, doing school work above her class level…

Why?

When Applebloom returned she saw Diamond Tiara at the front of the class. She had a box covered in beautiful designs of many colors that looked like swirls and clouds fresh out of Cloudsdale. Using her muzzle, the Indigo Herd filly opened the intricate box, and lifted it so the side she had opened faced the class. Within the box was a doll. The porcelain it was made of gave it a lustrous almost glowing white color, like Princess Celestia’s coat. The mane and tail sparkled; looking like it was made of spun copper and gold, braded together to end in a pony tail with a bejeweled end. The class uttered a collective ‘oo’ as Diamond Tiara began to describe the doll…

…becoming for a moment again the center of attention.

Alone at the neither-most desk of the class Apple Bloom stared at the doll. A longing, a need to run up and sieze the doll and pull it close to herself began to fill her heart. She wet her lips with her tongue and swallowed hard.

“That doll, ” her other self hissed. “Everything that’s wrong is summed up in that doll! We should have it!”

The child’s eyes narrowed and she turned over what she heart was saying to her. A smirk spread over her muzzle and she looked at her other self.

“Compassion…she’s forced ta’ feel compassion. Ah know how ta get what we want."

*

Equestria, Citadel of the Green Lantern Corps at that moment.

“SQUEAKER!”

‘Only be one pony in the world could get away with calling me that.’

“Flappy! Just the pony I’m here to see!”

Spitfire trotted up to the landing batpony, the green aura disappearing as he touched the ground. Spitfire’s wings opened and clasped around her old instructor. She placed her head on his neck closed her eyes.

“It’s good to see you in a uniform again.”

“It’s good to be in uniform and teaching again,” he pulled back; sharp teeth gleamed in the sunlight. His smile became a scowl in an eye blink and he began yelling at an earth pony floating in the air in a green aura. Boomerang Blitz let Spitfire go and moved forward, passing the Wonderbolt while he pointed with his ring at the trainee lantern.

“You! You call that a defense construct?” The earth pony shrugged.

“Here cupcake: CATCH!”

A flight of cannon balls burst from the instructor’s ring, streaking up at the trainee lantern straight and true. A barrier of wood appeared, forming in front of the trainee lantern. The first projectile impacted and bounced off the construct. As more balls stuck the wood shattered and struck the lantern. The construct disappeared into green mist and the student fell to the ground, a giant circus net appearing underneath him at the last moment, keeping the pony from hitting the ground. GL Boomerang Blitz then was hovering over the trainee his net had caught, his eyes burned with fire.

“I caught you. The Black Lanterns: they’ll KILL YOU!” The earth pony’s ears laid flat as he nodded. The bat pony pointed at the outer circle of the green lantern’s base.

“Do 5 slow laps of the Citadel wall then go play with Big Red.”

“Yes instructor.” The pony said. He leaped into the air and started flying to the high stone wall of the Citadel. Boomerang sighed, looking at the trainee he just chewed out. He turned away and looked at Spitfire.

“Same old Flappy.”

“Eh-I gotta be rough Squeaker: Black Lantern’s play for keeps, and we need an army yesterday!”

The pegasus nodded. “I know.”

“Anyway, to what do I owe the honor of a visit by the Commander of the Wonderbolts?”

“Not anymore.” She said looking over the top of her sunglasses. “I’m all yours.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry teacher, I’ve got a permission slip for the field trip.”

She reached into a pocket with her lips pulling out an envelope with a broken wax seal. Using ring power Boomerang Blitz levitated the letter in front of him. When he got to the signature and seal of the Grand Marshal He looked at the grinning ‘former’ Wonderbolt.

“Who’s in charge of the Bolts then?”

“Soarin’s taken my place. When I’m done with this business, I’ll get my commission back.”

“You left Pie Face in charge? Squeaker…”

“He’s grown a lot since you taught us Flappy, give him a break.”

“Fair enough, RECRUIT!” The bat pony looked over the paper one more time before giving it back to Spitfire. “OK then, since I know a ring found you OK, let’s get you fixed up.” He floated up into the air, gesturing with his ring hoof that she follow. Spitfire‘s wings flapped and she was air born, flying with her old and new instructor.

"We'll start with the two bit tour."

*

Equestria, Ponyville School house, the middle of lunch period.

From the lunch benches Apple Bloom sat staring at the doll from Prance. From across the play ground the curves of the limbs, the beautiful mane braided with ribbons of many colors, Diamond Tiara’s toy filled Apple Bloom with envy and longing. Such a fine toy so beautiful to just look at must have cost a great deal of money…money the Rich family had cheated out of her family…

…even if they were unwilling to see it themselves.

All the time Diamond Tiara had been bulling Apple Bloom, flaunting her wealth the truth of where that money had come from escaped notice…until that day at school: family appreciation day. That was the day she got a peak at the truth, the day she learned that the high and mighty Rich family’s prosperity was built on the backs of her family. It was the beginning of seeing the hard truth; one that even her wise sister and brother refused to see…that they were being taken advantage of. The real epiphany came the night the orange ring came to her when she learned that life was taking what she loved from her, from what she loved…

'That’s over, Ah’m done with that.'

Now she took what she wanted, the world would be hers…and if her family could not see the truth of it, not demand what was rightfully theirs…she would take it all for herself!

Apple Bloom clutched at the bag again as she gazed at Diamond Tiara’s eyes but the sparkling light of the indigo ring caught her attention. The almost purple light of the Ring of Compassion was beautiful, beguiling, captivating. It paled compared to her glorious copper colored ring, but in a…collection the indigo ring would be quite lovely.

Another wave of jealousy flooded through Apple Bloom as she looked at Indigo Herd Diamond Tiara. Her teeth ground together as another truth became evident to her. Diamond wore her ring out in the open, for all to see; the glowing power ring displaying itself, flaunting itself, mocking Apple Bloom and her orange ring. Silently she fumed as she rose onto her hooves. Having an indigo ring would be nice, but first things first: she wanted that doll.

Apple Bloom made her way across the play yard, moving to stand in front of the other children that had gathered around. The sack and its contents followed her in the grip of her tail. When she came close to the other children several of them moved back giving her moving space as if making room for a fight of some kind. Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle alone did not move away. Scootaloo, resting in one of the tree branches across for her friends watched how her friend was going to deal with the now forcedly contrite Diamond Tiara.

Silver Spoon swallowed hard, unsure of what the Apple filly would do. She tried to think of how to start a dialog with the last of her and Diamond’s favorite targets. What to say to try and make a kind of peace? She couldn’t think of anything and began to shiver when her belly burbled. Pangs of hunger suddenly pricked her and she had a sudden urge to reach into the sack Apple Bloom carried around. The Apple child turned her head suddenly, orange light seemed to flash from her eyes for a moment. The edges of the sack’s owner mouth opened revealing bright teeth. Silver Spoon steeped back.

“Hey..um Apple Bloom, how did you get so good at math all of a sudden?” orange eyes flashed with a strange light as Apple Bloom turned to face the grey filly.

“Ah worked hard Silver Spoon; somethin’ you wouldn’t know anythin’ about!” She turned away from Silver Spoon and gave her full attention to the sitting IH Diamond Tiara, who had suddenly begun to fidget with her power ring. Her eyes now glowed with an indigo light as her mouth curled up at one end in a visage of puzzlement.

“Apple Bloom there’s something…different about you,” a half smile crossed over Diamond Tiara’s lips.

“Yes there is, and there’s something different about you too. Ah hear you actually feel regret for what ya did ta Sweetie, Scoots an’ me.”

‘Yes I do…I do feel it and I hate it! I hate knowing and feeling how wrong I was. I hate feeling…guilty.’

“Yes, I do. I feel regret for all my bad actions, all my sins.” She said as she closed her eyes and dropped her head. “I am very sorry for what I and Silver Spoon did to you.” Sweetie Bell nodded her head as she looked at Apple Bloom who had suddenly had a wry smile on her face.

“Really? Then you’d be willin’ ta do somethin’ right…ya know ta really show how sorry ya are, somethin’ ta show Everypony her how much you’ve really changed, somethin’…generous.”

The children around them began to murmur.

The solemn  Diamond Tiara looked at Apple Bloom. Her eyes closed as her head dropped. A hoof tapped on the Indigo ring, the rhythm gave the impression of a clock making off the moments. Her eyes popped open as the tapping stopped.

“What would you like me to do Apple Bloom? What do you want me to do for you to say I am sorry?”

“Well,” the Apple child’s eyes narrowed. “Since ya mentioned it, how about givin’ me that doll there?”

“My doll? My doll from Prance?” The Indigo filly turned and clasped the box containing the precious toy.

“Eeyup!” Apple Bloom pointed at the box. “Ya know…as a token for yer contrition ya might say. You were plum awful ta me ya know and ya did ask what ya could do to try an’ make amends.” Diamond nodded, her lips quivered a bit.

The gathered children looked on eyes wide, murmuring. Sweetie Bell looked at Apple Bloom one eye open larger than the other in an expression of puzzlement. Scootaloo looked on, her smirk unseen from the crowd. Miss Cheerilee and Sweetie Bell had made her promise to keep the peace with Diamond Tiara, but she took some satisfaction seeing her friend demanding something in payment for all the pain the little Indigo Herd member had put them through. Her joy evaporated when she saw a figure moving towards the crowd.

Taking a deep breath IH Diamond Tiara raised the box up in front of her while lowering her head. “If this is what you want Apple Bloom; take the doll my grandmother gave me. I am sorry I brought you such pain.”

A broad toothy smile flashed from Apple Bloom as she leaned forward. She reached out with a left hoof to take the doll, a jolt ran along her spine. The smile became bigger and broader as the box with the toy came closer and closer...

…and became a scowl when the box suddenly became surrounded in a bubble of violet energy.

“Apple Bloom, I am VERY disappointed in you!”

Ms. Cheerilee, ring glowing on her fore leg walked into the circle of children who parted like tall grass before a strong wind. The Star Sapphire turned and sat next to Diamond Tiara and raised her non ring bearing up.

“Children please return to the class room. Apple Bloom you and Diamond Tiara stay please. I want to talk to both of you young lady.”

The children turned away and began to trickle back into the school house. A couple of them looked behind them at their teacher standing next to Diamond. Scootaloo jumped from the tree branch and flew around the school house, out of sight of her teacher and waited behind the far corner of the front of the school house. Sweetie Bell who was the last of the children in line was about to enter the building behind Silver Spoon when a red blur knocked her off her hooves. She tumbled nose over tail as the red blur moved her around the corner of the building. When she landed on the ground, Scootaloo was standing over her, a hint of blood plasma seeped from her lips.

“Scootaloo,” Sweetie said as she got up onto her hooves. “What are you doing?”

“We need to see this,” she moved to the wall edge and slowly poked her head around the corner. She turned back to see Sweetie frowning.

“We?”

“OK…’I’ want to see what happens, so sue me! Come on Sweetie, are you telling me you don’t want to know how this goes down?”

The unicorn’s frown disappeared and her eyes softened. “No. But…”

“But nothing.” The red lantern pointed at a bush that was closer the where Miss. Cheerilee and the two children stood. “Come on let’s get closer if we can.”

Slowly Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell creped to the bush their ears turned in the direction of their teacher. Step by step they got closer the bush while listening to the conversation between the teacher and the antagonists.

“That’s my doll!” Apple Bloom stomped a rear hoof on the ground with force that made the Star Sapphire jump. SS Cheerilee looked at the filly sideways.

“Apple Bloom; I have tolerated your eccentric behavior because I believed it would help you heal from the awful things you’ve experienced. I even allowed you to keep that sack with you at all times even at your desk.” The child pilled the bag closer to herself. “I have let you have great leeway hoping that you would get better and hoping that you and Diamond Tiara would make peace now that she feels regret.”

“Cause of that Indigo Ring!” the child snapped. The teacher sighed.

“Yes, because of the ring she feels regret and want to make amends…but that does not give you the right to seek revenge.” The teacher said shaking her head.

“It’s mine!” Apple Bloom grumbled. “She gave it to me!”

“Apple Bloom, you bulled her into it.”

“It’s MINE!” she growled. “Give it to me!”

Cheerilee leaned back, her eyes wide in surprise. Apple Bloom had never been so demanding and selfish before. The tone and the posture the child was now taking was quite shocking, and for some reason she was suddenly feeling very famished. Diamond Tiara sat next to her a questioning face pointed at Apple Bloom.

“Young lady! I need to have a word with your grandmother…”

“Give me the doll!” she was trembling now, her teeth clinched together making a faint grinding sound.

“I know you are feeling anger Apple Bloom but…” A flash of light ran across Diamond Tiara’s face.

“That’s it,” the compassion user said as she looked up at her teacher and put a hoof on her shoulder. The mare turned and looked down at the Indigo Herd filly.

“Miss Cheerilee, she’s not feeling anger...she’s feeling greed…intense greed… “ IH Diamond Tiara looked at Apple Bloom and raised the lighted band of Indigo and pointed it at the Apple child. “ it’s like she has a ring,” orange fire appeared in front of Diamond’s forehead forming itself into what could only be a lantern corps symbol, but one the Star Sapphire had never seen.

[=AVARICE=] the indigo ring burbled.

Cheerilee’s eyes became a big as saucers when what sounded like the growl of an Everfree animal came from Apple Bloom’s mouth.

Orange light, like that of a power ring shined out from Apple Bloom’s eyes. Her nose wrinkled up by bared teeth in anger, a ring aura of orange appeared around her. A copper band blazing with orange light appeared on Apple Bloom’s hoof. The bag she kept in her grip was enveloped in flames, the sack material turning to ash and falling to the ground like snow from a winter storm revealing its contents…

…a lantern power battery of a coppery orange shining with a brilliant orange light.

“That was MY secret ta tell Diamond Tiara; MINE! YOU STOLE MAH SECRET FROM ME!”

A lantern uniform of orange and black had appeared over her body, the symbol Diamond Tiara had called forth to appear when she reached out to ‘touch’ the power of Apple Bloom’s ring was on her chest and shoulders. She rose into the air, the lantern clasped tightly in her fore legs. SS Cheerilee called forth her own uniform and aura and placed herself between Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom

“Apple Bloom, you have a power ring? When did you get that ring?”

“Yeah Miss Cheerilee Ah have a ring; the most glorious, amazin’ and beautiful ring of EM’ ALL! It came ta me the same night Pinkie got hers! Now…”

What appeared to be cutie marks suddenly appeared on Apple Bloom's face then vanished as orange balls of fire burst out from the ring of Avarice, stretching out to become the shape of a unicorn mare and a pegasus stallion. The figures were made of orange ring energy and appeared to be clad as Apple Bloom was, with the same symbol the Diamond Tiara had just called forth. They landed on the ground in front of their summoner standing still as statues.

“…Ah’ll be takin’ mah doll mam,” the orange lantern filly said with a smile.

*

The Griffon Kingdom, Fortress High Crag outside Gryphus capital of the Griffon nation.

“IntErlOpEr!” an undead griffon screamed as it charged.

[=WILL=]

A green lasso appeared around the neck of the monster and became taunt suddenly. The black lantern jerked up and backwards, held fast at the neck. Green Lantern Applejack flying at the zombie turned in mid air and crashed into it with legs covered in glowing armored constructs. The smashed body almost immediately began to reform. A cracked and chipped beak snapped at Applejack.

The green lantern flew up and then came down on top of the dead griffon, driving it into the earth then rebounded backwards back towards the fortress wall. Behind her a hippogriff wearing the violet garb of a Star Sapphire approached, skimming over the ground to land next to the earth pony.

[=LOVE=]

“We need to go back. There is word of Black Lanterns appearing in the city.”

“Consarnit! Ah thought everythin’ was taken care of in there!”

“Apparently not. Some families held out hoping that nothing would happen to their buried.” The ends of the half pony’s beak turned up.  “Also the Grand Duke just asked to talk to you.”

Applejack’s ring burst forth a beam of green light into the black lantern’s power ring. The Star Sapphire followed suit, a violet beam energy shot from his ring and into the black lantern’s. The zombie began to twitch and jerk on the ground. The black ring ring began to crack as its colors began to change.

“Come on’ come on’, ” Applejack growled.

Heartbeats passed before the ring shattered and disintegrated, exploding into dust.

[=Connection severed=] the failing ring croaked.

“Dag nabbit! It’s seems to be getting’ harder an' harder ta pop black rings. We need an Indigo with us.” Applejack landed and scanned with her eyes for any other Black Lanterns. The green lantern called up a pair of field glasses, letting the construct float in front of her eyes. Peering through the created binoculars as she swept the approaches to the fortress and seeing nothing dissolved the ring creation. Her mouth opened to speak when her ring flashed and an image of Macintosh appeared floating in front of her.

“How ya doin’ AJ?” the big stallion asked.

“Ah ain’t gonna lie Mac, Ah’m a bit tuckered.” She rose into the air, circling around to fly in the direction of the fortress of the Duke of High Crag. “How are things at home? How’re you?”

“Ah’m fair AJ. Getting’ ready ta head into the field after wrapin’ things up here at home. We’re growin’ quite a bit now, got a few more recruits for Boom ta knock around.” The stallion’s check heaved with the chuckles me made. “He’s really in his element now…workin’ overtime out at the Citadel.”

Apple Jack shook her head. “That’s nice an’ all Mac but what ah want to know is: how’s Granny and Apple Bloom doin’?”

Mac rubbed the back of his head, his eyes looked sideways away from his sister. “Apple Bloom went back ta school today. “

“Did she take that sack?”

“Eeyup!” Mac answered. Applejack made a face that looked like she swallowed a basket of limes.

“We’ve got company!” The hippogriff pointed his ring bearing talon at five dark spots growing larger by the heartbeat. Applejack let the image of her brother fade and rolled over on her back.

“Ever play crack the whip Silver Quill?”

“Can’t say that I have.”

“Do whut Ah do. Follow mah lead!”

The Star Sapphire nodded. Applejack began to climb upwards while calling a wall construct ahead of the incoming fliers which she saw were Griffon Black Lanterns. The undead smashed into the green wall, shattering it into sparks. Applejack put the failed construct from her mind; it had served its purpose. She had curved up and over the Black Lanterns to come down on top of them. Two lassos flowed out of her ring as she passed through them, catching two by their limbs. She caught a glimpse of the Star Sapphire following her example, two more Black Lanterns tethered by violet ring energy.

Applejack increased her dive towards the ground, pulling the construct rope taunt. Applejack started to count off in her head, keeping the constructs strong as she streaked down from the sky like a falling star. When she reached the right moment, she suddenly pulled up in a half loop, reversing her flight climbing away. She let go of her construct, the Black Lanterns cast even faster to the ground like a rock thrown from a sling.  The undead struck the ground, a huge dust cloud exploded over where they had hit the ground. Two more landed on the same spot, SS Silver Quill copying GL Applejack’s move exactly.

“Still got one more ta deal with,” the earth mare growled.

“GOOd, bUt nOt gOOd EnOUgh!” the last Black Lantern mocked. The rotting griffon streaked down at the two ring wielders, a chilling scream announcing its attack.

[=FEAR=]

A beam of yellow light sliced into the monster, cutting the creature in twain. The two hovering figures looked up to see a pointy hat wearing unicorn smirking at them.

“Doesn’t the Great and Terrifying Trixie know how to make an impressive entrance?”

“Did you bring an Indigo Herd with you,” the Star Sapphire asked.

Yellow Lantern Trixie’s head snapped back her mouth half opened and her eyes narrowed. “No, Trixie didn’t”

“Then it’s not an impressive entrance.” the hippogriff said.

Applejack covered her muzzle with a hoof, her body shuttered as she did her best to hide her humor.

‘Laughing at allies in battle just ain’t proper, no matter how much you want to.’

*

Equestria, Ponyville, Ponyville Elementery School at that moment.

SS Cheerilee brought up a shield, separating herself and Diamond Tiara from Apple Bloom and her strange constructs. The glowing orange figures stood by her unmoving, their faced looked strangely alive, almost real. The teacher looked at her  ring, wondering if this confrontation was about to turn into a fight.

“Ring Capacity,” she inquired from the ring.

[=Ring Capacity 96.7%=] her violet power ring answered. She breathed out in relief. ‘Nearly a full charge.’

“Awe….that’s cute,” Apple Bloom purred. She held her orange power ring out in front of herself, as if she was trying to give her teacher a better look at it. “Ring…Charge?”

[=Ring Capacity 10,000%=] the orange ring hissed.

Cheerilee’s eyes opened wide as saucers.

Apple Bloom smiled as she held up the ring. “Nifty huh? Ah told ya, this ring is the most amazin’ one of em’ all!”

“Apple Bloom STOP!”

The filly spun slowly as two figures came out from behind a bush. Sweetie Belle walked slowly away from her hiding spot to stop half way between her friend and the shrub. Scootaloo glided silently over and placed herself between the orange lantern and the star sapphire. She raised her glowing red power ring while showing the bottom off her front hooves pleading for the earth filly to halt.

“Apple Bloom this isn’t you,” the red lantern started. OL Apple Bloom frowned.

“Sure it is Ah just decided to not ta let mah’self get taken anymore is all.”

“You are not like this Apple Bloom…I KNOW you’re not!” Sweetie Belle took a few steps closer. Tears had appeared in her eyes as she looked at her friend. “You can fight it like Scootaloo fights the rage! I know you can!” The orange lantern’s gaze slid away from the unicorn to hovering red lantern in front of her.

“That reminds me Scootaloo; of all of us Ah thought you would be the one ta take revenge on Diamond Tiara fer us but ya didn’t! Why? Ain’t that what red lanterns are all about?”

RL Scootaloo looked over her shoulder and wing at the shielded Cheerilee and Diamond Tiara. She lowered her head and turned back to look at Apple Bloom, locking eyes with her.

“I promised to let it go.”

“Really?” the orange lantern chuckled. “Well then what did ya get for it?”

“Excuse me?” Scootaloo’s brow became creased in confusion.

“What did you get for not takin’ yer revenge?”

“Get? I didn’t get anything. I…”

“FEAH!” Apple Bloom growled. “Ta give up mah revenge ya would have had ta pay me hansom!” She pointed at the teacher and the earth filly in the shield. “OK guys-bring me mah property!”

The two construct figures began to move forward. The pegasus lifting into the air and the unicorn walking forward. Scootaloo floated backwards, her eyes darted back and forth looking at the constructs.

‘What to do, what to do?’

Scootaloo flew forward, ears flat as she floated in front of Apple Bloom.

“Please call them back Apple Bloom. Please. Don’t hurt anypony just for a doll.”

“Scootaloo, Ah take what’s mine! Ah ask first, always try an’ be polite an’ all but if they keep from me what’s mine…well Ah ain’t toleratin’ it anymore!”

The Red lantern turned around, the thumping sound in her ears telling her rage was rising. Apple Bloom would not listen, and even though she felt that her friend was justified in her own attempt to get some form of payback, loyalty to her teacher also gave her pains. Blood plasma dripped from her moth as she held her head in her hooves.

“Here,” IH Diamond Tiara’s flat, even voice took some of the tension out of the atmosphere. “Please take it.” Diamond said. She looked up at her teacher and shook her head.

The doll box tumbled end over end as it flew over the violet shield at Apple Bloom. Eyes wide and smile growing over her muzzle the filly reached out and caught the toy, pulling it close to herself for a moment. Like a cat she purred. She opened the box with ring power, the lid gently lifted off the box and the doll levitated before the orange lantern. Apple Bloom stared at it for a moment before returning the object to its container. A construct bag appeared and the newly acquired treasure was tucked inside.

“It’s a start Diamond…it’s a start.”

Cheerilee had called out to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle while Apple Bloom’s attention was focused on the toy. She maintained her shield as the children moved slowly twords their teacher when their friend looked up. Apple Bloom suddenly grimaced and held her tummy with her front hooves. Her tongue ran over her lips as her eyes scrunched closed. When she opened them she looked at her friends and floated down to them. Cheerilee called up an image of another Star Sapphire from her ring and began whispering to it while watching the children. Things were calmer, but what to do?

“Ya know…Ah’m famished! Ah ain’t even had a decent lunch yet.” The two orange figures trotted around and stood next to their mistress, silently guarding the Avarice wielder.

“But I saw you eat four dandelion sandwiches…” the earth filly shock her head then growled.

“It didn’t stick Scootaloo, it didn’t satisfy at all!”

Sitting on her rump she spread her fore legs wide. “None ah’ the food in this town satisfies, and ah’ve had about all of the kinds of food there is here in Ponyville. Country grub just ain’t doin’ it for me anymore. Ah’m sick of it! Ah need ta eat somethin’ new, somethin’ different…” She brought her hooves down and looked back and forth at her friends. A wicked smile spread across her face.

“Apple Bloom, we need to talk about that ring.” Cheerilee allowed the shield to drop. An image of Queen Fluttershy hovered in front of the Star Sapphire, a shocked look on the pegasus’ face.

“Naw, what Ah need ta do is get somethin’ decent ta eat with friends who’re MINE…” she glared at Diamond Tiara” …an’ NOT YOURS!

The copper ring flared and orange light poured out flooding around the children. The two construct

Figures moved together, placing themselves in front of the ball of orange light. Slowly the construct became more defined, the hard light becoming an enclosed sky coach. Yokes of orange energy attached themselves to the figures and the assembly lifted off into the air. In the coach’s rear window faced Cheerilee who lifted off the ground. Apple Bloom’s smiling face was in the center of the window, the orange lantern waving at her teacher with the hoof that the ring rode on.

“ROAD TRIP!” she yelled.

Cheerilee began to follow, but as she closed another orange figure appeared between the departing coach and herself. It looked like a young dragon, older and bigger then spike but still small compared to a full sized adult. A single digit of its claw was held up and wagged back and forth while the head shook from side to side.  Cheerilee hovered in place, watching the orange creation growing smaller as it flew away.

Diamond Tiara appeared next to her teacher floating on ring power. The filly’s face showed no emotion now, the ‘mask’ of the Indigo Herd returning. Star Sapphire Cheerilee continued to stare out in the distance.

“Gone,” the teacher sighed. “Heading east…”

“Miss Cheerilee, what are you going to do?”

The mare looked at the filly when a thought occurred to her. “I need to dismiss class and get the word out. Diamond Tiara, can you contact other rings?”

“No,” the Indigo Filly shook her head. “I haven’t learned how to do that.”

“Then you need to tell Sweetie’s big sister so she can get the word out. I’ll tell Big Mac….where is he?”

“I heard from Apple Bloom that he was out at the new place the Green Lantern’s built.”

Cheerilee spun in place and started flying back to the school house. “I’ll head out to The Citadel after I take care of the children. “

*

Equestria, Citadel of the Green Lantern Corps just afterwards.

The home of the Green Lanterns was impressive, Spitfire had to admit that. The old bat said it was built in weeks using nothing but one ring-a work that would take an army of ponies years to do was done in weeks part time. Frightening!

