In Brightest Night, In Darkest Day
Author's Note
Greetings Gotham, Joker here! Well, here we are, the opening chapter of my new Sinestro Corps Hal Jordan Displaced. Now then, I’m going to address a couple of things that I KNOW you guys are going to call me out on. First off, yes, I know that what I have for the Sinestro Corps Oath is NOT what’s in the comics, but this is my story that I’m co-writing with Hopelight, so I can do whatever I want. Also, yes I know that Sinestro Corps Lanterns are usually the bad guys, but further research suggests that Sinestro originally intended for his Corps to be anti-heroes, but they wound up becoming villains that wound up destroying his home planet. Besides, if I can make an anti-hero out of The Joker and STILL have him be Joker, I’m pretty sure I can get away with this. Also, Hopelight and I plan on doing similar things with the Red Lanterns and any other “evil” Lanterns out there, maybe even Black, but that’s all down the road, I am autistic, remember. Also, my Sinestro Corps Hal Jordan will be refered to as “The Sinestro Lantern,” since I think that sounds cooler. The story is also set a couple days prior to the beginning of A Canterlot Wedding Part 1. I think that wraps that up, so let’s get this party started!
A Misunderstanding
In Brightest Night in Darkest Day, we use the fear you kept at bay.To fight the wrong and make evil pay, Sinestro's path, it is our way!
My name is Hal Jordan. I am the Sinestro Lantern, leader of Princess Luna’s elite task force, the Sinestro Corps. Although, it wasn’t always this way. Once, I was known as Simon Jones, and I was just an ordinary guy, living an ordinary life. That all changed when I went to San Diego ComicCon as a Sinestro Corps version of Hal Jordan. While I was there, I ran into this cloaked Merchant who was selling Lantern Corp Power Rings and Lanterns. This guy had one of every Corp color including Black. And my costume was missing the ring, since the only one I could find online cost a leg and an arm. Throwing any caution I may have had to the wind I decided to buy the Ring and Lantern. That’s when everything went black.
…
In the middle of a meadow near a river called Daisy Stream, a butter yellow anthro pegasus mare with a soft pink mane and tail wearing a white blouse, green shirt, and tan sandals was having a picnic with some of her animal friends. Among said friends was a great big grizzly bear, an ill-tempered, bossy, and all around asshole of a white bunny, a few birds, an otter, and a gopher.
“Angel, you really should eat more of your carrots, don’t you think?” Fluttershy asked the bunny,who had two-and-a-half carrots in front of him, and who simply blew a raspberry at his owner while the other animals simply rolled their eyes, being far too used to this at this point.
“Just one more?” begged Fluttershy, to which Angel crossed his tiny little arms with an expression that clearly said NO.
“Just finish off that half of one?”
Angel’s expression remained unchanged at this offer.
“How about a-”
Before Fluttershy could finish speaking, a resounding explosion echoed over the meadow, causing the animals to jump and scatter with fright, and causing Fluttershy to turn her head towards the source of the blast, just in time to see something that looked like a pony fall from the sky into the woods not far from where she was.
“Oh, my goodness! Somepony could be hurt! I’d better go and check and see if that pony’s okay!” said Fluttershy, getting up and darting over to where it had looked like the figure had fallen.
But, when she got there, she quickly realized that thing that had fallen wasn’t a pony… or any kind of creature she was familiar with at all. It was about as tall as the Princesses, and had no fur, except for a small brown patch on the top of its head. It wore a strange shimmering yellow-and-black bodysuit and eyemask with a bizarre insignia on its chest. Resting beside the creature was a glowing yellow lantern. Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel a little afraid. That fear intensified when the creature began to stir from its slumber. Fluttershy quickly backed away from it before the being opened its eyes and sat up.
“Ugh… what happened last night?” the creature muttered as it placed its hand on its forehead, before moving it away as though receiving a sudden shock. “Holy hell, that’s cold!” The creature then made a face that seemed to indicate that something was wrong. “Why is my hand so cold? And why do I sound like Ryan Reynolds?”
Fluttershy was staring at the being scared out of her wits before it turned to stare at her. When it opened its mouth to speak she panicked and froze stiff as a board while in midair, turned and fell onto her back, while a goat bleating could be heard.
The creature blinked several times, not entirely sure what to make of what just happened. It pulled itself up and walked over to Fluttershy. “Are, uh, you okay? Can you tell me where I am? Can you even speak English?” it asked Fluttershy, only to not receive an answer from the female, “Hello?” it asked before waving its hand in front of her eyes.
The creature leaned in close to Fluttershy, having noticed something about his reflection in her eyes, and promptly began feeling his face. The creature then checked his right hand, on which was a shimmering yellow ring with the same insignia that was on his chest. “Oh, you gotta be kidding me,” the creature said, removing its ring, which caused the uniform and mask to disappear, revealing a brown leather jacket, a white shirt, blue jeans, and black leather boots underneath. A laugh escaped him as he slid the ring back on, causing the uniform and mask to reappear. “I’m a Sinestro Corp member, no scratch that, I'm a Hal Jordan Sinestro Corp member. Now, let’s see if we can’t find you some help,” said Hal, scooping up both Fluttershy and his lantern with a bubble generated by his ring. Taking a steadying breath, Hal took to the skies at breakneck speeds, letting out an exhilarated whoop of excitement. From his lofty perch in the skies, Hal caught sight of a city not far from where he was.
