Rise of the New Lunar Republicby Reddened ChaosChaptersChapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 5Chapter 6: Operation Crystal Sword Part 1Chapter 7: Operation Crystal Sword Part 2: AftermathChapter 8: PreparationsChapter 9: Battle For ManehattanChapter 10: Mourning and PreparationsChapter 12: EscapeChapter 13Chapter 1Chapter 4Chapter 11: Fillydelphia Falls, Rise of Star CityChapter 2It has been a few months since Nightmare had returned and Luna kidnapped. The news had spread like wildfire throughout Equestria and the other countries, most likely due to the New Lunar Republic. Celestia had told Twilight and her friends as soon as she was able to, which was a day after Nightmare had revealed herself. Now, Celestia was getting reports of violent incursions along the border between Equestria and the Griffon lands. "Who is leading the attack, general?" she asked the general, who was a mare with a pink coat and white mane and tail. The mare saluted instantly, "We don't know Ma'am. We think it might be that same pony who wrote the note to you." She reported, being prim and proper with her entire uniform. "Wait...we're receiving reports that it's actually none other than Queen Chrysalis, Ma'am." "Do we know if she is with the rebels yet?" she asked the general. If Chrysalis is allied with the rebels, Celestia thought, than who knows who may be a spy. "We don't know Princess...we just know she's leading the attack...she could either be with the rebellion or just acting on her own...as a third party." she responded. "And what of our troops defending the front?" "We're lucky we've held out this long...I don't know how much longer we can....those fools on the front are horribly incompetent!" she said being frank. Celestia rubbed her temples. Though she did not want to admit it, Nightmare was right about the guards. To put it bluntly, the guards were about as valuable as stinking manure in summer time. "And what of the new recruits training?" "If they fight we might actually win...they are already testing better than ANY of the current guard force fighting." "Good. When will the first battalion be ready to ship out?" Celestia asked. She wanted to get the new battalions out as soon as possible, and was also hoping that they could turn the tide of the war. "Within a week, at the very least..." She stated, being truthful, and exact in terms of how long it would take. "Good. And what is Princess Twilight's progress with the bacta tanks? she asked, referring to Twilight's personal project that would help to heal the injured troops, which were few, as many that were shot died from the various after effects. "Coming smoothly. We should be able to have them at full working order very soon she said when we last heard from her." She reported, smiling, happy for the good news to give. "Excellent. And the new Armor?" "Still under construction...But it should be completed by the end of the year at the latest." "Good. Let us hope that our forces can hold out that long." A pause ensued before Celestia said, "And what of the towns that have left? Do we know if their governments are controlled by the rebels, or if it was a city wide decision?" "We believe it is both...a city wide decision to side with the rebels" "Do you believe they will be a threat should this become an all out war?" "If I may be honest Princess....I believe that may be the case..." "Then do you think we should take preemptive efforts, then? Give me your honest opinion, not what you think I want to hear," Celestia asked. "Hmm...I believe we should not take preemptive efforts....save our resources, for use later ...but should this come to become a full blown war, we let loose our power and slaughter them!" "Why?" Celestia asked, shocked. "Why would you want to kill civilians?" "I meant the rebels ma'am...but assuming we had to kill Civillians...it would be sent as a message, to show to them, that we aren't messing around...we won't hesitate to kill them..." "No," Celestia said, steel in her voice. "We will not kill innocent civilians, not unless they attack us first." "As you wish Princess." She said with a bow. "Good. Now, any news on Luna?" she asked, concern in her voice. "Afraid Not ma'am...some are beginning to believe she ditched us and is actually a member of the rebels..." She had admitted. "NO!!" Celestia said, angry at the general. "There is no way she would side with Nightmare Moon. She despises her, and she is no longer ignored by the ponies, and she has friends. There is no possibility that would lead her to join the rebels. And don't you bring it up again!!" "Princess Relax, it is only a Rumor...there's no official word on Luna's location." She said hoping to calm her down. "Still. Ensure all of those rumors are surpressed. I will not have anypony speaking that way of my sister!" Celestia said, only slightly calmer. "As you command, Princess." She spoke, nodding, as she went to leave. One year later- Headquarters of the NLR The main base for the NLR was appropriately designed for the night, with the halls being as dark as night, the windows having patterns of constellations and the moon. All of the art work was always related to subjects of the night and what it was associated with: secrets, love, and everything else positive. Two guards were standing out side of Nightmares personal chambers when a well built, emerald green Pegasus with red highlights at the edges of his wings, a red mane and tail, with eyes of blue. He saluted and said "Captain Zero Star, reporting as requested." One of the guards knocked on the doors and said, "Captain Zero Star to see you, Your Highnesses." A second passed before, "Send him in," Nightmare said. "Ma'am," the guard said and opened the door. Zero "Red" Star walked in and saw the three leaders of the NLR. On his left was Chrysalis, who had recovered from the holes in her body from hunger. On his right was Luna, who Celestia still believed was kidnapped and hadn't come willingly. Directly in front of him was Nightmare Moon. In his opinion, she was the most beautiful of the three mares, with a full chest that some would think were very large overinflated water balloons. Her ass was full, and didn't bounce too much, nor too little. Just right in his opinion. "You called for me, Ma'ams?" he asked, standing at attention. He wore a set of brown fatigues, holding pockets on the upper arms, chest, and thighs, and had brown boots, with a belt rig equipped with a holster for his personal blaster, And a Lightsaber on his hip as well. "Yes," Luna said. "You have proven your self to our cause, and we wished to give you a reward." Before he could ask what, Chrysalis said, "My spies have intercepted plans for a prototype flier craft from Celestias troops and destroyed the original. With our engineers, we have been able to construct it, and we wish for you to be the pilot of it." "So your giving me a ship eh? Sweet." he looked to both Luna, and Nightmare "Either one of you two care to show me ma'ams?" he asked, a smile clearly shown on his muzzle in excitement to be able to have his own ship to use and pilot, as prior to this, he had been using some slightly customized X-Wing and Arwing. "That would be me," Nightmare said. "If you would follow me, Captain." With that, Nightmare and Red left the room, and leaving Chrysalis and Luna in talks over the best way to infiltrate the research teams. "Changelings won't work," Luna said. "Celestia was smart enough to have an anti-changeling shield put up, and even if they could get past that, who knows how many other precautions they have in store." "Well, you returning won't work, "Chrysalis said. "Don't you remember what happened we tried to get an agent there. They arrested him on sight, even though he was from Ponyville and had no official ties to us. It must be a spell. And they only put research teams on the field after battle, and not for long, so we need to find a way to get into their networks." Luna brought her hand up to her chin, considering the possibilities. "Then we need to gain the allegiance of at least one of the Elements. No pony would think they betrayed Celestia, and they may think the spell is on the fritz." "Agreed, but who?" Meanwhile, Nightmare and Red are on their way to the Hanger of Red's new ship. Red smirked as he followed Nightmare "I'd follow you in a heartbeat Ma'am. And I'd follow you anywhere, even to the Gates of Tartarus themselves." He spoke, stating his devotion to her and the cause. Red smiled to her, as he followed her, soon walking beside her "So...what's the specifications of this new ship? Name, capabilities, special equipment? Any news on the cause and our side of the war?" He asked Nightmare, as he truly did have an attraction to the mare who's fur was as black as liquid night. And should the war end, he wanted to be able to go out with her...Heck, He wanted to try and spend more time with her regardless of the war. "It's called the Rogue Shadow. It's a first, as it has stealth capabilities, meaning it doesn't show up on sensors, even ours. It is what the engineers call a "fighter-bomber." It's just as capable in aerial combat as bombing runs. As for the war, it would seem Celestia has begun to field more advanced armor that's able to provide standard protection from our weapons." As Nightmare said this, she was able to see his body language and was able to tell he was interested in her, but decided to wait until after his first run in his ship. So she was surprised when he asked her something. Red smiled eager, as he looked to her. "Would you care to accompany me on my first flight with it? just to make things extra special, Your Highness?" he asked, smiling at her. Nightmare was surprised by this. On one hand, she wanted to watch this from a distance, to be safe. On the other hand, she has an interest in air combat for a while, and had wanted to see what it was like in a fighter. "I do not see why not, Captain," she said in a mostly neutral tone, though the joy on Reds face was evident. Red was certainly overjoyed, as he took her hand, kissing it. "Then let's go to the hanger and check out my new ship!" He said as he continued to walk with her, very nearly breaking out into a run to hurry on to their hanger to see his new ship. The two ponies made their way to the hanger at an increased pace. They arrived there ten minutes later. The hanger itself was as clean as a hanger could be, with some small pieces of machinery here and there. But what got the attention of the two ponies was the ship in the middle. It was gray and black, sleek, and was larger than Red expected, though only slightly. Red smiled eagerly, as his wings even unfurled in a clear sign of approval of the ship "It's amazing....I love it!" He spoke, as he went to approach it with Nightmare Moon The ramp lowered automatically as they neared it. Even Nightmare was impressed by the engineers and how well they constructed it. The two made their way to the cockpit, which could've easily held a minotaur at full height and a chariot without the rods. Red smiled, as he moved the Copilot seat, to sit Nightmare, who smiled and sat as he turned it back around. Red then Gently sat into the Pilot seat. Both of them could feel the rich and cozy feeling of the seat as Red began the startup procedure as the Engines on the Rogue Shadow sparked to life, after letting it warm up, and engaging the cloaking device, Red took hold of the controls, and began to take off, as the ship lifted up, the side panels on the side of it rotated, so that the rounded ends pointed back away from it's direction. The ship now hovered in place as Red was taking it as gently and as carefully as possible being his first time using the ship. He soon took a few moments, as he got familiar with it's controls and turned the ship to face the hanger and took off, leaving it, and once they were clear he opened it up, flying faster, and heading out with Nightmare, beaming with joy and excitement, that not only was she there with him, but he had a new ship which was absolutely amazing! he performed a few manuvers such as rolling, loops, and a U-Turn, and even went through their flight training corse, performing a run, testing out it's weapon systems with laser blasts on targets, even a few bombs being tossed, as they completed it very fast, the fastest record at the time. With their joyride of a maiden voyage completed, Red brought it back into the hanger and landed, taking a deep breath "What a rush!" He said with a laugh of excitement. "What did you think Nightmare?" He asked her. "What a rush indeed," She said, out of breath at the excitement she had just experienced. "Wow. If I didn't know any better, Moony, I would say you just had a very fun and sweaty night." Red said with a playful smirk, still breathing deeply from the rush. Nightmare blushed, not knowing what to do or say, only sit there. Red smiled "Would you...mind at all if I called you 'Moony'?" he asked her, looking, finding her blushing to be very cute.... "Oh. No, I don't mind, Captain. You've earned that right by now," Nightmare said with a smile, gennuily happy that he was happy. "Thanks...Moony~" he said playful, as he leaned over, and kissed her hand again, as a sign of thanks, for not only allowing him to call her by such a nickname, but also for joining him on the first Flight of the Rogue Shadow After that, the two disembarked from the ship and went their separate ways, thinking of what else the future held for them. Canterlot- a few hours later Celestia was in the second meeting today with her generals and the Elements regarding the NLR. "Princess," one of her generals said. "Things are getting worse. We just got word that the griffons are allied with the NLR, as well as a few minotaur terrorist groups. What are we going to do?" Celestia bowed her head in deep thought "I'm not sure...the most we can do is try to get allies of our own, to counter them...because we will Not kneel before them and bow to their whims. We will not surrender until we are thoroughly defeated." She stated with conviction in her heart, to fight this rebellion, and to stop it, or fall trying. "Well," Twilight said, "we could try the dragons. After all, those migratory dragons can't be the only ones, can they?" Celestia nodded "I agree...we should try dragons...and pray that the Rebels don't get some dragon helpers of their own." She stated. "I'll tell Spike," Twilight said with a small smile on her face. Celestia nodded. "Tell him to send it to Saphira. She is an old friend of mine, and will gladly help us, as well as the dragons that are loyal to her." "Of course, Princess." "Good." She then looked at one of her generals and said, "How are our troops holding against the changelings, general?" "So far so good. Our mages are currently working on a Spell to keep the changelings from being disguised when we fight them." the General reported. "Good," Celestia said. She then looked to Applejack and said, "And how is your family coping with the demands without your brother, Applejack?" Big Mac' was on the front lines, with the other soldiers, as he was a part of the third class of the now standard soliders. "Good, Fer now Princess, I'm sure we can make due without 'em for the time being." She said being as honest as possible with the Princess. At the NLR Base, Zero is looking about for his lovely Dragon assistant, Barb...whom he wanted to show the new ship to, since she'd be helping him with it from time to time. While all of this was going on, a unicorn stallion, who was as tall as Luna, with a black coat, and had neck length mane and an average, for his size, sized tail, which matched his coat, but had red and orange on the edges to give it a fiery look, was watching using a scrying spell. He stood in an old room that was hidden underground, as was the rest of his allies base, preventing both sides of the war from knowing about it. He deactivated it and went to tell his allies about this. Chapter 3Zero continued to search the Base for his life servant Barb, a lovely dragoness, who was extremely loyal to him, and for good reason. He had saved her long ago back when they first met, and as thanks she explained that she now owed him a life debt, and as a way of showing it, she would always refer to him as Master. For whatever reason though she seemed to always want to be cuddled close and sleep with him. Whether it was just for comfort or because she wanted to protect him, Zero didn't know, but he liked it, as she was kinda cuddly. He calls out for her again "Barb? Where are ya?" As he was searching for her, he came across Chrysalis. "Ah," she said when she saw him. "Hello, Captain." She was wearing her combat outfit, which consisted of overlapping plates of enchanted armor that gave her a dragon like appearance, and covered her entire body. It was colored black, the same color as her chitin. She wore no helmet, as doing so would have restricted her line of sight. "How was the test flight?" she asked. "Fun as hay. Maybe a beautiful Changeling like YOU should join us next time." he said with a laugh. "Nice armor....certainly gives a dragon like appearance....speaking of which have you seen Barb? I've been looking all over for her since I got back with Nightmare." he said, as he Looked her over, approving of her armor. "Perhaps I will," she said. "As for Barb, I believe I saw her going to your quarters a while ago." He thanked her, and just as he was leaving, she said, "And good luck with Nightmare." Red snickered as he looked back "So you know eh? Well. at least now you've got a stable food source for that emotion diet of yours huh?" He said as he walked off, heading for his own quarters to find Barb, expecting her to be there, or on the way, waving back at the beautiful changeling queen. It took him a few minutes to reach his room. When he arrived, he knocked on the door. He only had to wait a few second before hearing, "Come in." He opened the door to see Barb, a teenaged pony sized dragoness with emerald green scales and garnet red under scales and spines. "Oh. Hey, boss," she said with a smile. She wore an aqua blue sleeveless shirt that went down to her stomach, which left her gut revealed, which wasn't bad, as she was always exercising, and knee length red shorts. Red smiled, as he hugged the Dragoness, who was roughly about as tall as he was "Hey there Barb. How's it going? Looking as good as ever I see, and most have recently gotten done exercising I'll bet...I've got something I wanna show you...Nightmare, Luna, and Chrysalis have given me a reward for my service in the NLR..." He trailed off, in order to work up Barb's excitement. "Well, what is it,?" she asked. Red smirked, as he took her hand. "Come with me, my dear." He then pulled her along as he quickly ran out to take her back to the hanger to see the new ship. The two made their way to the hanger, a walk that took fifteen minutes. When Barb saw the Shadow, she gasped and said, "Wow. That is cool," with a wide eyed look of appreciation on her face. "What can it do?" Red smiled happily as he hugged her, before motioning to it and began to list off everything it could do, as he also walked her inside it and gave her a tour of it. "So I'd like you to possibly be the Copilot of the Shadow whenever we have to use it...What'cha say Barb?" She looked at him with a blank expression before saying, "Are you bucking kidding." She then broke into a large grin. "Tartarus, yes," she said happily. Meanwhile- NLR war room "While I admit your idea would help us dearly, sister," Nightmare said to Luna after the latter had suggested turning one of the Elements against Celestia, "the risks would be too great just trying to get one of them. They are always in Canterlot. It would be difficult for the three of us to get in there if it was under siege and the barrier was strained. Under current circumstances," she said, "it would be impossible for even a changeling not associated with us to get in. So what do you say to that?" Luna shook her head "I'm not sure...other than possibly talking to them in dreams...Or...maybe sending Red in alone to talk to them in private?" She suggested "I doubt it would work though, considering he's the one who made the note to Celestia back then..." "Agreed," Chrysalis said. "I'm certain Celestia cast a spell on herself, the Elements, and her soldiers to ensure you," She said, gesturing towards Nightmare, who wore midnight black armor that looked as if it was made out of water, "couldn't enter their dreams, and I'm sure an unintentional side effect of this, though it still hurts us more, is that Luna wouldn't be able to do it either. We'll just have to wait until an opportunity presents itself." "Unfortunately," Luna wearing armor similar to Nightmare's, said, "there are no known spells that would allow us to circumvent any precautions Celestia and Twilight Sparkle have set up." A Year Later Red is in charge of a Supply outpost, the Rogue Shadow is docked in the nearby hanger, with Barb naturally being with him, as his assistant as always. She is typically being used to communicate written messages between him and Nightmare or the others, whenever they don't use their comm links. Over the course of the year, Red and his beloved Nightmare had grown quite close, Chrysalis had been reaping some of the benefits, by feeding off their affections, as Red and Nightmare would occasionally hug or hold hands when close together. Red nodded "Yeah...I heard it...I'll check it out. You guards keep watch here." He spoke, as he walked back to head to the warehouse and investigate. Red walked over to the door. As he made his way there, he ignited his lightsaber, which gave off a faint green glow. Once he was at the door, he opened it slowly, and walked inside, closing the door behind him. He walked for a minute before he heard something on the other side of the crates to his left. Fortunately, there was a left turn just in front of him. He made his way there and turned. The turn led into a large area. He looked to his left and saw what was probably the strangest thing he had ever seen. He saw what appeared to be a unicorn stallion in bulky, angular armor that looked nothing like standard Solar Empire armor, or even prototype NLR armor. The armor was mostly a shade of blue that resembled the color of Luna's hair when she and Nightmare had been separated six years ago. The part of the armor that wasn't this color was a brick-like red. The helmet had a thin, rectangular, bronze visor. What was directly below it looked like a mouth. The side of the pony Red could see had a small shoulder plate, most likely to allow for greater range of movement. The chest had a triangular piece in the middle, with what Red guessed were ammo pouches on the underside of it. Both the greaves and gauntlets flowed as if they had been made from water. The under-suit was colored the same shade of blue as his armor. On his thigh, Red saw a curved piece of metal that had a faint blue glow at one end and red glow at the other. The pony was sitting cross-legged, almost as if he were meditating. Even though Red himself hadn't made a sound, his saber gave off a faint hum, and this pony could obviously hear it, as he turned towards Red. He got up and turned to face him. Even at this distance, Red could tell this stallion was as tall as Luna. "Who are you, and what do you want?" Red asked. "You can call me Lone Shadow. As for what I want, it's to see if you are the swordsman many say you are." He then grasped the piece of metal and brought it up. With a flick of his wrist, two blades came into existence. They were both curved, and ended in a point. There was a gap between the two blades that Red's saber could easily get caught in. Got to make sure my saber doesn't get caught in there, Red thought. The top blade's color was the same as the stallion's primary, and the bottom was the same shade of red as the secondary. He brought his right arm up, with a slight bend at the elbow, and held the elbow in the opposite hand, and spread his legs. This was obviously a pose for combat. Red assumed his combat stance: both hands on his saber, his feet spread wide. The two then began to circle each other in silence. (1:30) Red tightened his grip on his saber. He tried to discern where Lone was looking, but the visor stopped that. (1:48) They began to edge closer to each other. Not all at once, but gradually. (1:56) The two charged at one another, Lone's blade held low, Red's held high. (2:05) The blades clashed, and the combatants spun away from one another. (2:24) They charged again in the same pose, only this time, they did not spin away from the other. As Red brought his saber down, Lone reacted with a speed only alicorns should have and blocked the slash, his arm not moving as the blades collided. Lone pushed his sword up and kicked Red in the chest, causing him to back away due to the impact. He looked down at where he was struck, and thought, That's the first time anypony has been able to hit me in a duel. He was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard Lone running toward him. He looked up and saw Lone charging, his weapon held at the side. Once Red was in range, he slashed his sword horizontally. Red had barely been able to get his bade in position to block it before he was hit. He pushed the sword away and spun, hoping to use the momentum to stab Lone. This proved fruitless, as Lone jumped out of Red's reach before he had fully spun around. Lone jumped at Red, spinning while he did so, which made him look like a glowing halo of red and blue light. Red blocked this attack with difficulty, as the momentum of Lone combined with his armor's weight led to a great deal of Kinetic energy, and thus, a lot of force. Before Red could retaliate, Lone disappeared in a flash of green. Red was processing this as something hit him on the back, causing him to fall down to the ground and lose his grip on his saber. He turned over and saw Lone standing over him, his sword pointing directly at Red's face. "Sloppy," he said, as if this was a training fight. "You never freeze up in combat. If I had actually been trying to kill you, I could have just stabbed you with my sword." Lone then deactivated his sword and put it back on his thigh. He then reached his left hand out to where Red's saber had fallen. It came over to him in a green aura. Lone then reached down to Red with his right hand, saying, "You are definitely the swordsman the rumors say you are. If you and the leaders of the NLR would allow it, I would like to join." Red took his hand, and got up, taking his lightsaber back, clipping it to his belt "Hmm...Come with me...We will find out what Luna and the others say...Your combat skills alone impress me.....Especially being able to beat me in single combat like that...But as you no doubt know it's not my call on this..." he said as he walked with Lone, back outside, and took out a pen and some parchment, and wrote out a note to Nightmare, and rolled it up tying it. It Read as such: Dear Moony, I've encountered somepony with impressive combat skills, and, very interesting Armor...he challenged me to a duel and WON as well...he wishes to join if I, and the rest of you leaders of the NLR allow him to...Please contact me through Hologram once you receive this message. I'll be waiting on board the Shadow with Barb. Love, Captain Zero 'Red' Star. He then called Barb out, and had her send it, who happily did so, by breathing her magical fire as it sent off and appeared before Nightmare at her location. Nightmare was in her room, looking over the battle reports from the front lines when Red's message appeared in blue flame. She opened it, and read it, surprised that a pony had been able to defeat Red in one on one combat. She was also interested in his armor. As far as she could tell from what Red said, it was something he hadn't seen before. She sent for Chrysalis and Luna, telling them to meet her in the war room so they could all talk to Red and the other pony. Twenty minutes later, all three were assembled in the holo room portion of the war room. "Are you certain we can trust this pony, Nightmare?" Chrysalis asked. "Red vouched for him personally, and he is a good judge of character, so yes." "Are you certain of that, sister," Luna said, "or is that just you vouching for your love?" "I am certain of it, Luna. Now, I say we contact Red and this pony and speak with him. "Agreed," the other two said. With that, Nightmare activated the link between the war room and the Rogue Shadow. The three did not have to wait long before Red appeared. Red smiled, as the hologram appeared on both ends, with the three mares seeing him and Barb, and him seeing the three of them. Red smiled speaking up "Greetings Chryssie, Luna. And of course, the most beautiful of the three, Moony." He spoke, waving, with his helmet being off. Chrysalis spoke up first smirking. "She's the most beautiful? What if I did this?" She then changed to look exactly like Nightmare, when Red spoke again. "That's cheating, As my dear Moony is the most beautiful." He said with a chuckle as Chrysalis changed back. Nightmare playfully stuck out her tongue at Chrysalis. It was good that even during this time of war, they could afford to have a laugh, playing with each other at times. "The individual I was referring to calls himself Lone Shadow. I'll let him step into view now, so that you girls can ask him what you wish, and We can talk of him possibly joining our side, once he introduces himself." He said as he stepped aside with Barb, motioning for Lone to step into range, as he did so, he removed his helmet, to let his face be seen by the leaders, and to Red himself as he had never seen him face to face till now. He had a black coat, and had neck length mane, which matched his coat but had red and orange on the sides to give a fiery appearance to it. His eyes were the same color as Luna's. Red spoke up shortly after, to be professional. "State your full name, and credentials to show worth in joining our cause." He demanded, to essentially allow him to do so. "My full name is Lone Shadow. As for my credentials: That is something I'll keep to my self. What I will tell you is that I have had many good teachers. Nothing you do or say will change that," he said, making the four members of the NLR somewhat mad. "Plus, I think my duel with Captain Zero Star earlier," he gestured with his hand to Zero, "speaks to my skills." Luna spoke up first "The statement of your skills is true...our Captain here is extremely skilled. None have bested him in single, much less, in a handicap combat where he's on his own against a group of foes...And you did so fairly easily...thus your skills would speak for themselves...Tell us about your weapon...that...segmented blade we see in the video feet from Red's helmet..." She spoke, referring to his sword like weapon. "Of course," he said, moving to grab his sword. He activated it. "It's my own custom weapon. I call it an energy sword. Unlike light sabers, this uses electromagnetic fields to contain plasma. Normally, both blades would be blue, as me and some of my friends have them as well, but mine was custom made, and matches the color of my armor. This weapon is easily able to cut through just about anything, including mid-level magic shields. I tested that feature personally." Luna nodded before responding "Perhaps you can give us some blueprints, so that we might be able to have access to such a weapon..." She suggested, hoping for an extra edge against Celestia and her army. Chrysalis spoke next in questions. "You say it can cut through Mid-level Magic shields? And you tested it personally...What type of Magical talent do you possess?" Lone smirked. "Well, for one," he said, before disappearing in a flash of light. "I can teleport over greater distances than even Twilight Sparkle was able to as a unicorn," Lone said from behind the three rulers, which caused them to jump in surprise and turn around and look at Lone, a smirk still on his face. He then looked at Luna. "No to the blueprints. This is a weapon that only a few ponies are worthy of wielding, and it takes years to determine that," he said, angering Luna further, as she thought he was deliberately keeping the information from them. "I also have a very large intelligence network," he said. Red spoke up first seeing Luna be angered. "Well then jackass, Why don't we try to make a similar model that's mass-produced? that way we can still use such a weapon but only those who are 'worthy' are able to wield the real deal?" He asked, hoping to help calm Luna down, over the transmission, before Nightmare spoke up again. "How big is this network of yours?" "Because," Lone replied to Red, "the materials for this weapon are rare, and even if they weren't, only me and one of my friends know how to build them. As for your question, Nightmare. It's large enough for me to tell you what Celestia has as a mid-day snack every second Tuesday of the month, and that you are hoping to turn one of the Elements to your side." This got surprised looks from the others, as they had only talked about that behind magically reinforced doors designed to prevent eavesdropping." Red speaks up again. "Okay your being very suspicious now...How do we know that if you join us, you won't turn on us later down the road?" He asked, as Barb decided to ask a question of her own. "What are your talents besides Combat and Magic sir?" She asked cutely. "To answer your question, Captain, I've already had a chance to kill you and the other three, which would be easy for me, but I haven't. If that is not enough for you: Twenty minutes north and fifty minutes east of Canetrlot, there is a small, but vital, research base for Celestia's forces. They are currently working on developing large vehicles that will give them an advantage in ground combat. The contingent guarding it is fifty strong, a fair portion of them being researchers with only light combat training," he said. "As for your question, young dragoness, I can practically pilot any vehicle after just one go at the controls." He paused for effect. "And I can manipulate minds, which is something you all will need to gain the loyalty of one of the Elements," he said with a smile. Nightmare seemed intrigued "Well...what elements should we try and win over?" She ended up asking the rather obvious question. "Well, for one, we can't just use magic, we need logic," Lone said, raising a finger to emphasize. "Fortunately, I know how you can win over not one of the Elements, but three. More specifically, Generosity, Kindness, and Laughter. For Generosity, we use the fact that Celestia knew that Diamond dogs were invading the area around Ponyville five hundred years ago. If she had done something to stop it, then Generosity wouldn't have been taken by them. As for Kindness, my intelligence net works say she is part bat-pony after a vampire fruit bat incident on Sweet Apple Acres, and all of the bat ponies are with the three of you. As for laughter, we simply state that the most fun parties take place during the night. I already have a few plans for how to accomplish these goals, but I will need you five to trust me, and I will also need the captain's help with it." There was silence before Chrysalis spoke up. "You have my trust, Lone, but mark my words, if you betray one of us, all of us will come after you. Is that clear?" Lone nodded. "Of course. And what of you, Luna?" Luna and Nightmare both remained quiet, before both nodded "We feel the same as Chrysalis, if you betray any of us, we WILL all come to kill you." Nightmare shown clear agreement in the matter. Barb spoke up next "So long as Master Red trusts you, then I do." Red thought before nodding. "You're able to beat me in combat...I'm impressed by your skills alone...and so long as that intelligence of yours rings true and we can possibly get our hands on some of those ground weapons, and get the three elements you mentioned on our side, then you'll have earned my trust. But if you betray any of us, much less Moony there, I will personally gut you like a trout and mount your head on my wall." He stated being genuinely honest. "Fair enough," Lone said. "I'll lay out the plan tomorrow, once it's been ironed out. And don't bother about giving me quarters. I can sleep in the rafters if I have to," He said. "No, you don't," Luna said. "There is a spare room near this room, which you can stay in." "In that case," Lone said, bowing, "Thank you." From there, Lone was showed his quarters, where he ironed out the details for the plan he had laid out earlier. Things are going according to plan, he thought to himself as the night rolled on. Author's Note Reminder to everyone: His full name, is Zero 'Red' Star. 'Red' is a nickname he was given due to his red mane, tail, and the red highlights in his wings. So, if you see the name Zero, or Red tossed around, it's Referring to him. Hello, people, LoneShadow here, co-author of this story. It has come to my attention not a lot of people like this story, and I think that is for one of two reasons. The first being the grammar in chapter one. Let me ask you this, since when is a story perfect in grammar during it's first stages? The second reason is possibly that this has been done to death. My rebuttal: If that was really the case, not liking a story because it's kind has been done to death, then why is it HiE fics are still popular, Not to mention stories of one of the Elements going evil. I speak from experience with the second one, as I am working on a story where Twilight turns evil, and I've seen plenty of stories for that, but I have 23 likes to 2 dislikes. Give this story a chance, would you? Chapter 5A Week has passed since their most recent victory over Celestia and her Solar Empire. Red wakes with a yawn, and is sandwiched between the two most beautiful mares he ever had met, both Nightmare Moon, and Fleur de Lis, he's certainly happy where he is, and decides to kiss both of them to stir them to wake, smiling happily. Nightmare was the first to awaken after Red, a blush appearing on her face as she beheld the sight before her. "Hello, Red," she said in a low volume. "Hello, Moony," Red said. "How was your night?" He asked, with a sly smile on his face. She giggled "Oh it was magnificent...and I want to stay by your side always during the night..." Red kissed her again, smirking, at his dear lover, still a sly grin, as he also was slowly stroking Fleur's mane. "You are alright with this, aren't you? Me loving both of you?" He asked, wanting to make sure...Ironically, he had asked said question numerous times over the week since Fleur joined them...poor guy's kinda paranoid. "How many times must I tell you, Red? So long as I am the Alpha," she said, flashing a toothy grin. Fleur woke up here, smiling as she saw Nightmare and Red. "Hello, loves," she said. How was last night?" Red smirked "Great my dear. it was lovely.....I'd be more than honored to have you girls be in this same position for every night...to sleep with both of you..." He spoke happily, as he moved to get up, stretching his wings, as he had slept shirtless, the only thing he had warn to bed was his boxers, as all their clothing was nearby, whilst Nightmare and Fleur had both slept in their lingiere, which would naturally hug and accentuate their perfect curves. Meanwhile-Canterlot "Just take it easy, Princess," Doctor Sharp Eye, a blue unicorn with a red mane and tail, said. "It'll take you some time to get used to your new hand." Following the attack on Canterlot by the NLR and the betrayal of Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, Celestia had needed multiple procedures done over the cours of the week to prepare her for her new limb. She had lost her left hand when one of the NLR soldiers had attacked her with a previously unknown weapon, while also killing a third of the total guards that were there that day. She had only been able to get her new prosthetic today. Her new left hand was a steel gray. Even though it was mechanical, it connected into her central nervous system, allowing her to still feel with the hand. Celestia, grunted in slight pricks, as she was testing out the limb's movements as it worked just as it was meant to work, just like her normal hand. She was actually considering to use a spell to make it look, and, feel, just like a regular hand, rather than having this steel grey metal one, She can feel with it, but, it looked kinda unnatural anyway. Before she could consider further, Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow came in, joy evident on their faces due to her recovery. Spike was in Ponyville, making sure the general there would be able to send a report to her should it be needed. Twilight came running up to Celestia, embracing her in a hug tight enough, Celestia thought she would need to stay in the medical ward due to broken ribs. "Princess!" Twilight exclaimed. "I'm so glad your okay." Twilight began to sob here. "It's all my fault they got past the shield. I knew we should have asked Shining to come." Celestia put her right hand on Twilight's shoulder, hoping to calm her down. It worked, but not by much. "It is not your fault, Twilight. The rebels have always been improvisational. We simply need to find a way to adapt the shield spell to account for this," Celestia said, a smile on her face, more for Twilight than anypony else. She shook her head, as Celestia gave Twilight a gentle nuzzle "It appears I was also being a bit too lenient on those rebels...they are improvisational yes, and very good I will admit...they caught me off guard with that new weapon..." She said flexing her new hand "And had been able to get the other girls on their side....And don't fault your friends for turning sides...I won't...in all honesty as a ruler, I've seen my fair share of such an event happening in war or in battle...where somepony begins to doubt the cause that they were fighting for, and choses to switch sides...they may be branded as a traitor, but, in their heart, they are doing what they feel is right...so, I know they may have turned traitor and joined the rebels, but I will not fault them, nor will I hate them for it... and I implore you girls to do the same in not faulting or hating them for it....it's their choice..." She said to the girls, giving them some advice from her many years as ruler of Equestria. "Princess," the doctor said. "The skin graft for your hand is ready. If you would please follow me, we can get it finished as soon as possible." "Of course, doctor," Celestia said. She followed the doctor until she heard Rainbow say, "I still can't believe that Fluttershy, of all ponies, killed. It's not like her." Celestia stopped and turned to Rainbow an the others, saying, "When a pony believes in a cause enough, Rainbow," she said, "they often find the strength to do things they wouldn't, or couldn't, before." She then turned around to follow the doctor to the procedure room for the skin graft. Twilight nodded agreeing "That's true...after all Dash...remember the best young fliers competition when you pulled off the Sonic Rainboom? Rarity was falling to her death because those wings I had given her burned up...prior to that you were a nervous wreck who wasn't even sure if you could even DO the Sonic Rainboom...but when Rarity was falling to her death, You knew you had to save her, no matter the cost...and that gave you the push you needed to pull it off." She said, justifying Celestia's point Rainbow rubbed the back of her head, saying, "Yeah. I guess you're right there." NLR headquarters-a few hours later. "And what is the status of the production?" Luna asked the engineer in charge of reverse engineering and production. They were in one of the bases numerous underground facilities that allowed for the construction of the NLR's vast arsenal. "Well, Your Highness, we have made excellent with the ATVs, which the troops are calling 'mongooses' due to their agility. We've outfitted many with weapons, and we've started calling them 'gungooses'. We already have a thousand ready for deployment, with another thousand expected in the next month. As for the large walker, we only have the one captain Star brought." He paused here, wary of what to say next. "Though we are halfway through building the next one. I would guess another month and a half before completion, what with most of the engineers being reassigned to armor and weapons." Red approached, standing by Nightmare, as he gently set a hand around her as well, being curteous at the moment. "Well, what of work on a slightly smaller, faster model? those Scout and recon walkers..." He asked, hoping to help in some way, before looking to Nightmare. "Is there anything you'd like me to do my darling?" The engineer scratched his chin for a second before saying, "I suppose, but we'll need more engineers to complete the larger walker on schedule for Operation: Crystal Sword." "If that is the case, recruit from the cities that are with us," Luna said. "Of course, Your Highness," the engineer said, bowing. "Good," Nightmare said. "And for you, my love," she said, smiling as she looked to Red, "I wish for you to assist Fluttershy in constructing her saber. She is waiting in the upper armory." "Of course, Moony," Red said, smiling. "Could you two wait until you're in a room," Luna said. "Yeah, yeah," Red said as he began to head to where Fluttershy was located. Red soon entered the upper armory, where he found Fluttershy, in her own bat form as well. "Hello Fluttershy. How's it going? Nightmare's asked me to assist you in constructing your own lightsaber." "Oh. Hello, Red," Fluttershy said calmly, which was brave compared to her usual tone. She was in her bat-pony guise, wearing a black outfit that had a wide piece of material over her mid-section, with a leather belt with a silver center piece around her waist(think Leia's outfit from the endor DLC for force unleashed 2). "I'm doing just fine," she said, smiling. "How are you?" "I'm fine. So, want to get started on your saber?" "Yes," Fluttershy said, nodding. "Okay then. First things first. What color do you want the blade to be?" "Pink, if that's possible. Blue if not." Red begins to think "Hmm...I do believe there is as pinkish or, Light red saber crystal...if we can't find one I know Blue is very possible." He said, encouragingly, as he took her arm, and began to walk with her, to go get the crystal to use. As they walked, Red tried to spark a conversation by asking, "So, Fluttershy. How are you liking the NLR so far?" "I enjoy it. All the ponies are nice, considerate, and the animals are wonderful. I never though there were so many animals that were nocturnal. I'll admit I was surprised that Princess Luna was with us, but after she told us why, it made sense." "Well, that's just the way we are. We may be fierce fighters on the battlefield, but we are nice to our allies. Something I'm certain you can understand." "Oh, yes. I just wish the others were here," Fluttershy said sadly. "Well, one we defeat Celestia, I'm certain they'll join us." "Well, that's good," she said as they arrived at the part of the armory that held saber crystals. "Okay," Red said. "Light colors, light colors, liiigggght coloooors . . . and bingo, there you are," he said as he pulled a cubby out of the wall that contained light-shaded crystals. He reached in and pulled out a pink crystal that matched the shade of Fluttershy's original mane shade. "We're in luck. One pink crystal. What the saber hilt will look like, you'll have to pick out yourself." "Fun fact, alot of students, will actually model their first lightsaber after the one of their mentors..." He said showing his own to her, before putting it away again. "Tell me this...are you surprised with how nice, Moony has been? Much less that she can be very affectionate and kind?" He asked, curious of Fluttershy's opinion on Nightmare Moon. "I'll admit, I was surprised by how nice Nightmare is, but after I learned all she wanted was to be appreciated by ponies, I kind of understood why she acted the way she did a thousand years ago. It's a shame Celestia didn't care enough for Luna to create a festival for her, or a memorial for Luna after she was banished, leaving ponies to forget about her entirely." "Yes, that is a reason many of us fight for Moony. So she can get justice for what Celestia did to her, as well as justice for the others she's wronged for what ever reason, which is why Chrysalis is with us. If Celestia had removed her 'stupid' crown and actually listened to what Chrysalis said, then they might have been able to find a peaceful solution," Red said. "But that discussion can wait for later. Right now, you need to make your lightsaber." "Well. Let's take a look at mine for example." he spoke as he produced it again. "Many students, tend to model it after their mentors. With alternate parts in many cases, so that the saber is perfectly suited and comfortable for it's user. Basically, make that Lightsaber Yours, and nopony elses." He said, as he shown a few parts on his, showing how it was his, because he liked the way it looked and felt. "So, what will we pick for you?" he asked, as he began to reach out, and take numerous cubby drawers out, showing various parts to create her own lightsaber. "How about that?" she asked, pointing to a natural looking center piece. It was brown like tree bark, and even had detailing that made it look like it was made from tree bark. "Whatever you want, Flutters. This is yours, after all." "Then are there any other pieces like it?" she asked, hopeful. "If by that you mean natural looking, then yes," he said as he pulled out multiple cubbies without touching them. "How are you doing that?" Fluttershy asked. "What, you mean my telekinesis?" When she nodded, he said, "Well, you see, all ponies have a magical field around them, though only unicorns are able to tap into it when they want. It's what allows earth ponies to have the strength they do and what allows pegasai to fly. I'm one of the few non-unicorns who can tap into the field at will, which gives me basic spells. I imagine Lone is able to do that with earth pony strength, as he's stronger than any earth pony I've arm wrestled. Di that answer your question?" "Yeah," Fluttershy said. "Good then. Now, back to your saber." Red smiled, finding it fitting that she would pick saber parts that made it look as though she had carved it out of a tree. "It's very...fitting of you." He said, as he offered the cubbies that contained the natural looking parts, moving the others out of focus since she wanted the natural ones. He did keep the others close enough to inspect if she wished to. She looked over all of them, eventually reaching into one and pulled out a blade guard that was as blue as the ocean, and looked as it was made out of water. It flowed with a beauty only water could have, and even had ripple patterns detailed into it. She reached into another and pulled out an emerald-leaf-green grip, that had leaf vein patterns designed into it. "Hm, That suits you, Flutters," Red said. "Thanks, Red. How do I put it together, though?" she asked. "Just put the pieces, including the crystal, on the table, and the rest will take care of itself," he said. Fluttershy did as he said, and was amazed to see the parts glow and move together, the crystal phasing into the center, and the grip and guard connecting to it. The whole process took ten seconds, and the end result was one of the most elegant sabers Red had seen. It looked like an upside down tree, with the blade guard being the water a tree gets from its roots. "Wow," he and Fluttershy said at the same time. Red smiled "Congratulations Fluttershy, you now have your very own Lightsaber." He spoke, smiling, as he motioned for her to pick it up, and try it out, seeing as it was her own design, and personal preferences on it. She picked it up and activated the saber. The blade was the same shade as normal Fluttershy's hair, and simply made the blade look mare appropriate for the mare. "It's beautiful," she said. Red smiled, as he patted her back "Truly fitting the element of Kindness...and the mare who tends to be more of a nature lover than a fighter." He said smiling as he gave her an apple "C'mon, let's go show the others." He said, as he begins to go and lead her back. A DAY LATER - CANTERLOT Celestia is adjusting well to her new left hand, she's glad it's not her dominant hand, as she's normally right handed, so, it didn't set her back TOO badly...still sucked though...she began to smile and have a chuckle. "Well...at least now those jokes about me ruling with an iron fist make sense." She said with a laugh to herself, seeing the irony in her current situation. She was in the briefing room with Twilight, the others who had stayed, and two of her generals. "I still don't see how a single pony was able to attack that facility, knowing where it was, let alone kill all the guards and steal the walker," One of the generals said. He was a generic solar guard. The only thing that stood out, really, was that his armor was orange instead of the usual white or gold that her forces wore. His name was Steadfast Resolve, and it showed in his record. "It was probably the same one that attacked the princess," the second guard, a chocolate brown earth pony mare, whose name was Unbreakable Tactic, said. "No offense intended, Princess," she quickly added. "None taken." "Still," Resolve said, "this is bad. If the rebels are able to use that walker, we'll lose a lot of ground before it can be taken down. The only thing we have that has a chance are the prototypes, and they're even smaller than it." "How is that a problem," Twilight asked. "Because then it could literally crush them. The main one is over twenty feet tall!" "Shit," Rainbow said. "Rainbow, mind you're language. tha Princess is here." "No, Applejack, she is right. Even if it is a vulgar word, it describes the situation perfectly," Celestia said. "What about that other guy? The one who had the crimson red hair and blue eyes? And green fur? the one who's called Zero Star...He's a darn good fighter...you think He might be the one who attacked them and stole the walker?" Rainbow asked, knowing of how he was one of the better fighters. Twilight spoke up "So what do we do? Should I try to calling my big brother to help us some how? I'm sure he and Cadence would be glad to help us, assuming the Rebels haven't gotten to them yet. "I've already spoke to them, and Shining is on his way here with a contingent of crystal guards," Celesta said. "And it may very well be this 'Zero Star' who attacked the base. The ship he and the others escaped on was heading in that direction when they left, so it's possible." "It'll be nice to see Shining again," Twilight said. "I haven't seen him since this whole thing started. I just hope Cadence is doing alright." "I am certain she is, Twilight." Meanwhile at the NLR base After heloping Fluttershy train with her new saber, Red reports back to Nightmare, and is hugged by Fleur shortly after. "So, Moony, when do we go through Operation Crystal Saber? I've heard that Shining has headed for Canterlot with some Crystal Guard members...No doubt, Cadence is alone at the empire, leaving it protected by herself." "Hopefully, within the next three weeks. We are simply waiting for those smaller walkers, and for Lone to come back." "Where is he, anyway? I haven't seen him since the Canterlot incident," Red said. "All I know is that it is something personal. Perhaps it is to see if his wife is alright." "Yeah. Probably. Still can't believe he has a wife. He seems the kind of pony who wouldn't marry, if only so he doesn't have anything his enemies can use against him. If he hadn't said anything about it when I tried to set him up with Luna after we got back, I have a feeling Luna would have been worse off," he said. "There is a great deal you don't know about me, Red," Lone said as he materialized from the shadows to the left of Red. "You know, the only reason I'm used to that is because Moony does just about the same thing. Not that I don't like it when she does it, but still." "Yes to the first, and for the second," Lone said, shrugging, "Well, look for your selves." At this, eight separate pieces of shadow came up from the floor. They came up to Lone's eye level, then became recognizable. All of them became curved pieces of metal, the hilts of energy swords. Red looked curiously at them, as he began to reach for one of them, interested in trying to use one of them himself, much less to wield it... As he reached for it, Lone said, "That one's not yours, Red." He then moved the one Red was reaching for to Nightmare. "It's hers" She reached for the hilt, and grasped it. "I thought you said-" she said before Lone cut her off. "-That it was only for the worthy, I know. But I meant it is given only to those who believe in their cause without reservation," Lone said, as he moved another to Fleur, who took it, but didn't activate it, rather looking at it with fascination, awe, and a bit of fear. Lone then moved one in front of Red, saying, "This one is yours, Red." Red nodded, taking it, as he looked it over, His looked slightly different from the others "Interesting..." He said as he studied it very closely, looking at it from numerous different angles. "Now," Lone said, "I need to give the others theirs." He made his way to the door. He was just about to leave when he looked back and said, "And I expect all of you in the training room tomorrow. You'll need the practice." He then left the room, closing the door silently behind him. Red made sure he had nobody near him as he activated his, looking it over, in complete awe anyway. The blade colors were the same shades of Red and green on his coat on the bottom and top, respectively. Nightmare activated her sword, and both blades were the same color as her coat. Fleur also activated hers, and its blades matched that of her coat for the top, and her mane and tail for the bottom. "It's beautiful," she said. "And Deadly if what happened to Celestia is any example..." he said as he turned it off, putting it on his thigh, as he decided to go to his room and try to modify the blade, and combine it with his lightsaber, for an easier way to carry it around, plus, it would be a nice surprise, to have gotten a one-up on Lone...and their foes too. Lone was heading to where Rarity usually was during this time, which was annoying the people who worked in the armor production department due to the colors being bland. I feel sorry for those guys, Lone thought. He made his way to the location with ease. He saw Rarity as he walked in, standing in one of the decks that had an over view of the assembly line. "Hey, Rarity," he said loud enough to be heard. She turned and said, "Oh, hello, Lone darling. What are you doing here?" she asked before she saw the energy swords. "Oh, is one of those for me?" she asked. "Yep," Lone said, handing her the energy sword that was designed for her. "You can activate it, but I wouldn't recommend using it until at least day after tomorrow, after I can give you some training in it, along with the others. Got it?" "Yes." "Good," he said. "Now, to give the others theirs," he said, turning to leave the room. The Next Day Red is holed up in his room modifying the new sword, turning it into a second lightsaber, with some extra enhancements. It took him numerous hours to fully modify his new weapon to be more his style, and to possibly one up Lone in terms of what he could actually do. Before Red knew what happened, it was actually the next day. He was a few hours into his modifications when he heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" he asked. The door opened to reveal Nightmare. "Hello, love," she said. "I came to let you know Lone wants us in the training room so he can tech us to use our swords." Red nodded "Alright beautiful. I'll be there shortly. I was up all night working on modifying mine." He said as he shown off the finished product. Which ended up looking like a near completely different weapon, similar actually, to a new lightsaber. NLR headquarters-Training room Lone was in the center of the training room, waiting on the others, with his plasma rifles, small, compact weapons with an organic like appearance, and had a purplish-blue look to it and fired bolts of blue plasma, on his thighs. He had been waiting for a few hours when the fist group, consisting of Fleur, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie walked in. They couldn't see him, as he had invisibility going, wanting to wait until all of the others were in. The next two were Chrysalis and Luna, Chrysalis wearing her draconic armor, and Luna wearing her liquid metal armor. After thirty minutes, in which the others talked among themselves, none so much as even glancing in Lone's direction, Red and Nightmare walked in. As soon as they had finished walking in, Lone became visible, saying, "And if I was an enemy agent, you all would be dead right now. Lesson one: Do not rely on just sight, but your other senses in combat. They may just save your life." Red smirked, behind his own armor's helmet. "I believe Lesson 2 would be to...Expect the unexpected, would it not, Lone?" He asked, as he stepped aside, revealing his new saber hilt, and activating it, revealing that he had modified the sword that Lone had given him, into something that would be, far more comfortable for him, and Red definitely had more surprises in store. Lone raised an eyebrow. "If you guys had seen the stuff I have, that would be on the lower end of the scale. Plus," Lone said, shrugging and pulling one of his plasma rifles. "I got surprises of my own," he said as he pushed a button on the lower part of the rifles trigger mechanism, which caused the upper and lower cases to fall away. He then pulled the trigger, and the blades of his energy sword flashed into existence. If Red had his helmet off, the look would have been priceless. Red smirked though "As do I. I didn't just turn it into a new lightsaber." He said, as he drew his normal lightsaber, to dual wield and face him again. "Impressive," Lone said, "but this isn't saber training, its energy sword training, and just a notice: I do not give a shit if you're a Queen, goddess, ruler, or something else. I'm the only one here in this room who knows how to use them in combat. Is that clear?" he asked everypony. "At current you are anyway..." Red said with a bit of a snarky smirk, as his new saber could visually seem to be much sharper in it's appearance, clearly a modified variation of the energy sword he was given. Fluttershy then spoke up "umm...wouldn't this Kind of be like Saber training, Considering how the weapons are, well...kinda similar?" She asked, being extremely adorable as well. "No" Lone said. "These require more practice, due to the separated blades, as well as the fact that when you hold them like a saber, the handling is different. And who kicked whose plot when we first met again, Red?" "Funny," Red said sarcastically. "Okay," Lone said. "Now that that's out of the way, ALL OF YOU GET YOU LAZY PLOTS IN THE CIRCLES!! I NEED TO SEE WHAT YOUR BASIC SKILLS ARE! NOW!!!" The entire group went into set up small circles to show their basic skills with the new weapon. MEANWHILE IN CANTERLOT Celestia, Twilight, and the other Elements that were still with Celestias forces were at the train station waiting for Shining Armor and the Crystal Empire forces to arrive. "I wonder what's going on in the Crystal Empire, what with this war and everything else," Twilight said, hoping that her sister-in-law was alright. "I am certain they are doing the best they can, Twilight," Celestia said as the wheels of Shining's train could be heard approaching. The Crystal bullet train screeched to a halt at the station as Shining armor stepped out in his own armor, and smiled at Celestia and Twilight "Hey there sis. is everything alright?" He asked before looking to Celestia "How's the new hand treating you?" He asked Celestia, knowing about her losing her hand before. Twilight smiling "So, How's everything going at the Crystal empire?" She asked as the guards he brought with him begin to exit the train...one of them being a particular golden beige Pegasus with a blue mane, that she actually had a crush on. "Good. The guards still there are some of our best, all with their own sabers thanks to our abundance of crystals, and we have watches every hour ot ensure we can't be taken by surprise, and we always have ponies monitoring the radar, so we can't be bombed." "That's good," Celestia said. "Yeah, but that won't help us if the traitors help them," Shining said, referring to Rarity and the others, anger in his voice. Twi spoke up "They may have switched sides but they are still are friends. We can't fault them for choosing to switch sides Big brother." She said, referring to what Celestia had told them a while back. "If they were your friends, they wouldn't have changed sides," he said, his voice becoming gravelly. "Shining," Celestia said, "If Cadence changed sides, would you label her a traitor?" "Yes I would." he said without any hesitation, as stubborn as always, and he could practically feel his wife slap him right then and there...Possibly with a divorce paper too. MEANWHILE AT THE NLR BASE The others were progressing well, in Lone's opinion. They had adjusted well to the swords. This didn't mean that they were naturals though. Rarity had come close to slicing off the tip of her fingers on her left hand, and Fluttershy had nearly cut the tip of Lone's horn. The only one that appeared a natural was Red, but Lone thought that was due to his modifications. "Okay. That's enough for now," he said. "Don't want you guys to accidentally kill yourselves, and I'm not joking with that either." The others turned off their swords and went to the nearest bench. "If you make a joke about how sweaty I am, Love," Nightmare said to Red, "I will cut of your stallion hood and give it to the dogs," she said between gasps for air. Red laughed panting as well, as he hugged her as well, giving her a kiss, along with kissing Fleur. "Haha Sorry, I don't think I got anything right now anyway." He said, as he was looking to Luna and Chrysalis "Luna? Chryssie? you two wouldn't happen to know if we've got any other new weapons in store for the troops would you? Much less, the leaders like us?" He asked, relaxing for the time being to get his energy back, as he was planning to also duel Lone once again, to not only show how much stronger he's become, but see if he can even the score. "Only prototypes," Luna said. "Nothing ready for field testing yet, though." "That's better than nothing," Red said. "Indeed," Chrysalis said. "Well," Lone said, "If you guys want to stop for now, we can." "They can..." Red said, as he began to approach Lone. "I want another duel Now." He said as he activated his Z Saber, as he was calling it, to fight him again, taking his single bladed stance, as he waited for Lone to do the same. "Okay then," Lone said, getting into his single bladed stance. "No holds barred?" he asked. "Yeah. No holding back. The only thing we can't do is obviously kill each other. But I've got more tricks up my sleeve than you know from the first time we met." He said, as the two began to stare each other down. Each of the others dared not to move, as they watched the two powerful warriors stare each other down with their swords drawn, and soon both dashed right at each other charging, before their blades clashed, holding strong, before they broke their clash, and began to trade slash after slash, when Lone tries to catch the sword in his own to disarm him, before Red quickly draws his other saber, holding it in the middle of the two blades of Lone's sword, preventing him from twisting it by locking it up like that with both blades of his sabers. With a swift kick to his gut, Red had broken the hold and had gotten distance, as Red decided to switch things up this time, going in dual wielding, and attacking swiftly, soon doing a thrusting attack with each saber without letting up, forcing Lone to keep backstepping, to try and either block the attack or dodge it, as Red was attacking he actually was also going so quick it physically appeared as though he was throwing out a thousand stabs, with the other leaders of the NLR watching as it seemed as though he had left afterimages of each strike he was using to thrust, before Red made a cross cut with both blades in an X motion dashing ahead as Lone jumped over, to dodge and gain some distance and a chance to attack which he took by lunging at Red who had put away his normal saber, and then, the next thing Lone knew, is that a larger hammer impacted his side and sent him into the opposite wall, with the momentum and the weight of the swing overcoming the weight of his own armor. inside his helmet, Lone was shocked and speechless, and the look on his face was priceless. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU?! WHEN THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT?!" He asked completely confused, but at the same time, impressed, as Red motioned to the hammer. "As I said, over the entirity of the past few hours I've been modifying the sword you had given me, Thus, I basically turned it into a second saber, which is just as sharp as the energy sword was. So, whilst it looks different, it still has that edge. On top of that, I decided to impliment numerous other weapon modes into it, to make it even more versitile than that sword is." He said with a content smirk behind his helmet's faceplate, as he spun the hammer, and slammed it into the ground causing a tremor wave aimed at Lone, who used it to jump higher, before Red caused another surprise, by turning his hammer, into a chain rod, and reached out with it, wrapping around Lone's Sword and arm, not hurting him due to how it was wrapping around the armor, and using his own power to slam him back down, before retracting his whip, and returned it to it's natural saber form, closing in to fight again, as the battle continued to go with the two warriors trading strike after strike, neither relenting, before the two ended in a position where Red had Lone's sword at his neck, and his own Z Saber was at Lone's neck. "Seems like we've got ourselves a little stand off eh?" Red started. "How about we call this one a draw? because we both could kill each other right now." He said, knowing that either way, the fight was over, and it was a draw. Lone nodded in agreement, as both shut off their blades and backed away bowing in respect, as the others applauded in approval, Nightmare Moon and Fleur clapping even more for Red than anything. Red laughed a bit approaching Nightmare and Fleur and hugged them both. Author's Note Yes, the modified version of Red's Energy Sword IS the Z saber from the Megaman series. whilst it has numerous other forms to become a very versatile weapon in his hands, the reason he's renamed it the Z saber is due to the fact that his real name IS infact, Zero. Thus, it's an injoke that it's a reference to the Megaman series by me, the author, AND because his real name IS Zero. His weapon as shown, also has numerous additions, and modifications, such as a strong maul hammer style, a chain rod/chain whip, the actual saber mode for single and dual blade combat an Ax and a Saw blade for doing added damage for pressuring opponents. Yes, Lone has hybrid energy swords/plasma rifles. You have to admit that it would be cool to have that in-game. By the way, next chapter, the epic shit commences. Chapter 6: Operation Crystal Sword Part 1The days went by swiftly as the New Lunar Republic was training with their new weapons, preparing for their great mission, Operation Crystal Sword. Now, it was time to go and put the operation into action. Red yawns, waking, yet again, curled up with Fleur and Nightmare Moon, kissing both to wake them up as well. "Morning girls. It's time for the operation." The three were with the army, just a day's march from the Crystal Empire. The reason why was to boost troop morale, and because Lone had come up with a plan that would gain the NLR another ally, should it be successful. Nightmare was the first to wake. "Then should we not prepare our armor?" she asked with a teasing grin on her face. "Yes, I was going to ask that as well," Fleur said groggily as she woke up. Red snickered a bit, and got up, as he began to get dressed in his armor, and, whilst leaving the helmet off for the time being, he put on his Solid Eye, which appeared to simply be a plastic eye patch over his left eye, but in reality, was a miniature camera featuring Night vision, Thermal/Infared vision, Radar, Zoom function, along with being able to track footprints, somepony's heart rate, sweat secretion and body temperature, Along with detailing the armaments and specs of various weapons of the targets that enter it's range of vision. He cracks his neck and rolls it as well getting loosened up as he put away his Lightsaber, His Z-Saber, the Dual SMGs he had, And his shotgun, holding the helmet in his hand. Fleur and Nightmare also put on their combat gear. Fleur was wearing what she wore the day she left Canterlot, and Nightmare was wearing her Draconian armor. Once they were all geared up, with Fleur and Nightmare having both their sabers and energy swords, they left the tent the ywere in, and mad their way to the command tent,where Lone and the others were waiting. Red entered with them, helmet off, smiling beside both of them. "So, what's the plan Lone? How are we approaching this?" He asked, now that they were all there, and it was time to discuss the plan for Operation Crystal Sword. Lone nodded in greeting before saying, "As the ground forces are keeping the bulk of the crystal army distracted, we, meaning all of us here, will use the Shadow to infiltrate the castle, where Cadence is, along with her best soldiers. Me and Red will hold them off, while the rest of you head to the throne room, where Cadence will most likely be. We don't want her dead. Once me and Red are done having fun, we'll join you guys, and I'll cast the suggestion spell." "Yeah no. I'm going with Moony. You guys can handle the army. I can handle dealing with Cadence." He said, with a smirk on his face, placing his hand on her shoulder. Lone shrugged. "Fine." He grinned, "Looks I'm going badass again." "Same here. I'm taking on Cadence on my own when we get to her. Besides, I don't think we would need that suggestion spell of yours to be able to get Cadence on our side...ya see, she can sense the feelings of others, such as their love for one another. Comes with being the Princess of Love after all. I suspect, she'll be able to sense my own feelings of love for not only Fleur..." He said placing his hand on her side. "But also Moony here." He said, kissing her as both were helmetless. "And I'll bet that she thinks Moony put those feelings in my head to secure my loyalty, even though it was all my own choice. I'll face her, proving it to her, AND, use our knowledge to convince her to join us as well." "Yeah, probably. That's the only change in the plan, then. Anypony have questions?" Rarity spoke up, "How many guards are we going to have to deal with?" "You guys," Lone said, "None." He grinned again, "Me? About one hundred. Peace of bucking cake." "Well, we might still have some guards on us. Even if she IS in the throne room, we've still gotta go through the castle to her." Red said. "I'd suspect close to a hundred, if not a little less... on our end." Red mentioned, thinking about how many guards they would be dealing with. Lone reached for his helmet, which was on a nearby table, and put it on. He rolled his head, small popping sounds being heard, and cracked his knuckles. "Just get me in there. I'll draw enough," he said. "Well I'd say at least we'll deal with 50 as we make our way to Cadence. SO Alright then." Red said, as he picked up his own, and slipped it on, cracking his neck and his knuckles as well. "So, shall we board the Shadow and get to work then? The others all nodded. All but Lone, who was wielding his hybrid weapons, went to grab the newest weapons that had just been produced. The Nightbringers. Red quickly grabbed his wrist before he could pick up one of them. "That one's not yours." he said, and moved it to another nearby one of the pistols. "That one's yours, and yes, it matters, GREATLY. they are DNA coded to each of their users. If the ID lock isn't bypassed through the safety procedure, then well, it self destructs, and takes your hand, half your lower arm, and Possibly your life with it." He explained. The pistols looked very impressive, with an integrated, extendable silencer for silenced mode, capable of semi-automatic fire and a fully automatic fire mode, it held a magazine below the muzzle which would fire off normal Full metal jacketed, Rubber, Incendiary, high explosive, and hot shot/heat seeking rounds. And the LCD display on the side, would display how many rounds were left, and what mode it was in. Red picked up his own, and the display read 'ID Confirmed' and was linked to him as he had just explained to Lone. "Nice, but I'll stick to these," Lone said, holding up his plasma rifles. "And how can you tell how many shots they have left?" Chrysalis asked. "There's a small meter on the side," he said, turning one of his rifles to the left so they could see it. "The green represents the charge. Purple would represent what's been used. Takes a while to understand it, but easy to once you know how to." Red nodded understandly, as he let the rest of them gather up their own Nightbringer pistols, to each of them the ID locked and confirmed it was them. Once they holstered them, Red smiled behind the helmet. "So, I think we should get to flying eh?" He said, "Operation Crystal Sword is a go now!" He said as he looked to the others for confirmation that they were all ready to go. The group made their way to the Shadow. Once they were aboard, the ship lifted off. Nightmare opened the army wide frequency, which included troops on walkers designated AT-ST's, as scouts often used them, gungooses, and ground troops, as well as the giant walker for firing support, which had been designated an AT-AT. "All forces of the NLR, the day of Operation: Crystal Sword has arrived. We are here, not to kill, but to bring the glory of the night to the Crystal Empire. Should any of the Crystal forces surrender, take away their weapons and armor, and bring them back to the camp. Victory for the Night!" "VICTORY!!!!" The army cheered, as they instantly began the operation. Red was having Barb pilot the ship so that he would be ready for their own part of the plan, to go and confront Cadence, to get her to turn to their own side, and thus, secure the Crystal Empire's great amount of saber crystals, And their location, Along with their assistance for the cause of the NLR. With the radar cloak active, the Rogue Shadow made it's way over the Empire as the NLR ground forces began their attack. Lone had cast an invisibility spell just after takeoff. That way, nopony in the castle would know of them until they came knocking with explosives. As it neared the castle, Lone walked up to the cockpit where Barb was. She gave a nod as he walked in. "Lone," she said. He nodded in return. "Barb, think you make us an entry way at the bottom, since they fortified it there?" "Can I," She answered, in an almost gloating tone. "Good," Lone said. "Once we're in position, wait until I give the word, and once we're out, help the ground forces." "Got it." Red loooked to Nightmare Moon, Fleur, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie. "You girls ready?" he asked looking to them as he kissed Nightmare and Fleur, as he would be working to protect them on their trip. He also gave Rarity and Fluttershy their own kiss on their foreheads, as a sign of luck and support for them since he'd be protecting them, just as they would protect each other. They each nodded, Rarity and Fluttershy blushing lightly at his sign of support to them, but they all signaled that they were ready to go. Red checked out his weapons, and was positive that he was ready to go. he had his two sabers, now he's maining the Z-saber due to the versatility he had made it be able to take, along with having his lightsaber, and the two SMGs, and the shotgun, culminating with his own Nightbringer. All were filled and ready to go. and his Solid Eye would give a red flash once in a while, for it's camera was naturally scanning each of them showing him their weapons specs. Hilariously enough though, when he ended up scanning Pinkie Pie, it ended up saying 'ERROR' on it due to her being beyond understanding, save for the weapons she carried at least. Lone came down to the bay where they all were. "Coming up," Barb announced over the speakers. "Get ready!" "Okay, people," Lone said. "Time to kick plot," he said, bring up one of his plasma rifles. "In position," Barb said. "FIRE!!" The Rogue Shadow launched it's attack, blasting open a route for the team, as Barb kept it in the air, and the entire group dashed out, landing on the ground, and quickly went right to work to fight and take the Crystal Empire as their ally. Red, Nightmare, Fleur, Chrysalis, Luna, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie rushed for the castle, as Red took the lead, pulling out his new pistol. "High Ex!" He spoke as the Pistol's display switched to High-Ex on it, and he pulls the trigger, firing off a round of a grenade, which fired ahead and blasted a massive hole in their way, spraying out bloody remains of the guards who were in the blast range, dismembered and bleeding out. Lone stayed behind, kneeling on the ground. He waited until just about ninety-nine percent of the guards not in the castle, part of the group going against the army, or dead or dismembered had him surrounded. When they had him surrounded, he got up. "Well, as an old friend of mine once said," Lone said, "and I'm paraphrasing here: The guarding," he said, pulling out one plasma rifle, and bringing out his second in energy sword form, pointing the rifle in front of him, and the sword low to the ground, "ends here." (0:18) The guards rushed him, and many were killed before they could get close, their armor not designed to go up against plasma weaponry. Those that were lucky enough were killed by his energy sword. As more and more came, he killed them. He did not move from his position once during the onslaught. After three minutes of this, one of the guards brought out a rocket launcher and fired. The rocket hit where Lone was standing, and the guards began to form up to go after Red and the others. (1:10) Before they could move, a shadow above them separated from the ceiling and solidified, revealing Lone, both energy swords out. He fell in the midst of the host of guards, and killed them left and right, not caring about their blaster bolts, as his armor had shields. It was another minute before the first fifth of the guards were killed. Most of the survivors retreated. The others pulled out their light sabers, and came at him. As the first guards reached him, he used his magic to create two ethereal blades that resembled blades of old, and this made the guards think he was trying to intimidate them. The first four to reach him found out the hard way that this wasn't the case. The first two reached him at the same time, and raised their sabers for an attack. They were cut in half by the ethereal blades while Lone used his actual swords to block the other guards sabers, who he quickly disarmed by getting the blades of their sabers in between his blades, then twisting and yanking them to the side. He pulled of a roundhouse kick, which knocked them out. More guards ran here, leaving only four awake and alive. They charged at him, two staying further back to engage the ethereal blades, the other two coming up close to engage Lone directly. This worked for a few minutes, though Lone was able to win when one of the guards engaging the ethereal blades over swung, which left him open to a counter, which Lone took, cutting off his head. The ethereal blade that cut off the guards head then moved to engage the other, and they made short work of him. The two remaining guards, though fear was evident in their eyes, stood their ground before they were literally stabbed in the back. They fell to the ground, lifeless. (End music) As Lone was putting his weapons away, he heard a faint sound coming from behind one of the pillars that held the palace up. He walked over to it, and found a small colt, no younger than six or seven, with a light orange coat and a blue mane and tail, with wings on his back. "Hey there, little guy," Lone said, squatting to come closer to eye level with the colt. "What're you doing here. This isn't a safe place for a colt as young as you." The colt looked up, his eyes red from the tears he cried, and said, "I-I-I was here with my dad. My big brother is in Canterlot, and my mom is a part of the army." His head went back into his lap. "Th-they thought I would be safe here, but- but Dad couldn't protect me, so I hid." "Hid from what?" "A monster." Lone reached out for the colt, but thought better of it, and went to remove his helmet instead. Once it was removed, he said to the colt, "Well, the monster isn't here anymore." Lone smiled as the colt looked at him, hope in his eyes. He reminded Lone of his own childhood, when he had lost his mother and father just a little over a year apart, when he was just five and six, respectively, and he remembered what it was like. "What do you say we get away from here . . . Sorry, I didn't catch your name." Some more sniffles from the colt before he replied, "Lightning Sentry." "Well, Lightning," Lone said, standing up, but reaching a hand down to the recently fatherless colt, "let's get out of here." Lightning looked up to Lone, before getting up, and taking his hand, holding it for reassurance. Together, they walked away from the bloddy battle field Lone had made, which included Lightning's father. Crystal Palace- Meanwhile The team had blasted their way inside the castle, and were making their way in, as more a good more set of guards were attacking them, Red easily dispatched them, as did Pinkie, who was having a blast...literally as her Nightbringer was set to High-Ex...and rapid fire... Thanks to Lone's distraction, which could be heard, even in the deepest parts of the palace, the group encountered very little resistance, only encontering three squads of guards, and small groups of singular and double guards, though they fell quickly, and they made it to the throne room doors within miutes. Red kicked them open entering in, as both the guards on the other side of the doors were squashed against the walls and were knocked out. Cadence is seen sitting on her throne, as the team began to spread out. Red stared her down from behind his helmet, as she slowly stood up, and began to step down from her throne, having her own special lightsaber. it appeared to be a simple flat hilt, wrapped in what would appear to be bandages, similar to a classic katana, and the end of the hilt, looked like a large pink heart. when she activated it, it turned into a long hot pink blade. Red also stepped forward, as he looked over the armored princess of love, as he produced his Z-Saber and drew it. "So, you're the one who's leading this attack?" Cadence asked, getting into a fighting pose. "One of them," Red replied. Cadence looked around the room, noticing Nightmare and the others. "So it would seem." She then saw Luna, which unbalanced her a little. "A-Aunt Luna? What are you doing here. Luna spoke "I am on their side...the New Lunar Republic...because your aunt Celestia is a cruel and...iron fisted ruler..." Red cut in "in more ways than one now." he spoke snickering a bit, as he looked to Luna, before facing Cadence again. Nightmare spoke "Cadence, we do not wish to have to fight you unless we must but we would like you to join us." She said, as Cadence now began to feel a familiar tug of her magic...she could sense, feelings of Romance, between Nightmare Moon, Fleur and the stallion that faced her. She didn't think that these were genuine, at least not to Nightmare, and thought they were implanted in to Red's mind to ensure his loyalty. "And why should I believe you?" Cadence asked. "You may very well attempt to kill me once I surrender, and I have a duty to my citizens. To protect them from threats like you!" She would have attacked then and there, but Lone cane over the radio, which was heard by everypony due to it coming from Red's armor, which had the external speakers on. "Red, Nightmare, guys. If you're hearing this, the guards are taken care of, but i won't be joining you. I found a pegasus colt whose father was killed, and I'm taking him a few blocks away from the castle, I'll probably be looking out for him until his mother comes for him, assuming she survives the fight. For his sake, we need to finish this soon. Lone, out." She was a little surprised at this. Why would one of their soldiers look after one of my citizens, especially after killing the father, Cadence thought. "You see, Cadence," Rarity said, "We don't want to harm anypony. The only reason this war started is because Celestia thought all of the ponies believed her to be an ineffable goddess,which she played along with, which is what so many of our comrades are sick of that. "One of which, is likely your own husband...He's likely far more loyal to Celestia, than to you...If you were to join us, he'd likely label you as a traitor instantly rather than agree to cross over to our side with you..." Red said to her, as he moved to face Cadence in a duel. "We do not wish to hurt the innocent..." Red said. "As he smiled towards Nightmare, and Cadence could feel those feelings budding even more. "No," Cadence said calmly. "He wouldn't betray me. I'm the princess of love. I would know if his love for me was-" "Greater than his loyalty to his sister, or mine," Luna interrupted. "You know as well as I that love is the only emotion you can sense." Chrysalis chuckled a little here. "They aren't wrong, Cadence. When I was posing as you, I did feel quite a lot of love coming from him, but it was a measly amount compared to his loyalty to Celestia." "Join us," Red said, "and you don't have to worry about that from the others. We are all equally loyal to one another, and we don't betray our friends." "That did not seem to stop Luna from betraying Celestia," Cadence said "Cadence, that's a low blow and you know it. Besides, that's a different story. You can sense love, no doubt you've been sensing the affection I hold for Moony and Fleur...and I'm willing to imagine that your questioning if it's even the real deal. Well." He spoke, as he removed his helmet, giving it to Fleur, and kissing her, for her to hold onto it for the moment, as the Solid Eye flashed red as it was revealed "Why don't you and I put it to the test." He wagered, his Z-Saber being active, and he pointed it to her to fight her. Nightmare Spoke up, hiding some small tears behind her own helmet. "Celestia was never my friend...she took my daughter from me when I was banished....I was wanting that foal so badly...I used a magic spell to be able to give myself one...because I wanted SOMEPONY to be able to love me for me...love my creation...because Celestia never gave me the attention I deserved...she had to hog the spotlight with her own big fat flanks! And when I was banished...I gave birth to that foal...my little dawn...I can ...almost see her now....dieing in my arms when I was on the Moon..." She said, her voice beginning to break up, as this revelation began to bring Cadence's heart to flutter from the amount of love she could feel Red held for Nightmare due to this, Luna even gave her sister Nightmare a reassuring small hug, to help calm her emotions. Even though her instincts told her what she was sensing was true, she couldn't believe it, and would do anything to prove it. It was at this time, an adorable pink Pegasus pony, who actually had the same Mane style and color as Luna when she first returned appeared...but there was something extra special...she had Nightmare's eyes! she noticed Nightmare, and approached her "Hi missy!