It was in essence a rock circle with an obelisk in the middle, but built on a massive scale. The obelisk was huge stone tower that had the symbol of the green lantern corps carved into each of its four sides with a huge green crystal at the top of the edifice shining with a green light.  The outer circle was like a small mountain range that curved around onto itself, looking from above like a crater on the moon. Four roads of polished stone ran from the center out to the outer wall, quartering the circle. Each of the quarters was filled with a different kind of environment, one of grass land, one quarter was filled with trees, the third quarter was filled water, like a lake and the forth was sand, like a desert. The quadrants were surrounded with a stone wall which contained the quadrant's contents. A road of stone ran at the foot of the mountain like outer fence of stone, giving all the roads an appearance of a wheel with four spokes from the sky. Flashes of different colored light here and there told Spitfire more than green lanterns were at practice on the grounds.  Boomerang Blitz waved at Spitfire and pointed down at four figures on the ground.

“Watch the one in the center Squeaker.”

The pegasus hovered and stared down to see a straight maned earth pony in a green lantern uniform surrounded by a red clad unicorn a griffon and a chimera in yellow. For moments there was stillness then the chimera attacked, yellow barbed vines lashed at the green lantern, who dodged sideway as she summoned a scythe which cut the yellow constructs. The earth pony then summoned a hoof knife and slashed at the monster, who roared as the knife bit. All three heads hissed as the creature pulled away.

The griffon had lifted into the air, launching a yellow hook and chain at the green lantern. The pony was wrapped by the chain and the griffon started to pull. Huge green spikes appeared and drove themselves into the earth through the links of the chain. The griffon paused in surprise when a flying net with weights at each of the corners flew up and wrapped around the griffon. The sound of the yellow lantern hitting the ground was drowned out by the clang of swords as the red lantern unicorn swung flaming scimitars at the green lantern, who had summoned construct long and short swords to parry the red weapons.

The two lanterns locked their weapons for a minute and then separated. The red lantern spit with plasma, then rushed in, hoping to catch the green lantern off balance. A hoplon shield of green absorbed the plasma attack and a construct halberd blocked the red lantern from getting closer. Back and forth the two fought, each pushing and attack in turn and the other falling back, only to counter attack. Boom summoned a whistle and blew, the loud shriek made the combatants stop. Weapons vanished into sparks.

“Good for now. Everybody recharge and meet up later.” The two lanterns separated and flew away in different directions.

“Wow!” Spitfire exclaimed.

“Yep, like watching a beautiful dance.”

“Who are those two?”

The instructor pointed at the red lantern. “That’s Arcana. She one of the best technical fighters I’ve seen and one of the Red’s best. She’s here to work on her control and try to keep herself from giving into rage in a fight…among other issues.”

Spitfire raised an eyebrow at the last part of his statement. “And the earth pony?”

“Sandy Shade of Canterlot,” he returned to his flight path to the obelisk. “She’s new. Shining Armor recruited her.”

“Why is that name familiar?”

“Because she runs the E.U.P. weapons museum in Canterlot,” Boom said flatly. “That’s why she’s so effective with her constructs. You should see the siege weapons she makes.”

Spitfire’s eyes widened at the thought of a huge artillery engine made of the strange energy of lantern ring energy. The ability to make such a thing with that power made the military mare in the pegasus giddy over the possibility.

The two landed at a door that faced the road in the base of the obelisk. Metal doors with the symbol of the Green Lantern Corps embossed on their surfaces opened by ring power and Boomerang Blitz gestured with a hoof to the inside. Spitfire walked in, her hooves making a clopping sound with every step, the sound echoed off the high vaulted roof arching into the darkness that was only broken up by green light from the lantern mounted on a pedestal in the center of the chamber. At the foot of the lantern stand was a smaller stand with a bowl on top of it, twinkling green lights.

“The Battery of the Corps,” the bat pony said.

Next to the glowing battery and the bowl was a large red stallion dressed in Green Lantern Corps colors, his own ring glowing with the light the corps used. The stallion turned and smiled at the visitors.

“Howdy,” GL Big Macintosh said.

“Squeaker-this is Big Macintosh, temporary battery guard and brother to our Clarissi Applejack. Red, this is Spitfire formally of the Wonderbolts. She’s the one Smiley tried to recruit when we started our big expansion plan. She’s here to join our Corps. We need to fix her up with a ring.”

"Howdy," Mac said as he walked to the bowl. “We've got six rings left Boom, after that AJ is going ta have ta make more.”

“She’s due back for recharge soon, along with Rufus who will take up his job here when he gets back, so she can make some more then.” Boom nodded at Spitfire. “Can you do the honors Red?”

Mac nodded and started to reach out with a bare hoof to the bowl containing the rings when a clattering sound erupted from the door way. Violet light suddenly brightened up the chamber as a flying mare crashed into the stallion, the two of them skidding over the stone floor.  SS Cheerilee, lying on top of Mac facing him shook her head before staring into the eyes of the Apple brother.

“Um…” Mac stammered. His power of speech had suddenly deserted him when he looked into the violet lighted eyes of the teacher.

“Oh! Sorry Mac.” Cheerilee floated off the green lantern to stand on the floor.

“We have a big problem,” the teacher said. A bubble of violet light formed and an image of Apple Bloom holding what could only be a lantern battery appeared within.

”Apple Bloom has a power ring and a battery! She used them at school and took the Cutie Mark Crusaders away with her using strange construct creatures as guards to keep me away. They flew off to the east heading Celestia knows where. The only thing Apple Bloom said was that she was hungry and wanted something new to eat.”

Mac bit his bottom lip as he looked at the images Cheerilee was showing him. His other sister had a ring but the battery?

“What color was the ring Cheerilee,” he asked. “What light does it use?”

“It uses orange Mac.” The earth mare’s ears flattened. “It uses AVARICE!”

Mac put a hoof to his shaking head. Cheerilee moved forward and hugged the stallion.

Bomerang Blitz growled while turning away to face Spitfire.

“What’s up?”

“Apple Bloom is the little sister of Red and Jacky, a school aged child. Cheerilee there is the local teacher. Another kid has a power ring, one we haven’t seen before.”

“Another…kid? You mean there are kids with rings?”

“Yeah there are. Wasn’t my call Squeaker, it was before I got here.” The bat pony snorted. “There’s a child with an Indigo Ring…”

“Indigo!” Cheerilee pulled away from Mac. “I told Diamond Tiara to tell Sweetie Belle’s sister what had happened.” The instructor hissed and ran to the chamber door.

“I need an Indigo Herd NOW!” he yelled through a summoned megaphone. Everypony in the chamber stared at the instructor in surprise. Boomerang took a deep breath and slowly let the air out before speaking.

“OK. I need to get a hoof of anyone trying to talk to Jacky. We need to keep a lid on this until she gets out of combat.”

“What? Applejack would want to know right away!” The teacher rounded on the bat pony. “She needs to know!”

“Not now Pedagogue! She…”

“He’s right.” Spitfire interrupted, placing herself between the school mare and the training stallion.

“If…Applejack is fighting in the Griffon Kingdom right now, telling her could distract her in combat or she would abandon her post there and fly home and from the scuttlebutt I’ve heard they need every lantern that can be spared right now. She’s got enough to do and worry about right now without this.”

Cheerilee shook her head as the bat pony frowned. The group now looked at Macintosh, who rubbed his chin in thought.His jaw moved back and forth as he figuratively ‘chewed’ on what to do.

“Ah’ll make the final call on it m’self. If she’s gonna be mad at anyone…it aught ta be me. Fer now let’s keep this to ourselves til’ we know more about where Apple Bloom is an’ what she’s doin’.” Mac walked to the door and began searching the grounds.

“We need ta get a’ hold of Twilight. She’s the one who could tell us what this orange ring could do ta mah sister. Where is she anyway?”

“Lady Sparkle is in Manehatten with Princess Celestia meeting with the Aquastrian delegation.” Boom answered. Mac lifted into the air.

“Ah’m gonna go see Rarity an’ talk ta her about AJ and Twilight. Ol’ War Horse, watch the house ‘til Ah get back. Ya might as well fit our new recruit out while Ah’m gone."

Lunch with Naked Avarice

Lanterns of Equestria The Blackest Night- Lunch with Naked Avarice

“There are two ways one is announced into Valhalla: one by the choosers of the slain, the other is by the sagas. Those who are announced by the sagas are mighty and dwell with both their ancestors and their descendants-forever!”

-old Caribou saying

Westmark Earldom, Snøen faller Holde six days after the launching of Operation Firebreak the same day as the appearance of the Orange Lantern.

“Hold this line no matter what!”

Screams erupted from a fallen caribou warrior as claws of dark light pulled his still beating heart out of his chest. The bloody organ disintegrated and a voice like a raven sounded out from the black ring on the un-living monster.

[=Charge 32.75%=]

Living caribou rushed forward, their war calls sounding through the falling snow that muffled all such sounds. The noise of clashing weapons was cut short by the screams of more who had their hearts torn from them. The awful voice of the dark magical rings announced more deaths.

[=Charge 32.76%=]

[=Charge 32.77%=]

[=Charge 32.78%=]

Several fell back, mad with fear and rage at the same time. One fell to the ground in despair allowing his heart to be taken from him.

[=Charge 32.79%=]

The caribou war leader pushed forward, shielding those behind him that gave ground to the walking dead that pressed forward like an ocean storm wave. “Flee to safety!,” he yelled.

The dark figures of the returned dead moved forward as she stood directly between them and his escaping fellows.  Bared teeth flashed while he stamped the ground, “The doors of Valhalla shall open for me today-I dine with Odin tonight!”

“ThErE Is nO VAlhAllA mY sOn,” the old Jarl Black Lantern let out a guffaw laugh. “OnlY vOId AwAIts yOu.”

[=RAGE=]

[=FEAR=]

[=WILL=]

Frost Song glanced quickly behind him. Through the falling snow he could make out the lines of the old harbor guard fort at the end of the causeway he now stood across. His retreating comrades had gone from sight making their way back to the fortress.  Frost Song then turned back and looked through the soft falling snow and saw the shadows of more returned dead moving up behind his father.

‘Today I die,’ he said to himself. ’Make it a good death.’

“YOu lEt them rUn lIkE cOwArds! MY chIldrEn ArE sUch A dIsapOIntmEnt.”

[=RAGE=]

Frost Song lowered his antlers; the metal tipped points gleamed underneath the snowflakes that had landed on top of the sharpened artificial prongs. He brought his large round shield up with a foreleg and planted his rump into the ground. His spear rested in a notch in the shield’s edge pointing at the dark mass that was his father’s corpse.

[=WILL=]

“I’m not running now Blakkr Einherjar!”

“Ah FrOst SOng, mY mIddlE child, mY hEIr. You wErE AlwAys sO wILLfUl! ”

Frost Song beat the spear against his shield three times and let out sound like a bugle’s angrier cousin. He heard a faint response from the castle far behind him, the guards answering his war call to tell him they hear him and to call the valkyries down to claim him when he fell. The old Jarl sounded his own war horn call, the sound a mix of what his father’s had sounded of old, twisted with a gravelly tone that gave the monster a more horrorific presence.  More ‘horns’ sounded behind the towering undead warrior as the shapes moved forward.

“I’ll tAkE yOur lIfE-sOn!”

Frost Song beat his shield again and barred his teeth.

“Come take it father!”

The dead Jarl charged, antlers lowered and crashed into the shield of his son. Frost Song groaned as his shield and muscles creaked from the force of the blow. The caribou took a deep breath and pushed, forcing the undead monster back. The old Jarl pulled back and grabbed a long sword with black unlight claws that had appeared at the end of his hooves. With another bugle call Frost Song’s undead father charged again, his long sword swinging down and hitting the rim of the large targ shield, biting deep and wedging into Frost Song’s defense. The chief pushed down on Frost Song’s defense, forcing him off balance.

Frost Song let go and retreated, spear still in his grip and caught his breath. His father was so much stronger than he remembered, his blows had more force. The movement in the corner of his eye warned him and he set the spear into the ground and pointed it into the charging form. The sickly, squelching sound of the spear point burring itself into the zombie brought a short lived smile to the living warrior’s lips. He leaned on the spear, to increase the leverage and hold his father fast.  A hammer suddenly appeared arcing at Frost Song’s head and banged into his antlers, breaking off prongs and forcing his head down and sideways. He rolled sideways and kicked at the figure that had hit him with the hammer, his uncle by the looks of him. Kicking suddenly felt particularly taxing, like he had kicked for an hour instead of just for a moment. A weakness filled his body as he struggled to stand up. He kicked at another zombie that had approached from another direction, knocking it into the seawater.

The corpus of his father let out a laugh that seemed to shake the ground. He began to walk down the spear, sliding down the shaft until he reached the anchored end stuck in the ground. The old Jarl raised his sword and cut the shaft the rose up and walked forward, pulling the damaged spear from his body with the sound of flesh being torn. Frost Song saw the wound closed as soon as his father had removed the weapon.

“HA! BEttEr sOn…bEttEr!” The old Jarl then pointed at the fortress with a fore leg. Thundering hooves sounded as undead charged past their leader and Frost Song, heading down the causeway making their way to the fortress. “BUt nOt gOOd EnOUgh.”

“N..n…no,” the wounded warrior coughed.

“YEs. All fOr nOt.” The dead Earl laughed. "YOur brOthEr wAs AlwAys wAs A bEttEr fIghtEr thAn yOu."

Frost Song stood and braced his legs. Another war bugle began to sounded from his mouth when he saw his father begin to charge. Frost Song lowered his antlers as his prongs clashed with his ansestor. The war stags locked and began thrashing back and forth, the sound of clattering horn was muffled by the falling snow. A clacking sound told Frost Song that they were locked together. He dug his hind legs into the ground when he was pulled into the air by his antlers and smashed into the ground. More prongs broke and he rolled onto his side, free of the fighting embrace.  Pain shot into his head and his side, acute pain stabbed him in the side as he tried to breathe. His vision fogged as he pushed and forced his muscles to move. Frost Song stood up, shaking from shock and cold, his antlers lowered out again in defiance.

[=WILL=]

“Is…th-th-that all you got old stag!”

“HA! YOu dOn’t EvEn hAve A wEApOn!”

Frost Song stomped the ground, shuttering as he struggled to stay on his hooves. He looked behind him trying to see through the now increasing snow. Silence enveloped him, the only sound he could hear was his heart beating and his labored breathing. Off in the distance he thought he saw flashes of light, each flash a pure and different color.

“FrOst SOng thE ScAttErEr Is thE nAmE yOu shall hAvE In dEAth.”

Tears fell from his eyes as his muscles tightened for his final charge.

“Feryja! Odin!”

A blinding green light caused him to pause. A strange voice came from the light.

[= You are worthy. You have been chosen. =]

Was this a Valkyrie? Has she come to claim him and bare him to Valhalla?  The unearthly voice became louder and he saw what called to him…a blazing emerald ring.

[= Frost Songr Issonsöngurson of Earth, you have the ability to overcome great fear. =]

The ring flew to him and placed itself on his weapon for hoof. Waves of warmth, like being immersed in a hot spring flowed up from the ring and into his body. His wounds pain eased and he felt filled with light.

[=Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps. =]

“YOu ArE A lAntErn Of wIllpOwEr nOW Eh? A chIld Of IOn? SO mUch thE bEttEr,” the old Jarl laughed. He took one step forward before he was engulfed in green flames.

Frost Song’s rear legs folded under him and he sat on his haunches. A wall of green light appeared between him and the Blakkr Einherjar, the light cutting through the falling snow. It suddenly became apparent to him that he no longer felt cold, or wet. He looked at his for leg and saw that his clothes had disappeared and he was dressed in something that looked a bit like threads of pure light woven together.

“Hang on,” a voice called out from above.

Bathed in green light and dressed in the same garb that had appeared over him, a unicorn stallion landed like a falling piece of star iron, the ground cracking under his hooves.  Armor that looked made of brilliant green light was on the unicorn’s body. A large poll arm made of the same green light hovered in front of him, moving in the air in circle. He saw his father’s body begin to charge into the glowing wall separating the green warrior with him and his father.

“Wh…who…,” the caribou stammered.

“Shining Armor. Prince of Equestria, Captain of the Canterlot Guard, Green Lantern.” The unicorn said as he glided backwards to stop next to him.

“You are?”

“Frost Song of nothing.”

“Frost Song? The Earl of the West?” Cracks had appeared in the wall of light where the monster continued to hammer.

“I am no Earl, not anymore. The Westmark is scattered to the wind.”

A large gathering basked appeared around him, holding him like eggs from gathering. The unicorn floated over him now, watching the cracking barrier.

“We need to go.”

“Leave me,” Frost Song said. “Let me die here. I have failed to stop these Blakkr Einherjar and to save my folk. They will get to the castle and…”

The unicorn shook his head. “Your folk are safe,” he said with a smile.

“How?”

“When the seaponies told us of your plight, we came as fast as we could. The refugees are being moved to safety.

“Leave me anyway. Let me enter Valhalla with some honor now that my folk are safe.” The stallion shook his head. The Jarl’s bugling was growing louder, as was the thumping sound on the green wall.

“Look, I know about your religion, that caribou want to die in battle, but fate has other plans for you.”

“How would you know pony! What know you of wyrd?”

The basket lifted into the air as the barrier shattered. The dark figure charged forward only to have a large green pony leg step on him squashing the old Jarl like an insect. Frost Song saw the body beginning to reform, putting itself back together almost as fast as the damage that had been dealt to it had done.

“I know that ring chose you to wield it. Lantern rings decide who will use them, who is worthy of their power. It cannot be ‘assigned’ to you, it picks you.” Shining Armor chuckled. “You should have seen my sister when a yellow ring told her I was not suitable.” He laughed, “She was…a bit frustrated. “

The unicorn smiled at the new green lantern. “So…that ring says fate has something greater planned for you. Besides, isn’t it better to enter Val-hall-a announced by the song of your…what’s the term… Saga?”

“There is no song to be sung. I couldn’t even slow them down,” the caribou snorted.

“No weapon forged or magic cast of our world can stop a Black Lantern. Only rings of light can end a lantern of darkness.  With that ring; you can stop them.”

The caribou rubbed the glowing green band. There was a growing feeling entering his body from the ring  a kind of warmth began to flow into his veins. Frost Song felt a new kind of strength fill his being. He looked up at the Equestrian Prince. “Where did they come from? What did we do to cause these ‘Black Lanterns’ to attack us? What did we do to rouse them?”

Shining Armor shook his head. “We don’t know where they came from. All we know is that the black rings raise the dead which come after the living, spreading death where ever they go.  Also: you aren’t the only ones being attacked. There are major battles going on in the Griffon Kingdom right now and we’ve had parts of Equestria wiped out by these things. They’ve appeared in Neighpon, Cameloo, Saddle Arabia, Zebrica, Prance; even Aquestria has been attacked.”

Frost Song’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. The unicorn nodded and the corners of his mouth turned down. “They are starting to appear all over the world.” He pointed on the glowing green band on Frost Song’s leg, ”so…we need everypony we can get.”

The caribou stared at the green lighted ring. The unicorn’s armor faded away as they approached the walls of the fortress. Glowing lights of other colors glowed through the falling snow.

“Don’t worry Earl,” GL Shining Armor said as he headed to the castle. “You will get another chance to face them in battle if you wish. I promise: you will fight them again.”

“If what you say about this ring is true,” the caribou smiled wickedly “I will make it a glorious fight!”

*

Equestria, Manehatten, West 46th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues a.k.a. ‘Restaurant Row’ That very day. 4:30 PM

“Um…Miss…,” A finely dresses Maître d' asked nervously. Two towering orange figures stared down at the unicorn, glaring at the head waiter. The stallion swallowed hard and smiled nervously his eyes met the gaze of several other of the staff, all standing silently, construct lanterns watching their every move.

“Orange Bloom,” the filly rumbled. “LADY Orange Bloom, ya got that?” he waiter nodded. “This here food is hardly worth eatin’ ya hear me! It ain’t any better than the last thin’. Bring me somethin’ else!”

“H-Have you found nothing to your liking..m….my lady?”

“Better.” The filly smiled. “SOME of it is ok…but nuthin’ satisfies, an’ you guarantee satisfaction!”

“But my lady, you have sampled just about everything on the menu.”

“Have Ah now?” A large ornate menu with gilded lettering levitated off the table top and glided in front of the orange wielding filly. Pages turned by ring power as the orange lantern read, scanning the text. She paused for a moment, smiling.

The menu floated to the waiter, a large orange construct arrow pointing to an entry on the page. The waiter looked at the listing then looked at the child eyes open.

“Ah want ta try that,” she purred.

“But, my lady this is griffon food!”

The tiny lantern leaned back on her dining couch and scratched her side. “So?”

“It’s MEAT Madame!”

Sweetie and Scootaloo both looked at each other.

A plate flew into his face, covering his muzzle in half eaten food and thick sauce. The plate clattered on the ground, ringing as it came to a rest. The avarice wielder suddenly was in the face of the waiter, dirty teeth flashing and eyes blazing in orange light. A hunger pang shot through his body as the child floated close to him.

“Bring it to me,” the filly growled.

“Y…y…yes Madame.” The waiter said as he levitated a kerchif to wipe the food from his face. The child then pointed at the waiter while looking up at one of her orange ‘bodyguards’.

“This here guy is gonna follow ya.”

“Yes Madame.” The waiter bowed and turned away, the construct lantern following behind him. Orange Bloom landed on her couch and let out a huge belch before laughing.

“Ah well maybe this food will do it,” she sighed. A fork of orange energy appeared and stabbed at a slice of kiwi on a plate and brought the fruit to the lips of the lantern of avarice.

“Um, Apple Bloom…Why did you settle on this place?”

“Orange Bloom if ya please Scootaloo, LADY Orange Bloom, cuz of the color Ah wield! Yer mah friends so you can leave off the title.” An orange tooth pick appeared and began to work itself in between the filly’s teeth. It then disappeared and the orange lantern rubbed her tongue across her teeth before returning to her answer.

“Why did Ah pick this place? Cuz It’s the best restaurant in the city and it has such a large menu with so many different kinds of food. Maybe somethin’ here will scratch this itch in mah belly.”

“Ok. Orange Bloom.” Sweetie kicked Scootaloo under the table quietly. The pegasus spilled a bit of water on herself from a glass she levitated with her red ring power. Sweetie looked over and winked so the orange lantern could not see.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” the unicorn said softly.

“Um, yeah…so do I.” Scootaloo placed her forelegs between her thighs. “Bad.”

Orange Bloom nodded and waved with her ring hoof.

“Go on, Ah understand. Here,” she pointed at a unicorn mare construct. “You take this here gal with ya, ya know ta keep the riff raff at bay.” The orange energy mare turned and looked at her mistress.

“Bring em’ back safe and sound. They’re MY friends after all.” Orange Bloom said.

The two children made their way to the back of the restroom, the construct ‘guard’ following behind them; its orange light shining off of the wooden floors and the crystal and silver fixtures of the restaurant. Reaching the large ornate carved door marked ‘Mares’ Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo entered, with Scootaloo looking at the energy unicorn and asking her to wait outside. The construct nodded and sat on her haunches as the doors silently swung closed.  Scootaloo blew air out hard.

“At least I’m not hungry anymore,” Scootaloo sighed. “Just being around Apple Bloom makes me thirsty and hungry. What about you Sweetie?”

Sweetie Bell patted her belly with a hoof. “A little bit but nothing like anyone else apparently.”  The unicorn filly then looked at the mirror on the wall, staring into her own eyes. “We need to help Apple Bloom. We need her to see reason.”

“How? She’s so different now Sweetie! That orange ring has turned all of her ‘wants’ up to eleven! The orange ring is like my red ring…but different, so different. I don’t even know if there is anything that we can do.” Scootaloo threw her hooves up. “She ordered meat Sweetie…Meat!”

“I know I know but she’s in there…somewhere! I know she is! What we need to do is reach the real her, get around that ring.” Sweetie Bell put a front hoof to her chin.

A few drops of plasma dropped from Scootaloo’s mouth, causing her to cover her muzzle. She closed her eyes tight and her ears flattened. She started to rock back and forth as she spoke under her breath

Sweetie looked at her with a raised eye, and saw a shiver run through Scootaloo’s body. The cradled the red ring close to her chest as ruddy tears fell from her closed eyes. Hissing plasma scorched the floor, filling the air with a strange smell. Sweetie placed a hoof on the wing of the pegasus. The tiny red lantern’s head snapped around, eyes glowing with rage energy over a wrinkled muzzle. Moments ticked by then the light faded and Scootaloo’s eyes softened.

“What’s wrong? Is your ring running out of power?”

“No,” RL Scootaloo answered. “Th…there’s something you don’t know about Red Lanterns. We…we sometimes lose control of ourselves and get taken over by pure rage. It makes us all…crazy. We don’t know who our friends are, or who we are, we just…go off.” She shivered again.” It makes us into…rabid animals.” Scootaloo stared into the eyes of the unicorn filly then pulled away.

“I feel it coming on…the rage madness. It’s why I haven’t tried to use my ring here or at school. See…Rage Madness can really get you when you use the ring, especially when you fight and because of that…it didn’t seem like…I dunno Sweetie. I’m afraid soon it won’t matter and I’m going to pop off and hurt Everypony,” she swallowed hard, “and I know we need to do something about Apple Bloom.”

“We’ve got to get you out of here and get word to somepony.” Sweetie Bell declared.

"With all those construct toadies of hers and me not able to fight? How?"

"Hum," Sweetie thought. "How about using your ring to call for help instead of fighting?"

“I already tried to call Rainbow Dash earlier in the carriage, but something was blocking me! That’s never happened before!”

“Try again. Maybe being out of the carriage will help.” Sweetie offered. Scootaloo nodded and held up her ring. A red bubble appeared and turned into the tumbling image of Rainbow Dash. The figure of the Red Lantern leader was fighting something by the looks of things; she breathed plasma and roared at something the fillies could not see.

“It worked!” Scootaloo said.

“Not…now…squirt…busy…”

“But Rainbow Dash?”

“I’ll call back.” The image then let out a roar before winking out of existence.

“We’re on our own for now then,” Sweetie sighed. “I’ll go to the bathroom now then we’ll head back to Apple Bloom.”

The children returned to see the Orange Lantern reaching over to a basket that contained coins and gems and plunging her hooves into the treasure. She scooped up and pushed her face into the glittering metal and precious stones, sniffing deeply as she ‘washed’ her face in the treasure. She pulled back facing her friends with a beaming grin.

“Ah! I love the smell of money in the mornin’!”

“It’s the afternoon,” Scootaloo said, a slight squint had come to her eyes, like she was fighting a headache. Orange Bloom frowned at the pegasus.

“Ah know that…it’s a figure o’ speech. Dang you are a kill joy today Scoots.  What’s gotten into you?”