“Bingo,” said Hal as he rocketed off towards the city.
...
It was just a regular day in the city of Ponyville. Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies were going about their daily routines. However, all of that was about to come to an end when a strange yellow-and-black suited figure zoomed down from the skies and landed none too gently in the town square. Panicked gasps and terrified screams left some of the townsfolk as the creature looked around.
“Hey, does anyone know where I can find a doctor for this… whatever she is,” said Hal, indicating Fluttershy, who was still in a catatonic state inside the bubble.
Hal began to hear gasps of recognition throughout the crowd that had gathered to stare at him… followed swiftly by several angry glares and the sound of police sirens.
“If those sirens are for me, then I already have a bad start,” muttered the Sinestro Lantern.
“Attention glowing yellow-and-black thing. This is the Ponyville Police. You have five seconds to put Fluttershy down and to get down on your knees with your hands behind your head or we will open fire!” yelled an Earth Pony with a bushy mustache that was very clearly a cop through a megaphone. As Sinestro Lantern looked around, he saw several more cops wearing tactical gear forming a perimeter around him.
The Lantern heaved a frustrated sigh. “Look, officer, this is all just a big misunderstanding. You see, I’m new here, and, uh, Fluttershy, here, saw me and froze up like this, so I’m just trying to get her some-” said Hal, taking a step forward as he spoke.
“OPEN FIRE!” yelled one of the cops.
As one, the cops opened fire on the Sinestro Lantern, who instinctively put up a forcefield around himself, providing protection from the bullets.
“Alright, that’s it! I was just trying get Miss Fluttershy here to a doctor to see if they could get her to snap out of her little coma, but now it’s time to kick some ass!” snarled the Sinestro Lantern in anger, before summoning a yellow minigun and returning fire to the cops. Each shot hit their marks wounding the officers in their arms and legs and causing the bystanders watching to run for their lives as the Sinestro Lantern rose into the air. Those officers who had not been harmed by the Lantern’s machine gun fire retreated, shooting suppression fire at the Sinestro Lantern. Sinestro Lantern, meanwhile, was summoning and throwing missiles, with no apparent concern for who they hit, only the drive to put the fear of… whatever deity these creatures worshipped in them.
From out in the crowd of panicking ponies, a purple beam of energy struck the Sinestro Lantern from behind. “Okay, that hurt,” he grumbled. “Why do I feel more compassionate all of a sudden?” the Sinestro Lantern asked himself as he turned to look at his attacker. It was a purple unicorn with a blue mane with a violet streak wearing a dark purple hoodie with a white shirt underneath, blue jeans, and purple and white sneakers.
Flanking her was another unicorn wearing a silver-grey sweater with a purple skirt, embroidered with three crystals cut in the shape of diamonds. Her royal purple mane was curled like spirals, which complemented alabaster fur.
Beside her was an orange coated mare who looked as though she had no horn or wings to speak of. She had a blonde mane ironically kept in a ponytail braid. Everything about her screamed country, from the Stetson on her head to the green shirt, red bandana, blue jeans, and cowboy boots beneath it.
Standing beside this mare was a pink furred one of a similar design with a bushy pink mane wearing a light blue jacket with a white shirt that bore a picture of a three balloons underneath, blue jeans, and pink and white sneakers. She also had a small cannon and a broad grin on her face.
“Hello up there!” called the purple unicorn. “I’m Twilight Sparkle! This is Rarity,” she said, indicating the white unicorn, “Applejack,” she continued, indicating the country mare, “and Pinkie Pie,” she finished, indicating the pink mare. “Who, and if you don’t mind me asking, what, are you?”
“And who taught you your fashion sense? You’re wearing far too much yellow, it’s giving me a bit of an eyesore,” said Rarity with a classy accent.
Hal thought for a moment. “They call me the Sinestro Lantern,” he finally said. “And as for the suit, I didn't design it. This is its default look.”
“Default? You mean you can make it look different?” Rarity asked Hal.
“Of course,” said the Sinestro Lantern. “However, I kinda like this look. So, any particular reason you just hit me in the back with an energy beam?”
“Oh, just to ask you a few questions. First off, why are you destroying the city, and is there any way we can get you to stop?” said Twilight.
“An excellent question, Miss, uh… Sparkle, can I call you Miss Sparkle?” asked Hal, to which Twilight nodded. “Okay then, Miss Sparkle. I’m new here, you see, and I met Miss Fluttershy down there. She saw me and went into that catatonic state before I could even say anything to her,” explained Hal. “Real quick question about her though, does a goat bleat every time that happens?”
“Only when she's terrified out of her mind. It also happened with another one of our friends, I still have to look into it.” Twilight said before she gestured for him to continue. “Please continue your explanation.”
“Right. After I had used some of my power to create the barrier around Miss Fluttershy I carried it to the closest city, that being this one. After I asked if there was a hospital I could get her to I heard sirens approaching me before the police came and tried to relieve Miss Fluttershy here from me. However they aimed their weapons at me thinking I had done something to her and when I tried to explain myself as I am now, they opened fire. All I did was defend myself from their onslaught of bullets,” explained Hal.
“I see… and I guess you got a little carried away?” said Twilight.