~" She cooed in an adorable voice. she was only around 5 years old, and Looking at her, Nightmare could feel a very strange connection...because this foal, looked just like her little Dawn from all those years ago. Red didn't notice, as his attention was on Cadence. he brought his saber to bare, as he spoke up "Moony....Je t'aime de tout mon coeur" he spoke, in prench, which Fleur lightly blushed at knowing the phrase and exactly what it meant, as Nightmare heard, and her heart began to sour hearing the phrase, and even more when Fleur told her that it meant 'I love you with all my heart' Nightmare was thrilled and Cadence could feel it Red and Cadence stared each other down as Pinkie spoke up playfully "THE DIVINE LIGHTS ARE BLAZING...ROUND ONE! FIGHT!" She said as Both fighters looked to her, gave a silly smile, as they then turned back and began to fight, saber after saber clashed and countered, being evenly matched, as Red's Solid Eye flashed when they were clashing, locked face to face, and he shoved her back, switched it to hammer mode and slammed the ground for a tremor wave, before switching back to Saber mode. The wave from the hammer blow pushed Cadence into the air, which she used to get above Red. This worked for a second before Red used his own wings to get back on equal ground with Cadence, so to speak. Red smirked, as they dashed at each other, and continued to fight now in the sky, slashing at each other still. Red could feel his heart pounding in this fight, and Cadence could feel his love for Nightmare surging. Nightmare saw the little filly, and knelt by her. "Hello little one...those are...very curious eyes of yours..." She said as she and the others moved out of the way to let the two fight. As they moved, the two duelists sped up their attacks, Red using his telekinesis to add more speed into his swings, Cadence, a speed boosting spell, but even with this, they could not best one another. The duel itself lasted for only a few minutes, but that was more tan enough time for the both of them to become exhausted, and they eventually stopped in the locations they had started in, their weapons up to be used should the other attack. The filly giggled when Nightmare made the comment "Uh huh! I was told they were very...special eyes when I was a cute little filly...the mare that raised me told me they belonged to my Mommy..." she said with a smile, before it turned into a frown. "But...she and that stallion are gone now...and I never had a Mommy or Daddy..." she said softly, her big eyes practically filling with tears. Red and Cadence closed in again and began to fight once more, now even taking longer breaks between attacks, as they also ended up behind each other. Before they swiftly turned around, and clashed blows again swiftly 12 more times, and ended up apart from each other in the same places, Panting, nearly exhausted from their duel. Red spoke first. "You're Pretty Good." He said after taking a few breaths, as Cadence nodded "You...Too...making me work about as hard as I do for my Husband." She said, as they were staring each other down again. "Your Heart...it's very pure...the affection I sense for both Fleur...and Nightmare...it's real...I'm amazed, but it's real...it's true, it's the real deal..." She said. "So...will you join us, Princess Cadence?" He asked looking at her, to hear if she'd say yes, even if it was just to watch how his and Nightmare's love unfolded, along with the love for Fleur. "If I do, how can I be certain you won't harm my subjects?" "Do you not remember the radio message, Cadence," Nightmare said, still surprised at what was going on. "He was helping the child of one of the guards because he did not wish for the child to be left alone." "Which guard," the filly asked innocently. Nightmare looked down at her and said, "I do not know, young one." "I need something other than words to know that you're telling the truth," Cadence said. Chrysalis laughed. "Oh, you can't be serious, Cadence," she said in between fits of laughter. "I know that even you can tell when somepony is lying. So why are you simply denying the truth?" "We told you, we don't hurt the innocent Cadence...your husband has possibly left you for Celestia and Twilight, simply because he is far more loyal to them than you, and on top of that, back when Chryssie here was posing at you, Twilight knew something was up. but Neither Celestia NOR Shining Armor, did anything to believe her or even more than that, even ATTEMPT to humor her suspisions. Had Twilight not been sent down to those caverns where you were, Shining would have been Chrysalis's husband, and love slave really, And you would have rotted down there till they found your corpse...and you needn't worry about Chryssie feeding off you if you joined us too...She's been feeding off my love for Fleur and Moony since we hooked up, so she's got plenty of emotional food....but on top of all that, you can clearly see Nightmare's caring for the filly who's shown up here...and Lone has simply taken the child to keep him away from the battle, And to make sure he's safe...Trust me we won't hurt your subjects, Not so long as they don't try to hurt us. if they try to hurt us, then we would fight back, but We won't hurt them without being provoked." He said being genuinely honest with the statement. "Fine," Cadence said after ten seconds of mental debate that went along the lines of: They're right. They could have easily used the filly for leverage, but didn't. And what if that was just a ploy? With one side listing the arguments that supported Nightmare and the others, and the other trying to debunk that evidence, with the former winning out. The others put away their weapons, with Nightmare sending out a message to the NLR forces that the operation was a success, as Cadence did the same with her forces, telling them to stand down and that the NLR were their allies now. Red smiled, putting away the Z-Saber, as he approached Cadence, and shook her hand, securing the alliance, and as Cadence looked into his right eye, since the left was covered by the Solid Eye System, she could tell he meant every word that he said, And that his love for Nightmare and Fleur was genuine. He then turned to the filly and Nightmare, and approached both hugging her, and soon knelt down by Nightmare. "Hey there little one...What's your name?" He asked, as he reached over, and began to gently stroke her mane, scratching behind her ears, as he saw her beautiful eyes, which matched Nightmare's. What he, and Nightmare heard next was a surprise, that made Nightmare's heart skip a beat out of shock alone. "My name's Dawn Mister...what's yours?" She asked innocently. "My name's Zero Star...but you can call me Red." He told her, smiling My Name is Dawn... Nightmare heard echo in her head numerous times, as she began to take deeper breaths, Luna could tell she was freaked out, and could see exactly why. this foal...not only had Nightmare's eyes...but, on top of that, she had the name of the foal that Nightmare had given birth to on the banishment...and...even more so...she had Luna's manestyle and color...Nightmare Spoke. "D...Dawn!? Tell me little one...who is your mother? Do you know?" She asked, as she knelt down looking at her, but she didn't remove her helmet yet. She shook her head "No Ma'am...I don't." Cadence spoke up. "She's an orphan...I've been trying to raise her for the past few years, and keep her safe.....as a sign of good will, and of our own alliance...Nightmare...would...you and Red like to adopt her?" She proposed, as little Dawn beamed. Nightmare shook her head, beginning to laugh lightly "No...Red and I won't adopt her...we will raise her......Because..." She said, as she removed her helmet and spoke again. "I am her Mother." She spoke, looking little Dawn in the eyes, as Dawn saw that Nightmare had the same eyes and she began to feel that connection, that the black mare infront of her, indeed WAS her mother. Nightmare felt tears building in her eyes, just as Dawn did, and the two hugged close. "Mommy!" Dawn said, crying. "Yes my little Dawn....Mommy's here....and she's never going to leave you again." She said her voice feeling choked up, as Cadence could feel the huge amount of love radiating. Red joined in the hug, smiling with his lover. "You can bet I'll be your daddy Dawn...if you'll allow me." He said, as Dawn sniffled lightly, and he wiped away her tears as she looked at him, and nodded "Yes please...Daddy!" She cooed happily. Crystal Streets Lone and Lightning Sentry were walking to where the armies of the NLR and Crystal Empire were situated. He had heard Nightmare and Cadence's messages to their respective armies, and decided it would be best to bring Lightning back to his mom, assuming she was still alive, which he hoped was the case. After the message had been sent, it took twenty minutes to reach what was the Crystal army camp. According to Lightning, his mom was a medic, so the first place they went was the medical tents. The first one they arrived at was packed full. Lone squatted down to Lightnings level and asked, "Do you see your mom anywhere?" "No," he replied sadly, before his face perked up. "But I do see Miss Amethyst Shine, one of her friends," he said happily. Lone smiled, knowing that there would be somepony who cared about him, if not would care for him. "Then what do you say we go over there and see if we can't ask her if she knows where your mom is, huh?" "Sure," Lightning said. Lone nodded, and got up, and led Lightning over to the mare he identified as Amethyst Shine. "Amethyst Shine?" Lone said once he and Lightning were close enough to get her attention . "Yes," she said as she turned around to see them. She was a mare of standard height, with slightly brighter coat, most likely due to her being a crystal pony. She had an auburn mane, and a similarly colored tail. "Lone Shadow, NLR. I believe you know this colts mother?" he said, gesturing to Lightning, who was smiling. As she saw him, she brought a hand up to her mouth to suppress a gasp. "Lightning, what are you doing here?" "Looking for Mom," he said. She looked to Lone and said, "I suppose I should thank you for bringing him here. His mothers been worried ever since, well, you know." She turned to face Lightning. "Come on, Lightning. Let's see if we can't find your mom." As the two walked away, Lone smiled, knowing that good still existed in the world. Which made him all the more determined to ensure this. War. Ended. Chapter 7: Operation Crystal Sword Part 2: AftermathTwo days have passed since the success of Operation Crystal Sword, and the NLR team are relaxing a bit in the Crystal Empire. Nightmare and Red are asleep in one of the suites at the Crystal Castle, with their daughter, Nightmare's Long lost birth daughter Dawn, snuggled right there between her parents, feeling the love and warmth that she had longed for, ever since she was born. Lone, Cadence, and Luna were out in the streets, making sure the citizens of the Crystal Empire were okay, as many were involved in the battle two days ago. "So, Lone," Luna said, "Do you know what happened to the colt you found two days ago?" Lone shook his head. "No. The last I saw of Lightning was when I gave him to one of his moms friends. Haven't seen him since. I like to think he's doing okay though." Cadence spoke up "Well, I know where they stay, would you like to go check on them Lone?" She proposed, to help Lone possibly feel better, as inside the castle, Red woke up, kissing Nightmare, and Dawn. "Morning girls." He cooed gently smiling, nuzzling his daughter, and his future wife, as he planned to marry her, whether the war was over or not. Red yawned, beginning to get up as he slipped on the Solid Eye he kept on for when he could make use of it, which was fairly often. He looked down upon the streets, using his solid eye to look over the standard statistics of the infrastructure, as some of it was damaged during the battle, though the combined efforts of the NLR and Crystal army have been able to repair a fair portion of the infrastructure, and the progress on the rest was good. "Morning, daddy," he heard Dawn say. Red smiled, turning to see her as the Solid Eye flashed red when he did. As he approached her and picked her up into his arms "Morning Sweetheart. How did you sleep?" "Good," she said, smiling. She then noticed his Solid eye. She tilted her head in curiosity and asked, "What is that thing on your eye?" Red simply chuckled. "Oh it's just a little tool I use, it's called a Solid Eye System. It LOOKS like an ordinary plastic eye patch, however..." He said as he pulled it off him, and, holding her in his arm, he carefully slipped it around her onto her left eye. "It's also, a high tech monocle of sorts, in that it will detail a report to me on things like Somepony's heart rate, their temperature, how much they are sweating, I can see their foot prints, I can see them at night or pitch black around me, Or also see them in dark areas through tracking their own body heat." He said, giving a short explanation, as she looked at him with it and the Solid Eye shown it to her. Name: Zero Star AKA: Red Allegiance: NLR Weapons: Lightsaber, Z-Saber (Contains Hammer, Ax, Drill, Saw, and chain rod functionality along with the Saber form) Dual SMGs, Shotgun, Nightbringer Pistol, High Frequency Blade. Red even switched the camera type as the screen looked normal, before turning a purpleish color, with various oranges and reds on the screen, of it's IR/Thermal vision setting, then again to be a dark green with brighter green forms around the view for Night Vision. "Wow," Dawn whispered in amazement. "Impressive, isn't it," Red asked. All Dawn could do was nod, as she was to o awestruck to do anything else. Red nodded smiling as he put it back on himself "Yeah. I really like it. Very handy. Sure it's a little redundant with my helmet on when I'm in my armor, but, it still does great..." "And why are you boring our daughter with the details, Love," Nightmare, who was finally awake, said, walking over to Red and Dawn. Red simply just began to laugh as he watched Nightmare walk over to them, and kissed her "Oh just, telling her about it love..." he said cooing gently to her. Meanwhile Lone, Luna, and Cadence were walking to where the records in the Empire said Lightning lived with his mom. When they made it, Lone was surprised at how lavish the house was. It was nowhere near as lavish as the homes of nobles in Canterlot. If anything, it appeared to be a mix of that style and the standard Ponyville style. It was a modest two story frame house, with beautiful decorations along the front. Each depicted Cadence in some form or fashion, more often than not as a protector. Some, which looked as if they had recently been put up, showed Nightmare, Luna,Chrysalis, or some combination thereof. "Impressive house," Lone said. Luna blushed lightly noticing the statues of her and Nightmare around the place. "Very much so..." She said impressed as well. "Well," Lone said. "Might as well see if the kid's alright." Lone walked up to the front door, and knocked on the front door. He waited for ten seconds before a mare with a white coat and yellow mane and tail with electric blue eyes opened the door. "Hello," she said. Cadence walked up., and addressed the mare. "Radiant Joy?" "P-Princess Cadence," she said, surprise in her voice. "What are you doing here." "We're just here to check to see if your son is alright." "Lightning? Why?" "That," Lone said, "would be because of me. I imagine he told you of the stallion who brought him the Crystal army camp after the battle?" "Yes," Radiant said, confusion on her face. "But what do you have to do with it?" Lone took off his helmet and said, "Because I wanted to see how he's doing." Radient nodded almost instantly as she was surprised "Of course, do come in, come in..." She said, moving aside to let them all enter, as she walked away "Lightning honey? Somepony's here to see you!" She called out. As Lone and the others walked in, they were surprised to see how, for lack of a better word, normal the interior of the house looked compared to the outside. The three of them made their way to a couch while Radiant went into the kitchen, most likely to get drinks. "Who is it, Mom?" Lightning asked as he made his way into the living room. His eyes widened when he saw the two princesses and the stallion that had gotten him back to his mom. "Hey, Lightning," Lone said. Cadence smiled "Hey there little Lightning. How have you been?" She asked, since they were checking up on him. Red soon is walking around with Fleur smiling "Such a beautiful place, isn't it Fleur?" He asked, looking to her. "Indeed it is, Red. It's a shame Moony is stuck in the castle, not able to see this." Red chuckled a bit "Well, she's just been reunited with a daughter that she was denied for far too long.....why she's not out here I wouldn't know but I imagine she's wanting to spend as much time with her little girl as she can." He said walking with Fleur. As they continued to walk, they came across a small building, with it looking like nopony had lived there for a while. "What do you think it used to be?" Fleur asked. "No idea..." Red said as his Solid Eye flashed. "How about we go find out?" He spoke, motioning to it. As Red and Fleur walked closer to the building, the Solid eye came up with data: Status: abandoned Last resident: . . . None Warning: Life signs detected. Matches earth pony bio signature. Proceed with caution. Red notices "Hmm?" He said, as he stops Fleur and whispers "My Solid Eye says that there's someone in here...we should be careful..." He said as they began to walk slower, to be wary. Red kept the Z-Saber out, but he didn't activate it, so that they could attack when ready. They closed in on the door, Red on one side, Fleur on the other. Red was next to one of the windows, and he peered inside. For the most part, he saw nothing, except for a flash of movement. Red switched it to night vision mode taking a closer look, as he waited to move with Fleur, checking if he could see who was inside. What he saw moved too fast for him to make it out, but he began to think that his Solid eye had malfuntioned, as he could have sworn that the pony had wings. Red switched it to Thermal vision, which would enable him to spot it from it's hiding spot, looking primarily for the size of the life form, as he was wary, and moved to check again. I'm gonna have to remember to update, or upgrade my Solid Eye when this is done... What he saw, near the middle of what he assumed to be the living room was a small child, one that didn' look much older than Dawn, though he couldn't tell the gender from this distance, and he didn't trust the Solid eye after it gave him a false warning of an earth pony What he saw, near the middle of what he assumed to be the living room was a small child, one that didn' look much older than Dawn, though he couldn't tell the gender from this distance, and he didn't trust the Solid eye after it gave him a false warning of an earth pony Red was wary, as he was duped by the eye earlier, he then motioned for Fleur to stand down, as he began to put away his own weapon. He called inside. "Listen...it's alright child...we won't hurt you....we aren't your enemies...Do you have a name?" He asked, watching with the Solid Eye, figuring that if this thing was at least, partly accurate, the child would grow larger if it wasn't a child. The child didn't move. It didn't speak. Hell, for all Red and Fleur could tell, it wasn't breathing. Red did notice, however, that the pony had bat like wings and ears, which meant only one thing: "A Thestral," Red whispered. This caused the pony to turn. "Yes...I know what you are...it's alright...I'm a friend...I will not hurt you...please...speak to me..do you have a name?" Red asked, as he slowly moved to try and open the door. The pony remained silent, glaring at Red and Fleur. Now that he was close enough, he could tell that it was a she, and looked starved. "Please, little child...calm that glare...we aren't your enemies...you look to be starved...How about something to eat?" He asked, as the little thestral filly tried to continued to glare but her stomach growled at the mention of food. Red reached for one of the pockets on his outfit, and pulled out the first thing his hands came across: a chestnut. Red smiled, as he offered it out to her "Here...would you like it? I won't hurt you...I can come to you, or you to me...which would you prefer?" He asked. The fillies eyes went wide at hearing this. She then spoke, her voice gravelly . "Why are you being nice to me?" "H-how do I know you aren't lying?" she asked. "Technically you have no reason to believe me right now little Chestnut. The only thing you could do, is simply believe me at the moment...But...I do have this..." he said as he removed a picture he had taken of their army relaxing and eating at one point. and shown it to her, it was filled with not only ponies, of normal kinds, but also Thestrals, A lot of them! "See," Red said. "Thestrals are treated like any other pony in the NLR." It was then a though occurred to him "What happened to your parents?" he asked. Chestnut began to tear up, as Red and Fleur both had gotten to her, and sat down by her at this time. "They were killed in front of me," Chestnut said, tearing up, "and I had to watch. That wasn't even the worst part of it, either. The bastard," she said, surprising the two at the use of the word due to her age, "that killed them made me watch it over and over again, and made me experience my worst Nightmare." Her eyes took on a determined look. "And I vowed to myself that when I found him, I would make what he did to me look like a damned picnic!" "Listen well child...if you would like, Fleur and I can be your ...new parents....And know that You will have my full support, in slaughtering that sick jackass....you describe him...and I guaran-damn-tee...that his head will be on a pike." The determined glare increased. "How? He himself said that I wouldn't see him again. Nopony would see him again, not until he wished." "He lied," Red said. "We will find him, and we will make him shocking pay." Red gave her a determined look. One that shown he was certainly on her side for this, and would see it through until the day he died. Fleur gave a similar look. She crossed her arms and said, "Fine. Of what I saw, his coat was a more ashen shade of gray, with his eyes being as red as rubies. On his shoulder, he had a symbol that looked something like an atom with an 'X' over it. And his mane and tail were black, with his tail having a detailing of silver that looked like a scorpions tail." Red nodded, memorizing that appearance. Particularly the symbol she mentioned. "I see...Thanks Chestnut....well...what of my offer? For Fleur here and I to raise you?" He asked her, as he gently held his hand to her, to give a sign that she'd let him. "I guarantee, that we will both give you love...Plus, we'll even give you a sister...or cousin, depending on how you want to look at it." "Okay," she said weakly, after a second of hesitating Red smiled, and gently held her close in a hug. "I'm glad you accepted, child...I swear, you will be treated better than ever before." He said, as he nuzzled her mane a little. Meanwhile with Lone and the Princesses. Lightning bowed as Cadence spoke to him. "Y-Your Highness'. Me and my mother have been doing well. If Mr. Shadow hadn't taken me back to the camp where Ms. Shine was, I don't know what would've happened to me," He said, his voice a little high-pitched as thought of what might have been came to his mind. She smiled "Aw, it's alright little Lightning, we're allies now. There's nothing to worry about now, plus, Lone's your friend. I don't think he'd ever hurt you, not unless provoked. "I know," he said, "but he didn't seem scared. I was scared though. I couldn't have gotten myself there." Lone then did one of the most touching things he had done in the presence of Luna. He reached down to Lightning, and laid a hand on his shoulder and said, "That's just it, Lightning. I was afraid. Afraid of what would happen to you if we didn't find your mom. But I did it anyway. Do you want to know why?" Lightning nodded. "It's because the greatest heroes have two things in common: Doing what's right, regardless of public opinion towards them, and doing stuff despite their fear. Everypony is afraid, but the brave do what they do because they don't let it control them. You understand that?" Lightning nodded happily, understanding very well. "Good," Lone said, patting his shoulder. His mom came in, though she was listening to the entire thing in the kitchen. Lone got up and walked over to the door, the two princesses getting up with him. Before he left, Lightnings mom said, "Thank you," in a voice so low, it was barely heard. Lone looked back to her, and saw a hopeful expression on Lightnings face as he did so. He nodded, as if to say, "No problem," then opened the door, and left. Luna and Cadence smiled as they left. "That was very kind of you." Luna said, impressed with his actions. Lone shrugged. "Anypony with a conscience would do the same," he said. "Which actually reminds me. Have you told Celestia yet, Cadence?" "Told Aunt Tia what? That I joined you guys? No. Not yet" She said, shaking her head. "Well, we might as well," Luna said. "She'll find out soon enough." Cadence nodded as they went back to the Castle. IN CANTERLOT Celestia, Twilight, Shining, and the others were in the Canterlot war room, all worried due to them not hearing from Cadence since three days ago. "We need to look at the facts," a general, one of two, said. "They're under siege." "It's been 3 days though. I'm sure that battle is over, one way or another." Flash said being one of the other guards there in the room. Worried more for his little brother and mom than anything. "We don't know for certain," Celestia said. "Until we know the Crystal Empire's fate, we are to act as if it has been lost." This got shocked looks from all present, as Celestia would have sent an entire force to assist the Empire. It was at this point that the Holo table got a call from the Empire! Tagged as being from Cadence. "Accept," Celestia said. The image that appeared was in full color, and what was seen led to shocked expressions all around. What was seen, was Cadence, along with Luna, Nightmare Moon, Red, Lone, and Fleur. Cadence smiled "Aunt Tia. I'm sorry but we've joined the NLR." The first to speak was Shining. "THEN YOU'RE A TRAITOR. I CAN'T BELIEVE I MARRIED YOU!!" Cadence spoke back "I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY WERE RIGHT! YOU WOULD BETRAY ME JUST BECAUSE I CHOSE TO TAKE THEIR SIDE OVER TIA'S?! HOW DARE YOU SHINING ARMOR?!" She shouted back at him, as what they next heard and saw, shocked the entire group at Celestia's end. "Mommy, Mommy," Dawn said, walking into view of the Canterlot side of the link, hugging Nightmares legs. "When can we go to the park?" Nightmare nodded "Of course honey...Daddy and I can go with you to the park shortly...here, why don't you say hello to your Aunt Celestia?" She cooed, motioning to the Canterlot group on the Hologram. "HEEEELLLLLOOOOO, Auntie," Dawn said, waving her hand as she did so. Celestia didn't respond, rather, she and the others just stared with their jaws agape. "Oh," Nightmare cooed, "that's rude, Celestia. I thought a princess would have better manners, especially to her niece." Red spoke up "Just because we're on opposing sides doesn't mean we can't be nice to one another." He said smirking as he lifted up Dawn, sitting her on his shoulders, after nuzzling her cheek. The first thing to come out of Celestia's mouth was a very undignified, "Uhhhhhhhh." Both sides now began to laugh at Celestia's response. Red, Dawn, and Nightmare being the ones to laugh the most, along with Luna. It was here that Celestia and the others, though, mostly Celestia, as the others on her end were still laughing, saw Luna standing with Nightmare, unharmed. She narrowed her eyes and said, "Luna, why would you betray me and join with Nightmare?" Luna spoke up. "Because you betrayed me first. You sent us to the Moon as banishment?! you hogged all the glory of ruling for yourself, never even considered how I was feeling." "I know that, Luna, and I'm sorry for that, but I didn't think-" Celestia said, before she was cut off by Luna. "Exactly. You didn't think. You didn't think about creating a festival in my honor. You didn't think about allowing me to take over some of your duties, so I would become known. You didn't think about how lonely we felt on the moon over the thousand years we were gone! YOU DIDN'T THINK ABOUT TELLING PONIES ABOUT YOUR SISTER DURING THE THOUSAND YEARS, MAKING THEM IDOLIZE YOU AS A SINGULAR GODDESS, THE PERFECT PONY!!!" Luna yelled, the last part being used with the Canterlot Royal voice, causing everypony on both ends, with the exception of Lone, who had his helmet on, to flinch. Dawn began to tear up due to how loud Luna was as Red and Nightmare both held her, calming her down, before she would start crying, as Red spoke up placing a hand on Luna's shoulder. "She's right Tia....Let's not forget your recent mistakes...Tirek gets unleashed in Equestria from his prison in Tartarus, and rather than sending Twilight and her friends...what do you do? Entrust the safety of Equestria and his being taken back there, to none other than Discord. the spirit of Chaos and Disorder....Regardless of the fact that he's reformed, you put it in his mismatched hands rather than trusting YOUR MOST FAITHFUL STUDENT AND RECENTLY MADE PRINCESS, WHO ALSO BASICALLY WEAPONIZED FRIENDSHIP...and let's not forget Cadence and Sombra...Sombra returns to the empire and whilst you entrust Twilight and the others with Stopping him and finding the Crystal heart, do you do anything more to help, such as going yourself, or sending Dear Luna here?" he asked giving Luna a small hug, as Luna spoke up next "NOPE! Heaven forbid little Luna gets a chance to help or be in the spot light, it's gotta be either you or Twilight Sparkle!" Luna said responding to Red's question, before he continued. "And that's the tip of the iceberg with Tirek. You could have easily put all alicorn magic into, oh, I don't know, a rock, which you could have told him, and he still wouldn't know, because there are a ton of rocks! I don't think that there's a rule of magic that says magic from one living thing has to go to another. And let's not forget when Cadence was kidnapped by Chrysalis? Regardless of the fact that they are clearly now working together, to beat you, I should mention that TWILIGHT HERSELF knew something was up. did you believe her? Nope. None of you did. even her friends and brother. You all wrote her off as being crazy. And on top of that, you didn't even let Luna assist at all in the battle against Chrysalis or the changelings when she was revealed...so Yeah, nice job there sunbutt" Twilight, who had finished her laughing fit, shrunk at this. Red then looked towards Twilight "Remind me Twiley, WHY DO YOU FOLLOW HER?!? OH OH OH I almost forgot that last little insult to you. Discord once made a joke at the Gala...where he said that he could fly better than you with his tiny mismatched wings, and whilst that statement MIGHT be true, what does Celestia, your grand idol and mentor do? Laugh at ya!" "Well," Twilight said, crossing her arms, "to be fair to him, he was right. And I can't believe I just defended him. Besides, it was in good humor, as a friend." "Twiley. Discord had done that because he also wanted attention. Should I bring up the fact that He had also brought a Blob monster with him that was obsessed with Shiny things? AND basically swallowed up EVERYONE because Discord locked him in what may very well have been a trophy case, because he wanted Fluttershy's attention more than he wanted Tree Hugger to?" Red spoke back, to counter. "That's unimportant," Luna said. "All that matters is that Celestia knows her current situation." At this, the holoprojector deactivated, leaving varied expressions in the room. Celestia was the first to speak. "General," she said to the general in the room, "any and all ponies from the Crystal Empire are to be detained until we are certain of their loyalty." Shining Armor, Flash Sentry and every other Crystal guard present are instantly in cuffs, much to Shinings both confusion and understanding. Flash is worried more about his brother and mother than anything, as he did not want to fight against them, he had joined the guard to protect them. "Wha- but-but Princess-" Twilight said before Celestia cut her off. "This is war, Twilight. Your brother understands. If Nightmare and the others were in our position, they would do the same." "But we aren't them." "And that is why we will win. They kill innocent civilians, like in Applelossa," Celestia said, bringing up bad memories of the fall of Applelossa, and all the dead citizens who lived there, including Applejacks cousin, Braeburn, "but we don't." Shining nodded before he was taken off. "She's right Twiley. it's alright." He said giving his little sister a hug, showing that he understood and he'd be fine. As Shining and the other ponies from the Empire were led away, a second message appeared on the table, and it was registered as coming from Manehatten. Twilight spoke up "Accept!" She called as the message appeared. The holo-projector came to life, and the general in change of Manehatten, an all black pony, whose name was Shadow Strike, an ex-Lunar guard that stayed with Celestia since the war had started, appeared. Celestia spoke up "General Strike...what is it?" she asked, being straight forward, and demanding of his report. "Ma'am," he said, saluting, "All defenses are up, and we are doing constant visual, radar, and magical scans of the area, so it's unlikely we'll get caught by surprise. Also, some troops have reported seeing ponies in neither the armor of our forces or the traitors, as their reports say it's more advanced than ours." "Really? Are you certain?" She asked bringing her hand to her chin, as she began to think of something "Could it be similar to that one member of the resistance's armor?" She asked aloud, thinking of Lone Shadow. "I don't know, Your Highness. My troops haven't been able to get a good look at the armor. The only constant is that they all have a symbol that looks like two of the swords of the pony that attacked you crossed over a red octagon on their shoulders. Aside from that, they all have drastically different color schemes." At this, a new recruit for the guard, though one that advanced quickly, came in. He wore gun gray armor, had a black coat and white mane and tail, and was named Nightengale. "Ma'ams," he said, saluting, "A package came for you, and it's best if you see it yourself. Don't worry, we checked, and no explosives." She nodded taking it as she went to open it "Thank you Nightengale." She said as she opened it up happily to see, before she looked to General Strike. "General. I know we are at war but please heed this order. The NLR leaders are currently at the Crystal Empire, AND have gotten the empire on their side. Do NOT engage them. Instead, I wish for you to send a message to them for me. Send them the troops's reports of this new 3rd party...inform them that they are not our troops nor theirs, to our knowledge. Is that clear?" The general stood straighter, saluted, and said, "Yes, Ma'am," before the holo-table was deactivated. Celestia then opened the box, with the Elements of Harmony that were still with her standing beside her, and what they saw in the box both surprised them, and scared them a little. What was in the box were four energy swords. Chapter 8: PreparationsWhat they found inside that box, was something that scared them a little: Four Energy Swords, like the one Celestia lost her hand to. Also inside was a note: Princess Celestia, If you are reading this note, then your circumstances are indeed dire. Me and my cohorts know what happened last time you encountered one of these weapons, and thus, would not be surprised if you and the Elements that are with you choose not to. However, should you choose to, the package also contains a training holo-program, and each sword has been customized in color for you and the others. An interested third party. Celestia smiled a bit seeing this, and quickly reached in for the holo program, so that they could get right to training once they got them. "Princess, wait," Rainbow said. "How can we be certain it isn't some kind of mind control spell that will cause you to go crazy?" "That's just a risk I shall have to take, Rainbow," Celestia said, reaching for the nearest sword hilt. She picked it up, and nothing happened. She brought it up, worry on the Element's faces, and activated it. The two blades were golden yellow, matching the shade of her magic. "Awwwww yeaaahhhh," Rainbow said as she admired her blades. "Ah, what the hey?" Applejack said and reached for hers. She brought it out of the box and activated it. It's blades were apple red. "Whoa." Twilight was the only one who didn't reach for one, saying, "I would rather not. It's because of one of those Celestia lost her hand." "I appreciate your thoughtfulness Twilight. But it will be alright." Twilight showed that she had grown by saying, "No." This actually brought a smile to Celestia's face. "Well, at least you aren't afraid to see me as an equal now." A day later, at the NLR's Base "So...Now we're planning to invade and take Manehattan huh? What's the plan there hmm?" He asked looking to Luna. "And I wonder what caused Celestia to have her General send us that notice about this 3rd party...what do you think Moony?" he asked looking to her. "Though she may be our enemy," Nightmare said, "does not mean she's lying about this. We should at least take percautions." "Agreed," Chrysalis said. "As for the plan," Luna said, "That's still in progress." "Fair enough then....Hmm...Perhaps Lone may know more about this third party then..." Red suggested, thinking it might be an idea. "Indeed," Nightmare said. "It's a shame he's making sure that Cadence is ready to lead from the front back in the Empire." "Well," Luna said, "there is still the dragons. Even though it's been a while since Celestia sent for help, they are mobilizing, and they will be ready in a few months, so the war must end by then." "I agree Luna....We should move to try and end it before she get the dragon's assistance..either that, or try to beef up our strength so that we can fight against dragon enemies assuming we can't end the war before then." Red spoke, trying to think of what they could do. "It's a shame that Celestia has so many species on her side. The griffons are too embroiled in their greed to help either side, the Minotaurs their own civil war, and all others are split, with most of their populous leaning towards Celestia, though I wouldn't know why, considering her forces are killing civilians," Chrysalis said. "That's totally unlike her...we wouldn't kill civilians...Nor would they...something's off...I think we've got some bloodthirsty jackasses in the middle who want this to go on." He said looking at all of them. "I mean...Didn't we get blamed for that slaughter in Appleoosa? Including the death of Braeburn? AJ's Cousin?" Red asked "We NEVER did that...hell we were never even IN that town.." "That still doesn't explain the mass murder in Trottingham. That was an area loyal to us, and we had no quarrel with them, so it had to be Celestia's forces," Nightmare said. She and Red may be lovers, but that doesn't mean they don't have disagrrements. "Regardless," Chrysalis said, "we alos need recon for both Manehatten and Ponyville." "Just because Celestia's the enemy does not mean she was the one to slaughter Trottingham...just like how we were blamed for Appleoosa, a peaceful town that was on their side that we never thought of attacking....Either way....for Ponyville, I can send Barb to check it out..." Red sugested. "Are you sure, Red?" Nightmare asked. Even before she and Dawn had been reunited, she saw Barb as a daughter, and, as such, did not want to lose her. "I know...I trust her though...Barb should be fine...they don't know about her." He explained, as he too did worry about her, seeing her as a daughter since she had been with him for many years. "In that case," Luna said, "It would be best to do so after Manehatten, as you will need her piloting skills." "I know...What do we know about Manehattan though, out of curiosity?" he asked, wanting to find out what Intel they knew. "That one of my former guards who remained loyal to Celestia is in charge of the defenses," Luna said "We do not know much else." "I see....do you see him as a traitor for choosing to take Celestia's side? Despite the fact that he was a member of the Lunar Guard?" Red asked, simply wanting to make talk with Luna for the time being. "No. He had made it clear before the war that he would fight for her, and he has stuck true to it," Luna said, "It was his choice, and me getting mad will change none of it." "That's a nice choice Luna...I'd imagine that your sister also doesn't blame Rarity, Fluttershy or Pinkie for joining our side...and possibly not Cadence either..." He said, showing clear sympathy for Luna's opinion on the matter. At this moment, the holo-table they were standing around lit up, indicating a message from Cadence. "Accept!" Red said, to trigger the holo-table's message. The table lit up, with Cadence appearing, but not Lone. "Cadence," Luna said. "Where's Lone?" "Checking to see how Lightning's taking everything, as our alliance means Flash is either in prison or against us now." "Probably in prison as his loyalty would come into question...perhaps....he could join us, if only to ensure the protection of his family." "Perhaps," Chrysalis said, "but we can not be certain." "Of course, auntie," Cadence said. She had started calling Nightmare "auntie" a day after Crystal Sword. "And how is Chestnut, Red" Red smiled, seeing that Cadence had begun calling Nightmare 'Auntie' a day after Operation Crystal Sword succeeded. the reason being was because of the fact that Nightmare was technically her aunt due to being part of Luna when she was first around, now that Luna and Nightmare were separate, it stood to reason that she was still Cadence's aunt. "She's doing just fine, she and Dawn have bonded fairly well and Fleur loves Chestnut as her own daughter. I thank you for allowing myself and Fleur to officially adopt her. So thank you for that. I will be sure to both train her to fight, as she herself wants to do...but also she's very happy to be accepted, not only by our faction, but also is happy to be around some other thestrals like her." Red said explaining. "Well," Cadence said, "that's good." Red nodded "yeah, it's good so far." He said smiling happily. It was here that Lone, wearing his armor, minus the helmet, walked into view. "Hey there Lone. bout time we got ya..." Red said, as he explained about the new force that Celestia had mentioned to them. Lone nodded, saying, "I'll help get her there once it's underway." This helped allay some of both Nightmare's and Red's fears as to if Barb would survive, as they both knew Lone wouldn't allow harm to come to his allies. Red nodded agreeing to it. "Okay then...Got an idea for what we could do for a plan with Manehattan though? or for that matter, any information to give? All we know is that a former guard of Luna's is leading the forces there." "Actually," Lone said, "yes. A friend and intelligence officer in Celestia's forces told me the defenses. They have radar, sonar, visual, and magical means of early warning, so they'll know once we get there. The general, named Shadow Strike, is residing in the tallest building of the city. Defenses for that one in particular, though, he wasn't able to get. His estimates put troop numbers between four--thousand and ten-thousand. As far as he can tell, they also have their own mechs." "Mechs?" Red asked, as Nightmare spoke up. "Mechs could prove to be very useful for us....." She said thinking it over. "Do you know what they look like, as well as their capabilities ," Luna asked, knowing what Nightmare was thinking. "I've got a few things here." He said as he switched it to a holographic display of what some would describe as a bipedal giant robot. "From my information, some units, like this one, are capable of transforming into a vehicle mode, are able to fly, and have access to powerful weaponry, such as a larger version of our lightsabers, referred to as Beamsabers, or rather, beam weaponry...as they can be very different, they can also wield powerful weaponry long range weaponry as well." He explained, pointing it out. He then pulled up another. It seemed smaller than the first, almost as if it had been designed for a pony to occupy it. It had a golden visor, with most of the armor being black, with highlights of yellow on the shoulder, knees, and waist. On the right side of it's back, left for those viewing it, it had three short cylinders, and the opposite side had a singular, long barrel that looked like it was meant to fire artillery rounds. It's right hand was a mini-gun, while it's left was a hand, and it's hooves looked like rectangular clamps. "This is what he is most worried about," Lone said. "He's seen the prototypes of it, and it's devastating. It has the ability to fire missiles from the shorter cylinders, while the singular one looks like it's meant to fire guided artillery. He also reports that it can generate shields from it's left hand. It also has what appear to be magnetic grenades. It's designed to be a one-pony army, far as I can tell." "Then perhaps we should make it OUR mission to take control of that suit..." Red said, proposing the idea. "Wouldn't work," Lone said. "It's got a defense system that's similar to the Nightbringers. Though it creates a Nuclear crater instead." "Even better..." Red said, thinking it over. "Still we should try to take control of it, or of them...how similar to our Nightbringers?" he asked. "Genetic signature, as well as magic. If even one of those are incorrect, and a code isn't inputted," Lone paused, "boom. If neither is, it expldes with out the code input time." "Gee that's friggin smart. have it genetically coded and magically sealed to ONE SPECIFIC PONY...who the hell could it be?" Red asked finding it overkill...though it IS justifiable... "If we ever got close enough, we'd probably have an army with us," Lone said, his hand still on his chin, "If I had to guess, I'd say it's for Shadow Strike." "No idea...Luna, You know Shadow Strike....would that be like something he'd do?" Red asked her. "Possibly," she said. "He always has been one for ensuring secrets stay secrets." "Hmm....Fair enough...I suppose I'll assume it's him then..." Red said, as they went to a map. "Where's the facility building these suits at?" He asked looking over a map of Manehattan. "Don't know that yet," Lone said, shrugging. "He's working on it, though." "Okay..." Red replied, before looking back "Wait...He Who?" he said as all of them looked at Lone. "''He' meaning my contact." "Things just got a whole lot more interesting...Hmm..you tend to enjoy being so damn vague...it's annoying." Red spoke, shaking his head a bit finding it annoying. Lone shrugged, saying, "Force of habit," cryptically, which reinforced Red's point. "I'm going to punch you...SO damn hard when you get back here to us." Red said clearly getting annoyed by Lone. "That will have to wait until Manehatten. I'm leaving the Empire tomorrow to check with my contact and a few others, and it'll take a while." "Yeah yeah, right..." Red said rolling his eyes, though the left was hidden from view. Meanwhile-Canterlot Celestia and the team, minus Twilight are all training with their Energy Swords. The program had been through with basic moves, while also placing an emphasis on creativity, which meant all three had already developed their own fighting style. "Ah neva' thought ah'd be using one of these puppies," Applejack said. Dash smiled widely "You better believe it! this is Awesome!" She said landing from her aerial attack practice. Twilight had also left the room, deciding to go and visit her brother and Flash Sentry and check on them. Celestia, however tuned the conversation out, instead wanting to practice her own combat style, which included brute force attacks with her earth pony strength, liquid grace flowing attacks with unicorn magic augmenting her speed, and rapid, furious attacks using her flight, all to ensure she would be able to hold her own against the pony that had taken her left hand. Twilight had arrived at the holding area where her brother and Flash Sentry were at as she hugged Shining again, still clearly worried about him. "How are you doing, BBBFF," Twilight asked, teary eyed as she saw Shining in the cell, pulling away from him. "Considering," Shining said, "good. Wish I could say the same for Flash, though. Kid's worried sick about his family, seeing as how all of them but his younger brother were in the Crystal army "If he wanted to join the NLR, to make sure they are okay...I wouldn't fault him...I mean...sure Cadence joined them but, put yourself in his place...if Mom, Dad, and I were living in the region that was recently claimed by the enemy, wouldn't you want to go make sure we were okay? even if it meant joining that enemy?" She asked, as she was thinking about helping Flash leave to be able to get to his family. Shining sighed. "Yeah, I guess so, but that still doesn't help Cadence out with my problems with her," he said angrily. Twilight chuckled, then said, "Maybe not, but she probably did it for the citizens of the Empire." "What's your problem with Princess Cadence? Is it REALLY because she decided to join the NLR? You realize she did it likely to protect everypony there at the empire! Not because she hates you or anything...She's probably worried sick about you now, possibly afraid that you two would have to fight if you aren't on her side..." Flash spoke being nearby hearing the conversation. The sorrow in his voice was obvious. "Of course it is!" Shining yelled. "She betrayed her own aunt." "And joined her other two, sir, or did you forget that Princess Luna and, by blood relations, Nightmare Moon, are her aunts as well?" Flash asked, his voice surprisingly accusatory of Shining, and he heard it. Twilight was snickering a little, but she sighed, seeing just how pathetic Shining was "Shining Armor, really? REALLY?! THAT'S THE REASON?! My god your an idiot....YOU practically left her for a bug queen. WHO BY THE WAY she's now working with. I'm surprised your this quick to judge her and abandon her again...And should I forget to mention the fact that I was completely right about the fact that the Cadence you were marrying at the time was a fake, YOU were the most stalwart accusor that I was wrong and that the mare you were with was the Real one when she most certainly was NOT." Twilight said calling him out on how stupid he was being. "And yet she came back once. She'll do so again, only I'll say no," he said cruelly. Twilight then did two things Shining wouldn't have expected. The first was slap him. "That's for disrespecting Cadence," she said before kicking him, with an armored boot, mind you, in the groin. "And that's for sounding like Blueblood." As he rolled on the ground in pain, she walked over to Flash. Flash's mane looked horribly ruined, dirty, and unkempt as heck, locks of it being everywhere, He looked horrible. there were bags under his eyes from a clear lack of sleep, and his eyes were bloodshot red and puffy from what was likely hours of crying. his fur was madded and his wings were ruffled, as he looked to Twilight "I know...I sound like a traitor...but...I want to join them...if only to just protect my family...and make sure they are safe...and I know how I'm going to sound for this....but...can you help me get to them Twilight Sparkle?" Flash asked of them, knowing he sounded like a traitor, AND a desertionist for asking TWILIGHT of all of them to help him get to his family, but the desperation in his voice, which as horse from his previous hours of tears, and in his eyes was very clear. Twilight shook her head before saying, "I wish I could, but I'd probably get thrown in as well." She then left the room, grateful she wasn't the Element of Honesty as she grabbed a pair of keys from the rack near the entrance and teleported them to Flash, as well as casting an illusion spell to buy him time. Flash smiled "Thank you...Thank you so much." He said as he quickly worked to free himself, and escape the cell, leaving Shining locked inside as well, as he fled, soon taking a disguise and going to the train, leaving for the Crystal Empire after hijacking one. As he fled, Twilight went back to the training room so she could analyze the others moves, and come up with counter strategies. For science she said to herself as assurance. Wait, why am I justifying my own thought to myself? That's crazy, Twilight. Twilight was paying particular attention to Celestia for this reason. As she was watching, a thought occurred to her. If she hid the fact Nightmare had a daughter, what else did she hide? She decided to act on this thought, and soon, went to the library, to be able to investigate this line of thought, though she would probably regret it. NLR base, a few hours later Luna was in what constituted the park in the underground base of the NLR, an enclosed space with plenty of night time plants. She was here for two reasons. The first was because she enjoyed the scenery. The second was to remember her dead daughter. Red approaches her, putting a hand on Luna's shoulder, giving her a small hug. Though Red was planning to marry Nightmare Moon by the time the war was over, Luna, was almost like a lover to him, though soon enough, she would be his sister in law due to marrying Nightmare. Red did love Luna like a sister, but at the same time, like a lover. "You okay Luna?" He asked, as he looked around at the park that she was at, before looking to her. She sighed before saying, "No, it isn't. Though I am happy we have Cadence with us, seeing Nightmare and Fleur play with Dawn and Chestnut has brought up painful memories from before I was banished." Red gently pulled her into a hug, stroking her mane a little "Would you like to talk about it perhaps?" Red asked, giving her a gentle nuzzle. Luna sniffled a little, indicating she was on the verge of tears. "Of course," she said sadly. "A few years before my banishment, before Nightmare had control of me, I had given birth to a unicorn filly. I had cared for her until Nightmare had control, and even then, she took care of the child. She was alive when I was banished, and I had hoped, due to her being half-alicorn, she would still be alive when I returned." Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she remembered asking Celestia if her daughter, whose name she couldn't remember for some reason, was alive. "I asked Celestia if she was alive. She had said that she had indeed lived longer than other unicorns, but she had still died of old age twenty three years ago." Red held her, as he sat down with her on a bench, wiping away those tears "I see...Tell me...do you at least...remember what she looked like? This daughter of yours? Who...would be an older sister to Dawn?" he asked her, genuinely caring for Luna. "Yes. She had a green coat , the most beautiful smile when she was happy, deep, blue eyes like mine, and a lighter shade of green as her mane." She began to outright sob here, attracting the attention of Nightmare and Fleur, as well as their daughters, who came over in concern. Red gently held Luna close, stroking her wings, and kissing her head, giving her a show of affection, and to try and calm her down, as well as relax her, as he looked to Nightmare, who knew exactly why Luna was crying so much. "Why is Lulu crying?" Fleur asked. "Because of my niece," Nightmare said, also tearing up Red gently held Luna close "It is alright Lulu...I promise you, everything will be alright......" He cooed gently into her ears, to calm her crying. "H-h-how? You all have a reason to fight. All I have is a desire for revenge for what Celestia did, and that's not going to help me when this war is over," Luna said, sobbing. "Because you also have a reason...You fight...to protect the memory of your daughter Luna...and to respect the memory...to remember the time you had with her." He explained, as he held Luna, to console her, and help to calm her. "Plus," Nightmare said, "you have us standing with you," giving Luna a "can-do" hand gesture when she looked up at her by giving her a simple thumbs-up. Red nodded, kissing Luna's nose. "You no longer will be alone....you have me...you have Fleur...and you have Moony...but more than that, you also have your two nieces here...Dawn, and Chestnut, who love you dearly, just as they do their mothers." Red said, as he held Luna close, smiling. Nightmare and the others joined in the embrace, as well as Dawn and Chestnut, all of them smiling. MEANWHILE IN CANTERLOT Twilight had been in the Canterlot archives for hours, searching for something she didn't know, but knew she had to find. She laid her head down in frustration, unable to find anything close to what she thought she was looking for. Unbeknownst to her, in the shadows, the guard who had delivered the package containing the energy swords, Nightengale, was watching, knowing what she was looking for unconsciously, and knew where to find it. Using his magic, he reached out to a library only he and a few others knew, looking for the book. He found it within seconds, and used his magic to teleport the book in front of Twilight. Twilight noticed, and began to look into this new book for what she was investigating, curious if the answers were there. If she had paid attention, she would have seen that the book was titled Equestrian Royal Genealogy, though she could take a guess with the random pages she read. With Nightengale still watching, she eventually stopped at a page that appeared random, but wasn't. What she read here shocked. The page, marked the name of Luna's long lost daughter. Her name, was Aurora Nebula, and she would have been roughly 2000 years older than Twilight was at that moment. She was a Unicorn who was half Alicorn, AND had Twilight's physical build...but her Mane color, Eye color, and coat color were completely different, and yet the similarities were so obvious.... This...This explains everything. Why I always felt different than the others...Why I always loved to look out at the moon and stars...why I had always idolized Luna, and even Nightmare Moon to an extent, when Luna returned..my goodness.....it's impossible...I'm...Luna's daughter!? She thought to herself in utter shock as she looked the page over, in utter shock. As this came to her mind, Nightengale left the room as a blot of shadows, sending a mental message to Lone Shadow that Twilight knew the truth, or at least suspected as much, and told him to get everything greased for every possible out come. Luna blinked, feeling a strange tingle at the base of her skull...a connection that was to her daughter, back when she was around. No...it's impossible...my daughter? She thought, as she began to reach out in the connection, as back in Canterlot at that exact same time, Twilight herself felt the same sensation at the base of her own skull. Aurora!! Luna mentally shouted in happiness, only to be surprised by the pony who responded. Princess? How am I able to hear you? And why'd you call me 'Aurora'? Twilight Sparkle? Why is it you I speak to when my mental connection is. . .with. . .my. . .daughter? Luna mentally asked before coming to a realization. What do you mean? The way I am speaking with you is a mental connection all alicorn parents share with their offspring, regardless of their race. The fact I'm speaking to you when I thought I felt my dear Aurora can mean only one thing. Both mentally and physically, Twilight gasped. I'm your daughter. So it would seem. And since Celestia said you were dead, that can mean one of two things, the first being she kept you alive all this time and implanted false memories while removing actual ones, making you think you've always been the bookish unicorn you'r friends know. And the second, Twilight asked, fear being evident. She somehow made it to where you were in a magical slumber, then awoke you on the supposed date of your birth. That would be twenty-seven years ago. Exactly when she told me you died. But that means- Indeed. She has turned us, mother and daughter, against one another. A terrible evil. One that should not go unpunished. Well then...what can I do Luna - Uhh...I mean Uh...M....Mo... Even with this new revelation, of complete fact, Twilight couldn't bring herself to call Luna her mother. Though it seemed hurtful, Luna understood why, and simply smiled, knowing that soon, her dear Aurora would be back in her arms, and would call her 'Mom' soon enough once again. Red looks at Luna, and nuzzles her, seeing her tears of joy now "What is it Luna? Is everything okay?" Luna let out a gleeful chuckle, saying, "Yes, Red. More so than you can imagine." "What do you mean, Luna?" Nightmare asked before seeing the happy smile on Luna's face, and she was the only one here besides Luna who knew wht it meant, as it was the same she wore when she had found out Dawn was alive. "She's alive, isn't she?" Teary eyed, Luna replied, "Yes. Oh, my dear Aurora, I never thought I would see her again, when Celestia had manipulated my memories and her appearence, I did not know that I had seen her more times than I thought." "What do you mean, Auntie Luna?" Dawn asked. Letting out a laugh of happiness, Luna said, "It means you have a cousin." The looks on Red's, Fleur's, and, on the other end of the mental link, Twilight's expressions were almost comedic. Luna then answered Twilight/Aurora's question. Simple, my sweet daughter. What do you wish to do? At that same time in the Crystal Empire Flash Sentry arrives at the Crystal Empire He was instantly surrounded by Crystal guards, one of whom said, "Halt, traitor. If you wish to live, explain why you are here." The guard was expecting to kill Flash anyway, which is why he was surprised by what Flash said. "To join the NLR," he said, holding his hands up to show he held no weapons. "Why?" the guard said, holding his blaster closer to Flash's face. "I'm here, to Join.....Because I want to protect my family...I want to see them so much right now, to make sure they are okay..." He explained. "Then you'll have to see Empress Cadence," the guard said aggressively before he and the others got into a circle around Flash to lead him to the Crystal palace. "Empress huh? Always wondered why she and Shining Armor weren't called that..." He mused as he walked there, allowing himself to be led to the castle. The walk took ten minutes, during which Flash saw multiple guard patrols, all with some kind of saber. When they arrived at the base, without the guards answering any questions, the lead guard said, "I'll escort you to the throne room, but if you do anything remotely suspicious, I will not hesitate to kill you. Is that clear?" "Yes," Flash said, wanting to get to see his family as soon as possible. "Good," the guard said before leading Flash into the palace. As he led Flash through the palace, he saw numerous paintings, pictures, and other depictions of Nightmare and the other leaders of the NLR. They walked for another five minutes, encountering palace staff only, before they made it to the throne room. Empress Cadence sat upon her own throne now, looking over everything before she noticed Flash being escorted in. "Flash Sentry, you've returned! Are you okay?" She asked him, getting up to approach him. Flash nervously bowed, saying, "Yes, your Highness." "And why is it you have returned?" "Because I wish to join the NLR." "Oh. And why's that?" "To make sure my families alright." Cadence smiled in approval, and understanding. "Rise then, Flash Sentry...I can take you to your family...your little brother Lightning's been very worried about you." She explained. With that, Cadence dismissed Flash's escort, and led him to the room in the palace where his family was living. Meanwhile-Canterlot Simple, my sweet daughter. What is it you wish to do? This, Twilight/Aurora knew, was going ot be the moment in which her life changed. Did she stay with Celestia, who was her mentor, and like a third mother ot her, but had torn her away from her real mother, or leave her and join Luna, and make Celestia pay for it. The bright side to the latter would be she would see Rarity and the others again, as well as see Dawn, who was apparently her cousin. Now that Twilight thought about it, a fair portion of her family was in the NLR, but, at the same time, most of her friends were with Celestia. It was neither of these thoughts that gave her an answer, but rather the memory of Luna's first Nightmare night. That was one of the best nights of her life, when before she thought she could only have that much fun with Celestia. Sure, it had had it's downsides, but it was still the most fun she had had that year, and now, she knew why. She mentally and physically sighed before saying, I want to help you, Mother. Then my dear Daughter...Come here to me.....I'll send an escort to meet you, who can lead you inside to us.......more importantly, to Me... Luna told her, deciding to send someone to lead Twilight/Aurora from the outside of the home, into the base. But where will I meet him? Just outside the barrier srrounding Canterlot. Then I'll be there, but who is it? My dear sister's and My, Lover, Captain Zero Star...you might know him, as Red. Luna explained, referring to Red as being her own lover just like he was Nightmare Moon's Lover. She looked to Red and smiled "Go to Canterlot, wait outside the barrier surrounding it. My daughter will meet you there and you will escort her there." She told him as he nodded, kissing her again, before going to leave. Okay then. Just let me know when he gets close. Don't want Celestia to know I've discovered the truth. Of course, daughter. That leaves only one matter before you arrive. And what's that? Do you wish to continue to go by your current name, or the name I gave you? Twilight thought about this for a second before answering, Aurora Nebula. And once I'm in the air, I'll use magic to go back to my actual appearance. Very well, Aurora...I can't wait to see you...how much you've grown...I can't believe she hid this from me...or us rather...Well. Red just left on that Motorcycle he has. I'm sure he'll arrive soon enough. She explained, as Red chose to go on the Motorcycle since it would be much more subtle than going in a ship, plus it would be faster than on foot or by flying with wings. With that taken care of, the pony now known as Aurora went to her room, where the energy sword she used to be apprehensive about using, but would probably be using often, to retrieve the weapon. Along the way, she, ran into Nightengale, who had come across her intentionally. "Sorry, Ma'am," he said. "Should have looked where I was going." "It's alright captain," she said. "I should have looked where I was going too. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to head to my room." "Of course, Ma'am," he said as Aurora went to her quarters. Inside her Quarters, she found the sword sitting in a box, as she had wanted to leave it alone, on purpose. Now, she picks it up, along with some of her other belongings, as she quickly leaves with the important things of hers, and goes to leave, to meet up with Red outside Canterlot. It took her only a few minutes to get to the edge of the barrier, but she hesitated. She knew that if she took that step, she would be labeled as a traitor by her friends. So she waited for a few minutes, and when she heard Red's motorcycle, she knew it was time to choose. She took one step towards the shield, then another, then another, until she was mere inches away. She knew this was the last moment for the choice. She took a step. And exited the shield. Red soon pulled to a stop, smirking when he notices Twilight as he looked at her, the Solid Eye's light flashing. "So, you're Luna's daughter eh? Why am I not surprised. Get on...." He said, as he moved to help her get on. Twilight got on the motorcycle, detailed in Red's color scheme, and the two made their way to the NLR headquarters. "So," Aurora yelled to be heard over the wind, "with you being Nightmare's love, does that mean I have to call you uncle? I am older, so it would be wierd." "If you want to, Aurora," Red said. "I'm surprised you agreed to let me take you to the base." "Well," Aurora, "it's not like I had much choice in the matter." "True enough...and honestly it's true, you can call me uncle if you want, I don't care that much. I'm Nightmare's love, AND to a degree Luna's lover...mostly due to how she and Moony used to be one and the same, but at the same time, it's sorta like, if I fell in love with Luna from the start, I'd still be with Nightmare anyway." Red said, explaining how he was Luna's love as much as Nightmare's. "Actually Aurora, to let you in on a little secret, I plan to marry Nightmare soon...much less, propose to her....also if you wish you can change to your original appearance now." He said as they made their way to the base. "I'd rather wait until we've stopped, and good luck with Nightmare." "You aren't calling her aunt?" "She may be my mother sister, she still has to earn that title." "Fair enough," Red said. "Now hold on, I'm bringing this thing to full speed." "Wait, What!? I thought we were already going at full speed!" How do you think I got here so fast?" "I assumed you were close by!" "HA! not exactly." Red said, as he took her hand, and locked it in place around his abdomen, before shifting gears and the two practically disappeared into a blur. At the speed they were travelling, Aurora thought her skin was going to be ripped off, but it fortunately only lasted for a few seconds before they noticeably slowed down and entered the above ground building that was the recon vehicle hangar for the NLR, where Luna, teary eyed at finally being reunited with her daughter, and Nightmare, as well as Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were waiting. The door opened and the two rode in slowly. As soon as it stopped, Luna ran to Aurora, and embraced her in the tightest hug Aurora had known, and cried even more, saying, "Oh, Aurora, how I missed you!" The fact that Twilight was Luna's daughter left the Elements shocked, their jaws hanging. Except for Pinkie, who hopped and said loudly, "Knew it. Knew it. Knew it." Fortunately for us authors, the others had gotten used to her crazy antics, and didn't ask. Aurora held Luna close to her "Mom....." She said smiling just as tearyeyed as Luna was, as she channeled her magic, and began to change, into her true coloration. Her coat, horn and wings turned a dark purple, a very dark indigo, like her mane was, as her mane and tail soon turned midnight black, with navy blue replacing the pink and fushia stripes in it, along with her wings gaining navy blue accents. Her eyes stayed their purple color, her transformation completed, Twilight Sparkle was no more, Now, she was Aurora Nebula, the Daughter of Luna, once again. Luna was trembling in happiness that she and her daughter were reunited at last. Nightmare walked over and hugged Aurora as well, sayinh, "Hello, my niece," in a gentle, motherly tone. "Hello, Auntie," Aurora said, her eyes closed to stop the tears of joy. One week later Red had finished his preparations as with the help of Aurora, they were now ready and equipped to take Manehattan and get some extra help in the form of the mechs that were being built. Red went to approach his beloved Nightmare, as for some reason, there was a pit in his stomach about the mission that he couldn't shake, but, more than anything, he wanted to do this. Going to her, he smiled. "Nightmare Moon?" He asked her, as she turned to look at him. "Yes Dear?" She cooed lightly, smiling at her lover. "Will you marry me?" He asked, as he bowed, and presented to her, a gorgeous ring, silver, as the band was decorated with small aquamarine gems, And on top, was a larger Aquamarine, cut in the shape of a Crescent moon, with diamonds outlining it. Nightmare was silent for a while, making Red think that it wouldn't happen. That was before she grabbed him in a large hug, squealed like a school filly, and said "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Red giggled lightly as he held her as well, kissing her lovingly "Hurray!" Was all he could say, due to the hug practically causing him to be crushed by her strength. Chapter 9: Battle For ManehattanNightmare was silent for a while, making Red think that it wouldn't happen. That was before she grabbed him in a large hug, squealed like a school filly, and said "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Red giggled lightly as he held her as well, kissing her lovingly "Hurray!" Was all he could say, due to the hug practically causing him to be crushed by her strength. As Nightmare crushed him, Luna, Chrysalis, and the other adults who were part of the unofficial 'Alpha team', including Aurora, walked, smiling, as they had known this was going to happen, and were happy for him. After breaking out of Nightmare's massively crushing bearhug, Red smiled, slipping the ring onto her finger "I love you. I plan to have the wedding be once this war is over, my love...and I can't wait...perhaps, little Dawn could be either the flower girl or the ring bearer?" He suggested, already talking of plans. "I think she would be overjoyed at being a flower girl, and I think Chestnut would like it as well," Nightmare said softly. Red nodded agreeing. "Then perhaps. Barb could be the ring bearer maybe..." He said as he looked towards Fleur "Though I think I'll need a best mare..." He said, thinking it could be either Fleur, or Luna. "Of course, Love," Fleur said. "And Luna can be one of my bridesmaids," Nightmare said, causing Luna to blush. Red smiled "Well, I think we can finish these plans later. For now, I say we get ready and move out to take Manehattan." He suggested so that they could focus on what was more important at the time. They all nodded and headed to the Shadow, which is how they would get there. They were all aboard when Barb said, "Message coming in, guys. Don't know the ship, but it has Lone's authorization code." Red was curious, and went to accept it, and read the message. Red, if you or one of the others are reading this, then I'm already in Manehatten, waiting for you guys. I know Barb said this came from a ship, and that's because I have my own now, which my friends made, and a very large warehouse, Just let me know when you're close. And tell Luna and Aurora congratulations from me on their reunion. Red was a little surprised that Lone already knew about this, but decided he even had intelligence agents in the NLR, which would make sense, as he wasn't an idiot. Red simply shook his head and decided to follow the instructions as they soon took off heading right for Manehattan. "I'm going to punch him...SO DAMN HARD once we get there...cause I'm starting to get REAL sick of the guy's constantly being vague like this....it's really getting on my nerves..." He said, as they were heading to Manehattan, soon sending Lone the signal that they were getting close. As the signal was sent, they got another message: Good luck with trying to punch me. If the Shadow wasn't his ship, he would have dented the nearest bulkhead. As it was, he clenched his hands multiple times to prevent it. The others, though, got a laugh from it. They then got a holo-conference request from Cadence, who was closing in on Manehatten with her forces as well. Red opens the conference as he smiles at Cadence "Hey Cadence. How's it going?" He asked the Empress, as Nightmare also appeared, and shown the ring Red had given her as a proposal. "Excellent. My forces are approaching by ship from the north, while yours are approaching from east." It was then she saw Aurora, and was confused, as she hadn't been told of last weeks revelation. Sheepishly, Aurora said, "Hey, Cadence." Like her eyes, her voice hadn't changed much, and the look on her face included wide eyes and a jaw agape. Red spoke up "Nutshell version: Twilight Sparkle is actually Aurora Nebula, Luna's long thought dead Daughter. Meaning she's possibly your cousin..." He said, summing it up in that single sentence. "Oh," was all Cadence could say. "Well, it's good you two were reunited. I'll see you guys on the ground," Cadence said before she disconnected. And just before another message came in You seriously didn't tell Cadence? This one's meant for Luna and Aurora, not you, Red. "Okay, that's it," Red said. "How are you doing this?" Ask Pinkie. If she'll give you one, that is.Probably Lone, for being a vague jackass, where as Pinkie just defies all logic because it's her. "IF SHE'LL GIVE ME ONE WHAT YOU JACKASS?!" Red shouted getting very annoyed with Lone now. "An answer, silly," Pinkie said. "Isn't that obvious?" "No," was the unanimous answer. "Well, then, Pinkie," Red said, "how is he doing what he's doing?" "Easy. He's able to see the script the authors are using, like me, which is why I knew Nightmare would accept, or how he knew that Twilight was Aurora, who was Luna's daughter," Pinkie said, smiling. Red was no longer certain who he wanted to punch more: Lone, or Pinkie. Probably Lone, for being a vague jackass, where as Pinkie just defies all logic because it's her. No, Pinkie. Red, look in the supply closet in the bridge. Red, even though he wanted to punch Lone, did so, and found a bug. "What the...hell..." This time, it was an audio message. Did you really think I'd just trust you guys outright? That's one of two bugs I placed on the Shadow. The other one's in the holo-room. And in case your wondering, there's one in each war room I've been in. Audio only, no way to trace. "I suppose that makes sense," Aurora said. "Given how he came to you guys, I'd do something similar, if I were him. Thank you. And congrats on reuniting, you two. "......." Red just stayed silent, before rubbing his temples. Aurora simply chuckled "Thanks." No problem. I know what it's like to discover a long thought dead family member is alive. See you guys soon. "I'm not sure he's going to survive past Manehattan," Red said. This got some chuckles from the others. Red shook his head and went on to prepare to disembark from the Shadow and head out into Manehattan to meet up with the stallion he wanted to punch, and to get the plan underway. It was another ten minutes before Manehattan was in sensor range, which, even after three years in the war, the Shadow's radar range far outpaced those used by Celestia. Got you guys on my radar, Lone said over the radio. I'm tapped into Manehattan radar too, and you have five minutes at current speed to get ready. Word of warning: Martial law's in affect, and every citizen that can fight is part of the militia here. "Oh joy...that means that we're gonna be in for one heck of a battle." Red mused, as they prepared using those five minutes well. Yep. Once you guys are off, I'll be there as soon as possible. And Cadence's personal ship is going to touch down at the same time in the northern part of the city. I'll be heading there first, as she's coming in by herself. "Right," Red said as he checked his weapons. Everything was coming up fine, Red was fully equipped, his Nightbringer, his Lightsaber, and Z-Saber were all ready to go, as were his grenades, and other weaponry. "Coming down," Barb said, and the others went to the ramp. Once they landed and the ramp lowered, they all filed out, ranged weapons raised. "Clear," Red said over the comms to Barb, who brought the ship back into the air, then flew back to join the main NLR air force. "So," Fleur said, "any ideas as to when Lone's going to get here?" "Nope," Chrysalis said. "Well," Nightmare said, "at least-" "DON'T SAY IT!" Pinkie yelled "What?" Nightmare asked in confusion. "I was just going to say that we aren't surrounded." As if the universe wanted to screw with Nightmare, it was at that moment a thousand of Celestia's forces converged on them. "Told you not to say it," Pinkie said. "I love ya Moony, but sometimes You need to not jinx us..." He said. "Ha ha," Nightmare said sarcastically just before the hostile forces charged. Red and the others were already in a circle, which allowed them to hold off for a time. It started out well, with most of the enemy not having protection against the various Nightbringer rounds. Those were the first fifty or so. Afterwards, the armor improved to where only the high explosive rounds did damage. And only on direct hits, not the pressure wave. As they came closer, the group activated their close quarter weapons, but all of the Solar guard had lightsabers, and this made it harder. The were able to kill all but ten of them, the remaining ten being skilled enough to knock all of them to the ground in seconds after contact. "So this is the mighty 'Alpha team'" one of them, the leader if the armor coloration, a bright yellow with highlights matching the green that is in Celestia's mane, compared to the standard yellow, was any indication, said. "I thought you were supposed to be the best, seeing as how you are all the best fighters in that traitous rebellion." He chuckled. "Oh well," he said, raising his saber over Aurora's neck, "It's a shame such beautiful mares sided with you." Just before he could bring his saber down, a voice said, "You've forgotten one thing," before a cyan and red energy sword appeared through his chest. "What the," was all the guard said before the sword pulled out of him, and Lone appeared in his armor, the guard he stabbed falling dead (00:08)"Me." Lone then looked at the remaining guards. "One? That's all the reinforcement they have?" One of them said. Lone ignited his second energy sword, crossing them in an "X" pattern, the thinner part of the blades facing him and the guards, and said, "I'm all the reinforcement they need." (00:19) The nine remaining guards rushed him, Lone not even moving as they approached. The first two guards to reach him survived longer than the guards from the Crystal empire did, but not for long. As Lone slashed, they blocked, but Lone teleported behind them, and proceeded to cut off their heads. The next two were pegasia, and flew towards Lone, though this didn't save them either, as Lone attached the upper and lower casings that made up his plasma rifles to his sword hilts. He brought them up and aimed one apiece at them. As soon as the plasma bolts hit them, they fell to the ground, their faces melted and their brains, quite literally, exploded. The next three stopped short, the other two having stood where they were. One of the three attemtped to sweep Lone's legs out from under him, though Lone jumped over his leg and brought his sword down as he came down, slicing the guard in half. He then holstered his rifles and picked up the halves of the body, and flung them at the other two, which caught them off balance, and hit them, causing them ot hit the ground on their backs. Before they could get back up, Lone shot them each in the head once. That left the other two, who were grinning under their helmets. They then pulled a second saber each, and ignited a second blade on their first, and activating both on their second. "Great," Lone mumbled to himself before he heard faint Thwips behind him, and both guards disappeared in explosions. Red smirked, being the one who caused the explosions that blew up the last two guards. His Solid Eye flashed Red as he appeared in the smoke with a devious smirk. "Sorry Lone, You ain't escaping my wrath that easily." Red said "Can you at least wait until after this is done?" Lone asked Red "Yes of course it can. It'll just get worse as it gets denied." Red spoke honestly, as he rejoined the team, and they soon went together to go ahead with their plan, to attack and take control of the Mech suits being made. "Right," Lone said. "My contacts say that the production area, which is also the primary storage facility, is in the western docks. As far as we can both tell, that super mech is there as well." "Anything else there we should know about?" Red asked, as they began to head for the western docks. "Yeah," Lone said, turning to face the others, as Cadence walked up, out of breath. "Celestia's here, as well as Honesty and Loyalty." "Shit." Aurora said, summing up everyone's thoughts "Well now...Things just got a hell of a lot more intense..." Red said, as he gave Cadence some water to recover. He looked to Aurora "Are you going to be okay with this?" He asked, knowing that things got a lot worse with how Celestia was now here, along with Applejack and Rainbow Dash all being in play. "Yeah," she said, nodding. "This was going to happen eventually. Better now than later." Lone nodded. "Good. We need to move, the city has more guards in it." "Agreed." He said as he looked to Aurora, giving her a hug "Aurora...my...Niece...You know I will back you up and protect you...you're technically family after all." Red said to her being genuinely caring to her. "Okay, people. Move out," Lone said, and the group made best time to the western docks. Meanwhile-Western docks Celestia is addressing the remaining two elements and Shadow Strike, as Neither AJ, nor Dash knew where Twilight had gone, and none of them save for Celestia, knew the truth, as she didn't exactly want to tell them yet... "Ma'ams, Sir," Nightengale came rushing in, out of breath. "The camera show that Alpha is on their way here. All of them, as well as a new member, though I'm not certain who she is." Celestia's eyes narrowed, though the others didn't notice. I was afraid of this, she thought to her self, bringing a hand up to her face. Dash spoke up "So what then? Should we have Shadow Strike prepare that mech suit to show them how powerless they are against us then?" she suggested "No," Celestia said. "That is to be a last resort, should they get here." And besides, Celestia thought, if they are able to defeat him, it will mean death for everypony is the city. "Then what should we do Princess? Ah think we should possibly try to have the city evacuated possibly....just in case..." AJ said not sure what they could do... "Unfortunately, that is not an option, as our radar just picked up hostile aircraft from the east and north," Strike said, "and we don't know if they have stealth ships in the other directions." Dash groaned in annoyance "We're not getting ANYWHERE right now, we're just spinning our wheels here, what the heck are we GOING TO DO?!" She asked them. "Other than stand and fight?!" "As far as we can see," Nightengale said, "nothing." "Great," Rainbow said sarcastically. As if to make matters worse, it was at this point that the Alpha team shown up. AJ and Dash making a stunning discovery when they notice Aurora. "T...Twilight?! YOU JOINED THEM!?" Rainbow asked. "No," Aurora said, "If I was Twilight, I'd still be with Aunt Celestia," she said, spitting out Aunt, as if it were acid. "General," Celestia whispered to Strike, "now." He nodded, and slowly moved to the room the mech, which the troops called the 'Prototype', even though it was complete. Lone saw this, and nodded to Nightengale slightly enough to where only they knew. "What are you going to do to us, traitors," Nightengale said, activating his saber and pointing it at Alpha. "Should you surrender," Aurora said, "nothing. If you don't, then we'll either imprison you or kill you." "Why are y'all doing this, Twi?" Applejack asked. Red spoke up next "Because She's lied to both Luna AND 'Twilight' all these years. Aurora here is actually 2027 years old. She is Luna's daughter....before she was banished Luna had herself a daughter, who was of course, Aurora Nebula here...even after Luna became Nightmare, Moony still cared for the foal. When she was banished, Celestia decided, to not only WIPE CLEAN Her memories and turn her into Twilight Sparkle, Even putting her into a magically induced sleep to keep her alive, until her believed birthdate, but what's worse, is that she also Lied to Luna...When Luna returned, the first thing she asked Celestia, was if her daughter Aurora was still alive....as Luna believed that she was due to her being half alicorn." Dash spoke back "AND?!" "She said that though Aurora had lived longer than normal, she still died before Luna returned." Red said, as this fact shocked both Rainbow and AJ, that Celestia had not only lied to Twilight and Luna, but also basically MADE Twilight Sparkle. Red continued "And I should also note that during the banishment, Celestia had altered Luna's memories of her own daughter...so that she remembered her differently..." He said, further cementing the fact. "How do we know Nightmare hasn't put that in your memories," Nightengale said. "For all you know, she could be manipulating all of you" he said, holding his saber up like a knight of old, stepping in front of Celestia and the others, as if to protect them. "I know my own memories, Nightengale," Lone said, stepping in front of the rest of Alpha, his swords crossed like earlier. "You know him," was the response from everypony in the room. "Yeah. We were friends before all of this," Lone said. "Now? We're enemies." "Yeah," and the last time we saw the other, we swore who we would decide who the better swordsman was with their respective weapon." "I know my own memories too Nightengale." Red said igniting his Z-Saber. "Because Cadence wondered the same thing of my affection for Nightmare, along with Fleur and Luna....and I shown her that my love for Nightmare was the real deal" he said as he moved to fight. "And how do we know she didn't manipulate Cadence's mind to alter what she perceived? She was there, I believe." Cadence narrowed her eyes, but didn't rush him, as she knew this was going to be a fight between Lone and Nightengale. "Because I'm the alicorn of love, and nothing can make me think love is there when it isn't," Cadence yelled. Red stood to face Celestia, along with the others at this point, before noticing that Shadow had left "Wait...where's the other one...Shadow Strike?" Red asked looking around for him, searching with the Solid Eye. Nightengale laughed. "It doesn't matter," he said. "Once I'm done with Lone, here, you'll all share his fate." "The suit," Aurora whispered. "Red," she shouted, "He's activating the suit!" "Shoot!" Red said before he quickly made a sprint for the warehouse where the suit was "I'll take care of it, You guys stay here." Red called back as he raced there, before busting inside. The groups didn't chase after him, as each side believed that their champion, for lack of a better word, would win. "What," Nightengale said, "not going to help him." "He doesn't need help, Nightengale," Lone said. Nightengale shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. But you will." He looked back to Celestia, Rainbow, and Applejack. "Don't get in the way, guys. This is my fight." He then looked back to Lone. "Same thing for you guys," Lone said, not taking his eyes off of Nightengale. Both parties backed away from the two knights. One of the sun, the other of the moon. They charged. The blades clashed as the two met in the middle. Both sides were pushed back by the force of the impact. They charged again. This time, though, Lone jumped into the air and tried to bring one of his blades down on Nightengale. Nightengale, however, anticipated this, and blocked the attack, spinning , so as to keep Lone in his sight. The two stared at one another, during which, Nightengale swhispered, "The suit's designed to go nuclear if the mech takes extreme damage, Lone." Lone nodded, before kicking Nightengale away. He then disappeared in a cloud of shadows one second, and reappeared above Nightengale the next. Nightengale rolled out of the way of the attack just before the energy swords hit where he had landed. Lone left one of his swords in the ground, pulling the other out, and his armor had scuff marks already, as well as Nightengale's. The two assumed a pose appropriate for single sword combat. Nightengale grasping the hilt of his saber with both hands, while Lone assumed the same pose he took when he first dueled Red. The two charged again. This time, though, their blades locked when clashed. The only way for them to get out of it was for them to deactivate their weapons. They did so, and jumped away from the other, and activated their weapons again. Nightengale's saber was the first to be reactivated, and he jumped back at Lone, who activated his sword just in time to block the downward stroke with the thin edge of his sword, knelling as he did so. He pushed up with his sword, which off balanced Nightengale, and did a sweep kick, which brought Nightengale crashing to the ground. He and Lone got up at the same time, not even looking exhausted. They got back into their singular sword pose, and were about to clash again when something came crashing through the back wall, where the Prototype was. As the dust cleared from the hole, all of the occupants of the main room, including Lone and Nightengale, looked to see Red holding off the Prototype. Red was doing extremely well in the fight with the Prototype, attacking the legs due to them being a weakpoint it couldn't easily defend, using his longer range weaponry when he was pushed back, using the Nightbringer's High Explosive ammo, and the incendiary blast. Red was dashing around the room, causing the warehouse to be slowly demolished due to the Prototype's weaponry, as he soon closed in, and used his lightsaber to attack, the armor was thick enough to repell either one of his three swords, so it ultimately didn't matter which one he used, as such, he then switched to the High Frequency Blade that was strapped onto his back attacking it's legs whenever he got in close, to break down the armor, knowing that it was strong enough to withstand them due to how it was created. Whenever he dashed away from the mech suit, he fired on it using his Nightbringer, along with the Shotgun and Dual SMGs he had, as he knew he could beat it, much less take it down. The intensity of the fight was to the point that the others could only look. Though both Lone and Nightengale were worried that the damage it was taking would cause it to go nuclear, they couldn't do anything without revealing the truth. The fight between Red and Striker in the Prototype continued like this for a five more minutes before the Prototype locked up, unable to move, and the AI in it announced "Damage threshold passed. Activating contingency plan; code named: Cleansing Heat in ten minutes. All allied forces, retreat to minimum safe distance." "Oh shit..." Red cursed, as he looked to the others, trying to think of a way to save everyone...it came to him. He knew what he had to do, but he had no choice. He used his magic force powers to blast back everyone a great deal back, before he also used a similar blast to blow out the back wall of the warehouse, where the ocean was seen behind them as they were at the docks. Red shouted to them all. "GET EVERYONE OUT OF HERE!!! I'LL TAKE CARE OF THIS!" He then took a few deep breaths as he soon did something unthinkable, he closed in on the Prototype, and tackled the torso's cockpit, before using the force to blast himself forward, the sheer force of the tackle caused him to push back the Prototype suit far over the ocean, with him going with it, as they both began to sink, due to Red being exhausted, and the Prototype being so weighed down. "The blast radius will still kill us, if only due to the pressure wave, before it can get deep enough," Nightengale said, urgency in his voice. "The only way to get out of it in time is flight, but we don't have a ship near enough," Celestia said. "Yeah," Lone said. "One of your's." He brought his right hand up to his helmet, activating the radio, then said, "Artemis, we need evac, NOW! Fire only on those who fire on the ship." He apparently got the reply he wanted, as he nodded, saying, "Good," and brought his hand back down. "No!" Nightmare screamed. "I'm not leaving with out him!" "Red's sacrificing himself for you, Nightmare. He wants you to get out of here, and we both know I'm the only one with a ship," Lone said. "Then what do we do about Celestia and the others," Aurora said, pointing to where her former friends and mentor were. "Easy," Lone said, "we bring them with us." "WHAT??" was the unanimous response, except from Nightengale. "Red got all of us away from there. All of us, and I'm making sure nopony else dies," Lone said as they all heard a faint hum, the engines of Lone's ship approaching. As the shoddy looking ship arrived picking them all up, and getting them out of there Nightmare is looking back horrified that her lover is being left behind, when she heard his voice on the comm link Don't you worry Moony. It's gonna take far more than a damn nuke to kill me. You just hold out...Don't worry about me. It'll take more than this to put me down! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! He said confidently as he began to laugh before the comm cut off, as they all looked out, and the explosion happened, they saw the massive pressure wave, and the ocean exploded, allowing them to see the wreckage of the Prototype at the bottom of the ocean, before the sea came back covering it once again. Nightmare tackled Celestia to the wall of the ship and stared her dead in the face as Fleur and even Luna began to cry. Nightmare spoke harshly "You took away my daughter...You took away My Niece...AND NOW YOU TAKE AWAY MY HUSBAND!?" She shouted as Celestia saw the ring on Nightmare's finger, and she understood, even having some tears in her own eyes, for not just Red's noble sacrifice, but also for the death of Shadow Strike, as Nightmare continued "DO YOU HAVE NO PURPOSE OTHER THAN TO ENSURE WE CANNOT HAVE HAPPINESS!?" She asked before she glared further, piercing Celestia's soul with that hateful glare as she spoke "You...Honor...Him...Don't you dare make this out to be a good thing." She said before she walked off, locking herself in one of the rooms and began to cry as well, being the loudest of the group crying. Lone heard this, and walked over to where they were. "I knew I should have laid down ground rules," he mumbled to him self before going to the bridge. One he was there, he activated the intercom and said, "Attention passengers. It has come to my atteniton that some of you, though justified, are out for blood. Here are some rules. One: As long as you are on this ship, the Millennium Falcon, you will follow any orders my crew or I give you. Second: This ship is, for now, neutral ground, which means no killing of the others. Nightmare, I'm looking at you. Three: While we are all on this ship, we will at least tolerate each other. Aurora, that means you and the other Elements can't badmouth each other. Rainbow, I'm looking at you for that one." That last one got good natured chuckles from the Elements on both sides, and even Cadence. "And also, it will take us a few hours to reach the middle ground of the remaining forces, due to engine damage, so I suggest you all get comfy." The group heard and understood, Nightmare, Luna, and Fleur could do nothing but cry, as did Aurora, who was with her mother. The only ones not crying at all were Rainbow and Applejack, both of whom glared at Rarity, Flutter shy, and Pinkie, who returned the gesture, and Lone, who was in the cockpit. The silence there was as thick as pea soup. They then remembered what Lone had said, and to their credit, they did try to talk. "So," Applejack said awkwardly, "what have y'all been doing since we last saw ya?" Fluttershy spoke up. "We've...been doing pretty good..." as Rarity also nodded in agreement. "Yeah," Pinkie said, "We've had a party for the Empire, Aurora, Dawn, Chestnut, and us-" She was cut off as Rainbow put herhand to her mouth, showing that both sides still found Pinkie's rambling annoying."Pinkie," Rainbow said, "please shut up." This got a good hearted, if nervous, laugh from the others. Rarity then spoke up "It's good to laugh....like he did......because there won't be a party today... The two groups of the Elements became sober then, neither smiling, nor crying, in memory to Red, even though he was an enemy to two of them. While hte others were reminiscing, Nightengale went up to the cockpit to talk with Lone. "Well," he said once he got there, "this could have gone better." "Yeah," Lone said. "If I had been the one to battle Striker, at least I would have gotten out of there." Nightengale grunted before saying, "Yeah. Having friends with unique abilities does help." He sighed. "Too bad Red didn't have them." "At least he went down fighting," Lone said. "That may help." Nightengale shrugged. "Yeah. maybe. It did with Shadow, before this war started." "True, but he, at least, faked his death. Red may have been able to use magic, but I doubt he could have teleported." "Yeah," Nightengale said, looking out the cockpit window, "I guess so." "Artemis, any news on the others?" "Yeah, Lone," a disembodied female voice said. "The others got out in time, thanks to Nightengale's warning, but they lost the trail." Lone sighed. "At least the don't have Manehattan." "I don't think anypony is going to have it for a few thousand years," Artemis said. "Guess so, given the proximity to the blast, as well as fall out," Nightengale said. A few hours later- Middle ground between the two forces As the Falcon set down, the sensor picked up fighter contact that matched transponders for both factions, as well as aerial transports just behind them. "Look alive, people. We've landed, and contacts from all side inbound," Lone said over the intercom. Barb was waiting by the Rogue Shadow for the Alpha Team where they landed, before she spoke up as Nightmare was walking slowly and somberly "Where is Red? Where's Dad?!" She asked approaching them, very worried. Before she could answer, though transport ships of both sides came in, as well as the others coming out of the Falcon. Stand down immediately, the lead ships said at the same time, or we will kill you. Release your prisoners, and we will show mercy. Celestia spoke up "We aren't prisoners, Stand down now all of you. I am commanding a universal cease-fire. Let the NLR Leave. And we are also leaving." She said, demanding of the troops of the transport ships which belonged to her. "As am I," Nightmare said to the NLR forces.. "We are to return to our base. The reason why will become public then." Though their was hesitation on both sides parts, though they both eventually turned and left, a single transport ship from Celestia's forces came down for her, Nightengale, Rainbow, and Applejack. They boarded, but before Celestia could, Nightmare said to her, "This isn't over yet, Celestia. One way or another, I will have my vengeance, as will Luna and Fleur." "I know," was all Celestia said before she boarded the ship and left. Barb looked at Nightmare and spoke up "Where is Dad?" She asked, being afraid of the answer, as she looked to them all for it. As she saw all of them look away from her, she knew her worst suspicions were confirmed. Her eyes teared up, and she fell to her knee's, saying, "No, no, no, no," over and over again. The only one who didn't cry, as he had run out of tears years ago, was Lone. He did feel sadness that Red had died. But there was also hope. A hope that Red would at least live on in comfort in the memories of everyponies memories of those who knew of his last moments. "Artemis, get the Falcon prepped. I'll fly the Shadow of here." "Got it, Lone," Artemis replied. Using his magic, he levitated Barb into the Falcon, with the other following. As the last of them, Nightmare, who took this the hardest, boarded, tears rolling down her cheeks, her eyes red, and sobbing, the Falcon took off, leaving Lone on the field. He looked at the sunset, and said with his thoughts, Harmony, if you see Red, and even Striker, do what you can for them. As a favor, to me. We both know I'll repay it. After all, when I make a promise, I keep it. He then did a strange salute. It started out like a normal one, but he then placed his right hand, clenched into a fist, over his heart, palm facing inward, then brought it up, parallel to the ground, palm facing left, hand still clenched. He then made his way to the Shadow, initiated the lift off sequence, made a fly over of the city, then made his way back to the NLR base, his mind, deep in thought, not over the battle, but what the end result was. If he had done one more fly over, though, he would have seen a navy blue flash of light. Exactly where Red had died. Author's Note Note: Zero 'Red' Star, has ALWAYS had that sword on his armor, he's always had this High Frequency Blade as his equipment, He's just never used it until now. Chapter 10: Mourning and PreparationsOne week has passed since the battle of Manehattan, and all of the NLR's 'Alpha team' were still coping with the loss of Red, the defacto leader of the team. Nightmare, his fiance, took the loss the worst, and hadn't left her room since she and the others made it back. The same could be said of Dawn, who was in Nightmare's room. The others had tried to be effective leaders, but their grief prevented this. This was the moment when Lone proved he was a leader. He took up every leader responsibility with ease, as if he had experience in this before. When Luna asked about this during team lunch, he replied by saying, "Somepony has to take up the role, and you guys still need time. Believe me, I sad he's gone too, but he did what he did for all of us, and I won't let the NLR fall because of his sacrifice meant to save it." Luna nodded along hearing this, as she, like Fleur, Chestnut, and Barb, were all trying to cope with his death. They were working on a memorial to him at the time as well as trying to continue working. He had organized a relief group for civilians displaced from Manehattan that were with the NLR, and had commissioned a memorial for Red, as well as the others of the NLR who had lost their lives during the fight. Nightmare, had her own memorial...during the week after the fight in manehattan, and the week after his death, the only thing able to be recovered of his, was his lightsaber, which Nightmare, had kept, keeping it on her person at all times, granted she had never left her room after it was found, but she kept it, sitting on a display in her room, and in the off chance that she would leave, she kept it with her, effectively replacing her own lightsaber with it, as other than the ring she was given when he proposed, the lightsaber was the only thing she had to remember him by...she vowed to make Celestia pay...and she would do it with HIS lightsaber... Fleur soon goes to check on Nigtmare Moon and Dawn, looking inside. Nightmare's eyes had turned from their beautiful Turquoise coloration, to be something akin to bloodshot, and puffy due to crying her eyes out. her body was also looking slightly frail, due to starving herself, from never leaving the room, Fleur spoke up. "Nightmare, darling...you can't starve yourself and stay here...he would want you to keep fighting...to ensure we won..." She said, approaching and hugging Nightmare gently, who began to cry again. "Why? He was the only one I loved, and I-I just can't go on with out him," Nightmare said, her eyes rearing up again. "Why did he leave me? Why? Why?" "Because he wanted you to live," Lone said as he came into the door frame. He always checked to see how the others were doing, Nightmare especially. "Why did he have to die," she said, oblivious to what he said, Dawn asleep, having cried herself to sleep. Lone shook his head. "I can see a week not leaving your room, but starving your self?" He then walked into the room. "Fleur, get her up. Make sure she's facing me." Fleur, though a little wary of what ever he was planning, did so. Lone walked up to Nightmare, with Fleur holding her up. He then did something only the brace, stupid, or crazy did. He brought his hand up. And he bitch slapped her, snapping her out of her sadness. "Look," he said as she stared at him in disbelief, "I get you miss him. I get you want to die so you can be with him. But what about your promise to make Celestia pay? What about Dawn? You are the only parent she has left. Do you want her to remember you as a coward, who took the easy way out? Because that looks like how your story's going to end if you keep this up. If you die, who's going to avenge Red at the level he deserves? I think he'd want it to be you. So, tell me, Nightmare. Are you just a shadow of the mare ponies of all ages feared, a coward? Or are you going to show Celestia and her forces why you deserve to be feared, and give Dawn a mother, give Chestnut and Aurora an aunt, to be proud of? Are you going to die like a coward, or live. Like. A. Solider?" She glared at him for slapping her, and promptly punches him in the face. "Get out of my sight...you enigmatic jackass...." Nightmare said, restraining her anger at what he said, despite the fact that she knew it was true. Fleur also kicked him in the dick to send him on his way as she walked with Nightmare, to go and get somethin to eat now. He dodged Fleur's kick, but allowed Nightmare to punch him, as he knew she needed a release for everything, plus he knew she was doing this for Red, at least in part. "I'll get out of your sight when you're the mare that ponies feared," he said. "Because I know Red wouldn't want you to kill yourself over his death. I lost my brother when I was six, as well as my mom, and my father a year later. I get where you're coming from, but I didn't try to kill myself like you." Nightmare walked off with Fleur to get some food, for Dawn, and herself, she had Red's lightsaber on her now, along with her own. She knew exactly what target they were going to attack next as well. Lone, though hating to do what he did, was glad it had worked out. He went to the war room to look over the status of the army, as Red's death had shook everypony. Barb was trying to keep it together as well, because Red was like a father to her, she had even begun to refer to him as Dad when he had died...and now only referred to him as such. Aurora was in the hanger with Barb, both comforting the other with stories of their past, before the war started. "So, you're saying Pinkie actually looked like she was going to murder you all?" Barb asked, as Aurora was telling her of the incident with Pinkie's birthday during her first year in Ponyville. Letting out a small chuckle, Aurora said, "Yeah. But it was no where near the insanity when we were sucked into the power ponies comic." Barb chuckled "I remember, Dad liked to read them...I think he had a crush on Maneiac....cause he called her 'Maney' a lot..." She said, laughing about the story. "Yeah," Aurora said. "I still can't believe Spike was humdrum, even though he does a lot more in real life." "Oh," Barb said. "Who's Spike? I don't remember the others mentioning him." "Spike was my number one dragon assistant. You know, before this," Aurora said, gesturing towards herself. "Dragon?" Barb asked, now interested in Spike Aurora nodded "Yes. he's a Dragon...probably close to your age I think...he's basically to me what you are to Uncle Red...being a sort of assistant but also being like my own child..." She said, smiling, thinking about him. "He stays in Ponyville still...and I'm very worried about him now..." Similar to how Barb had taken to calling Red 'Dad' since his death, Aurora, had also began calling him Uncle at that point. "Ohh," Barb said. "What's he like?" "Well, he always helps. One time, during my second year in Ponyville, I was having a freak out over a letter to Celestia, as I was still her student then, and cast a 'Want it, Need it' spell on my old Smarty Pants doll. If it hadn't been for Spike, things could've been worse than they were, as he told Celestia of me going nuts. He's also smart. Not like me or the other princesses, but smart." At this point, Barb was now interested in Spike, so much so that she wanted to meet him. And marry him. "I see.....think I could meet him some time? Dad was talking about sending me on a solo trip to Ponyville for Recon..." Barb explained. "It'd be too dangerous,Barb," Aurora said. "So. Recon is still less dangerous than what you and the others do. " "Ponyville is one of THE most well fortified towns under Tia's control...." Aurora said, very worried about Barb. Barb looked defeated as she heard Aurora say this. "Yeah, I guess you're right." "Glad to see you see reason," Aurora said. As she launched into another story, Barb was thinking of various ways to get into Ponyville, or Spike here. "Hey, Aurora?" "Yeah?" "Do you think Celestia told Spike about you?" "No. Why?" "Well, instead of going there, why not bring Spike, who most likely has intel on defenses for Ponyville, at least, here, making him think he's saving you?" Aurora thought about it "That...might just be GENIUS!" "Well, come on then," Barb said, heading towards the main door, "we should let Lone know." Getting up, Aurora asked, "Why Lone. Why not Night- never mind, the answer's obvious." Aurora nodded, and went to do so. Meanwhile, with Nightmare Moon Nightmare, with rage and sadness obvious in her body language, made it to the lunch room where the rest of Alpha usually ate, the few ponies she came across in the halls getting out of her way as quickly as possible. When she made it to the room, she opened the door and was met with looks that mixed surprise, happiness, and fear from the others. Luna was the first to speak. "Well, it's good to see you up and about sister, but what has made you so mad?" She looked at Luna, before she began to tear up sitting down with her food with Luna. "The same one that my betrothed wanted to punch....Lone....he slapped me...." She said as she told Luna about what happened. "Why?" Luna asked, anger in her voice. "To insult me. Call me a coward, that I wasn't the mare ponies should fear, say I was taking the cowards way out by starving myself, making Dawn have to live through the deaths of both her parents. He even went as far as to say he knows where I come from, so why would he insult me?" Because he wants me to kill him rather than just beat him into the wall... a familiar voice said, clear anger evident. "Red?" Nightmare asked, confused and hopeful at the same time as she and Luna looked around the room. "Where are you?" Right here the voice said, sounding like it came from the door. The two mares looked and were surprised by a ghostly image of Red in the armor he had worn when he died. Red begins to walk forward from the door, walking right to them, walking past the others who appear to make NO notice of him. He approaches Nightmare, and smiles at her, even reaching down and gently stroking her mane, which she was able to feel. "Hey there, Moony..." "H-h-how?" The ghost shrugged. "No idea. All I know is that I'm speaking with you now. I just wanted to let you know that I did what I did so you could live. I don't regret it, and though I hate Lone, I would probably do the same if it meant bringing you back to the way you were before." "What! How can you side with him? He insulted me, called me a coward-" "And got you back up and eating. It's a case of doing bad things with good intentions and wanting a good outcome." "I AM going to make him pay for slapping you though Moony...make No mistake about that..." He said, being genuinely honest. "HOW, I have no idea..." He said as he gently hugged her. Well, as best as he could, anyway, seeing as how he was a ghost. He pulled away from the hug, and started to disappear. "Goodbye, Moony. Goodbye Lulu." As he said these words, he disappeared from their sight, tears of both happiness and sadness on the faces of the two rulers of the night. NLR War room. Barb and Aurora are speaking with Lone. The two had come with him to speak about bringing Spike here. Though he thought having Celestia's personal informant for what the defenses at Ponyville were, he thought it was too dangerous. "I'll admit," Lone said, his helmet off, "it sounds like it might work." He raised a finger for emphasis, "But it may not at the same time. If you two an come up with a plan that involves little to casualties for either side and gets him here, I'll consider it." "Right," Barb and Aurora said, with the former sounding a little defeated. The two left the room. As soon as they did, Lone's personal communicator lit up with a green light, indicating two of his friends were contacting him with info. He activated it, and two ponies appeared. One was Nightengale, wearing his custom gun gray armor with a wide, T like, sky blue visor on his helmet, with a gray stripe down the middle just above the visor, which was held down by his side, shoulder pads that had angular turns to protect his shoulders, a wide, rectangular chest plate, and leg armor that had additional ammo pouches on the lower legs and had a small camo pattern on the thighs. Around his waist were grenades. His knees and elbows were protected by angular, single pieces of metal. The second, Shadow Specter, was wearing armor that, in aesthetics, resembled Lone's in general, but the exact details were different. His helmet, down by his side had a singular, vertical visor in the center, the sides of the helmet looking like they were welded on. The shoulder pieces were ovoid when viewed from the side, small, whit pieces of metal coming out from the lower half. The torso looked like a V-neck shirt with out the sleeves and ended just below the ribs. The arms had a rectangular appearance to them. The greaves were the same. His armor was mostly forest green with accents of tree bark brown. "Good to see you guys again," Lone said, nodding in greeting to the two. Barb looks at Aurora "How can we get this done?" A familar voice to both speaks up nearby "You know, you could always pose as Twilight, and send a secret message to Spike saying to come alone to rescue you from here...OR possibly tell him that Celestia betrayed them and that he must come because he's now in danger..." it said, appearing to be behind Barb. They both turned around and saw Red, who looked like a ghost. "Dad," Barb asked, not believing what her eyes were seeing. "Hey there Barb~" Red said smiling at them both. "And you as well Dearest Aurora." "Hey, Uncle," Aurora said. "How are you here?" "Don't know," Red said. "If I had to guess, I'd say magic. I can't stay for long. Just thought I'd see how you two are doing. And I'm glad you two are doing well." True to his word, Red's ghost began to fade away. "Goodbye, you two," he said before he faded away completely. Barb began to tear up, seeing as how she thought she'd never see Red again. Aurora, whose voice was chocked as if she was holding back tears, said, "Well, we might as well see what we can do about that plan he came up with, huh?" Barb nodded, and the two made their way to Aurora's room. Back in the NLR war room "Good to see you too, Bro," Shadow said. His coat was the same shade of green as his armors primary color. "Lone," Nightengale said. "So," Lone said, "whats going on with Celestia?" "Well," Shadow said, "she is planning on building a memorial to those who lost their lives in Manehattan. Officially, it's for her forces, but those in the guard I've talked with say it's also for Red, even if it's unofficial. Won't make Nightmare want to kill Celestia any less." Nightengale grunted in amusement. "That just makes our job harder." "Agreed," Lone said. "But that's not the only development. Aurora and Barb just left after coming to tell me they wanted to bring Spike here. Shadow, you're in Ponyville. Think you can stop the plan. Not because I don't see it's use, I do, but because Barb proposed it like a love sick puppy, and is doing for herself, even if it appears she's doing this for Aurora as well." Shadow nodded. "I'll see what I can do, but I would like to point how you and I courted our wives." "We weren't on opposite sides of a war then." It was here Lone felt a presence behind him. Turning his head, he said, "Red. Good see Harmony took you up. How are you doing?" "Not too bad all things considered but believe me I'm gonna kick your ass..." He said his arms crossed clearly very annoyed, even though he knew it was for good..."Oh by the way, Your parents said Hello...also there's no way in hell I'm letting you stop their plan." "Well, then I'll see you later, as we both know you're alive and Harmony's training you. "So you aren't surprised you're seeing me?" "No. I pulled that trick a few times my self when me and Shadow here," Lone said, gesturing to Shadow, "faked our deaths. Though like you, it was because nopony would believe us." Red raised an eyebrow at him. before Pinkie bashed Lone's head with a very heavy hitting Hammer. "STOP RUINING THE TWISTS YOU JERK!!!" she then happily skipped away. Lone and Red just chuckled. "Oh, if only she knew the major ones," Lone said cryptically. "Agreed," Shadow said. "SO, what's the next strike plan? Eh? I may not be able to exist like this for long but least I can do is try to help right?" "That would be Nightmare's decision. What ever I came up with, she would say no." Red laughed. "Yeah, guess so." He then started to fade. "Well, there's my cue. Goodbye, moron." Fortunately, Lone had cast a spell on his communicator to where only he could hear and see it. "Why?" Lone asked. "It doesn't have much strategic value, nor does it have a large population." "What does it matter? I want...to have a place to remember his sacrifice...after all Manehattan's practically abandoned at current..." "It is lightly guarded, plus there are reports of them being there," Nightengale said, though only Lone could hear him. Lone nodded. "Alright then, but it'll have to wait until our memorial for the others who lost their lives is complete." "So long as we take it," Nightmare said, nearing in on a growl. "We will," Lone said. "Good..." She said, as she looked to Lone. "I...saw Red...as a ghost earlier...is..there anyway I can continue to talk with him for longer?" She asked him, believing she could possibly get a form of closure. "I'd have to look over all the spells I know, but possibly. Though one that will work, but has a fair failure rate, is focusing on him with your magic. What makes it fail is ponies become overwrought with emotion, they lose focus, and the spell ends. It will work. What is dependent is how long it'll last." "I see..." She said "Thanks." She said genuinely as she went to leave and go to her room with her daughter. "Keep an eye on her, Lone," Shadow said, "If she gets mad enough, there's no telling how bad that'll be." "I know that, Shadow. Nightengale, how are code names Farmer and Blowhard due to last week?" Nightengale spoke back "Well...AJ and Dash seem to be doing fine...though I think that regardless of twilight's, or rather, Aurora's defection to her mother's side, they seem to have taken a big hit to their confidence due to the revelation of what Celestia did...Along with Captain Zero's sacrifice..." he explained. Lone nodded. "Right. See what you can do to help them out." "Right." "See you guys later," Lone said before disconnecting. Two days later Barb and Aurora go to Lone with their new plan. "I can talk to Spike about how he betrayed us, and how we need to get him out of there because he's in danger. Either that, or we tell him I'm in trouble and he needs to come alone to save me?" Aurora suggested. "How do you know he'll be able to get away. Of what my sources say, he's by the general's side at all times," Lone said "He'll just wait until the general's asleep, then sneak out." "And what if he chooses not to join us, because there is no way I'm going to cast any sort of spell on a dragon." Still got the burns from the first time. Mental burns, but burns nonetheless. "Then we'll knock him out and put him in a fire proof cell then I cast a spell on that prevents him from sending messages." Lone thought this over for a minute. "Okay, you guys are clear, but if I so much as think he's sending messages to Celestia's forces, I will stop him. By any means necessary. Is that clear, you two?" Both looked at him dead serious "We understand but if you kill him, We'll make sure Dad/Uncle gets to enjoy kicking your ass in the afterlife." They said as they understood and went to leave. Lone simply shook his head and left the room shortly after them, as he had something to give to Nightmare. He made his way to her room and knocked on the door and waited for her to open the door. When she did and saw him, her look took on a neutral appearance. "Lone," she said."What are you doing here." "Just thought I'd give you something the recovery teams found in Manehattan yesterday," he said pulling out an amulet. She looked at it, and took it, it made her think of Red instantly. It was a beautiful amulet, which was made of a silver chain, and as the actual amulet charm, it was a gold medallion of sorts, which had the engraving of a Dragon's foot print, Not like Barb or Spike's footprint, but something from a different kind of Dragon all together. "Thank you....Now please Leave..." She said shutting the door, and walking back sitting on the bed looking at it. Dawn was out with Fleur and Chestnut. Chestnut had taken Red's death hard, as he was one of the first ponies to treat her like a living thing. Which meant she was all alone in her room. She decided she may as well try the technique Lone had told her would allow her to talk with Red. Nightmare concentrated her magic into her horn, and could feel the energy. After five minutes, though, she had to abandon the spell, as she felt the spell draining her energy. She was definitely going to speak with Lone about this. Hilariously though, the spell seemed to work as Red faded in "Somepony come calling? I felt a familiar tug..." He asked looking to her, knowingly. "Hello, beloved," Nightmare said. "Why didn't you appear when I first called?" "Simple. It's your first time casting the spell, so it stands to reason that it would take a while for it to work. "Whilst it may be very taxing, after a while it'll be easy to cast." Red said, as he sat by her, giving her a hug, as even though he was a ghostly form, he was able to use his own magic to interact with them, such as stroking her mane, or touching her. "I suppose that makes sense," Nightmare said, happy that she was able to speak with Red. Red nodded "at least, it seems to make sense to me.....I miss being around you...I love you so much Moony..." "As do I, as well as Fleur and Luna, and Dawn and Chestnut, but at least we can speak with one another." "I just wish you were alive," Nightmare said, sorrow in her voice, and her eyes tearing up again. Red gently stroked her cheek, smirking "I am alive.....I'm recovering right now...I don't know when I'll be able to return but I swear to you I will..." Red said to her, as he looked deep into her eyes, and gave her a kiss. Nightmare was surprised at the news he was alive. "Y-yo-you're alive? But I saw the suit explode. How did you get away?" "I'll explain that later. For now, I just want to stay here with you." Red nuzzled her "I will stay by your side no matter what Moony...perhaps I should try to check on Fleur, and Chestnut soon though....I imagine little Chestnut took it very hard.....as did Dawn..." he said looking for her. "Well," Nightmare said, "Hopefully you will be back just in time to see us take Fillydelphia, which I'll rename Star city for you, my love." "I'm honored...I'll take that renaming...though I ain't exactly dead yet..." He said nuzzling her close. "heh. Who knows, maybe I'll be back in time to finish that fight huh?" He said giving her a playful kiss on her cheek. "That would definitely help you show up Lone," Nightmare said with a chuckle. "Yeah, I guess so." Red started to fade. "Well, looks like the spells fading. Goodbye for now, Moony," he said, kissing her on the lips. Red smiled as he faded off "See you soon, I hope." He said as he faded away, and Nightmare just began to smile, looking forward to when her love would return. Park section-meanwhile All things considered, Fleur was having a good day. Chestnut and Dawn were having fun, playing tag in the park with other fillies and colts, a few of which were thestrals, which helped Chestnut, as she was still nervous around other ponies that weren't thestrals. Soon enough Red's ghostly form appeared next to Fleur "They are so cute, aren't they?" Fleur jumped at hearing him, not to mention the suddenness of it. "Red?" she asked. "Hi!" he said smiling and kissing her, snickering. "What are you doing here," was all she could say, due to her surprise. "How are you here?" Before he could answer, Dawn and Chestnut came running over, both screaming, "Daddy!!" Red smiled "How about I explain later okay?" He asked Fleur as he gently reached out and hugged the two girls. "Hey girls...Daddy can't exactly stay long..." "Why not?" Chestnut asked. "It's complicated, sweetie," Red said. "How are you, though?" Chestnut nuzzled him, crying lightly "I've missed you so much daddy...it's so hard...to stay fine...when I lost you now..." she said crying. Dawn soon joined in hugging her cousin and her father. "I missed you too, Chestnut. And how are you doing Dawn?" She just sniffles. "I'm just glad your back Daddy..." She cooed. He smiled, saying, "That's good." He then looked to Fleur. "And what about you Fleur?" Fleur began to tear up. "I missed you, just as much as Luna and Nightmare. We thought we'd never see you again." Red smiled and responded "I know....it's gonna be alright..." he said, as he told her what he told Nightmare "Tell only Luna, Aurora, and Barb...I've already told Moony....Lone knows this too. but I'm actually still alive...I'm a little busy, recovering...I don't know when I'll be back...but I promise you, I WILL return..." he told her. He then began to fade away, much like with the others. "I'll see you soon." Meanwhile-Canterlot Celestia was in her personal chambers, looking over the progress of the memorial for those who died in Manehattan. Though her ponies had become accustomed to the atrocities war always brought, this was the first use of a nuclear device in the history of the planet, and a memorial was in order for those who died in the battle, even if the most heroic one was unofficially remembered in it. She owed it to her sister however, to make sure that the most heroic one, None other than their own Enemy, Zero 'Red' Star, was officially remembered in it. It might make her own troops mad, but, her sister Nightmare, and Luna both deserved to be given this much...after everything she had done to them...take away their daughters....change Luna's memories, and now, taken away the very one who loved them just as much as she did, if not more so, who intended to marry Nightmare Moon...they deserved for their beloved to be officially remembered, she got up and went to the ones making the Memorial to tell them. After all, it was thanks to the heroic Captain that even SHE was alive...much less so many more in Manehattan....the town may be currently condemned due to nuclear Fallout, but, it was thanks to him that the town's citizens were saved...minus the loses but the fact that he saved them all, spoke the most. When she arrived at the area where the memorial was being constructed and told the crew to add him to the rolls, they were understandably mad, and she had to order them to add his name, and even then, they were reluctant to do so. "Its thanks to him that I'm even alive, not to mention the majority of the citizens of Manhattan now PUT HIM ON THERE." She demanded, even using the Royal Canterlot Voice to get the point across. Her use of the Royal Canterlot Voice was enough to make the workers put Red's name on it. After this, she went to check on Shining Armor, who was cleared fit for duty just after Manehattan, so long as he renounced all his previous ties with anypony in the NLR, which he did once he was told to do so, about Aurora, as only she, the family Aurora had as Twilight, and her friends knew what had happened. The only exception was Spike, who was still in Ponyville. "Shining Armor...how do you feel?" She asked, observing him seeing him renounce all those previous ties, to his 'sister' and to his wife... "Good, Ma'am," he said. "And may I say that I will personally make sure Cadence and Twilight, or whatever her name is now, pay for betraying you?" "You need not say it, general. I simply hope you have the wisdom to not kill them." Shining Armor's face promptly locks up as he ends up feeling something kick him in the crotch as a familar voice rings out "You know I figured you'd betray Cadence, and likely Aurora once she found out the truth and went back to her mother but I'm apalled that you would even consider killing them, General jackass." it said as Shining Armor went down in pain. As Shining was rolling on the floor, Celestia gasped due to her recognizing the voice. "Red?" "That's 'Zero' to you, Celestia," Red said as his ghost appeared. "Sheesh just how low must you sink? Considering everything you did to your sisters. Not to mention your own nieces...." "How are you here?" Celestia asked. "You were caught in the nuclear blast." Red laughed "Simple. I'm a ghost! I'm here to haunt you. MURDERER!!!" He souted pointing at her accusingly "Why are you calling me a murderer, when it was the NLR who wiped out an entire innocent town?!" Celestia asked Red began to laugh wildly "What are you talking about Apploosa? We never did that, we never even WENT there. We don't slaughter innocents.. No no no, there's more to the situation than you know, Tia." "What do you mean?" Red looked at her, a scarily determined look on his face. "There's more to this war than you think Celestia. We will win, and reveal the truth." Red smirked at her. "There is far more than you know....All will be revealed, In time..." He then began to fade. "Don't think I'm done with you yet, Celestia." Celestia now began to mull over this new information "More to it than we know? What could he mean by that...?" "Why should we care, Princess?" Shining asked, still in pain. "He died as a member of the rebels, and he's probably trying to further their cause by confusing you." "And YOU chose to abandon your own wife and sister even if the sister's life was a complete lie made by me, Just because you liked me more...Quite frankly Shining Armor, I'm surprised you chose to marry Cadence, and didn't try to marry me instead." She said walking away to try and think over the revelation. She made her way to the gym to help work off the stress, as well as to think as to what Red had meant. When she arrived, she wasn't surprised to Applejack and Rainbow sparring, as their rivalry had increased with them getting their energy sword. She smiled a bit as she was approaching some of the workout gear and gets to work. The princess went to the punching bag first, as it helped her get rid of the stress that she builds up in the course of a day. She was there for the better part of an hour. After that, she went to the treadmills to help think on what Red had meant. When she was done an hour later, she was more confused than she was to start off with. The only thing that she could reasonably guess was that the third party that Striker had mentioned was involved in that there was more to the war than she thought. She ends up finding Red lounging on her own chair, his ghostly feet kicked up on the desk. "And hello again. Tell me Tia, is there ANYONE you love truly? Other than your sisters considering we both know you LOVE them OH so much..." He said, showing clear sarcasm when he mentioned Celestia loving Luna and Nightmare due to everything she had done to them. Celestia raised an eyebrow. "And I assume you are haunting me just to try to unnerve me?" He laughed. "That is the main reason, yes, but seeing the current circumstances, I don't see why we can't at least talk to each other. Now, how about that answer?" Celestia remained silent, thinking over her answer as he spoke again. "After all your General Shining Armor, has no iota of love in his cold heart at all, considering he betrayed Cadence, AND Twilight, his own wife and sister. even if she was never his sister to begin with." "What are you saying?" Red shrugged. "Just that I'm thinking he only married Cadence for the prestige, and her because he saw her on an almost dialy basis, what with her foal sitting job. So I doubt you'd have your eyes on him." Red then leaned forward looking at her. "So I'll ask again. Is there ANYONE you love at all in that heart of yours? ANYPONY? Don't you truly love your sisters? Cause I've got questions for you anyway. Like why, in the blue blazes you took Luna's daughter Aurora away from her, and then effectively wiped her memories like that...and altered Luna's own...even lied to her as well...Shining Armor has no love in his heart...what of yours? Do you truly love your sisters? Is there ANYPONY you love?" "I do love my sisters. I took Dawn away from the moon and revived her. I put her inot a coma so she wouldn't have ot live throuh one thousand years on not knowing her mother. The reason I showed up at the old castle when I did is because I was going to retrieve Dawn, but Aurora and the other Elements were able to defeat her quicker than I thought, so I brought her into my Personal care, and had Cadence take care of her after she and the others had taken care of Sombra." Tears were rolling down Celestia's face now. "As for Aurora I put her into a coma much like Dawn. The only difference is that she became younger, physically, but her mind was intact. I didn't want her to know her mother had become a monster." "If you love them, then why do you keep the war going. If you truly loved them, you would have tried to come up with a peace treaty to end this war. But that still doesn't answer my question: Do you love anypony with all of your heart, and I don't mean Luna or Nightmare." "........Yes....there's....one....the...same one.....you both killed...and prevented from killing all of us..." She said. "Shadow Strike? Red asked. "Y-yes," Celestia said, more tears coming from her eyes and streaming down her face. Red gently got up, and approached her, giving her a hug, as he whispered "Would you like some good news now?" He asked her, looking deep into her magenta eyes. Celestia nodded. "Both me and him are alive and recovering. The reason we haven't tried to kill each other since Manehattan is that we agreed that where we were staying would be considered neutral ground while we were both there, and we stay out of each others way when possible." "And why are you telling me this?" "Because," Red said, "we are planning on returning soon." Red smirked as he began to fade "Gotta go...but you promise me One thing.....When Shadow gets back to you...Tell him the truth...about your feelings for him...Next time I see Moony and Luna, I'll tell them what YOU told me...even Aurora...MAYBE it might keep them from killing you...I don't know...but if your lucky, they may agree to talk to you about something You can do for them when the war's over to make things right..." He said as he slowly began to fade. "Promise me, that when he returns, you'll tell Shadow Strike the truth about your feelings." Sobbing, Celestia said, "I will." Red simply nodded, then he faded away completely. Chapter 12: EscapeLone laughed. He was laughing at the absolute stupidity of the Brotherhood. Even with out his armor, he was able to easily kill many of the idiots. After Red had kicked him, which was the fifth most painful thing he had experienced, the two began to move through the building they were in, both to kill the rest of the Brotherhood members in it and to get Lone's armor. Nightmare and the others had left in the Shadow at the insistence of Red and Lone. The fact they agreed was enough to surprise the mares, though they did so anyway. "Why are you laughing?" Red asked over the gun fire. "Because of their idiocy," Lone replied as he hurled an orb of violet magic at a group of enemies. "They have no unit cohesion." Red laughs "I see...So, THIS is that Brotherhood faction that Harmony mentioned Eh? My god. these guys are pathetic...Organization XIII was better than these bozos, and they were just nobodies, the lifeless shell of their former human selves who fell to the darkness in their hearts..." Red mused laughing as he attacked ferociously with his Z-Saber, even without his armor he was a force to be reckoned with, infact, it seemed he was far stronger, and faster than he ever was before. They eventually made their way to the armory, where they found Lone's weapons and armor. Once he came close enough, Lone's armor began to assemble around him, which took five minutes, and cast an eerie, almost iridescent emerald green glow that Red hadn't seen before. He raised an eyebrow and said, "So, does that have to do with the stuff Harmony told me about?" "Yeah," Lone said. "And I know you won't like it, but we can't tell the others unless the Brotherhood leaves us no option. Believe me, I wish they weren't here." "And what makes you think I won't instantly tell Moony when we get back? See, I don't like you. your an asshole. You lie, your vage as shock, and your a pain in the ass to begin with. I may be a part of your team but that's only because destiny chose that we work together. My loyalty will ALWAYS go to Moony and the NLR. I could care less about your own team, much less you." Red said, being, brutally honest. "Because the Brotherhood will find out if they know, and that will make them want to kill them more. Plus," Lone said, placing a finger on Red's chest for emphasis, "I know how ponies would react to this kind of knowledge. The fact the Brotherhood is focusing on me because of what I know should tell you that." "He's not wrong, Red," a female voice that didn't belong to Artemis said, "He knows how the Brotherhood acts. More so than us, anyway, and he has been fighting them since he arrived. The fact the others didn't know of it until now shows that he knows what he's talking about." Red sighed, shaking his head "I suppose you've got a point, Night Shade..." He said looking around for the companion who joined him after he returned. "AI?" Lone asked. "Yeah. Standard issue." "And yet," Nightshade said over the radio, "I have the best hacking skills I know of." "Not humble," Lone said. "She might be classified as 'Standard issue' but as far as I'm concerned, Shade's Anything but standard." he said smirking, as he liked this new partner of his. "Come on Nighty, show yourself." At his word, a life size hologram of a pegasus mare in a version of the Wonderbolts outfit that had the same color scheme as Red's robes appeared. "Pleasure to meet you, Lone. My AI comrades Artemis and Apollo speak highly of you. And may I add, probably a good thing the others haven't seen Artemis' projection." Lone chuckled a little before saying, "Definitely. But I think we can talk about this later. We need to get out of here." "Hiding more eh? Well I wanna meet Artemis in person." he said, before he smirked "Well Nighty, I look forward to holding ya in a hug later, to formally introduce you to Moony and the others." He said, knowing how Moony would love her likely the most. "Under his helmet, Lone raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess: She's able to go between a digital and physical form as well?" "Yes I am." "Noted," Lone said. "And you'll meet Artemis once we get to my ship, Red." Red nodded as Nightshade faded before they headed out to fight, and get out of there. After the stop in the armory, the two were able to mow down Brotherhood forces, and made it out of the building with ease. "Artemis, we need a pick up." "Copy that, Lone. I assume Red's with you." "Affirmative. ETA?" "Two minutes." Red smirked "Hey, Nighty, is THAT ready to go yet? "Almost, Red, but we won't be able to activate it in the city due to the fact property is expensive to replace. It'll have to be deployed outside the city." "I can get to it, Red." Red looked at Lone. "Hay no. it's Mine. I ain't letting you take it." he said, as they were heading out. "What I meant to say was that I can get you there." "Oh," Red said. "Then let's go." Red smiled "Nighty? Deploy it outside of town." He said, as he looked to Lone "I can buy us some time with it." "Falcon, coming in," Artemis said over the radio. "Quick," Lone said Red rushed ahead with him, to get on the Falcon and get out of town, to deploy his special surprise to buy them some escape time. The Falcon set down in the street, and the two got on. Once they were, the ship took off for the outskirts. "So," Red said, "You mind showing me what Artemis looks like." "Artemis, you good with that?" "Yeah," Artemis said before a light lit up above the two and between them. What appeared was a being wearing a silver toga, a bow and arrow on her back. But her most interesting feature, though, was that she resembled the beings Aurora had seen on the other side of the mirror portal. Which was to say she looked like a human. Red smirked. "Ah...Artemis...if I know my history...said to be the Greek Goddess of the Hunt correct?" he asked looking over the woman before him, even walking around her to see, as he awaited the destination to meet up with Night Shade with his special package, to buy them time to escape for certain as well as provide backup. He smiled and offered his hand to her. "It's an honor to meet you formally then. Though I'm kinda surprised you don't just make yourself a Pony form to be able to interact with us more." He said, seeing that considering she's an AI, she could EASILY do this, by altering her program's appearance data. "And why would I?" Artemis asked. "This is how my creators looked, in terms of species, and it's really only Lone and the others I care about in terms of opinion." "Red, I think you've looked at her enough. She may be an AI, but she still gets uncomfortable when a person she doesn't trust looks at her the way you are." "This coming from the guy who makes sure Nopony can trust him." he said smirking. "Well either way Artemis, it was just a suggestion. Relax...you can trust me okay? I'm a friend...even if I could toss Lone into a volcano to appease the fire gods..." He said with a chuckle to himself at his own joke, as he began to look around the ship, waiting to meet up with the others, along with Night Shade. "That's because he was told to keep those particular secrets, and you know what they are," Artemis said, "and do you not see a reason for that? Red smiled "Nope. I see nothing but more reasons to kick his ass." He said being genuinely honest, and he was clearly trustworthy. even if he was being brutally honest. "Hey, if you had seen all that stuff firsthand, you would keep them secrets too, if only to not give others nightmares." "But I'm not you." "And be glad you aren't," Lone said. "Already am, considering I don't want to be an vague prick who lies, and constantly gives everypony more reasons to beat me to death." he said, with a laugh as more items begin to show up on the Radar "Hmm? Oh my..." "Seriously," Artemis said, "that's what you go with. And we're near your stop." "I think I like her." He said to Lone as he went to the exit ramp. "Nighty? You there with the package?" he asked, knowing that he should be seeing his vehicle of choice soon down below to handle the incoming enemies. "It's just waiting for you, Red," Night Shade said as Lone lowered the ramp. "Then let's go," he said as he jumped out. Lone rolled his eyes. "I don't see why Harmony chose him." "Agreed. Plus, I'm already in a relationship," Artemis said. "That reminds me, how is Legion anyway? Red smirked, landing and saw his package, it was a large six wheeled Armored vehicle, and Red opened the driver door getting inside, and seeing his friend, and partner, Night Shade right next to him in the passenger seat. he gave her a kiss on her light blue cheek and a hug as well, smiling. "So, Night shade, Ready to go?" He asked, looking out to see the incoming enemies. As Red started the engine it came to life with a roar. He pressed a button on the dashboard, and the vehicle began to change shape, becoming a mech slightly taller than the prototype. Red engaged the boost engine on the back of his mech, and dashed right into the fray, drawing the Mech's gattling gun on the right arm, he went right to work mowing down, as a wing pack extended from the back and he took off, easily taking down a great deal of the mechs with it alone. Red also spotted a particular mech that could prove useful for the faction "Nighty, hack in, and take control, we can bring it back." He said, as she nodded and disappeared in a flash of light, turning into her AI form and instantly hacking into the mecha he had pointed out, The mech had stopped fighting, and Red was quickly defending it, as he attacked, soon reaching up and drawing the beam saber he had and began to continue attacking. Soon the white mech began moving alongside Red's, delivering roundhouse kicks, missiles from the shield on the left arm, and firing shots from it's blaster. The two worked together, easily tearing apart the enemy mechs, protecting both the town, AND their friends. soon enough, they were at the final one. Red charged up the arm cannon on his mech's arm, as Night shade charged the bazooka cannon on her own mech's equipment. they fired it together, as Red's shot melded with her own, and obliterated the final mech, Red smiled, and transformed back to vehicle mode, as he and Night shade quickly raced back to the base. Nightshade had ejected the pilot shortly after taking control of her mech. NLR BASE MAIN HANGER The white mech arrived first and landed, moving to a docking bay for maintainance, and shut down, as she appeared back inside Red's vehicle, as the Alpha team gathered, and looked as they heard a horn blare, as Red finally arrived home. He hit the breaks and stopped, right as soon as he slammed into Lone, who was sent into the far wall, and had to peel himself out of it, yet again. This being among the most painful things he was hit by. Red opened up the doors and stepped out "Girls, I want you to meet a new friend of mine, my new AI partner, Night Shade." He said as the shadowbolt mare stepped out. "She came back with me, and is able to change from an AI form, to do things such as pilot mechs, and manage their systems, manage the ship systems, and my own armor systems, but also can change into a flesh and blood