RL Scootaloo growled. Her coat seemed to bristle and her eyes glowed red. “What’s gotten into me is you APPLE Bloom!”

“Scootaloo,” Sweetie placed a hoof on the red lantern’s shoulder. “Just…”

Clanging metal and creaking wood echoed off the walls of the restaurant as four large stallions in guard armor marched into the main dining hall. The four pony squad of a pegasus, a unicorn and two earth ponies then stood across the main door of the room, their eyes scanning the chamber and assessing. The unicorn moved forward and stamped his right front hoof down hard.

“Attention! Her Majesty Princess Celestia will be arriving with diplomatic guests as planned. We are…here…to…”

Orange Bloom floated forward, her face twisted into a kind of smile that no normal pony would wear. She turned on one of the head restaurant staff and glared.

“Princess Celestia here for a meal! Shame on y’all for not tellin’ me that a Princess was comin’! That explains why all y’all have been tryin’ ta leave.“  The Orange Lantern played with a loose curl of her mane. “That would be somethin’ else, dinnin’with a princess.”

“A lantern!” The unicorn said under his breath as he stared at the orange power ring. He looked over his shoulder at his squad mates, whispering when a waiter with a levitating platter appeared followed by a large stallion of orange light.

“Take me ta see the princess,” the Orange Lantern demanded.

“There is no way we will allow you to see the Princess,” another guard growled. “You need to…”

“Ah don’t need ta do anythin’!” Orange Bloom yelled. Her aura became brighter as she spoke. “Ah WANT you ta take me to the princess!”

“App-uh Orange Bloom,” Sweetie said as she reached out to her friend. Her friend smiled, broadly.

The pegasus guard moved forward suddenly, his for legs out for a flying hoof punch. One of the orange construct lanterns caught the pegasus and held him. The pony of orange energy suddenly spoke.

“Lady Orange Bloom is not to be attacked.”

“Let go,” the captive yelled. The unicorn stepped forward his horn glowing as shooting stars shot out of his horn. The streaking fire flew at the orange energy creatures and their master. Orange Bloom raised her blazing ring and the magical bolts suddenly were drawn to it like grime pulled down a bath tub drain. As the sparks disappeared, Orange Bloom’s teeth flashed brightly in a smile.

“That wasn’t very nice,” she said.

One of the guards charged as the orange lantern smiled, rushing at the filly and her lantern.  The stallion as seized by the construct lanterns as one of his fore hooves actually touched the glittering copper battery. His eyes suddenly twinkled with orange light just like the glow of Orange Bloom herself. The guard eyes quickly narrowed as his head snapped around to look at the filly.

“MINE!” he snapped. His gaze locked with the lantern’s.

“Sez you!” she screamed.

The orange power ring became a point of blazing light as the child came down on top of the guard. Orange Bloom growled, teeth barred like a feral animal of the Everfree.  The guard struggled as an orange aura enveloped him. His eyes suddenly opened wide and his mouth gaped, his lips contorted in a ghastly expression. Giggling exploded from the child as an image of the guard made from orange light arose from his body. The stallion’s eyes glazed and became blank and his head fell to the floor. Over him his ‘ghost’ made of ring energy started to become more defined, clearer as the moments passed. What looked like a cutie mark made of crossed lances crawled across her face like an insect scurrying to hide. The avarice wielder then turned to look back at her friends, her face a mask of glee illuminated by the copper battery she held close to her like a foal with a beloved stuffed toy.

Orange Bloom pointed her ring and a wide beam of the orange energy shined on the other guards. ‘Ghosts’ rose like steam from the now still bodies of the royal guards the mist twisting and changing into more guards made of ring energy. Again images of cutie marks appeared on the Orange Lantern’s face, moving over her coat and disappearing into the creases of her face.

“Apple Bloom…you…are…the Cutie Mark thief?” Blood plasma now started to drip from RL Scootaloo’s mouth and her eyes began to glow with the light of rage. Her voice had becoming rougher, her speech more broken.

Orange Bloom half sneered, half smiled as she waved her ring hoof at the Red Lantern,” Ah-ah-ah! Ah only took em’ if they were tryin’ ta take what was mine Scootaloo!”

The pegasus filly now levitated in the air before her friend, her red light growing by the moment.

“You’ve…gone…too…far.” Scootaloo growled. Red fire now arced over the filly’s body from her ring.

“Have Ah now?”

Sweetie Bell jumped from the dining couch and ran to place herself between her friends when a guttural roar and a burst of crimson plasma erupted from the mouth of the filly red lantern. Scootaloo’s plasma fire blinded Sweetie and the living wait staff. The unicorn shielded her eyes with her hooves as rage fire burned walls, furniture and tapestries. Fixtures of metal melted then flowed like water.

“NO!” Sweetie squeaked. Uncovering her eyes she saw Apple Bloom inside of an orange bubble, resting on some kind of cushion construct. The orange guards became like shredded fabric, torn and twisted. The ones that had removed themselves from the red fire reformed themselves almost instantly, becoming whole.

The Orange Lantern within her force bubble shook her head. “Now, now Scootaloo that wasn’t very nice.”

“Stop Apple Bloom!”

“ORANGE BLOOM Sweetie!” the unicorn closed her eyes and took a breath.

“Scootaloo, can’t help it! Red Lanterns get…taken over by their rage sometimes. She’s not in control of herself. Please be easy on her.” The Orange Lantern’s eyes narrowed. Scootaloo suddenly was inside of a globe of orange energy, the pegasus’s red fire floating and churning inside the sphere like a strange kind of snow globe.

“Wow! Ah can feel her strength pushin’ against that bubble, pony is she strong!” The Lantern of Avarice faced her friend. “She’s contained for now, let her have her red tantrum. Come’on Let’s head out.”

Sweetie was suddenly sitting on another platform chair or orange energy. Two glowing figures hefted her up and began to move out of the burning restaurant.

“Ok now…take me to the princess,” Orange Bloom said to her new ‘orange guards’.

“Um…shouldn’t we put the fire out?”

“Humph! Fine!”

Cutie marks appeared on her face again then filaments of orange energy flowed off Orange Bloom’s body, becoming more orange construct figures. The construct ponies then began to fight the fire, putting out flames, ripping out damaged panels, throwing burning tapestries into the kitchen and dumping water on them. A construct stallion brought a platter of steaming food to his mistress, the filly used ring energy to manipulate the food into her mouth. Loud smacking sounds and hums of approval followed.

“Mmmm, now that’s tasty!”

“What are you eating?”

“Chicken! Dang Ah didn’t know they were so tasty Sweetie. You should really try it sometime.”

Sweetie Bell stared into the smile of avarice and swallowed hard trying to keep from throwing up in the face of her friend. She placed a hoof over her muzzle, suppressing the gag reflex as the Avarice user turned away from her.

“Oh Apple Bloom,” Sweetie said quietly as the orange procession exited the restaurant. “What you have become?”

Temptation of the Sun

Equestria, the sky above the suburbs of Manehatten

“Orange in the emotional spectrum is represented by Avarice.” -The Book of Oa.

‘…and the meeting with the Princess and the ambassadors had gone so well too,’ Pinkie Pie thought. Both the Neighpon and Aquastrian representatives had been happy to meet with Pinkie and Twilight

The loose strands of mane standing up told Pinkie that Twilight was slowly falling into anxiety. Looking at the figures of yellow light in front of her, the Yellow Lantern leader hovered a bit away lest Pinkie’s blue ring begin to drain the ring of fear again. Twilight’s reaction to that side effect of hope had exasperation: whenever she and Pinkie tried to be in the same room, they had to be far away from each other. Pinkie frowned a little thinking about it: hugging Twilight and Rainbow Dash was really hard now and to the party pony there were times they both needed it.

"Anything Rarity?" Twilight asked her friend's image.

"I've tried three times Twilight. She will not answer my calls at all, and without her accepting to talk I really cannot feel where she is. I need to be closer to get a better idea just where she is."

Pinkie turned her attention back to figures of blue floating over her ring. Rarity stood next to Big Mac, leaning on her Indigo herd staff. She was biting her bottom lip as she silently acted as the relay for the conversation, Indigos being the only lanterns that could talk to other colored rings. The unicorn shifted every so often, her face showing some kind of strain that seemed to be weighing on her for a while now.

‘I need to get some time with Rarity when I get back,’ she thought. Pinkie then half frowned. She was still the only blue lantern and spreading hope was a full time job. She had told the ring to keep searching for another to wield hope but sadly nopony had been found. She then looked at the image of the farm mare. Applejack as ever was a contrast to Rarity. She was not still or calm: her hat thrown off she stomped at the ground, her teeth grinding as she listened to the news her brother had brought. She stomped, walking in a tight circle around the image of the Book of Oa. Applejack’s steps seemed to get louder the more the book told of the orange lantern.

“Known side effects of the orange light on the orange lantern include: relentless desire to acquire possessions, an unending hunger…” the book continued.

“Ah shoulda known dadgummit!” GL Applejack growled. “Those clues: the gabbiness, the hoarding, her appetite! Why didn’t Ah see it?”

“Avarice!” Twilight’s image squeaked; her eyes getting slightly wilder as she said the words. Twilight Sparkle had been looking for the appearance of the orange power ring for some time, to the point she had started to become paranoid of who…or what that ring had decided to choose as it’s wielder. Apple Bloom’s desire, her mania for cutie marks apparently had grown into something more and now the fear wielder was calculating the implications of a filly with a ring that held the power of…a hundred lanterns!

The thing that worried Twilight and Applejack was what the Book of Oa had said:

“The Orange Lantern is used meaning singular because there is rarely more than one at a time. The nature of the power is such that anyone possessing an orange power ring will seek to destroy any others who also wield another orange ring, or attempt to take what the being considers is theirs. Orange Lanterns do not share except under duress and if they do they seek an end to that arrangement at the first opportunity.”

“Why…WHY did that orange ring pick Apple Bloom? Why not a dragon? Why not griffon?  Why HER?” Applejack fumed.

“Where did she take my sister and Scootaloo? Has anypony heard from them at all?” Rarity suddenly asked. She rubbed her temples with her hooves.

“We haven’t heard anything as of yet.” YL Twilight Sparkle twiddled her hooves. “From what you’ve said Apple Bloom seems to want to take the girls on a junket of some kind; but where? Where would she go?”

“Ah need someone ta relieve me here!” Applejack snapped.  “Ah gotta find mah sister! Mac can anyone come ta take mah place for a while?”

“Well…Ah could send Boom, though it means puttin’ the training on hold for a while.” Mac grimaced as he watched Applejack scowl. Before Rarity had set up the meeting he had contacted his sister himself to tell her the news. She became enraged when Boom’s opinion had been told to her, even though she later conceded that he might be right. Mac’s ears flattened. “Rufus is low on charge and due back to take up guardin’ the battery. There is Sandy, but she was supposed to return Canterlot.”

“Ah’ll call Rufus M’self, maybe Ah can get him before he gets back to Equestria.”

“He’s low on charge sis.”

“Pinkie-could you find him and help him get some charge in his ring?”

“OK Applejack,” Pinkie said. She gently tumbled in the air as she spoke to her friends. Mac and Rarity’s images suddenly looked behind themselves. The image of Spike appeared between them, holding an opened scroll. He panted as he held up the message, the broken seal of Princess Celestia glimmering in the image.

“Twilight!” he coughed. “Twilight-Princess Celestia just sent this! She says…she says there is a lantern filly in Manehatten-an orange lantern!”

There was silence for a moment. Twilight’s face disappeared from the conversation. Pinkie looked up from the images to see a yellow shooting star heading back to Manehatten.  The blue lantern then took a deep breath as a strange sensation came from her enhanced Pinkie senses causing her to grin madly.

“Pinkie?”

“My Pinkie sense…Change of plans everypony. I’m going to follow Twilight. I think everyone should come as soon as you can!” The Blue Lantern suddenly grinned, her beaming smile shining beneath her now glowing eyes.

Rarity’s aura suddenly brightened. “Pinkie, why are you smiling?”

The party pony chuckled as she began flying after Twilight Sparkle. “Because- something’s about to happen!”

“What? What’s about to happen,” GL Applejack asked.

Blue Lantern Pinkamina Diane Pie giggled. “Something wonderful!”

*

Equestria, Manehatten, West 46th Street and Ninth Avenue

Captain of the guard detail Gilded Shield clicked his tongue as he looked on at the Sun Princess calmly speaking to the orange lighted filly. The lantern had created a kind of procession throne for herself out of the mysterious substance that all lanterns commanded through the amazing rings they wielded. Four figures of orange light that moved just like living ponies were holding up the corners of the throne platform. The captain turned to the sergeant of the guards and smiled.

“Look at her- I swear Sunny can charm hydras back into the bog.”

“I don’t like it Captain. The Princess is so exposed and…”

Gilded Shield waved a hoof. “You heard her- ‘I will deal with the lantern. Hold here and guard our guests, they are your primary responsibility’.”

“Still,” the sergeant frowned,” I don’t like this sir.”

The Captain nodded. “I understand Nails…but just what the heck are we supposed to do against a lantern? I think an alicorn is about one of the only things that can stand up to one,” he cast a glance at the child in orange lantern garb. “...and that one scares me almost as much as Lady Sparkle does-besides she has been able to keep the kid happy for a half an hour.”

“Shush!” A kirin riding in a Neighponese chariot hissed. “Please Tai-Chou, I would like to hear the rest of what Kagami Hime-Sama is saying to this lantern!” Her blue scales shimmered as she shifted in her seat casting points of lights on the red armor of her guards.

“Indeed Lady Yukimori is right!” a seapony said from her carriage bowl. She ducked her head back into the water for a moment then returned to lift her head from the water. “I too wish to hear more from this…Orange Lantern. She is very different from the other two we met earlier.”

“We apologize Yuki-tano, Minister Whirlpool,” the Captain and Sergeant both bowed to the ambassadors of Neighpon and Aquastria. The Captain then silent turned to look back at Princess Celestia, his ears tilted forward to listen…

…and caught sight of a yellow colored shooting star.

“Dang! Things are about to get complicated,” the Captain said.

“Apple Bloom!”

Twilight Sparkle’s voice thundered from above the Orange Lantern. Twilight’s yellow aura blazed like a second sun as she came down placing herself between Princess Celestia and the filly lantern. Twilight bowed to Princess Celestia as she turned around to face the filly lantern. She knelt down slightly and lowered her head to bring her eyes even in height to Applejack’s little sister. The Yellow Lantern leader looked into the eyes of the Lantern of Avarice and felt as if Apple Bloom was about to try and devour her.

“We need to talk!”

“Orange Bloom Twilight-LADY Orange Bloom!” She took a bite of something stretchy and stringy and began to chew loudly. “Ya know, Ah an’ the princess were havin’ the nicest talk-til you showed up!”

“Apple Bloom, you…”

“LADY ORANGE BLOOM!” Orange Bloom then took a bight of something and began to chew, her mouth making loud smacking sounds. “How many times do Ah gotta say it?”

Twilight head rose as she reared slightly back. He eyes scanned over the crowd of orange ring constructs and saw Scootaloo, eyes wild in rage madness breathing plasma at the orange globe that contained her. Sweetie Belle was sitting on a construct platform next to the bubble, a front hoof pressing on the barrier. Rarity’s little sister looked well but her eyes had a sadness in them.

“Scootaloo! What have you done to Scootaloo?”

“She OK, Ah just put her somewhere safe so she can blow off some of that red lantern steam o’ hers and not hurt anypony.”

“Um, ok…” the yellow lantern licked her lips. “We have to talk about the ring.”

“Which ring?” Orange Bloom swallowed hard. The child’s eyes narrowed. “You mean MY ring dontcha?”

“Well,” Twilight sat on her haunches, keeping her gaze on the child. ‘Easy Twilight, try and be subtle.’

“What’s there ta talk about Twilight, the ring is mah’n an’ that’s all there is to it!”

“The ring is affecting you, making you…”

“It’s making me more: more powerful, more intelligent, and wealthier! MORE! The ring has allowed me ta really be me, ta really go after what Ah want!” Orange Bloom took a bight of something and chewed loudly again.

“Look, I want to…discuss this ring with you and your family…”

The Orange Lantern suddenly spit her food out and hissed. “Discuss? Ha! Ah KNOW what those words mean! Every time an adult wants ta ‘discuss’ somethin’ with me it means they aim ta make me do somethin’!” The child rubbed her power ring. “Yer just like Applejack!”

“Um…” the yellow lantern stuttered. “I think you should…”

Orange Bloom lifted into the air looking Twilight level in the eye. “Should what?”

‘Careful,’ Twilight thought as she swallowed hard. “Look the power you have is very dangerous…”

The orange aura suddenly appeared around the child as she gripped the copper power battery close to herself. ”Grownups always ALWAYS say somethin’ is ‘dangerous’ just before they try an’ TAKE IT AWAY!”

YL Twilight’s aura flared up and she too rose into the air. “Apple Bloom that ring has you mixed up!”

BL Pinkie Pie landed, her eyes wide in surprise after looking over the scene. Orange Bloom glared at the Blue Lantern until she looked at the glittering cyan light on the party pony’s leg. She stared at the power ring for a second then suddenly her eyes snapped up and looked into Pinkie’s. A guttural growl rose from the filly’s throat.

“Oh, Ah see how it is now!”

Pinkie Pie stared at the child and the battery for a moment. The wonderment in her eyes changed and the Blue Lantern’s mouth twisted into a grimace. “Oh, what a nasty snake you are,” Pinkie said under her breath.

Orange Bloom glared at Twilight and brought her ring up, pointing it at the yellow lantern. Her ring’s light increased as she levitated higher into the air. The guards moved forward and flanked Princess Celestia while imploring her to move back. The ambassadorial procession began to move backwards away from the blazing lights.

“Ah’m never givin’ this ring or battery up! Never, never NEVER! NEVER!“ Orange fire filled the filly’s eyes as she pointed at Twilight with the copper ring. The Construct figures rose into the air with her and moved forward.

“It’s MINE! Nopony is taking what’s mine EVER AGAIN!”

The Construct Lanterns rushed forward as Twilight shot high into the air. The Yellow Lantern looped and came down behind a wedge construct that crashed into three construct figures, scattering the orange energy figures. Twilight’s small smile disappeared when she saw the constructs reform as if no damage had been done. ‘She healed a construct! Healing a construct is an advanced move!’

YL Twilight licked her lips as a stream of yellow bolts of fire exploded out of her ring. The descending orange figures dodged the blasts. The yellow lantern nodded and three more whirls of light flew out of her ring, becoming spiral nets of thorny chains. Three of the construct ponies were captured, stopped in mid dive.

Two more figures appeared, a young dragon and a pegasus. Both bore down on her as she summoned a giant funnel insect trap. The two figures crashed into her construct, and became contained. Twilight then looked down and saw more of Orange Bloom’s creations coming out of the orange battery. The mistress of the battery glared at the yellow lantern and whispered something under her breath.

Pinkie Pie appeared between the rising figures and Twilight, just far enough not to drain her friends ring. The blue aura around her was thick and bright as Pinkie performed cartwheels in the air, spinning this way and that to become a barrier. She then curled up into a ball and began bouncing back and forth; hoof smacking the orange figures, knocking several to the ground.

“Pinkie! Forget me! Protect the Princess!”

BL Pinkie Pie unfolded herself and nodded. In a flash she was hovering over Princess Celestia.

Twilight Sparkle summoned a construct that looked like a mechanical griffon’s talon and dived. The ring creation spread wide open as the unicorn descended.

‘Hate to do this Apple Bloom, but I really don’t have a choice. I’ve got to stop this now before anypony else get hurt. I’ve got to get that battery away from you and use the Deep Fear.’

Twilight had used the Deep Fear before, but never on a child. She wouldn’t have normally…except Applejack’s sister wielded so much power she didn’t see a way to keep the conflict from escalating. The filly now thought that she was about to lose her power battery and ring, and charged with the orange light of Avarice, there was no limit to what she might do to protect it.

Deep Fear caused the the greatest terrors of her soul to come out and torment its host, making them stop anything they were doing at that moment. She planned her actions just as she came to the Orange Lantern.

‘Don’t touch it Twilight,’ she told herself as the claw construct envelope the orange battery.

Her construct snapped closed as she streaked by. Twilight then pulled herself into a climb straight up, to get the battery as far away from the child as possible…

…she was jerked sideways and down, the battery had not seemed to move at all. Twilight looked down and saw eyes burning with orange fire staring back at her over the copper colored power battery.

“Never ya hear me, NEVER!” Twilight swore she saw the filly’s tongue as forked for a split second.

Orange Bloom had anchored herself and the battery to the ground by a huge chain. Chains crawled over the battery and wrapped themselves around Twilight making the Orange Lantern, her Battery and the Yellow Lantern all locked together.

Pinkie placed herself between Princess Celestia and the arcing tangle to shield the alicorn. She caught them like a large medicine ball but the force of the impact knocked them all into the Diarchal of Equestria. All of them then crashed into the guards flanking the princess, knocking them aside like bowling pins then skidded on the ground until they came to a stop.

Orange Bloom’s constructs save her ‘lanterns’ disappeared along with Twilight's when they all crashed into the ground. The filly had dug out a small crater in the paved street with her impact. Shaking her head she looked about to see Twilight rising out of her own impact crater yellow power ring shimmering on the end of her foreleg. Glowing orange figures began to surround the fear wielder as she leveled her power ring at the child.

Orange Bloom smiled and clapped her hooves together. Twilight became aware through her ring senses of figures closing in all around her. A yellow sphere studded with spikes flashed into exsistance as the construct lanterns all attempted to dog pile on the Element of Magic. Twilight then summoned thorn nets around the figures to hold them fast, as she faced the Orange Lantern who had called to her side more construct guards.

“STOP!” called out Sweetie Bellee.

The unicorn sat in the street with Scootaloo trembling next to her free of the confining construct. The Red Lantern had apparently expended her anger inside the bubble and simply looked on, watching the battle unable to do anything. Sweetie Belle ran forward and placed herself between the fighting lanterns, holding up her hooves at both.

“Just, please stop!”

“Sweetie, you need to run away, find a safe place to hide,” the yellow lantern warned.

“No!” she squeaked. “I’m not going to let this go on.”

“Sweetie ya need to get outta the way darlin’ Ah ain’t gonna let…”

“I’m not going anywhere! I know things have gotten bad, but I still believe it will be OK!”

“Sweetie Ah ain’t lettin’ anypony take what’s mah’n any more so…”

“Nopony is talking about taking away anything!” Sweetie stepped closer to the earth filly.

“Sweetie! Ya need…”

“You need to listen!” the unicorn moved closer.

Twilight bit her bottom lip, unsure what to do. She thought about creating a cage construct around Rarity’s sister and moving her out of the way, but Apple Bloom had paused in using her ring.  Pinkie appeared, landing to the side of the two opposing lanterns. The party pony’s eyes narrowed and she started looking every which way as if she was searching. Twilight could see the barest hint of ear twitching from her.

“What are you playin’ at Sweetie? What do ya want?”

“I just want you to listen to me, to hear me.” Sweetie came closer. She was now five walk steps away from her friend.

“This isn’t you Apple Bloom…”

“ORANGE BLOOM ya hear me? How hard is it for…”

“See THAT’S the problem,” Sweetie Belle stamped her hoof on the ground, orange construct guards jumping at the movement. “ ’Orange Bloom’ is the ring talking not you Apple Bloom!” The orange lantern ground her teeth.

“What do ya mean? This IS me! This is me with the power ta keep what’s mine!” She glared at Blue Lantern Pinkie Pie who was now standing by Princess Celestia who lay unconscious next  to the Orange Power Battery. She began to float in the Blue Lantern’s direction. “That’s MINE Pinkie!”

When she came to a stop and Twilight had faced off against Apple Bloom she placed herself next to her monarch and the orange power supply just in case she had to keep both out of reach of the Orange Lantern and her strange construct servants.

Sweetie Belle jumped and landed between Pinkie and the Orange Lantern, her eyes sparkling and her ears flattened as she faced her friend.

“Please Stop! This isn't you Apple Bloom, I know it's the ring is doing this! It’s making you crazy. Fight it, don't let it make you into this!”

[= Hope detected. =] The blue ring suddenly called out. The ring’s wielder’s eyes widened.

Pinkie looked up from her watch of Princess Celestia and the Battery of Avarice and stared at the suddenly blazing blue band. “Could it be,” she whispered.

“No it’s not, it’s the ring!” An orange tentacle or snake tail shot out of the ring and wrapped it around the unicorn filly.

“S-see,” Sweetie gasped. “I know…you’re letting…the ring…do this…through you…and I know…”

“Know what?”

“I…know you’re an Apple…and all Apples…are stubborn…”

“So?”

The grip of the tail loosened. Sweetie took a deep breath and blew air out through her mouth. “I know you have enough willpower to be a match for your sister and brother, I know you have enough willpower to keep one promise to me if you want to.”

Orange Bloom leaned back, her mouth curled up and tongue sticking out in an expression of disgust.

“Everypony wants me to give up somethin’, to let go of what Ah own! I thought mah ‘friends’ were different.”

“Do I think you should give it up Apple Bloom? Yes I do,“ the orange light brightened. “But I won’t ask you to. But please if you are going to keep it just keep one promise to me and Scootaloo, just one.”

“What’s that?” Orange Bloom sneered.

“Be yourself, use that Apple stubbornness. Please: own the ring, don’t let the ring own you.”

[=Suitable candidate found=] Pinkie’s ring chirped.

That ring suddenly became warm. Pinkie’s jaw dropped then closed into a smile as the Blue band flashed and a ball of light came out of the ring. It began spinning, becoming flatter until it had transformed into another blue power ring. The new ring then flew straight like an arrow shot at Sweetie Belle, swirling around her. The filly then began to rise into the air as the ting placed itself on her fore leg.

[=Amoura Anne Belle of Equestria =] the new ring called out to Sweetie.

“Sweetie!” Twilight screamed. Orange Bloom covered her eyes and the construct guards moved backwards from the cyan light before them.

[=You carry great hope in your heart! =]

[= Ring capacity 94.5% and falling =] the yellow ring buzzed. The Yellow Lantern glided backwards away from the two children. The appearance of the blue ring became a weakness to the Element of Magic and she drew back just far enough to stay out of the energy draining effect of the ring of hope.

[= Welcome to the Blue Lantern Corps. =]

Sweetie was filled with the light of hope and began to shine like a beacon in the night. She held the Blue Lantern power ring over her head as the uniform of the blue corps appeared on her. Orange Bloom, stopped shading her eyes and now fixed her unblinking vision on the cyan fire. The Orange Lantern seemed to be bathing in the light, like a lizard sunning itself on a rock. A smile appeared from the muzzle that had been frowning just a moment ago and she whispered quietly. “So…pretty…so…”

[= Do you accept? =]

“Y-yes.” Sweetie squeaked.