“Hey, someone shoots at me, I shoot back-” said the Sinestro Lantern, before something very fast and very blue rammed into him. “OW! What the Hell was-” said Hal before whatever it was rammed into him twice more before it stopped to hover right in front of him.
“Aw, yeah, how’d ya like that, freak show!” taunted what appeared to be a creature similar to Fluttershy, except the fur on this one was sky-blue, its mane was rainbow patterned, and it wore a navy blue jacket with a white shirt that bore the image of a rainbow-colored lightning bolt on the front underneath, blue jeans, and black leather boots.
“Rainbow Dash! We almost-!” Twilight yelled at Rainbow before the winged mare was blasted backwards.
“Alright, I was going to try things diplomatically, but it seems diplomacy is lost on you all.” The Sinestro Lantern said, a burning yellow aura of power enveloping him.
The Sinestro Lantern raised his hand and summoned a hailfire of missiles, which he launched at the assembled mares, who barely got out of the way in time. Twilight and Rarity retaliated with powerful beams of magic, which struck Hal right in the chest, sending him flying backwards into a nearby building.
“I’m just getting warmed up!” snarled the Sinestro Lantern, before firing his own beams of energy at Twilight and Rarity, sending them flying backwards onto the pavement.
Rainbow Dash attempted to bum rush the Sinestro Lantern again, but this time Hal was ready for her, and summoned a glowing yellow brick wall between them which Rainbow Dash crashed into head-on, leaving a bunch of the brick to break loose leaving a Rainbow Dash shaped indent.
“That had to hurt.” Hal said as he dismissed the wall and grabbed her head, “Now let's see what you fear most.” he said as his ring glowed revealing her deepest, darkest fear. Hal’s eyes widened before they narrowed, “You've got to be kidding me.” he said as he was kicked away by Rainbow Dash who had regained consciousness.
“Get out of my head,” snarled Rainbow Dash, who was feeling incredibly vulnerable at the moment.
“If you don't like that, then you're going to hate this.” Hal said as he summoned several smiling flower Constructs. “Or rather, you'll fear this.” The Lantern said as they began to sing an incredibly cutesy song.
“We are such happy flowers. We will now sing for hours! Aren't we unbearably cute?” They all sang before one pulled out a flute and sang alone.
“Watch me solo on jazz flute.” it finished before it played the instrument.
Everyone present was confused before Rainbow started to panic like it was straight out of her worst nightmare. A wicked grin formed on the Sinestro Lantern’s face, right before Pinkie Pie fired her cannon, which sent a big wad of cake batter at him.
“Seriously?” Hal asked himself before he got hit by the batter.
The rest of the Elements looked at Pinkie who looked as confused as them. “Strange, I coulda sworn I put confetti in this one. Oh well.”
“ENOUGH!” yelled the Sinestro Lantern in anger as he rose into the air again. “I’ll show you what real terror is!”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than his suit began to flicker and fade as he sank lower, before finally it disappeared completely and sent him sprawling to the ground.
Twilight and the others walked up to Hal, expressions of pure anger on their faces.
“Damn… must not have had a full charge…” Hal muttered to himself as he picked himself off the ground. “Doesn’t matter, I can still take you on!”
Hal then proceeded to attempt to bum rush Applejack, who simply mule-kicked him as he approached, sending him sprawling to the pavement and knocking him unconscious.
“Well,” said Rarity. “That escalated quickly… then ended abruptly.”
Rainbow Dash picked herself up off the ground, although she still looked very shaken. “Wh-what do you suppose caused him to… short out, I guess?” she asked the others.
“I don't know Rainbow, but for now we have to take him into custody. Maybe Princess Celestia or Princess Luna have an idea.”
“Ah know one thing fer certain, he ain't from nowhere in Equestria,” said Applejack.
“Hey, girls! Check this out!” called Pinkie Pie, swinging what appeared to be a yellow lantern of some kind as she skipped over.
“Pinkie Pie, where in Equestria did you get that tacky thing?” asked Rarity.
“I found it over by Fluttershy. Maybe this thing charges that guy’s batteries or something,” said Pinkie.
Twilight stared at Pinkie, “It's a lantern,” she said
“So?” Pinkie said, still smiling.
Twilight shook her head and turned back to the unconscious Sinestro Lantern, before looking at the damaged city, “We need to do damage control, I'll contact the Princess after we've fixed the damage.”
In Brightest Night, In Darkest Day
Interrogation and An Offer
In Canterlot there was a marvelous castle, home of the diarchy of Celestia and Luna, and below the castle was a small prison. Inside that prison, Hal Jordan was beginning to stir. Finally regaining consciousness, Hal noticed two things. One, he had a TREMENDOUS headache. And two, he was hanging by his wrists in a cell. A quick glance at his hand revealed that he was still wearing his Power Ring, but the lack of a glow indicated that it was about as useful as carmel at the moment due to a lack of energy.
Damn, thought Hal. And I suppose these creatures did something with my Power Battery.
The cell door clicked open and three more of the creatures entered. Two them were female and had powerfully built bodies, wings, and a horn. The third, however, seemed to be a male, and had only a horn, as well as an expression that indicated that the Sinestro Lantern was nothing more than a bit of slime on his boots.
“Captain Armor, please unlock his restraints. My sister and I wish to speak with him in the interrogation room.” said one of the... Pegacorns? All Hal could really make of her at the moment was that she had white fur.