pony form that you see before you." he said hugging her, and then hugging Nightmare and the others, minus Barb, Dawn and Chestnut who weren't in the hanger. Third, Lone thought as he walked over to Red and the others. "You know, you need a new way to get of that stress, Red. Is Nightmare and Fleur not enough?" This made Red clench his hand and made his eye twitch, while it made the others laugh, while it was a mix for the two aforementioned mares. Infact it was such a mix, that Red, Nightmare, Fleur, Luna, AND Night Shade, all punched Lone down into the floor, as hard as they could. "I think that's better." He said as he began to walk of, to find Barb, And his kids, to say hello, and that he was back for real. Five, Lone though as he got up, and really, it was only the top three things that had hit him that caused actual soreness, and even then One was the only noticeable pain. He made his way back to the Falcon, and, once he was inside, sent a message to Nightengale and Shadow about Fillydelphia. Red smiled finding them in the mess hall, and snuck up on barb as he covered her eyes "Peekaboo!" he said, smirking. "Dad/Daddy," Barb, Dawn and Chestnut yelled and hugged him. "Hey, girls. I missed you all so much. Did you behave?" They laughed "Yes, we behaved Dad/Daddy!" They had their moment and a celebration was held at the base, to celebrate not only the capture of 'Star City' but also the return of Red himself. That night, Red was with Nightmare in their room, as she gave him the amulet that Lone had given her sometime before, he put it on, and noticed a blue flame glow on it, as he smiled, Nightmare did not. She just pulled him into bed as he held her close, soon, their large bed was filled with him, Nightmare, Fleur, Luna, Night Shade, Dawn, Chestnut, Barb, and Aurora, his entire little herd/family, finally, officially reunited after so long. They had a great night's sleep this time. Chapter 13It's been six months since the events of Fillydelphia, which had been renamed 'Star City', and the return of Zero 'Red' Star, and the two factions were at a stalemate. Really, the only interesting thing that happened in those six months was that Alpha team had learned Shadow Strike had been placed in charge of Ponyville after the last general there stepped down, Spike had joined the NLR, though not in a combat role, and the technology of both sides had sky rocketed through anonymous donations of tech, though nothing huge, in terms of jump length, had happened. Red was wandering the halls to go check on Fleur for a while, as he had Night Shade with him for the time being, he was holding her hand smiling. "I truly do like ya Nighty, your a great friend and partner." He said to the AI turned mare. "Oh," a voice they both recognized as Artemis said, "and what about me?" Red and Night Shade both turned to see a mare with a silver coat, wearing organic-looking silver armor that resembled the old armor of the royal guard. "Artemis?" Night Shade said. "Yep," she said before looking at Red. "You like," she said with a wink, which got Red blushing. "B-b--but I didn't m-m-mean it like that," he stammered out. This got a laugh out of Artemis, who reverted back to her AI form as she was when Red first saw her. "Oh, I know. This was just my way of getting back at you for Lone." "Plus," Lone said, walking up from behind Artemis, "I asked the others if they wanted in, and they said yes, so long as you weren't harmed." "Wait what?" he asked. "And for the record Arty, Yes, I did like. You seem to be a nice friend who also looks nice. the only reason I keep attacking your partner is cause he's a lying prick who doesn't know when to stop being vague. regardless of whatever reason he has being good or not." He said, defending himself. "It's not lying," Lone said, "just telling part of the truth. And besides, if I had told you the truth, would you have believed me?" "And the others? Do you not remember me telling you how my friends reacted to that?" "What friends do you even have other than the dirt they all want to pound you into?! With your constant lying, vagueness and half truths, It's a wonder you even have somepony ON YOUR FREAKING SIDE." He told him. Lone rolled his eyes and turned back to the hanger, with Artemis going into his armor. "Simple. I was told to keep the truth from you guys, not them, as I met them before this started. And besides, everypony has secrets. Some just have more." "Oh shut the hay up." He said. "i've been sick of your shtick the moment you came here and started." "Then you should get a hospital room, 'cause I have more secrets, all of which I'm keeping that way for your guys' safety." Red rolled his eyes and just continued to walk away with Night Shade. "You do know if what Harmony told us is true," Night Shade said, "he's right." "Your taking his side?" "Just looking at things from a logical perspective like him is all." "I don't even care any more I just wanna punch his face in for acting like he's all high and mighty." Red said. "You also realize that, of the two things that would actually hurt, one is related to his wife, and even though you don't know her, you wouldn't do anything, and the physical one is being torn apart molecule by molecule while being conscience for it. It's going to be hard for you to beat those," Night Shade said. "Plus, he has earned the right to act that way. We know what he's done, even if it's just the two of us. Besides, he has eased up in the past month." Red sighs "I guess your right...he could...just afford to ease up a bit more..." Red said as they continued, with Red hugging her a bit, before they went to Fleur's room. "He is trying," Night Shade said as they arrived at Fleur's room. Red smiled and knocked on the door. The door opened a few seconds later, with said mare saying, "Red. Night Shade. It's good to see you both." Red smiles, as he enters with Night shade, and kisses Fleur. "I know, it's good to see you too, How've you been hmm? I believe, I might be owing you a date don't I? A dinner date I mean." Red said smiling. "I suppose, but only if Moony, Lulu, and Nighty join us." "Well I suppose they could, if they wished." He said smiling. "Oh, I am certain they will," Fleur said before Nightmare's voice came over the intercom. "All members of Alpha team, report to the war room asap." The three shrugged and rushed down. As they arrived, they saw Lone arguing with Nightmare. "How can you be certain it's them, Lone?" "Look at their tactics," he said, pointing to one of the active screens. "They're wearing our armor, but they're using the same tactics as six months ago. A group like the Brotherhood is never limited to just one city." "He's right," Luna said. "Their tactics resemble the Brotherhood ones, and Lone has proven that we can trust him in this regard, at the very least." "But how can we be certain he isn't with them?" Chrysalis said. "Because I could have tried to kill all of you in your sleep when you let me in, but I didn't." "What's going on?" He asked, as he looked to them looking over the screens. "We've had reports coming in from Lone's contacts of our forces trying to kill civilians in cities allied with Celestia," Aurora said, "and it might be the Brotherhood." "Well, it is the brotherhood...trust me." He said to them looking towards Lone. Lone raised an eyebrow, thinking, Now I see why she chose him for it. Red smiled, holding that medal that Nightmare had given him in his hand, as it hung around his neck "So, what's our plan? other than stop the 'Traitors'? anypony know?" he asked them. "Well," Aurora said, "we could try to get Celestia's attention abouth this, but I doubt she'd leave Canterlot to meet with us." "So what do you propose," Nightmare said. "We attack Ponyville." CANTERLOT "They what now!?" Celestia asked of her generals, along with Rainbow Dash and Applejack. The general, a mare with a beige coat, with a mane of navy blue with highlights of pink, said, "We've received word that the NLR is planning on both attacking Ponyville and is already attacking another city." "Who tipped us off, General Sweetie Drops?" "It was Anonymous Ma'am." She said simply, as she saluted having reported in. "Of course it was," she mumbled to herself. "And what do you think, Sergeant Nightengale?" "Well, Ma'am," he said, saluting, "I'd say those attacking the city are the impostors, as the NLR has never shown an inclination toward killing innocents that don't attack them." "I agree....I recommend we focus on the group that plans to attack Ponyville." "Then what do we do, Princess?" Shining asked. "We move our best troops here in Canterlot to Ponyville, as well as a few of our prototype walkers." They all nod and head out to prepare. Millennium Falcon- NLR base hanger- three hours later Lone, Artemis, Red, Night Shade, in her flesh and blood form, Shadow, and Nightengale were discussing the plan for Ponyville. "Okay," Shadow said, "let me get this straight: You want to attack Ponyvlle to draw Celestia out, just to get peace talks going? That is the stupidest plan I've heard." "Maybe," Nightengale said, "but, at the same time, it'll bring out the Brotherhood, maybe cause them to attack, which would allow us to show we're telling the truth." "Very likely...but tell me this why the shock would you even attempt peace with the Brotherhood?" Red asked looking to Lone. "Not the Brotherhood, but with Celestia and her forces. The NLR can't win against the Brotherhood by itself, and neither can Celestia's forces. Besides, with Nightengale being a personal guard for Celestia, and Shadow being one for the Elements, we do have a way for it to work." "And I imagine we won't find out what it is until then?" Artemis asked. "Heh...Maybe...if you asked REALLY nicely I might show ya...." "I'd rather you make sure it won't kill all of us," Lone said, "yourself included, before showing us." Red smirked "Oh don't worry. it shouldn't...well....might kill You..." "And you're saying this after you died and came back?" "When all of us know he's had worse situations before meeting you," Artemis added "I never even died to begin with. Plus why should he care? He pulled the same stunt I did with that." "Yeah, maybe. But I didn't try to kill my team mates, even ones I found and still find annoying to this day, and they can be worse then me." "Your mocking me aren't you?" Red asked with an unamused face. "Depends: do you think I'm mocking you, or just joking with you?" "I'm going to enjoy watching you leave." "Then you will need to be lucky, as standard protocol says I stay here for a year after everything is done to help with transitioning, not to mention convergence." "Whatever..." Red said, as he sighed, relaxing for the moment anyway. "That's definitely going to be interesting," Nightshade said. "Agreed," Artemis said. Red simply pulled Night Shade to him, and smiled "Well At least I'll have you by my side, along with the other mares I've fallen for..." Lone just rolled his eyes at this. "I'll never understand why some ponies like having more than one spouse," he mumbled. "Personal preference bantha fodder." Red said not even looking at Lone. "Whose ship are we on, again? With said ship having automated internal defense system that Artemis can control," Lone said as turrets popped out from the ceiling. "Hmph. No need to be rude." Red countered not afraid at all. "Just so we're clear. And who insulted who first here?" "You. To me." He said. "I was doing friendly joking. You're the one who decided to call me 'Bantha Fodder'." "I was joking too you twit." "Well, how about, then, if we do something that looks like an insult, we say it isn't after it's done. Deal," Lone said, holding out his hand to shake. "Hmm...sure. I suppose so." Red said, as he took Lone's hand, and squeezed. his immense strength that he had gotten after being revived practically crushed Lone's hand. "Anyway," Lone said, bringing his hand back, "Nghtengale, what did Celestia decide?" "To defend Ponyville, and It's safe to assume she will be going there, as well as Rainbow and Applejack, and Ii know for a fact me and Shadow are going to be there." "And does Celestia know about your other talents that she would look down on?" "Nope. Not even my signature one." "And what would that talent be I wonder?" Red asked Nightengale. "Not going to find out until after this, Red." "AH, Nothing at all. Okay then." He smirked, trying to goad Nightengale into telling him." "You can't goad me, Red. I've dealt with subtler attempts at it, and they all failed." "Ah now I see. Your real talent is being a kiss up eh?" He asked smirking again. "Not going to work. You'll need to get creative." Red laughed either way, it was fun to him. "Okay, guys. That's enough for now. I'll let you know when it's time for an update," Lone said before he turned off the communicator. "Whatever." Red said as he and Nightshade got up to leave "Somepony wake me when we get ready to go or when we get there." he said as he went to go sleep in a nearby set of quarters for passengers. "He does realize we're going to intentionally delay this for another six months for Gateway, right?" Artemis asked Lone. "No. He'd try to stop it, and we need it complete for our plan to work." "Should I inform home base, then?" Lone nodded. "Yeah." Red walked off to sleep with Night Shade. Chapter 1Ten years have passed since the defeat of Nightmare Moon at the hands of the Elements of Harmony wielded by Twilight Sparkle and her friends, and the Return of Princess Luna, however, it appears that all is not well. For Nightmare Moon, has returned through means that are unknown, and Luna has disappeared as well! Nightmare appears to be leading a rebellion against Celestia's 'Solar Empire' as she calls it, to bring forth her own rule, of the New Lunar Republic. A set of Ponies approach Princess Celestia at one of the numerous battlefields of the war between the factions. They each salute as one speaks up "You wished to speak to us Princess Celestia?" "Yes, General," she said, weariness in her voice. The war had been going on for the better part of five years, and arrayed before her were her three best generals. The others had been lost during the war. They were on the front lines with the soldiers, hoping to bolster their resolve, as this was the battle that would decide how hard or easy the rest of the war, however long it may be, would be. "What is the status of the enemy forces?" she asked, looking at the general to her left. He saluted and responded "They are being pushed back for now Milady, as Strategy at current, isn't much of a use for either side, Both you and Nightmare Moon are of similar ages, it stands to reason that both of you know of strategies to defeat the other...but for the time being we are pushing the enemy back, and I believe we should succeed in this fight." He reported trying to give her some good news to bring a smile to her muzzle. "Good," she said. "And the Troops morale?" "It is currently at a decent level, rising as well thanks to us being out there assisting the troops ma'am." he responded. "And what of Materials?" She asked. "Blaster packs are beginning to grow short, but steady supply for the time being. We are about to run out of Thermal detonators, as we only have a few left. the Armor is thankfully holding and we have enough Bacta Tanks to be able to heal any soldiers wounded by the fighting...but I worry that the enemy may attempt a supply raid to take our things, or continue to block off our supply routes. We do have some Rocket troops to fight from the back lines where they won't be targeted very easily." "Put guards around the supplies so that the rebels can't steal easily," she said to the general to her left. She then looked to the one in front of her sand said, "What's the status of the Y-wing and V-wing bombers, as well as the ARC-170's?" "Understood Ma'am." He spoke, as he began to go leave to do so. The center one saluted before speaking. "The V wings are holding, as are the ARCs... but the Y wings are running low on fuel. their engines need more to work proficiently..." He told Celestia, delivering the good news, but also mentioning the bad as well. "Excellent. And the turbo tanks and AT-TEs?" These were among the most powerful land vehicles that Celestia had under her command, and this front had only one tank and three supporting walkers, but the base had only a few mechanics on hand that could work them and repair them. he shook his head "We've lost two of the Walkers, however the Tank has taken some damage but is Holding for the time being. "Good." She was sadden by the loss of the two walkers and those that piloted them, but she knew that their sacrifice would help bring the wars end closer. "And what vehicles are the New Lunar Republic using?" "They are using X wing crafts, to be able to counter our own fliers...along with...A Wings, and Arwing fighters...on the ground they are using some Landmaster Tanks, along with the TX-130 fighter tanks...what's more stunning is that some soldiers claim that they are also using some extremely fast Mecha to deal with our heavier artillary...some call them Gunmen...others call them Gundams......" "What do the troops report of these units capabilities?" This was the first time that Celestia had heard of these mechs, and was worried about their capabilities. "I'm afraid that is unknown...wait..." he spoke, placing a hand to his earpiece. "i'm getting a report...I was wrong. we only lost One of our walkers...The other was damaged and was brought back online, and is currently working again now as we speak..." he then thought of some reports "As for the mecha units, it appears all are capable of High speed flight, along the ground, and some are capable of flight. they appear to each be equipped with a beam saber or two, a beam rifle, and a shield of some form, be it beam or physical, and mounted to the arm...On top of this they are very durable, but so far, the turbo tank and our AT-Te walkers have been able to knock them out of the sky with blasts however neither one can compare to it's movement capabilities, the only thing that seems to be able to do so are our aerial fighters..." "Good. Tell the fighters they are to concentrate on enemy air, and the bombers the ground forces, especially the mechs." She then looked to the one on her right and asked, "Has she arrived yet?" He nodded and went off to do so, as the last general shook her head "I'm sorry Princess, there has been no word of her arrival. Nopony knows where she is at current. it is believed that she's not at the battle at all." "Good. And the others?" She shook her head "Nothing Ma'am." Celestia visibly relaxed at this news. "That's good news indeed. Should they come, alert me at once." She nodded "Agreed...and Princess...might I suggest that for those Mecha we send a scouting party to try and steal one? or some blueprints perhaps? To use some ourselves?" She suggested as she went to go. She was about to respond when a high pitched noise filled he air, and the soldiers around her began to scramble in a panic. "What's going on, General?" Celestia asked, fear in her voice. She looked over "I'm not sure, it appears two ships have appeared and are attacking us, they are taking out our bombers before they can even be boarded to fly!!!" she exclaimed as the reports came in of a shoddy looking ship and another Sleeker modeled ship had just dove in attacking them without warning. The sleeker one in particular, never even appeared on he scanners until it attacked. This made Celestia panic, and with it, the memories of six years ago, when the events that led to this war had started, began Six years ago It was a beautiful day in Canterlot. It had been two weeks since Tireks defeat, and the citizens had quickly recovered from the attack. She and Luna had been able to assist Twilight as much as they could, but Celestia did not want to interfere to much, as it would cause Twilight to subconsciously think that she would always have help. Right now, Celestia was involved in boring paperwork. "Guard," she said to one of the guards, "could you please go and get my sister. I would seek her out my self, but if I am to have any hope of having free time later, I need to work on this paperwork as much as possible. "Yes, Your Highness," the guard replied, and began to make his way to Luna's room. The halls were covered in numerous decorations related to Luna, and Twilight herself, and other assorted Decor, that were in celebration of the defeat of Tirek. Back in Celestia's study, Celestia had just finished the page she had been working on When she heard laughter coming from behind her, then a voice she had not heard for many years. "Hello, Sister," Nightmare Moon said. The Guards instantly moved to defend Celestia as the one who had been sent off returned in a panic "Luna is gone Princess. it's as though she was kidnapped!" Nightmare snickered, bringing her hand to her mouth to try to hide it. "Ah, yes. My other sister and fellow Princess of the night. Tell me, Celestia, what do you think I did to her?" Celestia glared at her as she said, "Whatever it is, you better have not killed her." "And what benefit would I reap from that? I would lose the pony I have that would prevent you from attacking me." "Then did you come here to gloat?" "If I had, I would have done so already," Nightmare said as she pulled a piece of paper out of her dress, which looked as if it was part armor, part dress. She handed it to Celestia and said, "Now, if you excuse me, I have other things I must take care of. And you may want to actually train the guard in combat. You could have had all of them here, and they would have done nothing." She then disappeared in a flash of purple light. Celestia then looked down at the piece of paper and saw that it was folded. She opened it, and what she read shocked her, as she began to read over the message in complete shock, even sitting down to take in what she just read. Dear Celestia, We are the New Lunar Republic. It is time that the Night was given it's fair due, Surrender to us, and no harm will come to you. The time of your Solar Empire is at an end. it is time for the Night to rule, for your Sister, to rule. Please, do not force us to fight...should you choose to fight against us, we will not hold back our power against you, to take control. Signed, Captain Zero 'Red' Star of the NLR Author's Note This is a Collab with LoneShadow. and it's my first attempt at such an occurance. Chapter 4It has been a day since Lone Shadow revealed himself to the leaders of the NLR, and he was waiting in the war room for the three mares to physically arrive and for Red to connect from his ship. He was checking over his armor for a third time when Luna, Nightmare, and Chrysalis walked in. "Ladies," he said, giving a respectful nod, which they returned. Red came on a second later. "Captain." "Lone." Red responded. "Now, for the plan," Lone said. "As you are all aware, there is a magical force field around Canterlot," he said as he brought up a holographic display of the city. "Right now, the NLR hasn't been able to get agents inside the city due to some part of the spell. My plan is thus: By using a spell I learned, I can make it to where me and the captain are able to infiltrate the city. That is the easy part. The hard part is getting to the three Elements, or at least it would be, if I wasn't able to turn into shadows." He held up his hand to stop the questions before they started. "I will use it to not only find the Elements, but to take them and leave duplicates of them, while also planting a seed of the spell that, when combined with the logic we plan on using, will turn then to our side. As for where we'll take them and hold them until they are with us, I don't know." It was here that Red spoke up. "What kind of Spell is this that you plan to use? On top of that, what is to say that the duplicates won't be noticed to be somewhat different from the others?" He asked, bringing up the obvious problem that could effectively bring the whole plan down. Though there was also somepony else Red wanted to try and go see whilst they were at Canterlot. An old friend he was fairly worried about, and wanted to try and help, by getting her to their side. "The spell I will be using is just one that will make them more . . . open to suggestions. Doesn't mean that if we tell them to jump into a volcano with as many explosive they can carry, they'd do it, but rather they would think about it more so. As for the duplicates, I'll be using a spell that I'll be casting as I take them. It will analyze what they are wearing, and, as I use the mind spell, it will also analyze memories, leading to a duplicate loyal to the one who made it, but not the real thing, so we would need to find a place to hide the Elements once I get them." Lone looked to Red and said, "Captain, when's the soonest you and your ship can get here? I want us to land here," he said, pointing to a patch of land just outside of Canterlot, far enough away so that only those with binoculars in the city could see it, but close enough that ponies wouldn't have to walk for a long time, "by the end of the day. Once we're in the city, we find a place to hide, which will also be where we take the Elements once we get them." Red smiled "Won't take me long to get there to you. My ship's very fast, in addition, I actually have an idea for where we can hide out, and where we can take the girls once we get them. An old friend of mine lives in Canterlot. Her name's Fleur de lis. I've been hoping to try and go talk to her, to see if I could convince her to join our side too. So, this plan of yours could potentially let me kill two birds with one stone, as the expression goes. Her home, is right here." He said, in his Shadow Trooper armor, which was a full black set of armor, but had blue sections on the eyes, mouth, And along various undersections of the armor. He points to a spot in Canterlot, which shows a dot, and details a fairly nice house. It would be the perfect place to hide, both themselves and the girls once they were captured. Lone nodded. "Good. I'll see you in a few hours." "Of course," Red said before cutting the connection. Lone then looked to the mares. "And what do you three think of the plan? None of you spoke up." Nightmare spoke up first "Well, I for one, believe it to be a fairly good plan." She said, as Luna and Chrysalis both nodded in agreement, both stating that none of the three had any problem with the plan at all. A Few Hours later Red lands with the Rogue Shadow to pick up Lone and once he boarded and the took off for Canterlot, Red spoke. "Here's my only statement here. When we approach Fleur about joining our side and letting us stay at her house, do NOT use your little suggestion spell on her. She's an old friend of mine. I'm positive that she'll agree to help us, if I talk to her." He stated, explaining that if Fleur decides to help them, it's of her own free will. Not because Lone uses a suggestive spell to make her agree because of the magical suggestion. Red also wanted to be the one to talk to her due to their history of being old friends. "Fine, but if I even get a hint of something going on regarding her, I can do what I want," Lone said, crossing his arms. "Deal?" "Red growled for a moment, as he truly didn't want to agree to it, but relented "Fine. Fine..." He said. Lone raised his hands in a "I'm just saying" gesture, and said, "No need to get hostile, captain. I 'll do that only, and only if, it is obvious she intends to report us to Celestia. Think stuff out entirely before getting mad, would ya?" "Hmph. I don't think she'll do that...but either way, whatever." After a short time, they land at the specified spot, and disembarked from the ship, having changed into some civilian clothing with Red leading the way to Fleur's home. They made their way through town, using back alleys, and occasionally dodging a few patrol guards, whom were easy to avoid. When they arrived, he knocked on the door. The two, wearing civilian clothes, waited for a few seconds before they heard a mare with a prench accent say, "Coming!" A second later, the door opened to reveal a tall, white mare with shoulder length pink mane and a similarly colored tail. She wore a knee length white dress with accents of pink. Though the dress was beautiful, it, for lack of a better way of saying it, was trying to cover a lot of surface with relatively little fabric. When she saw the two of them, her expression became one of shock. "Red?" was the first thing she said in the minute since she had opened the door. Red smiled, as he hugged his old friend, her fur being soft to the touch, which was understandable, given her career as a model. Happy to see her old friend, she hugged him back just as much, as she opened it completely "Please do come in! It's so good to see you again Red. Allow me to get you boys a drink of some kind, so we can talk and catch up on how things have been!" She said with a smile, as she turned and went to walk to her kitchen, her hips swaying with each step she took. "What would you boys like to drink if anything at all?" She asked, as Red and Lone entered the house, shutting, and locking the door for good measure, and relaxed on her couch infront of a coffee table. "I'll have a nice cup of Coffee please Fleur." Red asked, as he could easily smell the coffee brewing in the kitchen. "Sir? What do you want?" She called, referring to Lone Shadow. "Please," Lone said, "Just call me Lone. And what do you have?" "I have tea, coffee, water, and that new drink type called 'soda'." "I'll take a soda." "Of, course." It was another minute before she came back and handed the two their drinks. She sat down and said, "So, Red, what brings you here?" She asked Red smiled, taking his drink as he looked to his old friend. "It's....very important Fleur...please.....listen carefully...we...are a part of the New Lunar Republic. the 'rebel faction' who are fighting against Celestia, to give the Night it's proper due...at current we would like to hide out here, to be able to put in motion a plan to help us get an edge on Celestia and her empire of the Sun...We'd...like you to join us." He mentioned nervous that she'd say something that neither wanted to hear. "I'm not asking this as a member of the NLR trying to find more ponies to join our cause..I'm asking this as an old friend who wants to avoid fighting against a beautiful mare like you...much less, one of his oldest friends..." He said, knowing about how the two of them grew up together, being very close. "So...will you join us?" He asked her as she took a sip of her drink before speaking, looking them both in the eyes, particularly Red. "Yes, I will join you. I admit I've always fancied the Night more than the day, so I will happily join your cause. Plus, it'll allow me to stay close to you again, darling Red~" She said with a playful giggle in her voice. As long as their room is sound proofed, Lone thought. "So," Lone said, sitting in a more relaxed position, "I imagine you're curious as to why we came here?" She nodded lightly as she too was relaxed "Yes, I'm curious as to what your plan is if your coming here to hide out for the time being." She said, as she wanted to hear about it from Lone, and Red. "Well," Lone started, we came here to bring the Elements of Generosity, Kindness, and Laughter on our side." Fleur actually perked up a little here. "Well, if you wish to bring Rarity into the fold, I could help." "How?" Lone asked, raising an eyebrow. "Me and Rarity are actually close friends, and she often comes over to discuss fashion." "Well, that might work," Lone said. "When is she supposed to come over next?" "Sometime in the next hour." "Right. Red, you get the speech ready, I'll prep the spell. Fleur," Lone said, looking at Fleur, "think you'll be able to keep her busy for a few minutes once she arrives?" "Yes," Fleur said confidently. "Right." Red nodded, as he relaxed, beginning to plan out the speech, as Fleur moved to relax by her old friend, even giving him a quick kiss to his cheek, before she took their empty drinks, and went to put them away. The three had finished preparing in less then three minutes. Once that was done, Lone cast a modified invisibility spell on him and Red, making it to where they could see each other, but others couldn't. They waited for forty five minutes before a knock was heard on the door and a fake Canterlot voice that could only belong to Rarity said, "Fleur, it's me." "Coming, Rarity," Fleur said. She opened the door, and Rarity, wearing an outfit that was both functional for combat but also fashionable, walked in. Her out fit was comprised of a purple top shirt that was form fitting and left much of her back bare. It also had a small, purple skirt with leggings with a diamond pattern down the sides (Think Ashoka's second outfit). As the fashionista made her way to the couch, Fleur mad a small signal to Lone and Red, telling them it was time. The two looked at one another and nodded. Thanks to his magical talent, Lone was able to cast three spells at once, and that is what he did. First was a silencing spell that would prevent Rarity from screaming for help. The second was a mix of two other spells. It prevented Rarity from moving, while also preventing her from using magic. The third was the suggestion spell. All three of these were cast at the same time, essentially making Rarity helpless. Lone then released the invisibility spell, making him and Red visible to the rest of the world again. Even though she couldn't move, it was obvious from looking at her eyes that Rarity was afraid. "Don't worry, Rarity," Fleur said. "Soon, you will know the truth," she said, nodding to Red as she did. Red nodded and moved to speak as well, approaching Rarity, and beginning to gently massage her shoulders, to help further relax her, which visibly assisted in doing so. "Rarity, my dear friend...Surely you can see that Celestia's in the wrong...The Lunar Republic isn't the enemy, Celestia is...after all...You remember when those horrid Diamond Dogs captured you, because you had access to a spell that enabled you to locate gems under the surface? Well...Celestia KNEW of them being in the area.....AND of your capture, and she COULD have done something to stop them from taking you, and for that matter, she COULD have sent in some guards to save you from them.....BUT she didn't do a single thing...Instead, she left you to rot there...until Spike and the others saved you...but the far more important thing here is that our dear Celestia COULD have prevented the entire capture, but did no such thing...What do you think about that? Makes you want to turn against her to make her pay, doesn't it?" he asked the lovely unicorn, who was quite well endowed, though in his opinion, not as much as Fleur or definitely not Nightmare Moon, but he had told her the speech to try and get her to their side, and looked at her, looking into her beautiful, sapphire blue eyes to see what she had hought and would do, as he also looked to Lone for him to help Rarity be able to speak... "I should also mention that, I believe that Celestia also got a few of those Diamond Dogs on her side too..." Red then nodded to Lone to remove the silencing spell, which he did. "So, Rarity," Lone said as he kneeled down so he was at eye level with her. "Do you want to help us?" Rarity answered almost immediately. "Yes," was all she said. Lone grinned, while also releasing the other spells. "In that case," he said, getting up and reaching down to Rarity with his right hand, which she took. "Welcome to the New Lunar Republic." "Victory for the Night," Red said in a chant like voice, pumping his fist in the air. "Defeat for the Day," Fleur chanted, doing the same motion. "May the night rule over all," Lone chanted, doing the same. "And may the sun fall before our might," Rarity said, the chant having been put in her mind with the suggestion spell. Red smiled, before hugging Rarity. "Welcome to the team, my dear friend." He said, Fleur joining in as well, as she also returned it, before Red smiled to her "Tell us Rarity, as Lone and I plan to try and sway Fluttershy and Pinkie to our side...where can we find them? Would you perhaps know where they are located at?" He asked, knowing that, now that she was on their side, she would no doubt gladly tell them where her friends were located. "Of course, Darling. Fluttershy is in the royal gardens. "No surprise there," Lone mumbled. "As for Pinkie," Rarity said, "I have no idea." It was then Pinkie appeared in an outfit that hugged her body and was colored white. "Well, duh. I'm right here, silly" Everypony but Lone jumped at this. "And you don't have to do anything to me," she said with a smile. "I've already seen the points Redding and Lone were going to have you guys use, and they're right." Lone was the only one not confused by this statement. "Then welcome to the New Lunar Republic, Pinkie," Lone said, holding his hand out to shake, which she took. Red smiled "Well then. perhaps Lone and I should go get Fluttershy..." He said, looking to Pinkie "Unless somehow you can get her here within an second or two.." He said smirking a bit, Not expecting Pinkie to do so at all, much less be able to, even considering what she had just done. "Let it happen, Pinkie." Lone said. Pinkie then turned around, with Lone holding up five fingers for a countdown. Five Four Three Two One As Lone closed his last finger, Pinkie spun around, with Fluttershy bound and gagged, terror in her eyes. The look on everyponies face, Red's especially, was priceless. Lone then cast the suggestion spell on Fluttershy, as well as a spell that would allow her ot change between her normal form and her bat pony form at will. "Show's all yours, Red," Lone said, breaking Red out of his surprise. Red shook his head a bit, as he gently approached her, and untied her, even ungagging her, as he stroked her mane, behind her ears, being extra relaxing to her "Now just relax Fluttershy...after all, we aren't your enemies at all here...all we want is to help you..especially for you to join us in the New Lunar Republic...we aren't your enemies at all. Celestia is...See, we know about your little incident in Sweet Apple Acres, where you were turned into a bat pony...and what ended up happening, was that when you wanted to simply TRY and talk to the vampire fruit bats to make them leave the farm, or at least, move to a different part, But, instead, Twilight decided to try and use her magic in combination with your special STARE, to force those poor defenseless bats into leaving...rather than give them a choice in the matter, she was going to force them to, and in doing so, she caused you to be turned into a bat pony...Which might I add, looked beautiful as...you looked much more beautiful as that bat pony...than you do normally but that's just me..but in addition to what I've explained for why that went wrong...you see, in the Lunar Republic, we have all the bat ponies at our command, since they all swore loyalty to Luna and Nightmare Moon long ago...." He motioned for Lone to free her from the silence. "So...will you join us?" He asked, looking into her cyan eyes, as they slowly turned to a shade of ruby red, her fur dulled, and changed, to look a small bit more madded, rough even, as fangs grew from her mouth, small, but sharp, her fur also looked much more madded, and her wings changed from normal furry wings, to Bat wings, She smiled, with a small purr from Red stroking behind her ears, which had grown more furry, and her mane, she then spoke up. "Yes...I will join you, Master Red..." She said, showing her bat side's utter loyalty to the Night, and their cause. Red smiled, scratching behind Flutter's Mane, as she had turned to her bat form to outwardly show her new allegiance to the NLR. "Well Lone...I'd say this is going to be Mission Accomplished for the time being...Should we get back to the Rogue Shadow to be able to Get us some rest, along with getting back to the base of leaders to let them meet our new recruits?" he asked, as he walked over to Fleur, and hugged her, as Flutterbat ended up following him just to get him to continue scratching her...it was kind of adorable. "Tomorrow. We might as well pull some recon while we're here. And besides," Lone said, shrugging, "It's been a while since I've been here, and I want to see how the place has changed." "You've been here before?" Rarity asked. "Yeah. About two years, just before the war started." "I must agree with Lone," Fleur said. "Plus, I would like to see the city one last time, because I doubt It'll be the same when I come back." "Wait," Lone said. "You're coming with us?" "Of course. Where Red goes, I go." "Aww, gee, I wonder if that means you'll want to sleep with me tonight..." Red spoke jokingly. "Of course I do. it's been years since we last saw each other, and I intend to spend as much time as I can with you today...much less tonight!" She said playfully as she hugged him. "Well Fluttershy, I think for the sake of our cover and everything, you should change back to your normal pony form....don't worry, if you like this bat form, you can change into it once we board the ship to go and leave, and go back to base." He said, as she nodded, changing back to the pony form, as a disguise of sorts now. "Other than these four, Your the only one of us who can move freely Lone...so, unless I go with Fleur, as a sort of Escort, I'll have to put on a cloak like disguise....." "Actually, there is one thing I can think of that would let you walk around freely," Lone said. "And what's that?" Red asked. Lone shrugged. "A simple illusion spell that's been modified to allow those that saw you as it was being cast to see the real you. Others would see somepony else. What do you say?" "Possibly....What 'alternate pony' would this be though?" He asked, skeptical of this, as Fleur smiled, holding his arm, to possibly have him be her escort anyway. "Perhaps I should also report into Moony and the others before I begin my own side of this Recon, just to let them know...I did want to check out that base you were talking about when you shown up...you wouldn't happen to know about exactly WHAT weapon it is would you?" Red asked, recalling his intel warning the previous day when he had appeared to them. "You can look like any pony you want to. As for the base, we could probably do a fly-by while we're heading back to the base. I only have a few schematics my net work gave me, and they are probably outdated by now.," Lone said. "You want me to cast the spell or not?" "Yes sure, may as well." He said nodding, standing away from Fleur so that she wouldn't get caught in the spell. "I'll report in shortly after. Perhaps take Fleur with me anyway to let her see the ship..." Lone nodded. He began to charge his spell, which took but a second. Once it was charged, Red was enveloped in a green aura. When it faded a few seconds later, there were no changes to Red physically, but whenever the others didn't focus on him, they saw a pony that looked like Fancy Pants. "It'll last while we're still here in the city. Now if you all will excuse me," Lone said, "I'm heading out." He walked over to the door, opened it, and left. Red smirked, as he had the appearance of a pony similar to Fancy Pants. He quickly took Fleur's arm, looking to her "So, darling, shall we go then? perhaps I should also have a cane just to complete the facade?" He asked, reacing into Pinkie's mane, and removed a long, slender cane, perfectly complimenting the look, but could be removed anyway. Early the next morning Lone was the only one of the group up, with the others either on the floor, couch, or in one of the beds. He was thinking about just how more difficult his mission was, now that three of the Elements were with the NLR. This complicates things, he thought. At least Twilight wasn't turned. We would not survive that. He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard something from outside the house. It sounded like armored ponies. Crap, Lone thought. He went to wake the others up, but he was stopped when he heard Celestia, using the Royal Canterlot Voice, say, "WE KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE. RELEASE THE ELEMENTS YOU'VE KIDNAPPED, COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP, AND I SHALL GRANT YOU MERCY. IF YOU DO NOT, YOU WILL BE BRANDED A TRAITOR, AND TREATED AS SUCH!!" This woke the others up instantly, with Rarity, who was on the couch, falling down to the floor. Red rushed out of the room he and Fleur were in. Fleur came out behind him, wearing a black combat outfit, which left her midsection open for view. Her right arm was bare from the shoulder down. The outfit showed off her chest, which was slightly larger than Fluttershy's, and accented her other curves. Red was already dressed as well, in his own combat outfit, He wasn't in armor, but instead was in an outfit, similar to the Corellian Flight Suits, and was ready to fight alongside Fleur as he whispered to her and the others "it seems we have two options....A: Feign a surrender....and escape...or, B: possibly release the elements back to them, on the condition they allow us to leave peacefully..." He suggested to them, looking to Lone, as if referring to the duplicate ony plan that he had detailed earlier. Red decided to do something chancy, and spoke up at the door "Hold on Celestia...If I come out and surrender, You let the others go...or if we release the girls to you....You let us go free with no trouble..." He said, trying to reason with her to buy them some time. Lone was silent for a moment, considering the options. He then thought of something he knew Red wouldn't like. He pulled out his holo-disk and contacted Barb. "Barb, how fast will you be able to get the Shadow here by yourself?" "About ten minutes. Why?" "Just make sure your ready for a 22-pick up." Barb's eyes widened at this. She then nodded. "I'll get there as soon as possible." Lone nodded and cut the connection just as Celestia spoke up again. "NO. THERE IS NO WAY ANY OF YOU ARE GETTING OUT OF THIS WITH OUT REPURCUSIONS!!" Lone smiled, as this meant they could, had to, do things his favorite way. The fun way. "Red, get your saber out. The rest of you: whatever weapons you got, get 'em out. We need to hold out for ten minutes." "Why?" Rarity asked. "Because we're doing a combat pick up." "Lone, are you crazy," Red said as he walked away from the door. "The shield dome will stop the Shadow cold." "Just cover me," Lone said as he was engulfed in shadows. When they receded five seconds later, Lone was wearing the armor he had worn when he first met Red. He grabbed a thermal detonator from his ammo pouch and primed it. "Let the fun commence," he said as he threw the detonator out the window. "Pinkie, blaster pistols," he said. Pinkie reached for her mane and pulled out two pistols with long barrels and tossed them to Lone. He caught them and faced the door, the pistols held up by his sides. He got just in front of the door when the detonator he threw out the window detonated. (0:08) Lone kicked the door off it hinges with enough strength, it hit three ponies hard enough to kill them. He saw Celestia was at the very back of the mob of guards, which were probably all of the guard in Canterlot. He brought the pistols down and began to fire at the guards. Every single shot was a kill. He went through the packs on both weapons, which held fifty shots each, in about twenty seconds. By this time, the others had joined in the fight, Red using his saber to kill the guards he engaged with ease. Fluttershy had an old fashioned sword, which she used to lop off guards heads as she flew over them. Pinkie was using her party cannon like it was an artillery gun, blasting away groups of guards, with vey little being left over. Rarity had her own saber, which had a purple blade, and she deflected blaster bolts back at the ones who had fired them. Fleur was a demon, using a dual-bladed saber with a blue blade to kill the guards that came after her. When Lone was out of ammo, he dropped the pistols and reached down to where his energy sword were, as he had created a second one so he could dual wield them. He drew them and ignited them. He then began to carve his way through the sea of guards to Celestia, walking at a good pace as he did so. Once he was out of the mob, with Celestia still a good fifty feet away, he sprinted at her. She tried to stop him with magic blasts, but he either dodged them or deflected them. Once she was in his reach, Lone slashed with his swords. Celestia brought her hands up, as if to protect herself. Lone's blades hit their mark. Celestia screamed as her left hand was cut off. This caused the remaining guard to falter. Many were killed as they looked to Celestia, those that weren't ran to her to get her to the castle for medical attention. Lone did not stop them. As they were retreating, Lone deactivated his swords and placed them back on his thighs. "Well," Rarity said, "That was certainly interesting, but how do we get out if here." "Haven't you learned yet, Rarity," Lone asked smugly. "I have many skills." At this Lone began to charge his magic, and concentrate it in his left hand, only it was a purplish color, instead of green. He was like this for nearly two minutes, in which time, no more guards came. When it had finished charging, he brought his left hand across his chest and clenched his hand. Fleur's house was near the outskirts of the dome, so Lone turned to it. He then brought his arm across his chest quickly, opening his hand as he did so. Three violet orbs of magic came from his hand and made their way to the dome. When they impacted, the dome began to crack where the orbs hit, and the crack expanded outward from those points. The dome eventually collapsed, just as the Shadow made it's way to their location. It came down, it's ramp lowered. The group made their way to it and boarded. As Lone, who was the last, got on, the ramp rose, and the ship rose, then flew off, away from Canterlot. Red said nothing as he was making sure the others were alright, before he took over the controls, to make a quick fly-by of the base that Lone's intel had mentioned was going to be making a new weapon for the war. "Hmm...is that the base your intel had mentioned?" He asked, pointing it out to them, as they began to approach, slowing down, staying cloaked, as Red quickly put on his armor, Checking over his lightsaber, and getting three extra weapons. Two Submachine guns, and a combat shotgun, along with some extra thermal detonators. "Yeah, that's it. Good luck, Red," Lone said. "Take the Shadow back to base with the girls." He said, being loaded up. "I'll handle this one on my own." He said as he approached the loading ramp, which opened up, as he stood at the top of it. Fleur approached him, worried. "Be safe, my love..." she said as she kissed his cheek hugging him, as he had his helmet off. Red smiled, and held her gently, returning the kiss to her own forehead. "Just who the hell do you think I am?" He asked with a playful smirk, oozing with confidence, and put his helmet on, preparing to jump out. As Red jumped out of the ship, Barb sent a holographic message to Nightmare and the others that they were en route to the base. Red was performing a free fall, down to the large base below. His helmet had given him the base readout, to allow him to see what was somewhat the same, including the giant hanger made for the weapon. He also notices a vehicle set nearby it, and decides to effectively take two birds with one stone. His armor, was black as the night was, and his helmet looked like a dragon ninja headpiece, and mouth covering, clearly showing he's a combat stallion. His visor was crimson red, as though covered in blood, with his two shoulder pads, which seemed like three plates stacked together for protection, were golden in color, as was the section of his helmet on the top, behind the forehead. All in all, it was a very intimidating appearance. As he approached his destination, he positioned himself perfectly, and landed, with his fist pounding the ground below, along with landing in a kneeling position. He wasted no time and dashed right ahead, entering the stair well, sliding down planting some thermal detonators along the walls, and the stairs as he slid down the railing, even tossing a few extra grendades down the hall, which detonated soon after they landed, bouncing a bit as well, as he got closer to the ground floor, and was close to the final destination. They had all finished preparations, it was the final stages, and their great weapon was ready to lauch. Their weapon was a Giant Walker Mech When the grenades detonated, announcing his presence, the base went into lockdown, with the main hanger doors being shut and locked, to prevent him from escaping, as he reached the bottom, the red siren warning lights were flashing as the Alarm went off, Red smirked, knocking on the door, his Shotgun ready. "Knock Knock..." He said softly as someone on the other side opened it up answering. "Who's there?" He said before screaming. "SHOTGUN!" He cried as he blasted him point blank with a shotgun to the face. After kicking away the now headless body, he proceeded to massacre the rest of the guards inside, using his lightsaber, he even began to attack them with what appeared to be blasts of magical force, almost as though it was a gust of wind, or being electrocuted with lightning that had went from his fingertips into them. He had even infused his lightsaber with Lightning for added damage in his combo attacks with his saber. The attack was long, and powerful as Red was easily holding out with very little trouble, being the best fighter of the force, having only lost a single match, being with Lone when they met. Shortly before he could board the new walker to steal it, it's blueprints, and torch the base, he was surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of guards. All primed to kill him, as Red began to reach out with the magical force he had used earlier, and before they knew what had happened, their weapons were floating away from them, and soon, they began to do the same, all rotating around Red as though he were a tiny Sun...as this happened an orb surrounded him, appearing cloudy, and sparking with electricity, as though a hurricane...He brought his hands together, and spread them out wide, as he sent everyone flying away into the walls of the base, and into the ceiling and upper catwalks, causing everyone that was 'orbiting' him to either be killed from the injuries, or knocked out. Red rushed up to the walker and boarded it, turning it on, as it began to walk away from it's post. He activated it's turrets and blasted the door, and walked out, finding a set of a few vehicles inside it's armored cargo hold on the back of it. including A Motorcycle which he would put on his ship, a four wheeled ATV which also appeared to have an attatchment for guns to be placed on the front of it if desired, along with numerous other ATVs, and some jeep looking vehicles. Red smirked, as he just won them not only a weapon, but some extra ground vehicles. After blasting out of the base with it's turrets, and walking away the safe distance, he pushed the button on the hand held detonator, causing the base to explode, completely and totally, burying any who were left there, and eliminating any trace of the base that he had attacked. When the ship landed back at the base, Nightmare approached them, to meet the elements, and Fleur, when shortly after, they could hear a mechanical whirring, and large steps, as Red appeared, driving the walker. "Hey guys. Mission accomplished Moony. We got us the weapon that Lone had told us about earlier, plus some extra goodies." He said as he approached. Author's Note Rarity's outfit = Ashoka Tano's second outfit from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Pinkie's Outfit = Padme Amidala's outfit from the Geonosis Arena in Star Wars Episode 2, before she got scratched. Fluttershy's Outfit = Leia Organa's outfit in the Endor DLC of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 Fleur's combat outfit = Aayla Secura's outfit. Chapter 11: Fillydelphia Falls, Rise of Star CityA week has passed since the realization that Red is still alive, though he has yet to return. Just the fact he is alive ha helped to boost the morale of Alpha team, all of whom are in the war room, going over the plan on how to take over Fillydelphia. "If we come in from the south with the few mechs the recovery teams were able to recover from Manehattan, and air units from the north," Luna said, "we will be able to take the city with few causalities." "That's assuming," Chrysalis said, "that the intel's up to date." Nightmare spoke up "I assume, considering I just did a fly by on the Rogue Shadow and everything checks out." She explained, showing a Holo-Map of the town and it's defenses. Aurora entered along with Barb, smiling as they looked over the map. "That area here to the south would likely be the best possible entrance for us." Barb then spoke up "Now what about my job to try and get into Ponyville to both check it out as a recon, but also to try and get Spike out?" "That will be going on as we're taking Fillydelphia," Lone said. "Hopefully, the distraction to Celestia and her forces will allow you two to get a message to Spike." At the same time, Shadow and Nightengale were watching and listening to this, both of them being concealed by Lone's spell. "I still can't believe that we're letting them go through with this," Nightengale said. "You and me both," Shadow said. Barb looked to Aurora "What are we going to do for Spike?" "Well," Aurora said, bringing her hand up to her chin, "we could try to send him a letter. I write it, you send it, and I say that we are prisoners, and that only he could get us out." "I don't know...Hmmm...I don't really want to lie to him..." "It's the only way to get him here, Barb," Aurora said, putting a hand on Barb's shoulder. "I know, but still." Aurora gave Barb a hug. "It'll be okay. I'm sure it will..." She said, as she held her close. Barb nodded. "Right. Let's get that letter written." Aurora nodded. "Right." A few minutes later, the letter was written, saying that Aurora, as Twilight, was taken prisoner, and said that the NLR only thought of ponies as a threat to keeping her. Ponyville Spike was having a miserable day. He hadn't heard from Twilight or the others in two weeks. Though it was true he had a good position in the army, he wasn't old enough to be able to have access to most of the files that weren't kept in Ponyville, which was a fair portion of intel. It was at this point, he finally received a letter from Twilight! Spike, I've been captured and am being held by the NLR. They said they would release me, but only to YOU, and only if YOU come ALONE...enclosed is the address. Twilight Sparkle It read, Spike saw the address and quickly went after her. Fortunately for Spike, it was nearby. Unfortunately, he had to go through the Everfree. At night. By himself. Oh, joy. The message appeared like a typical ransom message, and it also mentioned that they had taken another dragon captive, a Dragoness, named Barb... He exited Twilight's castle as carefully as possible, as that's where the general, who's name was Shadow Specter, and his officers, stayed. Once he made it out, with his blaster pistol on his waist, he himself wearing light scout armor, which was basically heat resistant armor that resembled the standard armor of the guard from before the war. It did not take long for him to arrive at the indicated location marked on the letter. Twilight waited for him, looking tied up. She looked up and, upon seeing Spike, she smiled and said, "Spike! Thank Celestia you're here." Unbeknownst to Spike, saying that made Aurora want to wash her mouth with acid. "Twilight," Spike said, running to Aurora/Twilight and giving her a large hug. "I'm so glad to see you." He pulled out of the hug, not noticing that the mare he just hugged didn't have any rope on her. "What happened?" She sighed. "Celestial had lied to us....our entire life.....for example....my name...was never Twilight Sparkle....I was actually Aurora Nebula.....The daughter of Princess Luna..." She said changing forms. Spike stood in awe, looking at her true form. "That....explains a lot actually...but...what else is there?" He asked, as Aurora explained everything to Spike, and how she switched sides. Barb then enters the scene and speaks up. "Its because of all of that...that we ask you to join us .....please... Spike looked back at both. "Twi.....umm...Aurora...please understand...I would never betray you....your like my mother....but I need some time to think.....you have my word of honor I won't tell Celestia but...I'd like some time alone to think...." Though she was hurt that he hadn't decided to join them, she nodded and said, "Right." Spike gave her one more hug. He made his way back to Ponyville, leaving the mare and dragoness where they stood. "Come on, Barb," Aurora said, heading in the opposite direction Spike had left, towards where the Shadow was waiting. "The others are waiting for us to get back so we can go after Fillydelphia." Barb simply nodded, then followed. Aurora smiled at Barb "I've got a feeling he'll join us....but, what did you think of him?" She asked, looking at her. "W-what do you mean?" "I may not be the best pony to ask if somepony's interested in another, Barb, but it's obvious with you. You become fidgety when we talk about Spike, for one." "Fine," Barb said, sighing, "I think he's handsome." "That it?" A familar voice speaks up and quickly disappears "NOPE!" Barb ends up blushing due to the fact that Red had spoke up saying there's more to it than just thinking Spike's handsome. This got a laugh from Aurora, who then said, "Soooo, what else?" If Barb's scales weren't red before, they most certainly were now. "Well, he's obviously brave if he came here into the Everfree, which also shows how much he cares about those he calls a friend, or considers family." Aurora smiled, hugging barb "Aww...well your right about that..." She said with a small giggle at how Barb had a crush. They ended the hug and again walked to the Shadow. Once they arrived, they entered the ship, activated it, and lifted off, heading to the base. Aurora smiled at her, before speaking. "He'll do what he feels is right....I just hope he'll join us....but just think, Uncle will be back soon enough..." One day later-NLR headquarters War Room Alpha team was in the war room, waiting for when the NLR would move for the attack on Fillydelphia, as they would be the first wave, with Lone being in the hanger making sure his ship was ready. "Still can't believe we're going after another city," Aurora said. "You better believe it Aurora..." Barb said, as she smiled a bit. "Because we're gonna need you to help us out too after all, so that we can do this....and remember, we're also doing this, for Dad." She explained, smiling. The mare nodded. "Right." Lone then came over the team's radio. "Falcon's ready, guys. If we're going to get there before the army, we need to leave asap." Those of Alpha that were in the war room, which was just about everypony save Lone, and included Cadence, as she had decided it would be safer to lead her forces from here, instead of the Empire, began to head to the hanger bay. "What's the plan, Lone," Fluttershy said. "We go in on the Shadow and Falcon. Once we're there, we land and get off, with Barb giving us up-to-date intel from the air on any hostile movements." Nightmare nodded "Understood. We are to take control of this City...in honor of Red..." She said, eager for the day when her beloved would return to her. Luckily for her, it was closer than she thought. Hanger-meanwhile. "Artemis, make sure my helmet's camera is functional and is ready to transmit," Lone said, performing maintenance checks on his armor. A second later, Artemis replied, "It's good, Lone, and Nightengale has his receiver ready for it." Lone nodded, putting on his helmet as he did so. "Right. Let's hope this will help end the war." "I'm certain it will, Lone," Artemis said. "After all, you're involved here." "Artemis," Lone said, annoyed, "how many times do I have to tell you to not brag for me? If I wanted to brag, I'd do it myself." "Yes, and we all know your MUCH too vague to brag about how badass you are...Meh. I'm more so than you...and I'm still gonna kick your ass when I get back...just for not only slapping my betrothed, but also for being such a vague asshole." A certain voice said before fading away just as quick. "He is really set on that, isn't he?" Artemis said. Lone just shrugged. "It's not like I'm worried. I've been in worse situations." "True." "And what's the status of project: Gateway?" "It's coming along nicely, though it won't be done for another year at least." "Well, it's progress." "That it is, Lone. That it is." Red appeared before Nightmare, and hugged her from behind. "Just wait for me my love...don't you dare die....I'll be back here with you soon enough..." "And when you do, you shall have your own city." "Moony, please don't flatter me with that large a gift. You know I don't like large presents." Red then smirked "Well...except maybe for these." he jiggled her large chest a bit, to get a blush out of her, and to just play with her for the time being, snickering himself just to show he was being playful. And yet again, he started to fade. "Well, I guess I'll see you later," he said before he disappeared completely. "Well," Chrysalis said, "Let's get moving. Fillydelphia isn't going to capture itself." Nightmare Nodded "Agreed!" she said as she headed out, equipped with His lightsaber like she chose to do. The group arrived in the hanger just as Lone was finishing up his checks. Lone heard them and looked at them, saying, "Good to see that you guys are ready, seeing as how we won't have much prep time en route." They nodded, as the girls looked particularly serious about this. The team separated into two groups, the Elements in the Falcon, and the others on the Shadow. Once everypony was on, the ships took off, heading for Fillydelphia. Meanwhile-Canterlot Nightengale was in the Canterlot war room with Celestia and the Elements who were still with her. Really, he was just waiting for the footage Lone was going to be sending from Fillydelphia, while Celestia and the others were talking about defending said city, Celestia looked over the maps. "So....how can we best defend the city?" she looked to them all "Any suggestions?" "Well," Nightengale said, "why not position our mechs at the southern and western edges. Those are the most vulnerable positions to attack the city from." "Agreed....put more on West edge, it's the most vulnerable point..." It's a good thing it'll take an hour for them to mobilize all of them, and another to get there, and that Lone's coming in from the north, which looks inaccessible, even though Artemis is the best AI pilot I know, Nightengale thought. Celestia smiled, "Then it's decided? Nopony has any other suggestions?" she asked of them. It was then a voice that hadn't been heard sine Manehattan spoke up. "Yeah, Celestia," Shadow Strike said, opening the doors to the war room. "How about we go out?" Celestia instantly broke into tears and tackled Shadow Strike out of the door. The rest of the elements present began to laugh happily. "So I assume that's a yes?" Strike asked as he was getting back up, as Celestia's hug had knocked him to the ground. Crying in joy, Celestia replied, "Yes, yes, yes, yes!" Strike smiled and left with Celestia to go out on a date with her beloved stallion "I admit...Zero appeared to me in a ghostly form and told me you were alive like he was, and that you'd be back soon...he made me promise something before he left...so I'm glad your back." She said hugging him close. "And I'm glad to be back, Tia," he said, smiling as he embraced the hug. As this was going on, Artemis was relaying this to Lone and Shadow. "Then why don't we take break from this war, and go to Doughnut Joe's. I've heard he makes the best doughnuts on the planet" "Oh trust me, he does." She said as she practically was skipping along with him. "That went better than expected," Artemis whispered into Nightengale's ear. Nightengale simply nodded. Millennium Falcon- outer border of Fillydelphia- thirty minutes later The ship lands, along with the Rogue Shadow as they quickly move to put the plan into action, and take control of Fillydelphia, to be renamed 'Star City'. Even though a fair portion of the team hated Lone, they had agreed that they would follow his lead with this mission. Once they had all disembarked and Barb taking off and activating her ship's stealth features, then went toward the city, they did final checks on their gear. Once they were done with that, with the gear checking out, they made their way to the city. The city was guarded, as expected, but it appears that they wouldn't have to deal with many guards on the south edge of town where they chose to enter. As it was, there were numerous guards, who were out cold, and there weren't any Mechs to be seen. It was very strange, considering the fact that they were planning on it... Lone, out of all of them, seemed worried. He made sure his armors external speakers were off before saying, "Artemis?" "Already sending to Nightengale. You don't think it's them, do you?" "Has to be," Lone said, just before the group came across a group of dead civilians. "What the Tarturus," Aurora said before Lone spoke. "Keep your eyes peeled people. We're dealing with something worse then anything you can think of." Luna nodded as she began to look around, as did Nightmare, who soon after contacted Barb "Barb, do you see ANYTHING on the radar?" she asked the dragoness. "No, and that 's the weird thing. I'm picking up civilians, mechs and everything, but the civilians are dropping off thermals, as well as mechs. And I mean that. Nothing around them except other civilians and the city. No heat from a blaster. Nothing." Luna and Nightmare shared worried looks at the delivery of this news, but did not have much time to do much else as they saw a plasma bolt rush past their heads, and they heard a scream of pain from behind Luna, and they both saw a pony wearing standard armor from Celestia's military falling dead, when Nightmare could have sworn they weren't there a second before. They then turned to see Lone pointing on of his rifles in the same direction the plasma bolt had gone. "Barb," he said in a serious tone, "switch to electromagnetic scanners." Nightmare spoke as well "I'd also recommend Thermal Scanners." She said, as Barb did so "Multiple, comin from north of you. Be careful everypony!" She said, worried about them. Lone simply laughed, saying, "They really think they can take me out, when I have four alicorns with me? Not to mention one of them is an Element of Harmony. Oh this is going to be easy." He then activated his radio. "Artemis, we have multiple Brotherhood contacts inbound. Alert code names 'Rookie' and 'Unity' that we have one huge issue." "Already on it, Lone." Nightmare looked at Lone "What the heck is going on then?" "Classified," was all Lone said before turning to his left and firing off two shots from his rifles each. "Morons, just like last time." Nightmare, and Luna were both growling in complete annoyance, being fed up with Lone and his 'Classified' bullshit. He makes a habit out of being vague, so bad that Red already intended to kick his ass, now they were about to join in the fun. Before they could do so, however, he fired his rifles to the left and right of them, while saying, "I know how much you hate I'm being vauge, but I'm doing it because I was told to do so unless there is no other option." He then holstered his rifles and pulled a knife from his fore arm and threw it, with it hitting with an audible Thump behind them. "Well," Nightmare said, "would you mind at least telling us who these ponies are, as hey are obviously not Celestia's military." "Short version? They're members of a group called 'The Brotherhood of Plasma', and they want to revive an old king by killing royalty. Long story is filled with other classified shit, so I won't be able to tell it to you." "Hmm...." Nightmare said, as they began to assist him somewhat. Back in Canterlot, Nightengale had gone to Celestia and Strike who were relaxing, and he was showing them footage given by Lone of the ponies in HER armor, killing civillians. "What is this private," Strike asked. "This is the group that framed us for Trottingham getting their plots handed to them by the NLR." "Who are they, specifically?" "Nopony you would know, Celestia," Nightengale responded. Back in Fillydelphia, Alpha team had gotten into a formation that would allow them to hold off the Brotherhood army. "Fifty seconds," Barb said over the radio. "Fifty Seconds till what Barb?" Nightmare asked, as they were continuing to hold it off. "What do you think," a feminine voice that had to be Artemis spoke up. "A shit load of hostiles arrive." Before anypony could say anything, they heard a stallion cry out, "KILL THEM, SO THAT PLASMA MAY BE REBORN." As the mass of ponies charged their location, an old bank, they opened fire with either Nightbringers, magic, or, in Pinkie's case, party cannons. Lone, through it all, only fired two Plasma bolts for each victim, whereas the others were having trouble, as their Nightbringers wouldn't switch to high explosive rounds. This eventually led to them being over run. The first casualty was Aurora, who was knocked out by a grenade, though she was alive. This made Luna mad, and led to her being careless, which led to her rushing the mass of enemies, which only allowed them to knock her out. From there, the others were all knocked by either pressure waves, or by rushing blindly due to rage from their friends or family being knocked out. The last standing was Lone, who had not budged throughout the entire thing. He lowered his rifles and pressed the buttons that made them go to Energy sword. He then got a song playing for the mood. He activated them and waited for them to arrive. Once they were close enough, he began to slice and dice them methodically and calmly. He sliced many of them in half with practiced ease, and beheaded others with the same ease. He never once budged from his position, even as enemies wielding swords of their own came after him. He was like this for ten minutes before his swords ran out of charge, and a lucky swordsman was able to knock him out. When they all come to, they find themselves inside a warehouse of some kind, or it could have been another room in that bank, all tied up, and restrained, and sealed tightly by the thick, armored door that lead there as the only way out. Lone had the most imprisonment objects on him. Handcuffs, a magic nullification ring, which was also on all the alicorns, and collar that removed earth pony strength. "Looks like I spoke too soon," he said once he woke up, which was after the others, "theses morons are better than last time." They also noticed he didn't have his armor on, and only wore a black BDU. "Obviously," Nightmare said before a pony wearing a black cloak that covered his whole body came in. "So, these are the infidels who do not believe in our master," he said in a smooth, silk like voice that didn't sound like it came from a member of an organization who kills innocent civilians. "But the greatest prize," he said, "even with a fair portion of the royalty, Is you, Lone shadow," he said as he stood in front of Lone. "You have been a thorn in our sides for five years, and it pleases me greatly that you have been captured. But tell me, where are your teammates?" "Go fuck yourself!" Lone said with calm anger. "Are you sure you wish to use that language. Your comrades do not know of it well." "So? Even if you kill us, which I know you intend to do, there are others who will fight." The cloaked pony laughed, much to the confusion of all but Lone. "Did you truly think we didn't know you came with others. Already, our brothers are keeping us informed of them, and I must say, I'm surprised you said your brother is dead, when he is actively helping you." The look on the rest of Alpha's face was one of surprise at the fact Lone's brother was alive, and rage on Nightmares due to him lying. "Of course," the pony said, "in a certain sense, Unity is dead, killed when we took him from you and your parents. It's only a shame the both of you share the same values. Otherwise, he would have stayed with us." He pulled out a sleek, small handgun that didn't look like it used blaster bolts as projectiles. "And because of your crimes against us, Lone Shadow, you will die first." Before he could do anything, the thick steel door began to groan, and sounds came from it, as dents soon appear, as though someone, or something, was physically attacking it, as the dents continued to appear, growing larger and larger, as the door itself begins to buckle, and physically fall apart, before after some time, the door is physically launched, slamming into the cloaked pony before falling onto the ground with a loud THUD it was at this point, that a hooded figure appeared, stepping through the smoke filled opening slowly. His robes and cloak where clearly those of an adventurer, and a fighter of some form, However, they were colored Dark Blue, Purple, and black, with Yellow trim detailing Lightning bolt designs. He steps inside the room, as he looks up, his eyes covered by the Darkness inside the hood, as a small red light on the left side flashed, as he looked up. He took a few more steps entering the room proper, as he punched his left palm and spoke. "You have no idea, what kind of trouble you're in." He said, as the hood fell down from a small breeze, revealing to everyone who it was, None other than Red himself. "Shadowbolts, Red," Lone asked. "Nice." Instead of replying, Red walked over to Lone and punched him in the gut. It didn't really hurt, Lone had been hit by worse, but he doubled over any way, saying, "And that, I deserved." "However, that's not the end of your punishment..." He said with a laugh, before he quickly grabbed Lone's ankle, and swung him like a ragdoll, slamming him into the other figures of the enemy, as well as tossing him aside, causing him to be physically stuck in the wall, with the wall being dented in perfect match to his shape. This, actually DID hurt. He had been hit harder, but this was the fourth hardest he'd ever been hit. He was able to work himself out of it. The throw had broken the handcuffs, which made it easier to get out. He made his way to where the cloaked pony was standing in shock. Once Lone was over there, he reached with his right hand behind the head, and grasped the chin with his left, and twisted the pony's neck, resulting in a crack, and he fell to the ground dead, his neck snapped. "That's why you always have people you trust in the same room," he said before turning to the others, who Red had freed. "Red," he said, nodding his head in greeting. Red promptly kicked him right BACK into the wall, with another imprint, this time face first, and even harder. It was so fast, barely anyone noticed him move, much less kick Lone square in the chest. "Hello." Red then walked over towards Nightmare, smiling as he locked eyes with her, and soon knelt down before her, and the others, and slowly began to untie them all, Aurora, Fleur, Luna, Cadence, and then, finally, Nightmare herself, and kissed Nightmare when he finished. Still not the worst, Lone thought as he worked himself out if the wall again. "Can his wait further until after we get back to base?" Lone asked. "After all, we have an army after us that 's not afraid to waste lives when it comes to completing objectives." "I have to agree with him, Red. He obviously knows who they are, and having him with us will at least help," Luna said. Red smirked, kissing Luna "Then how about you girls go ahead and get out of here? I'll cover the escape and meet you back at base." He said with a smirk "I'll stay back here too," Lone said. "Need to get my armor and weapons, after all." Before the mares could object, Red said, Fair enough." Nightmare hugged Red, and kissed him. "Come back this time." Red laughed and kissed her back, stroking her spine and her wings "Don't worry, I ain't dying this time." He told her with a smile, as he motioned to the door "Now get out of here, all of you. the Liar and I can finish things up here and meet you back at base. By the way...don't tell Barb" He said with a wink "Or Dawn or Chestnut. The three of them can see when I get home." He said to Nightmare, winking to make it a surprise. The mares left the room, leaving the two stallions behind. "So," Lone said, looking to Red, "Time to go badass again?" Red laughed, and kicked Lone out of the room into another, the door was broken open and went WITH Lone. "Yeah! For ME. You've had PLENTY of time in the spotlight." He said laughing.