"How about that." Scootaloo said as she covered her eyes. "Figures Sweetie would be a blue."

“So pretty,” Orange Bloom said softly. “Ah want it, just like Ah want a red one like Scootaloo’s, Ah want all of em’! Sweetie please, trade with me! Ah’ll deal fair-n-square with ya Ah promise, Cutie Mark Crusader’s honor! It makes me feel…”

“I don’t think I can or should just give this ring away.” Blue Lantern Sweetie Belle sighed. “But…maybe I can give you something you need.

Sweetie pointed the ring at her friend and the blue light shown on her like a spot light. Orange Bloom fell to the ground and let out a long sigh. She grabbed at her belly and curled in on herself. She then rose into the air again , becoming level with the unicorn.

“Ah…Ah’m full. Ah’m FULL! Ah don’t want ta eat any more, Ah ain’t hungry! This is the first time in weeks Ah ain’t hungry.” She spun in place, giggling and tumbling. She landed next to one of her construct servants and flung a platter of food away.

“Ah’d give anythin’ for that ring Sweetie, seriously Ah’ll pay big for it! Bein’ next to it makes me…want it, but not want ta take it!”

“I don’t think I can Apple Bloom,” BL Sweetie Belle said.

“Alright,“the Orange Lantern said. She moved forward past her friend, smiling as she went, moving tword Pinkie and the Princess. Sweetie tumbled in the air and placed herself in front of Orange Bloom.

“Where are you going?”

“Ta get mah battery Sweetie.”

“Apple Bloom, let it go please. Maybe…” she shown the  ring beam on her again. The earth filly took a deep breath then exhaled slowly.

“There’s a difference between not takin’ somethin’ that doesn’t belong to ya and givin’ somthin’ up ya love an’ want ta keep Sweetie.” The orange power ring was held up before the blue lantern,” An’ Ah DO want this ring, Ah want ta keep it an’ Ah ain’t givin it up for anypony Sweetie, not even you or Scoots, or Applejack, Mac…even Granny. Ah’m sorry.” She then turned to face Twilight who had created a bubble shield around herself.

"Pinkie," Twilight yelled. "Why didn't you do what Sweetie Belle did?"

"Because she had to do it Twilight, Sweetie had to be the one to do it."

"Ah’ll be takin’ my battery now." The Orange Lantern declared. "Ah don't want a fight but make no mistake Ah’ll do what Ah  have to ta get it back.” Pinkie Pie nodded. Twilight's mane sprouted loose strands that stood up.

the was then that the Orange Lantern saw Princess Celestia shake her head as she rolled off of her back to get onto her hooves. Something had gotten into her eyes and she blinked rapidly to clear her vision, reaching out with her front hooves to find level ground. Orange Bloom saw the Princess plainly blinded place her hoof on the Orange Power Battery then become still.

“NO!” the earth filly screamed as she made for her battery like a shot.

Celestia had felt something slither up, no INSIDE her leg. Light suddenly filled her eyes as she firmly placed her hoof on something warm, and round…

…the last thing she saw before suddenly descending into darkness was that hoof on the blazing Orange Power Battery then the eyes of Orange Bloom suddenly fix on her.

“Mine,” the princess of the sun whispered as her body became ridged and the abyss swallowed her mind…

…and she woke in the darkness.

‘Where am I,’ she asked herself. She heard hoof steps off in the surrounding void.

“The filly really does not know what she has Cele,” a voice said to her from the blackness. “Wouldn’t it be better if we had it instead?”

“We? Who are you?” Celestia felt like she was standing now in a very dark room. She opened her wings and unleashed light from her horn, trying to illuminate the darkness, but the radiance found nothing but more emptiness.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we had the power instead of a letting a valuable and dangerous resource be wasted?”

That voice. Was that her own voice?

“We deserve it Cele, we should have it! Remember how we felt when Luna took a ring? Remember how angry we were that sister claimed a ring when she said that we shouldn't? Why shouldn’t we have one as well if we are going to actually use them.”

“Luna did anger me,” Celestia said in a sharper tone. ’I must be in the place between seconds. That must be where I am.’

“The one thing we’ve wanted since this madness started was the power to protect our subjects, our country, our world, and now chance has placed that power in our hooves.”

“Our? Who are you? I demand that you show yourself!”

From the darkness there was an explosion of orange light, like the birth of a star in the void. From the light stepped…herself! This ‘self’ was clad in raiment that was decorated with the symbol the child and the construct figures wore: the symbol of an orange lantern. ‘Her’ mane colors were tinged with orange as was her white coat. Instead of a crown she wore a head piece like she sister had worn as Nightmare Moon, but colored copper like the rest of ‘her’ garb.

“I am YOU Cele, or rather we are each other.”

“But…”

“Shouldn’t we protect what we’ve worked so hard to cultivate?”

“Cultivate?”

“Yes-cultivate! We have been bonded to our sun for a very, very long time; moderating it’s behavior, calming it’s disposition, easing it’s eruptions. By doing that, everything on this world everything that lives…owes its existence to us! Are we just going to let it be exterminated? Are we just going to turn our back on the lives under our power?”

Princess Celestia shook her head slowly. She felt the truth of the words pass through her heart. Her sun made life livable on this world just as Luna’s moon did this was true, but to embrace that idea…

“We worked hard on this world, why would we let these Black Lanterns kill it? Would we let pests and vermin destroy our garden when we could stop it? No, we wouldn’t! We've whispered in our thoughts how we wished we had the power to do something...and now we do!”

Princess Celestia bit her bottom lip. “I’m not sure. The child seemed so…affected by the power within the battery. I just…” Celestia thought of Rainbow Dash and how a red ring affected all who wore it. She thought of Twilight and how it the power of fear changed her more than the most gifted student realized. The orange tinted image of herself stood in front of her and stared into her eyes.

“Having a ring of our own means we could guide the other lanterns of the world, we have the wisdom of millennia to draw on. Think about that…the power we need, yoked to our wisdom! We could save our world…and that power is at our hoof tips.”

“Maybe…”

The Orange Flaring Alicorn in front of Celestia then walked beside her, the tail swishing back and forth just like she would when she was annoyed. Blazing orange eyes bore through the Princess of the Sun.

“Remember how our subjects loved us before we had to banish sister?”

‘Normal’ Celestia nodded. “The adulation, it alienated Luna, blinded me to how she felt until she turned into Nightmare Moon.”

“Remember the anguish sending our sister away…our loved one? Remember how it felt when the Elements of Harmony no longer would head us and we lost them? Remember how awful we felt year after year when the Summer Sun Celebration came every year because our subjects were cheering the loss of something precious to us? Remember all we have lost!”

The royal alicorn nodded silently. The orange clad Celestia moved forward and placed her head on the neck of her normal self. “Let us recover what was lost. Let us have the adulation of old again but with a new and joyful reason. Let everything living proclaim us not only the bringer of their light but their protector as well! Let the lanterns be guided by our wisdom, our leadership.”

The figure stepped back. “Don’t you think that is the wisest thing to do?”

A strange fire filled Celestia mind and her heart. She could feel a longing…a growing hunger rise in her.

“I could be as mother and father were…” she whispered. A glimmering orange band appeared in front of her. Celestia could feel the ring reaching out to her, it’s energy beginning to flow into her. It felt as if the copper band was quivering in anticipation. She raised her hoof.

"We will be greater then they were."

“They will call me The Empress of the Dawn and Matriarch of the Orange Light...”

“…a light better held by a pony of infinite appetites willing to use that power for more than pursuing the intense but petty and limited desires of a child,” her orange double said.

Princess Celestia stood still for the length of sever heart beats, staring into the glowing band.

She then suddenly put her hoof down and pivoted away and looked her doppelganger in the eye. A frown creased her face and she barred her teeth.

“No,” she whispered.

“WHAT?” the orange lantern version of herself yelled.

“NO!”

A hiss erupted from the orange figure which vanished as quickly as it appeared. The blackness desolved, like wet paint washed away by a rain storm and the Princess looked to see she was standing in the street, with her hoof on the orange power battery. Orange Bloom stood across from her, the glow of the copper band becoming dimmer as the moments passed.

“Princess?” there was a growl in the filly’s voice. Princess Celestia blinked a couple of times then smiled warmly at the child.

Celestia's Horn glowed and the copper lantern levitated gently into the child's hooves.

"Your Power Battery I believe my dear." The earth filly, and the rest of the gathered crowd stood silently many with their mouths agape. "Please have it back."

"Th-th-thank you." her voice quivered.

“Now that you have your lantern, I want you to keep it safe.”

“Ya do!” Orange Bloom suddenly smiled.

“You do?” Twilight Sparkle shrieked. “How can you leave…?”

“But, I want you to not use it so recklessly and thoughtlessly. I would like you to keep that power contained you might say.  I also would like your help in the fight against the Black Lanterns, after all they are your enemy too.”

Orange Bloom rubbed her chin with her ring. “Well...Ah do trust ya princess. Ya did touch my battery but give it back. Hum.” The child smiled mischievously and pulled the orange battery to herself using her ring. “What’s in it for me?”

“Apple Bloom!” Twilight snapped. Pinkie shook her head and whispered into one of the guards ears “It’s that snake.”

Princess Celestia smiled. “I could grant you a ladyship…”

“It’s a start but a great lady needs a great house, one that’s all mine!”

The princess nodded at the orange lantern. “I will have the royal secretary draw up the documents for you to make it official, if we can approve of the accord of course.”

“A deal? Yeah, a deal! Hum...Ah want an estate a chef, a butler, a…”

“I’ll have a draft the title done right away.”  The princess gestured to her attending secretary. “Please grant the title of Marchioness…”

“Dutchess!” Orange Bloom interrupted.

“…Duchess of the Orange Light and ownership of Summer Home and its estates to Lady Orange Bloom...”

"Hum..." the Orange Lantern looked at her friend, bathing in her blue light and smiled slightly. "Ya know- Apple Bloom is mah proper name an' that should be the name ta go with mah title."

"Very well. Lady Apple Bloom Duchess of Summer Home and Mistress the Orange Light."

“Yes your majesty.” The secretary’s levitating quill began moving over a floating parchment. ”Your highness, isn’t Summer Home one of Prince Blue Bloods holdings?”

“I will inform Prince Blue Blood myself,” the Sun Princess shook her head. Twilight flew and landed before her monarch and bowed.

“I must ask Princess, why are you letting Apple Bloom keep the battery?” The yellow lantern’s mane and tail were being stroked by construct hooves.

“Because I did not want my subjects especially most gifted student and her friends to be in danger. Sometimes diplomacy can succeed where force may fail.”

Twilight frowned. “Begging your majesty’s pardon but-to leave that power in a child’s hooves? That’s crazy!”

Princess Celestia looked down at Twilight, her eyes soft and sad. “Can you tell me: would you would win fighting her Twilight? If you did win, what would it have cost? How much more damage would have occurred?”

The unicorn bit her bottom lip then looked at the Orange Lantern and her construct guards. “Honestly…I don’t know.”

“By doing this my faithful student, I give you more time to figure out a way to better handle her power. Granting a child a small place to call her own, treating her as an allied power or a peer may keep her isolated by her will.” Twilight looked at her teacher, one eye brow raised.

“To put it another way: sometimes it’s better to make a deal than to fight.” Celestia looked at the child and sighed. “….and you can make a deal with Avarice…Avarice is always looking for a deal.”

“At least you weren’t tempted by the power Princess.”

“Oh, but I was Twilight. I almost tried to take the power myself. I wanted to take it for myself.”

“But you didn't Princess.”

“I wonder if it was because I felt that the power alone would corrupt me. I would use it to fight the Black Lanterns, but then…” she closed her eyes. “Maybe it was Pinkie’s blue ring near me.” Celestia looked at the Orange Lantern as she listed her demands to the royal secretary. “Perhaps it is better that the orange light fell into the hooves of one who is somewhat innocent yet so hungry for life. Better that than it turning me into some kind of tyrant Twilight.”

“Tyrant? You? Never! It couldn’t corrupt you Princess; you aren’t full of avarice! You aren’t greedy at all!" Celestia’s student exclaimed.

The Sun Princess lowered her head, her ears flat. “Don’t mistake what Avarice truly is Twilight or you blind yourself to it’s true power. Avarice is not about things, it’s about more; more of anything. More wealth, more beauty, more adulation, more status, more food,” Celestia turned and stared into her student. The alicorn’s eyes were suddenly hard, “more knowledge, more power, more ability! Remember Twilight: Avarice is not about things it’s about more.”

[= Will detected. Potentiality Unlocked =] Sweetie and Pinkie's rings chirped.

"We're here!" a voice from the sky called out. The glow of indigo light that surrounded her made Rarity appear to have butterfly wings like she did in Cloudsdale. Landing with Big Mac and two of her herd members, the head of the Indigo Herd similed...

...until her eyes fell on Sweetie Belle clad in the uniform of a Blue Lantern.

"Look Rarity! I'm a Blue Lantern now!" the unicorn filly squeaked.

"Sweetie Belle! No no no NO," the compassion wielder screeched. gritting teeth flashed as Rarity moved in a blink to stand in front of Pinkie Pie.

"How could you? How could you let the ring choose my sister!" IH Rarity yelled.

Pinkie Pie shook her head, ears flat. "It's not like that Rarity, you know it's not."

GL Big Macintosh walked over to Twilight and looking at his sister spoke softly in her ear."Looks like everything is OK, whats Apple Bloom doing over there?"

"You are not going to like it when you hear it, and Applejack will like it even less," Twilight answered. "Did you bring Rainbow Dash with you?"

"No," Mac said. "She an the other Red Lanterns are up to somethin'. There are no Red Lanterns at Boiling Point except Wild Fire and a trainee. For the life of me I don't know where they are."

A low growl came out of Twilight throat. "What's that crazy mare up to now!"

Twilight watched as Rarity, laying on an indigo couch construct cried, her little sister levitating next to her and patting her on the head. "Well, at least all the colors are accounted for," Twilight sighed. She turned, creating sun glasses so she could look at the hope charged lantern of willpower popping her lips and frowning.

"This just got a whole new level of crazy Big Mac!"

"Eeyup!"

*

Equestria, Royal Equestrian Geological Survey site A-113, at that moment.

Maud Pie awoke to a world where everything was fluid, except her body.

She shook her head trying to clear the muffled roaring sound that filled her ears. It was like listening to a conch shell, a low rushing sound that rose and fell in a rhythmic cycle. Maud blinked her eyes trying to clear the blurry fog that filled her eyes.  She felt a creeping chill in her limbs, growing like a vines from her hooves into her body, pricking her heart with a crippling cold.

Muscles felt like iron springs, stretching only by great exertion. Moving her legs was like moving solid stone, heavy and unyielding. Maud groaned as she pushed herself up on to her haunches, feeling the strange chill growing through her body.

“Ah, AwAkE yOu ArE, tEll mE dO yOu fEEl sUb pAr?” a deep mares voice said. “HAs the pOtIOn gOttEn fAr?”

“W…what…”

“ThE drAUght I gAvE yOU Is pOIsOn pOwEr; yOUr lIfE wIll Ebb As yOUr strEngth dOEs flOwEr.”

Maud felt the cold now moving through her body, like worms moving through the dirt. Points of cold now touched her heart causing her to shiver.

“Wh…why…are…you…doing…this?”

“YOUr sIstEr dOth nOw wIEld thE blUE, hEr End thE blAck shAll hAvE…thrOUgh yOU!”

“End…” Maud asked in a halting tone. “Through…me?”

BlAck LAntErn ZEcOrA cAmE clOsEr, hEr mUzzlE tOUchIng thE mUzzlE Of thE OldEst PIE chIld. “ThE tIEs thAt bInd shAll pUll hEr In, thEn yOU wIll brEAk hEr spArklIng grIn. HOpE shAll fAIl And wIth It mIrth, thEn shAll dEAth cOnsUmE thIs EArth.”

The zebra moved away as she continued to talk, holding Up something dark with her hoof.

“YOUr strEngth wIll IncrEasE as yOUr hEart tUrns cOld, yOUr pOwEr wIll IncrEasE OnE-hUndrEd fOld. A mIghty lantErn Of thE black yOU’ll bE-whEn yOU facE sIstEr PInkIE.”

Darkness grew around Maud now, closing in trying to swallow her mind. She heard a strange buzzing sound and the darkness became deep, unending, consuming. The last sounds she heard before darkness took her was the last beat of her heart, the last breath of her lungs…and she heard a voice, like the croaking of carrion bird.

[=FLESH=]

Love is a Battlefield

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Grudge Match

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Clashing Colors

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Passion and Temperance

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Wraith

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Intervention of the Lonely Norn

“Order was never to be an end, just a means. The end was the Cause of Life itself, to atone for keeping billions of years of existence from happening; for taking away the possibilities, the ‘might have beens’ with our monstrous hubris. How had my brothers and sisters forgotten that? Are they not doing it again? Are they not repeating our original sin? What they now fight for is as bad as the Total Death of Nekron’s Blackest Night; nay it is worse, for they wish to make life a pantomime of itself rather than its end. By All that Lives, how have we become so lost!?”

From the record of Sayd, Guardian to the Orange Lantern, consort of Guardian Ganthet of Oa.

Sector 2828: Vega System, Planet Okaara, Temple of the Orange Battery in the Forbidden Forest of Weeds.

“If I am blessed,” the small blue skinned biped said as she looked at her ancient face in an equally ancient ornate mirror,” I will be remembered as the ring thief who set the Torch bearer on the Path to be Life’s avatar, and not as the traitor to her own kind.”

Tears, so unfamiliar to a Guardian’s eyes, welled up in Sayd’s. So much pain now….pain and loneliness. Had her brothers and sisters forgotten so much in their long vigil? Had her people forgotten the very reasons they took up their station of guardianship, casting it aside for one of the most base and rooted drives in all sapient species: order for its own sake? Perhaps draining away their emotions into the Great Heart had also drained away a portion of their reason as well. Her people…her god like people, had gone mad and discarded tempered reason for blind order.

…and they had dragged her beloved Ganthet into their madness, forced him against his will to abandon all emotion, making him more pliant to the domination of the Oan Uni-mind.

“Ganthet,” she sighed. A holo image of the love of her life appeared. His kind eyes and gentle smile recalled his untainted spirit. He was the best of their kind in her eyes: kind, caring, steadfast, rational, thoughtful, and decisive. He was brave, wading into battle when others of her race simply allowed their soldiers to fight for them. His opinion of the younger races was kind, almost paternal. Ganthet of Oa never viewed the younger races as beneath him; rather they were children exploring the universe as all children do. Her people had all been that way at the beginning, before Krona’s ego poisoned their bliss and irreparably damaged the universe, when they decided to make amends for standing by and doing nothing.

She reached out with her tiny fingers and traced the face lines of his image. “What they have done to you…what they are doing to everything…is a crime.” She pressed her lips together hard. “Now…I must use a second contingency, one I thought would never have to be used, lest all emotion perish from our insanity.”

Sayd knew what her brothers and sisters were doing, and she knew what they thought they were doing; sadly the two were not the same. The path they had decided to take could ultimately result in a near lifeless universe or a total collapse and end to exsistance itself! There was little she could do to stop them directly, and what she could do to act against them she had already initiated. Only time would tell if what she started with Kyle would succeed. If not……

…THEY had asked to be preserved, put beyond reach of those mad enough to think life could exist without emotion...and after much searching for them she had found the place!

She lifted in the air under her own power and floated up the long winding stairs, silently recalling the plans within plans within plans her people had set in motion over the endless eons. So much waste…

…and yet had not the Children of Malthus also not done good as well? Had not her people, the first to know themselves and to think thoughts, the first creatures in the universe to have language, create music, use science…had they not also served their office well? So far had they come and so high had they rose to have succumbed to such madness.

Ah…immortals have such a long span to regret in.

She entered the Grand Hall of Larfleeze, gliding in silently. She paused for a moment, senses reaching out, trying to find the state the Master of the Orange Battery. The Orange Lantern had devoured a particularly huge meal this time, and into his food Sayd had placed a particular compound, causing him to sleep but not harming him or impacting his ring ability. That, coupled with her personal manipulations, should not trigger the ring’s defenses or be interpreted as any threat to Larfleeze and would allow her to do the final part of the task she began when the Guardian’s of the Universe had started this Third Army business.

The snores that echoed off the cold stone walls were the first sign that all was well, the next being a telepathic check for deception. She found none; the holder of the Light of Avarice was indeed sleeping soundly, a greedy sleep not surrendered easily.

“Good,” she whispered as she floated down a lonely hall to stop in front of a statue in the form of a long dead insectoid species. Using her power the carving became insubstantial, permeable. She passed through the ‘door’ and entered the hidden chamber beyond; the chamber of transit.

This ‘temple’ had long, long ago been a facility her people used to when they had been studying another creation of theirs, one that would become another stain on their name: the Psions. Sadness came to her heart as that name and the history that went with it came to her mind. The first time her people had played at changing life, forming it into their image had been a disaster; the children of their work became in many ways a blight upon the universe for eons. With the current events unfolding in the universe-it was apparent to her that nothing had been learned from the past.

The complex Sayd now silently glided through had been built to not be detected my any known means, to stay hidden and to be only accessible to other Malthusian races. It was necessary that no ship be seen anywhere in the system that the Psions or any other of the races inhabiting the worlds of Vega could not explain, so her people had placed the apparatus she now would use: a stellar gate.

She could use her Guardian Power to go where she needed to go, but the other Guardians would sense it. No. She had to use other means and the whole of this artifice she had entered was about subterfuge and stealth; and secrecy was the ally she needed lest her fellow Guardians follow her. Concealment had given her time and she had needed all the time she could get. Now the final step was about to be taken.

Her power reached out to the telepathic circuits activating the device and instructing the gate as to which destination it was to linked to a secluded place in Sector 666; a forbidding star cluster whose name was lost long ago. In that cluster there was a moon that orbited a ringed gas giant that had once housed a laboratory of the renegade Guardian Scar and was home of the Black Power Battery.

A rippling energy filled the once empty space within the dodecagon frame of the gate portal. Rebounding waves, like ripples in a pond from a cast stone oscillated back and forth. When the patterns met in the center of the polygon, a hollow space appeared which grew larger, eventually filling the frame. Through the portal Sayd could see the abandoned work area of the Dead Guardian. Her people would never suspect what she had been asked to prepare there, and by whom.

She passed through the portal, traveling the vast distance instantaneously, and emerging within the fell planet Ryut.

This world, the center of one of the most grievous failures in the history of the Oan’s Guardianship, which caused the birth of the Red Lantern Corps, the center of Nekron’s power, now was the center of something wonderful. She hated using this place for the work she had been tasked to do, but there was very little choice in the matter; this place was one of the only in existence with the equipment necessary to do what needed to be done.

Sayd went forward from the gate and floated silently through the dark, silent stone halls of Scar’s former abode. She approached the door to the inner sanctum of the former science advisor with a raised hand, channeling her power into the door. What had been stone dissolved away, becoming nothing but an opening. As the ‘door’ opened the gloomy darkness was suddenly banished and Sayd was bathed in the most glorious rainbows of light.

The door closed behind her has she floated forward to the center of the chamber and spun in place, pausing for a moment seven times to admire her work.

Seven Lantern Batteries filled the chamber with their brilliant light, their colors mixing in corners and crevices to become white. She had created these batteries to do more than just hold power from a central battery, they were like central batteries themselves…and much more. Within each was a portion of the Entities of the Emotional Spectrum. More than clones or children, not just a copy or an echo, but a portion of their very soul, made to grow and allow the Entity to be reborn anew, elsewhere. The entities themselves had asked this of her. Even Ophidian, the Entity of Avarice, had almost begged that she take this task.

“I have done as you all asked. The rings are finished and ready, the place has been found.”

“We feel it,” a rumbling voice came from the Red Battery. “We have felt where you seek to send us.”

“Such a different place,” a growl issued from the Violet battery. “Do you think it will do Child of Malthus?”

“I do,” Sayd answered. Frames and symbols of light appeared before her. She moved her hands over them like she was playing a musical instrument. An image appeared of the universe, then the image shifter and split, as an almost identical image appeared next to the first. Symbols of the Malthusian musical science language appeared around the image. “This universe has emotion strong enough to nourish all of you. It is also a universe with widespread magic, so it will give you another means of expression and growth.”

“Are there no entities like us there Guardian?” this inquiry came from the Yellow Battery.

“No, there are no Emotional Entities in that universe,” she answered Parallax's fragment.

“Time grows short. We feel the loss of our connection to the living,” the Orange Battery spoke.

The darkness seemed to close in again for a moment.

“What of our parent?” the Green Battery asked.” Is there another there?”

“I have not discerned if there is an Entity of Life there, but as it has appeared in other universes, I have no doubt that it does exist. As for the Entity of Life here…I have been unable to construct a White Battery or ring.”

“You have done more than enough,” sang the Blue Battery. “We asked you to save us, to preserve our essences and you have done that Sayd of Oa.”

Tears appeared in her eyes as she waved a hand over the controls of light. A sphere of energy appeared in the center of the chamber. ”Forgive my brothers and sisters their madness, and let this humble act be part atonement for our sins against you and all that live.”

“Nok,” the word rang out from the Indigo Battery.”Peace to you.”

“I shall have none without Ganthet.”

She lifted a fist, her tiny fingers spreading open. A swirl of colors appeared above her open palm and sparks flew from the ball of light over her hand. They were like comets or shooting stars, each a color of the Emotional Spectrum. The points of light became Power Rings, one of each color. The rings flew into the Battery of their color, disappearing within. There was a flash of light from each and the batteries all disappeared, leaving the floating bands of light in their place.

[=Embedding complete =] the rings said in unison.

“May you all find a better way in a new place. May new eyes lead to a new way of seeing things,” her hands played over the controls of light. Lightning seemed to erupt from the panel of light, the jagged bolts entered her eyes and touched her mind, and the supremely evolved Guardian mind became the actual computer and navigator for the device.

“Telepathic link successful. Target Reality located and locked.” The globe of light changed becoming both solid and insubstantial at the same time. The mix of light and darkness became evened out, the surface of the sphere became like a mirror. The device seemed to finish its operations and now set itself in lock mode. Sayd looked at the readouts of the holographic control panels. Inter-universal travel the way she was doing it required a vast amount of power, but it also allowed for an almost traceless passage out of her reality. The only way the entities would ever be found was if the living index code were used…

…and she was the living index code.

Something was fighting her in this device, something that should not be. She had been careful and looked very deeply into the device’s systems, checked over and over again using a portable Time Advancer Field to allow her the equivalent time of years to look into the machine and to craft the batteries. She had been so careful and thorough. Had Scar been so clever?

A flashing purple indicator answered her question. Her hands were a blur over the light panels. A trap! A trap that only sprung when the machine was used!

“Damn,” she hissed.