“Yes Princess.” the unicorn said as he brought out a key and unlocked the shackles. Before Hal could do anything he slapped a pair of handcuffs over his wrists and started to lead Hal out of the cell. It didn't take long to get to the supposed “interrogation” room. After Captain Armor opened the door, Hal was pushed into a blank white room with a metal table and a bunch of motivational posters on the walls. One of them was a kitty hanging on a branch.
“Alright, I've waited long enough. What's with the look, pointy?” Hal asked the unicorn after he was seated at the table.
“I don’t know, what’s with you thinking you can get away with making threats against Canterlot and destroying cities?” replied the unicorn, contempt evident in his voice.
Hal laughed. “Oh, look at you, thinking you can instill fear in me. Hate to break it to you, but as of now, I do the instilling of fear around here,” he said with just as much contempt.
“Not from where I’m standing,” replied the unicorn, getting as close as he could to Hal’s face as he could. “If the reports are true, you may have done so while your batteries were charged, but what can you do now that they’re burnt out?”
“That reminds me, anybody seen a yellow lantern full of yellow energy? It should’ve been by that Fluttershy girl,” said Hal.
Before the stallion could say anything further, the female from before, who Hal could now see properly, had alabaster fur and flowing mane of blue, green, and pink wearing an elegant sun-golden dress with matching heels and a golden tiara with a purple gem inlaid into the center said, “Stand down, Shining Armor.”
Shining Armor took a breath and backed away as the mare who’d spoken walked up to Hal. “Do you know who I am?” she asked.
“Lady, I don’t even know where the Hell I am, so why would I know who you are?” asked Hal.
“Be silent, you-!”
“Captain Armor, that will be all. You may return to your fiancé now.”
“Yes, Princess,” Shining Armor said with reluctance. After he had left Hal decided to speak.
“I pity whoever is his fiancé.” He said causing the white Pegacorn to giggle.
“Oh, there's no need to worry. My niece has him on a rather short leash,” the white Pegacorn told him.
“Her bite must be worse than her bark,” said Hal with a small smile.
“Even Tirek would not want to be around her when she’s upset.”
“Who's Tirek?” Hal said more confused than before.
“Someone you will, hopefully, never meet.” the second Pegacorn said. She had dark blue fur, a shimmering navy blue mane that looked like the night sky itself, and wore a navy blue and black uniform of some kind with black leather heeled boots, a rapier at her side, and a black tiara on her head.
Must be a really bad whatever-he-is. thought Hal before deciding to get straight to the point, “So, you two lovely ladies wanted to know about me. Where I came from, who I am, what I am. Is that right?”
“Very astute observations Mister…?”
“Jordan, Hal Jordan.” Hal said as he mimicked a tip of his non-existent hat. “And as for what I am, let me answer your question with one of mine. Do you believe in life on other Planets?”
“You mean Extraequestrians?”
“No, I mean little things that hop about and deliver goodies. Of course I mean aliens,” said Hal in a way that surprised himself. Damn, who knew I could be such a deadpan snarker?
“Thou is speaking utter nonsense to us and our sister. The only life anywhere is here on Equis. Just as the only planet is Equis,” the dark blue Pegacorn said before her sister decided now would be a good time to bring her up to speed on modern Equis Astronomy.
“Actually Luna, that's not entirely accurate anymore.”
“And what does thou mean, dear sister?” Luna asked the taller Equestrian.
“Well, while you were gone many Equestrians, Pony and otherwise, have actually taken up Astronomy, which is the study of stars and of the sky at night. Two such individuals Gally Leo and his brother Gally Lei, twin Griffons from Griffonia, discovered four other moons orbiting a planet in a way that they seemed to be doing so by themselves. Afterwards, technology kept advancing time and again leading to the discovery of whole Solar Systems never before seen. Not even by ourselves. Sentient and sapient life being on at least one of them is not that farfetched,” explained the white Pegacorn.
“Um, I hate to interrupt this little lesson but, what do you mean by ‘seemed to be doing so by themselves’? Because the laws of gravity should apply throughout the universe, meaning this planet should be orbiting around the Sun due to the conflicting gravitational pulls of this planet and the sun, while the Moon orbits around this planet for the same reason,” said Hal, earning a couple of blank stares from the sisters. “And while we’re on the topic, who are you?”
The white Pegacorn smiled. “True, we haven’t introduced ourselves. I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and Princess of The Day. This is my younger sister, Luna, Princess of The Night,” said Celestia.
“But, if thou indeed were not talking nonsense before, then thou must be speaking it now. How is this gravity supposed to move planets and moons without magic?” asked Luna.
“Gravity is one of the fundamental forces of reality, it's what keeps us all from drifting off of the planet's surface into the cold reaches of the cosmos where many would not survive due to the severe lack of Oxygen that is produced from plant life found on a majority of the known planets because of the core of the planet. It’s like a magnet that's constantly pulling everything towards it. A planet’s core is what creates the gravitational pull and sometimes, in the case of the moon or moons and the star which you and the rest of the inhabitants of this world call the Sun, just their mass is what creates the intense pull. But, I think we’re getting off track here.” he said leaning forward as he spoke. “As I said before my name is Hal Jordan, I'm from a planet called Earth located in Space Sector Number 2814 out of 3600, which contains a lot of what I’ve seen here, except creatures like unicorns, pegasi, and pegacorns-”
“Alicorns, actually,” said Celestia.