Chapter 2It has been a few months since Nightmare had returned and Luna kidnapped. The news had spread like wildfire throughout Equestria and the other countries, most likely due to the New Lunar Republic. Celestia had told Twilight and her friends as soon as she was able to, which was a day after Nightmare had revealed herself. Now, Celestia was getting reports of violent incursions along the border between Equestria and the Griffon lands. "Who is leading the attack, general?" she asked the general, who was a mare with a pink coat and white mane and tail. The mare saluted instantly, "We don't know Ma'am. We think it might be that same pony who wrote the note to you." She reported, being prim and proper with her entire uniform. "Wait...we're receiving reports that it's actually none other than Queen Chrysalis, Ma'am." "Do we know if she is with the rebels yet?" she asked the general. If Chrysalis is allied with the rebels, Celestia thought, than who knows who may be a spy. "We don't know Princess...we just know she's leading the attack...she could either be with the rebellion or just acting on her own...as a third party." she responded. "And what of our troops defending the front?" "We're lucky we've held out this long...I don't know how much longer we can....those fools on the front are horribly incompetent!" she said being frank. Celestia rubbed her temples. Though she did not want to admit it, Nightmare was right about the guards. To put it bluntly, the guards were about as valuable as stinking manure in summer time. "And what of the new recruits training?" "If they fight we might actually win...they are already testing better than ANY of the current guard force fighting." "Good. When will the first battalion be ready to ship out?" Celestia asked. She wanted to get the new battalions out as soon as possible, and was also hoping that they could turn the tide of the war. "Within a week, at the very least..." She stated, being truthful, and exact in terms of how long it would take. "Good. And what is Princess Twilight's progress with the bacta tanks? she asked, referring to Twilight's personal project that would help to heal the injured troops, which were few, as many that were shot died from the various after effects. "Coming smoothly. We should be able to have them at full working order very soon she said when we last heard from her." She reported, smiling, happy for the good news to give. "Excellent. And the new Armor?" "Still under construction...But it should be completed by the end of the year at the latest." "Good. Let us hope that our forces can hold out that long." A pause ensued before Celestia said, "And what of the towns that have left? Do we know if their governments are controlled by the rebels, or if it was a city wide decision?" "We believe it is both...a city wide decision to side with the rebels" "Do you believe they will be a threat should this become an all out war?" "If I may be honest Princess....I believe that may be the case..." "Then do you think we should take preemptive efforts, then? Give me your honest opinion, not what you think I want to hear," Celestia asked. "Hmm...I believe we should not take preemptive efforts....save our resources, for use later ...but should this come to become a full blown war, we let loose our power and slaughter them!" "Why?" Celestia asked, shocked. "Why would you want to kill civilians?" "I meant the rebels ma'am...but assuming we had to kill Civillians...it would be sent as a message, to show to them, that we aren't messing around...we won't hesitate to kill them..." "No," Celestia said, steel in her voice. "We will not kill innocent civilians, not unless they attack us first." "As you wish Princess." She said with a bow. "Good. Now, any news on Luna?" she asked, concern in her voice. "Afraid Not ma'am...some are beginning to believe she ditched us and is actually a member of the rebels..." She had admitted. "NO!!" Celestia said, angry at the general. "There is no way she would side with Nightmare Moon. She despises her, and she is no longer ignored by the ponies, and she has friends. There is no possibility that would lead her to join the rebels. And don't you bring it up again!!" "Princess Relax, it is only a Rumor...there's no official word on Luna's location." She said hoping to calm her down. "Still. Ensure all of those rumors are surpressed. I will not have anypony speaking that way of my sister!" Celestia said, only slightly calmer. "As you command, Princess." She spoke, nodding, as she went to leave. One year later- Headquarters of the NLR The main base for the NLR was appropriately designed for the night, with the halls being as dark as night, the windows having patterns of constellations and the moon. All of the art work was always related to subjects of the night and what it was associated with: secrets, love, and everything else positive. Two guards were standing out side of Nightmares personal chambers when a well built, emerald green Pegasus with red highlights at the edges of his wings, a red mane and tail, with eyes of blue. He saluted and said "Captain Zero Star, reporting as requested." One of the guards knocked on the doors and said, "Captain Zero Star to see you, Your Highnesses." A second passed before, "Send him in," Nightmare said. "Ma'am," the guard said and opened the door. Zero "Red" Star walked in and saw the three leaders of the NLR. On his left was Chrysalis, who had recovered from the holes in her body from hunger. On his right was Luna, who Celestia still believed was kidnapped and hadn't come willingly. Directly in front of him was Nightmare Moon. In his opinion, she was the most beautiful of the three mares, with a full chest that some would think were very large overinflated water balloons. Her ass was full, and didn't bounce too much, nor too little. Just right in his opinion. "You called for me, Ma'ams?" he asked, standing at attention. He wore a set of brown fatigues, holding pockets on the upper arms, chest, and thighs, and had brown boots, with a belt rig equipped with a holster for his personal blaster, And a Lightsaber on his hip as well. "Yes," Luna said. "You have proven your self to our cause, and we wished to give you a reward." Before he could ask what, Chrysalis said, "My spies have intercepted plans for a prototype flier craft from Celestias troops and destroyed the original. With our engineers, we have been able to construct it, and we wish for you to be the pilot of it." "So your giving me a ship eh? Sweet." he looked to both Luna, and Nightmare "Either one of you two care to show me ma'ams?" he asked, a smile clearly shown on his muzzle in excitement to be able to have his own ship to use and pilot, as prior to this, he had been using some slightly customized X-Wing and Arwing. "That would be me," Nightmare said. "If you would follow me, Captain." With that, Nightmare and Red left the room, and leaving Chrysalis and Luna in talks over the best way to infiltrate the research teams. "Changelings won't work," Luna said. "Celestia was smart enough to have an anti-changeling shield put up, and even if they could get past that, who knows how many other precautions they have in store." "Well, you returning won't work, "Chrysalis said. "Don't you remember what happened we tried to get an agent there. They arrested him on sight, even though he was from Ponyville and had no official ties to us. It must be a spell. And they only put research teams on the field after battle, and not for long, so we need to find a way to get into their networks." Luna brought her hand up to her chin, considering the possibilities. "Then we need to gain the allegiance of at least one of the Elements. No pony would think they betrayed Celestia, and they may think the spell is on the fritz." "Agreed, but who?" Meanwhile, Nightmare and Red are on their way to the Hanger of Red's new ship. Red smirked as he followed Nightmare "I'd follow you in a heartbeat Ma'am. And I'd follow you anywhere, even to the Gates of Tartarus themselves." He spoke, stating his devotion to her and the cause. Red smiled to her, as he followed her, soon walking beside her "So...what's the specifications of this new ship? Name, capabilities, special equipment? Any news on the cause and our side of the war?" He asked Nightmare, as he truly did have an attraction to the mare who's fur was as black as liquid night. And should the war end, he wanted to be able to go out with her...Heck, He wanted to try and spend more time with her regardless of the war. "It's called the Rogue Shadow. It's a first, as it has stealth capabilities, meaning it doesn't show up on sensors, even ours. It is what the engineers call a "fighter-bomber." It's just as capable in aerial combat as bombing runs. As for the war, it would seem Celestia has begun to field more advanced armor that's able to provide standard protection from our weapons." As Nightmare said this, she was able to see his body language and was able to tell he was interested in her, but decided to wait until after his first run in his ship. So she was surprised when he asked her something. Red smiled eager, as he looked to her. "Would you care to accompany me on my first flight with it? just to make things extra special, Your Highness?" he asked, smiling at her. Nightmare was surprised by this. On one hand, she wanted to watch this from a distance, to be safe. On the other hand, she has an interest in air combat for a while, and had wanted to see what it was like in a fighter. "I do not see why not, Captain," she said in a mostly neutral tone, though the joy on Reds face was evident. Red was certainly overjoyed, as he took her hand, kissing it. "Then let's go to the hanger and check out my new ship!" He said as he continued to walk with her, very nearly breaking out into a run to hurry on to their hanger to see his new ship. The two ponies made their way to the hanger at an increased pace. They arrived there ten minutes later. The hanger itself was as clean as a hanger could be, with some small pieces of machinery here and there. But what got the attention of the two ponies was the ship in the middle. It was gray and black, sleek, and was larger than Red expected, though only slightly. Red smiled eagerly, as his wings even unfurled in a clear sign of approval of the ship "It's amazing....I love it!" He spoke, as he went to approach it with Nightmare Moon The ramp lowered automatically as they neared it. Even Nightmare was impressed by the engineers and how well they constructed it. The two made their way to the cockpit, which could've easily held a minotaur at full height and a chariot without the rods. Red smiled, as he moved the Copilot seat, to sit Nightmare, who smiled and sat as he turned it back around. Red then Gently sat into the Pilot seat. Both of them could feel the rich and cozy feeling of the seat as Red began the startup procedure as the Engines on the Rogue Shadow sparked to life, after letting it warm up, and engaging the cloaking device, Red took hold of the controls, and began to take off, as the ship lifted up, the side panels on the side of it rotated, so that the rounded ends pointed back away from it's direction. The ship now hovered in place as Red was taking it as gently and as carefully as possible being his first time using the ship. He soon took a few moments, as he got familiar with it's controls and turned the ship to face the hanger and took off, leaving it, and once they were clear he opened it up, flying faster, and heading out with Nightmare, beaming with joy and excitement, that not only was she there with him, but he had a new ship which was absolutely amazing! he performed a few manuvers such as rolling, loops, and a U-Turn, and even went through their flight training corse, performing a run, testing out it's weapon systems with laser blasts on targets, even a few bombs being tossed, as they completed it very fast, the fastest record at the time. With their joyride of a maiden voyage completed, Red brought it back into the hanger and landed, taking a deep breath "What a rush!" He said with a laugh of excitement. "What did you think Nightmare?" He asked her. "What a rush indeed," She said, out of breath at the excitement she had just experienced. "Wow. If I didn't know any better, Moony, I would say you just had a very fun and sweaty night." Red said with a playful smirk, still breathing deeply from the rush. Nightmare blushed, not knowing what to do or say, only sit there. Red smiled "Would you...mind at all if I called you 'Moony'?" he asked her, looking, finding her blushing to be very cute.... "Oh. No, I don't mind, Captain. You've earned that right by now," Nightmare said with a smile, gennuily happy that he was happy. "Thanks...Moony~" he said playful, as he leaned over, and kissed her hand again, as a sign of thanks, for not only allowing him to call her by such a nickname, but also for joining him on the first Flight of the Rogue Shadow After that, the two disembarked from the ship and went their separate ways, thinking of what else the future held for them. Canterlot- a few hours later Celestia was in the second meeting today with her generals and the Elements regarding the NLR. "Princess," one of her generals said. "Things are getting worse. We just got word that the griffons are allied with the NLR, as well as a few minotaur terrorist groups. What are we going to do?" Celestia bowed her head in deep thought "I'm not sure...the most we can do is try to get allies of our own, to counter them...because we will Not kneel before them and bow to their whims. We will not surrender until we are thoroughly defeated." She stated with conviction in her heart, to fight this rebellion, and to stop it, or fall trying. "Well," Twilight said, "we could try the dragons. After all, those migratory dragons can't be the only ones, can they?" Celestia nodded "I agree...we should try dragons...and pray that the Rebels don't get some dragon helpers of their own." She stated. "I'll tell Spike," Twilight said with a small smile on her face. Celestia nodded. "Tell him to send it to Saphira. She is an old friend of mine, and will gladly help us, as well as the dragons that are loyal to her." "Of course, Princess." "Good." She then looked at one of her generals and said, "How are our troops holding against the changelings, general?" "So far so good. Our mages are currently working on a Spell to keep the changelings from being disguised when we fight them." the General reported. "Good," Celestia said. She then looked to Applejack and said, "And how is your family coping with the demands without your brother, Applejack?" Big Mac' was on the front lines, with the other soldiers, as he was a part of the third class of the now standard soliders. "Good, Fer now Princess, I'm sure we can make due without 'em for the time being." She said being as honest as possible with the Princess. At the NLR Base, Zero is looking about for his lovely Dragon assistant, Barb...whom he wanted to show the new ship to, since she'd be helping him with it from time to time. While all of this was going on, a unicorn stallion, who was as tall as Luna, with a black coat, and had neck length mane and an average, for his size, sized tail, which matched his coat, but had red and orange on the edges to give it a fiery look, was watching using a scrying spell. He stood in an old room that was hidden underground, as was the rest of his allies base, preventing both sides of the war from knowing about it. He deactivated it and went to tell his allies about this.
Chapter 3Zero continued to search the Base for his life servant Barb, a lovely dragoness, who was extremely loyal to him, and for good reason. He had saved her long ago back when they first met, and as thanks she explained that she now owed him a life debt, and as a way of showing it, she would always refer to him as Master. For whatever reason though she seemed to always want to be cuddled close and sleep with him. Whether it was just for comfort or because she wanted to protect him, Zero didn't know, but he liked it, as she was kinda cuddly. He calls out for her again "Barb? Where are ya?" As he was searching for her, he came across Chrysalis. "Ah," she said when she saw him. "Hello, Captain." She was wearing her combat outfit, which consisted of overlapping plates of enchanted armor that gave her a dragon like appearance, and covered her entire body. It was colored black, the same color as her chitin. She wore no helmet, as doing so would have restricted her line of sight. "How was the test flight?" she asked. "Fun as hay. Maybe a beautiful Changeling like YOU should join us next time." he said with a laugh. "Nice armor....certainly gives a dragon like appearance....speaking of which have you seen Barb? I've been looking all over for her since I got back with Nightmare." he said, as he Looked her over, approving of her armor. "Perhaps I will," she said. "As for Barb, I believe I saw her going to your quarters a while ago." He thanked her, and just as he was leaving, she said, "And good luck with Nightmare." Red snickered as he looked back "So you know eh? Well. at least now you've got a stable food source for that emotion diet of yours huh?" He said as he walked off, heading for his own quarters to find Barb, expecting her to be there, or on the way, waving back at the beautiful changeling queen. It took him a few minutes to reach his room. When he arrived, he knocked on the door. He only had to wait a few second before hearing, "Come in." He opened the door to see Barb, a teenaged pony sized dragoness with emerald green scales and garnet red under scales and spines. "Oh. Hey, boss," she said with a smile. She wore an aqua blue sleeveless shirt that went down to her stomach, which left her gut revealed, which wasn't bad, as she was always exercising, and knee length red shorts. Red smiled, as he hugged the Dragoness, who was roughly about as tall as he was "Hey there Barb. How's it going? Looking as good as ever I see, and most have recently gotten done exercising I'll bet...I've got something I wanna show you...Nightmare, Luna, and Chrysalis have given me a reward for my service in the NLR..." He trailed off, in order to work up Barb's excitement. "Well, what is it,?" she asked. Red smirked, as he took her hand. "Come with me, my dear." He then pulled her along as he quickly ran out to take her back to the hanger to see the new ship. The two made their way to the hanger, a walk that took fifteen minutes. When Barb saw the Shadow, she gasped and said, "Wow. That is cool," with a wide eyed look of appreciation on her face. "What can it do?" Red smiled happily as he hugged her, before motioning to it and began to list off everything it could do, as he also walked her inside it and gave her a tour of it. "So I'd like you to possibly be the Copilot of the Shadow whenever we have to use it...What'cha say Barb?" She looked at him with a blank expression before saying, "Are you bucking kidding." She then broke into a large grin. "Tartarus, yes," she said happily. Meanwhile- NLR war room "While I admit your idea would help us dearly, sister," Nightmare said to Luna after the latter had suggested turning one of the Elements against Celestia, "the risks would be too great just trying to get one of them. They are always in Canterlot. It would be difficult for the three of us to get in there if it was under siege and the barrier was strained. Under current circumstances," she said, "it would be impossible for even a changeling not associated with us to get in. So what do you say to that?" Luna shook her head "I'm not sure...other than possibly talking to them in dreams...Or...maybe sending Red in alone to talk to them in private?" She suggested "I doubt it would work though, considering he's the one who made the note to Celestia back then..." "Agreed," Chrysalis said. "I'm certain Celestia cast a spell on herself, the Elements, and her soldiers to ensure you," She said, gesturing towards Nightmare, who wore midnight black armor that looked as if it was made out of water, "couldn't enter their dreams, and I'm sure an unintentional side effect of this, though it still hurts us more, is that Luna wouldn't be able to do it either. We'll just have to wait until an opportunity presents itself." "Unfortunately," Luna wearing armor similar to Nightmare's, said, "there are no known spells that would allow us to circumvent any precautions Celestia and Twilight Sparkle have set up." A Year Later Red is in charge of a Supply outpost, the Rogue Shadow is docked in the nearby hanger, with Barb naturally being with him, as his assistant as always. She is typically being used to communicate written messages between him and Nightmare or the others, whenever they don't use their comm links. Over the course of the year, Red and his beloved Nightmare had grown quite close, Chrysalis had been reaping some of the benefits, by feeding off their affections, as Red and Nightmare would occasionally hug or hold hands when close together. Red nodded "Yeah...I heard it...I'll check it out. You guards keep watch here." He spoke, as he walked back to head to the warehouse and investigate. Red walked over to the door. As he made his way there, he ignited his lightsaber, which gave off a faint green glow. Once he was at the door, he opened it slowly, and walked inside, closing the door behind him. He walked for a minute before he heard something on the other side of the crates to his left. Fortunately, there was a left turn just in front of him. He made his way there and turned. The turn led into a large area. He looked to his left and saw what was probably the strangest thing he had ever seen. He saw what appeared to be a unicorn stallion in bulky, angular armor that looked nothing like standard Solar Empire armor, or even prototype NLR armor. The armor was mostly a shade of blue that resembled the color of Luna's hair when she and Nightmare had been separated six years ago. The part of the armor that wasn't this color was a brick-like red. The helmet had a thin, rectangular, bronze visor. What was directly below it looked like a mouth. The side of the pony Red could see had a small shoulder plate, most likely to allow for greater range of movement. The chest had a triangular piece in the middle, with what Red guessed were ammo pouches on the underside of it. Both the greaves and gauntlets flowed as if they had been made from water. The under-suit was colored the same shade of blue as his armor. On his thigh, Red saw a curved piece of metal that had a faint blue glow at one end and red glow at the other. The pony was sitting cross-legged, almost as if he were meditating. Even though Red himself hadn't made a sound, his saber gave off a faint hum, and this pony could obviously hear it, as he turned towards Red. He got up and turned to face him. Even at this distance, Red could tell this stallion was as tall as Luna. "Who are you, and what do you want?" Red asked. "You can call me Lone Shadow. As for what I want, it's to see if you are the swordsman many say you are." He then grasped the piece of metal and brought it up. With a flick of his wrist, two blades came into existence. They were both curved, and ended in a point. There was a gap between the two blades that Red's saber could easily get caught in. Got to make sure my saber doesn't get caught in there, Red thought. The top blade's color was the same as the stallion's primary, and the bottom was the same shade of red as the secondary. He brought his right arm up, with a slight bend at the elbow, and held the elbow in the opposite hand, and spread his legs. This was obviously a pose for combat. Red assumed his combat stance: both hands on his saber, his feet spread wide. The two then began to circle each other in silence. (1:30) Red tightened his grip on his saber. He tried to discern where Lone was looking, but the visor stopped that. (1:48) They began to edge closer to each other. Not all at once, but gradually. (1:56) The two charged at one another, Lone's blade held low, Red's held high. (2:05) The blades clashed, and the combatants spun away from one another. (2:24) They charged again in the same pose, only this time, they did not spin away from the other. As Red brought his saber down, Lone reacted with a speed only alicorns should have and blocked the slash, his arm not moving as the blades collided. Lone pushed his sword up and kicked Red in the chest, causing him to back away due to the impact. He looked down at where he was struck, and thought, That's the first time anypony has been able to hit me in a duel. He was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard Lone running toward him. He looked up and saw Lone charging, his weapon held at the side. Once Red was in range, he slashed his sword horizontally. Red had barely been able to get his bade in position to block it before he was hit. He pushed the sword away and spun, hoping to use the momentum to stab Lone. This proved fruitless, as Lone jumped out of Red's reach before he had fully spun around. Lone jumped at Red, spinning while he did so, which made him look like a glowing halo of red and blue light. Red blocked this attack with difficulty, as the momentum of Lone combined with his armor's weight led to a great deal of Kinetic energy, and thus, a lot of force. Before Red could retaliate, Lone disappeared in a flash of green. Red was processing this as something hit him on the back, causing him to fall down to the ground and lose his grip on his saber. He turned over and saw Lone standing over him, his sword pointing directly at Red's face. "Sloppy," he said, as if this was a training fight. "You never freeze up in combat. If I had actually been trying to kill you, I could have just stabbed you with my sword." Lone then deactivated his sword and put it back on his thigh. He then reached his left hand out to where Red's saber had fallen. It came over to him in a green aura. Lone then reached down to Red with his right hand, saying, "You are definitely the swordsman the rumors say you are. If you and the leaders of the NLR would allow it, I would like to join." Red took his hand, and got up, taking his lightsaber back, clipping it to his belt "Hmm...Come with me...We will find out what Luna and the others say...Your combat skills alone impress me.....Especially being able to beat me in single combat like that...But as you no doubt know it's not my call on this..." he said as he walked with Lone, back outside, and took out a pen and some parchment, and wrote out a note to Nightmare, and rolled it up tying it. It Read as such: Dear Moony, I've encountered somepony with impressive combat skills, and, very interesting Armor...he challenged me to a duel and WON as well...he wishes to join if I, and the rest of you leaders of the NLR allow him to...Please contact me through Hologram once you receive this message. I'll be waiting on board the Shadow with Barb. Love, Captain Zero 'Red' Star. He then called Barb out, and had her send it, who happily did so, by breathing her magical fire as it sent off and appeared before Nightmare at her location. Nightmare was in her room, looking over the battle reports from the front lines when Red's message appeared in blue flame. She opened it, and read it, surprised that a pony had been able to defeat Red in one on one combat. She was also interested in his armor. As far as she could tell from what Red said, it was something he hadn't seen before. She sent for Chrysalis and Luna, telling them to meet her in the war room so they could all talk to Red and the other pony. Twenty minutes later, all three were assembled in the holo room portion of the war room. "Are you certain we can trust this pony, Nightmare?" Chrysalis asked. "Red vouched for him personally, and he is a good judge of character, so yes." "Are you certain of that, sister," Luna said, "or is that just you vouching for your love?" "I am certain of it, Luna. Now, I say we contact Red and this pony and speak with him. "Agreed," the other two said. With that, Nightmare activated the link between the war room and the Rogue Shadow. The three did not have to wait long before Red appeared. Red smiled, as the hologram appeared on both ends, with the three mares seeing him and Barb, and him seeing the three of them. Red smiled speaking up "Greetings Chryssie, Luna. And of course, the most beautiful of the three, Moony." He spoke, waving, with his helmet being off. Chrysalis spoke up first smirking. "She's the most beautiful? What if I did this?" She then changed to look exactly like Nightmare, when Red spoke again. "That's cheating, As my dear Moony is the most beautiful." He said with a chuckle as Chrysalis changed back. Nightmare playfully stuck out her tongue at Chrysalis. It was good that even during this time of war, they could afford to have a laugh, playing with each other at times. "The individual I was referring to calls himself Lone Shadow. I'll let him step into view now, so that you girls can ask him what you wish, and We can talk of him possibly joining our side, once he introduces himself." He said as he stepped aside with Barb, motioning for Lone to step into range, as he did so, he removed his helmet, to let his face be seen by the leaders, and to Red himself as he had never seen him face to face till now. He had a black coat, and had neck length mane, which matched his coat but had red and orange on the sides to give a fiery appearance to it. His eyes were the same color as Luna's. Red spoke up shortly after, to be professional. "State your full name, and credentials to show worth in joining our cause." He demanded, to essentially allow him to do so. "My full name is Lone Shadow. As for my credentials: That is something I'll keep to my self. What I will tell you is that I have had many good teachers. Nothing you do or say will change that," he said, making the four members of the NLR somewhat mad. "Plus, I think my duel with Captain Zero Star earlier," he gestured with his hand to Zero, "speaks to my skills." Luna spoke up first "The statement of your skills is true...our Captain here is extremely skilled. None have bested him in single, much less, in a handicap combat where he's on his own against a group of foes...And you did so fairly easily...thus your skills would speak for themselves...Tell us about your weapon...that...segmented blade we see in the video feet from Red's helmet..." She spoke, referring to his sword like weapon. "Of course," he said, moving to grab his sword. He activated it. "It's my own custom weapon. I call it an energy sword. Unlike light sabers, this uses electromagnetic fields to contain plasma. Normally, both blades would be blue, as me and some of my friends have them as well, but mine was custom made, and matches the color of my armor. This weapon is easily able to cut through just about anything, including mid-level magic shields. I tested that feature personally." Luna nodded before responding "Perhaps you can give us some blueprints, so that we might be able to have access to such a weapon..." She suggested, hoping for an extra edge against Celestia and her army. Chrysalis spoke next in questions. "You say it can cut through Mid-level Magic shields? And you tested it personally...What type of Magical talent do you possess?" Lone smirked. "Well, for one," he said, before disappearing in a flash of light. "I can teleport over greater distances than even Twilight Sparkle was able to as a unicorn," Lone said from behind the three rulers, which caused them to jump in surprise and turn around and look at Lone, a smirk still on his face. He then looked at Luna. "No to the blueprints. This is a weapon that only a few ponies are worthy of wielding, and it takes years to determine that," he said, angering Luna further, as she thought he was deliberately keeping the information from them. "I also have a very large intelligence network," he said. Red spoke up first seeing Luna be angered. "Well then jackass, Why don't we try to make a similar model that's mass-produced? that way we can still use such a weapon but only those who are 'worthy' are able to wield the real deal?" He asked, hoping to help calm Luna down, over the transmission, before Nightmare spoke up again. "How big is this network of yours?" "Because," Lone replied to Red, "the materials for this weapon are rare, and even if they weren't, only me and one of my friends know how to build them. As for your question, Nightmare. It's large enough for me to tell you what Celestia has as a mid-day snack every second Tuesday of the month, and that you are hoping to turn one of the Elements to your side." This got surprised looks from the others, as they had only talked about that behind magically reinforced doors designed to prevent eavesdropping." Red speaks up again. "Okay your being very suspicious now...How do we know that if you join us, you won't turn on us later down the road?" He asked, as Barb decided to ask a question of her own. "What are your talents besides Combat and Magic sir?" She asked cutely. "To answer your question, Captain, I've already had a chance to kill you and the other three, which would be easy for me, but I haven't. If that is not enough for you: Twenty minutes north and fifty minutes east of Canetrlot, there is a small, but vital, research base for Celestia's forces. They are currently working on developing large vehicles that will give them an advantage in ground combat. The contingent guarding it is fifty strong, a fair portion of them being researchers with only light combat training," he said. "As for your question, young dragoness, I can practically pilot any vehicle after just one go at the controls." He paused for effect. "And I can manipulate minds, which is something you all will need to gain the loyalty of one of the Elements," he said with a smile. Nightmare seemed intrigued "Well...what elements should we try and win over?" She ended up asking the rather obvious question. "Well, for one, we can't just use magic, we need logic," Lone said, raising a finger to emphasize. "Fortunately, I know how you can win over not one of the Elements, but three. More specifically, Generosity, Kindness, and Laughter. For Generosity, we use the fact that Celestia knew that Diamond dogs were invading the area around Ponyville five hundred years ago. If she had done something to stop it, then Generosity wouldn't have been taken by them. As for Kindness, my intelligence net works say she is part bat-pony after a vampire fruit bat incident on Sweet Apple Acres, and all of the bat ponies are with the three of you. As for laughter, we simply state that the most fun parties take place during the night. I already have a few plans for how to accomplish these goals, but I will need you five to trust me, and I will also need the captain's help with it." There was silence before Chrysalis spoke up. "You have my trust, Lone, but mark my words, if you betray one of us, all of us will come after you. Is that clear?" Lone nodded. "Of course. And what of you, Luna?" Luna and Nightmare both remained quiet, before both nodded "We feel the same as Chrysalis, if you betray any of us, we WILL all come to kill you." Nightmare shown clear agreement in the matter. Barb spoke up next "So long as Master Red trusts you, then I do." Red thought before nodding. "You're able to beat me in combat...I'm impressed by your skills alone...and so long as that intelligence of yours rings true and we can possibly get our hands on some of those ground weapons, and get the three elements you mentioned on our side, then you'll have earned my trust. But if you betray any of us, much less Moony there, I will personally gut you like a trout and mount your head on my wall." He stated being genuinely honest. "Fair enough," Lone said. "I'll lay out the plan tomorrow, once it's been ironed out. And don't bother about giving me quarters. I can sleep in the rafters if I have to," He said. "No, you don't," Luna said. "There is a spare room near this room, which you can stay in." "In that case," Lone said, bowing, "Thank you." From there, Lone was showed his quarters, where he ironed out the details for the plan he had laid out earlier. Things are going according to plan, he thought to himself as the night rolled on. Author's Note Reminder to everyone: His full name, is Zero 'Red' Star. 'Red' is a nickname he was given due to his red mane, tail, and the red highlights in his wings. So, if you see the name Zero, or Red tossed around, it's Referring to him. Hello, people, LoneShadow here, co-author of this story. It has come to my attention not a lot of people like this story, and I think that is for one of two reasons. The first being the grammar in chapter one. Let me ask you this, since when is a story perfect in grammar during it's first stages? The second reason is possibly that this has been done to death. My rebuttal: If that was really the case, not liking a story because it's kind has been done to death, then why is it HiE fics are still popular, Not to mention stories of one of the Elements going evil. I speak from experience with the second one, as I am working on a story where Twilight turns evil, and I've seen plenty of stories for that, but I have 23 likes to 2 dislikes. Give this story a chance, would you?
Chapter 5A Week has passed since their most recent victory over Celestia and her Solar Empire. Red wakes with a yawn, and is sandwiched between the two most beautiful mares he ever had met, both Nightmare Moon, and Fleur de Lis, he's certainly happy where he is, and decides to kiss both of them to stir them to wake, smiling happily. Nightmare was the first to awaken after Red, a blush appearing on her face as she beheld the sight before her. "Hello, Red," she said in a low volume. "Hello, Moony," Red said. "How was your night?" He asked, with a sly smile on his face. She giggled "Oh it was magnificent...and I want to stay by your side always during the night..." Red kissed her again, smirking, at his dear lover, still a sly grin, as he also was slowly stroking Fleur's mane. "You are alright with this, aren't you? Me loving both of you?" He asked, wanting to make sure...Ironically, he had asked said question numerous times over the week since Fleur joined them...poor guy's kinda paranoid. "How many times must I tell you, Red? So long as I am the Alpha," she said, flashing a toothy grin. Fleur woke up here, smiling as she saw Nightmare and Red. "Hello, loves," she said. How was last night?" Red smirked "Great my dear. it was lovely.....I'd be more than honored to have you girls be in this same position for every night...to sleep with both of you..." He spoke happily, as he moved to get up, stretching his wings, as he had slept shirtless, the only thing he had warn to bed was his boxers, as all their clothing was nearby, whilst Nightmare and Fleur had both slept in their lingiere, which would naturally hug and accentuate their perfect curves. Meanwhile-Canterlot "Just take it easy, Princess," Doctor Sharp Eye, a blue unicorn with a red mane and tail, said. "It'll take you some time to get used to your new hand." Following the attack on Canterlot by the NLR and the betrayal of Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, Celestia had needed multiple procedures done over the cours of the week to prepare her for her new limb. She had lost her left hand when one of the NLR soldiers had attacked her with a previously unknown weapon, while also killing a third of the total guards that were there that day. She had only been able to get her new prosthetic today. Her new left hand was a steel gray. Even though it was mechanical, it connected into her central nervous system, allowing her to still feel with the hand. Celestia, grunted in slight pricks, as she was testing out the limb's movements as it worked just as it was meant to work, just like her normal hand. She was actually considering to use a spell to make it look, and, feel, just like a regular hand, rather than having this steel grey metal one, She can feel with it, but, it looked kinda unnatural anyway. Before she could consider further, Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow came in, joy evident on their faces due to her recovery. Spike was in Ponyville, making sure the general there would be able to send a report to her should it be needed. Twilight came running up to Celestia, embracing her in a hug tight enough, Celestia thought she would need to stay in the medical ward due to broken ribs. "Princess!" Twilight exclaimed. "I'm so glad your okay." Twilight began to sob here. "It's all my fault they got past the shield. I knew we should have asked Shining to come." Celestia put her right hand on Twilight's shoulder, hoping to calm her down. It worked, but not by much. "It is not your fault, Twilight. The rebels have always been improvisational. We simply need to find a way to adapt the shield spell to account for this," Celestia said, a smile on her face, more for Twilight than anypony else. She shook her head, as Celestia gave Twilight a gentle nuzzle "It appears I was also being a bit too lenient on those rebels...they are improvisational yes, and very good I will admit...they caught me off guard with that new weapon..." She said flexing her new hand "And had been able to get the other girls on their side....And don't fault your friends for turning sides...I won't...in all honesty as a ruler, I've seen my fair share of such an event happening in war or in battle...where somepony begins to doubt the cause that they were fighting for, and choses to switch sides...they may be branded as a traitor, but, in their heart, they are doing what they feel is right...so, I know they may have turned traitor and joined the rebels, but I will not fault them, nor will I hate them for it... and I implore you girls to do the same in not faulting or hating them for it....it's their choice..." She said to the girls, giving them some advice from her many years as ruler of Equestria. "Princess," the doctor said. "The skin graft for your hand is ready. If you would please follow me, we can get it finished as soon as possible." "Of course, doctor," Celestia said. She followed the doctor until she heard Rainbow say, "I still can't believe that Fluttershy, of all ponies, killed. It's not like her." Celestia stopped and turned to Rainbow an the others, saying, "When a pony believes in a cause enough, Rainbow," she said, "they often find the strength to do things they wouldn't, or couldn't, before." She then turned around to follow the doctor to the procedure room for the skin graft. Twilight nodded agreeing "That's true...after all Dash...remember the best young fliers competition when you pulled off the Sonic Rainboom? Rarity was falling to her death because those wings I had given her burned up...prior to that you were a nervous wreck who wasn't even sure if you could even DO the Sonic Rainboom...but when Rarity was falling to her death, You knew you had to save her, no matter the cost...and that gave you the push you needed to pull it off." She said, justifying Celestia's point Rainbow rubbed the back of her head, saying, "Yeah. I guess you're right there." NLR headquarters-a few hours later. "And what is the status of the production?" Luna asked the engineer in charge of reverse engineering and production. They were in one of the bases numerous underground facilities that allowed for the construction of the NLR's vast arsenal. "Well, Your Highness, we have made excellent with the ATVs, which the troops are calling 'mongooses' due to their agility. We've outfitted many with weapons, and we've started calling them 'gungooses'. We already have a thousand ready for deployment, with another thousand expected in the next month. As for the large walker, we only have the one captain Star brought." He paused here, wary of what to say next. "Though we are halfway through building the next one. I would guess another month and a half before completion, what with most of the engineers being reassigned to armor and weapons." Red approached, standing by Nightmare, as he gently set a hand around her as well, being curteous at the moment. "Well, what of work on a slightly smaller, faster model? those Scout and recon walkers..." He asked, hoping to help in some way, before looking to Nightmare. "Is there anything you'd like me to do my darling?" The engineer scratched his chin for a second before saying, "I suppose, but we'll need more engineers to complete the larger walker on schedule for Operation: Crystal Sword." "If that is the case, recruit from the cities that are with us," Luna said. "Of course, Your Highness," the engineer said, bowing. "Good," Nightmare said. "And for you, my love," she said, smiling as she looked to Red, "I wish for you to assist Fluttershy in constructing her saber. She is waiting in the upper armory." "Of course, Moony," Red said, smiling. "Could you two wait until you're in a room," Luna said. "Yeah, yeah," Red said as he began to head to where Fluttershy was located. Red soon entered the upper armory, where he found Fluttershy, in her own bat form as well. "Hello Fluttershy. How's it going? Nightmare's asked me to assist you in constructing your own lightsaber." "Oh. Hello, Red," Fluttershy said calmly, which was brave compared to her usual tone. She was in her bat-pony guise, wearing a black outfit that had a wide piece of material over her mid-section, with a leather belt with a silver center piece around her waist(think Leia's outfit from the endor DLC for force unleashed 2). "I'm doing just fine," she said, smiling. "How are you?" "I'm fine. So, want to get started on your saber?" "Yes," Fluttershy said, nodding. "Okay then. First things first. What color do you want the blade to be?" "Pink, if that's possible. Blue if not." Red begins to think "Hmm...I do believe there is as pinkish or, Light red saber crystal...if we can't find one I know Blue is very possible." He said, encouragingly, as he took her arm, and began to walk with her, to go get the crystal to use. As they walked, Red tried to spark a conversation by asking, "So, Fluttershy. How are you liking the NLR so far?" "I enjoy it. All the ponies are nice, considerate, and the animals are wonderful. I never though there were so many animals that were nocturnal. I'll admit I was surprised that Princess Luna was with us, but after she told us why, it made sense." "Well, that's just the way we are. We may be fierce fighters on the battlefield, but we are nice to our allies. Something I'm certain you can understand." "Oh, yes. I just wish the others were here," Fluttershy said sadly. "Well, one we defeat Celestia, I'm certain they'll join us." "Well, that's good," she said as they arrived at the part of the armory that held saber crystals. "Okay," Red said. "Light colors, light colors, liiigggght coloooors . . . and bingo, there you are," he said as he pulled a cubby out of the wall that contained light-shaded crystals. He reached in and pulled out a pink crystal that matched the shade of Fluttershy's original mane shade. "We're in luck. One pink crystal. What the saber hilt will look like, you'll have to pick out yourself." "Fun fact, alot of students, will actually model their first lightsaber after the one of their mentors..." He said showing his own to her, before putting it away again. "Tell me this...are you surprised with how nice, Moony has been? Much less that she can be very affectionate and kind?" He asked, curious of Fluttershy's opinion on Nightmare Moon. "I'll admit, I was surprised by how nice Nightmare is, but after I learned all she wanted was to be appreciated by ponies, I kind of understood why she acted the way she did a thousand years ago. It's a shame Celestia didn't care enough for Luna to create a festival for her, or a memorial for Luna after she was banished, leaving ponies to forget about her entirely." "Yes, that is a reason many of us fight for Moony. So she can get justice for what Celestia did to her, as well as justice for the others she's wronged for what ever reason, which is why Chrysalis is with us. If Celestia had removed her 'stupid' crown and actually listened to what Chrysalis said, then they might have been able to find a peaceful solution," Red said. "But that discussion can wait for later. Right now, you need to make your lightsaber." "Well. Let's take a look at mine for example." he spoke as he produced it again. "Many students, tend to model it after their mentors. With alternate parts in many cases, so that the saber is perfectly suited and comfortable for it's user. Basically, make that Lightsaber Yours, and nopony elses." He said, as he shown a few parts on his, showing how it was his, because he liked the way it looked and felt. "So, what will we pick for you?" he asked, as he began to reach out, and take numerous cubby drawers out, showing various parts to create her own lightsaber. "How about that?" she asked, pointing to a natural looking center piece. It was brown like tree bark, and even had detailing that made it look like it was made from tree bark. "Whatever you want, Flutters. This is yours, after all." "Then are there any other pieces like it?" she asked, hopeful. "If by that you mean natural looking, then yes," he said as he pulled out multiple cubbies without touching them. "How are you doing that?" Fluttershy asked. "What, you mean my telekinesis?" When she nodded, he said, "Well, you see, all ponies have a magical field around them, though only unicorns are able to tap into it when they want. It's what allows earth ponies to have the strength they do and what allows pegasai to fly. I'm one of the few non-unicorns who can tap into the field at will, which gives me basic spells. I imagine Lone is able to do that with earth pony strength, as he's stronger than any earth pony I've arm wrestled. Di that answer your question?" "Yeah," Fluttershy said. "Good then. Now, back to your saber." Red smiled, finding it fitting that she would pick saber parts that made it look as though she had carved it out of a tree. "It's very...fitting of you." He said, as he offered the cubbies that contained the natural looking parts, moving the others out of focus since she wanted the natural ones. He did keep the others close enough to inspect if she wished to. She looked over all of them, eventually reaching into one and pulled out a blade guard that was as blue as the ocean, and looked as it was made out of water. It flowed with a beauty only water could have, and even had ripple patterns detailed into it. She reached into another and pulled out an emerald-leaf-green grip, that had leaf vein patterns designed into it. "Hm, That suits you, Flutters," Red said. "Thanks, Red. How do I put it together, though?" she asked. "Just put the pieces, including the crystal, on the table, and the rest will take care of itself," he said. Fluttershy did as he said, and was amazed to see the parts glow and move together, the crystal phasing into the center, and the grip and guard connecting to it. The whole process took ten seconds, and the end result was one of the most elegant sabers Red had seen. It looked like an upside down tree, with the blade guard being the water a tree gets from its roots. "Wow," he and Fluttershy said at the same time. Red smiled "Congratulations Fluttershy, you now have your very own Lightsaber." He spoke, smiling, as he motioned for her to pick it up, and try it out, seeing as it was her own design, and personal preferences on it. She picked it up and activated the saber. The blade was the same shade as normal Fluttershy's hair, and simply made the blade look mare appropriate for the mare. "It's beautiful," she said. Red smiled, as he patted her back "Truly fitting the element of Kindness...and the mare who tends to be more of a nature lover than a fighter." He said smiling as he gave her an apple "C'mon, let's go show the others." He said, as he begins to go and lead her back. A DAY LATER - CANTERLOT Celestia is adjusting well to her new left hand, she's glad it's not her dominant hand, as she's normally right handed, so, it didn't set her back TOO badly...still sucked though...she began to smile and have a chuckle. "Well...at least now those jokes about me ruling with an iron fist make sense." She said with a laugh to herself, seeing the irony in her current situation. She was in the briefing room with Twilight, the others who had stayed, and two of her generals. "I still don't see how a single pony was able to attack that facility, knowing where it was, let alone kill all the guards and steal the walker," One of the generals said. He was a generic solar guard. The only thing that stood out, really, was that his armor was orange instead of the usual white or gold that her forces wore. His name was Steadfast Resolve, and it showed in his record. "It was probably the same one that attacked the princess," the second guard, a chocolate brown earth pony mare, whose name was Unbreakable Tactic, said. "No offense intended, Princess," she quickly added. "None taken." "Still," Resolve said, "this is bad. If the rebels are able to use that walker, we'll lose a lot of ground before it can be taken down. The only thing we have that has a chance are the prototypes, and they're even smaller than it." "How is that a problem," Twilight asked. "Because then it could literally crush them. The main one is over twenty feet tall!" "Shit," Rainbow said. "Rainbow, mind you're language. tha Princess is here." "No, Applejack, she is right. Even if it is a vulgar word, it describes the situation perfectly," Celestia said. "What about that other guy? The one who had the crimson red hair and blue eyes? And green fur? the one who's called Zero Star...He's a darn good fighter...you think He might be the one who attacked them and stole the walker?" Rainbow asked, knowing of how he was one of the better fighters. Twilight spoke up "So what do we do? Should I try to calling my big brother to help us some how? I'm sure he and Cadence would be glad to help us, assuming the Rebels haven't gotten to them yet. "I've already spoke to them, and Shining is on his way here with a contingent of crystal guards," Celesta said. "And it may very well be this 'Zero Star' who attacked the base. The ship he and the others escaped on was heading in that direction when they left, so it's possible." "It'll be nice to see Shining again," Twilight said. "I haven't seen him since this whole thing started. I just hope Cadence is doing alright." "I am certain she is, Twilight." Meanwhile at the NLR base After heloping Fluttershy train with her new saber, Red reports back to Nightmare, and is hugged by Fleur shortly after. "So, Moony, when do we go through Operation Crystal Saber? I've heard that Shining has headed for Canterlot with some Crystal Guard members...No doubt, Cadence is alone at the empire, leaving it protected by herself." "Hopefully, within the next three weeks. We are simply waiting for those smaller walkers, and for Lone to come back." "Where is he, anyway? I haven't seen him since the Canterlot incident," Red said. "All I know is that it is something personal. Perhaps it is to see if his wife is alright." "Yeah. Probably. Still can't believe he has a wife. He seems the kind of pony who wouldn't marry, if only so he doesn't have anything his enemies can use against him. If he hadn't said anything about it when I tried to set him up with Luna after we got back, I have a feeling Luna would have been worse off," he said. "There is a great deal you don't know about me, Red," Lone said as he materialized from the shadows to the left of Red. "You know, the only reason I'm used to that is because Moony does just about the same thing. Not that I don't like it when she does it, but still." "Yes to the first, and for the second," Lone said, shrugging, "Well, look for your selves." At this, eight separate pieces of shadow came up from the floor. They came up to Lone's eye level, then became recognizable. All of them became curved pieces of metal, the hilts of energy swords. Red looked curiously at them, as he began to reach for one of them, interested in trying to use one of them himself, much less to wield it... As he reached for it, Lone said, "That one's not yours, Red." He then moved the one Red was reaching for to Nightmare. "It's hers" She reached for the hilt, and grasped it. "I thought you said-" she said before Lone cut her off. "-That it was only for the worthy, I know. But I meant it is given only to those who believe in their cause without reservation," Lone said, as he moved another to Fleur, who took it, but didn't activate it, rather looking at it with fascination, awe, and a bit of fear. Lone then moved one in front of Red, saying, "This one is yours, Red." Red nodded, taking it, as he looked it over, His looked slightly different from the others "Interesting..." He said as he studied it very closely, looking at it from numerous different angles. "Now," Lone said, "I need to give the others theirs." He made his way to the door. He was just about to leave when he looked back and said, "And I expect all of you in the training room tomorrow. You'll need the practice." He then left the room, closing the door silently behind him. Red made sure he had nobody near him as he activated his, looking it over, in complete awe anyway. The blade colors were the same shades of Red and green on his coat on the bottom and top, respectively. Nightmare activated her sword, and both blades were the same color as her coat. Fleur also activated hers, and its blades matched that of her coat for the top, and her mane and tail for the bottom. "It's beautiful," she said. "And Deadly if what happened to Celestia is any example..." he said as he turned it off, putting it on his thigh, as he decided to go to his room and try to modify the blade, and combine it with his lightsaber, for an easier way to carry it around, plus, it would be a nice surprise, to have gotten a one-up on Lone...and their foes too. Lone was heading to where Rarity usually was during this time, which was annoying the people who worked in the armor production department due to the colors being bland. I feel sorry for those guys, Lone thought. He made his way to the location with ease. He saw Rarity as he walked in, standing in one of the decks that had an over view of the assembly line. "Hey, Rarity," he said loud enough to be heard. She turned and said, "Oh, hello, Lone darling. What are you doing here?" she asked before she saw the energy swords. "Oh, is one of those for me?" she asked. "Yep," Lone said, handing her the energy sword that was designed for her. "You can activate it, but I wouldn't recommend using it until at least day after tomorrow, after I can give you some training in it, along with the others. Got it?" "Yes." "Good," he said. "Now, to give the others theirs," he said, turning to leave the room. The Next Day Red is holed up in his room modifying the new sword, turning it into a second lightsaber, with some extra enhancements. It took him numerous hours to fully modify his new weapon to be more his style, and to possibly one up Lone in terms of what he could actually do. Before Red knew what happened, it was actually the next day. He was a few hours into his modifications when he heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" he asked. The door opened to reveal Nightmare. "Hello, love," she said. "I came to let you know Lone wants us in the training room so he can tech us to use our swords." Red nodded "Alright beautiful. I'll be there shortly. I was up all night working on modifying mine." He said as he shown off the finished product. Which ended up looking like a near completely different weapon, similar actually, to a new lightsaber. NLR headquarters-Training room Lone was in the center of the training room, waiting on the others, with his plasma rifles, small, compact weapons with an organic like appearance, and had a purplish-blue look to it and fired bolts of blue plasma, on his thighs. He had been waiting for a few hours when the fist group, consisting of Fleur, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie walked in. They couldn't see him, as he had invisibility going, wanting to wait until all of the others were in. The next two were Chrysalis and Luna, Chrysalis wearing her draconic armor, and Luna wearing her liquid metal armor. After thirty minutes, in which the others talked among themselves, none so much as even glancing in Lone's direction, Red and Nightmare walked in. As soon as they had finished walking in, Lone became visible, saying, "And if I was an enemy agent, you all would be dead right now. Lesson one: Do not rely on just sight, but your other senses in combat. They may just save your life." Red smirked, behind his own armor's helmet. "I believe Lesson 2 would be to...Expect the unexpected, would it not, Lone?" He asked, as he stepped aside, revealing his new saber hilt, and activating it, revealing that he had modified the sword that Lone had given him, into something that would be, far more comfortable for him, and Red definitely had more surprises in store. Lone raised an eyebrow. "If you guys had seen the stuff I have, that would be on the lower end of the scale. Plus," Lone said, shrugging and pulling one of his plasma rifles. "I got surprises of my own," he said as he pushed a button on the lower part of the rifles trigger mechanism, which caused the upper and lower cases to fall away. He then pulled the trigger, and the blades of his energy sword flashed into existence. If Red had his helmet off, the look would have been priceless. Red smirked though "As do I. I didn't just turn it into a new lightsaber." He said, as he drew his normal lightsaber, to dual wield and face him again. "Impressive," Lone said, "but this isn't saber training, its energy sword training, and just a notice: I do not give a shit if you're a Queen, goddess, ruler, or something else. I'm the only one here in this room who knows how to use them in combat. Is that clear?" he asked everypony. "At current you are anyway..." Red said with a bit of a snarky smirk, as his new saber could visually seem to be much sharper in it's appearance, clearly a modified variation of the energy sword he was given. Fluttershy then spoke up "umm...wouldn't this Kind of be like Saber training, Considering how the weapons are, well...kinda similar?" She asked, being extremely adorable as well. "No" Lone said. "These require more practice, due to the separated blades, as well as the fact that when you hold them like a saber, the handling is different. And who kicked whose plot when we first met again, Red?" "Funny," Red said sarcastically. "Okay," Lone said. "Now that that's out of the way, ALL OF YOU GET YOU LAZY PLOTS IN THE CIRCLES!! I NEED TO SEE WHAT YOUR BASIC SKILLS ARE! NOW!!!" The entire group went into set up small circles to show their basic skills with the new weapon. MEANWHILE IN CANTERLOT Celestia, Twilight, and the other Elements that were still with Celestias forces were at the train station waiting for Shining Armor and the Crystal Empire forces to arrive. "I wonder what's going on in the Crystal Empire, what with this war and everything else," Twilight said, hoping that her sister-in-law was alright. "I am certain they are doing the best they can, Twilight," Celestia said as the wheels of Shining's train could be heard approaching. The Crystal bullet train screeched to a halt at the station as Shining armor stepped out in his own armor, and smiled at Celestia and Twilight "Hey there sis. is everything alright?" He asked before looking to Celestia "How's the new hand treating you?" He asked Celestia, knowing about her losing her hand before. Twilight smiling "So, How's everything going at the Crystal empire?" She asked as the guards he brought with him begin to exit the train...one of them being a particular golden beige Pegasus with a blue mane, that she actually had a crush on. "Good. The guards still there are some of our best, all with their own sabers thanks to our abundance of crystals, and we have watches every hour ot ensure we can't be taken by surprise, and we always have ponies monitoring the radar, so we can't be bombed." "That's good," Celestia said. "Yeah, but that won't help us if the traitors help them," Shining said, referring to Rarity and the others, anger in his voice. Twi spoke up "They may have switched sides but they are still are friends. We can't fault them for choosing to switch sides Big brother." She said, referring to what Celestia had told them a while back. "If they were your friends, they wouldn't have changed sides," he said, his voice becoming gravelly. "Shining," Celestia said, "If Cadence changed sides, would you label her a traitor?" "Yes I would." he said without any hesitation, as stubborn as always, and he could practically feel his wife slap him right then and there...Possibly with a divorce paper too. MEANWHILE AT THE NLR BASE The others were progressing well, in Lone's opinion. They had adjusted well to the swords. This didn't mean that they were naturals though. Rarity had come close to slicing off the tip of her fingers on her left hand, and Fluttershy had nearly cut the tip of Lone's horn. The only one that appeared a natural was Red, but Lone thought that was due to his modifications. "Okay. That's enough for now," he said. "Don't want you guys to accidentally kill yourselves, and I'm not joking with that either." The others turned off their swords and went to the nearest bench. "If you make a joke about how sweaty I am, Love," Nightmare said to Red, "I will cut of your stallion hood and give it to the dogs," she said between gasps for air. Red laughed panting as well, as he hugged her as well, giving her a kiss, along with kissing Fleur. "Haha Sorry, I don't think I got anything right now anyway." He said, as he was looking to Luna and Chrysalis "Luna? Chryssie? you two wouldn't happen to know if we've got any other new weapons in store for the troops would you? Much less, the leaders like us?" He asked, relaxing for the time being to get his energy back, as he was planning to also duel Lone once again, to not only show how much stronger he's become, but see if he can even the score. "Only prototypes," Luna said. "Nothing ready for field testing yet, though." "That's better than nothing," Red said. "Indeed," Chrysalis said. "Well," Lone said, "If you guys want to stop for now, we can." "They can..." Red said, as he began to approach Lone. "I want another duel Now." He said as he activated his Z Saber, as he was calling it, to fight him again, taking his single bladed stance, as he waited for Lone to do the same. "Okay then," Lone said, getting into his single bladed stance. "No holds barred?" he asked. "Yeah. No holding back. The only thing we can't do is obviously kill each other. But I've got more tricks up my sleeve than you know from the first time we met." He said, as the two began to stare each other down. Each of the others dared not to move, as they watched the two powerful warriors stare each other down with their swords drawn, and soon both dashed right at each other charging, before their blades clashed, holding strong, before they broke their clash, and began to trade slash after slash, when Lone tries to catch the sword in his own to disarm him, before Red quickly draws his other saber, holding it in the middle of the two blades of Lone's sword, preventing him from twisting it by locking it up like that with both blades of his sabers. With a swift kick to his gut, Red had broken the hold and had gotten distance, as Red decided to switch things up this time, going in dual wielding, and attacking swiftly, soon doing a thrusting attack with each saber without letting up, forcing Lone to keep backstepping, to try and either block the attack or dodge it, as Red was attacking he actually was also going so quick it physically appeared as though he was throwing out a thousand stabs, with the other leaders of the NLR watching as it seemed as though he had left afterimages of each strike he was using to thrust, before Red made a cross cut with both blades in an X motion dashing ahead as Lone jumped over, to dodge and gain some distance and a chance to attack which he took by lunging at Red who had put away his normal saber, and then, the next thing Lone knew, is that a larger hammer impacted his side and sent him into the opposite wall, with the momentum and the weight of the swing overcoming the weight of his own armor. inside his helmet, Lone was shocked and speechless, and the look on his face was priceless. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU?! WHEN THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT?!" He asked completely confused, but at the same time, impressed, as Red motioned to the hammer. "As I said, over the entirity of the past few hours I've been modifying the sword you had given me, Thus, I basically turned it into a second saber, which is just as sharp as the energy sword was. So, whilst it looks different, it still has that edge. On top of that, I decided to impliment numerous other weapon modes into it, to make it even more versitile than that sword is." He said with a content smirk behind his helmet's faceplate, as he spun the hammer, and slammed it into the ground causing a tremor wave aimed at Lone, who used it to jump higher, before Red caused another surprise, by turning his hammer, into a chain rod, and reached out with it, wrapping around Lone's Sword and arm, not hurting him due to how it was wrapping around the armor, and using his own power to slam him back down, before retracting his whip, and returned it to it's natural saber form, closing in to fight again, as the battle continued to go with the two warriors trading strike after strike, neither relenting, before the two ended in a position where Red had Lone's sword at his neck, and his own Z Saber was at Lone's neck. "Seems like we've got ourselves a little stand off eh?" Red started. "How about we call this one a draw? because we both could kill each other right now." He said, knowing that either way, the fight was over, and it was a draw. Lone nodded in agreement, as both shut off their blades and backed away bowing in respect, as the others applauded in approval, Nightmare Moon and Fleur clapping even more for Red than anything. Red laughed a bit approaching Nightmare and Fleur and hugged them both. Author's Note Yes, the modified version of Red's Energy Sword IS the Z saber from the Megaman series. whilst it has numerous other forms to become a very versatile weapon in his hands, the reason he's renamed it the Z saber is due to the fact that his real name IS infact, Zero. Thus, it's an injoke that it's a reference to the Megaman series by me, the author, AND because his real name IS Zero. His weapon as shown, also has numerous additions, and modifications, such as a strong maul hammer style, a chain rod/chain whip, the actual saber mode for single and dual blade combat an Ax and a Saw blade for doing added damage for pressuring opponents. Yes, Lone has hybrid energy swords/plasma rifles. You have to admit that it would be cool to have that in-game. By the way, next chapter, the epic shit commences.