A huge shock wave erupted from the mirror like sphere, shaking equipment and knocking debris from the walls and ceiling of the chambers. Flashes of light appeared as objects of all kinds fell into the sphere, disappearing forever from existence. Sayd saw pieces of equipment, books from the upper levels, devices of various kinds, even circles of darkness…

…Black Rings? Were those Black Rings?

The strain on her mind was immense, after all she was effectively the operating system. Slowly the drift and flux that had wrecked havoc eased and she had total control of the device again. She could feel her mind removing the parts of Scar’s handiwork, removing the overrides she had put in as the device.

“Connection established.” The machine reported back. “Conduit Ready.”

Sayd simply willed the rings to float before her. She stared at the shimmering bands of the Emotional Spectrum as she pressed into them one last command.

“Seeds require soil to grow, and a ring requires a bearer. Seek out that bearer,” her telepathic command went into the rings, and they seemed to become very still for a moment.

She then used her power to push the rings into the mirrored globe that was the gateway to another universe. There was resistance at first, but eventually they all went beneath the surface of the gleaming giant orb and disappeared, not to be seen again, ever.

“Transit complete,” an indicator said. She withdrew her mind from the machine and shut down the portal. Slowly the globe faded away and the light panels followed suit, save for one last light frame. Using hand strokes like she was playing a plectrum, Sayd called up a command to close the door she had opened and seal it closed forever.

“Memory purged and excised,” the control panel said.

“Prevent further operations. Run program thaw. Guardian authorization: Hepplahilla gahtaar shama,” she spoke the command in ancient Malthusian.

“Command accepted. Initiating self destruction.”

There was a soft fizzing sound as the components of the device. The command she had given ordered the machine to return to the basic elements from which it was made. In moments the device would be dust on the floor of the chamber...but there would be no chamber!

Rumbling from both above and below sounded. She had reached out with her power and was causing the surrounding stone to turn in on itself, like closing fingers making a fist. It was child’s play for her to do this, she could have easily blasted it to dust, but she wanted it to be subtle and sedate, lest she send up a sign that something new had happened here. She flew back to the stellar Gate, stone walls closing in behind her as she went.

The stellar gate was reopened for her to return to Okaara and passing through Sayd pulled in the rest of the stone rooms upon themselves. As the last fingers of stone pierced the gate on Ryut, the frame became empty again, the machine indicating a loss of connection between Okaara and Ryut.

“Good luck to us all,” she sighed as she drifted to the door of the gate room. “We all, here and there alike, shall need it.”

The Past is Prologue-Part 1 The Honored Dead.

The Past is Prologue-Part 1 The Honored Dead.

by Moon Chaser (DA CrazymikePrime)

Applejack had made it halfway down the street before Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie caught up to her. The earth pony was walking with her jaw clenched, her eyes narrowed into a frown and her ears laid back in frustration. Her steps were heavy, like she was trying to fracture the ground with each footfall.

“Applejack!” YL Twilight Sparkle called out, “Slow down!” The ponies on the street stopped to watch the lantern of fear fly by. It was not every day that a unicorn flew without wings, and though the town folk knew of Twilight’s ring, it was still unusual to see a unicorn without wings flying.

“WAAAAIIT!  Applejack!” The unmistakable sound of Pinkie Pie yelling brought the din of the street down to almost silence.  Inside the glowing aura of SS Fluttershy’s making, the pink pony looked ahead trying to find the farm mare. “Come on, Fluttershy! That ring goes faster! GOGOGO!” Pinkie’s face was half frown and half grin, truly a strange facial expression that only Pinkie seemed to be able to carry off.

“Pinkie, I don’t feel it would be safe to fly much faster,” the Star Sapphire said quietly.

Pinkie flipped back in the violet energy field, reclining like Lyra on a park bench. She crossed her front legs, then scrunched her face in annoyance. ”Come ON, Fluttershy!  Catch up!” Pinkie jumped a bit in the energy field, her eyes crossed and her lips pursed.

“WAHAHAHAHAHA!!” She burst into laughter.

SS Fluttershy slowed her flying a bit and looked over her shoulder and rump. “Pinkie? What’s so funny?”

Pinkie Pie wiped a tear from her eyes as she stopped laughing. ”Did you ever notice that all that stuff coming out of Dashie’s mouth looks like she was eating hay fries and she went crazy with a ketchup bottle and she got so carried away being Angry Agnes that she forgot to clean up? Catch up…ketchup!” Pinkie’s mouth quivered again and she resumed laughing. Fluttershy just shook her head as she approached Twilight and Applejack standing in the street and came in for a landing.

Twilight had stopped Applejack at the intersection. The unicorn reverted to her normal form, letting her uniform fade away. The earth pony shifted her weight back and forth between her front and rear legs, clearly agitated.

“Dang that Dash!” Applejack growled.  Her hair had not been tied up when she left the spa and her loose mane and tail flutter and billow in the breeze. She shook her hair and cleared her mane away from her face. After landing and Fluttershy allowing the field to dissipate, Pinkie Pie trotted up and leaned on her friend, putting her head against Applejack’s neck.

“Ok, easy, Applejack.” Twilight Sparkle sat on the ground next to her friend.

“Goldurnit, she ALWAYS puts a burr under my saddle when she acts that way!” Applejack snapped.

“Aw, it’ll be fine, Applejack,” Pinkie said. “Look, it’s over for now.”

Applejack sat on the ground herself for a moment and said nothing. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. “Ah’m sorry y’all. Ah get mah dander up…”

“It’s ok, Applejack, just, let it go for now,” Twilight said flatly.

“Twilight,” Fluttershy called meekly. The yellow pegasus had reverted to her normal self, the Star Sapphire uniform reduced and absorbed by her ring. “I really hate to say this, but…um,” she looked down on the ground, “you may have to think about what to do with Rainbow Dash if this continues to get out of hoof.”

Twilight Sparkle scrunched her face a bit, her ears drooped. ‘I have Fluttershy,’ she thought. ‘It’s not something I’d like to do, but I do have a plan if I have to.’

“Um…” Twilight stammered for a moment, “we’ll worry about what to do about Rainbow later if it comes up. Right now, I’d like to know what AJ found.” Twilight faced Applejack, her ears up in alert.”Princess Celestia is coming later today for a briefing, and, while I may not have a lot of time to look at what you found as thoroughly as I’d like, I can still get an idea of what it is.”

“The Princess is comin’ here?” Applejack suddenly looked a little worried. “Today?”

“Later today. Yes. My brother is already in town making sure everything is ready for her visit. I need you there, as a representative of the Green Lantern Corps. Originally, I was going to ask Big Mackintosh, but now you’re here.” Twilight stared at the green eyes of her friend. “The Princess requested you attend as an Element of Harmony.”

Applejack sighed, “Well. Alrighty, Twilight.” The farm pony wrapped a foreleg around her stomach, “But can Ah ask to get something ta’ eat. Ah haven’t had a real appetite in days, an’ for some reason Ah’m suddenly a bit peckish.”

“Hey, why don’t you all come to Sugar Cube Corner?” Pinkie bounced in her suggestion. “I have to go to work there soon anyway. I can go in early and fix everypony something to eat! I’ve got a great new muffin recipe Ditzy gave me. Anypony willing to give it a try?” Pinkie twisted her head sideways in a huge grin.

The orange earth pony, the yellow pegasus and the purple unicorn all looked at each other and nodded.

“Ok then, Pinkie…lead on.” Applejack rose to all of her hooves. “Ah’ll try anything once, with fresh coffee.”

***

Western Equestria 2:35 PM

The small town of 29 Fronds was located between Las Pegasus and Ghastly Gorge just off the main road between the two at the base of the mountains north of the road. The town earned its name because of the 29 frond plants the surrounded the oasis that was the only open water for many leagues around. Long ago the Equestrian military had set up an outpost fort on the location and, as the years of Celestia’s reign alone on the twin thrones of Equestria continued to grow in number, the town also grew, slowly becoming a sizable town in the current era. The Equestrian military still maintained the fort and a small arsenal in the town, and Twentynine Fronds had become a choice spot for many ponies who retired from the military to spend the rest of their lives in the relative comfort of a pleasant climate and in the company of their compatriots. When veterans died they were buried in the military cemetery outside of town.

Many in the Equestrian military looked at a posting to Twentynine Fronds as a mixed blessing. It was considered a quiet billet without any chance of action and therefore little chance of promotion, but the duty held honor, particularly the honor guard of the cemetery. The other thing nice about duty in this small military town was that you got to touch base with some interesting old veterans who would tell stories over a tankard of hard cider -- stories that became more outrageous as the drinking went on. The advent of the trains had reduced the importance of the site somewhat, but the water was still important and the town was still a destination for visitors wanting to see their family members in retirement from a lifetime of duty, or to pay their respects to the dead in the cemetery.

[=FLESH=]

[=FLESH=]

[=FLESH=]

Sergeant Major Silver Shard’s ears pricked up. He had heard a noise that sounded like a swarm of insects mixed with some ponies speaking strangely. The grey-coated Earth Guard got up from his desk in the guard room at the Twentynine Fronds Equestria Martial Cemetery entrance, donned his helmet and poked his head out the door.  Outside his office station two Guard ponies, one unicorn and one pegasus dressed in their ceremonial armour and weapons looked around for what had caused the noise they had just heard. They could not make out where the noise had come from, even though they were searching in all directions. They saw nothing in the clear daylight that caused any suspicions.

“Corporal Sweet Water, Private Breezy Blaze,” the Sergeant Major called out, “did you both hear that?”

“Yes, Sergeant Major,” the guards responded in unison.

“Did either of you see what it was?” the earth pony asked.

“No, Sergeant Major, I didn’t see anything,” the green unicorn responded.

“Me either, Sergeant Major,” the blue pegasus answered.

“Ok.” The Sergeant Major had gathered his weapons to him in the meantime. “I counted three groups coming through our gate into the cemetery today, a total of…” he checked the visitors’ log on the wall, “thirteen ponies in total, group break downs into four, five, and four. None of these ponies have left, right?”

Both of the guards nodded in agreement.

“I don’t remember any of them being Goth-foals,” the earth guard said with a tone of annoyance.

“No, Sergeant Major,” the unicorn corporal answered. ”Besides, every time those foals from Las Pegasus do something in the cemetery, it’s always at midnight.”

“Any lone visitors?” the Sergeant Major asked.

The unicorn answered, “An older dark turquoise unicorn with glasses and saddle bags. Oaken Rake and Pruner, the gardeners with their work cart. That’s about it.”

Sergeant Major Silver Shard ground his teeth for a moment. “Ok, just to be sure. Private, Breezy Blaze..”

“Yes, Sergeant Major?” The pegasus private came to attention in front of her guard commander.

“Go up and fly one circuit of the cemetery and report back, just to be sure. Get a pegasus-eye view of what’s going on in there. Check out the other guard stations.” The earth pony looked into the memorial park, gritting his teeth as he spoke, “I swear to Celestia if this is hi-jinks from fool kids like last time, I’m going to draft them AND their parents into the post and make them clean this place up for the next fortnight!”

“On the way.” The pegasus opened her wings and took off into the air, climbing in a gentle spiral over the heads of her fellow guardsponies. He then began flying around the cemetery in a clockwise circle.

The grey Sergeant Major turned and looked at Corporal Sweet Water. “Let me know when she’s coming in. I’m going to get the paperwork ready.”

“Understood,” the unicorn guard responded as he resumed his post in front of the guard station, looking about for his fellow guard to return with her report from the air.

“I bet it’s kids,” the earth pony growled.

***

“Mmm…!” Applejack smiled wide has she inhaled the fragrance of freshly brewing coffee.

Sugar Cube Corner was a bit slow at this time of day, so Twilight Sparkle and her friends had the shop pretty much to themselves. Pinkie had gone behind the main counter to begin working on the muffins she had promised and to start brewing the fresh pot of strong coffee that Applejack was now longing for.

Coffee for ponies mostly was a love/hate proposition. A pony either loved the drink or hated it.

Applejack and all the Apples in town loved it. Twilight was an exception to that rule; she thought coffee was just ok. The smell was pleasant, but the flavor was awful, it took milk and sugar to make the taste of the dark brew acceptable to her palette, and the caffeine gave her the jitters if she didn’t watch how much she drank. Morning was the time for Twilight to drink coffee; Applejack, on the other hoof, seemed to want a mug of the stuff to drink any time of day or night.

Pinkie Pie had come out from the kitchen with a tray of four steaming mugs, two pouring pots, stir sticks, some napkins, a small box, and a cream and sugar set balanced on her rump.  The pink pony walked up to her friends’ table and Twilight used her magic to levitate the tray off of Pinkie and onto the table.

Fluttershy wrinkled her nose. She didn’t like the taste or the smell of coffee at all. To the pegasus it smelled like burning wet beans. While she understood her farm pony friend loved the drink, she herself really could not understand why Applejack enjoyed any part of it at all.

Pinkie grinned as she sat by Twilight at the round table. “Fluttershy, I brought you some tea for you. Oh, we got maple sugar cubes in yesterday, so please try them and tell me what you think.”

“Ah take mine black,” Applejack said as she reached for a mug. The farm pony took the mug with her left hoof and started to drink the hot beverage. Twilight frowned a bit while she opened the tea box to see what teas Pinkie had brought.

Fluttershy grimaced as she looked in the tea box. “Can I have some mint tea please?” she asked. Twilight levitated two mint tea bags out of the box and placed one next to her mug and one next to Fluttershy’s.

Pinkie poured herself a cup of coffee from one of the pour pots she had brought and started to put a sugar cube into the mug.

“So, Applejack,” Twilight started as she placed her tea bag into her mug with her magic and levitated the water pot, pouring hot water first into Fluttershy’s mug, and then into her own, “let’s take things from the top. Ok, first off said you made Raindrops a Green Lantern, right?”

Applejack finished emptying her mug and put it down on the table, ”Yes’m,  that’s right,” she said as she reached for the coffee pot to pour herself another mug of coffee. Pinkie was still putting sugar cubes one by one into her own coffee as the friends talked. “When Ah had made the new ring for her, she needed to charge it up as the charge was split between mah ring an hers. “

Twilight rolled her eyes in Pinkie’s direction. ”Pinkie, don’t you think that’s enough sugar cubes?”

“One more!” And a last maple sugar cube dropped into the mug. Pinkie then poured cream into the mug then quickly stirred the coffee with a stir stick and proceeded to guzzle the entire mix down.

Twilight shook her head. “Ok, so she has a power ring now. Where is she?”

Applejack finished pouring herself another cup of coffee. ”She’s with Mac right now, learnin’ how to use the ring. She took off flyin’ with it for starters.” The farmer took a swig of her mug. “Y’all should have seen her fly!” She took another sip. ”Anyway, when she finished chargin’ up her ring, she said she saw the same kinda thing Ah saw when Ah first charged my ring. That’s when the strange started. Her ring says she’s good for bein’ an ‘Alpha Lantern’ and keepin’ other lanterns obeyin’ the rules of the corps.”

Applejack lifted the leg on which rode her power ring and called the image she and Raindrops had found in the ring. Above her ring in the air was a construct of a large book which was very old in appearance. On the cover of the book was the symbol of the Green lantern Corps. Twilight’s eyes opened wide and seemed to twinkle at the appearance of the image. She levitated her tea with her magic and listened quietly.

“That’s when Raindrops an Ah found this. Raindrops just asked the ring the right question at the right time, Ah guess. We asked about the rules of the corps and what an Alpha Lantern was.  It told us there were other jobs in the Green Lantern corps and it said all this was in this thing. It’s called ‘The Book of OA’ and it’s supposed to contain the history of the Green Lantern Corps.” There was a thump on the table as a levitating mug hit the surface hard. Fluttershy jumped at the sound. Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all looked at Twilight Sparkle.

“Twilight? You alright?” Applejack asked.

Yellow Lantern Leader Twilight Sparkle was frozen, still as a statue and silent. Slowly a huge and terrifyingly maniacal looking grin spread across the purple unicorn’s face. Her eyes flashed with a weird kind of light, and her ears perked straight up. “It’s here…” she said softly, grin unbroken, “it exists!”

***

“Sergeant Major! Sergeant Major!” Private Breezy Blaze screamed as she came in for a landing at a gallop. The pegasus skidded to a full stop in front of the guard station.

The earth pony came out of the small stone building. As he approached the private, her armor made a rattling noise. She was shaking like a leaf; her eyes were shut, wincing for some reason.

“Easy private…EASY!”  Sergeant Major Silver Shard stood in front of the pegasus. “What in Tartarus has gotten into you?”

Breezy Blaze gulped and opened her gold eyes to look at her guard commander. “Tartarus!” She was still shaking. ”Um…it’s…the…graves…the…dead…I saw…” she sputtered.

“Sergeant Major Silver Shard!” another call came from above the guard station. Another pegasus was spiraling down and came into a landing. This mare pegasus was yellow with a red mane, her red eyes were like rubies. She was without armor, having on just the chest harness with guard insignia and rank; the stripes on the harness showed her rank as sergeant.

“Garnet Stare? What the hay is going on around here! Why are you out of uniform?”

“I lightened up for speed!” Garnet Stare shook out her wings. “Shard..we’ve got a BIG problem! You won’t believe it..heck I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it myself! “ She got eye to eye with the Sergeant Major. “I’ll just say it: the honored dead are climbing out of their graves!”

“Meadow muffins!” Silver Shard yelled. “The dead are rising from the grave? Are you kidding me?”

“No…she’s not!” Breezy Blaze finally spoke clearly. The pegasus had a crazed look in her eyes. “That’s what I saw! The dead are walking!” She started to shake again, “Discord’s back! Oh Celestia!”

Garnet Stare thumped the private in her ribs. Breezy Blaze blew air out hard from the blow and was quiet for the moment. “Calm down, Private! Discord generally didn’t play with the dead!” The red eyed pegasus turned to look at the grey earth pony. She was calm, but worried.

“Ok, apparently the dead are digging their way out of the graves and moving to attack anything living in their way.” She swallowed hard. ”I saw two of the civilians killed, a brother and a sister. They were screaming about their father…it was his ‘corpse’ that killed them—it tore their chests open!”

“Manure!” Silver Shard yelled. “The dead rising! Ha! Garnet, do you know what you sound like? If this is a post prank, it’s not funny!”

The pegasus sergeant was stone faced. ” Yes, I know what I sound like. No, I’m not joking! This is happening, right now! What are we going to do, Shard?”

“If this is really happening, what the hay caused it?” The grey earth pony stomped his hoof.

“I don’t know!“ the red-maned pegasus answered. “What are your orders, Sergeant Major?’

The great grey stallion rubbed his chin with the back of his hoof for a moment. He stared at the two pegasi, trying to decide if they were for real or not. ‘The dead rising? Nuts! Hmmm...COULD be a drill of some kind; better cover at least the basics,’ he thought ’go by the numbers.’

“Ok, break out fire lances for live fire and get the civilians out of here. Take them to the barracks for safe keeping for the time being. All gates locked! Nothing else in or out without my or Captain Brass Hat’s ok!” He looked at the blue unicorn, ”Blaze, can you carry this order to the other stations and the barracks? Can you do this?”

The blue pegasus private nodded slowly, she seemed to have calmed down. “Yes, Sergeant Major.”

“Don’t land! Pass the order on the wing. Keep flying, understand?” The blue pegasus nodded slowly again. The grey earth pony continued, ”Go ahead and shed armor like Sergeant Garnet Stare did to fly faster and easier. Have the barrack troopers report to me at the rally point, which is the Night Flight Memorial Mausoleum. Action words of the day are ‘Blackberry Bramble.’ Remember to use those words as conformation of my orders! That’s what’s written inside the sealed emergency instruction scrolls.” Silver Shard turned and looked at Corporal Sweet Water, “Lock that gate, Corporal, then sound the alarm!”

There was a faint sound they all could hear now, like a groan.

Breezy Blaze shed her armor down to her chest harness and stretched her wings, getting ready for takeoff.  She repeated the instructions out loud, then luanched herself into the air. Garnet Stare looked at the Sergeant Major as he went to the guard building to get his fire lance. There was the loud clang of the station alert bell as Sweet Water used his magic to ring the bell. Off in the distance other bells started to ring in response.

“What do you want me to do, Shard? You want me to go draw a lance and fall in back at my station?” the red-maned pegasus asked. “How about I stay here and act as your air eyes?”

“No. You go get the Captain and as many of the town troops as you can! Tell the Captain what’s going on and what I’ve done. We’ve got to alert the town, too.” He looked back at the now-locked gate, then back at the yellow pegasus. “We don’t know what we’re facing here and I’ve got foals barely out of training to fight with. Get us some battle magic, girl.”

Garnet Stare stretched her wings, getting ready to take off. “Rally at the Night Flight Mausoleum? Funny. You know their old leader is in there today laying flowers on their graves, right?”

The sergeant major’s eyes went wide and his ears pricked up, “Colonel Boomerang is in there?”

“Tonight is the full moon, Shard.  You know he visits them on the full moon. This time he brought flowers. He came through my gate an hour ago with a cart full of special moon roses.” She started to take off.  “Back soon,” she yelled as she climbed into the air.

“I swear to Celestia, Garnet, if this is a joke…” he thundered.

“It’s not. By her sun, it’s not!”

Silver Shard had retrieved his fire lance and began to check it for action. He looked at Corporal Sweet Water. The unicorn was nervous but held his lance steady. Both the ponies watched the pegasus sergeant fly off toward the town.

“Know any battle magic, colt?”

Corporal Sweet Water nodded. “ A little. Some shield spells. I only know some of the basics. I’m sorry, Sergeant Major. ”

“It’s ok, just stay with me. Got it?“ the unicorn nodded.

“There are no civilians or visitors near the main gate, sir, so we're clear. Now what? Should we leave the station and go into further inside? What do we do?” the unicorn asked with a crack in his voice.

The earth pony guard readied the lance. “No, we stay put. Now the hard part, corporal, now we wait.”

***

“Tarnation! How much longer am Ah gonna have to let Twilight go on ‘til Ah get ta ask a question? Ah know she’s getting info fer the princess an all, but dang.”  Applejack tapped the front counter of the bakery with her hoof. “This is too much like book studyin’ for me, and Ah’m not the book studyin’ type, Ah’m more of a bitin’ in with mah teeth type. Besides, Ah’d like Mac and Raindrops here to hear some of this!” The farmer stamped her rear hoof. ”It wouldn’t be so bad if the dern thing would answer Twilight’s questions without me repeating them, but it seems the dern thing won’t answer a pony from another lantern corps. Heck, it answered Granny, but it won’t answer Twilight or Fluttershy. Dang if that don’t beat all.”

The pink pony chuckled. “Next time have it tell you a story, not a study. That’s Twilight’s thing. I think that’s what you need to hear from it, Applejack, a story!” Pinkie said as she brought out a tray of fresh muffins.

Applejack was up at the counter helping Pinkie Pie with two trays of baked goods when Sweetie Belle came into sugar cube corner with a large box in the wagon she was pulling. The filly unhooked from her small load and bounded up to the farm pony, hugging one of her forelegs.

“Applejack,” the unicorn filly squeaked with happiness, ”you’re here! Rarity said you would be here.” Sweetie Belle let go and turned back to her wagon, ”She told me to bring this to you.”

Sweetie Belle opened the large box marked Carousel Boutique in the wagon and gently pulled out Applejack’s Stetson. The hat looked clean, but still had the softness and shape saying it was well worn and used. Rarity had kept her word just like in the spa; the hat was just clean and neat and re-blocked to bring back its old shape and nothing more. Applejack placed the hat back onto her head. It felt the same.

“Much obliged to you and your sis, Sweetie. What do Ah owe ya?”

“Nothing, Applejack. Rarity says you owe her nothing after what happened at the spa.” Sweetie Belle looked at the farm pony and tilted her head, “Did you and Rarity have a fight again?”

Applejack let out a rumbling chuckle, “No, dearie! Change of pace for both of us this time. Dash is the one deep in my doghouse right now. Yer sister an Ah are good.” The earth pony mussed the small unicorn’s mane with her hoof.

Sweetie Belle hooked up to her wagon. “Well, I’ve got to be going. Do you think Applebloom will want me to visit soon?” The filly’s eyes showed a little hurt feeling. “I’d like to visit her.”

“Ah’ll tell you what, Sweetie, Ah’ll ask when I head back ta home after this lunch, an’ Ah’ll let ya know, ok?”

Sweetie Belle smiled. “Ok, thanks, Applejack. I’ve got to get back to the shop and,” she shivered, “feed Opal.” With that she left Sugar Cube Corner and headed back to Rarity’s shop.

Pinkie and Applejack laughed as Sweetie Belle walked down the street. “Now there’s a pony who can overcome great fear!” the Green Lantern said. Applejack then frowned a little.

“What’s the matter?” Pinkie Pie poked her nose close to Applejack’s face.

“Ah don’t rightly know, Pinkie. It’s like Ah need somethin’ more or Ah should talk to someone else maybe.”

Pinkie looked at Applejack with one eye wide open, the other squinted closed. “Hmm…I think…you should talk to the fish.” the party pony said in a matter of fact tone.

The farm pony pulled her head back, her face had a ‘what the hay’ expression. “Pinkamina Dianne Pie, What in the wide wide world are you talkin’ about? That is just about the silliest thing you have said to me in all the years we’ve known each other. Ah've heard it all now! Ya want me to talk to…a fish!”

Pinkie looked at Applejack with her head tilted the other way, both of her eyes and grin were wide. “No. Not a fish, the fish!”

“WHAT FISH?” Applejack growled. Twilight and Fluttershy looked over in her direction.

“The fish inside you, silly billie, or a whale...not sure.” And with that, Pinkie turned back to the door of the kitchen.

“The fish inside me? Applejack stammered. “Pinkie, land sakes girl what are you talkin’ about? A fish inside of me?”

“You’ll see,” Pinkie said in the cautious tone she used when she was telling you about her warning twitches. “I think it’s nicer than the bug in Twilight,” Pinkie said flatly.

Now Applejack was outright mystified. “What’s buggin’ Twilight?” she asked simply.

“Not bugging her, the bug inside her. Sheesh, Applejack, I thought I was being clear. Was I not being clear? I was trying to be clear. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.” Pinkie then put hot cross buns on the tray.

"A fish or whale in me? That don’t make any kind of sense." She wondered if this was earth pony magic again.

"That's what I see." Pinkie grabbed one of the two treys of food. “Come on, let’s get Twilight caught up for the princess. I have something planned for after the meeting.”

"Ponyfeathers!" exclaimed Applejack.

***

A turquoise green-coated, silver-maned unicorn mare wearing glasses and saddlebags followed by a younger earth pony stallion with a brown coat and green mane ran at full gallop towards the line of guards calling to them.

“This way! Get behind us!” their leader called out behind the phalanx of armored guards, “Hurry!”

Hot on their flanks was a sight no guard had thought to ever see.