“Alicorns,” said Hal with a nod. “Well, creatures like you are supposed to be the stuff of myth and legend, and on top of that, they usually don’t look like you.”
“And what, pray tell, do they look?” Celestia asked intrigued.
“Well, they're quadrupedal, first off.” said Hal, “And the females lack the, ahem, assets that you all seem to have.” Hal said gesturing to their chest areas.
“Fascinating.”
“Alright, let’s cut to the real reason you wanted to talk to me. Preferably without prying eyes.” he said as he got up, walked towards the hanging kitten poster, and tore it away revealing a hidden camera with a red light blinking.
Celestia and Luna shot each other a glance. “Wha-? How did you know?” said Celestia.
“If you’re going to hide a camera, make sure you hide it with the least obvious poster,” said Hal, before smashing the camera. “You want to know about my powers, don’t you?”
The sisters just nodded their heads, unable to form words due to the shock of their camera system being figured out by a stranger, an alien one at that, when so many others had most likely thought that there was not anything watching them in such an old room.
“Thought so,” Hal said as he sat back down in the chair and put his legs up onto the table, “Well ladies, you may want to take a seat because this may very well blow your minds out of the water.”
Hal waited until the sisters sat down in the other seats at the table, before beginning his tale. “To start, we have to go back to before the beginning of the universe, just before whatever cosmic beings decided to create life throughout the universe and began being called God, Goddess, or Gods and Goddesses. In the beginning there existed nothing but darkness. No stars to bring life or light, no planets or moons for species to live on and call home, just pitch black nothing. This nothing ruled itself in peace and, in its own way, it was happy. Until another entity appeared, one of blinding light and everlasting life, the new Entity unknowingly was pushing back against the original causing it to lose its own home. In anger and retaliation the dark Entity fought against its younger sister I guess you could call it for intruding upon its only home and taking what had belonged to it for so long. The younger Entity became sad that its elder was fighting against it for something outside its control and tried to placate the elder being, but it would have none of it. It felt that everything in sight belonged to it and demanded the younger being to vanish, to return from whence it came. But the younger Entity did not know where it came from, or how to return which only served to anger the dark Entity further causing the fight to escalate into a full blown war. For millennia the two fought each other until they wounded each other severely. The white Entity shattered into seven new beings, each one representing a color and a single emotion, while the dark one was put into its equivalent of a coma and was sealed away by the remaining will of the younger sibling in hopes that they could come to reach an understanding one day. The dark being was named Necroz, and the white Entity remained nameless in lore. As for the seven other entities, they each chose a name and learned of what they represent in time. Butcher the Entity of Red Light and Rage, Ophidian the Entity of Orange Light and Avarice, Parallax the Entity of Yellow Light and Fear, Ion the Entity of Green Light and Will Power, Adara the Entity of Blue Light and Hope, Proselyte the Entity of Indigo Light and Compassion, and finally Predator the Entity of Violet Light and Love.”
Hal then held up his hand, the one that bore his Power Ring. “See this ring? That’s the source of all my powers, and there are others who use the same power source as me, the Yellow Light of Fear. And there are six, maybe eight, other organizations that use the other colors and Emotions. Thing is, though, we can't use our powers without our ring having been charged by the Power Battery. That’s how Twilight and her friends beat me. My ring ran out of energy, and left me a sitting duck,” explained Hal.
Luna adopted a puzzled sort of look. “Thou say thy ring is fueled by fear, and yet thou certainly do not seem afraid. In fact, thou seem brimming with confidence,” she said.
“An easy mistake to make,” said Hal with a nod. “But what really gives me my strength is the ability to instill fear in others. The better mastery of fear the users of rings like mine have, the more powerful they are.”
Celestia nudged her younger sister with a smile. “Perhaps you should get yourself one of those yellow rings, Luna. Especially considering what Twilight told me about last Nightmare Night,” she said.
“While I am interested in learning more about the possible holiday you call Nightmare Night, I will tell you now I would highly advise against joining the Sinestro Corp, as most of the members are insane, murderers, or the worst beings imaginable. Only a handful are respectable beings in their own right, me and the Corp’s founder Thaal Sinestro being two of them.” Hal said with grim seriousness.
“Oookay…” said Luna. “Thou said thou needed something called a ‘Power Battery’ to make thy ring work. What doth that look like?”
“The Power Battery looks something like a railway lantern, only it’s pure yellow and the closer you get to it the more afraid you feel when it’s active.” explained Hal.
“I see…” said Celestia. “Well, I think that’s about everything I need, so Luna, you want to go ahead and do your bit?” She said turning to her sister.
“What bit?” asked Hal, confused.
“We have a proposition for thee Sir Jordan.”
“What sort of a proposition?” Hal asked cautiously.
“We wish for you to become something akin to a knight, loyal to only me and the Night Guard.”
“Like a mercenary or an assassin?”
“No, like a knight who pledges themselves to a noblestallion or noblemare until the end of their days.”
“So you want me to serve you, until I die in battle or by natural means? Is that right?”
“Verily.”
“No.” Hal said causing Luna to huff in disappointment.