Chapter 6: Operation Crystal Sword Part 1The days went by swiftly as the New Lunar Republic was training with their new weapons, preparing for their great mission, Operation Crystal Sword. Now, it was time to go and put the operation into action. Red yawns, waking, yet again, curled up with Fleur and Nightmare Moon, kissing both to wake them up as well. "Morning girls. It's time for the operation." The three were with the army, just a day's march from the Crystal Empire. The reason why was to boost troop morale, and because Lone had come up with a plan that would gain the NLR another ally, should it be successful. Nightmare was the first to wake. "Then should we not prepare our armor?" she asked with a teasing grin on her face. "Yes, I was going to ask that as well," Fleur said groggily as she woke up. Red snickered a bit, and got up, as he began to get dressed in his armor, and, whilst leaving the helmet off for the time being, he put on his Solid Eye, which appeared to simply be a plastic eye patch over his left eye, but in reality, was a miniature camera featuring Night vision, Thermal/Infared vision, Radar, Zoom function, along with being able to track footprints, somepony's heart rate, sweat secretion and body temperature, Along with detailing the armaments and specs of various weapons of the targets that enter it's range of vision. He cracks his neck and rolls it as well getting loosened up as he put away his Lightsaber, His Z-Saber, the Dual SMGs he had, And his shotgun, holding the helmet in his hand. Fleur and Nightmare also put on their combat gear. Fleur was wearing what she wore the day she left Canterlot, and Nightmare was wearing her Draconian armor. Once they were all geared up, with Fleur and Nightmare having both their sabers and energy swords, they left the tent the ywere in, and mad their way to the command tent,where Lone and the others were waiting. Red entered with them, helmet off, smiling beside both of them. "So, what's the plan Lone? How are we approaching this?" He asked, now that they were all there, and it was time to discuss the plan for Operation Crystal Sword. Lone nodded in greeting before saying, "As the ground forces are keeping the bulk of the crystal army distracted, we, meaning all of us here, will use the Shadow to infiltrate the castle, where Cadence is, along with her best soldiers. Me and Red will hold them off, while the rest of you head to the throne room, where Cadence will most likely be. We don't want her dead. Once me and Red are done having fun, we'll join you guys, and I'll cast the suggestion spell." "Yeah no. I'm going with Moony. You guys can handle the army. I can handle dealing with Cadence." He said, with a smirk on his face, placing his hand on her shoulder. Lone shrugged. "Fine." He grinned, "Looks I'm going badass again." "Same here. I'm taking on Cadence on my own when we get to her. Besides, I don't think we would need that suggestion spell of yours to be able to get Cadence on our side...ya see, she can sense the feelings of others, such as their love for one another. Comes with being the Princess of Love after all. I suspect, she'll be able to sense my own feelings of love for not only Fleur..." He said placing his hand on her side. "But also Moony here." He said, kissing her as both were helmetless. "And I'll bet that she thinks Moony put those feelings in my head to secure my loyalty, even though it was all my own choice. I'll face her, proving it to her, AND, use our knowledge to convince her to join us as well." "Yeah, probably. That's the only change in the plan, then. Anypony have questions?" Rarity spoke up, "How many guards are we going to have to deal with?" "You guys," Lone said, "None." He grinned again, "Me? About one hundred. Peace of bucking cake." "Well, we might still have some guards on us. Even if she IS in the throne room, we've still gotta go through the castle to her." Red said. "I'd suspect close to a hundred, if not a little less... on our end." Red mentioned, thinking about how many guards they would be dealing with. Lone reached for his helmet, which was on a nearby table, and put it on. He rolled his head, small popping sounds being heard, and cracked his knuckles. "Just get me in there. I'll draw enough," he said. "Well I'd say at least we'll deal with 50 as we make our way to Cadence. SO Alright then." Red said, as he picked up his own, and slipped it on, cracking his neck and his knuckles as well. "So, shall we board the Shadow and get to work then? The others all nodded. All but Lone, who was wielding his hybrid weapons, went to grab the newest weapons that had just been produced. The Nightbringers. Red quickly grabbed his wrist before he could pick up one of them. "That one's not yours." he said, and moved it to another nearby one of the pistols. "That one's yours, and yes, it matters, GREATLY. they are DNA coded to each of their users. If the ID lock isn't bypassed through the safety procedure, then well, it self destructs, and takes your hand, half your lower arm, and Possibly your life with it." He explained. The pistols looked very impressive, with an integrated, extendable silencer for silenced mode, capable of semi-automatic fire and a fully automatic fire mode, it held a magazine below the muzzle which would fire off normal Full metal jacketed, Rubber, Incendiary, high explosive, and hot shot/heat seeking rounds. And the LCD display on the side, would display how many rounds were left, and what mode it was in. Red picked up his own, and the display read 'ID Confirmed' and was linked to him as he had just explained to Lone. "Nice, but I'll stick to these," Lone said, holding up his plasma rifles. "And how can you tell how many shots they have left?" Chrysalis asked. "There's a small meter on the side," he said, turning one of his rifles to the left so they could see it. "The green represents the charge. Purple would represent what's been used. Takes a while to understand it, but easy to once you know how to." Red nodded understandly, as he let the rest of them gather up their own Nightbringer pistols, to each of them the ID locked and confirmed it was them. Once they holstered them, Red smiled behind the helmet. "So, I think we should get to flying eh?" He said, "Operation Crystal Sword is a go now!" He said as he looked to the others for confirmation that they were all ready to go. The group made their way to the Shadow. Once they were aboard, the ship lifted off. Nightmare opened the army wide frequency, which included troops on walkers designated AT-ST's, as scouts often used them, gungooses, and ground troops, as well as the giant walker for firing support, which had been designated an AT-AT. "All forces of the NLR, the day of Operation: Crystal Sword has arrived. We are here, not to kill, but to bring the glory of the night to the Crystal Empire. Should any of the Crystal forces surrender, take away their weapons and armor, and bring them back to the camp. Victory for the Night!" "VICTORY!!!!" The army cheered, as they instantly began the operation. Red was having Barb pilot the ship so that he would be ready for their own part of the plan, to go and confront Cadence, to get her to turn to their own side, and thus, secure the Crystal Empire's great amount of saber crystals, And their location, Along with their assistance for the cause of the NLR. With the radar cloak active, the Rogue Shadow made it's way over the Empire as the NLR ground forces began their attack. Lone had cast an invisibility spell just after takeoff. That way, nopony in the castle would know of them until they came knocking with explosives. As it neared the castle, Lone walked up to the cockpit where Barb was. She gave a nod as he walked in. "Lone," she said. He nodded in return. "Barb, think you make us an entry way at the bottom, since they fortified it there?" "Can I," She answered, in an almost gloating tone. "Good," Lone said. "Once we're in position, wait until I give the word, and once we're out, help the ground forces." "Got it." Red loooked to Nightmare Moon, Fleur, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie. "You girls ready?" he asked looking to them as he kissed Nightmare and Fleur, as he would be working to protect them on their trip. He also gave Rarity and Fluttershy their own kiss on their foreheads, as a sign of luck and support for them since he'd be protecting them, just as they would protect each other. They each nodded, Rarity and Fluttershy blushing lightly at his sign of support to them, but they all signaled that they were ready to go. Red checked out his weapons, and was positive that he was ready to go. he had his two sabers, now he's maining the Z-saber due to the versatility he had made it be able to take, along with having his lightsaber, and the two SMGs, and the shotgun, culminating with his own Nightbringer. All were filled and ready to go. and his Solid Eye would give a red flash once in a while, for it's camera was naturally scanning each of them showing him their weapons specs. Hilariously enough though, when he ended up scanning Pinkie Pie, it ended up saying 'ERROR' on it due to her being beyond understanding, save for the weapons she carried at least. Lone came down to the bay where they all were. "Coming up," Barb announced over the speakers. "Get ready!" "Okay, people," Lone said. "Time to kick plot," he said, bring up one of his plasma rifles. "In position," Barb said. "FIRE!!" The Rogue Shadow launched it's attack, blasting open a route for the team, as Barb kept it in the air, and the entire group dashed out, landing on the ground, and quickly went right to work to fight and take the Crystal Empire as their ally. Red, Nightmare, Fleur, Chrysalis, Luna, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie rushed for the castle, as Red took the lead, pulling out his new pistol. "High Ex!" He spoke as the Pistol's display switched to High-Ex on it, and he pulls the trigger, firing off a round of a grenade, which fired ahead and blasted a massive hole in their way, spraying out bloody remains of the guards who were in the blast range, dismembered and bleeding out. Lone stayed behind, kneeling on the ground. He waited until just about ninety-nine percent of the guards not in the castle, part of the group going against the army, or dead or dismembered had him surrounded. When they had him surrounded, he got up. "Well, as an old friend of mine once said," Lone said, "and I'm paraphrasing here: The guarding," he said, pulling out one plasma rifle, and bringing out his second in energy sword form, pointing the rifle in front of him, and the sword low to the ground, "ends here." (0:18) The guards rushed him, and many were killed before they could get close, their armor not designed to go up against plasma weaponry. Those that were lucky enough were killed by his energy sword. As more and more came, he killed them. He did not move from his position once during the onslaught. After three minutes of this, one of the guards brought out a rocket launcher and fired. The rocket hit where Lone was standing, and the guards began to form up to go after Red and the others. (1:10) Before they could move, a shadow above them separated from the ceiling and solidified, revealing Lone, both energy swords out. He fell in the midst of the host of guards, and killed them left and right, not caring about their blaster bolts, as his armor had shields. It was another minute before the first fifth of the guards were killed. Most of the survivors retreated. The others pulled out their light sabers, and came at him. As the first guards reached him, he used his magic to create two ethereal blades that resembled blades of old, and this made the guards think he was trying to intimidate them. The first four to reach him found out the hard way that this wasn't the case. The first two reached him at the same time, and raised their sabers for an attack. They were cut in half by the ethereal blades while Lone used his actual swords to block the other guards sabers, who he quickly disarmed by getting the blades of their sabers in between his blades, then twisting and yanking them to the side. He pulled of a roundhouse kick, which knocked them out. More guards ran here, leaving only four awake and alive. They charged at him, two staying further back to engage the ethereal blades, the other two coming up close to engage Lone directly. This worked for a few minutes, though Lone was able to win when one of the guards engaging the ethereal blades over swung, which left him open to a counter, which Lone took, cutting off his head. The ethereal blade that cut off the guards head then moved to engage the other, and they made short work of him. The two remaining guards, though fear was evident in their eyes, stood their ground before they were literally stabbed in the back. They fell to the ground, lifeless. (End music) As Lone was putting his weapons away, he heard a faint sound coming from behind one of the pillars that held the palace up. He walked over to it, and found a small colt, no younger than six or seven, with a light orange coat and a blue mane and tail, with wings on his back. "Hey there, little guy," Lone said, squatting to come closer to eye level with the colt. "What're you doing here. This isn't a safe place for a colt as young as you." The colt looked up, his eyes red from the tears he cried, and said, "I-I-I was here with my dad. My big brother is in Canterlot, and my mom is a part of the army." His head went back into his lap. "Th-they thought I would be safe here, but- but Dad couldn't protect me, so I hid." "Hid from what?" "A monster." Lone reached out for the colt, but thought better of it, and went to remove his helmet instead. Once it was removed, he said to the colt, "Well, the monster isn't here anymore." Lone smiled as the colt looked at him, hope in his eyes. He reminded Lone of his own childhood, when he had lost his mother and father just a little over a year apart, when he was just five and six, respectively, and he remembered what it was like. "What do you say we get away from here . . . Sorry, I didn't catch your name." Some more sniffles from the colt before he replied, "Lightning Sentry." "Well, Lightning," Lone said, standing up, but reaching a hand down to the recently fatherless colt, "let's get out of here." Lightning looked up to Lone, before getting up, and taking his hand, holding it for reassurance. Together, they walked away from the bloddy battle field Lone had made, which included Lightning's father. Crystal Palace- Meanwhile The team had blasted their way inside the castle, and were making their way in, as more a good more set of guards were attacking them, Red easily dispatched them, as did Pinkie, who was having a blast...literally as her Nightbringer was set to High-Ex...and rapid fire... Thanks to Lone's distraction, which could be heard, even in the deepest parts of the palace, the group encountered very little resistance, only encontering three squads of guards, and small groups of singular and double guards, though they fell quickly, and they made it to the throne room doors within miutes. Red kicked them open entering in, as both the guards on the other side of the doors were squashed against the walls and were knocked out. Cadence is seen sitting on her throne, as the team began to spread out. Red stared her down from behind his helmet, as she slowly stood up, and began to step down from her throne, having her own special lightsaber. it appeared to be a simple flat hilt, wrapped in what would appear to be bandages, similar to a classic katana, and the end of the hilt, looked like a large pink heart. when she activated it, it turned into a long hot pink blade. Red also stepped forward, as he looked over the armored princess of love, as he produced his Z-Saber and drew it. "So, you're the one who's leading this attack?" Cadence asked, getting into a fighting pose. "One of them," Red replied. Cadence looked around the room, noticing Nightmare and the others. "So it would seem." She then saw Luna, which unbalanced her a little. "A-Aunt Luna? What are you doing here. Luna spoke "I am on their side...the New Lunar Republic...because your aunt Celestia is a cruel and...iron fisted ruler..." Red cut in "in more ways than one now." he spoke snickering a bit, as he looked to Luna, before facing Cadence again. Nightmare spoke "Cadence, we do not wish to have to fight you unless we must but we would like you to join us." She said, as Cadence now began to feel a familiar tug of her magic...she could sense, feelings of Romance, between Nightmare Moon, Fleur and the stallion that faced her. She didn't think that these were genuine, at least not to Nightmare, and thought they were implanted in to Red's mind to ensure his loyalty. "And why should I believe you?" Cadence asked. "You may very well attempt to kill me once I surrender, and I have a duty to my citizens. To protect them from threats like you!" She would have attacked then and there, but Lone cane over the radio, which was heard by everypony due to it coming from Red's armor, which had the external speakers on. "Red, Nightmare, guys. If you're hearing this, the guards are taken care of, but i won't be joining you. I found a pegasus colt whose father was killed, and I'm taking him a few blocks away from the castle, I'll probably be looking out for him until his mother comes for him, assuming she survives the fight. For his sake, we need to finish this soon. Lone, out." She was a little surprised at this. Why would one of their soldiers look after one of my citizens, especially after killing the father, Cadence thought. "You see, Cadence," Rarity said, "We don't want to harm anypony. The only reason this war started is because Celestia thought all of the ponies believed her to be an ineffable goddess,which she played along with, which is what so many of our comrades are sick of that. "One of which, is likely your own husband...He's likely far more loyal to Celestia, than to you...If you were to join us, he'd likely label you as a traitor instantly rather than agree to cross over to our side with you..." Red said to her, as he moved to face Cadence in a duel. "We do not wish to hurt the innocent..." Red said. "As he smiled towards Nightmare, and Cadence could feel those feelings budding even more. "No," Cadence said calmly. "He wouldn't betray me. I'm the princess of love. I would know if his love for me was-" "Greater than his loyalty to his sister, or mine," Luna interrupted. "You know as well as I that love is the only emotion you can sense." Chrysalis chuckled a little here. "They aren't wrong, Cadence. When I was posing as you, I did feel quite a lot of love coming from him, but it was a measly amount compared to his loyalty to Celestia." "Join us," Red said, "and you don't have to worry about that from the others. We are all equally loyal to one another, and we don't betray our friends." "That did not seem to stop Luna from betraying Celestia," Cadence said "Cadence, that's a low blow and you know it. Besides, that's a different story. You can sense love, no doubt you've been sensing the affection I hold for Moony and Fleur...and I'm willing to imagine that your questioning if it's even the real deal. Well." He spoke, as he removed his helmet, giving it to Fleur, and kissing her, for her to hold onto it for the moment, as the Solid Eye flashed red as it was revealed "Why don't you and I put it to the test." He wagered, his Z-Saber being active, and he pointed it to her to fight her. Nightmare Spoke up, hiding some small tears behind her own helmet. "Celestia was never my friend...she took my daughter from me when I was banished....I was wanting that foal so badly...I used a magic spell to be able to give myself one...because I wanted SOMEPONY to be able to love me for me...love my creation...because Celestia never gave me the attention I deserved...she had to hog the spotlight with her own big fat flanks! And when I was banished...I gave birth to that foal...my little dawn...I can ...almost see her now....dieing in my arms when I was on the Moon..." She said, her voice beginning to break up, as this revelation began to bring Cadence's heart to flutter from the amount of love she could feel Red held for Nightmare due to this, Luna even gave her sister Nightmare a reassuring small hug, to help calm her emotions. Even though her instincts told her what she was sensing was true, she couldn't believe it, and would do anything to prove it. It was at this time, an adorable pink Pegasus pony, who actually had the same Mane style and color as Luna when she first returned appeared...but there was something extra special...she had Nightmare's eyes! she noticed Nightmare, and approached her "Hi missy!~" She cooed in an adorable voice. she was only around 5 years old, and Looking at her, Nightmare could feel a very strange connection...because this foal, looked just like her little Dawn from all those years ago. Red didn't notice, as his attention was on Cadence. he brought his saber to bare, as he spoke up "Moony....Je t'aime de tout mon coeur" he spoke, in prench, which Fleur lightly blushed at knowing the phrase and exactly what it meant, as Nightmare heard, and her heart began to sour hearing the phrase, and even more when Fleur told her that it meant 'I love you with all my heart' Nightmare was thrilled and Cadence could feel it Red and Cadence stared each other down as Pinkie spoke up playfully "THE DIVINE LIGHTS ARE BLAZING...ROUND ONE! FIGHT!" She said as Both fighters looked to her, gave a silly smile, as they then turned back and began to fight, saber after saber clashed and countered, being evenly matched, as Red's Solid Eye flashed when they were clashing, locked face to face, and he shoved her back, switched it to hammer mode and slammed the ground for a tremor wave, before switching back to Saber mode. The wave from the hammer blow pushed Cadence into the air, which she used to get above Red. This worked for a second before Red used his own wings to get back on equal ground with Cadence, so to speak. Red smirked, as they dashed at each other, and continued to fight now in the sky, slashing at each other still. Red could feel his heart pounding in this fight, and Cadence could feel his love for Nightmare surging. Nightmare saw the little filly, and knelt by her. "Hello little one...those are...very curious eyes of yours..." She said as she and the others moved out of the way to let the two fight. As they moved, the two duelists sped up their attacks, Red using his telekinesis to add more speed into his swings, Cadence, a speed boosting spell, but even with this, they could not best one another. The duel itself lasted for only a few minutes, but that was more tan enough time for the both of them to become exhausted, and they eventually stopped in the locations they had started in, their weapons up to be used should the other attack. The filly giggled when Nightmare made the comment "Uh huh! I was told they were very...special eyes when I was a cute little filly...the mare that raised me told me they belonged to my Mommy..." she said with a smile, before it turned into a frown. "But...she and that stallion are gone now...and I never had a Mommy or Daddy..." she said softly, her big eyes practically filling with tears. Red and Cadence closed in again and began to fight once more, now even taking longer breaks between attacks, as they also ended up behind each other. Before they swiftly turned around, and clashed blows again swiftly 12 more times, and ended up apart from each other in the same places, Panting, nearly exhausted from their duel. Red spoke first. "You're Pretty Good." He said after taking a few breaths, as Cadence nodded "You...Too...making me work about as hard as I do for my Husband." She said, as they were staring each other down again. "Your Heart...it's very pure...the affection I sense for both Fleur...and Nightmare...it's real...I'm amazed, but it's real...it's true, it's the real deal..." She said. "So...will you join us, Princess Cadence?" He asked looking at her, to hear if she'd say yes, even if it was just to watch how his and Nightmare's love unfolded, along with the love for Fleur. "If I do, how can I be certain you won't harm my subjects?" "Do you not remember the radio message, Cadence," Nightmare said, still surprised at what was going on. "He was helping the child of one of the guards because he did not wish for the child to be left alone." "Which guard," the filly asked innocently. Nightmare looked down at her and said, "I do not know, young one." "I need something other than words to know that you're telling the truth," Cadence said. Chrysalis laughed. "Oh, you can't be serious, Cadence," she said in between fits of laughter. "I know that even you can tell when somepony is lying. So why are you simply denying the truth?" "We told you, we don't hurt the innocent Cadence...your husband has possibly left you for Celestia and Twilight, simply because he is far more loyal to them than you, and on top of that, back when Chryssie here was posing at you, Twilight knew something was up. but Neither Celestia NOR Shining Armor, did anything to believe her or even more than that, even ATTEMPT to humor her suspisions. Had Twilight not been sent down to those caverns where you were, Shining would have been Chrysalis's husband, and love slave really, And you would have rotted down there till they found your corpse...and you needn't worry about Chryssie feeding off you if you joined us too...She's been feeding off my love for Fleur and Moony since we hooked up, so she's got plenty of emotional food....but on top of all that, you can clearly see Nightmare's caring for the filly who's shown up here...and Lone has simply taken the child to keep him away from the battle, And to make sure he's safe...Trust me we won't hurt your subjects, Not so long as they don't try to hurt us. if they try to hurt us, then we would fight back, but We won't hurt them without being provoked." He said being genuinely honest with the statement. "Fine," Cadence said after ten seconds of mental debate that went along the lines of: They're right. They could have easily used the filly for leverage, but didn't. And what if that was just a ploy? With one side listing the arguments that supported Nightmare and the others, and the other trying to debunk that evidence, with the former winning out. The others put away their weapons, with Nightmare sending out a message to the NLR forces that the operation was a success, as Cadence did the same with her forces, telling them to stand down and that the NLR were their allies now. Red smiled, putting away the Z-Saber, as he approached Cadence, and shook her hand, securing the alliance, and as Cadence looked into his right eye, since the left was covered by the Solid Eye System, she could tell he meant every word that he said, And that his love for Nightmare and Fleur was genuine. He then turned to the filly and Nightmare, and approached both hugging her, and soon knelt down by Nightmare. "Hey there little one...What's your name?" He asked, as he reached over, and began to gently stroke her mane, scratching behind her ears, as he saw her beautiful eyes, which matched Nightmare's. What he, and Nightmare heard next was a surprise, that made Nightmare's heart skip a beat out of shock alone. "My name's Dawn Mister...what's yours?" She asked innocently. "My name's Zero Star...but you can call me Red." He told her, smiling My Name is Dawn... Nightmare heard echo in her head numerous times, as she began to take deeper breaths, Luna could tell she was freaked out, and could see exactly why. this foal...not only had Nightmare's eyes...but, on top of that, she had the name of the foal that Nightmare had given birth to on the banishment...and...even more so...she had Luna's manestyle and color...Nightmare Spoke. "D...Dawn!? Tell me little one...who is your mother? Do you know?" She asked, as she knelt down looking at her, but she didn't remove her helmet yet. She shook her head "No Ma'am...I don't." Cadence spoke up. "She's an orphan...I've been trying to raise her for the past few years, and keep her safe.....as a sign of good will, and of our own alliance...Nightmare...would...you and Red like to adopt her?" She proposed, as little Dawn beamed. Nightmare shook her head, beginning to laugh lightly "No...Red and I won't adopt her...we will raise her......Because..." She said, as she removed her helmet and spoke again. "I am her Mother." She spoke, looking little Dawn in the eyes, as Dawn saw that Nightmare had the same eyes and she began to feel that connection, that the black mare infront of her, indeed WAS her mother. Nightmare felt tears building in her eyes, just as Dawn did, and the two hugged close. "Mommy!" Dawn said, crying. "Yes my little Dawn....Mommy's here....and she's never going to leave you again." She said her voice feeling choked up, as Cadence could feel the huge amount of love radiating. Red joined in the hug, smiling with his lover. "You can bet I'll be your daddy Dawn...if you'll allow me." He said, as Dawn sniffled lightly, and he wiped away her tears as she looked at him, and nodded "Yes please...Daddy!" She cooed happily. Crystal Streets Lone and Lightning Sentry were walking to where the armies of the NLR and Crystal Empire were situated. He had heard Nightmare and Cadence's messages to their respective armies, and decided it would be best to bring Lightning back to his mom, assuming she was still alive, which he hoped was the case. After the message had been sent, it took twenty minutes to reach what was the Crystal army camp. According to Lightning, his mom was a medic, so the first place they went was the medical tents. The first one they arrived at was packed full. Lone squatted down to Lightnings level and asked, "Do you see your mom anywhere?" "No," he replied sadly, before his face perked up. "But I do see Miss Amethyst Shine, one of her friends," he said happily. Lone smiled, knowing that there would be somepony who cared about him, if not would care for him. "Then what do you say we go over there and see if we can't ask her if she knows where your mom is, huh?" "Sure," Lightning said. Lone nodded, and got up, and led Lightning over to the mare he identified as Amethyst Shine. "Amethyst Shine?" Lone said once he and Lightning were close enough to get her attention . "Yes," she said as she turned around to see them. She was a mare of standard height, with slightly brighter coat, most likely due to her being a crystal pony. She had an auburn mane, and a similarly colored tail. "Lone Shadow, NLR. I believe you know this colts mother?" he said, gesturing to Lightning, who was smiling. As she saw him, she brought a hand up to her mouth to suppress a gasp. "Lightning, what are you doing here?" "Looking for Mom," he said. She looked to Lone and said, "I suppose I should thank you for bringing him here. His mothers been worried ever since, well, you know." She turned to face Lightning. "Come on, Lightning. Let's see if we can't find your mom." As the two walked away, Lone smiled, knowing that good still existed in the world. Which made him all the more determined to ensure this. War. Ended.
Chapter 7: Operation Crystal Sword Part 2: AftermathTwo days have passed since the success of Operation Crystal Sword, and the NLR team are relaxing a bit in the Crystal Empire. Nightmare and Red are asleep in one of the suites at the Crystal Castle, with their daughter, Nightmare's Long lost birth daughter Dawn, snuggled right there between her parents, feeling the love and warmth that she had longed for, ever since she was born. Lone, Cadence, and Luna were out in the streets, making sure the citizens of the Crystal Empire were okay, as many were involved in the battle two days ago. "So, Lone," Luna said, "Do you know what happened to the colt you found two days ago?" Lone shook his head. "No. The last I saw of Lightning was when I gave him to one of his moms friends. Haven't seen him since. I like to think he's doing okay though." Cadence spoke up "Well, I know where they stay, would you like to go check on them Lone?" She proposed, to help Lone possibly feel better, as inside the castle, Red woke up, kissing Nightmare, and Dawn. "Morning girls." He cooed gently smiling, nuzzling his daughter, and his future wife, as he planned to marry her, whether the war was over or not. Red yawned, beginning to get up as he slipped on the Solid Eye he kept on for when he could make use of it, which was fairly often. He looked down upon the streets, using his solid eye to look over the standard statistics of the infrastructure, as some of it was damaged during the battle, though the combined efforts of the NLR and Crystal army have been able to repair a fair portion of the infrastructure, and the progress on the rest was good. "Morning, daddy," he heard Dawn say. Red smiled, turning to see her as the Solid Eye flashed red when he did. As he approached her and picked her up into his arms "Morning Sweetheart. How did you sleep?" "Good," she said, smiling. She then noticed his Solid eye. She tilted her head in curiosity and asked, "What is that thing on your eye?" Red simply chuckled. "Oh it's just a little tool I use, it's called a Solid Eye System. It LOOKS like an ordinary plastic eye patch, however..." He said as he pulled it off him, and, holding her in his arm, he carefully slipped it around her onto her left eye. "It's also, a high tech monocle of sorts, in that it will detail a report to me on things like Somepony's heart rate, their temperature, how much they are sweating, I can see their foot prints, I can see them at night or pitch black around me, Or also see them in dark areas through tracking their own body heat." He said, giving a short explanation, as she looked at him with it and the Solid Eye shown it to her. Name: Zero Star AKA: Red Allegiance: NLR Weapons: Lightsaber, Z-Saber (Contains Hammer, Ax, Drill, Saw, and chain rod functionality along with the Saber form) Dual SMGs, Shotgun, Nightbringer Pistol, High Frequency Blade. Red even switched the camera type as the screen looked normal, before turning a purpleish color, with various oranges and reds on the screen, of it's IR/Thermal vision setting, then again to be a dark green with brighter green forms around the view for Night Vision. "Wow," Dawn whispered in amazement. "Impressive, isn't it," Red asked. All Dawn could do was nod, as she was to o awestruck to do anything else. Red nodded smiling as he put it back on himself "Yeah. I really like it. Very handy. Sure it's a little redundant with my helmet on when I'm in my armor, but, it still does great..." "And why are you boring our daughter with the details, Love," Nightmare, who was finally awake, said, walking over to Red and Dawn. Red simply just began to laugh as he watched Nightmare walk over to them, and kissed her "Oh just, telling her about it love..." he said cooing gently to her. Meanwhile Lone, Luna, and Cadence were walking to where the records in the Empire said Lightning lived with his mom. When they made it, Lone was surprised at how lavish the house was. It was nowhere near as lavish as the homes of nobles in Canterlot. If anything, it appeared to be a mix of that style and the standard Ponyville style. It was a modest two story frame house, with beautiful decorations along the front. Each depicted Cadence in some form or fashion, more often than not as a protector. Some, which looked as if they had recently been put up, showed Nightmare, Luna,Chrysalis, or some combination thereof. "Impressive house," Lone said. Luna blushed lightly noticing the statues of her and Nightmare around the place. "Very much so..." She said impressed as well. "Well," Lone said. "Might as well see if the kid's alright." Lone walked up to the front door, and knocked on the front door. He waited for ten seconds before a mare with a white coat and yellow mane and tail with electric blue eyes opened the door. "Hello," she said. Cadence walked up., and addressed the mare. "Radiant Joy?" "P-Princess Cadence," she said, surprise in her voice. "What are you doing here." "We're just here to check to see if your son is alright." "Lightning? Why?" "That," Lone said, "would be because of me. I imagine he told you of the stallion who brought him the Crystal army camp after the battle?" "Yes," Radiant said, confusion on her face. "But what do you have to do with it?" Lone took off his helmet and said, "Because I wanted to see how he's doing." Radient nodded almost instantly as she was surprised "Of course, do come in, come in..." She said, moving aside to let them all enter, as she walked away "Lightning honey? Somepony's here to see you!" She called out. As Lone and the others walked in, they were surprised to see how, for lack of a better word, normal the interior of the house looked compared to the outside. The three of them made their way to a couch while Radiant went into the kitchen, most likely to get drinks. "Who is it, Mom?" Lightning asked as he made his way into the living room. His eyes widened when he saw the two princesses and the stallion that had gotten him back to his mom. "Hey, Lightning," Lone said. Cadence smiled "Hey there little Lightning. How have you been?" She asked, since they were checking up on him. Red soon is walking around with Fleur smiling "Such a beautiful place, isn't it Fleur?" He asked, looking to her. "Indeed it is, Red. It's a shame Moony is stuck in the castle, not able to see this." Red chuckled a bit "Well, she's just been reunited with a daughter that she was denied for far too long.....why she's not out here I wouldn't know but I imagine she's wanting to spend as much time with her little girl as she can." He said walking with Fleur. As they continued to walk, they came across a small building, with it looking like nopony had lived there for a while. "What do you think it used to be?" Fleur asked. "No idea..." Red said as his Solid Eye flashed. "How about we go find out?" He spoke, motioning to it. As Red and Fleur walked closer to the building, the Solid eye came up with data: Status: abandoned Last resident: . . . None Warning: Life signs detected. Matches earth pony bio signature. Proceed with caution. Red notices "Hmm?" He said, as he stops Fleur and whispers "My Solid Eye says that there's someone in here...we should be careful..." He said as they began to walk slower, to be wary. Red kept the Z-Saber out, but he didn't activate it, so that they could attack when ready. They closed in on the door, Red on one side, Fleur on the other. Red was next to one of the windows, and he peered inside. For the most part, he saw nothing, except for a flash of movement. Red switched it to night vision mode taking a closer look, as he waited to move with Fleur, checking if he could see who was inside. What he saw moved too fast for him to make it out, but he began to think that his Solid eye had malfuntioned, as he could have sworn that the pony had wings. Red switched it to Thermal vision, which would enable him to spot it from it's hiding spot, looking primarily for the size of the life form, as he was wary, and moved to check again. I'm gonna have to remember to update, or upgrade my Solid Eye when this is done... What he saw, near the middle of what he assumed to be the living room was a small child, one that didn' look much older than Dawn, though he couldn't tell the gender from this distance, and he didn't trust the Solid eye after it gave him a false warning of an earth pony What he saw, near the middle of what he assumed to be the living room was a small child, one that didn' look much older than Dawn, though he couldn't tell the gender from this distance, and he didn't trust the Solid eye after it gave him a false warning of an earth pony Red was wary, as he was duped by the eye earlier, he then motioned for Fleur to stand down, as he began to put away his own weapon. He called inside. "Listen...it's alright child...we won't hurt you....we aren't your enemies...Do you have a name?" He asked, watching with the Solid Eye, figuring that if this thing was at least, partly accurate, the child would grow larger if it wasn't a child. The child didn't move. It didn't speak. Hell, for all Red and Fleur could tell, it wasn't breathing. Red did notice, however, that the pony had bat like wings and ears, which meant only one thing: "A Thestral," Red whispered. This caused the pony to turn. "Yes...I know what you are...it's alright...I'm a friend...I will not hurt you...please...speak to me..do you have a name?" Red asked, as he slowly moved to try and open the door. The pony remained silent, glaring at Red and Fleur. Now that he was close enough, he could tell that it was a she, and looked starved. "Please, little child...calm that glare...we aren't your enemies...you look to be starved...How about something to eat?" He asked, as the little thestral filly tried to continued to glare but her stomach growled at the mention of food. Red reached for one of the pockets on his outfit, and pulled out the first thing his hands came across: a chestnut. Red smiled, as he offered it out to her "Here...would you like it? I won't hurt you...I can come to you, or you to me...which would you prefer?" He asked. The fillies eyes went wide at hearing this. She then spoke, her voice gravelly . "Why are you being nice to me?" "H-how do I know you aren't lying?" she asked. "Technically you have no reason to believe me right now little Chestnut. The only thing you could do, is simply believe me at the moment...But...I do have this..." he said as he removed a picture he had taken of their army relaxing and eating at one point. and shown it to her, it was filled with not only ponies, of normal kinds, but also Thestrals, A lot of them! "See," Red said. "Thestrals are treated like any other pony in the NLR." It was then a though occurred to him "What happened to your parents?" he asked. Chestnut began to tear up, as Red and Fleur both had gotten to her, and sat down by her at this time. "They were killed in front of me," Chestnut said, tearing up, "and I had to watch. That wasn't even the worst part of it, either. The bastard," she said, surprising the two at the use of the word due to her age, "that killed them made me watch it over and over again, and made me experience my worst Nightmare." Her eyes took on a determined look. "And I vowed to myself that when I found him, I would make what he did to me look like a damned picnic!" "Listen well child...if you would like, Fleur and I can be your ...new parents....And know that You will have my full support, in slaughtering that sick jackass....you describe him...and I guaran-damn-tee...that his head will be on a pike." The determined glare increased. "How? He himself said that I wouldn't see him again. Nopony would see him again, not until he wished." "He lied," Red said. "We will find him, and we will make him shocking pay." Red gave her a determined look. One that shown he was certainly on her side for this, and would see it through until the day he died. Fleur gave a similar look. She crossed her arms and said, "Fine. Of what I saw, his coat was a more ashen shade of gray, with his eyes being as red as rubies. On his shoulder, he had a symbol that looked something like an atom with an 'X' over it. And his mane and tail were black, with his tail having a detailing of silver that looked like a scorpions tail." Red nodded, memorizing that appearance. Particularly the symbol she mentioned. "I see...Thanks Chestnut....well...what of my offer? For Fleur here and I to raise you?" He asked her, as he gently held his hand to her, to give a sign that she'd let him. "I guarantee, that we will both give you love...Plus, we'll even give you a sister...or cousin, depending on how you want to look at it." "Okay," she said weakly, after a second of hesitating Red smiled, and gently held her close in a hug. "I'm glad you accepted, child...I swear, you will be treated better than ever before." He said, as he nuzzled her mane a little. Meanwhile with Lone and the Princesses. Lightning bowed as Cadence spoke to him. "Y-Your Highness'. Me and my mother have been doing well. If Mr. Shadow hadn't taken me back to the camp where Ms. Shine was, I don't know what would've happened to me," He said, his voice a little high-pitched as thought of what might have been came to his mind. She smiled "Aw, it's alright little Lightning, we're allies now. There's nothing to worry about now, plus, Lone's your friend. I don't think he'd ever hurt you, not unless provoked. "I know," he said, "but he didn't seem scared. I was scared though. I couldn't have gotten myself there." Lone then did one of the most touching things he had done in the presence of Luna. He reached down to Lightning, and laid a hand on his shoulder and said, "That's just it, Lightning. I was afraid. Afraid of what would happen to you if we didn't find your mom. But I did it anyway. Do you want to know why?" Lightning nodded. "It's because the greatest heroes have two things in common: Doing what's right, regardless of public opinion towards them, and doing stuff despite their fear. Everypony is afraid, but the brave do what they do because they don't let it control them. You understand that?" Lightning nodded happily, understanding very well. "Good," Lone said, patting his shoulder. His mom came in, though she was listening to the entire thing in the kitchen. Lone got up and walked over to the door, the two princesses getting up with him. Before he left, Lightnings mom said, "Thank you," in a voice so low, it was barely heard. Lone looked back to her, and saw a hopeful expression on Lightnings face as he did so. He nodded, as if to say, "No problem," then opened the door, and left. Luna and Cadence smiled as they left. "That was very kind of you." Luna said, impressed with his actions. Lone shrugged. "Anypony with a conscience would do the same," he said. "Which actually reminds me. Have you told Celestia yet, Cadence?" "Told Aunt Tia what? That I joined you guys? No. Not yet" She said, shaking her head. "Well, we might as well," Luna said. "She'll find out soon enough." Cadence nodded as they went back to the Castle. IN CANTERLOT Celestia, Twilight, Shining, and the others were in the Canterlot war room, all worried due to them not hearing from Cadence since three days ago. "We need to look at the facts," a general, one of two, said. "They're under siege." "It's been 3 days though. I'm sure that battle is over, one way or another." Flash said being one of the other guards there in the room. Worried more for his little brother and mom than anything. "We don't know for certain," Celestia said. "Until we know the Crystal Empire's fate, we are to act as if it has been lost." This got shocked looks from all present, as Celestia would have sent an entire force to assist the Empire. It was at this point that the Holo table got a call from the Empire! Tagged as being from Cadence. "Accept," Celestia said. The image that appeared was in full color, and what was seen led to shocked expressions all around. What was seen, was Cadence, along with Luna, Nightmare Moon, Red, Lone, and Fleur. Cadence smiled "Aunt Tia. I'm sorry but we've joined the NLR." The first to speak was Shining. "THEN YOU'RE A TRAITOR. I CAN'T BELIEVE I MARRIED YOU!!" Cadence spoke back "I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY WERE RIGHT! YOU WOULD BETRAY ME JUST BECAUSE I CHOSE TO TAKE THEIR SIDE OVER TIA'S?! HOW DARE YOU SHINING ARMOR?!" She shouted back at him, as what they next heard and saw, shocked the entire group at Celestia's end. "Mommy, Mommy," Dawn said, walking into view of the Canterlot side of the link, hugging Nightmares legs. "When can we go to the park?" Nightmare nodded "Of course honey...Daddy and I can go with you to the park shortly...here, why don't you say hello to your Aunt Celestia?" She cooed, motioning to the Canterlot group on the Hologram. "HEEEELLLLLOOOOO, Auntie," Dawn said, waving her hand as she did so. Celestia didn't respond, rather, she and the others just stared with their jaws agape. "Oh," Nightmare cooed, "that's rude, Celestia. I thought a princess would have better manners, especially to her niece." Red spoke up "Just because we're on opposing sides doesn't mean we can't be nice to one another." He said smirking as he lifted up Dawn, sitting her on his shoulders, after nuzzling her cheek. The first thing to come out of Celestia's mouth was a very undignified, "Uhhhhhhhh." Both sides now began to laugh at Celestia's response. Red, Dawn, and Nightmare being the ones to laugh the most, along with Luna. It was here that Celestia and the others, though, mostly Celestia, as the others on her end were still laughing, saw Luna standing with Nightmare, unharmed. She narrowed her eyes and said, "Luna, why would you betray me and join with Nightmare?" Luna spoke up. "Because you betrayed me first. You sent us to the Moon as banishment?! you hogged all the glory of ruling for yourself, never even considered how I was feeling." "I know that, Luna, and I'm sorry for that, but I didn't think-" Celestia said, before she was cut off by Luna. "Exactly. You didn't think. You didn't think about creating a festival in my honor. You didn't think about allowing me to take over some of your duties, so I would become known. You didn't think about how lonely we felt on the moon over the thousand years we were gone! YOU DIDN'T THINK ABOUT TELLING PONIES ABOUT YOUR SISTER DURING THE THOUSAND YEARS, MAKING THEM IDOLIZE YOU AS A SINGULAR GODDESS, THE PERFECT PONY!!!" Luna yelled, the last part being used with the Canterlot Royal voice, causing everypony on both ends, with the exception of Lone, who had his helmet on, to flinch. Dawn began to tear up due to how loud Luna was as Red and Nightmare both held her, calming her down, before she would start crying, as Red spoke up placing a hand on Luna's shoulder. "She's right Tia....Let's not forget your recent mistakes...Tirek gets unleashed in Equestria from his prison in Tartarus, and rather than sending Twilight and her friends...what do you do? Entrust the safety of Equestria and his being taken back there, to none other than Discord. the spirit of Chaos and Disorder....Regardless of the fact that he's reformed, you put it in his mismatched hands rather than trusting YOUR MOST FAITHFUL STUDENT AND RECENTLY MADE PRINCESS, WHO ALSO BASICALLY WEAPONIZED FRIENDSHIP...and let's not forget Cadence and Sombra...Sombra returns to the empire and whilst you entrust Twilight and the others with Stopping him and finding the Crystal heart, do you do anything more to help, such as going yourself, or sending Dear Luna here?" he asked giving Luna a small hug, as Luna spoke up next "NOPE! Heaven forbid little Luna gets a chance to help or be in the spot light, it's gotta be either you or Twilight Sparkle!" Luna said responding to Red's question, before he continued. "And that's the tip of the iceberg with Tirek. You could have easily put all alicorn magic into, oh, I don't know, a rock, which you could have told him, and he still wouldn't know, because there are a ton of rocks! I don't think that there's a rule of magic that says magic from one living thing has to go to another. And let's not forget when Cadence was kidnapped by Chrysalis? Regardless of the fact that they are clearly now working together, to beat you, I should mention that TWILIGHT HERSELF knew something was up. did you believe her? Nope. None of you did. even her friends and brother. You all wrote her off as being crazy. And on top of that, you didn't even let Luna assist at all in the battle against Chrysalis or the changelings when she was revealed...so Yeah, nice job there sunbutt" Twilight, who had finished her laughing fit, shrunk at this. Red then looked towards Twilight "Remind me Twiley, WHY DO YOU FOLLOW HER?!? OH OH OH I almost forgot that last little insult to you. Discord once made a joke at the Gala...where he said that he could fly better than you with his tiny mismatched wings, and whilst that statement MIGHT be true, what does Celestia, your grand idol and mentor do? Laugh at ya!" "Well," Twilight said, crossing her arms, "to be fair to him, he was right. And I can't believe I just defended him. Besides, it was in good humor, as a friend." "Twiley. Discord had done that because he also wanted attention. Should I bring up the fact that He had also brought a Blob monster with him that was obsessed with Shiny things? AND basically swallowed up EVERYONE because Discord locked him in what may very well have been a trophy case, because he wanted Fluttershy's attention more than he wanted Tree Hugger to?" Red spoke back, to counter. "That's unimportant," Luna said. "All that matters is that Celestia knows her current situation." At this, the holoprojector deactivated, leaving varied expressions in the room. Celestia was the first to speak. "General," she said to the general in the room, "any and all ponies from the Crystal Empire are to be detained until we are certain of their loyalty." Shining Armor, Flash Sentry and every other Crystal guard present are instantly in cuffs, much to Shinings both confusion and understanding. Flash is worried more about his brother and mother than anything, as he did not want to fight against them, he had joined the guard to protect them. "Wha- but-but Princess-" Twilight said before Celestia cut her off. "This is war, Twilight. Your brother understands. If Nightmare and the others were in our position, they would do the same." "But we aren't them." "And that is why we will win. They kill innocent civilians, like in Applelossa," Celestia said, bringing up bad memories of the fall of Applelossa, and all the dead citizens who lived there, including Applejacks cousin, Braeburn, "but we don't." Shining nodded before he was taken off. "She's right Twiley. it's alright." He said giving his little sister a hug, showing that he understood and he'd be fine. As Shining and the other ponies from the Empire were led away, a second message appeared on the table, and it was registered as coming from Manehatten. Twilight spoke up "Accept!" She called as the message appeared. The holo-projector came to life, and the general in change of Manehatten, an all black pony, whose name was Shadow Strike, an ex-Lunar guard that stayed with Celestia since the war had started, appeared. Celestia spoke up "General Strike...what is it?" she asked, being straight forward, and demanding of his report. "Ma'am," he said, saluting, "All defenses are up, and we are doing constant visual, radar, and magical scans of the area, so it's unlikely we'll get caught by surprise. Also, some troops have reported seeing ponies in neither the armor of our forces or the traitors, as their reports say it's more advanced than ours." "Really? Are you certain?" She asked bringing her hand to her chin, as she began to think of something "Could it be similar to that one member of the resistance's armor?" She asked aloud, thinking of Lone Shadow. "I don't know, Your Highness. My troops haven't been able to get a good look at the armor. The only constant is that they all have a symbol that looks like two of the swords of the pony that attacked you crossed over a red octagon on their shoulders. Aside from that, they all have drastically different color schemes." At this, a new recruit for the guard, though one that advanced quickly, came in. He wore gun gray armor, had a black coat and white mane and tail, and was named Nightengale. "Ma'ams," he said, saluting, "A package came for you, and it's best if you see it yourself. Don't worry, we checked, and no explosives." She nodded taking it as she went to open it "Thank you Nightengale." She said as she opened it up happily to see, before she looked to General Strike. "General. I know we are at war but please heed this order. The NLR leaders are currently at the Crystal Empire, AND have gotten the empire on their side. Do NOT engage them. Instead, I wish for you to send a message to them for me. Send them the troops's reports of this new 3rd party...inform them that they are not our troops nor theirs, to our knowledge. Is that clear?" The general stood straighter, saluted, and said, "Yes, Ma'am," before the holo-table was deactivated. Celestia then opened the box, with the Elements of Harmony that were still with her standing beside her, and what they saw in the box both surprised them, and scared them a little. What was in the box were four energy swords.
Chapter 8: PreparationsWhat they found inside that box, was something that scared them a little: Four Energy Swords, like the one Celestia lost her hand to. Also inside was a note: Princess Celestia, If you are reading this note, then your circumstances are indeed dire. Me and my cohorts know what happened last time you encountered one of these weapons, and thus, would not be surprised if you and the Elements that are with you choose not to. However, should you choose to, the package also contains a training holo-program, and each sword has been customized in color for you and the others. An interested third party. Celestia smiled a bit seeing this, and quickly reached in for the holo program, so that they could get right to training once they got them. "Princess, wait," Rainbow said. "How can we be certain it isn't some kind of mind control spell that will cause you to go crazy?" "That's just a risk I shall have to take, Rainbow," Celestia said, reaching for the nearest sword hilt. She picked it up, and nothing happened. She brought it up, worry on the Element's faces, and activated it. The two blades were golden yellow, matching the shade of her magic. "Awwwww yeaaahhhh," Rainbow said as she admired her blades. "Ah, what the hey?" Applejack said and reached for hers. She brought it out of the box and activated it. It's blades were apple red. "Whoa." Twilight was the only one who didn't reach for one, saying, "I would rather not. It's because of one of those Celestia lost her hand." "I appreciate your thoughtfulness Twilight. But it will be alright." Twilight showed that she had grown by saying, "No." This actually brought a smile to Celestia's face. "Well, at least you aren't afraid to see me as an equal now." A day later, at the NLR's Base "So...Now we're planning to invade and take Manehattan huh? What's the plan there hmm?" He asked looking to Luna. "And I wonder what caused Celestia to have her General send us that notice about this 3rd party...what do you think Moony?" he asked looking to her. "Though she may be our enemy," Nightmare said, "does not mean she's lying about this. We should at least take percautions." "Agreed," Chrysalis said. "As for the plan," Luna said, "That's still in progress." "Fair enough then....Hmm...Perhaps Lone may know more about this third party then..." Red suggested, thinking it might be an idea. "Indeed," Nightmare said. "It's a shame he's making sure that Cadence is ready to lead from the front back in the Empire." "Well," Luna said, "there is still the dragons. Even though it's been a while since Celestia sent for help, they are mobilizing, and they will be ready in a few months, so the war must end by then." "I agree Luna....We should move to try and end it before she get the dragon's assistance..either that, or try to beef up our strength so that we can fight against dragon enemies assuming we can't end the war before then." Red spoke, trying to think of what they could do. "It's a shame that Celestia has so many species on her side. The griffons are too embroiled in their greed to help either side, the Minotaurs their own civil war, and all others are split, with most of their populous leaning towards Celestia, though I wouldn't know why, considering her forces are killing civilians," Chrysalis said. "That's totally unlike her...we wouldn't kill civilians...Nor would they...something's off...I think we've got some bloodthirsty jackasses in the middle who want this to go on." He said looking at all of them. "I mean...Didn't we get blamed for that slaughter in Appleoosa? Including the death of Braeburn? AJ's Cousin?" Red asked "We NEVER did that...hell we were never even IN that town.." "That still doesn't explain the mass murder in Trottingham. That was an area loyal to us, and we had no quarrel with them, so it had to be Celestia's forces," Nightmare said. She and Red may be lovers, but that doesn't mean they don't have disagrrements. "Regardless," Chrysalis said, "we alos need recon for both Manehatten and Ponyville." "Just because Celestia's the enemy does not mean she was the one to slaughter Trottingham...just like how we were blamed for Appleoosa, a peaceful town that was on their side that we never thought of attacking....Either way....for Ponyville, I can send Barb to check it out..." Red sugested. "Are you sure, Red?" Nightmare asked. Even before she and Dawn had been reunited, she saw Barb as a daughter, and, as such, did not want to lose her. "I know...I trust her though...Barb should be fine...they don't know about her." He explained, as he too did worry about her, seeing her as a daughter since she had been with him for many years. "In that case," Luna said, "It would be best to do so after Manehatten, as you will need her piloting skills." "I know...What do we know about Manehattan though, out of curiosity?" he asked, wanting to find out what Intel they knew. "That one of my former guards who remained loyal to Celestia is in charge of the defenses," Luna said "We do not know much else." "I see....do you see him as a traitor for choosing to take Celestia's side? Despite the fact that he was a member of the Lunar Guard?" Red asked, simply wanting to make talk with Luna for the time being. "No. He had made it clear before the war that he would fight for her, and he has stuck true to it," Luna said, "It was his choice, and me getting mad will change none of it." "That's a nice choice Luna...I'd imagine that your sister also doesn't blame Rarity, Fluttershy or Pinkie for joining our side...and possibly not Cadence either..." He said, showing clear sympathy for Luna's opinion on the matter. At this moment, the holo-table they were standing around lit up, indicating a message from Cadence. "Accept!" Red said, to trigger the holo-table's message. The table lit up, with Cadence appearing, but not Lone. "Cadence," Luna said. "Where's Lone?" "Checking to see how Lightning's taking everything, as our alliance means Flash is either in prison or against us now." "Probably in prison as his loyalty would come into question...perhaps....he could join us, if only to ensure the protection of his family." "Perhaps," Chrysalis said, "but we can not be certain." "Of course, auntie," Cadence said. She had started calling Nightmare "auntie" a day after Crystal Sword. "And how is Chestnut, Red" Red smiled, seeing that Cadence had begun calling Nightmare 'Auntie' a day after Operation Crystal Sword succeeded. the reason being was because of the fact that Nightmare was technically her aunt due to being part of Luna when she was first around, now that Luna and Nightmare were separate, it stood to reason that she was still Cadence's aunt. "She's doing just fine, she and Dawn have bonded fairly well and Fleur loves Chestnut as her own daughter. I thank you for allowing myself and Fleur to officially adopt her. So thank you for that. I will be sure to both train her to fight, as she herself wants to do...but also she's very happy to be accepted, not only by our faction, but also is happy to be around some other thestrals like her." Red said explaining. "Well," Cadence said, "that's good." Red nodded "yeah, it's good so far." He said smiling happily. It was here that Lone, wearing his armor, minus the helmet, walked into view. "Hey there Lone. bout time we got ya..." Red said, as he explained about the new force that Celestia had mentioned to them. Lone nodded, saying, "I'll help get her there once it's underway." This helped allay some of both Nightmare's and Red's fears as to if Barb would survive, as they both knew Lone wouldn't allow harm to come to his allies. Red nodded agreeing to it. "Okay then...Got an idea for what we could do for a plan with Manehattan though? or for that matter, any information to give? All we know is that a former guard of Luna's is leading the forces there." "Actually," Lone said, "yes. A friend and intelligence officer in Celestia's forces told me the defenses. They have radar, sonar, visual, and magical means of early warning, so they'll know once we get there. The general, named Shadow Strike, is residing in the tallest building of the city. Defenses for that one in particular, though, he wasn't able to get. His estimates put troop numbers between four--thousand and ten-thousand. As far as he can tell, they also have their own mechs." "Mechs?" Red asked, as Nightmare spoke up. "Mechs could prove to be very useful for us....." She said thinking it over. "Do you know what they look like, as well as their capabilities ," Luna asked, knowing what Nightmare was thinking. "I've got a few things here." He said as he switched it to a holographic display of what some would describe as a bipedal giant robot. "From my information, some units, like this one, are capable of transforming into a vehicle mode, are able to fly, and have access to powerful weaponry, such as a larger version of our lightsabers, referred to as Beamsabers, or rather, beam weaponry...as they can be very different, they can also wield powerful weaponry long range weaponry as well." He explained, pointing it out. He then pulled up another. It seemed smaller than the first, almost as if it had been designed for a pony to occupy it. It had a golden visor, with most of the armor being black, with highlights of yellow on the shoulder, knees, and waist. On the right side of it's back, left for those viewing it, it had three short cylinders, and the opposite side had a singular, long barrel that looked like it was meant to fire artillery rounds. It's right hand was a mini-gun, while it's left was a hand, and it's hooves looked like rectangular clamps. "This is what he is most worried about," Lone said. "He's seen the prototypes of it, and it's devastating. It has the ability to fire missiles from the shorter cylinders, while the singular one looks like it's meant to fire guided artillery. He also reports that it can generate shields from it's left hand. It also has what appear to be magnetic grenades. It's designed to be a one-pony army, far as I can tell." "Then perhaps we should make it OUR mission to take control of that suit..." Red said, proposing the idea. "Wouldn't work," Lone said. "It's got a defense system that's similar to the Nightbringers. Though it creates a Nuclear crater instead." "Even better..." Red said, thinking it over. "Still we should try to take control of it, or of them...how similar to our Nightbringers?" he asked. "Genetic signature, as well as magic. If even one of those are incorrect, and a code isn't inputted," Lone paused, "boom. If neither is, it expldes with out the code input time." "Gee that's friggin smart. have it genetically coded and magically sealed to ONE SPECIFIC PONY...who the hell could it be?" Red asked finding it overkill...though it IS justifiable... "If we ever got close enough, we'd probably have an army with us," Lone said, his hand still on his chin, "If I had to guess, I'd say it's for Shadow Strike." "No idea...Luna, You know Shadow Strike....would that be like something he'd do?" Red asked her. "Possibly," she said. "He always has been one for ensuring secrets stay secrets." "Hmm....Fair enough...I suppose I'll assume it's him then..." Red said, as they went to a map. "Where's the facility building these suits at?" He asked looking over a map of Manehattan. "Don't know that yet," Lone said, shrugging. "He's working on it, though." "Okay..." Red replied, before looking back "Wait...He Who?" he said as all of them looked at Lone. "''He' meaning my contact." "Things just got a whole lot more interesting...Hmm..you tend to enjoy being so damn vague...it's annoying." Red spoke, shaking his head a bit finding it annoying. Lone shrugged, saying, "Force of habit," cryptically, which reinforced Red's point. "I'm going to punch you...SO damn hard when you get back here to us." Red said clearly getting annoyed by Lone. "That will have to wait until Manehatten. I'm leaving the Empire tomorrow to check with my contact and a few others, and it'll take a while." "Yeah yeah, right..." Red said rolling his eyes, though the left was hidden from view. Meanwhile-Canterlot Celestia and the team, minus Twilight are all training with their Energy Swords. The program had been through with basic moves, while also placing an emphasis on creativity, which meant all three had already developed their own fighting style. "Ah neva' thought ah'd be using one of these puppies," Applejack said. Dash smiled widely "You better believe it! this is Awesome!" She said landing from her aerial attack practice. Twilight had also left the room, deciding to go and visit her brother and Flash Sentry and check on them. Celestia, however tuned the conversation out, instead wanting to practice her own combat style, which included brute force attacks with her earth pony strength, liquid grace flowing attacks with unicorn magic augmenting her speed, and rapid, furious attacks using her flight, all to ensure she would be able to hold her own against the pony that had taken her left hand. Twilight had arrived at the holding area where her brother and Flash Sentry were at as she hugged Shining again, still clearly worried about him. "How are you doing, BBBFF," Twilight asked, teary eyed as she saw Shining in the cell, pulling away from him. "Considering," Shining said, "good. Wish I could say the same for Flash, though. Kid's worried sick about his family, seeing as how all of them but his younger brother were in the Crystal army "If he wanted to join the NLR, to make sure they are okay...I wouldn't fault him...I mean...sure Cadence joined them but, put yourself in his place...if Mom, Dad, and I were living in the region that was recently claimed by the enemy, wouldn't you want to go make sure we were okay? even if it meant joining that enemy?" She asked, as she was thinking about helping Flash leave to be able to get to his family. Shining sighed. "Yeah, I guess so, but that still doesn't help Cadence out with my problems with her," he said angrily. Twilight chuckled, then said, "Maybe not, but she probably did it for the citizens of the Empire." "What's your problem with Princess Cadence? Is it REALLY because she decided to join the NLR? You realize she did it likely to protect everypony there at the empire! Not because she hates you or anything...She's probably worried sick about you now, possibly afraid that you two would have to fight if you aren't on her side..." Flash spoke being nearby hearing the conversation. The sorrow in his voice was obvious. "Of course it is!" Shining yelled. "She betrayed her own aunt." "And joined her other two, sir, or did you forget that Princess Luna and, by blood relations, Nightmare Moon, are her aunts as well?" Flash asked, his voice surprisingly accusatory of Shining, and he heard it. Twilight was snickering a little, but she sighed, seeing just how pathetic Shining was "Shining Armor, really? REALLY?! THAT'S THE REASON?! My god your an idiot....YOU practically left her for a bug queen. WHO BY THE WAY she's now working with. I'm surprised your this quick to judge her and abandon her again...And should I forget to mention the fact that I was completely right about the fact that the Cadence you were marrying at the time was a fake, YOU were the most stalwart accusor that I was wrong and that the mare you were with was the Real one when she most certainly was NOT." Twilight said calling him out on how stupid he was being. "And yet she came back once. She'll do so again, only I'll say no," he said cruelly. Twilight then did two things Shining wouldn't have expected. The first was slap him. "That's for disrespecting Cadence," she said before kicking him, with an armored boot, mind you, in the groin. "And that's for sounding like Blueblood." As he rolled on the ground in pain, she walked over to Flash. Flash's mane looked horribly ruined, dirty, and unkempt as heck, locks of it being everywhere, He looked horrible. there were bags under his eyes from a clear lack of sleep, and his eyes were bloodshot red and puffy from what was likely hours of crying. his fur was madded and his wings were ruffled, as he looked to Twilight "I know...I sound like a traitor...but...I want to join them...if only to just protect my family...and make sure they are safe...and I know how I'm going to sound for this....but...can you help me get to them Twilight Sparkle?" Flash asked of them, knowing he sounded like a traitor, AND a desertionist for asking TWILIGHT of all of them to help him get to his family, but the desperation in his voice, which as horse from his previous hours of tears, and in his eyes was very clear. Twilight shook her head before saying, "I wish I could, but I'd probably get thrown in as well." She then left the room, grateful she wasn't the Element of Honesty as she grabbed a pair of keys from the rack near the entrance and teleported them to Flash, as well as casting an illusion spell to buy him time. Flash smiled "Thank you...Thank you so much." He said as he quickly worked to free himself, and escape the cell, leaving Shining locked inside as well, as he fled, soon taking a disguise and going to the train, leaving for the Crystal Empire after hijacking one. As he fled, Twilight went back to the training room so she could analyze the others moves, and come up with counter strategies. For science she said to herself as assurance. Wait, why am I justifying my own thought to myself? That's crazy, Twilight. Twilight was paying particular attention to Celestia for this reason. As she was watching, a thought occurred to her. If she hid the fact Nightmare had a daughter, what else did she hide? She decided to act on this thought, and soon, went to the library, to be able to investigate this line of thought, though she would probably regret it. NLR base, a few hours later Luna was in what constituted the park in the underground base of the NLR, an enclosed space with plenty of night time plants. She was here for two reasons. The first was because she enjoyed the scenery. The second was to remember her dead daughter. Red approaches her, putting a hand on Luna's shoulder, giving her a small hug. Though Red was planning to marry Nightmare Moon by the time the war was over, Luna, was almost like a lover to him, though soon enough, she would be his sister in law due to marrying Nightmare. Red did love Luna like a sister, but at the same time, like a lover. "You okay Luna?" He asked, as he looked around at the park that she was at, before looking to her. She sighed before saying, "No, it isn't. Though I am happy we have Cadence with us, seeing Nightmare and Fleur play with Dawn and Chestnut has brought up painful memories from before I was banished." Red gently pulled her into a hug, stroking her mane a little "Would you like to talk about it perhaps?" Red asked, giving her a gentle nuzzle. Luna sniffled a little, indicating she was on the verge of tears. "Of course," she said sadly. "A few years before my banishment, before Nightmare had control of me, I had given birth to a unicorn filly. I had cared for her until Nightmare had control, and even then, she took care of the child. She was alive when I was banished, and I had hoped, due to her being half-alicorn, she would still be alive when I returned." Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she remembered asking Celestia if her daughter, whose name she couldn't remember for some reason, was alive. "I asked Celestia if she was alive. She had said that she had indeed lived longer than other unicorns, but she had still died of old age twenty three years ago." Red held her, as he sat down with her on a bench, wiping away those tears "I see...Tell me...do you at least...remember what she looked like? This daughter of yours? Who...would be an older sister to Dawn?" he asked her, genuinely caring for Luna. "Yes. She had a green coat , the most beautiful smile when she was happy, deep, blue eyes like mine, and a lighter shade of green as her mane." She began to outright sob here, attracting the attention of Nightmare and Fleur, as well as their daughters, who came over in concern. Red gently held Luna close, stroking her wings, and kissing her head, giving her a show of affection, and to try and calm her down, as well as relax her, as he looked to Nightmare, who knew exactly why Luna was crying so much. "Why is Lulu crying?" Fleur asked. "Because of my niece," Nightmare said, also tearing up Red gently held Luna close "It is alright Lulu...I promise you, everything will be alright......" He cooed gently into her ears, to calm her crying. "H-h-how? You all have a reason to fight. All I have is a desire for revenge for what Celestia did, and that's not going to help me when this war is over," Luna said, sobbing. "Because you also have a reason...You fight...to protect the memory of your daughter Luna...and to respect the memory...to remember the time you had with her." He explained, as he held Luna, to console her, and help to calm her. "Plus," Nightmare said, "you have us standing with you," giving Luna a "can-do" hand gesture when she looked up at her by giving her a simple thumbs-up. Red nodded, kissing Luna's nose. "You no longer will be alone....you have me...you have Fleur...and you have Moony...but more than that, you also have your two nieces here...Dawn, and Chestnut, who love you dearly, just as they do their mothers." Red said, as he held Luna close, smiling. Nightmare and the others joined in the embrace, as well as Dawn and Chestnut, all of them smiling. MEANWHILE IN CANTERLOT Twilight had been in the Canterlot archives for hours, searching for something she didn't know, but knew she had to find. She laid her head down in frustration, unable to find anything close to what she thought she was looking for. Unbeknownst to her, in the shadows, the guard who had delivered the package containing the energy swords, Nightengale, was watching, knowing what she was looking for unconsciously, and knew where to find it. Using his magic, he reached out to a library only he and a few others knew, looking for the book. He found it within seconds, and used his magic to teleport the book in front of Twilight. Twilight noticed, and began to look into this new book for what she was investigating, curious if the answers were there. If she had paid attention, she would have seen that the book was titled Equestrian Royal Genealogy, though she could take a guess with the random pages she read. With Nightengale still watching, she eventually stopped at a page that appeared random, but wasn't. What she read here shocked. The page, marked the name of Luna's long lost daughter. Her name, was Aurora Nebula, and she would have been roughly 2000 years older than Twilight was at that moment. She was a Unicorn who was half Alicorn, AND had Twilight's physical build...but her Mane color, Eye color, and coat color were completely different, and yet the similarities were so obvious.... This...This explains everything. Why I always felt different than the others...Why I always loved to look out at the moon and stars...why I had always idolized Luna, and even Nightmare Moon to an extent, when Luna returned..my goodness.....it's impossible...I'm...Luna's daughter!? She thought to herself in utter shock as she looked the page over, in utter shock. As this came to her mind, Nightengale left the room as a blot of shadows, sending a mental message to Lone Shadow that Twilight knew the truth, or at least suspected as much, and told him to get everything greased for every possible out come. Luna blinked, feeling a strange tingle at the base of her skull...a connection that was to her daughter, back when she was around. No...it's impossible...my daughter? She thought, as she began to reach out in the connection, as back in Canterlot at that exact same time, Twilight herself felt the same sensation at the base of her own skull. Aurora!! Luna mentally shouted in happiness, only to be surprised by the pony who responded. Princess? How am I able to hear you? And why'd you call me 'Aurora'? Twilight Sparkle? Why is it you I speak to when my mental connection is. . .with. . .my. . .daughter? Luna mentally asked before coming to a realization. What do you mean? The way I am speaking with you is a mental connection all alicorn parents share with their offspring, regardless of their race. The fact I'm speaking to you when I thought I felt my dear Aurora can mean only one thing. Both mentally and physically, Twilight gasped. I'm your daughter. So it would seem. And since Celestia said you were dead, that can mean one of two things, the first being she kept you alive all this time and implanted false memories while removing actual ones, making you think you've always been the bookish unicorn you'r friends know. And the second, Twilight asked, fear being evident. She somehow made it to where you were in a magical slumber, then awoke you on the supposed date of your birth. That would be twenty-seven years ago. Exactly when she told me you died. But that means- Indeed. She has turned us, mother and daughter, against one another. A terrible evil. One that should not go unpunished. Well then...what can I do Luna - Uhh...I mean Uh...M....Mo... Even with this new revelation, of complete fact, Twilight couldn't bring herself to call Luna her mother. Though it seemed hurtful, Luna understood why, and simply smiled, knowing that soon, her dear Aurora would be back in her arms, and would call her 'Mom' soon enough once again. Red looks at Luna, and nuzzles her, seeing her tears of joy now "What is it Luna? Is everything okay?" Luna let out a gleeful chuckle, saying, "Yes, Red. More so than you can imagine." "What do you mean, Luna?" Nightmare asked before seeing the happy smile on Luna's face, and she was the only one here besides Luna who knew wht it meant, as it was the same she wore when she had found out Dawn was alive. "She's alive, isn't she?" Teary eyed, Luna replied, "Yes. Oh, my dear Aurora, I never thought I would see her again, when Celestia had manipulated my memories and her appearence, I did not know that I had seen her more times than I thought." "What do you mean, Auntie Luna?" Dawn asked. Letting out a laugh of happiness, Luna said, "It means you have a cousin." The looks on Red's, Fleur's, and, on the other end of the mental link, Twilight's expressions were almost comedic. Luna then answered Twilight/Aurora's question. Simple, my sweet daughter. What do you wish to do? At that same time in the Crystal Empire Flash Sentry arrives at the Crystal Empire He was instantly surrounded by Crystal guards, one of whom said, "Halt, traitor. If you wish to live, explain why you are here." The guard was expecting to kill Flash anyway, which is why he was surprised by what Flash said. "To join the NLR," he said, holding his hands up to show he held no weapons. "Why?" the guard said, holding his blaster closer to Flash's face. "I'm here, to Join.....Because I want to protect my family...I want to see them so much right now, to make sure they are okay..." He explained. "Then you'll have to see Empress Cadence," the guard said aggressively before he and the others got into a circle around Flash to lead him to the Crystal palace. "Empress huh? Always wondered why she and Shining Armor weren't called that..." He mused as he walked there, allowing himself to be led to the castle. The walk took ten minutes, during which Flash saw multiple guard patrols, all with some kind of saber. When they arrived at the base, without the guards answering any questions, the lead guard said, "I'll escort you to the throne room, but if you do anything remotely suspicious, I will not hesitate to kill you. Is that clear?" "Yes," Flash said, wanting to get to see his family as soon as possible. "Good," the guard said before leading Flash into the palace. As he led Flash through the palace, he saw numerous paintings, pictures, and other depictions of Nightmare and the other leaders of the NLR. They walked for another five minutes, encountering palace staff only, before they made it to the throne room. Empress Cadence sat upon her own throne now, looking over everything before she noticed Flash being escorted in. "Flash Sentry, you've returned! Are you okay?" She asked him, getting up to approach him. Flash nervously bowed, saying, "Yes, your Highness." "And why is it you have returned?" "Because I wish to join the NLR." "Oh. And why's that?" "To make sure my families alright." Cadence smiled in approval, and understanding. "Rise then, Flash Sentry...I can take you to your family...your little brother Lightning's been very worried about you." She explained. With that, Cadence dismissed Flash's escort, and led him to the room in the palace where his family was living. Meanwhile-Canterlot Simple, my sweet daughter. What is it you wish to do? This, Twilight/Aurora knew, was going ot be the moment in which her life changed. Did she stay with Celestia, who was her mentor, and like a third mother ot her, but had torn her away from her real mother, or leave her and join Luna, and make Celestia pay for it. The bright side to the latter would be she would see Rarity and the others again, as well as see Dawn, who was apparently her cousin. Now that Twilight thought about it, a fair portion of her family was in the NLR, but, at the same time, most of her friends were with Celestia. It was neither of these thoughts that gave her an answer, but rather the memory of Luna's first Nightmare night. That was one of the best nights of her life, when before she thought she could only have that much fun with Celestia. Sure, it had had it's downsides, but it was still the most fun she had had that year, and now, she knew why. She mentally and physically sighed before saying, I want to help you, Mother. Then my dear Daughter...Come here to me.....I'll send an escort to meet you, who can lead you inside to us.......more importantly, to Me... Luna told her, deciding to send someone to lead Twilight/Aurora from the outside of the home, into the base. But where will I meet him? Just outside the barrier srrounding Canterlot. Then I'll be there, but who is it? My dear sister's and My, Lover, Captain Zero Star...you might know him, as Red. Luna explained, referring to Red as being her own lover just like he was Nightmare Moon's Lover. She looked to Red and smiled "Go to Canterlot, wait outside the barrier surrounding it. My daughter will meet you there and you will escort her there." She told him as he nodded, kissing her again, before going to leave. Okay then. Just let me know when he gets close. Don't want Celestia to know I've discovered the truth. Of course, daughter. That leaves only one matter before you arrive. And what's that? Do you wish to continue to go by your current name, or the name I gave you? Twilight thought about this for a second before answering, Aurora Nebula. And once I'm in the air, I'll use magic to go back to my actual appearance. Very well, Aurora...I can't wait to see you...how much you've grown...I can't believe she hid this from me...or us rather...Well. Red just left on that Motorcycle he has. I'm sure he'll arrive soon enough. She explained, as Red chose to go on the Motorcycle since it would be much more subtle than going in a ship, plus it would be faster than on foot or by flying with wings. With that taken care of, the pony now known as Aurora went to her room, where the energy sword she used to be apprehensive about using, but would probably be using often, to retrieve the weapon. Along the way, she, ran into Nightengale, who had come across her intentionally. "Sorry, Ma'am," he said. "Should have looked where I was going." "It's alright captain," she said. "I should have looked where I was going too. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to head to my room." "Of course, Ma'am," he said as Aurora went to her quarters. Inside her Quarters, she found the sword sitting in a box, as she had wanted to leave it alone, on purpose. Now, she picks it up, along with some of her other belongings, as she quickly leaves with the important things of hers, and goes to leave, to meet up with Red outside Canterlot. It took her only a few minutes to get to the edge of the barrier, but she hesitated. She knew that if she took that step, she would be labeled as a traitor by her friends. So she waited for a few minutes, and when she heard Red's motorcycle, she knew it was time to choose. She took one step towards the shield, then another, then another, until she was mere inches away. She knew this was the last moment for the choice. She took a step. And exited the shield. Red soon pulled to a stop, smirking when he notices Twilight as he looked at her, the Solid Eye's light flashing. "So, you're Luna's daughter eh? Why am I not surprised. Get on...." He said, as he moved to help her get on. Twilight got on the motorcycle, detailed in Red's color scheme, and the two made their way to the NLR headquarters. "So," Aurora yelled to be heard over the wind, "with you being Nightmare's love, does that mean I have to call you uncle? I am older, so it would be wierd." "If you want to, Aurora," Red said. "I'm surprised you agreed to let me take you to the base." "Well," Aurora, "it's not like I had much choice in the matter." "True enough...and honestly it's true, you can call me uncle if you want, I don't care that much. I'm Nightmare's love, AND to a degree Luna's lover...mostly due to how she and Moony used to be one and the same, but at the same time, it's sorta like, if I fell in love with Luna from the start, I'd still be with Nightmare anyway." Red said, explaining how he was Luna's love as much as Nightmare's. "Actually Aurora, to let you in on a little secret, I plan to marry Nightmare soon...much less, propose to her....also if you wish you can change to your original appearance now." He said as they made their way to the base. "I'd rather wait until we've stopped, and good luck with Nightmare." "You aren't calling her aunt?" "She may be my mother sister, she still has to earn that title." "Fair enough," Red said. "Now hold on, I'm bringing this thing to full speed." "Wait, What!? I thought we were already going at full speed!" How do you think I got here so fast?" "I assumed you were close by!" "HA! not exactly." Red said, as he took her hand, and locked it in place around his abdomen, before shifting gears and the two practically disappeared into a blur. At the speed they were travelling, Aurora thought her skin was going to be ripped off, but it fortunately only lasted for a few seconds before they noticeably slowed down and entered the above ground building that was the recon vehicle hangar for the NLR, where Luna, teary eyed at finally being reunited with her daughter, and Nightmare, as well as Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were waiting. The door opened and the two rode in slowly. As soon as it stopped, Luna ran to Aurora, and embraced her in the tightest hug Aurora had known, and cried even more, saying, "Oh, Aurora, how I missed you!" The fact that Twilight was Luna's daughter left the Elements shocked, their jaws hanging. Except for Pinkie, who hopped and said loudly, "Knew it. Knew it. Knew it." Fortunately for us authors, the others had gotten used to her crazy antics, and didn't ask. Aurora held Luna close to her "Mom....." She said smiling just as tearyeyed as Luna was, as she channeled her magic, and began to change, into her true coloration. Her coat, horn and wings turned a dark purple, a very dark indigo, like her mane was, as her mane and tail soon turned midnight black, with navy blue replacing the pink and fushia stripes in it, along with her wings gaining navy blue accents. Her eyes stayed their purple color, her transformation completed, Twilight Sparkle was no more, Now, she was Aurora Nebula, the Daughter of Luna, once again. Luna was trembling in happiness that she and her daughter were reunited at last. Nightmare walked over and hugged Aurora as well, sayinh, "Hello, my niece," in a gentle, motherly tone. "Hello, Auntie," Aurora said, her eyes closed to stop the tears of joy. One week later Red had finished his preparations as with the help of Aurora, they were now ready and equipped to take Manehattan and get some extra help in the form of the mechs that were being built. Red went to approach his beloved Nightmare, as for some reason, there was a pit in his stomach about the mission that he couldn't shake, but, more than anything, he wanted to do this. Going to her, he smiled. "Nightmare Moon?" He asked her, as she turned to look at him. "Yes Dear?" She cooed lightly, smiling at her lover. "Will you marry me?" He asked, as he bowed, and presented to her, a gorgeous ring, silver, as the band was decorated with small aquamarine gems, And on top, was a larger Aquamarine, cut in the shape of a Crescent moon, with diamonds outlining it. Nightmare was silent for a while, making Red think that it wouldn't happen. That was before she grabbed him in a large hug, squealed like a school filly, and said "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Red giggled lightly as he held her as well, kissing her lovingly "Hurray!" Was all he could say, due to the hug practically causing him to be crushed by her strength.