A mass of churning, shifting corpses was moving towards them with a speed that matched the living. The wave of rotting bodies approached like crashing surf threatening to drown a house barely holding on to land.

“HavE yoU nO reSPecT foR thE hONoRed dEaD!” the wave of the deceased sounded.

As the last two ponies ran past the guards, Silver Shard barked an order, “LET FLY!”

The fire lances of the guards burst into action. Blast after blast of fire from the weapons poured like rain from a thunder storm. The wave of death seemed to pause in its advance, churning in place once again as it reformed.  A wall of magic force sprang up between the two opponents as the unicorn guards generated a force wall in unison to hold the dead back.

“COmE noW sErgeAnT mAjoR!” a greyed-out pegasus spoke from the front of the mob of the dead, “ThAt WaSn’t vEry NiCe! BuT YoU aReN’T very NicE ArE yOU!”

“Breezy!” Sergeant Major Silver Shard’s tearing eyes fixed on the walking corpus of the private. She had succeeded in bringing the barrack guards to him and had gone back out on a recon flight. ‘She has not been gone that long,’ he thought. “No!” he yelled.

The pegasus moved forward to the barrier. “DO yoU REspecT mE NOw, noW ThAt I DieD aT yOUr OrDer? I wAS So aFRaiD wHEn I waS AliVE. I hAve No FEaR NoW!” The undead pegasus struck the barrier with such force that the wall of magic cracked along its entire length.

[=FEAR=][=COMPASSION=] “aH…yES!” the body of Breezy Blaze almost sounded joyful.

“I… Breezy,” her station leader said softly.

The earth pony had started to step forward off the battle line, his heart seemed to have a pain in it, when Corporal Sweet Water pulled on his tail, “Sergeant Major! What are you doing?”

Silver Shard shook his head. The pegasus Black undead struck the wall of magic again, more large cracks formed. The unicorns grunted and sweated trying to keep the barrier up.

“Shield about to fall, Sergeant Major!” Sweet Water yelled.

“F-F-Fall back! Fall back to the Night Flight Memorial. Fighting retreat!” the grey pony shouted.

The barrier dropped and the fire lances once again rained on the dead. Slowly the guards moved backwards.

[=FEAR=]

“See YoU sOoN SeRGeAnT mAjoR!”

***

Pinkie Pie looked a little dejected. Her mane was a little straight looking and she placed her head on the table top, trying hard to not become annoyed. She had not heard anything really interesting or exciting through the course of the lunch meeting, and, while she had been quiet throughout the whole thing, she really wanted to do something random to break the monotony. ‘Twilight needs this…as dull as it is. But gosh this is…’

“BOORRING!!!” she said out loud.

Her friends looked at her, Twilight had annoyance on her face, Applejack looked a little miffed, and Fluttershy was her normal calm self.

“Look I know this has been frustrating, everypony! It’s been frustrating for me, too!” Twilight said in an exasperated tone, a few of the strands of her mane popped away from the rest. “But I really, really needed to know some of these things, and I’ve only scratched the surface!”

“Ah feel like a parrot, just repeatin’ what you ask it!” Applejack’s ears went flat in annoyance. “You got enough for tonight’s meetin’? Frankly, Ah thought you’d want more stuff, Twilight. Aside from some questions that ‘confirmed what you already knew,’ all ya really wanted an’ got was about that Sinestro fella! That ain’t like you at all. Why?” the farm mare asked with a tone of exasperation.

“The information on Thaal Sinestro was critical to me and personal! I had to know about him. Sinestro made the yellow ring I use. I had no idea he was the greatest of Green Lanterns before his fall from grace! I know his story from his side; I wanted to get the other side.” ‘It was certainly disconcerting to have my findings confirmed by the Book of Oa. What a sad tale,’ Twilight thought. “The disturbing thing is the lack of any mentioning of the black lanterns, and what’s stranger still is the answer of the book to every kind of way I could come up with to ask it about them: ‘Restricted Access’. Frustrating! That’s part of why I’m letting go for now. I will get back at it when we’re finished with Princess Celestia.”

The purple unicorn sighed as she looked out the window at the town clock. ” I haven’t heard from Rarity since the spa. She was supposed to check in with me by now.  I hope everything is alright.” Twilight Sparkle got up from the table. “I’m out of time anyway. I have to get back and get ready for the Princess. You are coming, right, Applejack?”

“Yeah. Headin’ home first.” Applejack was frowning and nudging a muffin with her right front hoof, while Pinkie started to pick up the table.

Twilight narrowed her eyes bit her bottom lip in thought. ‘I need to give Applejack something…something that she needs,‘ the unicorn thought. “AH!” she said out loud.

Twilight’s friends looked up, surprised at her exclamation. “Ah what, dear? Thought of somethin’ else to ask the magic book in the ring?” Applejack asked with a hint of resignation.

The pony scholar smiled as she put her ring-bearing hoof on the shoulder of her friend.”Yes.” Twilight smiled. “After the meeting is over, why don’t you stay and ask the ring this: are there any stories a green lantern should know? Is there a saga or a record that shows …what it means to be a green lantern? This should give you time to gather Big Mac and Raindrops; they should see it too.” The unicorn turned to face the pink earth pony. “Will that be a problem, Pinkie? I know you have some stuff planned for after the meeting.” The purple mare winked so Applejack could not see her. “And you said you want to hear a story, one that wasn’t boring. Will that be a problem?”

Pinkie Pie looked blankly at Twilight for a moment, then her eyes popped open in understanding. “Oh! Yes, I think I could stay over if it doesn’t get too late. I’ve got almost everything ready here already. I’d REALLY like to hear a story that wasn’t about some stallion…er…alien with control issues.” The party pony shook her head.

Applejack turned to look at her friend. The farm pony’s eyes were wide and sparkled like emeralds in the sun. She had been at a loss on how exactly to ask the ring that very question.  “Thanks, Twi,” was the green lantern’s simple response to her friend.

The Yellow lantern leader headed to the door. “If you don’t mind, Applejack, Shining Armour is staying behind after Princess Celestia leaves. I’d like him to see what the ring tells you as well.”

“Sure. Ah ain’t got a problem with yer brother seein’ anything. If anythin’, maybe he can make more sense of it ta me than you can.” The farm mare looked at her unicorn friend with a sheepish grin, “Sorry Twilight, yer approach is a little too bookish fer me sometimes. No offense.”

The purple unicorn was in the middle of a swirl of yellow light as she summoned the Yellow Lantern Corps uniform over her again. She floated in the air smiling with that slightly disturbing grin back on her face. “None taken. I understand. See you later.” And with that, the lantern of fear flew out the open door.

Watching all of this was Pinkie, grinning like a fox about to use the pilfered keys to the egg coop to go on a robbery. Applejack looked at her with an eye of suspicion. Next to her with a slightly less guilty expression was Fluttershy, glowing slightly with the violet light of her ring.

“Pinkie, Fluttershy? What are you two up to?"

Ill Tidings

Ill Tidings.

By Moon Chaser

Canterlot Castle, The Private Apartments of the Lunar Court, 8:30 A.M. the day after the reading of the Book of Oa and the appearance of the Blue Ring.

[=Nightmare Moon of Equestria, RISE=]

“No! Be gone! I am no longer Nightmare Moon!”

[=Nightmare Moon of Equestria, RISE=]

A black ring then flew at Luna attempting to place itself on her horn, which now glowed. The Night princess reared up as a wall of magical force appeared. The black ring pushed through the spell barrier and landed itself on her horn. Tendrils of unlight appeared from the ring and drove themselves into Luna’s skull.

[=Nightmare Moon of Equestria, RISE=]

As blackness more empty than anything else she had known overwhelmed her. She could feel all the thoughts and feelings that she was melt away, the darkness consuming her very soul.

[=Nightmare Moon of Equestria, RISE=]

Her last thought was to scream.

“Majesty?”

Luna’s eyes snapped open as she looked up from a large cherry wood desk at the blurry image of her private secretary. She blinked rapidly for a moment as her eyes to struggle to focus. Subdued beams of sunlight pushed their way into her chambers through the cracks in the closed blinds over her windows. She turned to look at her secretary again, her face blank, concealing the nature of the dream the bat pony had woken her from.

“Princess? I’m sorry to disturb you before you retire for the day but a letter has arrived from Twilight Sparkle,” Midnight Rain said. Luna stood up and arched her back, stretching out any kinks that dared to try and form in her spine. “You also said to not let you sleep at your desk again mam.”

“Quiet so, quite so.”

Ah, her grand desk! She loved this desk. When her sister had first given her the fine piece of furniture, the servants had not been able to pass it through the doors to her private chambers. She had found it a bit amusing watching some of the unicorns attempting to teleport the desk into her chambers. Finally she herself had to use her magic to get the prized furniture into her chambers. Luna half suspected that her sister had given her the overly large furniture knowing that it could not be easily moved into her accommodations.

Luna’s secretary held out the message case before her offering the tube to the princess. Magical Telekinesis lifted the sealed scroll from Midnight Rain’s saddlebags and opened the case. The letter was then levitated before the Princess of the Moon. As she read the letter, the bat pony mare waited quietly.

“I hope all is well.”

Princess Luna smiled as she faced her assistant. “Indeed. Twilight assures me that our request will be honored. We need to prepare my private laboratory for the arrival of Lantern rings.” The pegasus nocturne nodded while uttering “yes majesty.”

“Now, I need to speak the Captain of the Guard. Where is Shining Armor?”

“He stayed in Ponyville to see to relations between the Lanterns and the Crown mam. He is due back soon.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed for a moment. “I need you to take a letter then, he needs a free hoof, a clearance from the Grand Marshall’s order.” A frown spread across the princess’s face as her secretary set up her typewriter. “I understand his position and the logic of his order, but I need to go around him for the time being,” she sighed.

Midnight Rain took a long deep breath, exhaling noisily. “Majesty, do you still intend to try all of the rings yourself?”

Princess Luna looked at her assistant with a single eyebrow raised in puzzlement. “Yes, you know I do.”

“The Red Ring may kill you my Princess, please don’t try it!”

A silver shod hoof was laid gently on the bat pony’s head. ”Oh my Midnight Rain…I know your fear and I hear you, but there are things I need to know.”

“But…highness…should not somepony else…”

“Hush child. I have made preparations in anticipation of the red ring, it will be alright. Take my letter, and make two copies: one for my records the other for Prince Shining Armor. He should complement his wife…even if it must be hidden for now.”

***

Ponyville, Sugar Cube Corner the morning after the party for Applejack.

“This can’t be happening!”

Carrot Cake looked over the empty cake cart for the third time. It seemed impossible that the wedding cake that he and Cup Cake had worked on so hard had disappeared.  They had managed to do so much in the last two days; preparing for Applejack’s party, keeping up with the increase in demand for morning baked goods, maintaining catering contracts. It had been stressful, but the Cakes, with Pinkie’s help, had handled everything. Had they been so busy that they had lost an entire wedding cake?

“Cinnamon twist,” Mrs. Cake called out,” have you found the cake yet? We need to start getting it ready to take over to the Rich house for Mr. Rich’s cousin’s wedding?”

Carrot Cake poked at the empty baking cart and frowned. “The label says that it should be here, but it’s gone! Where did we put it?”

“I’ll wake Pinkie and get her to help. Could you take over at the counter?”

Mr. Cake nodded and turned away from the cart. “Gingersnap we put it on that cart before we went to bed, I know we did! Where did that cake go?”

“We’ll worry about that latter,” Cup Cake pulled up a cart with two bundles placed on its surface. An adolescent brown and white colt had entered the kitchen area. “The new delivery colt you hired is here to take the bagels to the mayor’s railroad meeting.”

Mr. Cake pushed the bagel cart over to the waiting colt. He was average height with a mane and tail cropped short and tied with bindings at their ends. The new delivery colt had already collected the cream cheese for the delivery that he now placed into the bundles on the cart.

“You don’t have to collect any money, the order was already paid for,” the colt nodded. “After that, I have something that needs to go to Fluttershy’s cottage.”

Wide eyes looked at Carrot Cake, sparkling with the daylight. “The crystal house? You want me to go to the castle of the Star Sapphires?”

The tall baker chuckled. “I won’t call it a castle yet per se but yes…I need you to take an order to her later today.”

Grinning broadly the colt heaved the bundles onto his back and made his way to the rear door of Sugar Cube Corner as a blue glow filled the kitchen. A soft quietness fell on all the patrons of the bakery as Blue Lantern Pinkie Pie floated down the stairway.

Pinkie looked as if she were asleep. She had come down stairs without a sound, or a movement of her body at all. She was ‘sitting’ in the air with her eyes closed, a small smile on her face. Her breathing was slow, even. It was like she was a cobalt and pink colored statue from Cloudsdale floating in the air, unsupported by anything from the ground.

Still and serene Blue Lantern Pinkie Pie was a bit un-nerving for everypony.

Her eyes popped open, followed by her mouth pulling itself into that sparkling grin, the smile that defined Ponyville’s resident party pony and now the world’s only Blue Lantern. Pinkie tumbled while she stretched, still levitating in the air. The ponies in Sugar Cube Corner watched the bearer of the blue ring as she finished the waking ritual, responding to her numerous greetings of ‘HI’ as she continued her slow anti-gravitational summersaults.

When she had finished she came to the ground. She was still clad in the costume of a Blue Lantern. She continued greeting all in the bakery before focusing her attention on Sugar Cube Corner’s proprietress about the disappearance of the wedding cake. Lines of worry carved themselves across Cup Cake’s face as she spoke to Pinkie, who responded by smiling while munching on a blueberry muffin.

Pinkie then floated up to the top of a shelf and retrieved a container of baking soda. She placed the tin on the rolling table and set about collecting more ingredients for a new cake. As Mrs. Cake talked, Pinkie listened and made some notes on a clip board.

“Don’t worry Mrs. Cake! I’ll make you a new one right away.”

“Pinkie…we don’t have a lot of time. The cake has to be ready by five o’clock today!”

Pinkie Pie placed a ring bearing hoof on the shoulder of her land lady and employer. “It will be ok,” she said, blue light flashing in her eyes. “Honestly, it will all be ok, I promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”

***

Canterlot Castle, 11:30 AM.  The day after the reading of the Book of Oa

Thundering hooves of the galloping guard echoed through the halls leading to the throne room. The rapidity of his pace and the sound he generated spoke of the urgency of his task. “The princess is in the throne room” the royal chamberlain had told him before he set off to notify Princess Celestia of the visitor bearing a sealed message from a place they rarely received messages from, and never were those messages good news. He came to a halt before the closed doors of the royal chamber, almost crashing into the double doors. He placed a hoof on one of the door handles as he took a deep breath and opened the door to the throne room.

There were actually four throne rooms in Canterlot Castle.

There are the ‘petty’ thrones of the two sisters’ in their respective residence halls where they preside over private meetings and discrete hearings of their own. Celestia’s chair in the Hall of the Sun was gold leaf while Luna’s in the Hall of the Moon was silver clad.

Then there was the new Grand Throne Room where the great audiences and events were held. Celestia had ordered its construction when Luna returned from exile in the Moon and laid down the design herself. Only very recently had construction been completed. Two huge curule chairs, each carved of a single stone were at the head of that chamber; one of pure obsidian studded with diamonds and silver wire, the other of white alabaster bespeckled with crystals and gold wire. Behind each throne is a great banner with the cutie mark of the seat’s owner and between the two banners is the great coat of arms of the Principality of Equestria. This room was meant as both a peace offering to her sister and as a statement that the Diarchy had returned and Celestia was no longer lone ruler of the land.

Then there was what everyone, including the sisters themselves called ‘the throne room’. It was indeed the original seat and room first built when Castle Canterlot was expanded to become the seat of government for the new capital centuries ago. It was the place where day to day business of the country was conducted and official greetings were held.

The two guards standing before the great doors regarded their colleague with puzzlement while he caught his breath. Between gasps he reported that it was urgent he see the presiding Princess right away. After finally using the watch word, one of the guards quietly cracked opened one of the doors and told an attendant of the messenger’s arrival. The opening allowed the voice of the Princess to be heard within, conducting the normal business of the day:

“I think that the rail line will be fine as it is mapped out, and having a special plow locomotive available for the winter is sensible conclusion,” she said as she signed a document the secretary placed before her.

The guard entered the chamber as she moved to another document, the room becoming silent as he entered to approach the princess.  The rays of her sun made the glass of the throne room shine with a cascade of shifting colors, vibrant hues filling every corner and crevice in the great chamber with their light. The effect was a warm and well lighted without the intensity of the direct sunlight. The Crown Princess of Equestria was not one for severity, and she had felt that this room should reflect her philosophy, to not be harsh or cold, unless it was the last choice available, thus the room was made to be a physical reminder both to her and those who came to see her that her light was gentled but there were few places her light did not reach into.

The bronze clad Earth pony came before the dais Celestia’s seat sat on then removed his helmet and bowed low before speaking. “Your majesty, a messenger has arrived to see you, “the guard fidgeted nervously for half a moment, “He’s from Tartarus and bears a triple sealed message!”

Princess Celestia looked away from her reading platform gazing down at the guard bringing her this news. A slight grimace spread across her face, betraying the concern that lurked beneath her calm exterior. She looked into the eyes of the door guard, “Grant him entrance and please summon the Grand Marshall and the Head of the Arcane Academy immediately. When they have arrived, bring the messenger in.” Celestia’s secretary gestured and the normal attendants bowed and exited the great room leaving only the princess, the royal secretary, the scribes and the guards in the room.

“Thank you. Please return to your duties,” the gentle voice said. The guard bowed again and backed away to the door before donning his helmet and leaving the room. The royal secretary approached the princess, “do you want me to wake Princess Luna your majesty?”

“No Raven, let Luna sleep unless the Ward indicates it is of immediate concern. She has been very busy the last few nights and she needs the rest.  Have the scribes record the meeting for when we meet her later,” the secretary nodded as she motioned for the royal scribe to come forward.

One of the great doors silently swung open and the Grand Marshall of the Army entered with his secretary following three steps behind. The old flag officer had chosen to wear a very informal uniform today, the only indicator if his station was his shoulder boards and the unicorn staff officer that followed him into the royal presence. Both ponies approached and bowed before Princess Celestia.

Before rising from his bow the commander of the armed forces of the nation greeted his monarch.

“Summoned, I appear. Mine is to obey. What would your majesty have of this servant?”

“We would have such formality dispensed with old friend. Please, no ceremony is necessary.” The Grand Marshall nodded and rose, his aide following his commander’s example.

“The reason I called you here is we have received a message from Tartarus,” the princess said flatly. The Marshall raised a single eyebrow in puzzlement as Celestia continued. “He bears a triple sealed case, such a case from that place can only mean bad news. I have called for the Magistrix of the Arcane Academy to come as well. We will proceed when she arrives.” She looked at her secretary, “This is a protected meeting Raven, all my appointments are postponed until we conclude, all records are sealed.” The bespectacled mare nodded.

One of the doors opened again and a very old unicorn mare entered. She wore a long cape decorated with scroll work and symbols of magical formula. Her hat was large and pointed with a single large bell attached to the end of the hat’s cone that chimed every odd step, the wide brim hiding most of her features. The only truly discernible thing you could see of was her eyes; like fire rubies they were with an inner light that sparkled from underneath the huge hat. Her gaze unnerved the guards when she looked at them, riveting them in place. She carried a staff with runes and other magical symbols that had been carved and gilt inlayed into the old knotted wood. The old mage leaned on her staff as she kneeled before the Princess.

“Your majesty, since you have called for me,” a light appeared from under her hat, a scroll floated out from her robes moving toward the princess. “I have brought what you requested a few days ago. I have here the survey of the crypts you requested. It is complete.”

Celestia grabbed the document with her magical telekinesis, levitating it to her secretary for review later. “Is it as I feared?” the princess of the sun asked.

“It is worse my princess, MUCH worse.” The old mare said with a hint of terror in her voice. “Grand Marshall, I will send a copy to your office after this meeting. You should know…who we may be up against.”

The Grand Marshall nodded. The aide scribbled notes with magic into an official looking ledger book.

There was a knock at the double doors and the guard that had brought word of the messenger before poked his head in.” Your highness, I present a message from the Captain of the Watch of Tartarus delivered by trooper Berry Brook.”

The doors swung wide open as a Bat pony in grey armor walked in, the messenger case slung around his neck. He walked to the halfway point between the entrance doors and the throne before bowing. The Grand Marshall and the Magistrix bowed to the messenger as Celestia gestured for him to rise.

“Thank you for coming,” she said to the trooper. She then looked at the guards at the front door and raised her voice in command. “This room is now sealed. Do not open until I so order it save if Princess Luna herself comes!”

“Yes highness, “the guards answered in unison and they pulled close the doors, latches thrown by magic to lock the chamber.

“Now then….” began Princess Celestia.

...The private chambers of Princess Luna, later that afternoon…

“You can’t find them?”

“No Tia I cannot. When I go to see them in their dreams, the Elements of Harmony are missing from the dreamscape. I cannot find where they are, and…” Luna frowned slightly.

“And?”

“Well…the dreamscape near where they should be is very strange…it’s very…alien.”

Celestia closed her eyes in thought for a moment. “Maybe it is the rings? Perhaps it affects their dreams. Twilight said that all rings seem to inhabit a portion of their mind.”

The lady of dreams shook her head answering her sister negatively. “No. I’ve looked in on other lanterns that were asleep and been able to find all of them and walk in their dreams. Some of them were disturbing, frightening,…graphic!” the Alicorn of the Moon twitched. “The strange thing was that all of them were aware of me even when I entered their dreamscape ‘invisibly’! Apparently the rings made them aware of my presence. But Twilight Sparkle and her friends I could not find! I could not even find the troublesome pink one last night! Only the Elements…the first ones to receive a ring are like this.” Lose parchments moved under a magical glow, landing in front of the mistress of dreams. “These are from the meeting about Tartarus,” she asked. The Lady of Day nodded.

Princess Luna then removed a muffin from a serving dish. It hung in the air by her magic as she took a bite. She chewed at her breakfast slowly as she read the records of the meeting with the messenger. On the table before her:  the Ward Captain’s official report and the Magistrix’s compilation of the crypts deep under Canterlot that had been vacated, the occupants now undoubtedly walking the earth again as Black Lanterns from all the evidence available.

Celestia sipped at her afternoon tea silently. Luna pulled the Ward report to herself with magic and allowed the meeting recording to fall back on the table. She had just scanned the report when she had first rose, but now she read the report completely.

Your Royal Highnesses,

It is with the deepest regrets that I must inform you that the fastness of Tartarus has been breached. This report was issued after a survey was made and repairs undertaken.

Two days ago, a force of creatures known to the crown as Black Lanterns attacked and penetrated the gates of Tartarus.  Seventy were killed including twenty five griffons and four Kirin on official mission with us. The graves of the long serving were disturbed just before the attack and several members of the guards were attacked by their passed family, the ‘zombies’ tearing the heart out of whatever being they decided to attack physically. No force of our arms or magic could stop them. The great guard dog Cerberus was confined by the power of the creatures and though unharmed, he could not overcome their mysterious power and was imprisoned until they departed. The force was led by two prominent Black Lanterns, one a Zebra mare, the other a stallion that looked very much like a mage of ancient times and wielded magic power of a level we have only seen from your Majesties themselves in addition to the mysterious power all Black Lanterns possess.

We were able to place a small force to observe the Black Lanterns, staying hidden in secret spots within sight of the gate entrance and observing their movements. Even if we could not attack with any chance of success, we could observe and report back their actions.

What this force did was after they defeated and drove off the garrison troops they broke the locks on the iron gates and removed the Black Pearl in Amber from the cave of horrors, smashing it to dust with what can only be called pure darkness once it had cleared the gates. Each of their number then took a portion of the destroyed relic and flew away, every individual heading in a different direction when they departed. We understand the Black Pearl in Amber is very large and would be difficult to transport, but the rendering of the artifact effectively into sand is beyond the understanding of your humble servants and to our knowledge no magic known could do such a thing.

The complete damage, casualty and wounded lists are included in this dispatch report for your majesty’s information. I have not notified any of the families of the slain as of yet, waiting for royal permission before doing so out of concerns for security and stability.

With the deepest regrets,

Captain of the Tartarus Ward Blazing Sword

Luna returned the letter to the table top and then glanced at the list of violated graves from the Magistrix, noting several names mentally before turning her attention to her sister who was staring out at the great garden and maze.

“Do you remember what the Black Pearl in Amber was Luna?”

She swallowed another bite of muffin before speaking,” you and I are probably the only living beings who do know what it is Tia! Its true nature has been forgotten over the millennia.” Luna glanced down at the parchment then back up to her sister again. “What do they want with the Tomb of Typhon? Why did they smash it to pieces instead of trying to make the fell creature into a Black Lantern?”

“Typhon,” Celestia breathed.  Said to be father of all monsters in the world! The being that in the time before her and her sister almost caused no other living creature to walk the earth. Powers far older then both of them had killed and imprisoned the vile creature by turning it into the Black Pearl, encasing it in Amber and inscribing spells on its surface to keep the eldritch horror perpetually locked away, unable to be summoned or called upon by magic of any kind. Even Discord’s power was unable to affect the prison of the oldest and greatest of monsters that had ever existed. The prison was thought indestructible.

“They were led by two, a Zebra…undoubtedly the Elements of Harmony’s friend, the shaman Zecora. The other…you know who that was.” Luna said as she levitated the list from the crypts between Celestia and herself, turning the writing towards her sister. Celestia continued to stare at the garden.

“When are you going to tell her Tia?”

The sun princess bit her bottom lip,” I have to tell her but it might break her. All of this…it’s all so much for her to bear. She is showing the strain.”

Princess Luna lowered her head and sighed. “I know. It will be hard for her to hear, but she needs to know.”

Celestia’s face became dark for a moment, the rudiments of a scowl formed in the lines of her face. “How do I tell her Luna? How do I tell Twilight that one of the most cherished and respected ponies in all history, a unicorn that she idolizes, has fallen?”  She looked at the list from the crypts and frowned.

“How do I tell her that Star Swirl the Bearded has returned…as a Black Lantern?”

***

“Let a Diamond Dog have any old hole in the ground and he’ll make it a home.”

From The Codex of the Blackest Night, the Book of Oa by Clarissi Applejack

Sweet Apple Acres Farm, the afternoon after the reading of the Book of Oa.

“Ok…Ah think that’s enough for today. Ya learned how ta fly…and make constructs. Let’s head inta’ town and get you somethin’ ta eat then we’ll turn in for the night. I gotta place for ya ta sleep.”

“Um...” the dog pointed behind her, “do you mind if I take hole over there near the river Applejack?” Rufus pointed at what looked like a hollow in the side of a small hill or rise near the main stream that feed much of the orchards for the Apple farm. “I think it serve me nicely.”

“Really? Ya don’t want the sleep in the barn,” the farm mare asked. She was offering the great dog a decent place to sleep, yet he was asking to occupy a dirty hole?  “It’s comfy and clean.”