“Tis a shame. And here we were going to use this opportunity to give thee leeway with the other Nobles and lessen the sentence they have chosen to bestow upon thee for thou’s crimes.” Luna said as she started to get up, “If thou wishes to remain imprisoned until thy death sentence is carried out then so be it.”
This is reminding me of the Suicide Squad scenario, thought Hal. “Alright, I'll do it. But there will be rules. First, I don't unjustly kill. I will injure and terrify, but I will never kill those who do not deserve it. Second, I am not someone who will do whatever you say, whenever you say it, if the order you give me goes against my moral code I will not follow it. Third, I'm guessing there will be others joining in on this ‘Knight’s Order’ you're gathering, so if I'm the first one I'm the leader and I pick who gets added. Finally, if I find out that you or someone under Celestia or you have implanted an explosive anywhere in or on the Order’s bodies, I will personally take that pony and make him or her live out their worst nightmare until they can no longer feel fear, in a bad way. Is my side of this negotiation understood your highness?”
Luna and Celestia glanced at each other. “Yes…” said Luna uneasily.
“Then we don’t have a problem,” said Hal. “My first order of business, before I do any sort of missions, however, is to find my Power Battery, otherwise I’m about as useful as a normal guard. I wouldn’t be surprised if Twilight or another one of those mares from Ponyville has it.”
“Fair enough,” said Luna with a nod. “Once thy Power Battery has been returned to thee, thy first assignment is to provide extra security detail for Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s marriage.”
Celestia nodded. “As Shining Armor mentioned earlier, a threat has been made against Canterlot. I wouldn’t be surprised if some, if not all of the Nobles who passed down your sentence believed you to be the one behind it. Your task is to find out who’s really behind it and put a stop to them,” she said.
“Sounds like fun,” said Hal, standing up as the Princesses did the same, before shaking each of their hands.
“Well then, I think that’s all. Luna will show you to your quarters,” said Celestia.
“Follow me, please,” said Luna.
Hal nodded and followed Luna out of the interrogation room.
Author's Note
Well, that took a little trial and error, but in the end, I got this puppy uploaded, so hooray! Anyways, that's all for today, kiddies! Be sure to fav, follow, like, and comment! And remember: dying is easy, comedy is hard!
In Brightest Night, In Darkest Day
Twilight Sparkle and her friends made their way through the halls and corridors of Canterlot Castle. The yellow lantern was swinging in Pinkie Pie’s hand as she skipped merrily along behind her friends. Rainbow Dash was rubbing out her ear to try and get it to stop ringing from Twilight’s lecture. Twilight was reading a book on the cosmos and theories of life on other planets. Fluttershy was twirling her mane in her usual shy way, Rarity was working on a design in her notebook, Spike was carrying Rarity’s shopping bags, and Applejack was just walking along.
“I can't believe how loud you can yell egghead.” Rainbow Dash finally said when she got her hearing back.
“Maybe I wouldn't have yelled at you if you had just let us talk to him!”
“He had Flutters in a weird bubble thing and was attacking ponies!”
“He came to get Fluttershy to a hospital, although it was unneeded, and was shot at by the police officers first, he was only acting in self-defense. If you hadn't attacked him we would have defused the situation peacefully!” Twilight said turning to Rainbow Dash with a very angry, and disappointed look on her face.
As they rounded the corner, they arrived at a pair of large doors, which Twilight pushed open. On the other side of the doors was a vast room with a throne at the far end. Standing in the middle of it was Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and…
“You!” Rainbow cried out as Hal walked up to them with a smile.
“Hello, ladies,” said Hal “I’ll be taking my Power Battery back now.”
“Power Battery? What are you talking about?” asked Rainbow.
“The lantern, smart-ass. It charges my ring so I can use my powers.”
Twilight and the others turned to stare at Pinkie who had a knowing smile on her face. “Told you.” she said as she skipped over to Hal, “Here you go Mister Jordan.”
Hal froze up at that because he had never told them his name. “How did you...” Hal began to ask before he shook his head. “Nevermind I don't want to know,” he said taking the lantern back. Hal then proceeded to stick the hand that had his ring on it inside the lantern before pulling it back out again, still dead. Confuses Hal placed it back in the Lantern and waited for a bit before pulling it back out again. Hal just stares at it in confusion, “What is wrong with this thing?”
“Maybe you have to speak some kinda super special oath? Like a superhero!”
“Pinkie, he's not Radiance from the Power Pon-” Spike said before Hal said something that made them ‘shonfused’, as a certain pink mare would say.
“Knew I was forgetting something,” said Hal. Now what to say? I can't use the normal oath, that'll just make things worse. Got it. he thought before clearing his throat.
“In Brightest Night, In Darkest Day.” Hal said as the lantern began to glow. ”We use the fear you kept at bay,” He continued as his eyes began to glow,”To fight the wrong and make evil pay,” now the lantern’s light was nearly blinding, “Sinestro’s path, it is our way!”
Everyone just stood gawking at him as he removed his fully covered hand from the Battery.
“What?” Hal asked as he looked at the stunned faces. “Is there something on my face? A pimple, a zit? Did my suit change at all?” Hal, now clad in his Sinestro Lantern uniform, asked the group before the scaly being in front of him started to squeal like a girl.
“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” he said with his hands at the sides of his face. “That was AWESOME! You're just like one of those superheroes in the comic books!”