Chapter 9: Battle For ManehattanNightmare was silent for a while, making Red think that it wouldn't happen. That was before she grabbed him in a large hug, squealed like a school filly, and said "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Red giggled lightly as he held her as well, kissing her lovingly "Hurray!" Was all he could say, due to the hug practically causing him to be crushed by her strength. As Nightmare crushed him, Luna, Chrysalis, and the other adults who were part of the unofficial 'Alpha team', including Aurora, walked, smiling, as they had known this was going to happen, and were happy for him. After breaking out of Nightmare's massively crushing bearhug, Red smiled, slipping the ring onto her finger "I love you. I plan to have the wedding be once this war is over, my love...and I can't wait...perhaps, little Dawn could be either the flower girl or the ring bearer?" He suggested, already talking of plans. "I think she would be overjoyed at being a flower girl, and I think Chestnut would like it as well," Nightmare said softly. Red nodded agreeing. "Then perhaps. Barb could be the ring bearer maybe..." He said as he looked towards Fleur "Though I think I'll need a best mare..." He said, thinking it could be either Fleur, or Luna. "Of course, Love," Fleur said. "And Luna can be one of my bridesmaids," Nightmare said, causing Luna to blush. Red smiled "Well, I think we can finish these plans later. For now, I say we get ready and move out to take Manehattan." He suggested so that they could focus on what was more important at the time. They all nodded and headed to the Shadow, which is how they would get there. They were all aboard when Barb said, "Message coming in, guys. Don't know the ship, but it has Lone's authorization code." Red was curious, and went to accept it, and read the message. Red, if you or one of the others are reading this, then I'm already in Manehatten, waiting for you guys. I know Barb said this came from a ship, and that's because I have my own now, which my friends made, and a very large warehouse, Just let me know when you're close. And tell Luna and Aurora congratulations from me on their reunion. Red was a little surprised that Lone already knew about this, but decided he even had intelligence agents in the NLR, which would make sense, as he wasn't an idiot. Red simply shook his head and decided to follow the instructions as they soon took off heading right for Manehattan. "I'm going to punch him...SO DAMN HARD once we get there...cause I'm starting to get REAL sick of the guy's constantly being vague like this....it's really getting on my nerves..." He said, as they were heading to Manehattan, soon sending Lone the signal that they were getting close. As the signal was sent, they got another message: Good luck with trying to punch me. If the Shadow wasn't his ship, he would have dented the nearest bulkhead. As it was, he clenched his hands multiple times to prevent it. The others, though, got a laugh from it. They then got a holo-conference request from Cadence, who was closing in on Manehatten with her forces as well. Red opens the conference as he smiles at Cadence "Hey Cadence. How's it going?" He asked the Empress, as Nightmare also appeared, and shown the ring Red had given her as a proposal. "Excellent. My forces are approaching by ship from the north, while yours are approaching from east." It was then she saw Aurora, and was confused, as she hadn't been told of last weeks revelation. Sheepishly, Aurora said, "Hey, Cadence." Like her eyes, her voice hadn't changed much, and the look on her face included wide eyes and a jaw agape. Red spoke up "Nutshell version: Twilight Sparkle is actually Aurora Nebula, Luna's long thought dead Daughter. Meaning she's possibly your cousin..." He said, summing it up in that single sentence. "Oh," was all Cadence could say. "Well, it's good you two were reunited. I'll see you guys on the ground," Cadence said before she disconnected. And just before another message came in You seriously didn't tell Cadence? This one's meant for Luna and Aurora, not you, Red. "Okay, that's it," Red said. "How are you doing this?" Ask Pinkie. If she'll give you one, that is.Probably Lone, for being a vague jackass, where as Pinkie just defies all logic because it's her. "IF SHE'LL GIVE ME ONE WHAT YOU JACKASS?!" Red shouted getting very annoyed with Lone now. "An answer, silly," Pinkie said. "Isn't that obvious?" "No," was the unanimous answer. "Well, then, Pinkie," Red said, "how is he doing what he's doing?" "Easy. He's able to see the script the authors are using, like me, which is why I knew Nightmare would accept, or how he knew that Twilight was Aurora, who was Luna's daughter," Pinkie said, smiling. Red was no longer certain who he wanted to punch more: Lone, or Pinkie. Probably Lone, for being a vague jackass, where as Pinkie just defies all logic because it's her. No, Pinkie. Red, look in the supply closet in the bridge. Red, even though he wanted to punch Lone, did so, and found a bug. "What the...hell..." This time, it was an audio message. Did you really think I'd just trust you guys outright? That's one of two bugs I placed on the Shadow. The other one's in the holo-room. And in case your wondering, there's one in each war room I've been in. Audio only, no way to trace. "I suppose that makes sense," Aurora said. "Given how he came to you guys, I'd do something similar, if I were him. Thank you. And congrats on reuniting, you two. "......." Red just stayed silent, before rubbing his temples. Aurora simply chuckled "Thanks." No problem. I know what it's like to discover a long thought dead family member is alive. See you guys soon. "I'm not sure he's going to survive past Manehattan," Red said. This got some chuckles from the others. Red shook his head and went on to prepare to disembark from the Shadow and head out into Manehattan to meet up with the stallion he wanted to punch, and to get the plan underway. It was another ten minutes before Manehattan was in sensor range, which, even after three years in the war, the Shadow's radar range far outpaced those used by Celestia. Got you guys on my radar, Lone said over the radio. I'm tapped into Manehattan radar too, and you have five minutes at current speed to get ready. Word of warning: Martial law's in affect, and every citizen that can fight is part of the militia here. "Oh joy...that means that we're gonna be in for one heck of a battle." Red mused, as they prepared using those five minutes well. Yep. Once you guys are off, I'll be there as soon as possible. And Cadence's personal ship is going to touch down at the same time in the northern part of the city. I'll be heading there first, as she's coming in by herself. "Right," Red said as he checked his weapons. Everything was coming up fine, Red was fully equipped, his Nightbringer, his Lightsaber, and Z-Saber were all ready to go, as were his grenades, and other weaponry. "Coming down," Barb said, and the others went to the ramp. Once they landed and the ramp lowered, they all filed out, ranged weapons raised. "Clear," Red said over the comms to Barb, who brought the ship back into the air, then flew back to join the main NLR air force. "So," Fleur said, "any ideas as to when Lone's going to get here?" "Nope," Chrysalis said. "Well," Nightmare said, "at least-" "DON'T SAY IT!" Pinkie yelled "What?" Nightmare asked in confusion. "I was just going to say that we aren't surrounded." As if the universe wanted to screw with Nightmare, it was at that moment a thousand of Celestia's forces converged on them. "Told you not to say it," Pinkie said. "I love ya Moony, but sometimes You need to not jinx us..." He said. "Ha ha," Nightmare said sarcastically just before the hostile forces charged. Red and the others were already in a circle, which allowed them to hold off for a time. It started out well, with most of the enemy not having protection against the various Nightbringer rounds. Those were the first fifty or so. Afterwards, the armor improved to where only the high explosive rounds did damage. And only on direct hits, not the pressure wave. As they came closer, the group activated their close quarter weapons, but all of the Solar guard had lightsabers, and this made it harder. The were able to kill all but ten of them, the remaining ten being skilled enough to knock all of them to the ground in seconds after contact. "So this is the mighty 'Alpha team'" one of them, the leader if the armor coloration, a bright yellow with highlights matching the green that is in Celestia's mane, compared to the standard yellow, was any indication, said. "I thought you were supposed to be the best, seeing as how you are all the best fighters in that traitous rebellion." He chuckled. "Oh well," he said, raising his saber over Aurora's neck, "It's a shame such beautiful mares sided with you." Just before he could bring his saber down, a voice said, "You've forgotten one thing," before a cyan and red energy sword appeared through his chest. "What the," was all the guard said before the sword pulled out of him, and Lone appeared in his armor, the guard he stabbed falling dead (00:08)"Me." Lone then looked at the remaining guards. "One? That's all the reinforcement they have?" One of them said. Lone ignited his second energy sword, crossing them in an "X" pattern, the thinner part of the blades facing him and the guards, and said, "I'm all the reinforcement they need." (00:19) The nine remaining guards rushed him, Lone not even moving as they approached. The first two guards to reach him survived longer than the guards from the Crystal empire did, but not for long. As Lone slashed, they blocked, but Lone teleported behind them, and proceeded to cut off their heads. The next two were pegasia, and flew towards Lone, though this didn't save them either, as Lone attached the upper and lower casings that made up his plasma rifles to his sword hilts. He brought them up and aimed one apiece at them. As soon as the plasma bolts hit them, they fell to the ground, their faces melted and their brains, quite literally, exploded. The next three stopped short, the other two having stood where they were. One of the three attemtped to sweep Lone's legs out from under him, though Lone jumped over his leg and brought his sword down as he came down, slicing the guard in half. He then holstered his rifles and picked up the halves of the body, and flung them at the other two, which caught them off balance, and hit them, causing them ot hit the ground on their backs. Before they could get back up, Lone shot them each in the head once. That left the other two, who were grinning under their helmets. They then pulled a second saber each, and ignited a second blade on their first, and activating both on their second. "Great," Lone mumbled to himself before he heard faint Thwips behind him, and both guards disappeared in explosions. Red smirked, being the one who caused the explosions that blew up the last two guards. His Solid Eye flashed Red as he appeared in the smoke with a devious smirk. "Sorry Lone, You ain't escaping my wrath that easily." Red said "Can you at least wait until after this is done?" Lone asked Red "Yes of course it can. It'll just get worse as it gets denied." Red spoke honestly, as he rejoined the team, and they soon went together to go ahead with their plan, to attack and take control of the Mech suits being made. "Right," Lone said. "My contacts say that the production area, which is also the primary storage facility, is in the western docks. As far as we can both tell, that super mech is there as well." "Anything else there we should know about?" Red asked, as they began to head for the western docks. "Yeah," Lone said, turning to face the others, as Cadence walked up, out of breath. "Celestia's here, as well as Honesty and Loyalty." "Shit." Aurora said, summing up everyone's thoughts "Well now...Things just got a hell of a lot more intense..." Red said, as he gave Cadence some water to recover. He looked to Aurora "Are you going to be okay with this?" He asked, knowing that things got a lot worse with how Celestia was now here, along with Applejack and Rainbow Dash all being in play. "Yeah," she said, nodding. "This was going to happen eventually. Better now than later." Lone nodded. "Good. We need to move, the city has more guards in it." "Agreed." He said as he looked to Aurora, giving her a hug "Aurora...my...Niece...You know I will back you up and protect you...you're technically family after all." Red said to her being genuinely caring to her. "Okay, people. Move out," Lone said, and the group made best time to the western docks. Meanwhile-Western docks Celestia is addressing the remaining two elements and Shadow Strike, as Neither AJ, nor Dash knew where Twilight had gone, and none of them save for Celestia, knew the truth, as she didn't exactly want to tell them yet... "Ma'ams, Sir," Nightengale came rushing in, out of breath. "The camera show that Alpha is on their way here. All of them, as well as a new member, though I'm not certain who she is." Celestia's eyes narrowed, though the others didn't notice. I was afraid of this, she thought to her self, bringing a hand up to her face. Dash spoke up "So what then? Should we have Shadow Strike prepare that mech suit to show them how powerless they are against us then?" she suggested "No," Celestia said. "That is to be a last resort, should they get here." And besides, Celestia thought, if they are able to defeat him, it will mean death for everypony is the city. "Then what should we do Princess? Ah think we should possibly try to have the city evacuated possibly....just in case..." AJ said not sure what they could do... "Unfortunately, that is not an option, as our radar just picked up hostile aircraft from the east and north," Strike said, "and we don't know if they have stealth ships in the other directions." Dash groaned in annoyance "We're not getting ANYWHERE right now, we're just spinning our wheels here, what the heck are we GOING TO DO?!" She asked them. "Other than stand and fight?!" "As far as we can see," Nightengale said, "nothing." "Great," Rainbow said sarcastically. As if to make matters worse, it was at this point that the Alpha team shown up. AJ and Dash making a stunning discovery when they notice Aurora. "T...Twilight?! YOU JOINED THEM!?" Rainbow asked. "No," Aurora said, "If I was Twilight, I'd still be with Aunt Celestia," she said, spitting out Aunt, as if it were acid. "General," Celestia whispered to Strike, "now." He nodded, and slowly moved to the room the mech, which the troops called the 'Prototype', even though it was complete. Lone saw this, and nodded to Nightengale slightly enough to where only they knew. "What are you going to do to us, traitors," Nightengale said, activating his saber and pointing it at Alpha. "Should you surrender," Aurora said, "nothing. If you don't, then we'll either imprison you or kill you." "Why are y'all doing this, Twi?" Applejack asked. Red spoke up next "Because She's lied to both Luna AND 'Twilight' all these years. Aurora here is actually 2027 years old. She is Luna's daughter....before she was banished Luna had herself a daughter, who was of course, Aurora Nebula here...even after Luna became Nightmare, Moony still cared for the foal. When she was banished, Celestia decided, to not only WIPE CLEAN Her memories and turn her into Twilight Sparkle, Even putting her into a magically induced sleep to keep her alive, until her believed birthdate, but what's worse, is that she also Lied to Luna...When Luna returned, the first thing she asked Celestia, was if her daughter Aurora was still alive....as Luna believed that she was due to her being half alicorn." Dash spoke back "AND?!" "She said that though Aurora had lived longer than normal, she still died before Luna returned." Red said, as this fact shocked both Rainbow and AJ, that Celestia had not only lied to Twilight and Luna, but also basically MADE Twilight Sparkle. Red continued "And I should also note that during the banishment, Celestia had altered Luna's memories of her own daughter...so that she remembered her differently..." He said, further cementing the fact. "How do we know Nightmare hasn't put that in your memories," Nightengale said. "For all you know, she could be manipulating all of you" he said, holding his saber up like a knight of old, stepping in front of Celestia and the others, as if to protect them. "I know my own memories, Nightengale," Lone said, stepping in front of the rest of Alpha, his swords crossed like earlier. "You know him," was the response from everypony in the room. "Yeah. We were friends before all of this," Lone said. "Now? We're enemies." "Yeah," and the last time we saw the other, we swore who we would decide who the better swordsman was with their respective weapon." "I know my own memories too Nightengale." Red said igniting his Z-Saber. "Because Cadence wondered the same thing of my affection for Nightmare, along with Fleur and Luna....and I shown her that my love for Nightmare was the real deal" he said as he moved to fight. "And how do we know she didn't manipulate Cadence's mind to alter what she perceived? She was there, I believe." Cadence narrowed her eyes, but didn't rush him, as she knew this was going to be a fight between Lone and Nightengale. "Because I'm the alicorn of love, and nothing can make me think love is there when it isn't," Cadence yelled. Red stood to face Celestia, along with the others at this point, before noticing that Shadow had left "Wait...where's the other one...Shadow Strike?" Red asked looking around for him, searching with the Solid Eye. Nightengale laughed. "It doesn't matter," he said. "Once I'm done with Lone, here, you'll all share his fate." "The suit," Aurora whispered. "Red," she shouted, "He's activating the suit!" "Shoot!" Red said before he quickly made a sprint for the warehouse where the suit was "I'll take care of it, You guys stay here." Red called back as he raced there, before busting inside. The groups didn't chase after him, as each side believed that their champion, for lack of a better word, would win. "What," Nightengale said, "not going to help him." "He doesn't need help, Nightengale," Lone said. Nightengale shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. But you will." He looked back to Celestia, Rainbow, and Applejack. "Don't get in the way, guys. This is my fight." He then looked back to Lone. "Same thing for you guys," Lone said, not taking his eyes off of Nightengale. Both parties backed away from the two knights. One of the sun, the other of the moon. They charged. The blades clashed as the two met in the middle. Both sides were pushed back by the force of the impact. They charged again. This time, though, Lone jumped into the air and tried to bring one of his blades down on Nightengale. Nightengale, however, anticipated this, and blocked the attack, spinning , so as to keep Lone in his sight. The two stared at one another, during which, Nightengale swhispered, "The suit's designed to go nuclear if the mech takes extreme damage, Lone." Lone nodded, before kicking Nightengale away. He then disappeared in a cloud of shadows one second, and reappeared above Nightengale the next. Nightengale rolled out of the way of the attack just before the energy swords hit where he had landed. Lone left one of his swords in the ground, pulling the other out, and his armor had scuff marks already, as well as Nightengale's. The two assumed a pose appropriate for single sword combat. Nightengale grasping the hilt of his saber with both hands, while Lone assumed the same pose he took when he first dueled Red. The two charged again. This time, though, their blades locked when clashed. The only way for them to get out of it was for them to deactivate their weapons. They did so, and jumped away from the other, and activated their weapons again. Nightengale's saber was the first to be reactivated, and he jumped back at Lone, who activated his sword just in time to block the downward stroke with the thin edge of his sword, knelling as he did so. He pushed up with his sword, which off balanced Nightengale, and did a sweep kick, which brought Nightengale crashing to the ground. He and Lone got up at the same time, not even looking exhausted. They got back into their singular sword pose, and were about to clash again when something came crashing through the back wall, where the Prototype was. As the dust cleared from the hole, all of the occupants of the main room, including Lone and Nightengale, looked to see Red holding off the Prototype. Red was doing extremely well in the fight with the Prototype, attacking the legs due to them being a weakpoint it couldn't easily defend, using his longer range weaponry when he was pushed back, using the Nightbringer's High Explosive ammo, and the incendiary blast. Red was dashing around the room, causing the warehouse to be slowly demolished due to the Prototype's weaponry, as he soon closed in, and used his lightsaber to attack, the armor was thick enough to repell either one of his three swords, so it ultimately didn't matter which one he used, as such, he then switched to the High Frequency Blade that was strapped onto his back attacking it's legs whenever he got in close, to break down the armor, knowing that it was strong enough to withstand them due to how it was created. Whenever he dashed away from the mech suit, he fired on it using his Nightbringer, along with the Shotgun and Dual SMGs he had, as he knew he could beat it, much less take it down. The intensity of the fight was to the point that the others could only look. Though both Lone and Nightengale were worried that the damage it was taking would cause it to go nuclear, they couldn't do anything without revealing the truth. The fight between Red and Striker in the Prototype continued like this for a five more minutes before the Prototype locked up, unable to move, and the AI in it announced "Damage threshold passed. Activating contingency plan; code named: Cleansing Heat in ten minutes. All allied forces, retreat to minimum safe distance." "Oh shit..." Red cursed, as he looked to the others, trying to think of a way to save everyone...it came to him. He knew what he had to do, but he had no choice. He used his magic force powers to blast back everyone a great deal back, before he also used a similar blast to blow out the back wall of the warehouse, where the ocean was seen behind them as they were at the docks. Red shouted to them all. "GET EVERYONE OUT OF HERE!!! I'LL TAKE CARE OF THIS!" He then took a few deep breaths as he soon did something unthinkable, he closed in on the Prototype, and tackled the torso's cockpit, before using the force to blast himself forward, the sheer force of the tackle caused him to push back the Prototype suit far over the ocean, with him going with it, as they both began to sink, due to Red being exhausted, and the Prototype being so weighed down. "The blast radius will still kill us, if only due to the pressure wave, before it can get deep enough," Nightengale said, urgency in his voice. "The only way to get out of it in time is flight, but we don't have a ship near enough," Celestia said. "Yeah," Lone said. "One of your's." He brought his right hand up to his helmet, activating the radio, then said, "Artemis, we need evac, NOW! Fire only on those who fire on the ship." He apparently got the reply he wanted, as he nodded, saying, "Good," and brought his hand back down. "No!" Nightmare screamed. "I'm not leaving with out him!" "Red's sacrificing himself for you, Nightmare. He wants you to get out of here, and we both know I'm the only one with a ship," Lone said. "Then what do we do about Celestia and the others," Aurora said, pointing to where her former friends and mentor were. "Easy," Lone said, "we bring them with us." "WHAT??" was the unanimous response, except from Nightengale. "Red got all of us away from there. All of us, and I'm making sure nopony else dies," Lone said as they all heard a faint hum, the engines of Lone's ship approaching. As the shoddy looking ship arrived picking them all up, and getting them out of there Nightmare is looking back horrified that her lover is being left behind, when she heard his voice on the comm link Don't you worry Moony. It's gonna take far more than a damn nuke to kill me. You just hold out...Don't worry about me. It'll take more than this to put me down! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! He said confidently as he began to laugh before the comm cut off, as they all looked out, and the explosion happened, they saw the massive pressure wave, and the ocean exploded, allowing them to see the wreckage of the Prototype at the bottom of the ocean, before the sea came back covering it once again. Nightmare tackled Celestia to the wall of the ship and stared her dead in the face as Fleur and even Luna began to cry. Nightmare spoke harshly "You took away my daughter...You took away My Niece...AND NOW YOU TAKE AWAY MY HUSBAND!?" She shouted as Celestia saw the ring on Nightmare's finger, and she understood, even having some tears in her own eyes, for not just Red's noble sacrifice, but also for the death of Shadow Strike, as Nightmare continued "DO YOU HAVE NO PURPOSE OTHER THAN TO ENSURE WE CANNOT HAVE HAPPINESS!?" She asked before she glared further, piercing Celestia's soul with that hateful glare as she spoke "You...Honor...Him...Don't you dare make this out to be a good thing." She said before she walked off, locking herself in one of the rooms and began to cry as well, being the loudest of the group crying. Lone heard this, and walked over to where they were. "I knew I should have laid down ground rules," he mumbled to him self before going to the bridge. One he was there, he activated the intercom and said, "Attention passengers. It has come to my atteniton that some of you, though justified, are out for blood. Here are some rules. One: As long as you are on this ship, the Millennium Falcon, you will follow any orders my crew or I give you. Second: This ship is, for now, neutral ground, which means no killing of the others. Nightmare, I'm looking at you. Three: While we are all on this ship, we will at least tolerate each other. Aurora, that means you and the other Elements can't badmouth each other. Rainbow, I'm looking at you for that one." That last one got good natured chuckles from the Elements on both sides, and even Cadence. "And also, it will take us a few hours to reach the middle ground of the remaining forces, due to engine damage, so I suggest you all get comfy." The group heard and understood, Nightmare, Luna, and Fleur could do nothing but cry, as did Aurora, who was with her mother. The only ones not crying at all were Rainbow and Applejack, both of whom glared at Rarity, Flutter shy, and Pinkie, who returned the gesture, and Lone, who was in the cockpit. The silence there was as thick as pea soup. They then remembered what Lone had said, and to their credit, they did try to talk. "So," Applejack said awkwardly, "what have y'all been doing since we last saw ya?" Fluttershy spoke up. "We've...been doing pretty good..." as Rarity also nodded in agreement. "Yeah," Pinkie said, "We've had a party for the Empire, Aurora, Dawn, Chestnut, and us-" She was cut off as Rainbow put herhand to her mouth, showing that both sides still found Pinkie's rambling annoying."Pinkie," Rainbow said, "please shut up." This got a good hearted, if nervous, laugh from the others. Rarity then spoke up "It's good to laugh....like he did......because there won't be a party today... The two groups of the Elements became sober then, neither smiling, nor crying, in memory to Red, even though he was an enemy to two of them. While hte others were reminiscing, Nightengale went up to the cockpit to talk with Lone. "Well," he said once he got there, "this could have gone better." "Yeah," Lone said. "If I had been the one to battle Striker, at least I would have gotten out of there." Nightengale grunted before saying, "Yeah. Having friends with unique abilities does help." He sighed. "Too bad Red didn't have them." "At least he went down fighting," Lone said. "That may help." Nightengale shrugged. "Yeah. maybe. It did with Shadow, before this war started." "True, but he, at least, faked his death. Red may have been able to use magic, but I doubt he could have teleported." "Yeah," Nightengale said, looking out the cockpit window, "I guess so." "Artemis, any news on the others?" "Yeah, Lone," a disembodied female voice said. "The others got out in time, thanks to Nightengale's warning, but they lost the trail." Lone sighed. "At least the don't have Manehattan." "I don't think anypony is going to have it for a few thousand years," Artemis said. "Guess so, given the proximity to the blast, as well as fall out," Nightengale said. A few hours later- Middle ground between the two forces As the Falcon set down, the sensor picked up fighter contact that matched transponders for both factions, as well as aerial transports just behind them. "Look alive, people. We've landed, and contacts from all side inbound," Lone said over the intercom. Barb was waiting by the Rogue Shadow for the Alpha Team where they landed, before she spoke up as Nightmare was walking slowly and somberly "Where is Red? Where's Dad?!" She asked approaching them, very worried. Before she could answer, though transport ships of both sides came in, as well as the others coming out of the Falcon. Stand down immediately, the lead ships said at the same time, or we will kill you. Release your prisoners, and we will show mercy. Celestia spoke up "We aren't prisoners, Stand down now all of you. I am commanding a universal cease-fire. Let the NLR Leave. And we are also leaving." She said, demanding of the troops of the transport ships which belonged to her. "As am I," Nightmare said to the NLR forces.. "We are to return to our base. The reason why will become public then." Though their was hesitation on both sides parts, though they both eventually turned and left, a single transport ship from Celestia's forces came down for her, Nightengale, Rainbow, and Applejack. They boarded, but before Celestia could, Nightmare said to her, "This isn't over yet, Celestia. One way or another, I will have my vengeance, as will Luna and Fleur." "I know," was all Celestia said before she boarded the ship and left. Barb looked at Nightmare and spoke up "Where is Dad?" She asked, being afraid of the answer, as she looked to them all for it. As she saw all of them look away from her, she knew her worst suspicions were confirmed. Her eyes teared up, and she fell to her knee's, saying, "No, no, no, no," over and over again. The only one who didn't cry, as he had run out of tears years ago, was Lone. He did feel sadness that Red had died. But there was also hope. A hope that Red would at least live on in comfort in the memories of everyponies memories of those who knew of his last moments. "Artemis, get the Falcon prepped. I'll fly the Shadow of here." "Got it, Lone," Artemis replied. Using his magic, he levitated Barb into the Falcon, with the other following. As the last of them, Nightmare, who took this the hardest, boarded, tears rolling down her cheeks, her eyes red, and sobbing, the Falcon took off, leaving Lone on the field. He looked at the sunset, and said with his thoughts, Harmony, if you see Red, and even Striker, do what you can for them. As a favor, to me. We both know I'll repay it. After all, when I make a promise, I keep it. He then did a strange salute. It started out like a normal one, but he then placed his right hand, clenched into a fist, over his heart, palm facing inward, then brought it up, parallel to the ground, palm facing left, hand still clenched. He then made his way to the Shadow, initiated the lift off sequence, made a fly over of the city, then made his way back to the NLR base, his mind, deep in thought, not over the battle, but what the end result was. If he had done one more fly over, though, he would have seen a navy blue flash of light. Exactly where Red had died. Author's Note Note: Zero 'Red' Star, has ALWAYS had that sword on his armor, he's always had this High Frequency Blade as his equipment, He's just never used it until now.
Chapter 10: Mourning and PreparationsOne week has passed since the battle of Manehattan, and all of the NLR's 'Alpha team' were still coping with the loss of Red, the defacto leader of the team. Nightmare, his fiance, took the loss the worst, and hadn't left her room since she and the others made it back. The same could be said of Dawn, who was in Nightmare's room. The others had tried to be effective leaders, but their grief prevented this. This was the moment when Lone proved he was a leader. He took up every leader responsibility with ease, as if he had experience in this before. When Luna asked about this during team lunch, he replied by saying, "Somepony has to take up the role, and you guys still need time. Believe me, I sad he's gone too, but he did what he did for all of us, and I won't let the NLR fall because of his sacrifice meant to save it." Luna nodded along hearing this, as she, like Fleur, Chestnut, and Barb, were all trying to cope with his death. They were working on a memorial to him at the time as well as trying to continue working. He had organized a relief group for civilians displaced from Manehattan that were with the NLR, and had commissioned a memorial for Red, as well as the others of the NLR who had lost their lives during the fight. Nightmare, had her own memorial...during the week after the fight in manehattan, and the week after his death, the only thing able to be recovered of his, was his lightsaber, which Nightmare, had kept, keeping it on her person at all times, granted she had never left her room after it was found, but she kept it, sitting on a display in her room, and in the off chance that she would leave, she kept it with her, effectively replacing her own lightsaber with it, as other than the ring she was given when he proposed, the lightsaber was the only thing she had to remember him by...she vowed to make Celestia pay...and she would do it with HIS lightsaber... Fleur soon goes to check on Nigtmare Moon and Dawn, looking inside. Nightmare's eyes had turned from their beautiful Turquoise coloration, to be something akin to bloodshot, and puffy due to crying her eyes out. her body was also looking slightly frail, due to starving herself, from never leaving the room, Fleur spoke up. "Nightmare, darling...you can't starve yourself and stay here...he would want you to keep fighting...to ensure we won..." She said, approaching and hugging Nightmare gently, who began to cry again. "Why? He was the only one I loved, and I-I just can't go on with out him," Nightmare said, her eyes rearing up again. "Why did he leave me? Why? Why?" "Because he wanted you to live," Lone said as he came into the door frame. He always checked to see how the others were doing, Nightmare especially. "Why did he have to die," she said, oblivious to what he said, Dawn asleep, having cried herself to sleep. Lone shook his head. "I can see a week not leaving your room, but starving your self?" He then walked into the room. "Fleur, get her up. Make sure she's facing me." Fleur, though a little wary of what ever he was planning, did so. Lone walked up to Nightmare, with Fleur holding her up. He then did something only the brace, stupid, or crazy did. He brought his hand up. And he bitch slapped her, snapping her out of her sadness. "Look," he said as she stared at him in disbelief, "I get you miss him. I get you want to die so you can be with him. But what about your promise to make Celestia pay? What about Dawn? You are the only parent she has left. Do you want her to remember you as a coward, who took the easy way out? Because that looks like how your story's going to end if you keep this up. If you die, who's going to avenge Red at the level he deserves? I think he'd want it to be you. So, tell me, Nightmare. Are you just a shadow of the mare ponies of all ages feared, a coward? Or are you going to show Celestia and her forces why you deserve to be feared, and give Dawn a mother, give Chestnut and Aurora an aunt, to be proud of? Are you going to die like a coward, or live. Like. A. Solider?" She glared at him for slapping her, and promptly punches him in the face. "Get out of my sight...you enigmatic jackass...." Nightmare said, restraining her anger at what he said, despite the fact that she knew it was true. Fleur also kicked him in the dick to send him on his way as she walked with Nightmare, to go and get somethin to eat now. He dodged Fleur's kick, but allowed Nightmare to punch him, as he knew she needed a release for everything, plus he knew she was doing this for Red, at least in part. "I'll get out of your sight when you're the mare that ponies feared," he said. "Because I know Red wouldn't want you to kill yourself over his death. I lost my brother when I was six, as well as my mom, and my father a year later. I get where you're coming from, but I didn't try to kill myself like you." Nightmare walked off with Fleur to get some food, for Dawn, and herself, she had Red's lightsaber on her now, along with her own. She knew exactly what target they were going to attack next as well. Lone, though hating to do what he did, was glad it had worked out. He went to the war room to look over the status of the army, as Red's death had shook everypony. Barb was trying to keep it together as well, because Red was like a father to her, she had even begun to refer to him as Dad when he had died...and now only referred to him as such. Aurora was in the hanger with Barb, both comforting the other with stories of their past, before the war started. "So, you're saying Pinkie actually looked like she was going to murder you all?" Barb asked, as Aurora was telling her of the incident with Pinkie's birthday during her first year in Ponyville. Letting out a small chuckle, Aurora said, "Yeah. But it was no where near the insanity when we were sucked into the power ponies comic." Barb chuckled "I remember, Dad liked to read them...I think he had a crush on Maneiac....cause he called her 'Maney' a lot..." She said, laughing about the story. "Yeah," Aurora said. "I still can't believe Spike was humdrum, even though he does a lot more in real life." "Oh," Barb said. "Who's Spike? I don't remember the others mentioning him." "Spike was my number one dragon assistant. You know, before this," Aurora said, gesturing towards herself. "Dragon?" Barb asked, now interested in Spike Aurora nodded "Yes. he's a Dragon...probably close to your age I think...he's basically to me what you are to Uncle Red...being a sort of assistant but also being like my own child..." She said, smiling, thinking about him. "He stays in Ponyville still...and I'm very worried about him now..." Similar to how Barb had taken to calling Red 'Dad' since his death, Aurora, had also began calling him Uncle at that point. "Ohh," Barb said. "What's he like?" "Well, he always helps. One time, during my second year in Ponyville, I was having a freak out over a letter to Celestia, as I was still her student then, and cast a 'Want it, Need it' spell on my old Smarty Pants doll. If it hadn't been for Spike, things could've been worse than they were, as he told Celestia of me going nuts. He's also smart. Not like me or the other princesses, but smart." At this point, Barb was now interested in Spike, so much so that she wanted to meet him. And marry him. "I see.....think I could meet him some time? Dad was talking about sending me on a solo trip to Ponyville for Recon..." Barb explained. "It'd be too dangerous,Barb," Aurora said. "So. Recon is still less dangerous than what you and the others do. " "Ponyville is one of THE most well fortified towns under Tia's control...." Aurora said, very worried about Barb. Barb looked defeated as she heard Aurora say this. "Yeah, I guess you're right." "Glad to see you see reason," Aurora said. As she launched into another story, Barb was thinking of various ways to get into Ponyville, or Spike here. "Hey, Aurora?" "Yeah?" "Do you think Celestia told Spike about you?" "No. Why?" "Well, instead of going there, why not bring Spike, who most likely has intel on defenses for Ponyville, at least, here, making him think he's saving you?" Aurora thought about it "That...might just be GENIUS!" "Well, come on then," Barb said, heading towards the main door, "we should let Lone know." Getting up, Aurora asked, "Why Lone. Why not Night- never mind, the answer's obvious." Aurora nodded, and went to do so. Meanwhile, with Nightmare Moon Nightmare, with rage and sadness obvious in her body language, made it to the lunch room where the rest of Alpha usually ate, the few ponies she came across in the halls getting out of her way as quickly as possible. When she made it to the room, she opened the door and was met with looks that mixed surprise, happiness, and fear from the others. Luna was the first to speak. "Well, it's good to see you up and about sister, but what has made you so mad?" She looked at Luna, before she began to tear up sitting down with her food with Luna. "The same one that my betrothed wanted to punch....Lone....he slapped me...." She said as she told Luna about what happened. "Why?" Luna asked, anger in her voice. "To insult me. Call me a coward, that I wasn't the mare ponies should fear, say I was taking the cowards way out by starving myself, making Dawn have to live through the deaths of both her parents. He even went as far as to say he knows where I come from, so why would he insult me?" Because he wants me to kill him rather than just beat him into the wall... a familiar voice said, clear anger evident. "Red?" Nightmare asked, confused and hopeful at the same time as she and Luna looked around the room. "Where are you?" Right here the voice said, sounding like it came from the door. The two mares looked and were surprised by a ghostly image of Red in the armor he had worn when he died. Red begins to walk forward from the door, walking right to them, walking past the others who appear to make NO notice of him. He approaches Nightmare, and smiles at her, even reaching down and gently stroking her mane, which she was able to feel. "Hey there, Moony..." "H-h-how?" The ghost shrugged. "No idea. All I know is that I'm speaking with you now. I just wanted to let you know that I did what I did so you could live. I don't regret it, and though I hate Lone, I would probably do the same if it meant bringing you back to the way you were before." "What! How can you side with him? He insulted me, called me a coward-" "And got you back up and eating. It's a case of doing bad things with good intentions and wanting a good outcome." "I AM going to make him pay for slapping you though Moony...make No mistake about that..." He said, being genuinely honest. "HOW, I have no idea..." He said as he gently hugged her. Well, as best as he could, anyway, seeing as how he was a ghost. He pulled away from the hug, and started to disappear. "Goodbye, Moony. Goodbye Lulu." As he said these words, he disappeared from their sight, tears of both happiness and sadness on the faces of the two rulers of the night. NLR War room. Barb and Aurora are speaking with Lone. The two had come with him to speak about bringing Spike here. Though he thought having Celestia's personal informant for what the defenses at Ponyville were, he thought it was too dangerous. "I'll admit," Lone said, his helmet off, "it sounds like it might work." He raised a finger for emphasis, "But it may not at the same time. If you two an come up with a plan that involves little to casualties for either side and gets him here, I'll consider it." "Right," Barb and Aurora said, with the former sounding a little defeated. The two left the room. As soon as they did, Lone's personal communicator lit up with a green light, indicating two of his friends were contacting him with info. He activated it, and two ponies appeared. One was Nightengale, wearing his custom gun gray armor with a wide, T like, sky blue visor on his helmet, with a gray stripe down the middle just above the visor, which was held down by his side, shoulder pads that had angular turns to protect his shoulders, a wide, rectangular chest plate, and leg armor that had additional ammo pouches on the lower legs and had a small camo pattern on the thighs. Around his waist were grenades. His knees and elbows were protected by angular, single pieces of metal. The second, Shadow Specter, was wearing armor that, in aesthetics, resembled Lone's in general, but the exact details were different. His helmet, down by his side had a singular, vertical visor in the center, the sides of the helmet looking like they were welded on. The shoulder pieces were ovoid when viewed from the side, small, whit pieces of metal coming out from the lower half. The torso looked like a V-neck shirt with out the sleeves and ended just below the ribs. The arms had a rectangular appearance to them. The greaves were the same. His armor was mostly forest green with accents of tree bark brown. "Good to see you guys again," Lone said, nodding in greeting to the two. Barb looks at Aurora "How can we get this done?" A familar voice to both speaks up nearby "You know, you could always pose as Twilight, and send a secret message to Spike saying to come alone to rescue you from here...OR possibly tell him that Celestia betrayed them and that he must come because he's now in danger..." it said, appearing to be behind Barb. They both turned around and saw Red, who looked like a ghost. "Dad," Barb asked, not believing what her eyes were seeing. "Hey there Barb~" Red said smiling at them both. "And you as well Dearest Aurora." "Hey, Uncle," Aurora said. "How are you here?" "Don't know," Red said. "If I had to guess, I'd say magic. I can't stay for long. Just thought I'd see how you two are doing. And I'm glad you two are doing well." True to his word, Red's ghost began to fade away. "Goodbye, you two," he said before he faded away completely. Barb began to tear up, seeing as how she thought she'd never see Red again. Aurora, whose voice was chocked as if she was holding back tears, said, "Well, we might as well see what we can do about that plan he came up with, huh?" Barb nodded, and the two made their way to Aurora's room. Back in the NLR war room "Good to see you too, Bro," Shadow said. His coat was the same shade of green as his armors primary color. "Lone," Nightengale said. "So," Lone said, "whats going on with Celestia?" "Well," Shadow said, "she is planning on building a memorial to those who lost their lives in Manehattan. Officially, it's for her forces, but those in the guard I've talked with say it's also for Red, even if it's unofficial. Won't make Nightmare want to kill Celestia any less." Nightengale grunted in amusement. "That just makes our job harder." "Agreed," Lone said. "But that's not the only development. Aurora and Barb just left after coming to tell me they wanted to bring Spike here. Shadow, you're in Ponyville. Think you can stop the plan. Not because I don't see it's use, I do, but because Barb proposed it like a love sick puppy, and is doing for herself, even if it appears she's doing this for Aurora as well." Shadow nodded. "I'll see what I can do, but I would like to point how you and I courted our wives." "We weren't on opposite sides of a war then." It was here Lone felt a presence behind him. Turning his head, he said, "Red. Good see Harmony took you up. How are you doing?" "Not too bad all things considered but believe me I'm gonna kick your ass..." He said his arms crossed clearly very annoyed, even though he knew it was for good..."Oh by the way, Your parents said Hello...also there's no way in hell I'm letting you stop their plan." "Well, then I'll see you later, as we both know you're alive and Harmony's training you. "So you aren't surprised you're seeing me?" "No. I pulled that trick a few times my self when me and Shadow here," Lone said, gesturing to Shadow, "faked our deaths. Though like you, it was because nopony would believe us." Red raised an eyebrow at him. before Pinkie bashed Lone's head with a very heavy hitting Hammer. "STOP RUINING THE TWISTS YOU JERK!!!" she then happily skipped away. Lone and Red just chuckled. "Oh, if only she knew the major ones," Lone said cryptically. "Agreed," Shadow said. "SO, what's the next strike plan? Eh? I may not be able to exist like this for long but least I can do is try to help right?" "That would be Nightmare's decision. What ever I came up with, she would say no." Red laughed. "Yeah, guess so." He then started to fade. "Well, there's my cue. Goodbye, moron." Fortunately, Lone had cast a spell on his communicator to where only he could hear and see it. "Why?" Lone asked. "It doesn't have much strategic value, nor does it have a large population." "What does it matter? I want...to have a place to remember his sacrifice...after all Manehattan's practically abandoned at current..." "It is lightly guarded, plus there are reports of them being there," Nightengale said, though only Lone could hear him. Lone nodded. "Alright then, but it'll have to wait until our memorial for the others who lost their lives is complete." "So long as we take it," Nightmare said, nearing in on a growl. "We will," Lone said. "Good..." She said, as she looked to Lone. "I...saw Red...as a ghost earlier...is..there anyway I can continue to talk with him for longer?" She asked him, believing she could possibly get a form of closure. "I'd have to look over all the spells I know, but possibly. Though one that will work, but has a fair failure rate, is focusing on him with your magic. What makes it fail is ponies become overwrought with emotion, they lose focus, and the spell ends. It will work. What is dependent is how long it'll last." "I see..." She said "Thanks." She said genuinely as she went to leave and go to her room with her daughter. "Keep an eye on her, Lone," Shadow said, "If she gets mad enough, there's no telling how bad that'll be." "I know that, Shadow. Nightengale, how are code names Farmer and Blowhard due to last week?" Nightengale spoke back "Well...AJ and Dash seem to be doing fine...though I think that regardless of twilight's, or rather, Aurora's defection to her mother's side, they seem to have taken a big hit to their confidence due to the revelation of what Celestia did...Along with Captain Zero's sacrifice..." he explained. Lone nodded. "Right. See what you can do to help them out." "Right." "See you guys later," Lone said before disconnecting. Two days later Barb and Aurora go to Lone with their new plan. "I can talk to Spike about how he betrayed us, and how we need to get him out of there because he's in danger. Either that, or we tell him I'm in trouble and he needs to come alone to save me?" Aurora suggested. "How do you know he'll be able to get away. Of what my sources say, he's by the general's side at all times," Lone said "He'll just wait until the general's asleep, then sneak out." "And what if he chooses not to join us, because there is no way I'm going to cast any sort of spell on a dragon." Still got the burns from the first time. Mental burns, but burns nonetheless. "Then we'll knock him out and put him in a fire proof cell then I cast a spell on that prevents him from sending messages." Lone thought this over for a minute. "Okay, you guys are clear, but if I so much as think he's sending messages to Celestia's forces, I will stop him. By any means necessary. Is that clear, you two?" Both looked at him dead serious "We understand but if you kill him, We'll make sure Dad/Uncle gets to enjoy kicking your ass in the afterlife." They said as they understood and went to leave. Lone simply shook his head and left the room shortly after them, as he had something to give to Nightmare. He made his way to her room and knocked on the door and waited for her to open the door. When she did and saw him, her look took on a neutral appearance. "Lone," she said."What are you doing here." "Just thought I'd give you something the recovery teams found in Manehattan yesterday," he said pulling out an amulet. She looked at it, and took it, it made her think of Red instantly. It was a beautiful amulet, which was made of a silver chain, and as the actual amulet charm, it was a gold medallion of sorts, which had the engraving of a Dragon's foot print, Not like Barb or Spike's footprint, but something from a different kind of Dragon all together. "Thank you....Now please Leave..." She said shutting the door, and walking back sitting on the bed looking at it. Dawn was out with Fleur and Chestnut. Chestnut had taken Red's death hard, as he was one of the first ponies to treat her like a living thing. Which meant she was all alone in her room. She decided she may as well try the technique Lone had told her would allow her to talk with Red. Nightmare concentrated her magic into her horn, and could feel the energy. After five minutes, though, she had to abandon the spell, as she felt the spell draining her energy. She was definitely going to speak with Lone about this. Hilariously though, the spell seemed to work as Red faded in "Somepony come calling? I felt a familiar tug..." He asked looking to her, knowingly. "Hello, beloved," Nightmare said. "Why didn't you appear when I first called?" "Simple. It's your first time casting the spell, so it stands to reason that it would take a while for it to work. "Whilst it may be very taxing, after a while it'll be easy to cast." Red said, as he sat by her, giving her a hug, as even though he was a ghostly form, he was able to use his own magic to interact with them, such as stroking her mane, or touching her. "I suppose that makes sense," Nightmare said, happy that she was able to speak with Red. Red nodded "at least, it seems to make sense to me.....I miss being around you...I love you so much Moony..." "As do I, as well as Fleur and Luna, and Dawn and Chestnut, but at least we can speak with one another." "I just wish you were alive," Nightmare said, sorrow in her voice, and her eyes tearing up again. Red gently stroked her cheek, smirking "I am alive.....I'm recovering right now...I don't know when I'll be able to return but I swear to you I will..." Red said to her, as he looked deep into her eyes, and gave her a kiss. Nightmare was surprised at the news he was alive. "Y-yo-you're alive? But I saw the suit explode. How did you get away?" "I'll explain that later. For now, I just want to stay here with you." Red nuzzled her "I will stay by your side no matter what Moony...perhaps I should try to check on Fleur, and Chestnut soon though....I imagine little Chestnut took it very hard.....as did Dawn..." he said looking for her. "Well," Nightmare said, "Hopefully you will be back just in time to see us take Fillydelphia, which I'll rename Star city for you, my love." "I'm honored...I'll take that renaming...though I ain't exactly dead yet..." He said nuzzling her close. "heh. Who knows, maybe I'll be back in time to finish that fight huh?" He said giving her a playful kiss on her cheek. "That would definitely help you show up Lone," Nightmare said with a chuckle. "Yeah, I guess so." Red started to fade. "Well, looks like the spells fading. Goodbye for now, Moony," he said, kissing her on the lips. Red smiled as he faded off "See you soon, I hope." He said as he faded away, and Nightmare just began to smile, looking forward to when her love would return. Park section-meanwhile All things considered, Fleur was having a good day. Chestnut and Dawn were having fun, playing tag in the park with other fillies and colts, a few of which were thestrals, which helped Chestnut, as she was still nervous around other ponies that weren't thestrals. Soon enough Red's ghostly form appeared next to Fleur "They are so cute, aren't they?" Fleur jumped at hearing him, not to mention the suddenness of it. "Red?" she asked. "Hi!" he said smiling and kissing her, snickering. "What are you doing here," was all she could say, due to her surprise. "How are you here?" Before he could answer, Dawn and Chestnut came running over, both screaming, "Daddy!!" Red smiled "How about I explain later okay?" He asked Fleur as he gently reached out and hugged the two girls. "Hey girls...Daddy can't exactly stay long..." "Why not?" Chestnut asked. "It's complicated, sweetie," Red said. "How are you, though?" Chestnut nuzzled him, crying lightly "I've missed you so much daddy...it's so hard...to stay fine...when I lost you now..." she said crying. Dawn soon joined in hugging her cousin and her father. "I missed you too, Chestnut. And how are you doing Dawn?" She just sniffles. "I'm just glad your back Daddy..." She cooed. He smiled, saying, "That's good." He then looked to Fleur. "And what about you Fleur?" Fleur began to tear up. "I missed you, just as much as Luna and Nightmare. We thought we'd never see you again." Red smiled and responded "I know....it's gonna be alright..." he said, as he told her what he told Nightmare "Tell only Luna, Aurora, and Barb...I've already told Moony....Lone knows this too. but I'm actually still alive...I'm a little busy, recovering...I don't know when I'll be back...but I promise you, I WILL return..." he told her. He then began to fade away, much like with the others. "I'll see you soon." Meanwhile-Canterlot Celestia was in her personal chambers, looking over the progress of the memorial for those who died in Manehattan. Though her ponies had become accustomed to the atrocities war always brought, this was the first use of a nuclear device in the history of the planet, and a memorial was in order for those who died in the battle, even if the most heroic one was unofficially remembered in it. She owed it to her sister however, to make sure that the most heroic one, None other than their own Enemy, Zero 'Red' Star, was officially remembered in it. It might make her own troops mad, but, her sister Nightmare, and Luna both deserved to be given this much...after everything she had done to them...take away their daughters....change Luna's memories, and now, taken away the very one who loved them just as much as she did, if not more so, who intended to marry Nightmare Moon...they deserved for their beloved to be officially remembered, she got up and went to the ones making the Memorial to tell them. After all, it was thanks to the heroic Captain that even SHE was alive...much less so many more in Manehattan....the town may be currently condemned due to nuclear Fallout, but, it was thanks to him that the town's citizens were saved...minus the loses but the fact that he saved them all, spoke the most. When she arrived at the area where the memorial was being constructed and told the crew to add him to the rolls, they were understandably mad, and she had to order them to add his name, and even then, they were reluctant to do so. "Its thanks to him that I'm even alive, not to mention the majority of the citizens of Manhattan now PUT HIM ON THERE." She demanded, even using the Royal Canterlot Voice to get the point across. Her use of the Royal Canterlot Voice was enough to make the workers put Red's name on it. After this, she went to check on Shining Armor, who was cleared fit for duty just after Manehattan, so long as he renounced all his previous ties with anypony in the NLR, which he did once he was told to do so, about Aurora, as only she, the family Aurora had as Twilight, and her friends knew what had happened. The only exception was Spike, who was still in Ponyville. "Shining Armor...how do you feel?" She asked, observing him seeing him renounce all those previous ties, to his 'sister' and to his wife... "Good, Ma'am," he said. "And may I say that I will personally make sure Cadence and Twilight, or whatever her name is now, pay for betraying you?" "You need not say it, general. I simply hope you have the wisdom to not kill them." Shining Armor's face promptly locks up as he ends up feeling something kick him in the crotch as a familar voice rings out "You know I figured you'd betray Cadence, and likely Aurora once she found out the truth and went back to her mother but I'm apalled that you would even consider killing them, General jackass." it said as Shining Armor went down in pain. As Shining was rolling on the floor, Celestia gasped due to her recognizing the voice. "Red?" "That's 'Zero' to you, Celestia," Red said as his ghost appeared. "Sheesh just how low must you sink? Considering everything you did to your sisters. Not to mention your own nieces...." "How are you here?" Celestia asked. "You were caught in the nuclear blast." Red laughed "Simple. I'm a ghost! I'm here to haunt you. MURDERER!!!" He souted pointing at her accusingly "Why are you calling me a murderer, when it was the NLR who wiped out an entire innocent town?!" Celestia asked Red began to laugh wildly "What are you talking about Apploosa? We never did that, we never even WENT there. We don't slaughter innocents.. No no no, there's more to the situation than you know, Tia." "What do you mean?" Red looked at her, a scarily determined look on his face. "There's more to this war than you think Celestia. We will win, and reveal the truth." Red smirked at her. "There is far more than you know....All will be revealed, In time..." He then began to fade. "Don't think I'm done with you yet, Celestia." Celestia now began to mull over this new information "More to it than we know? What could he mean by that...?" "Why should we care, Princess?" Shining asked, still in pain. "He died as a member of the rebels, and he's probably trying to further their cause by confusing you." "And YOU chose to abandon your own wife and sister even if the sister's life was a complete lie made by me, Just because you liked me more...Quite frankly Shining Armor, I'm surprised you chose to marry Cadence, and didn't try to marry me instead." She said walking away to try and think over the revelation. She made her way to the gym to help work off the stress, as well as to think as to what Red had meant. When she arrived, she wasn't surprised to Applejack and Rainbow sparring, as their rivalry had increased with them getting their energy sword. She smiled a bit as she was approaching some of the workout gear and gets to work. The princess went to the punching bag first, as it helped her get rid of the stress that she builds up in the course of a day. She was there for the better part of an hour. After that, she went to the treadmills to help think on what Red had meant. When she was done an hour later, she was more confused than she was to start off with. The only thing that she could reasonably guess was that the third party that Striker had mentioned was involved in that there was more to the war than she thought. She ends up finding Red lounging on her own chair, his ghostly feet kicked up on the desk. "And hello again. Tell me Tia, is there ANYONE you love truly? Other than your sisters considering we both know you LOVE them OH so much..." He said, showing clear sarcasm when he mentioned Celestia loving Luna and Nightmare due to everything she had done to them. Celestia raised an eyebrow. "And I assume you are haunting me just to try to unnerve me?" He laughed. "That is the main reason, yes, but seeing the current circumstances, I don't see why we can't at least talk to each other. Now, how about that answer?" Celestia remained silent, thinking over her answer as he spoke again. "After all your General Shining Armor, has no iota of love in his cold heart at all, considering he betrayed Cadence, AND Twilight, his own wife and sister. even if she was never his sister to begin with." "What are you saying?" Red shrugged. "Just that I'm thinking he only married Cadence for the prestige, and her because he saw her on an almost dialy basis, what with her foal sitting job. So I doubt you'd have your eyes on him." Red then leaned forward looking at her. "So I'll ask again. Is there ANYONE you love at all in that heart of yours? ANYPONY? Don't you truly love your sisters? Cause I've got questions for you anyway. Like why, in the blue blazes you took Luna's daughter Aurora away from her, and then effectively wiped her memories like that...and altered Luna's own...even lied to her as well...Shining Armor has no love in his heart...what of yours? Do you truly love your sisters? Is there ANYPONY you love?" "I do love my sisters. I took Dawn away from the moon and revived her. I put her inot a coma so she wouldn't have ot live throuh one thousand years on not knowing her mother. The reason I showed up at the old castle when I did is because I was going to retrieve Dawn, but Aurora and the other Elements were able to defeat her quicker than I thought, so I brought her into my Personal care, and had Cadence take care of her after she and the others had taken care of Sombra." Tears were rolling down Celestia's face now. "As for Aurora I put her into a coma much like Dawn. The only difference is that she became younger, physically, but her mind was intact. I didn't want her to know her mother had become a monster." "If you love them, then why do you keep the war going. If you truly loved them, you would have tried to come up with a peace treaty to end this war. But that still doesn't answer my question: Do you love anypony with all of your heart, and I don't mean Luna or Nightmare." "........Yes....there's....one....the...same one.....you both killed...and prevented from killing all of us..." She said. "Shadow Strike? Red asked. "Y-yes," Celestia said, more tears coming from her eyes and streaming down her face. Red gently got up, and approached her, giving her a hug, as he whispered "Would you like some good news now?" He asked her, looking deep into her magenta eyes. Celestia nodded. "Both me and him are alive and recovering. The reason we haven't tried to kill each other since Manehattan is that we agreed that where we were staying would be considered neutral ground while we were both there, and we stay out of each others way when possible." "And why are you telling me this?" "Because," Red said, "we are planning on returning soon." Red smirked as he began to fade "Gotta go...but you promise me One thing.....When Shadow gets back to you...Tell him the truth...about your feelings for him...Next time I see Moony and Luna, I'll tell them what YOU told me...even Aurora...MAYBE it might keep them from killing you...I don't know...but if your lucky, they may agree to talk to you about something You can do for them when the war's over to make things right..." He said as he slowly began to fade. "Promise me, that when he returns, you'll tell Shadow Strike the truth about your feelings." Sobbing, Celestia said, "I will." Red simply nodded, then he faded away completely.
Chapter 12: EscapeLone laughed. He was laughing at the absolute stupidity of the Brotherhood. Even with out his armor, he was able to easily kill many of the idiots. After Red had kicked him, which was the fifth most painful thing he had experienced, the two began to move through the building they were in, both to kill the rest of the Brotherhood members in it and to get Lone's armor. Nightmare and the others had left in the Shadow at the insistence of Red and Lone. The fact they agreed was enough to surprise the mares, though they did so anyway. "Why are you laughing?" Red asked over the gun fire. "Because of their idiocy," Lone replied as he hurled an orb of violet magic at a group of enemies. "They have no unit cohesion." Red laughs "I see...So, THIS is that Brotherhood faction that Harmony mentioned Eh? My god. these guys are pathetic...Organization XIII was better than these bozos, and they were just nobodies, the lifeless shell of their former human selves who fell to the darkness in their hearts..." Red mused laughing as he attacked ferociously with his Z-Saber, even without his armor he was a force to be reckoned with, infact, it seemed he was far stronger, and faster than he ever was before. They eventually made their way to the armory, where they found Lone's weapons and armor. Once he came close enough, Lone's armor began to assemble around him, which took five minutes, and cast an eerie, almost iridescent emerald green glow that Red hadn't seen before. He raised an eyebrow and said, "So, does that have to do with the stuff Harmony told me about?" "Yeah," Lone said. "And I know you won't like it, but we can't tell the others unless the Brotherhood leaves us no option. Believe me, I wish they weren't here." "And what makes you think I won't instantly tell Moony when we get back? See, I don't like you. your an asshole. You lie, your vage as shock, and your a pain in the ass to begin with. I may be a part of your team but that's only because destiny chose that we work together. My loyalty will ALWAYS go to Moony and the NLR. I could care less about your own team, much less you." Red said, being, brutally honest. "Because the Brotherhood will find out if they know, and that will make them want to kill them more. Plus," Lone said, placing a finger on Red's chest for emphasis, "I know how ponies would react to this kind of knowledge. The fact the Brotherhood is focusing on me because of what I know should tell you that." "He's not wrong, Red," a female voice that didn't belong to Artemis said, "He knows how the Brotherhood acts. More so than us, anyway, and he has been fighting them since he arrived. The fact the others didn't know of it until now shows that he knows what he's talking about." Red sighed, shaking his head "I suppose you've got a point, Night Shade..." He said looking around for the companion who joined him after he returned. "AI?" Lone asked. "Yeah. Standard issue." "And yet," Nightshade said over the radio, "I have the best hacking skills I know of." "Not humble," Lone said. "She might be classified as 'Standard issue' but as far as I'm concerned, Shade's Anything but standard." he said smirking, as he liked this new partner of his. "Come on Nighty, show yourself." At his word, a life size hologram of a pegasus mare in a version of the Wonderbolts outfit that had the same color scheme as Red's robes appeared. "Pleasure to meet you, Lone. My AI comrades Artemis and Apollo speak highly of you. And may I add, probably a good thing the others haven't seen Artemis' projection." Lone chuckled a little before saying, "Definitely. But I think we can talk about this later. We need to get out of here." "Hiding more eh? Well I wanna meet Artemis in person." he said, before he smirked "Well Nighty, I look forward to holding ya in a hug later, to formally introduce you to Moony and the others." He said, knowing how Moony would love her likely the most. "Under his helmet, Lone raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess: She's able to go between a digital and physical form as well?" "Yes I am." "Noted," Lone said. "And you'll meet Artemis once we get to my ship, Red." Red nodded as Nightshade faded before they headed out to fight, and get out of there. After the stop in the armory, the two were able to mow down Brotherhood forces, and made it out of the building with ease. "Artemis, we need a pick up." "Copy that, Lone. I assume Red's with you." "Affirmative. ETA?" "Two minutes." Red smirked "Hey, Nighty, is THAT ready to go yet? "Almost, Red, but we won't be able to activate it in the city due to the fact property is expensive to replace. It'll have to be deployed outside the city." "I can get to it, Red." Red looked at Lone. "Hay no. it's Mine. I ain't letting you take it." he said, as they were heading out. "What I meant to say was that I can get you there." "Oh," Red said. "Then let's go." Red smiled "Nighty? Deploy it outside of town." He said, as he looked to Lone "I can buy us some time with it." "Falcon, coming in," Artemis said over the radio. "Quick," Lone said Red rushed ahead with him, to get on the Falcon and get out of town, to deploy his special surprise to buy them some escape time. The Falcon set down in the street, and the two got on. Once they were, the ship took off for the outskirts. "So," Red said, "You mind showing me what Artemis looks like." "Artemis, you good with that?" "Yeah," Artemis said before a light lit up above the two and between them. What appeared was a being wearing a silver toga, a bow and arrow on her back. But her most interesting feature, though, was that she resembled the beings Aurora had seen on the other side of the mirror portal. Which was to say she looked like a human. Red smirked. "Ah...Artemis...if I know my history...said to be the Greek Goddess of the Hunt correct?" he asked looking over the woman before him, even walking around her to see, as he awaited the destination to meet up with Night Shade with his special package, to buy them time to escape for certain as well as provide backup. He smiled and offered his hand to her. "It's an honor to meet you formally then. Though I'm kinda surprised you don't just make yourself a Pony form to be able to interact with us more." He said, seeing that considering she's an AI, she could EASILY do this, by altering her program's appearance data. "And why would I?" Artemis asked. "This is how my creators looked, in terms of species, and it's really only Lone and the others I care about in terms of opinion." "Red, I think you've looked at her enough. She may be an AI, but she still gets uncomfortable when a person she doesn't trust looks at her the way you are." "This coming from the guy who makes sure Nopony can trust him." he said smirking. "Well either way Artemis, it was just a suggestion. Relax...you can trust me okay? I'm a friend...even if I could toss Lone into a volcano to appease the fire gods..." He said with a chuckle to himself at his own joke, as he began to look around the ship, waiting to meet up with the others, along with Night Shade. "That's because he was told to keep those particular secrets, and you know what they are," Artemis said, "and do you not see a reason for that? Red smiled "Nope. I see nothing but more reasons to kick his ass." He said being genuinely honest, and he was clearly trustworthy. even if he was being brutally honest. "Hey, if you had seen all that stuff firsthand, you would keep them secrets too, if only to not give others nightmares." "But I'm not you." "And be glad you aren't," Lone said. "Already am, considering I don't want to be an vague prick who lies, and constantly gives everypony more reasons to beat me to death." he said, with a laugh as more items begin to show up on the Radar "Hmm? Oh my..." "Seriously," Artemis said, "that's what you go with. And we're near your stop." "I think I like her." He said to Lone as he went to the exit ramp. "Nighty? You there with the package?" he asked, knowing that he should be seeing his vehicle of choice soon down below to handle the incoming enemies. "It's just waiting for you, Red," Night Shade said as Lone lowered the ramp. "Then let's go," he said as he jumped out. Lone rolled his eyes. "I don't see why Harmony chose him." "Agreed. Plus, I'm already in a relationship," Artemis said. "That reminds me, how is Legion anyway? Red smirked, landing and saw his package, it was a large six wheeled Armored vehicle, and Red opened the driver door getting inside, and seeing his friend, and partner, Night Shade right next to him in the passenger seat. he gave her a kiss on her light blue cheek and a hug as well, smiling. "So, Night shade, Ready to go?" He asked, looking out to see the incoming enemies. As Red started the engine it came to life with a roar. He pressed a button on the dashboard, and the vehicle began to change shape, becoming a mech slightly taller than the prototype. Red engaged the boost engine on the back of his mech, and dashed right into the fray, drawing the Mech's gattling gun on the right arm, he went right to work mowing down, as a wing pack extended from the back and he took off, easily taking down a great deal of the mechs with it alone. Red also spotted a particular mech that could prove useful for the faction "Nighty, hack in, and take control, we can bring it back." He said, as she nodded and disappeared in a flash of light, turning into her AI form and instantly hacking into the mecha he had pointed out, The mech had stopped fighting, and Red was quickly defending it, as he attacked, soon reaching up and drawing the beam saber he had and began to continue attacking. Soon the white mech began moving alongside Red's, delivering roundhouse kicks, missiles from the shield on the left arm, and firing shots from it's blaster. The two worked together, easily tearing apart the enemy mechs, protecting both the town, AND their friends. soon enough, they were at the final one. Red charged up the arm cannon on his mech's arm, as Night shade charged the bazooka cannon on her own mech's equipment. they fired it together, as Red's shot melded with her own, and obliterated the final mech, Red smiled, and transformed back to vehicle mode, as he and Night shade quickly raced back to the base. Nightshade had ejected the pilot shortly after taking control of her mech. NLR BASE MAIN HANGER The white mech arrived first and landed, moving to a docking bay for maintainance, and shut down, as she appeared back inside Red's vehicle, as the Alpha team gathered, and looked as they heard a horn blare, as Red finally arrived home. He hit the breaks and stopped, right as soon as he slammed into Lone, who was sent into the far wall, and had to peel himself out of it, yet again. This being among the most painful things he was hit by. Red opened up the doors and stepped out "Girls, I want you to meet a new friend of mine, my new AI partner, Night Shade." He said as the shadowbolt mare stepped out. "She came back with me, and is able to change from an AI form, to do things such as pilot mechs, and manage their systems, manage the ship systems, and my own armor systems, but also can change into a flesh and blood pony form that you see before you." he said hugging her, and then hugging Nightmare and the others, minus Barb, Dawn and Chestnut who weren't in the hanger. Third, Lone thought as he walked over to Red and the others. "You know, you need a new way to get of that stress, Red. Is Nightmare and Fleur not enough?" This made Red clench his hand and made his eye twitch, while it made the others laugh, while it was a mix for the two aforementioned mares. Infact it was such a mix, that Red, Nightmare, Fleur, Luna, AND Night Shade, all punched Lone down into the floor, as hard as they could. "I think that's better." He said as he began to walk of, to find Barb, And his kids, to say hello, and that he was back for real. Five, Lone though as he got up, and really, it was only the top three things that had hit him that caused actual soreness, and even then One was the only noticeable pain. He made his way back to the Falcon, and, once he was inside, sent a message to Nightengale and Shadow about Fillydelphia. Red smiled finding them in the mess hall, and snuck up on barb as he covered her eyes "Peekaboo!" he said, smirking. "Dad/Daddy," Barb, Dawn and Chestnut yelled and hugged him. "Hey, girls. I missed you all so much. Did you behave?" They laughed "Yes, we behaved Dad/Daddy!" They had their moment and a celebration was held at the base, to celebrate not only the capture of 'Star City' but also the return of Red himself. That night, Red was with Nightmare in their room, as she gave him the amulet that Lone had given her sometime before, he put it on, and noticed a blue flame glow on it, as he smiled, Nightmare did not. She just pulled him into bed as he held her close, soon, their large bed was filled with him, Nightmare, Fleur, Luna, Night Shade, Dawn, Chestnut, Barb, and Aurora, his entire little herd/family, finally, officially reunited after so long. They had a great night's sleep this time.