“No..I like to sleep there please.” Rufus spied a pile of wreckage and refuse near the dividing fence. “What…you doing with all that wood?”

“Oh that? It’s what’s left over from the attack on the farm. The Black Lanterns trashed things up so we had to rebuild the chicken coops and barns.” Applejack raised a single eye brow. “It’s just a pile of wreckage.”

Rufus stroked the bottom of his muzzle with a paw. “Then you not mind if I use any for den? “

“Um, sure if’n ya want to.”

“Good,” he then rubbed his tummy.” I do needs to eat.”

“Well then let’s meet up with Twi an’ Rarity for supper. I need ta introduce ya properly anyhow.”

Dog ears laid flat against the sides of Rufus’s head. Applejack chuckled. “Yer gonna have ta meet her sooner or later Rufus.”

“I’d rather mine at night!”

Applejack cocked her head to one side. “Is, that a bad thing for some reason?”

“You have no idea…I tell at meal.”

“So what do ya eat anyway? Ah’m not sayin’ yer like Winona but…”

A ball of green energy appeared from Applejack’s ring. The point of light split and then expanded, becoming two images, one a taciturn pegasus, the other an aged bat pony. Applejack looked over her rump at the Diamond Dog, “I gotta talk to these folks. Can ya give me a moment or two?”

Rufus nodded and began walking to the junk pile to get a better look at what he could salvage for ‘his’ den as his ‘War pack leader’ began talking.

“Howdy there sir, Ah’m Applejack….”

The Luminus Seven-The Battle of Appleloosa Part 1

The Luminus Seven-The Battle of Appleloosa: Part 1

Equestria, Las Pegasus, Westcanter 3:30 PM

“No Dad, please just sit this one out,” a unicorn mare with golden eyes that stared daggers at Raindrops said. Her brow furrowed together, one corner of her lip turned down in a deep frown. “Besides, you’re too old to fight any more!”

A large batpony stallion with the same coat color as the unicorn came out from a room in the back of the house and stared into her eyes. His lips pulled back flashing his fangs. “Wow Starshine, thanks for that! I guess I’m ready to go out to grass huh.”

His daughter faced him and pushed her muzzle into his, her dark blue coat brushed out in anger. “That’s not what I meant dad and you know it! You did your time in the guards…you did your duty for Princess and Nation! Haven’t you done enough?” Starshine turned away and resumed her intense glare at GL Raindrops. “It isn’t even the Crown asking for you this time!”

“Come on, read that letter again, it’s Squeaker,” he said with a grunt as he hefted bags over his back with a hook on one of his wings. The ache made him grunt a little from the pain. It hurt to use his damaged wings every time, even the easiest tasks, but he had learned to just deal with the pain rather than take medication.

“See, that’s what I’m talking about Dad! It hurts for you to even use your wings for little things,” she moved her attention away from GL Raindrops to her father, a pink magic aura glowing from her horn while she used her magic to set the bags on his back more securely.

Boomerang placed his head on his daughter’s neck, pulling her in with a free foreleg. “Starshine…I gotta do this. You didn’t see them little girl…you didn’t see what they did in Twenty Nine Fronds,” he swallowed hard. “There was no stopping them little bit…the best we could do was run for our lives and hope to Celestia we got out.”

“You can tell that to yourself all you want dad, I know that this is about flying,” Starshine whispered as she pulled back from her father.

“Look sweetheart,” he sighed,” I know you don’t understand but I’ve got to do this. These lanterns are asking me to join and you heard what the ring said, I’m suitable for the job.” He looked at Raindrops with half lidded eyes and slightly lowered head. “Let me speak to the boss please Lantern Raindrops. I’ve got to get some clarification above your pay grade before I accept.”

Raindrops nodded as the green bubble of light she summoned appeared expanding and twisting itself into the small image of an earth pony mare wearing a range hat. “Howdy there sir,” her beaming smile and rustic twang came through clearly. “Ah’m Applejack. Raindrops told me ya might want ta talk ta me before you decided on joinin’ us?”

“Yes Mam. I want to get a few things clear before I accept, alright?”

The image sat on its haunches, a uniform like the one on the pegasus carrying Spitfire’s letter appearing around her as she did so. “Go ahead sir, fire away.”

Boomerang mirrored her posture, but his body was stiffer, his back straighter. He looked directly into the eyes of the image floating before him, trying to read the Green Lantern leader through the animated picture. “OK. First off, if I do this, we do it my way, am I clear? I don’t want to be training someone and have you or any pony else coming in and saying I’m being too hard, too cold, too mean etc. We’re not training for a picnic or the Grand Galloping Gala, we’re training for war. Raindrops told me you said everypony fights and trains, nopony gets out of it, I like your stance. I ask that if you have a question about what I do and why I’m doing it: do please ask but in private.  Any problems so far Miss Apple?”

The Applejack image shook her head, “Naw, though I need ta know every step of the way why yer doin’ what yer doin’.” Applejack ‘s face became hard, the lines in her muzzle and over her eyes became deeper,” I understand anythin’ stronger than coffee is forbidden to ya! I understand why an’ Ah don’t have a problem with somepony on the water wagon, but…If’n ya drink, yer out! Ah can’t have that hangin’ over anypony. Fair?”

“Completely,” Boomerang said with a tone that gave no hint of what emotion was going through his head.

“Sorry ta bark so hard. Ah’m just learnin’ all of this on the gallop and…oh, skip it. Ah appreciate ya bein’ honest about the drink and reformin. Ah just …Ah’m learning as Ah go, no leavin me out of the loop with anythin’!”

“Never, and no apologies are necessary mam. I understand more than you know. Alright…I hear you are good at organizing things.” the bat stallion seemed to relax a little, his back was no longer board straight and his tone became slightly softer. “Is this true?”

“Well…farm work heck yeah, but this, Ah’m…kinda lost on organizing for fightin’. I know how ta run a rodeo..”

“Good, you’re better equipped than half the cadets at the academy! It applies more than you think. OK Jackie I’m in,” a broad grin spread across the old batpony’s face. “I’ll head out with Smiley over here and see you soon.”

‘Already started doing it,’ Raindrops thought. She chuckled in her head a little.

There was a sudden puzzlement on Applejack’s face as her projection disappeared. Raindorps had ended the connection as Boomerang Blitz had uttered that he would head out. Raindrops then held up the spare ring and it floated off her leg and floated between her and Boomerang Blitz.

“Dad…at least wait for Mom to come home from the postal conference and talk to you first before you say yes…please?”

He ran a hoof over his white mane closing his eyes while he did. “No sweetie. Someone asked me for help in a way only I can, and they need the help. I gotta go.” He took a deep breath. “Ok…hit me.”

The ring began to glow. A beam of green light shot out and struck the blue bat pegasus. A field like a unicorn’s levitation magic surrounded him. As he lifted into the air the light became more blinding and the field more opaque, surrounding him in a green cocoon. His bag fell to the floor with a thud.

[=Booth Gregory Joules of Equestria, you have the ability to overcome great fear=]

The ring floated over and placed itself on Boomerang’s right front leg. The limb disappeared into the contracting light cocoon.

[=Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps=]

The cocoon now clung to the stallion, forming itself into the familiar uniform of the Green Lantern Corps. He slowly floated down to the floor, the glow around him fading away. He took a moment to look himself over and touching the ‘material’ the clothing was made of. “Hm,” he grunted “Interesting.”

Carefully Starshine came forward looking her father up and down, taking in the sight of him in the strange vestments  His new ‘clothes’ seemed to be made of fabric woven from pure light. She reached out and carefully touched his side in front of his arthritic right wing. She looked into his eyes, the grey eyes open wide in a strange expression she had never seen her father make before.

“How…how do you feel dad?”

Boomerang Blitz felt the ring reaching into his mind, fitting itself into his thoughts like he would slip on fine armor. It became attached to him, fitting to him like part of his body. There was no kinks, no stiffness in the way the ring connected to his mind.  If it had been a weapon, it would have been perfectly balanced. He had complete control over it.

“I…WOW,” he turned to face Raindrops a huge grin across his face. “So..this is…amazing!”

Raindrops nodded, ”wait until you fly. You can go straight up like you're power diving, and you never get cold or run out of air.”

‘Flying…to fly again.’ ”Ok let me get my kit and we’ll leave.” He reached out and picked up his bag then heaved it onto his back. He then turned and reached out with his ring riding leg and pulled his daughter to him, placing his muzzle on the top of her head, her horn resting alongside his jaw.

“Take care goofy girl. Remember I love all of you.”

“You stubborn old army mule,” she hugged him tightly for a moment. His skin felt like it had become rock hard, preventing her from really giving him a squeezy hug. “There's no talking you out of this, is there?”

Boomerang Blitz smiled, ”No. Sorry. I’ll write your mom and tell her when I get settled. Tell your brother, will you?”

Tears appeared in her eyes, “Come home safe with your crest on your helmet Dad. No drinking! Promise me! ”

He nodded and said “I promise.” Then he turned around and opened the front door, gesturing with a damaged wing for Raindrops to go out first. He followed behind her and stepped through the door, closing it behind him. He could just make out the sound of his daughter starting to cry. He held up a hoof as he talked to Raindrops.

“The ocean is 10 blocks away. Let’s head to the beach. I can swim, so it should be ok.”

“For what”, Raindrops asked, a single eyebrow raised in wonder.

“Water is softer than dirt, so if I crash, I should be ok. It time for you to teach me how to fly this thing.”

***

“Many things have been said about my lieutenant Beatrix Hazel Lulamoon. She’s arrogant, boastful, egotistical, somewhat cruel, proud and vain. All of these are true. She's also intense, determined, as cunning as a robber fox and as sharp as an obsidian spell knife.”

-from the Book of Yellow Lantern Corps by Twilight Sparkle

Equestria, Appleloosa  5:00 PM

The Yellow Lantern lieutenant had shocked everypony when she came into town a second time. Nopony had thought she would be back again that day the way she had talked. When she landed to talk to Sherriff Silver Star again, he pointed out that guards had arrived to help out. Trixie inquired as to where they were and the Sherriff was happy that they were at the old barricade guard house on the other side of town. When she saw them she knew right away what they were, the crest of the Black plain to her. A quick scan from her ring only confirming what she knew.

They were Black Lanterns!

Trixie's first move was to call Twilight and ask for help. The yellow Corps leader told her GL Macintosh was on his way to her.

But she decided not to wait…she decided to do something, and much to her own surprise took action on her own!  The Black Lanterns seem to stay outside of town for the moment, but they may not stay that way. The towns folk were in grave danger and needed to be separated from the danger. They needed to get away, quietly and quickly lest they be in the middle of a fight.

She took it upon herself to warn the town ponies that they were in grave danger, that the creatures that had destroyed the town of 29 Fronds were just outside of town…none believed her. She tried to explain what the ‘dark guards’ really were but no one listened. May said that those ponies could not be zombies…after all they ‘looked’ relatively normal and alive; they didn’t look like trotting corpses. “They are just night guards…nothing more,” was a common response. Many laughed at her…

…The Great and Frightful Trixie did not like being laughed at, especially by ponies she was trying to save! One would think that just being a lantern would be enough to make them listen, to command their attention, but no!  ‘Fools,’ Trixie thought, ‘Why did I even bother! What to do, what to do…Ah!”

She decided not to wait! Her next move was to call forth the power of her ring. If they would not respect reason, they would obey terror!

She created constructs of horror that frightened the Applelosians. She did things such as making herself appear to be a flame, her skull appeared to be bare with fire surrounding it. Trixie ran all through the town, using the terror she created to drive the townsponies away from the Black Lanterns, clearing the towns folk out and keeping them safe, even though they might not know it.

It was then she then turned to face the undead guards, who had caught wind of something not right in the town and came running. Trixie was strengthened by the terror radiating from the fleeing town folk. Too late it seemed did the zombie guards understand what she had done and that she was now on the attack. The undead pegasi among them had become airborne, moving to cut off her retreat. The other black lanterns on the ground charged her, un-light construct weapons swinging wildly.

They were so…FAST! What in the world was she thinking going it alone!

Trixie had to throw up a shield, which dented but held up when a big earth stallion brought down a mace made of darkness. Trixie gave ground, hover sliding away like she was skating on ice, giving herself more room. A wall of brambles and briars made of yellow ring energy appeared, catching the advancing black lanterns. She quickly cast her vision skyward and saw a pair of ponies diving on her.

A flight of yellow firework rockets flew up and exploded, buffeting the attackers and sending them to the ground off target. ‘Hah! Not bad Trixie’, she thought when ring awareness refocused her attention.

The big earth stallion was on her again. He crashed into her at full speed, Trixie managing to make it a glancing blow by dodging away at the last moment. She rolled on the ground, her hat flying off. It took her mind off the fence of thorns she had created and it disapated. The death lantern stood before her grinning sickeningly.

[=FEAR=]

“I shOUld knOw thE nAmE Of thE lIfE I’m AbOUt tO tAkE- FEAr lAntErn!“

Trixie’s ring glowed. She looked skyward and saw the other two flying opponents above her ready to pounce when somepony behind her yelled in a deep drawl.

“Down Trixie!”

[=WILL=]

A huge snow plow cart made of willpower drove into the undead phalanx, scattering them like bowling ball pins. Buildings crumpled and collapsed from the flying bodies, burying the fel creatures for the moment.  The leading black lantern was crushed beneath the wheels of the construct. GL Big Macintosh landed behind his creation, his eyes looking about for another possible target.

‘Twilight did say the handsome Green Lantern was coming.’

Trixie rose into the air to intercept the two foes descending from over head. She created another curtain of fireworks, deflecting one of the attackers as she had the others, the other came on even faster. She created a spiked shield of fear energy that shattered when the force of the black lantern ramming her had landed home. As she fell to the earth she barely  had enough presence of mind to wrap her body in a field when she hit the ground, digging a trench in the dirt until she came to a stop.

Mac jumped and landed next to Trixie, his ring blazing. Some of the knocked away undead were emerging from building wreckage.

“Yer one gutsy lady,” the great red stallion yelled. He had created a green construct wall. Guard pony Black Lanterns beat on the barrier attempting to break through. Though cracks had appeared in the construct, it was holding. “You ok?”

“The Great and Frightful Trixie is fine, “she said with annoyance as she climbed out from the end of the long furrow. She re-created her hat and rose into the air, generating another shield of yellow over both of them. “It took you long…why do you have two rings?”

More cracks appeared in Mac’s wall, these were deeper and more pronounced. “Later…we gotta get everypony away from these here Black Lanterns!”

Trixie’s shield was now being attacked by one of the pegasi she had first knocked out of the sky. “Trixie already thought of that! She drove the Apploosians out with fear before she attacked the Black Lanterns. Trixie is not stupid green fool,” she sneered.

Big Mack frowned. “Ah didn’t say ya were Trixie. “

Mac could sense in his mind the cracks in the construct wall and knew it was about to fail. Rather than allowing it to be destroyed, he dissolved it at the last moment, the black lantern pounding on it striking nothing and hitting the ground instead. Mac then created a pile driver over the prone zombie and with a couple of blows drove it into the ground like a post. He turned to face Trixie.

“We gotta meet up with Princess Cadence and Fluttershy!”

“Very well but first,” Trixie began to laugh an almost maniacal frightening laugh, “we deal with these detestable things!”

Trixie allowed her shield to fail, the fragments of yellow construct falling like the floating embers of a dying fire. She summoned a giant hammer with spikes that filled its striking face. The large bludgeon then swung down smashing the black lantern she used it against into pulp. She then focused her ringpower at the still black lantern’s power ring and called out to Mac, who followed suit.

The two beams struck the obsidian object, and for a moment there was nothing. What seemed like an eon passed before there was an explosion of light and unlight as the black band vaporized.

[=Connection Severed=]

The body of the Black lantern that had began to reform itself ceased and was animate no longer.

A dead pegasus appeared from the hole it had dug when it crashed to the ground, a guard shield of darkness protecting it from the same attack that destroyed its compatriot. Other Black Lanterns started to appear from the wrecked buildings, calling out to them.

“Ah think we need more hooves,” Mac said as he raised his ring, a giant grass roller heading at the approaching foes.

“No doubt!” Trixie called an image of Twilight before her as she hid behind a yellow plank wall studded with black arrows. Twilight’s projection looked a little stunned as Trixie continued to fight, yelling at the Yellow Corps leader for help. Twilight lost hesitancy as she was talking to somepony and then told her what she needed to hear.

“Cadence is on her way.”

***

Princess Cadence nodded at the Indigo figure of YL Twilight. Her violet aura grew around her and she started to hover off the ground. “Help is coming Twilight,” she said as she turned away and faced the Chief. “We must go! Black Lanterns are here and two of our group are fighting them in the town now!”

“ON THE WAY!” the Red Lantern screamed. The assembled buffalos were silent when the unicorn ignited, silently in awe of the power of the wielder of rage. ‘She IS wrath,’ many of the tribe thought.

RL Arcana boiled up with crimson fire when Flim relayed the distress call from Trixie, becoming like the brightest fire Chief Thunderhooves had ever seen. The blood that flowed from her mouth scorched the ground where it fell, letting off an acrid smell of char and melted sand. She rose into the air like a sky rocket, the trail of red plasma and light arcing to Appleloosa.  The tribe sat silent, amazed at the sight.

“Do…do all…lanterns,” the chief stuttered trying to collect his thoughts together to speak. “By my for-fathers!”

“We will answer all questions as soon as we can,” SS Cadence rose into the air, IH Flim and IH Flam following suit and taking up positions beside her, their Indigo light melding with the princess’s violet. She made a funny face, one eyebrow raised. She half cocked her head and looked at Fluttershy, who remained on the ground. “My Queen…we must go.” There were murmurs from the tribe.

Fluttershy was silent, unmoving. She simply took deep breaths trying to gather courage. She looked up at her most powerful Star Sapphire with a pained look on her face.

“I…I” she stammered.

Cadence held up her ring bearing hoof, shaking her head.“You need to stay here mam.”

Eyes wide in bewilderment, Fluttershy aura seemed to bubble a little. The Queen then looked over at the buffalos. They seemed to move slightly forward, leaning at her, their eyes looking confused, unsure, even… scared. Cadence returned to earth, landing next to Fluttershy, standing over her with her height. She knelt down, placing her muzzle in her face and spoke quietly. “I know you’re afraid but we need…”

“I am…but I understand …they’re scared. They need…somepony.”

The Star Sapphire looked at her queen- nodding. Allies were in trouble…and the battle had to be joined, but the buffalos…

Cadence bit her lip “If we go…and other black lanterns show up…you will HAVE to fight them, you know that?”

She swallowed hard. “I know,” said Fluttershy. “But …I need to stay here for just that reason...for them. So I’ll console them, and answer their questions, maybe even find another Star Sapphire. If the Black Lanterns show up…” she gulped quietly,” I won’t leave them.”

‘Watch your back Shining said to me’, Cadence thought. She rubbed her cheek against Fluttershy’s cheek.” Stay safe my dear,” she whispered.

“Stop them,” the pegasus whispered back,” and be careful! Please!”

“Flam,” she called “Stay with my Queen and help her. Call us if something happens.” The alicorn of love rose into the air passing Flam on his way down.  He silently gave a single nod.

“ Flim, we have to go..NOW!” Her voice became hard. Fluttershy seemed a bit taken aback. There was such an edge to her tone.

A flash of light and the two lanterns were gone, following the path their rage lighted friend had.

Chief Thunderhooves walked forward and approached Queen Fluttershy, looking over to the town as she was. A tear was in her eye as she was saying something under her breath. The huge buffalo listened carefully, unable to make out what she was saying but he felt it was something he would do himself soon.

Pray.

“ Miss Sapphire…we are grateful for what you are doing, but….is there anything that can prevent such things from awakening the dead?”

Fluttershy wiped a tear from her eye,” I wish there were sir…I wish there were but nothing seems to stop a black ring from attaching itself to the dead body it has chosen. The best we can do is what my friends are doing now.”

“O Great White Buffalo protect us all,” he grunted.

Flam looked on as Fluttershy faced the buffalos, holding up the glittering Star Sapphire ring, pointing it at them. The power ring glowed and then emanated a soft violet beam of light which fell on the assembled. They could feel it looking into their heart. Chief Thunderhooves shaded his eyes for a moment with is foreleg. “What…what are you doing?”

SS Fluttershy smiled. “Don’t be frightened. I’m just looking for somepony here who has great love in their heart.”

“Why?”

Sitting on her haunches, her wings spread open; Fluttershy closed her eyes, listening to her violet light filled heart. Her aura glowed brightly and for a moment the Queen of the Star Sapphires appeared to the tribe to not be a pagasus but she appeared to be an angel, truly come to help them.

“To make them a Star Sapphire…to give them a ring like mine…” her eyes snapped open.

[=Suitable Candidate found=] her ring sang.

*

Downtown Appleloosa.

“RRRAAHAAAGGGHHHH!”

Trixie looked up in time to see the first of the help she called for arrive. Like a great dragon, RL Arcana’s mouth disgorged a column of burning destruction. Red fire rained down on Appleloosa’s main street like a shower of sparks and lava from a volcano, the drops of Rage plasma splashing down on the guts of the wrecked buildings, turning the main street of of the town into a holocaust of char and flames. The Red Lantern landed, summoning two great burning scimitars with her ring.

[=RAGE=]

Three Guard Black Lanterns faced her: weapons made of darkness before them. They were still for a moment…

A curved flaming red sword swung down, shattering an unlight construct and cleaving its creator in twain. The other red weapon moved in to mow the other undead like a scythe. They moved back, dodging Arcana’s attack. She advanced, the twin swords whirling together back and forth before her. Her eyes wild beneath eyebrows knotted together, her teeth flashed white streaked with crimson blood that dripped from her mouth.

‘Now that is an entrance,’ Trixie thought.

“How many,” Arcana’s words sounded like they were voiced by a rabid animal rather than an educated unicorn mage.

“Eight maybe more,” Mac yelled. The great stallion burst forth from two other guards that had landed on him, the zombies flailing as they were thrown. The green lantern shown like a beacon having created what looked like a set of Hoofball barding over himself. “Trixie and I got two. Where’s the princess?”

“Right here!”

A voice from above answered. The aura of the Star Sapphire was brighter than any other lantern, the violet light filling the horrific scene with light that seemed to mix with the flames and create an alien looking sea of flames. The edges of her field were soft, almost feather like. Her eyes were burnished jewels filled with ring energy.  IH Flim was following behind her, a violet Star Sapphire symbol hovered over his horn.

[=LOVE=]

The other lanterns paused for a moment at the sight of her. SS Cadence’s aura pulsed as a beam of energy came out of her ring, striking an undead pegasus. The beam flayed its target sending the reanimated corpus back to earth.

“Kindness is keeping those you love from needlessly suffering,” she declared, “and you CAUSE suffering!”

“Ah…thE UsElEss rOyAl is hErE! WE shOULd be hOnOrEd I sUppOsE.”

Her eyes brightened and two beams shot out of her violet power ring. Bolos appeared abound the black lanterns, holding them fast. Cadence streaked skyward, almost disappearing. She then commanded the ring construct to slam the ensnared things into the earth. Like a giant sling, the violet binding whipped in a circle and then flung its payload at the earth, the two bodies were hurled to down, landing in the middle of the street. A huge plume cloud of dirt and ashes obscured the town, dimming the sunlight and the fire.

The other lanterns lifted off, clearing the dirt cloud to hover with the princess.

“Are you all ok,” she asked.

“Eeyup,” Mac put up a wall between them and the thinning cloud. “That was as sticky as old honey spilled on yer coat.”

Trixie ran a hoof through her mane. “We needed to get some distance anyway. So, what now your highness?”

“Finish it, that’s what!” Arcana roared as she glared at the other lanterns.

“Maybe we should pull back,” Flim offered reaching out with his senses to detect threats behind them. “Besides, it seems all we’re doing is leveling the town.”

Cadence closed one eye as she thought. ‘I want to end them…not just knock them down as we’ve done before,’ she looked at Big Mac. “We have Mac with us! Too bad we don’t have more Green Lanterns…” She floated over to the stallion, looking at his forelegs.

“Mac…why do you have two rings?”

“LOOK,” Trixie pointed to the ground.

Eleven Black lanterns grouped together in a rectangle emerged from the dust, construct weapons pointing upwards at the living lanterns. They now looked colorless, ashen, and decayed. The damaged zombies had fully regenerated and were ready to fight. Dead pegasi hovered over the unicorns and earth pony guards.

Big Macintosh looked into the eyes of Cadence, and then closed his own eyes. “AJ found how to find other lanterns by letting the ring choose. This is here ta find another Green Lantern.”

“Great,” Arcana rumbled, “Now would be a REAL good time!”

“It might take too long! Ah need ta concentrate and...”

Cadence moved forward placing herself between Mac and the death lanterns. “Do It! Drop your wall and do what you have to.” She looked over her shoulder at him a wry smile on her muzzle, “We can hang on until you’re free!”  The Star Sapphire reached within herself, summoning power and purpose from within. Love of her fellow ponies and lanterns welled up within her as violet light seemed to pour out of her body. “Move down when Mac drops his wall.”

Mac took his mind out of the wall and it dissolved pulling itself back into his ring. He touched the other power ring through his own. ‘We need a pony like me an AJ,’ he thought. ’Strong willed and never say quit…isn’t that who’s worthy?’ He closed his eyes ‘Find one like that ring. We need them here with us NOW.’ He opened his eyes for a moment looking at the wrecked town when a though popped into his head; ’I haven’t even got to say hi to family here.’

Shaking his eyes he closed his eyes again pushing his thoughts and feelings into the other ring, urgency of the moment spurring him on. The un-imprinted ring levitated off his hoof and floated before him. He opened his eyes his mind in almost a trance like state.

“Find.”

He felt the ring slip away from his mind’s grip. It followed the instructions it had been given using emotion and thought to be its template, absorbing the instruction and ‘digesting’ it with the thoughts and emotions that drove the command. It reached out with its power, seeking that which was needed.

There was a flash of green light.

[=Suitable Candidate Found =] it chirped as it streaked away into the direction of the apple orchards.

Mac looked down at his compatriots for a moment before he flew away. He called out to them as he followed the ring.

“Ah’ll be back,” he said and then he was gone.

*

“Me? Why me,” Little Strong Heart asked.

When the violet light had fixed on her, the small buffalo felt a twinge of fear. The Sapphire Queen had called out to her when the light had touched something within her. She hadn’t moved and when Fluttershy came forward, the crowd parted and let the glowing pegasus approach her.

“Because you have great love in your heart,” The Star Sapphire smiled.

Strong Heart’s mind swam in confusion. She felt no real closeness for anyone, no attachment or deep love for anyone in particular in the tribe. She was worried about them all, her large clan…the family that all the buffalo were. She loved them and did not want them…..