“Comic books?” Hal asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah. Especially Radiance who's a part of the Radiance Alliance, she can create and control constructs that are formed from the gemstones on her costume. In order to use her powers she, usually, has to speak the Oath of the Alliance.” Spike continued before clearing his throat, “In times of doubt, and times of passion,” Hal's eyes rose in shock at this as Spike continued to recite the Oath, “There is always time for fashion. Not cloudy day, or starless night, Will keep us from our joyous right. We ask for those that have the sight, To help us now with radiant light!”
“Wow… that’s actually pretty spot-on with most Lantern Corps Oaths formats… except for the Orange one,” said Hal, before reciting the oath, ”What's mine is mine, and mine and mine. And mine and mine and mine! NOT YOURS!”
Spike, Rainbow, and Pinkie couldn’t help but chuckle at the oath.
“Now, to check where I am.” he said as he raised his ring to his lips, “Ring, what Sector am I in?”
Space Sector unknown. The ring replied. This made Hal incredibly worried so he asked another question.
“What Sector is the closest to this one?”
Space Sector Zero, Oa.
“Oh, crap,” said Hal, his concern starting to increase. If the Green Lantern Corps finds out about this sector and finds out about me, all Hell’s gonna break loose… especially if the real Hal Jordan’s here, he thought.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Space Sector? Oa? What’s that thing talking about?” she asked.
Hal heaved a sigh and began to tell the Mane 6 the same story he told the Princesses earlier. As Hal continued his story, Rainbow yawned loudly more than once, a clear sign that she was bored. The rest of the group on the other hand, particularly Twilight, whose mind was absorbing all this information like a sponge, listened intently.
“Oa, is the headquarters and originator of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force that succeeded the Manhunters, robotic beings bent on following their programming to uphold the law at any cost even killing if they break the law more than once. The Sinestro Corp, which I belong to, are their greatest rivals and the only thing that can make their powers useless as the Green Lanterns run on the Emerald Light of Will, and the Yellow Light of Fear can break that will,” he said before the rainbow maned pegasus tried to attack him.
“I knew it! You are a bad guy!”
“Rainbow, we wouldn’t want to have another encounter with those flowers, would we? And this time, you won’t just be scared… you’ll be scarred,” said Hal.
At the mention of the flowers, all of Rainbow’s bravado disappeared. “O-okay, m-maybe I’m jumping the gun a bit here, m-maybe you’re not such a bad guy after all,” said Rainbow nervously backing away from him slowly before she sped back to her friends and hid behind Fluttershy, shaking and shivering.
“Now as I was saying, the creators of the Green Lantern Corp and the reason most of the Corps exist are the Guardians. They’re these short, big-headed, robe-wearing, alien beings that have lived for over hundreds of thousands of years. They decided to create a law force meant to govern the entirety of our universe due to how chaotic they saw it. Because of how vast it was they had to split it into 3600 Space Sectors with Oa their home planet, and the tip of each Sector as Sector 0. As I said before, their first attempt was a legion of emotionless robotic warriors named the Manhunters who would follow the rules and regulations of each planet and star system they were based at. Unfortunately being emotionless caused them to not know right from wrong, leading to an entire Sector being eradicated except for one being,” Twilight, and the rest present had horrified looks on their faces with Fluttershy crying for those lost lives, “it was this horror that caused the Guardians to shut down the Manhunters and try to find an alternative way of protecting the Sectors. In their search they discovered the Green Light of Will Power and created technology to harness that light, resulting in the Central Power Battery which holds all of the Light and its Entity, Ion.”
“But if these here Guardian fellers made the Green Lanterns, how did these Sinestro characters come ‘bout?” Applejack asked.
“The Sinestro Corp came into existence when a member of the Green Lanterns, Thaal Sinestro, began to believe the Green Lanterns and their ways were not getting the job done and so he kidnapped a member of an alien race named Qwardians, as they come from a planet called Qward, and had him forge a ring and battery that ran on the Yellow Light of Fear, later he had the Qwardians make a Central Power Battery to house the Entity of Fear Parallax. When he found out that he began to lose against the Green Lanterns through number he made his own Corp comprised mostly of the most vile beings you could find. Prisoners, killers, thieves, even a sentient virus,” this tidbit of information made them even more shocked before Hal continued his explanation, “there are however some respectable members of the Corp, me for one, the Corp Founder Sinestro himself, Arkillo, a rich playboy billionaire named Bruce Wayne, and those are just the ones on top of my head.”
“You just said he kidnapped an innocent being, made an army out of the worst things imaginable, and now you're saying this Sinestro creep, is a good guy!” Rainbow all but yelled at him, her bravado now back in full swing.
“Well I might have gone off the deep end too if my wife was murdered when it could have been stopped.”That got everyone's gaze to soften and caused Fluttershy to start crying again, while Hal just thought I really hope I'm not messing up anything, I'm not even sure if what I'm saying is right or not here.
“Anyways, let’s get down to business. I’m working for Princess Luna now, and she’s assigned me to security detail for Captain Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s wedding. Something about a threat that’s been made against Canterlot. Not my fault, by the way,” said Hal, giving Rainbow a stern look as she glared at him.
“That reminds me, I need to have a word with Shining Armor about this,” said Twilight turning around to go after her brother.