Chapter 13It's been six months since the events of Fillydelphia, which had been renamed 'Star City', and the return of Zero 'Red' Star, and the two factions were at a stalemate. Really, the only interesting thing that happened in those six months was that Alpha team had learned Shadow Strike had been placed in charge of Ponyville after the last general there stepped down, Spike had joined the NLR, though not in a combat role, and the technology of both sides had sky rocketed through anonymous donations of tech, though nothing huge, in terms of jump length, had happened. Red was wandering the halls to go check on Fleur for a while, as he had Night Shade with him for the time being, he was holding her hand smiling. "I truly do like ya Nighty, your a great friend and partner." He said to the AI turned mare. "Oh," a voice they both recognized as Artemis said, "and what about me?" Red and Night Shade both turned to see a mare with a silver coat, wearing organic-looking silver armor that resembled the old armor of the royal guard. "Artemis?" Night Shade said. "Yep," she said before looking at Red. "You like," she said with a wink, which got Red blushing. "B-b--but I didn't m-m-mean it like that," he stammered out. This got a laugh out of Artemis, who reverted back to her AI form as she was when Red first saw her. "Oh, I know. This was just my way of getting back at you for Lone." "Plus," Lone said, walking up from behind Artemis, "I asked the others if they wanted in, and they said yes, so long as you weren't harmed." "Wait what?" he asked. "And for the record Arty, Yes, I did like. You seem to be a nice friend who also looks nice. the only reason I keep attacking your partner is cause he's a lying prick who doesn't know when to stop being vague. regardless of whatever reason he has being good or not." He said, defending himself. "It's not lying," Lone said, "just telling part of the truth. And besides, if I had told you the truth, would you have believed me?" "And the others? Do you not remember me telling you how my friends reacted to that?" "What friends do you even have other than the dirt they all want to pound you into?! With your constant lying, vagueness and half truths, It's a wonder you even have somepony ON YOUR FREAKING SIDE." He told him. Lone rolled his eyes and turned back to the hanger, with Artemis going into his armor. "Simple. I was told to keep the truth from you guys, not them, as I met them before this started. And besides, everypony has secrets. Some just have more." "Oh shut the hay up." He said. "i've been sick of your shtick the moment you came here and started." "Then you should get a hospital room, 'cause I have more secrets, all of which I'm keeping that way for your guys' safety." Red rolled his eyes and just continued to walk away with Night Shade. "You do know if what Harmony told us is true," Night Shade said, "he's right." "Your taking his side?" "Just looking at things from a logical perspective like him is all." "I don't even care any more I just wanna punch his face in for acting like he's all high and mighty." Red said. "You also realize that, of the two things that would actually hurt, one is related to his wife, and even though you don't know her, you wouldn't do anything, and the physical one is being torn apart molecule by molecule while being conscience for it. It's going to be hard for you to beat those," Night Shade said. "Plus, he has earned the right to act that way. We know what he's done, even if it's just the two of us. Besides, he has eased up in the past month." Red sighs "I guess your right...he could...just afford to ease up a bit more..." Red said as they continued, with Red hugging her a bit, before they went to Fleur's room. "He is trying," Night Shade said as they arrived at Fleur's room. Red smiled and knocked on the door. The door opened a few seconds later, with said mare saying, "Red. Night Shade. It's good to see you both." Red smiles, as he enters with Night shade, and kisses Fleur. "I know, it's good to see you too, How've you been hmm? I believe, I might be owing you a date don't I? A dinner date I mean." Red said smiling. "I suppose, but only if Moony, Lulu, and Nighty join us." "Well I suppose they could, if they wished." He said smiling. "Oh, I am certain they will," Fleur said before Nightmare's voice came over the intercom. "All members of Alpha team, report to the war room asap." The three shrugged and rushed down. As they arrived, they saw Lone arguing with Nightmare. "How can you be certain it's them, Lone?" "Look at their tactics," he said, pointing to one of the active screens. "They're wearing our armor, but they're using the same tactics as six months ago. A group like the Brotherhood is never limited to just one city." "He's right," Luna said. "Their tactics resemble the Brotherhood ones, and Lone has proven that we can trust him in this regard, at the very least." "But how can we be certain he isn't with them?" Chrysalis said. "Because I could have tried to kill all of you in your sleep when you let me in, but I didn't." "What's going on?" He asked, as he looked to them looking over the screens. "We've had reports coming in from Lone's contacts of our forces trying to kill civilians in cities allied with Celestia," Aurora said, "and it might be the Brotherhood." "Well, it is the brotherhood...trust me." He said to them looking towards Lone. Lone raised an eyebrow, thinking, Now I see why she chose him for it. Red smiled, holding that medal that Nightmare had given him in his hand, as it hung around his neck "So, what's our plan? other than stop the 'Traitors'? anypony know?" he asked them. "Well," Aurora said, "we could try to get Celestia's attention abouth this, but I doubt she'd leave Canterlot to meet with us." "So what do you propose," Nightmare said. "We attack Ponyville." CANTERLOT "They what now!?" Celestia asked of her generals, along with Rainbow Dash and Applejack. The general, a mare with a beige coat, with a mane of navy blue with highlights of pink, said, "We've received word that the NLR is planning on both attacking Ponyville and is already attacking another city." "Who tipped us off, General Sweetie Drops?" "It was Anonymous Ma'am." She said simply, as she saluted having reported in. "Of course it was," she mumbled to herself. "And what do you think, Sergeant Nightengale?" "Well, Ma'am," he said, saluting, "I'd say those attacking the city are the impostors, as the NLR has never shown an inclination toward killing innocents that don't attack them." "I agree....I recommend we focus on the group that plans to attack Ponyville." "Then what do we do, Princess?" Shining asked. "We move our best troops here in Canterlot to Ponyville, as well as a few of our prototype walkers." They all nod and head out to prepare. Millennium Falcon- NLR base hanger- three hours later Lone, Artemis, Red, Night Shade, in her flesh and blood form, Shadow, and Nightengale were discussing the plan for Ponyville. "Okay," Shadow said, "let me get this straight: You want to attack Ponyvlle to draw Celestia out, just to get peace talks going? That is the stupidest plan I've heard." "Maybe," Nightengale said, "but, at the same time, it'll bring out the Brotherhood, maybe cause them to attack, which would allow us to show we're telling the truth." "Very likely...but tell me this why the shock would you even attempt peace with the Brotherhood?" Red asked looking to Lone. "Not the Brotherhood, but with Celestia and her forces. The NLR can't win against the Brotherhood by itself, and neither can Celestia's forces. Besides, with Nightengale being a personal guard for Celestia, and Shadow being one for the Elements, we do have a way for it to work." "And I imagine we won't find out what it is until then?" Artemis asked. "Heh...Maybe...if you asked REALLY nicely I might show ya...." "I'd rather you make sure it won't kill all of us," Lone said, "yourself included, before showing us." Red smirked "Oh don't worry. it shouldn't...well....might kill You..." "And you're saying this after you died and came back?" "When all of us know he's had worse situations before meeting you," Artemis added "I never even died to begin with. Plus why should he care? He pulled the same stunt I did with that." "Yeah, maybe. But I didn't try to kill my team mates, even ones I found and still find annoying to this day, and they can be worse then me." "Your mocking me aren't you?" Red asked with an unamused face. "Depends: do you think I'm mocking you, or just joking with you?" "I'm going to enjoy watching you leave." "Then you will need to be lucky, as standard protocol says I stay here for a year after everything is done to help with transitioning, not to mention convergence." "Whatever..." Red said, as he sighed, relaxing for the moment anyway. "That's definitely going to be interesting," Nightshade said. "Agreed," Artemis said. Red simply pulled Night Shade to him, and smiled "Well At least I'll have you by my side, along with the other mares I've fallen for..." Lone just rolled his eyes at this. "I'll never understand why some ponies like having more than one spouse," he mumbled. "Personal preference bantha fodder." Red said not even looking at Lone. "Whose ship are we on, again? With said ship having automated internal defense system that Artemis can control," Lone said as turrets popped out from the ceiling. "Hmph. No need to be rude." Red countered not afraid at all. "Just so we're clear. And who insulted who first here?" "You. To me." He said. "I was doing friendly joking. You're the one who decided to call me 'Bantha Fodder'." "I was joking too you twit." "Well, how about, then, if we do something that looks like an insult, we say it isn't after it's done. Deal," Lone said, holding out his hand to shake. "Hmm...sure. I suppose so." Red said, as he took Lone's hand, and squeezed. his immense strength that he had gotten after being revived practically crushed Lone's hand. "Anyway," Lone said, bringing his hand back, "Nghtengale, what did Celestia decide?" "To defend Ponyville, and It's safe to assume she will be going there, as well as Rainbow and Applejack, and Ii know for a fact me and Shadow are going to be there." "And does Celestia know about your other talents that she would look down on?" "Nope. Not even my signature one." "And what would that talent be I wonder?" Red asked Nightengale. "Not going to find out until after this, Red." "AH, Nothing at all. Okay then." He smirked, trying to goad Nightengale into telling him." "You can't goad me, Red. I've dealt with subtler attempts at it, and they all failed." "Ah now I see. Your real talent is being a kiss up eh?" He asked smirking again. "Not going to work. You'll need to get creative." Red laughed either way, it was fun to him. "Okay, guys. That's enough for now. I'll let you know when it's time for an update," Lone said before he turned off the communicator. "Whatever." Red said as he and Nightshade got up to leave "Somepony wake me when we get ready to go or when we get there." he said as he went to go sleep in a nearby set of quarters for passengers. "He does realize we're going to intentionally delay this for another six months for Gateway, right?" Artemis asked Lone. "No. He'd try to stop it, and we need it complete for our plan to work." "Should I inform home base, then?" Lone nodded. "Yeah." Red walked off to sleep with Night Shade.
Chapter 1Ten years have passed since the defeat of Nightmare Moon at the hands of the Elements of Harmony wielded by Twilight Sparkle and her friends, and the Return of Princess Luna, however, it appears that all is not well. For Nightmare Moon, has returned through means that are unknown, and Luna has disappeared as well! Nightmare appears to be leading a rebellion against Celestia's 'Solar Empire' as she calls it, to bring forth her own rule, of the New Lunar Republic. A set of Ponies approach Princess Celestia at one of the numerous battlefields of the war between the factions. They each salute as one speaks up "You wished to speak to us Princess Celestia?" "Yes, General," she said, weariness in her voice. The war had been going on for the better part of five years, and arrayed before her were her three best generals. The others had been lost during the war. They were on the front lines with the soldiers, hoping to bolster their resolve, as this was the battle that would decide how hard or easy the rest of the war, however long it may be, would be. "What is the status of the enemy forces?" she asked, looking at the general to her left. He saluted and responded "They are being pushed back for now Milady, as Strategy at current, isn't much of a use for either side, Both you and Nightmare Moon are of similar ages, it stands to reason that both of you know of strategies to defeat the other...but for the time being we are pushing the enemy back, and I believe we should succeed in this fight." He reported trying to give her some good news to bring a smile to her muzzle. "Good," she said. "And the Troops morale?" "It is currently at a decent level, rising as well thanks to us being out there assisting the troops ma'am." he responded. "And what of Materials?" She asked. "Blaster packs are beginning to grow short, but steady supply for the time being. We are about to run out of Thermal detonators, as we only have a few left. the Armor is thankfully holding and we have enough Bacta Tanks to be able to heal any soldiers wounded by the fighting...but I worry that the enemy may attempt a supply raid to take our things, or continue to block off our supply routes. We do have some Rocket troops to fight from the back lines where they won't be targeted very easily." "Put guards around the supplies so that the rebels can't steal easily," she said to the general to her left. She then looked to the one in front of her sand said, "What's the status of the Y-wing and V-wing bombers, as well as the ARC-170's?" "Understood Ma'am." He spoke, as he began to go leave to do so. The center one saluted before speaking. "The V wings are holding, as are the ARCs... but the Y wings are running low on fuel. their engines need more to work proficiently..." He told Celestia, delivering the good news, but also mentioning the bad as well. "Excellent. And the turbo tanks and AT-TEs?" These were among the most powerful land vehicles that Celestia had under her command, and this front had only one tank and three supporting walkers, but the base had only a few mechanics on hand that could work them and repair them. he shook his head "We've lost two of the Walkers, however the Tank has taken some damage but is Holding for the time being. "Good." She was sadden by the loss of the two walkers and those that piloted them, but she knew that their sacrifice would help bring the wars end closer. "And what vehicles are the New Lunar Republic using?" "They are using X wing crafts, to be able to counter our own fliers...along with...A Wings, and Arwing fighters...on the ground they are using some Landmaster Tanks, along with the TX-130 fighter tanks...what's more stunning is that some soldiers claim that they are also using some extremely fast Mecha to deal with our heavier artillary...some call them Gunmen...others call them Gundams......" "What do the troops report of these units capabilities?" This was the first time that Celestia had heard of these mechs, and was worried about their capabilities. "I'm afraid that is unknown...wait..." he spoke, placing a hand to his earpiece. "i'm getting a report...I was wrong. we only lost One of our walkers...The other was damaged and was brought back online, and is currently working again now as we speak..." he then thought of some reports "As for the mecha units, it appears all are capable of High speed flight, along the ground, and some are capable of flight. they appear to each be equipped with a beam saber or two, a beam rifle, and a shield of some form, be it beam or physical, and mounted to the arm...On top of this they are very durable, but so far, the turbo tank and our AT-Te walkers have been able to knock them out of the sky with blasts however neither one can compare to it's movement capabilities, the only thing that seems to be able to do so are our aerial fighters..." "Good. Tell the fighters they are to concentrate on enemy air, and the bombers the ground forces, especially the mechs." She then looked to the one on her right and asked, "Has she arrived yet?" He nodded and went off to do so, as the last general shook her head "I'm sorry Princess, there has been no word of her arrival. Nopony knows where she is at current. it is believed that she's not at the battle at all." "Good. And the others?" She shook her head "Nothing Ma'am." Celestia visibly relaxed at this news. "That's good news indeed. Should they come, alert me at once." She nodded "Agreed...and Princess...might I suggest that for those Mecha we send a scouting party to try and steal one? or some blueprints perhaps? To use some ourselves?" She suggested as she went to go. She was about to respond when a high pitched noise filled he air, and the soldiers around her began to scramble in a panic. "What's going on, General?" Celestia asked, fear in her voice. She looked over "I'm not sure, it appears two ships have appeared and are attacking us, they are taking out our bombers before they can even be boarded to fly!!!" she exclaimed as the reports came in of a shoddy looking ship and another Sleeker modeled ship had just dove in attacking them without warning. The sleeker one in particular, never even appeared on he scanners until it attacked. This made Celestia panic, and with it, the memories of six years ago, when the events that led to this war had started, began Six years ago It was a beautiful day in Canterlot. It had been two weeks since Tireks defeat, and the citizens had quickly recovered from the attack. She and Luna had been able to assist Twilight as much as they could, but Celestia did not want to interfere to much, as it would cause Twilight to subconsciously think that she would always have help. Right now, Celestia was involved in boring paperwork. "Guard," she said to one of the guards, "could you please go and get my sister. I would seek her out my self, but if I am to have any hope of having free time later, I need to work on this paperwork as much as possible. "Yes, Your Highness," the guard replied, and began to make his way to Luna's room. The halls were covered in numerous decorations related to Luna, and Twilight herself, and other assorted Decor, that were in celebration of the defeat of Tirek. Back in Celestia's study, Celestia had just finished the page she had been working on When she heard laughter coming from behind her, then a voice she had not heard for many years. "Hello, Sister," Nightmare Moon said. The Guards instantly moved to defend Celestia as the one who had been sent off returned in a panic "Luna is gone Princess. it's as though she was kidnapped!" Nightmare snickered, bringing her hand to her mouth to try to hide it. "Ah, yes. My other sister and fellow Princess of the night. Tell me, Celestia, what do you think I did to her?" Celestia glared at her as she said, "Whatever it is, you better have not killed her." "And what benefit would I reap from that? I would lose the pony I have that would prevent you from attacking me." "Then did you come here to gloat?" "If I had, I would have done so already," Nightmare said as she pulled a piece of paper out of her dress, which looked as if it was part armor, part dress. She handed it to Celestia and said, "Now, if you excuse me, I have other things I must take care of. And you may want to actually train the guard in combat. You could have had all of them here, and they would have done nothing." She then disappeared in a flash of purple light. Celestia then looked down at the piece of paper and saw that it was folded. She opened it, and what she read shocked her, as she began to read over the message in complete shock, even sitting down to take in what she just read. Dear Celestia, We are the New Lunar Republic. It is time that the Night was given it's fair due, Surrender to us, and no harm will come to you. The time of your Solar Empire is at an end. it is time for the Night to rule, for your Sister, to rule. Please, do not force us to fight...should you choose to fight against us, we will not hold back our power against you, to take control. Signed, Captain Zero 'Red' Star of the NLR Author's Note This is a Collab with LoneShadow. and it's my first attempt at such an occurance.
Chapter 4It has been a day since Lone Shadow revealed himself to the leaders of the NLR, and he was waiting in the war room for the three mares to physically arrive and for Red to connect from his ship. He was checking over his armor for a third time when Luna, Nightmare, and Chrysalis walked in. "Ladies," he said, giving a respectful nod, which they returned. Red came on a second later. "Captain." "Lone." Red responded. "Now, for the plan," Lone said. "As you are all aware, there is a magical force field around Canterlot," he said as he brought up a holographic display of the city. "Right now, the NLR hasn't been able to get agents inside the city due to some part of the spell. My plan is thus: By using a spell I learned, I can make it to where me and the captain are able to infiltrate the city. That is the easy part. The hard part is getting to the three Elements, or at least it would be, if I wasn't able to turn into shadows." He held up his hand to stop the questions before they started. "I will use it to not only find the Elements, but to take them and leave duplicates of them, while also planting a seed of the spell that, when combined with the logic we plan on using, will turn then to our side. As for where we'll take them and hold them until they are with us, I don't know." It was here that Red spoke up. "What kind of Spell is this that you plan to use? On top of that, what is to say that the duplicates won't be noticed to be somewhat different from the others?" He asked, bringing up the obvious problem that could effectively bring the whole plan down. Though there was also somepony else Red wanted to try and go see whilst they were at Canterlot. An old friend he was fairly worried about, and wanted to try and help, by getting her to their side. "The spell I will be using is just one that will make them more . . . open to suggestions. Doesn't mean that if we tell them to jump into a volcano with as many explosive they can carry, they'd do it, but rather they would think about it more so. As for the duplicates, I'll be using a spell that I'll be casting as I take them. It will analyze what they are wearing, and, as I use the mind spell, it will also analyze memories, leading to a duplicate loyal to the one who made it, but not the real thing, so we would need to find a place to hide the Elements once I get them." Lone looked to Red and said, "Captain, when's the soonest you and your ship can get here? I want us to land here," he said, pointing to a patch of land just outside of Canterlot, far enough away so that only those with binoculars in the city could see it, but close enough that ponies wouldn't have to walk for a long time, "by the end of the day. Once we're in the city, we find a place to hide, which will also be where we take the Elements once we get them." Red smiled "Won't take me long to get there to you. My ship's very fast, in addition, I actually have an idea for where we can hide out, and where we can take the girls once we get them. An old friend of mine lives in Canterlot. Her name's Fleur de lis. I've been hoping to try and go talk to her, to see if I could convince her to join our side too. So, this plan of yours could potentially let me kill two birds with one stone, as the expression goes. Her home, is right here." He said, in his Shadow Trooper armor, which was a full black set of armor, but had blue sections on the eyes, mouth, And along various undersections of the armor. He points to a spot in Canterlot, which shows a dot, and details a fairly nice house. It would be the perfect place to hide, both themselves and the girls once they were captured. Lone nodded. "Good. I'll see you in a few hours." "Of course," Red said before cutting the connection. Lone then looked to the mares. "And what do you three think of the plan? None of you spoke up." Nightmare spoke up first "Well, I for one, believe it to be a fairly good plan." She said, as Luna and Chrysalis both nodded in agreement, both stating that none of the three had any problem with the plan at all. A Few Hours later Red lands with the Rogue Shadow to pick up Lone and once he boarded and the took off for Canterlot, Red spoke. "Here's my only statement here. When we approach Fleur about joining our side and letting us stay at her house, do NOT use your little suggestion spell on her. She's an old friend of mine. I'm positive that she'll agree to help us, if I talk to her." He stated, explaining that if Fleur decides to help them, it's of her own free will. Not because Lone uses a suggestive spell to make her agree because of the magical suggestion. Red also wanted to be the one to talk to her due to their history of being old friends. "Fine, but if I even get a hint of something going on regarding her, I can do what I want," Lone said, crossing his arms. "Deal?" "Red growled for a moment, as he truly didn't want to agree to it, but relented "Fine. Fine..." He said. Lone raised his hands in a "I'm just saying" gesture, and said, "No need to get hostile, captain. I 'll do that only, and only if, it is obvious she intends to report us to Celestia. Think stuff out entirely before getting mad, would ya?" "Hmph. I don't think she'll do that...but either way, whatever." After a short time, they land at the specified spot, and disembarked from the ship, having changed into some civilian clothing with Red leading the way to Fleur's home. They made their way through town, using back alleys, and occasionally dodging a few patrol guards, whom were easy to avoid. When they arrived, he knocked on the door. The two, wearing civilian clothes, waited for a few seconds before they heard a mare with a prench accent say, "Coming!" A second later, the door opened to reveal a tall, white mare with shoulder length pink mane and a similarly colored tail. She wore a knee length white dress with accents of pink. Though the dress was beautiful, it, for lack of a better way of saying it, was trying to cover a lot of surface with relatively little fabric. When she saw the two of them, her expression became one of shock. "Red?" was the first thing she said in the minute since she had opened the door. Red smiled, as he hugged his old friend, her fur being soft to the touch, which was understandable, given her career as a model. Happy to see her old friend, she hugged him back just as much, as she opened it completely "Please do come in! It's so good to see you again Red. Allow me to get you boys a drink of some kind, so we can talk and catch up on how things have been!" She said with a smile, as she turned and went to walk to her kitchen, her hips swaying with each step she took. "What would you boys like to drink if anything at all?" She asked, as Red and Lone entered the house, shutting, and locking the door for good measure, and relaxed on her couch infront of a coffee table. "I'll have a nice cup of Coffee please Fleur." Red asked, as he could easily smell the coffee brewing in the kitchen. "Sir? What do you want?" She called, referring to Lone Shadow. "Please," Lone said, "Just call me Lone. And what do you have?" "I have tea, coffee, water, and that new drink type called 'soda'." "I'll take a soda." "Of, course." It was another minute before she came back and handed the two their drinks. She sat down and said, "So, Red, what brings you here?" She asked Red smiled, taking his drink as he looked to his old friend. "It's....very important Fleur...please.....listen carefully...we...are a part of the New Lunar Republic. the 'rebel faction' who are fighting against Celestia, to give the Night it's proper due...at current we would like to hide out here, to be able to put in motion a plan to help us get an edge on Celestia and her empire of the Sun...We'd...like you to join us." He mentioned nervous that she'd say something that neither wanted to hear. "I'm not asking this as a member of the NLR trying to find more ponies to join our cause..I'm asking this as an old friend who wants to avoid fighting against a beautiful mare like you...much less, one of his oldest friends..." He said, knowing about how the two of them grew up together, being very close. "So...will you join us?" He asked her as she took a sip of her drink before speaking, looking them both in the eyes, particularly Red. "Yes, I will join you. I admit I've always fancied the Night more than the day, so I will happily join your cause. Plus, it'll allow me to stay close to you again, darling Red~" She said with a playful giggle in her voice. As long as their room is sound proofed, Lone thought. "So," Lone said, sitting in a more relaxed position, "I imagine you're curious as to why we came here?" She nodded lightly as she too was relaxed "Yes, I'm curious as to what your plan is if your coming here to hide out for the time being." She said, as she wanted to hear about it from Lone, and Red. "Well," Lone started, we came here to bring the Elements of Generosity, Kindness, and Laughter on our side." Fleur actually perked up a little here. "Well, if you wish to bring Rarity into the fold, I could help." "How?" Lone asked, raising an eyebrow. "Me and Rarity are actually close friends, and she often comes over to discuss fashion." "Well, that might work," Lone said. "When is she supposed to come over next?" "Sometime in the next hour." "Right. Red, you get the speech ready, I'll prep the spell. Fleur," Lone said, looking at Fleur, "think you'll be able to keep her busy for a few minutes once she arrives?" "Yes," Fleur said confidently. "Right." Red nodded, as he relaxed, beginning to plan out the speech, as Fleur moved to relax by her old friend, even giving him a quick kiss to his cheek, before she took their empty drinks, and went to put them away. The three had finished preparing in less then three minutes. Once that was done, Lone cast a modified invisibility spell on him and Red, making it to where they could see each other, but others couldn't. They waited for forty five minutes before a knock was heard on the door and a fake Canterlot voice that could only belong to Rarity said, "Fleur, it's me." "Coming, Rarity," Fleur said. She opened the door, and Rarity, wearing an outfit that was both functional for combat but also fashionable, walked in. Her out fit was comprised of a purple top shirt that was form fitting and left much of her back bare. It also had a small, purple skirt with leggings with a diamond pattern down the sides (Think Ashoka's second outfit). As the fashionista made her way to the couch, Fleur mad a small signal to Lone and Red, telling them it was time. The two looked at one another and nodded. Thanks to his magical talent, Lone was able to cast three spells at once, and that is what he did. First was a silencing spell that would prevent Rarity from screaming for help. The second was a mix of two other spells. It prevented Rarity from moving, while also preventing her from using magic. The third was the suggestion spell. All three of these were cast at the same time, essentially making Rarity helpless. Lone then released the invisibility spell, making him and Red visible to the rest of the world again. Even though she couldn't move, it was obvious from looking at her eyes that Rarity was afraid. "Don't worry, Rarity," Fleur said. "Soon, you will know the truth," she said, nodding to Red as she did. Red nodded and moved to speak as well, approaching Rarity, and beginning to gently massage her shoulders, to help further relax her, which visibly assisted in doing so. "Rarity, my dear friend...Surely you can see that Celestia's in the wrong...The Lunar Republic isn't the enemy, Celestia is...after all...You remember when those horrid Diamond Dogs captured you, because you had access to a spell that enabled you to locate gems under the surface? Well...Celestia KNEW of them being in the area.....AND of your capture, and she COULD have done something to stop them from taking you, and for that matter, she COULD have sent in some guards to save you from them.....BUT she didn't do a single thing...Instead, she left you to rot there...until Spike and the others saved you...but the far more important thing here is that our dear Celestia COULD have prevented the entire capture, but did no such thing...What do you think about that? Makes you want to turn against her to make her pay, doesn't it?" he asked the lovely unicorn, who was quite well endowed, though in his opinion, not as much as Fleur or definitely not Nightmare Moon, but he had told her the speech to try and get her to their side, and looked at her, looking into her beautiful, sapphire blue eyes to see what she had hought and would do, as he also looked to Lone for him to help Rarity be able to speak... "I should also mention that, I believe that Celestia also got a few of those Diamond Dogs on her side too..." Red then nodded to Lone to remove the silencing spell, which he did. "So, Rarity," Lone said as he kneeled down so he was at eye level with her. "Do you want to help us?" Rarity answered almost immediately. "Yes," was all she said. Lone grinned, while also releasing the other spells. "In that case," he said, getting up and reaching down to Rarity with his right hand, which she took. "Welcome to the New Lunar Republic." "Victory for the Night," Red said in a chant like voice, pumping his fist in the air. "Defeat for the Day," Fleur chanted, doing the same motion. "May the night rule over all," Lone chanted, doing the same. "And may the sun fall before our might," Rarity said, the chant having been put in her mind with the suggestion spell. Red smiled, before hugging Rarity. "Welcome to the team, my dear friend." He said, Fleur joining in as well, as she also returned it, before Red smiled to her "Tell us Rarity, as Lone and I plan to try and sway Fluttershy and Pinkie to our side...where can we find them? Would you perhaps know where they are located at?" He asked, knowing that, now that she was on their side, she would no doubt gladly tell them where her friends were located. "Of course, Darling. Fluttershy is in the royal gardens. "No surprise there," Lone mumbled. "As for Pinkie," Rarity said, "I have no idea." It was then Pinkie appeared in an outfit that hugged her body and was colored white. "Well, duh. I'm right here, silly" Everypony but Lone jumped at this. "And you don't have to do anything to me," she said with a smile. "I've already seen the points Redding and Lone were going to have you guys use, and they're right." Lone was the only one not confused by this statement. "Then welcome to the New Lunar Republic, Pinkie," Lone said, holding his hand out to shake, which she took. Red smiled "Well then. perhaps Lone and I should go get Fluttershy..." He said, looking to Pinkie "Unless somehow you can get her here within an second or two.." He said smirking a bit, Not expecting Pinkie to do so at all, much less be able to, even considering what she had just done. "Let it happen, Pinkie." Lone said. Pinkie then turned around, with Lone holding up five fingers for a countdown. Five Four Three Two One As Lone closed his last finger, Pinkie spun around, with Fluttershy bound and gagged, terror in her eyes. The look on everyponies face, Red's especially, was priceless. Lone then cast the suggestion spell on Fluttershy, as well as a spell that would allow her ot change between her normal form and her bat pony form at will. "Show's all yours, Red," Lone said, breaking Red out of his surprise. Red shook his head a bit, as he gently approached her, and untied her, even ungagging her, as he stroked her mane, behind her ears, being extra relaxing to her "Now just relax Fluttershy...after all, we aren't your enemies at all here...all we want is to help you..especially for you to join us in the New Lunar Republic...we aren't your enemies at all. Celestia is...See, we know about your little incident in Sweet Apple Acres, where you were turned into a bat pony...and what ended up happening, was that when you wanted to simply TRY and talk to the vampire fruit bats to make them leave the farm, or at least, move to a different part, But, instead, Twilight decided to try and use her magic in combination with your special STARE, to force those poor defenseless bats into leaving...rather than give them a choice in the matter, she was going to force them to, and in doing so, she caused you to be turned into a bat pony...Which might I add, looked beautiful as...you looked much more beautiful as that bat pony...than you do normally but that's just me..but in addition to what I've explained for why that went wrong...you see, in the Lunar Republic, we have all the bat ponies at our command, since they all swore loyalty to Luna and Nightmare Moon long ago...." He motioned for Lone to free her from the silence. "So...will you join us?" He asked, looking into her cyan eyes, as they slowly turned to a shade of ruby red, her fur dulled, and changed, to look a small bit more madded, rough even, as fangs grew from her mouth, small, but sharp, her fur also looked much more madded, and her wings changed from normal furry wings, to Bat wings, She smiled, with a small purr from Red stroking behind her ears, which had grown more furry, and her mane, she then spoke up. "Yes...I will join you, Master Red..." She said, showing her bat side's utter loyalty to the Night, and their cause. Red smiled, scratching behind Flutter's Mane, as she had turned to her bat form to outwardly show her new allegiance to the NLR. "Well Lone...I'd say this is going to be Mission Accomplished for the time being...Should we get back to the Rogue Shadow to be able to Get us some rest, along with getting back to the base of leaders to let them meet our new recruits?" he asked, as he walked over to Fleur, and hugged her, as Flutterbat ended up following him just to get him to continue scratching her...it was kind of adorable. "Tomorrow. We might as well pull some recon while we're here. And besides," Lone said, shrugging, "It's been a while since I've been here, and I want to see how the place has changed." "You've been here before?" Rarity asked. "Yeah. About two years, just before the war started." "I must agree with Lone," Fleur said. "Plus, I would like to see the city one last time, because I doubt It'll be the same when I come back." "Wait," Lone said. "You're coming with us?" "Of course. Where Red goes, I go." "Aww, gee, I wonder if that means you'll want to sleep with me tonight..." Red spoke jokingly. "Of course I do. it's been years since we last saw each other, and I intend to spend as much time as I can with you today...much less tonight!" She said playfully as she hugged him. "Well Fluttershy, I think for the sake of our cover and everything, you should change back to your normal pony form....don't worry, if you like this bat form, you can change into it once we board the ship to go and leave, and go back to base." He said, as she nodded, changing back to the pony form, as a disguise of sorts now. "Other than these four, Your the only one of us who can move freely Lone...so, unless I go with Fleur, as a sort of Escort, I'll have to put on a cloak like disguise....." "Actually, there is one thing I can think of that would let you walk around freely," Lone said. "And what's that?" Red asked. Lone shrugged. "A simple illusion spell that's been modified to allow those that saw you as it was being cast to see the real you. Others would see somepony else. What do you say?" "Possibly....What 'alternate pony' would this be though?" He asked, skeptical of this, as Fleur smiled, holding his arm, to possibly have him be her escort anyway. "Perhaps I should also report into Moony and the others before I begin my own side of this Recon, just to let them know...I did want to check out that base you were talking about when you shown up...you wouldn't happen to know about exactly WHAT weapon it is would you?" Red asked, recalling his intel warning the previous day when he had appeared to them. "You can look like any pony you want to. As for the base, we could probably do a fly-by while we're heading back to the base. I only have a few schematics my net work gave me, and they are probably outdated by now.," Lone said. "You want me to cast the spell or not?" "Yes sure, may as well." He said nodding, standing away from Fleur so that she wouldn't get caught in the spell. "I'll report in shortly after. Perhaps take Fleur with me anyway to let her see the ship..." Lone nodded. He began to charge his spell, which took but a second. Once it was charged, Red was enveloped in a green aura. When it faded a few seconds later, there were no changes to Red physically, but whenever the others didn't focus on him, they saw a pony that looked like Fancy Pants. "It'll last while we're still here in the city. Now if you all will excuse me," Lone said, "I'm heading out." He walked over to the door, opened it, and left. Red smirked, as he had the appearance of a pony similar to Fancy Pants. He quickly took Fleur's arm, looking to her "So, darling, shall we go then? perhaps I should also have a cane just to complete the facade?" He asked, reacing into Pinkie's mane, and removed a long, slender cane, perfectly complimenting the look, but could be removed anyway. Early the next morning Lone was the only one of the group up, with the others either on the floor, couch, or in one of the beds. He was thinking about just how more difficult his mission was, now that three of the Elements were with the NLR. This complicates things, he thought. At least Twilight wasn't turned. We would not survive that. He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard something from outside the house. It sounded like armored ponies. Crap, Lone thought. He went to wake the others up, but he was stopped when he heard Celestia, using the Royal Canterlot Voice, say, "WE KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE. RELEASE THE ELEMENTS YOU'VE KIDNAPPED, COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP, AND I SHALL GRANT YOU MERCY. IF YOU DO NOT, YOU WILL BE BRANDED A TRAITOR, AND TREATED AS SUCH!!" This woke the others up instantly, with Rarity, who was on the couch, falling down to the floor. Red rushed out of the room he and Fleur were in. Fleur came out behind him, wearing a black combat outfit, which left her midsection open for view. Her right arm was bare from the shoulder down. The outfit showed off her chest, which was slightly larger than Fluttershy's, and accented her other curves. Red was already dressed as well, in his own combat outfit, He wasn't in armor, but instead was in an outfit, similar to the Corellian Flight Suits, and was ready to fight alongside Fleur as he whispered to her and the others "it seems we have two options....A: Feign a surrender....and escape...or, B: possibly release the elements back to them, on the condition they allow us to leave peacefully..." He suggested to them, looking to Lone, as if referring to the duplicate ony plan that he had detailed earlier. Red decided to do something chancy, and spoke up at the door "Hold on Celestia...If I come out and surrender, You let the others go...or if we release the girls to you....You let us go free with no trouble..." He said, trying to reason with her to buy them some time. Lone was silent for a moment, considering the options. He then thought of something he knew Red wouldn't like. He pulled out his holo-disk and contacted Barb. "Barb, how fast will you be able to get the Shadow here by yourself?" "About ten minutes. Why?" "Just make sure your ready for a 22-pick up." Barb's eyes widened at this. She then nodded. "I'll get there as soon as possible." Lone nodded and cut the connection just as Celestia spoke up again. "NO. THERE IS NO WAY ANY OF YOU ARE GETTING OUT OF THIS WITH OUT REPURCUSIONS!!" Lone smiled, as this meant they could, had to, do things his favorite way. The fun way. "Red, get your saber out. The rest of you: whatever weapons you got, get 'em out. We need to hold out for ten minutes." "Why?" Rarity asked. "Because we're doing a combat pick up." "Lone, are you crazy," Red said as he walked away from the door. "The shield dome will stop the Shadow cold." "Just cover me," Lone said as he was engulfed in shadows. When they receded five seconds later, Lone was wearing the armor he had worn when he first met Red. He grabbed a thermal detonator from his ammo pouch and primed it. "Let the fun commence," he said as he threw the detonator out the window. "Pinkie, blaster pistols," he said. Pinkie reached for her mane and pulled out two pistols with long barrels and tossed them to Lone. He caught them and faced the door, the pistols held up by his sides. He got just in front of the door when the detonator he threw out the window detonated. (0:08) Lone kicked the door off it hinges with enough strength, it hit three ponies hard enough to kill them. He saw Celestia was at the very back of the mob of guards, which were probably all of the guard in Canterlot. He brought the pistols down and began to fire at the guards. Every single shot was a kill. He went through the packs on both weapons, which held fifty shots each, in about twenty seconds. By this time, the others had joined in the fight, Red using his saber to kill the guards he engaged with ease. Fluttershy had an old fashioned sword, which she used to lop off guards heads as she flew over them. Pinkie was using her party cannon like it was an artillery gun, blasting away groups of guards, with vey little being left over. Rarity had her own saber, which had a purple blade, and she deflected blaster bolts back at the ones who had fired them. Fleur was a demon, using a dual-bladed saber with a blue blade to kill the guards that came after her. When Lone was out of ammo, he dropped the pistols and reached down to where his energy sword were, as he had created a second one so he could dual wield them. He drew them and ignited them. He then began to carve his way through the sea of guards to Celestia, walking at a good pace as he did so. Once he was out of the mob, with Celestia still a good fifty feet away, he sprinted at her. She tried to stop him with magic blasts, but he either dodged them or deflected them. Once she was in his reach, Lone slashed with his swords. Celestia brought her hands up, as if to protect herself. Lone's blades hit their mark. Celestia screamed as her left hand was cut off. This caused the remaining guard to falter. Many were killed as they looked to Celestia, those that weren't ran to her to get her to the castle for medical attention. Lone did not stop them. As they were retreating, Lone deactivated his swords and placed them back on his thighs. "Well," Rarity said, "That was certainly interesting, but how do we get out if here." "Haven't you learned yet, Rarity," Lone asked smugly. "I have many skills." At this Lone began to charge his magic, and concentrate it in his left hand, only it was a purplish color, instead of green. He was like this for nearly two minutes, in which time, no more guards came. When it had finished charging, he brought his left hand across his chest and clenched his hand. Fleur's house was near the outskirts of the dome, so Lone turned to it. He then brought his arm across his chest quickly, opening his hand as he did so. Three violet orbs of magic came from his hand and made their way to the dome. When they impacted, the dome began to crack where the orbs hit, and the crack expanded outward from those points. The dome eventually collapsed, just as the Shadow made it's way to their location. It came down, it's ramp lowered. The group made their way to it and boarded. As Lone, who was the last, got on, the ramp rose, and the ship rose, then flew off, away from Canterlot. Red said nothing as he was making sure the others were alright, before he took over the controls, to make a quick fly-by of the base that Lone's intel had mentioned was going to be making a new weapon for the war. "Hmm...is that the base your intel had mentioned?" He asked, pointing it out to them, as they began to approach, slowing down, staying cloaked, as Red quickly put on his armor, Checking over his lightsaber, and getting three extra weapons. Two Submachine guns, and a combat shotgun, along with some extra thermal detonators. "Yeah, that's it. Good luck, Red," Lone said. "Take the Shadow back to base with the girls." He said, being loaded up. "I'll handle this one on my own." He said as he approached the loading ramp, which opened up, as he stood at the top of it. Fleur approached him, worried. "Be safe, my love..." she said as she kissed his cheek hugging him, as he had his helmet off. Red smiled, and held her gently, returning the kiss to her own forehead. "Just who the hell do you think I am?" He asked with a playful smirk, oozing with confidence, and put his helmet on, preparing to jump out. As Red jumped out of the ship, Barb sent a holographic message to Nightmare and the others that they were en route to the base. Red was performing a free fall, down to the large base below. His helmet had given him the base readout, to allow him to see what was somewhat the same, including the giant hanger made for the weapon. He also notices a vehicle set nearby it, and decides to effectively take two birds with one stone. His armor, was black as the night was, and his helmet looked like a dragon ninja headpiece, and mouth covering, clearly showing he's a combat stallion. His visor was crimson red, as though covered in blood, with his two shoulder pads, which seemed like three plates stacked together for protection, were golden in color, as was the section of his helmet on the top, behind the forehead. All in all, it was a very intimidating appearance. As he approached his destination, he positioned himself perfectly, and landed, with his fist pounding the ground below, along with landing in a kneeling position. He wasted no time and dashed right ahead, entering the stair well, sliding down planting some thermal detonators along the walls, and the stairs as he slid down the railing, even tossing a few extra grendades down the hall, which detonated soon after they landed, bouncing a bit as well, as he got closer to the ground floor, and was close to the final destination. They had all finished preparations, it was the final stages, and their great weapon was ready to lauch. Their weapon was a Giant Walker Mech When the grenades detonated, announcing his presence, the base went into lockdown, with the main hanger doors being shut and locked, to prevent him from escaping, as he reached the bottom, the red siren warning lights were flashing as the Alarm went off, Red smirked, knocking on the door, his Shotgun ready. "Knock Knock..." He said softly as someone on the other side opened it up answering. "Who's there?" He said before screaming. "SHOTGUN!" He cried as he blasted him point blank with a shotgun to the face. After kicking away the now headless body, he proceeded to massacre the rest of the guards inside, using his lightsaber, he even began to attack them with what appeared to be blasts of magical force, almost as though it was a gust of wind, or being electrocuted with lightning that had went from his fingertips into them. He had even infused his lightsaber with Lightning for added damage in his combo attacks with his saber. The attack was long, and powerful as Red was easily holding out with very little trouble, being the best fighter of the force, having only lost a single match, being with Lone when they met. Shortly before he could board the new walker to steal it, it's blueprints, and torch the base, he was surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of guards. All primed to kill him, as Red began to reach out with the magical force he had used earlier, and before they knew what had happened, their weapons were floating away from them, and soon, they began to do the same, all rotating around Red as though he were a tiny Sun...as this happened an orb surrounded him, appearing cloudy, and sparking with electricity, as though a hurricane...He brought his hands together, and spread them out wide, as he sent everyone flying away into the walls of the base, and into the ceiling and upper catwalks, causing everyone that was 'orbiting' him to either be killed from the injuries, or knocked out. Red rushed up to the walker and boarded it, turning it on, as it began to walk away from it's post. He activated it's turrets and blasted the door, and walked out, finding a set of a few vehicles inside it's armored cargo hold on the back of it. including A Motorcycle which he would put on his ship, a four wheeled ATV which also appeared to have an attatchment for guns to be placed on the front of it if desired, along with numerous other ATVs, and some jeep looking vehicles. Red smirked, as he just won them not only a weapon, but some extra ground vehicles. After blasting out of the base with it's turrets, and walking away the safe distance, he pushed the button on the hand held detonator, causing the base to explode, completely and totally, burying any who were left there, and eliminating any trace of the base that he had attacked. When the ship landed back at the base, Nightmare approached them, to meet the elements, and Fleur, when shortly after, they could hear a mechanical whirring, and large steps, as Red appeared, driving the walker. "Hey guys. Mission accomplished Moony. We got us the weapon that Lone had told us about earlier, plus some extra goodies." He said as he approached. Author's Note Rarity's outfit = Ashoka Tano's second outfit from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Pinkie's Outfit = Padme Amidala's outfit from the Geonosis Arena in Star Wars Episode 2, before she got scratched. Fluttershy's Outfit = Leia Organa's outfit in the Endor DLC of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 Fleur's combat outfit = Aayla Secura's outfit.
Chapter 11: Fillydelphia Falls, Rise of Star CityA week has passed since the realization that Red is still alive, though he has yet to return. Just the fact he is alive ha helped to boost the morale of Alpha team, all of whom are in the war room, going over the plan on how to take over Fillydelphia. "If we come in from the south with the few mechs the recovery teams were able to recover from Manehattan, and air units from the north," Luna said, "we will be able to take the city with few causalities." "That's assuming," Chrysalis said, "that the intel's up to date." Nightmare spoke up "I assume, considering I just did a fly by on the Rogue Shadow and everything checks out." She explained, showing a Holo-Map of the town and it's defenses. Aurora entered along with Barb, smiling as they looked over the map. "That area here to the south would likely be the best possible entrance for us." Barb then spoke up "Now what about my job to try and get into Ponyville to both check it out as a recon, but also to try and get Spike out?" "That will be going on as we're taking Fillydelphia," Lone said. "Hopefully, the distraction to Celestia and her forces will allow you two to get a message to Spike." At the same time, Shadow and Nightengale were watching and listening to this, both of them being concealed by Lone's spell. "I still can't believe that we're letting them go through with this," Nightengale said. "You and me both," Shadow said. Barb looked to Aurora "What are we going to do for Spike?" "Well," Aurora said, bringing her hand up to her chin, "we could try to send him a letter. I write it, you send it, and I say that we are prisoners, and that only he could get us out." "I don't know...Hmmm...I don't really want to lie to him..." "It's the only way to get him here, Barb," Aurora said, putting a hand on Barb's shoulder. "I know, but still." Aurora gave Barb a hug. "It'll be okay. I'm sure it will..." She said, as she held her close. Barb nodded. "Right. Let's get that letter written." Aurora nodded. "Right." A few minutes later, the letter was written, saying that Aurora, as Twilight, was taken prisoner, and said that the NLR only thought of ponies as a threat to keeping her. Ponyville Spike was having a miserable day. He hadn't heard from Twilight or the others in two weeks. Though it was true he had a good position in the army, he wasn't old enough to be able to have access to most of the files that weren't kept in Ponyville, which was a fair portion of intel. It was at this point, he finally received a letter from Twilight! Spike, I've been captured and am being held by the NLR. They said they would release me, but only to YOU, and only if YOU come ALONE...enclosed is the address. Twilight Sparkle It read, Spike saw the address and quickly went after her. Fortunately for Spike, it was nearby. Unfortunately, he had to go through the Everfree. At night. By himself. Oh, joy. The message appeared like a typical ransom message, and it also mentioned that they had taken another dragon captive, a Dragoness, named Barb... He exited Twilight's castle as carefully as possible, as that's where the general, who's name was Shadow Specter, and his officers, stayed. Once he made it out, with his blaster pistol on his waist, he himself wearing light scout armor, which was basically heat resistant armor that resembled the standard armor of the guard from before the war. It did not take long for him to arrive at the indicated location marked on the letter. Twilight waited for him, looking tied up. She looked up and, upon seeing Spike, she smiled and said, "Spike! Thank Celestia you're here." Unbeknownst to Spike, saying that made Aurora want to wash her mouth with acid. "Twilight," Spike said, running to Aurora/Twilight and giving her a large hug. "I'm so glad to see you." He pulled out of the hug, not noticing that the mare he just hugged didn't have any rope on her. "What happened?" She sighed. "Celestial had lied to us....our entire life.....for example....my name...was never Twilight Sparkle....I was actually Aurora Nebula.....The daughter of Princess Luna..." She said changing forms. Spike stood in awe, looking at her true form. "That....explains a lot actually...but...what else is there?" He asked, as Aurora explained everything to Spike, and how she switched sides. Barb then enters the scene and speaks up. "Its because of all of that...that we ask you to join us .....please... Spike looked back at both. "Twi.....umm...Aurora...please understand...I would never betray you....your like my mother....but I need some time to think.....you have my word of honor I won't tell Celestia but...I'd like some time alone to think...." Though she was hurt that he hadn't decided to join them, she nodded and said, "Right." Spike gave her one more hug. He made his way back to Ponyville, leaving the mare and dragoness where they stood. "Come on, Barb," Aurora said, heading in the opposite direction Spike had left, towards where the Shadow was waiting. "The others are waiting for us to get back so we can go after Fillydelphia." Barb simply nodded, then followed. Aurora smiled at Barb "I've got a feeling he'll join us....but, what did you think of him?" She asked, looking at her. "W-what do you mean?" "I may not be the best pony to ask if somepony's interested in another, Barb, but it's obvious with you. You become fidgety when we talk about Spike, for one." "Fine," Barb said, sighing, "I think he's handsome." "That it?" A familar voice speaks up and quickly disappears "NOPE!" Barb ends up blushing due to the fact that Red had spoke up saying there's more to it than just thinking Spike's handsome. This got a laugh from Aurora, who then said, "Soooo, what else?" If Barb's scales weren't red before, they most certainly were now. "Well, he's obviously brave if he came here into the Everfree, which also shows how much he cares about those he calls a friend, or considers family." Aurora smiled, hugging barb "Aww...well your right about that..." She said with a small giggle at how Barb had a crush. They ended the hug and again walked to the Shadow. Once they arrived, they entered the ship, activated it, and lifted off, heading to the base. Aurora smiled at her, before speaking. "He'll do what he feels is right....I just hope he'll join us....but just think, Uncle will be back soon enough..." One day later-NLR headquarters War Room Alpha team was in the war room, waiting for when the NLR would move for the attack on Fillydelphia, as they would be the first wave, with Lone being in the hanger making sure his ship was ready. "Still can't believe we're going after another city," Aurora said. "You better believe it Aurora..." Barb said, as she smiled a bit. "Because we're gonna need you to help us out too after all, so that we can do this....and remember, we're also doing this, for Dad." She explained, smiling. The mare nodded. "Right." Lone then came over the team's radio. "Falcon's ready, guys. If we're going to get there before the army, we need to leave asap." Those of Alpha that were in the war room, which was just about everypony save Lone, and included Cadence, as she had decided it would be safer to lead her forces from here, instead of the Empire, began to head to the hanger bay. "What's the plan, Lone," Fluttershy said. "We go in on the Shadow and Falcon. Once we're there, we land and get off, with Barb giving us up-to-date intel from the air on any hostile movements." Nightmare nodded "Understood. We are to take control of this City...in honor of Red..." She said, eager for the day when her beloved would return to her. Luckily for her, it was closer than she thought. Hanger-meanwhile. "Artemis, make sure my helmet's camera is functional and is ready to transmit," Lone said, performing maintenance checks on his armor. A second later, Artemis replied, "It's good, Lone, and Nightengale has his receiver ready for it." Lone nodded, putting on his helmet as he did so. "Right. Let's hope this will help end the war." "I'm certain it will, Lone," Artemis said. "After all, you're involved here." "Artemis," Lone said, annoyed, "how many times do I have to tell you to not brag for me? If I wanted to brag, I'd do it myself." "Yes, and we all know your MUCH too vague to brag about how badass you are...Meh. I'm more so than you...and I'm still gonna kick your ass when I get back...just for not only slapping my betrothed, but also for being such a vague asshole." A certain voice said before fading away just as quick. "He is really set on that, isn't he?" Artemis said. Lone just shrugged. "It's not like I'm worried. I've been in worse situations." "True." "And what's the status of project: Gateway?" "It's coming along nicely, though it won't be done for another year at least." "Well, it's progress." "That it is, Lone. That it is." Red appeared before Nightmare, and hugged her from behind. "Just wait for me my love...don't you dare die....I'll be back here with you soon enough..." "And when you do, you shall have your own city." "Moony, please don't flatter me with that large a gift. You know I don't like large presents." Red then smirked "Well...except maybe for these." he jiggled her large chest a bit, to get a blush out of her, and to just play with her for the time being, snickering himself just to show he was being playful. And yet again, he started to fade. "Well, I guess I'll see you later," he said before he disappeared completely. "Well," Chrysalis said, "Let's get moving. Fillydelphia isn't going to capture itself." Nightmare Nodded "Agreed!" she said as she headed out, equipped with His lightsaber like she chose to do. The group arrived in the hanger just as Lone was finishing up his checks. Lone heard them and looked at them, saying, "Good to see that you guys are ready, seeing as how we won't have much prep time en route." They nodded, as the girls looked particularly serious about this. The team separated into two groups, the Elements in the Falcon, and the others on the Shadow. Once everypony was on, the ships took off, heading for Fillydelphia. Meanwhile-Canterlot Nightengale was in the Canterlot war room with Celestia and the Elements who were still with her. Really, he was just waiting for the footage Lone was going to be sending from Fillydelphia, while Celestia and the others were talking about defending said city, Celestia looked over the maps. "So....how can we best defend the city?" she looked to them all "Any suggestions?" "Well," Nightengale said, "why not position our mechs at the southern and western edges. Those are the most vulnerable positions to attack the city from." "Agreed....put more on West edge, it's the most vulnerable point..." It's a good thing it'll take an hour for them to mobilize all of them, and another to get there, and that Lone's coming in from the north, which looks inaccessible, even though Artemis is the best AI pilot I know, Nightengale thought. Celestia smiled, "Then it's decided? Nopony has any other suggestions?" she asked of them. It was then a voice that hadn't been heard sine Manehattan spoke up. "Yeah, Celestia," Shadow Strike said, opening the doors to the war room. "How about we go out?" Celestia instantly broke into tears and tackled Shadow Strike out of the door. The rest of the elements present began to laugh happily. "So I assume that's a yes?" Strike asked as he was getting back up, as Celestia's hug had knocked him to the ground. Crying in joy, Celestia replied, "Yes, yes, yes, yes!" Strike smiled and left with Celestia to go out on a date with her beloved stallion "I admit...Zero appeared to me in a ghostly form and told me you were alive like he was, and that you'd be back soon...he made me promise something before he left...so I'm glad your back." She said hugging him close. "And I'm glad to be back, Tia," he said, smiling as he embraced the hug. As this was going on, Artemis was relaying this to Lone and Shadow. "Then why don't we take break from this war, and go to Doughnut Joe's. I've heard he makes the best doughnuts on the planet" "Oh trust me, he does." She said as she practically was skipping along with him. "That went better than expected," Artemis whispered into Nightengale's ear. Nightengale simply nodded. Millennium Falcon- outer border of Fillydelphia- thirty minutes later The ship lands, along with the Rogue Shadow as they quickly move to put the plan into action, and take control of Fillydelphia, to be renamed 'Star City'. Even though a fair portion of the team hated Lone, they had agreed that they would follow his lead with this mission. Once they had all disembarked and Barb taking off and activating her ship's stealth features, then went toward the city, they did final checks on their gear. Once they were done with that, with the gear checking out, they made their way to the city. The city was guarded, as expected, but it appears that they wouldn't have to deal with many guards on the south edge of town where they chose to enter. As it was, there were numerous guards, who were out cold, and there weren't any Mechs to be seen. It was very strange, considering the fact that they were planning on it... Lone, out of all of them, seemed worried. He made sure his armors external speakers were off before saying, "Artemis?" "Already sending to Nightengale. You don't think it's them, do you?" "Has to be," Lone said, just before the group came across a group of dead civilians. "What the Tarturus," Aurora said before Lone spoke. "Keep your eyes peeled people. We're dealing with something worse then anything you can think of." Luna nodded as she began to look around, as did Nightmare, who soon after contacted Barb "Barb, do you see ANYTHING on the radar?" she asked the dragoness. "No, and that 's the weird thing. I'm picking up civilians, mechs and everything, but the civilians are dropping off thermals, as well as mechs. And I mean that. Nothing around them except other civilians and the city. No heat from a blaster. Nothing." Luna and Nightmare shared worried looks at the delivery of this news, but did not have much time to do much else as they saw a plasma bolt rush past their heads, and they heard a scream of pain from behind Luna, and they both saw a pony wearing standard armor from Celestia's military falling dead, when Nightmare could have sworn they weren't there a second before. They then turned to see Lone pointing on of his rifles in the same direction the plasma bolt had gone. "Barb," he said in a serious tone, "switch to electromagnetic scanners." Nightmare spoke as well "I'd also recommend Thermal Scanners." She said, as Barb did so "Multiple, comin from north of you. Be careful everypony!" She said, worried about them. Lone simply laughed, saying, "They really think they can take me out, when I have four alicorns with me? Not to mention one of them is an Element of Harmony. Oh this is going to be easy." He then activated his radio. "Artemis, we have multiple Brotherhood contacts inbound. Alert code names 'Rookie' and 'Unity' that we have one huge issue." "Already on it, Lone." Nightmare looked at Lone "What the heck is going on then?" "Classified," was all Lone said before turning to his left and firing off two shots from his rifles each. "Morons, just like last time." Nightmare, and Luna were both growling in complete annoyance, being fed up with Lone and his 'Classified' bullshit. He makes a habit out of being vague, so bad that Red already intended to kick his ass, now they were about to join in the fun. Before they could do so, however, he fired his rifles to the left and right of them, while saying, "I know how much you hate I'm being vauge, but I'm doing it because I was told to do so unless there is no other option." He then holstered his rifles and pulled a knife from his fore arm and threw it, with it hitting with an audible Thump behind them. "Well," Nightmare said, "would you mind at least telling us who these ponies are, as hey are obviously not Celestia's military." "Short version? They're members of a group called 'The Brotherhood of Plasma', and they want to revive an old king by killing royalty. Long story is filled with other classified shit, so I won't be able to tell it to you." "Hmm...." Nightmare said, as they began to assist him somewhat. Back in Canterlot, Nightengale had gone to Celestia and Strike who were relaxing, and he was showing them footage given by Lone of the ponies in HER armor, killing civillians. "What is this private," Strike asked. "This is the group that framed us for Trottingham getting their plots handed to them by the NLR." "Who are they, specifically?" "Nopony you would know, Celestia," Nightengale responded. Back in Fillydelphia, Alpha team had gotten into a formation that would allow them to hold off the Brotherhood army. "Fifty seconds," Barb said over the radio. "Fifty Seconds till what Barb?" Nightmare asked, as they were continuing to hold it off. "What do you think," a feminine voice that had to be Artemis spoke up. "A shit load of hostiles arrive." Before anypony could say anything, they heard a stallion cry out, "KILL THEM, SO THAT PLASMA MAY BE REBORN." As the mass of ponies charged their location, an old bank, they opened fire with either Nightbringers, magic, or, in Pinkie's case, party cannons. Lone, through it all, only fired two Plasma bolts for each victim, whereas the others were having trouble, as their Nightbringers wouldn't switch to high explosive rounds. This eventually led to them being over run. The first casualty was Aurora, who was knocked out by a grenade, though she was alive. This made Luna mad, and led to her being careless, which led to her rushing the mass of enemies, which only allowed them to knock her out. From there, the others were all knocked by either pressure waves, or by rushing blindly due to rage from their friends or family being knocked out. The last standing was Lone, who had not budged throughout the entire thing. He lowered his rifles and pressed the buttons that made them go to Energy sword. He then got a song playing for the mood. He activated them and waited for them to arrive. Once they were close enough, he began to slice and dice them methodically and calmly. He sliced many of them in half with practiced ease, and beheaded others with the same ease. He never once budged from his position, even as enemies wielding swords of their own came after him. He was like this for ten minutes before his swords ran out of charge, and a lucky swordsman was able to knock him out. When they all come to, they find themselves inside a warehouse of some kind, or it could have been another room in that bank, all tied up, and restrained, and sealed tightly by the thick, armored door that lead there as the only way out. Lone had the most imprisonment objects on him. Handcuffs, a magic nullification ring, which was also on all the alicorns, and collar that removed earth pony strength. "Looks like I spoke too soon," he said once he woke up, which was after the others, "theses morons are better than last time." They also noticed he didn't have his armor on, and only wore a black BDU. "Obviously," Nightmare said before a pony wearing a black cloak that covered his whole body came in. "So, these are the infidels who do not believe in our master," he said in a smooth, silk like voice that didn't sound like it came from a member of an organization who kills innocent civilians. "But the greatest prize," he said, "even with a fair portion of the royalty, Is you, Lone shadow," he said as he stood in front of Lone. "You have been a thorn in our sides for five years, and it pleases me greatly that you have been captured. But tell me, where are your teammates?" "Go fuck yourself!" Lone said with calm anger. "Are you sure you wish to use that language. Your comrades do not know of it well." "So? Even if you kill us, which I know you intend to do, there are others who will fight." The cloaked pony laughed, much to the confusion of all but Lone. "Did you truly think we didn't know you came with others. Already, our brothers are keeping us informed of them, and I must say, I'm surprised you said your brother is dead, when he is actively helping you." The look on the rest of Alpha's face was one of surprise at the fact Lone's brother was alive, and rage on Nightmares due to him lying. "Of course," the pony said, "in a certain sense, Unity is dead, killed when we took him from you and your parents. It's only a shame the both of you share the same values. Otherwise, he would have stayed with us." He pulled out a sleek, small handgun that didn't look like it used blaster bolts as projectiles. "And because of your crimes against us, Lone Shadow, you will die first." Before he could do anything, the thick steel door began to groan, and sounds came from it, as dents soon appear, as though someone, or something, was physically attacking it, as the dents continued to appear, growing larger and larger, as the door itself begins to buckle, and physically fall apart, before after some time, the door is physically launched, slamming into the cloaked pony before falling onto the ground with a loud THUD it was at this point, that a hooded figure appeared, stepping through the smoke filled opening slowly. His robes and cloak where clearly those of an adventurer, and a fighter of some form, However, they were colored Dark Blue, Purple, and black, with Yellow trim detailing Lightning bolt designs. He steps inside the room, as he looks up, his eyes covered by the Darkness inside the hood, as a small red light on the left side flashed, as he looked up. He took a few more steps entering the room proper, as he punched his left palm and spoke. "You have no idea, what kind of trouble you're in." He said, as the hood fell down from a small breeze, revealing to everyone who it was, None other than Red himself. "Shadowbolts, Red," Lone asked. "Nice." Instead of replying, Red walked over to Lone and punched him in the gut. It didn't really hurt, Lone had been hit by worse, but he doubled over any way, saying, "And that, I deserved." "However, that's not the end of your punishment..." He said with a laugh, before he quickly grabbed Lone's ankle, and swung him like a ragdoll, slamming him into the other figures of the enemy, as well as tossing him aside, causing him to be physically stuck in the wall, with the wall being dented in perfect match to his shape. This, actually DID hurt. He had been hit harder, but this was the fourth hardest he'd ever been hit. He was able to work himself out of it. The throw had broken the handcuffs, which made it easier to get out. He made his way to where the cloaked pony was standing in shock. Once Lone was over there, he reached with his right hand behind the head, and grasped the chin with his left, and twisted the pony's neck, resulting in a crack, and he fell to the ground dead, his neck snapped. "That's why you always have people you trust in the same room," he said before turning to the others, who Red had freed. "Red," he said, nodding his head in greeting. Red promptly kicked him right BACK into the wall, with another imprint, this time face first, and even harder. It was so fast, barely anyone noticed him move, much less kick Lone square in the chest. "Hello." Red then walked over towards Nightmare, smiling as he locked eyes with her, and soon knelt down before her, and the others, and slowly began to untie them all, Aurora, Fleur, Luna, Cadence, and then, finally, Nightmare herself, and kissed Nightmare when he finished. Still not the worst, Lone thought as he worked himself out if the wall again. "Can his wait further until after we get back to base?" Lone asked. "After all, we have an army after us that 's not afraid to waste lives when it comes to completing objectives." "I have to agree with him, Red. He obviously knows who they are, and having him with us will at least help," Luna said. Red smirked, kissing Luna "Then how about you girls go ahead and get out of here? I'll cover the escape and meet you back at base." He said with a smirk "I'll stay back here too," Lone said. "Need to get my armor and weapons, after all." Before the mares could object, Red said, Fair enough." Nightmare hugged Red, and kissed him. "Come back this time." Red laughed and kissed her back, stroking her spine and her wings "Don't worry, I ain't dying this time." He told her with a smile, as he motioned to the door "Now get out of here, all of you. the Liar and I can finish things up here and meet you back at base. By the way...don't tell Barb" He said with a wink "Or Dawn or Chestnut. The three of them can see when I get home." He said to Nightmare, winking to make it a surprise. The mares left the room, leaving the two stallions behind. "So," Lone said, looking to Red, "Time to go badass again?" Red laughed, and kicked Lone out of the room into another, the door was broken open and went WITH Lone. "Yeah! For ME. You've had PLENTY of time in the spotlight." He said laughing.