“Ah” she gasped. Some of her training in medicine helped her here. Things were not always so plain…or simple. Love…Love of her tribe! The ring had found the ‘great love in her heart’. It was what had driven her in the fight with the town ponies, and what made her seek peace if it was possible.

Love…her love of her folk.

The small buffalo maiden looked into the shining eyes of Fluttershy, trying to read beyond what was in front of her. She could almost perceive…something…something greater! Yes…something far greater was within the violet light. She could not see it, but she could feel it. What was it?

“So, you're asking me to take the ring,” Little Strong Heart asked.

“I’m offering you the Star Sapphire ring. You have great love within yourself and you can use the ring to protect those you love um… if you want it.”

Chief Thunderhooves came along side one of his smallest and placed a hoof on her shoulder. Little Strong Heart looked up into her chief’s eyes. “Such…a gift is…appreciated, but we know from our shamans that such…power comes with a price,” the old bull stated,” what is the cost to our small but brave one for doing this?”

Fluttershy bit her bottom lip. Did he mean the way the ring changed how you saw things? How you felt? How tiring it could be sometimes? The way pure love could affect you?

“it….it’s not easy if that’s what you’re asking. There is a…burden with it, an obligation.” She looked at Little Strong Heart and smiled,” but it is one of the only ways we can stop them,” she sighed.  “You will have to be taught how to use it, told what is expected of you if you become a Star Sapphire…that is, if you want to become one.”

The buffalo maid nodded her head. “I do want to.”

A flash of light appeared to congeal and become solid, turning in on itself, spinning to become a hoop of pure violet crystal. Gradually the hoop changed and became an exact copy of the ring on the pegasus’s leg. It held itself in the air for a moment, as if making a final judgment about who Fluttershy had pointed out to be chosen. The tribe was silent and still as the calf reached out to the glowing band. Suddenly the violet power ring circled around the buffalo calf, becoming brighter as it gained speed. Soon Little Strong Heart had disappeared within a shroud of pure violet light.

[=Tees-iee-lah, Soo-tah, Chahn '-tay of Makoce, You have great love in your heart=] the ring purred.

The shroud collapsed and covered the small buffalo in the radiance that had become like fabric. The new material clung to her, shifting and changing; becoming the uniform of the Star Sapphires. Little Strong Heart’s eyes had become two radiant points matching the ring one her foreleg.

[=Welcome to the Star Sapphires=]

She slowly came back to earth gently landing on her hooves. The sensation in her heart was completely new. The ring was ‘weaving’ itself into her. It was like filaments from the ring and threads from her mind and heart were being woven together, like a blanket of great beauty. Warp of ring and weft of self coming together to make a new being. The violet light of Love seemed to flood her being, the sensation was intoxicating.

‘I..I,” the new Star Sapphire worked to speak clearly. She seemed to be almost drowning in the feelings from the violet light, her psyche being swallowed up and made part of the power of the ring. Suddenly her eyes became normal and clear. She blinked a few times before asking Fluttershy anything.

“I feel…” the buffalo calf stammered. Fluttershy nodded. “What…what do I do now?”

“How about we start with making something?”

“Making something? I don’t understand. “

Fluttershy’s ring flashed. A shimmer of violet like a dust devil made of sparkling light formed into cords that bent into themselves, becoming a basket of the most intricate design the buffalos had ever seen. There were several gasps from the hulking tribe members. Fluttershy pushed the construct over to Little Strong Heart, who prodded the violet basket. Though it was made of energy, it felt real; it had weight and texture, like a real basket. She passed the creation to her chief who did likewise, going so far as licking it with his tongue.

“That is called a ‘construct’ and it is just one of the things the rings can do.”

SS Little Strong Heart looked at her ring in wonder. ‘What else can it do’, she asked herself.

IH Flam felt something. A cold, void like darkness filled his awareness. The Indigo ring seemed to connect with an approaching...darkness. He turned around and saw a line of large figures approaching from the foot hills to the west. To normal eyes, the setting sun obscured the approaching figures, dust rose before them as they came closer. Through the power of the Indigo ring, Flam could feel…

[= DEATH=]

As Little Strong Heart called forth a ball of violet light from her new ring, a row rumble was heard. The Buffalo let out a gasp as they looked out over the plain. A line of huge dark round shapes moved forward, the dust thrown up from their movement started the settle as they came to a stop before the buffalos.

“LEttIng thE pOnIEs prOtEct OUr trIbE? YOU hAvE bEcOmE wEAK ThUndErhOOvEs, “ the huge leading figure said. “YOU shAmE YOUr AnsEstOrs mY sOn.”

Fluttershy shivered and swallowed hard, “Ulp,” her ring glowed as the form of an alicorn appeared. “….Cadence! Help!”

*

Breaburn Apple’s farm house outside Appleloosa.

If the townsfolk stampeding to his front porch had not grabbed his attention, the lightshow and destruction going on in town did.

“Ya want to tell me what happened again,” Breaburn asked a townspony shivering from both terror and fatigue. The terrorized look on the pony’s face caught the orchard founder off guard. “It sounds a little too…crazy.”

Deputy Padlock pushed his way through the crowd to Breaburn. “Some crazy mare came inta’ town and scared the livin’ daylights outta everypony! She came after us and only let up when we left town!” The earth pony deputy’s throat made a gurgling sound and he spat at the ground. “Cursed witch! The things she called up, all glowing in yella!” The crowd behind him shivered at the mention of the mysterious mare in yellow.  “Those ‘lantern ponies’ said they were here to help us….and they pull something like this!” Deputy Padlock kicked dust up from the ground. “So we ran here, hoping to meet up with you.”

“Lantern pony? What’s a lantern pony,” Breaburn asked.

“You know…one of those ponies that glow and have those weird powers?”

“No…Ah don’t,” he stared into the eyes of the deputy. “Sounds like too much cider samplin’ ta me.”

The smell of burning wood filled his nostrils. ‘My town…my life’s work,’ Breaburn thought as he turned to look back at the town he had fought so hard to build. He had channeled everything in him bringing Appleloosa into existence. Some said that it was through sheer willpower alone that it was built.  The sound of shattering buildings came to the ears of the assembled towns’ folk, many of them ducking their heads reflexively from the battle sounds coming their town.

“Where’s Sheriff Silver Star,” Breaburn asked simply.

“We don’t know. The mad-mare summoned a monster that picked him up and threw him in the river when he refused to leave town!”

“The Duke? Where is the Duke?”

A mare in the crowd spoke up, “We can’t find him either!”

‘We need to save the town….somehow,’ he thought, ‘but how? What do we do?’

He was lost in thought when he heard a collective gasp from the town ponies. An almost blinding green light surrounded him as a strange voice came to his ears.

[=Brandon Burnsides Apple of Equestria, you have the ability to overcome great fear=]

Something warm placed itself placed itself on his right foreleg. A sensation of pins and needles followed, rushing up the leg, into his shoulder, up his neck and then into his head. That same sensation filled his brain, each tingle completing a connection with the thing on his leg. He felt his resolve to save the town harden, his determination become like stone.

[=Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps=]

The light faded and all could see Breaburn clad in strange clothes. His hat had turned black and his vest was a luminescent emerald green over a black body suit with white socks. A glowing ring the same color as his vest was what had attached itself to his foreleg. The crowed was silent, staring at Breaburn like he had grown another head.

“Oh Celestia…he’s become like that yella banshee,” somepony called out. Murmurs rippled through the crowd until a voice spoke above their head.

“Ah’d be nice to that ‘yella banshee’ if’n Ah were you,” a deep base voice said above the crowd’s head.

Breaburn looked up into the sky, “Macintosh?”

The great stallion floated above the multitude, an aura of green light surrounded him. The crowd stood still gawking at the sight of the great earth pony defying gravity. He looked at his new clothes, and then studied the clothes cousin Mac, seeing how they were made of similar materials, if it could be called.

A ray of green light burst forth from the glowing band on Mac’s leg, a band that was just like the one that had just appeared. The light seemed to melt and form itself into a wagon around Breaburn, the light stretching and twisting, forming itself into wheels and springs. The edges of the cart of light grew wings like a royal chariot. The conveyance then began to move, first lifting into the air and then following behind Big Macintosh she he flew forward.  The gasps of the crowd below faded away as Mac flew in the direction of Appleloosa.

“Wha? How?” Breaburn stammered.

“No time! Just do what Ah tell ya’ right now and I’ll explain later!”

“Cousin Ah don’t…how are ya doin’… what in the name of“

“Dagnabbit Breaburn, hush! For once shut up an’ listen! Do what Ah tell ya!” Big Mac turned briefly and faced the displaced townsponies.

“All y’all: stay out outta town until Ah say it’s clear. Ah don’t want ta bury anyone ta-day. And if’n any zombies appear...run fer yer lives! Ring, explain to Breaburn how his ring works.”

[=Affirmative=] the ring chirped.

“It…It talks?”

“Oh cousin, it does a powerful lot more!”

[=A Green Lantern Power ring is…=]

*

“Fluttershy’s in trouble” Princess Cadence called out over the din of destruction. “Black Lanterns are attacking the Buffalos.” A violet beam of force struck home, boiling a death guard, its flesh melting and burning, the smell of the burning flesh filled the air. Cadence landed behind the target of her energy attack, forming a large violet battering ram that flew at a line of zombies, shattering their marching line and their bodies like pottery struck with a Griffon club. Stillness descended over Cadence.

“We have to go back,” she sighed as she rose into the air again. “Now!”

Large red scimitars streaked by as their mistress followed behind them. RL Arcana pressed home her attack, slicing through a number of Black Lanterns with each swing of her construct swords. “When we leave they’ll kill everypony in the town,” she growled as she felled another two zombies.

“I must protect Fluttershy,” her voice cracked as she yelled. She knew the Red Lantern was right. Leaving town was trading one slaughter for another, but the queen need help…now! “Follow when you can.”

Cadence left, becoming violet colored lightning in her haste to save her Corps Queen. The Red Lantern roared in frustration while she spewed bloody plasma all over another foe.

“Curse all Star Sapphires, especially their Queen Fluttershy!” growled Arcana as face tic moved over her muzzle.

“Why? What’s wrong with Fluttershy?”

Big Mac came in for a landing pulling a construct cart in which rode an earth stallion. The bewildered looking new Green Lantern climbed out of the cart as the construct faded. He stood in the street and began to pivot his head around, looking at the carnage and wreckage of what had been his home town. When he finished the swing of his head, his jaw had fallen open in utter shock at the destruction of his town.

Big Mac tapped on the pony’s shoulder with a hoof, “Focus Breaburn, remember what I an’ the ring told ya,” he looked at Trixie with a slight sneer leaving his face. ”What’s happening to Fluttershy? Where the hay is Princess Cadence?”

“Black Lanterns,” rumbled the Red Lantern, her scimitars raised for another attack. The construts had grown larger, but more 'ragged' appearing as the fight had progressed.

“Where are they?”GL Big Mac through up a wall construct to shield himself from flying debris from GL Breaburn’s first construct attack. New lantern had made what looked like a paving roller that rolled over several of the undead.  He gritted his teeth as he concentrated his mind through the ring. The roller ran over a Black Lantern, flattening the zombie. The construct then shattered like glass, dying sparks of green dissipating into the air. Breaburn became walleyed for a moment as his mind absorbed the idea of the construct's failure.

“We left her with the Buffalos,” Trixie sighed. “They're being attacked by more Black Lanterns.”

“Ah’m gone.” Mac leaped into the air. “She needs another color aside violet! Breaburn, remember what Ah’ve told ya on about how that ring works!” Mac’s new recruit nodded as a green aura appeared around his body.

Trixie created another flight of rockets that brought down two more Black Lanterns attempting to fly up and over them. She wheeled about to face GL Macintosh. “If we leave now, the Black Lanterns will spill out of the town and come after the townsponies I chased out.  We can’t leave them to kill anyone.”

Red swords whirled again.” No, we can’t.”

“We gotta split up then. Ah ain’t leaving poor Fluttershy ta face those things.”

“How about we all leave town at once, “Flim offered as he channeled Breaburn’s green energy, creating a giant snow shovel to scoop up undead. “ We make one big attack…knock down as many as we can, then split up. Some go to guard the townsfolk, other help the Buffalos.”

“Yes.” Trixie tittered. All the lanterns nodded their agreement.

All of them fell back to the end of the street, giving distance until they came to the spot where Trixie’s trench ended. They all raised their ring bearing limb, pointing the rings in the direction of the Death Lanterns reconstituting themselves at the end of the street. All assembled behind Flam, the Indigo Herd member raised his own ring on his hoof and his staff with his magic. They lanterns pushed the light of the rings into the Indigo staff. A swirl of colors formed around the staff head then flowed into the Indigo Ring. The various corps symbols appeared, hovering over Flim’s horn, layered on top of one another.

[=Will=][=RAGE=][=FEAR=][=WILL=][=COMPASSION=]

He could feel the emotions all flowing through him even with the dampening effect of his Indigo ring, the Emotional energies moving back and forth through his heart looking for release. He understood now what Rarity had told him. He was a prism, a living lens bending the different lights together.

[=Will=][=RAGE=][=FEAR=][=WILL=][=COMPASSION=]

A ball of light began to form in front of the Indigo ring. It started as a swirl of colors, but quickly the colors blended together, the colors fading becoming an intense white light. Flim looked down the street, seeing the misshapen undead ponies at the far end rising and forming again. He felt connection with the rings intelligence, and beseeched the ring to strike what he saw.

Whitish light tinged with colors burst out from the Indigo ring, the radiance was intense, becoming like Celestia’s sun of a moment. The energy was almost more than Flim could handle. For a moment Flim almost lost himself to the overwhelming feelings of the emotions that flowed through him. Every time he channeled other lanterns power he was numb to the emotions. This was somehow different…something more. It was like he had somehow touched something…more.

Like water from a bust dam the light ran down the street and into the Black Lanterns. At first some of the undead shielded themselves with constructs, but like flood waters, the white light wore at their defenses and worked its way into them. Suddenly the sound of Black rings was heard.

[=Connection Severed=]

[=Connection Severed=]

[=Connection Severed=]

[=Connection Severed=]

[=Connection Severed=]

The light was gone. The Black Lanterns that had not had their rings destroyed were a jumble of parts and pieces, looking like a macabre pile of dolls some giant foal had broken and cast aside. Flim was dizzy for a moment. Something….something was wrong.

“I only got… five,” IH Flim said, his words were labored. Unlight constructs appeared over the reforming bodies.

“Urrrrrr” the Red Lantern growled.

“Yer new at fighten’! We’ll work on yer aim later. Ya got us time Flim! Y’all head back to the local folks and protect em'.” The great stallion rose into the air and was gone in a flash, a streak of green light.

Trixie yelled at Arcana as she created another Yellow fireworks effect. The explosions caused a huge cloud of dust to appear, covering the main street in a dark shroud.

“Follow him, he’ll need help. We’ll protect the town ponies.” The red lantern nodded in a shaky fashion. Blood seeped from her mouth as a wild glaze filled on of her eyes. To Trixie, it looked as if a madness came over the red lantern for a second. She flew off after Macintosh. The Great and Frightful Trixie raised her voice,” You! Stay close to Flim so he can use Willpower to fight with. Get ready to fly.”

“Mac didn’t show me how ta fly yet…he said we didn’t have time…”

“Ugh! It’s not that hard to…fine! Stand next to Flim and Trixie will carry everypony…like Trixie always does in an ensemble.”

As GL Breaburn walked closer to the Indigo Herd member, the pained look on his face became more pronounced. He almost fell to his knees as strange sensation washed over him. His hind legs came out from under him and his rump fell on to the debris filled street.

YL Trixie spiraled in coming to a stop next to him. “What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

“No! Something…something’s wrong with Flam” his pained look deepened. ” Brother what have you done?”

“What’s wrong,” the fear lantern asked as she created a basket around the Indigo light wielder and the Green Lantern. She began flying into the sky towing the construct basket and its burden. “Is it something the Indigo Herd…?”

“No…we’re twins. We’re…connected to each other” Sweat made his coat shine in the afternoon light, making him almost match the color of Trixie’s ring.

“I think…” Flim stuttered,” I think my brother just….died!”

Prolog

Lanterns of Equestria – Blackest Night

PROLOGUE: IN THE BEGINNING

Once upon a time, in another universe, there was darkness.

It was the era before reality became defined, at the point before existence that constitutes all came to be, in the time before the very concept of Time itself existed, when the Universe was anything BUT.

There was nothing, nothing but an absolute, lifeless darkness that stretched infinitely in all directions.

And for a time, it was the way things were.

Then, at an unspecified point of history, a spark was struck, either by design, or accident.

And there was Light.

It was WHITE Light of Creation. In later days that point of history would come to be known in many names: Genesis, The Big Bang, the Dawn of Time, the Carving of the Heavens, Alpha, the Beginning of Everything, and so on.

The absolute darkness in the universe was replaced by the Light, and for a while, it filled all of reality with its brilliance.

From this beginning came many things – among them Time, Matter, Energy of all kinds, Electromagnetism, Gravity, Nuclear forces, etc. From all this, stars were born, planets came into being, galaxies would fill the filaments, and the Universe as we know it came into existence.

And from this Light, came the ENTITY.

Again, no one knew whether the Entity came naturally, or was the product of some design, but what was known is that before life, the Entity was its embodiment.

Overtime, the Entity began to affect the universe around it, and from its very existence, life arose. It gave birth to the living beings that would come to populate the infinite worlds across the vastness of the cosmos, and as the embodiment of all life, all life is linked to it, and it to all life.

For a time, all was good.

But it did not last.

With the advent of life, there was imbalance in the cosmos. The darkness before creation was not pleased by having been displaced by the White Light, to have nothing filled with something, to have impassiveness replaced by action, to have lifelessness given over to life.

Eventually, this darkness, the BLACK as it would be call, sought to regain its dominance over universe, by eradicating all life.

It battled the White Light, and it was stopped by the White Light, but this victory came at a price: In the process, the White Light of Creation was splintered into seven different colours.

At the same time, as life evolved across the Universe, they experienced various feelings as they struggled to survive and prosper, a byproduct of their existence. These feelings became Emotions. There were seven primal emotions in all, and the Seven Colours of the WHITE came to represent them

And so from the first living things, came the Emotional Spectrum.

In each instance, when they arose, the Entity's power touched them, and the first life-forms that experienced them became entities that embodied them:

WILLPOWER came into existence when life first moved on its own accord. When transformed into power, the GREEN colour of the Light represented it, and the whale-like Entity of its Embodiment came to be known as ION.

Before long, the creatures on the life-bearing worlds escaped the oceans and into the land and air. As life hunted other life for subsistence, other life fled from those that hunt. The terror that drove their struggle for survival became an emotional power: FEAR, and with it, the YELLOW entity PARALLAX was born, bearing the form of a monstrous insect.

The imperative of life was reproduction, and when life became aware of it as a concept, to experience the imperative as an emotion, and with sentience the concept shed its skin and grew beyond the mere passing  on one's genetic material, the VIOLET light of LOVE was ignited, and the PREDATOR came into existence, wearing the form of a predatory reptile.

As time went on, life-forms became secured in their own existence, and grew a craving for more than what it needs to survive. When the first creature devours more than what it needs, it becomes consumed with AVARICE. The entity of greed, ORPHIDIAN, took the shape of an ORANGE serpent.

With sentience, emotions became more volatile. With the first murder, when one life killed another not out of necessity, but from the extreme emotion felt of being wronged, the entity of RAGE took the form of a demonic bull, crimson RED, and it bore the moniker of the BUTCHER.

Living came with many trials and hardship, and more often than not survival was a slim possibility and life despair at their own predicament. HOPE was born from the first act of prayer of a sentient being, and ADARA took off upon BLUE wings.

And at last, with emotions, came understanding, and COMPASSION is offered to all. The cephalopod form of the PROSELYTE stretches across the universe with its many arms of INDIGO.

It took billions of years before sentient life would discover the power behind the emotions they experience, and then harness them for their use.

When one of their numbers caused irreversible damage to the Universe in his thirst for knowledge, distorting space-time and resulting in evil and entropy unleashed upon all cosmos, The Malthusians, the first intelligent lifeforms in that Universe, took responsibility of their own actions and became the immortal Guardians of the Universe. They sought to combat and contain evil across the Universe and oppose those who ruled by fear.

To this they needed an army to establish order across the Universe. The first army, the robotic Manhunters, failed with their limited programming that culminated in the destruction of all life in an entire Sector of the Universe.

Shamed but undaunted, upon Oa, the world at the centre of Creation, they found ION, the embodiment of Willpower, and learned how to manipulate its Green glow. They forged a Central Power Battery to store this energy. They forged Green Power Rings to allow life-forms to manipulate this power by thought alone, and established their second Army: the Green Lantern Corps.

For billions of years since, the Guardians would seek out individuals who have the most willpower, the ability to overcome great fear, and arm them with these rings, and the Green Lanterns would police the Universe, battling evil wherever they tread.

But as time went on, the task became difficult as various evils and menaces arose and the Green Lanterns struggled to keep it contained.

Then they learned of the Prophecy.

In the forbidden final chapter of the Book of Oa, which its laws upon which the Green Lanterns took as their guiding principles, it was prophesized that other Lantern Corps shall be formed, each harnessing the powers of one of the other six emotions in the Emotional Spectrum.

A War of Light will follow as the Lantern Corps battle one another over conflicting goals, and at the climax of the conflict, the Black, the darkness before time and the enemy of the White of which all Emotional Entities descends from, shall rise once more and tries a second time to destroy all Life and Emotion from the Universe.

This prophecy would come to be known as the "Blackest Night". And despite the efforts of the Guardians to prevent it, nothing could stop it from coming to pass.

Sure enough, other Lanterns Corps were born as the sentient beings, both good and evil, discovered the other Emotional Entities and their powers:

When Sinestro, a former Green Lantern that had fallen to evil, seeks revenge against the Green Lantern Corps, he asked his allies, the Qwardians, to forge Yellow Power Rings that could tap into the emotion of Fear, of which PARALLAX was the embodiment of, and thus the Sinestro Corps was formed.

The Zamarons, female offshoots of the Malthusians who refused to abandon emotions and became the Guardians of the Universe, discovered how to harness the Violet light of Love, the domain of the PREDATOR, and created the matriarchal Star Sapphires, in hopes to protect and spread the power of love across the Universe.

Atrocitus, one of the few survivors from the Sector that the Manhunters had massacred of all life, became consumed by rage in his hatred for the Guardians of the Universe, whom he blamed for the loss of everything he loved. Having discovered the BUTCHER, the embodiment entity of Rage, he created the Red Lantern Corps, composed of individuals across the universe which have been wronged severely and was overwhelmed by anger and hatred.

Larfleeze, a former slave and criminal, discovered the Orange Power Battery of Avarice, upon a world in the Vega Star System billions of years ago, and became the wielder of its light as Agent Orange under the corruptive influence of OPHIDIAN. While he had made a deal with the Guardians to remain in the Vega System, a misunderstanding caused him to believe the deal was violated, and thus the Orange Lantern was unleashed into the universe.

Realizing the Blackest Night would come to pass, two of the Guardians of the Universe left the Guardians to seek an alternate power to which could help the Green Lanterns in the struggle to come. They discovered the Blue Light of Hope, ADARA's domain, and formed the Blue Lanterns along with their greatest champion, the missionary Saint Walker.

The Green Lantern Abin Sur, who learnt of the Prophecy himself decades earlier, discovered from the tribal natives of the planet Nok how to harness the Power of Compassion, embodied by PROSELYTE, and formed the Indigo Tribe with one of the natives, using the power of the Indigo Central Battery and the Indigo Rings that force empathy and compassion upon even the worst creatures in existence.

And at last, the players were assembled, and the War of Light ensured.

The struggle culminated upon a world called Earth, the third planet from its Sun, which for intents and purposes was insignificant, save for a few things – the most important was that it was there that the Entity, the embodiment of all life, was hidden by the Guardians of the Universe ages past.

It was upon this world, now populated by a thriving race of sentient beings, the Black made its move to eradicate all life from the Universe. Its herald, Nekron, arose from that world, and created the Black Lantern Corps from the dead of that world and those across the Universe to facilitate the destruction of all life, with the ultimate goal to find and destroy the Entity.

Against the threat of Nekron, the Black and its Black Lanterns, the various Lantern Corps set aside their differences and made war against them.

Together with the heroes of that world and helped by the White Entity itself, they combined their power, and vanquished the Black Lanterns. Thus the Blackest Night came to pass.

But then, an unexpected complication arose.

In the aftermath of the Blackest Night, The Guardians of the Universe, frustrated by what they perceive as the climax of a string of failures in their war against evil, were finally pushed over the edge.

Having judged their second army, the Green Lanterns, as failures, they ultimately made the conclusion that the only way to impose order upon the universe was to conquer it and wipe it clean of free-will and all other emotions.

Unto this, they created from their own flesh and advanced science their Third Army, and unleashed upon their own Corps and towards the Universe in their collective madness. These beings would assimilate other sentient beings into copies of themselves, and wage war across the Universe.

It was at the advent of this threat did our story begin.

Unbeknownst of all, while the other heroes and Corps struggled desperately to stop the Guardians' Third Army, the pantheon of Emotional Entities plotted in secret to preserve their own existences, in the event that the Third Army prevails and all free-will and emotions are purged from the universe.

Using their respective powers, they scoured the Universe, and then beyond, seeking a place where their power could seek refuge.

Eventually, they found that refuge.

In another parallel universe, far away from their branch of realities, they found a world both vastly similar and different from those they knew: like the planets of their universe, this world bears diversity of life of many kinds, each individual capable of a complexity of emotions.

Unlike their universe, the emotions of that world in the parallel universe have actual power, in the form of magic.

The Emotional Entities knew magic, of course – one of the Green Lanterns once wielded a special Green ring that was powered by magic. But whereas in their own universe magic was a secondary force hidden at large from the inhabitants of the universe and wielded by a few, in the parallel universe magic was the underpinning foundation of the reality, and which was affected strongly by emotions there in addition to spells and rituals, hence giving emotions power.

Whenever thinking creatures of that place reaches emotional balance, Harmony is achieved. When they worked together, their magic joint by emotions that embody friendship, their magical power is increased to the point it could even overwhelm gods.

As far as the Emotional Entities were concerned, it was perfect.

And so one night, as battle raged across the stars, seven special power rings were formed.

And unto each ring the Emotional Entities bestow part of their essence, and instructed them to seek out individuals on that parallel universe world that best embodies the emotional power they contain.

The rings were then sent to the parallel universe.

The portal that enabled their passage was promptly shut, never to reopen.

They came to rest in orbit high above the world, gathering at a specific spot over the planet where the flow and diversity of emotions was the strongest.

A land called Equestria.

And they waited.

LANTERNS OF EQUESTRIA: BLACKEST NIGHT