“Be sure to make him deaf. I would if I wasn't told my older sibling was engaged until the day of the wedding.” Hal said back to her causing her to stop walking and turn around.
“How did you know he was my brother?”
“Because of how mad you are. The only time I saw that kind of face was in a cartoon, you even have smoke leaking out your ears.”
She really did.
…
Later on in the day, Hal found himself searching for any sign of the threat he was supposed to be on the lookout for when he accidentally bumped into someone.
“Ouch! Watch where you’re going!” snapped the pony who Hal had bumped into, who was a pink anthro alicorn princess wearing a violet dress, golden heels, and a small crown that somehow reminded Hal of a jester. The pony stood there and looked Hal up and down. “And what are you supposed to be?” she demanded.
“Hal Jordan, ma’am. I serve Princess Luna and I’m in charge of security,” explained Hal, with a small bow. “Who are you?”
“Chr- Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” said Mi Amore indignantly. “If you’re in charge of security, I suggest you get to it.”
Yeesh. She’s a bitch… but it almost sounded like she was going to say something else… thought Hal. “Of course, ma’am. Give your fiance my regards.”
With a mere thought, Hal pushed himself into the air. Mi Amore’s jaw dropped when she saw the Sinestro Lantern soar like an eagle.
Now, if I was something that was threatening where would I be? Considering I hardly know anything about this place that's going to be harder to figure out. Hal thought to himself before he held his head in annoyance, “I can't think. If I was smart about this threat thing it would be saying there's a threat against me when there isn't and actually be the one behind a much larger thre-, wait, I think I've got it!” Hal said as he stopped flying, and just hovered in the air. “Princess Cadenza started to say something different than what she told me, almost as if she wasn't who she said she was so she's either being controlled, a fake, or is just a really manipulative mare. I gotta get back there in case either of the former are what's going on.” he said as he readjusted his flight path back towards the castle.
…
Later that evening, Twilight and her friends were getting ready for bed. The wedding rehearsal was the following day and she wanted to be up bright and early for it. However, something was bothering her about her old foalsitter’s behavior today. It was almost as if she had become a completely different pony since she’d last seen her. She had been down right disrespectful towards Rarity when she’d shown her the bridesmaids dresses, thrown away the snack bag that Applejack had made for her, and insulted Pinkie’s party decorations.
But her friends didn’t seem to mind one bit, worst of all is Cadence seemed to have completely forgotten about her, she didn't even remember their special greeting. Even Celestia didn't think anything was wrong with Cadence when she was probably the one who had the most contact with her, apart from Shining Armor.
“Just let it go, okay, Twilight?” said Rainbow Dash with a big yawn. “She’s probably just super stressed about her wedding. We’ll all be super stressed if we don’t get to sleep.”
“Rainbow Dash is right,” said Rarity. “I simply must have my beauty sleep, especially considering that not only do I have to finish changing the color of the bridesmaid’s dresses, I have to make a suit for that Sinestro character. I simply refuse to let him wear that ghastly yellow getup during the wedding.”
As if on cue, the Sinestro Lantern appeared just outside the bedroom window and tapped on the glass. Twilight went over and opened the window allowing the Lantern entrance to the room.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked him as he landed in the room.
“I overheard what you six were saying, and I think you’re right, Twilight. When I spoke to Cadenza earlier today, she started to say a different name, before she switched to her own. I think your brother’s fiancee might not be who she says she is.” Hal told the worried mare in front of him.
“Pfft. Whatever,” said Rainbow, rolling over in her bed to face away from the Lantern.
“I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation. Perhaps she was just tired or something,” said Rarity also dismissing the Sinestro Lantern’s words of warning, “She is about to be a married mare, and a Princess at that. The amount of stress she must be under would be positively enormous darling.” she told him as she lowered her sleeping mask over her eyes.
Twilight on the other hand nodded in agreement. “If you’re right, we have to warn my brother immediately,” she said.
“All right, let’s go,” said Hal, following Twilight out of the room.
…
Not long afterwards, The Sinestro Lantern and Twilight were not far from Cadence and Shining Armor’s bedroom. Twilight knocked on the door. “Shining Armor! I need to talk to you,” she said.
“Just a minute, Twily!” called Shining Armor as the door creaked open a little, allowing Twilight and Hal to peer inside and listen in on Cadenza and Shining Armor’s conversation.
“You’re not seriously going to wear that to the wedding, are you?” said Cadenza in a snippy tone.
“It belonged to my uncle,” said Shining Armor in an agitated tone of voice.
Cadenza gasped like Shining Armor had just slapped her across the face. “Are you arguing with me?” she said.
“Yeah, I guess I am!” said Shining Armor, before he doubled over in pain and held his head.
“Oh, the headaches again?” asked Cadenza as her horn lit up with an unnatural green aura and struck Shining Armor in the horn, causing his eyes to turn green and go crossed.
“All better?’ asked Cadenza, and Shining Armor nodded like a wind up toy soldier.
Twilight let out an audible gasp of shock and nudged Hal into running for it. Hal nodded in understanding and mere seconds later they were both heading towards who they thought would believe them, Celestia, for Twilight, and Luna, for Hal.
…
“Luna! I desperately need to speak with you!” Hal said urgently as he flew down to the throne room, before he passed Luna’s bedroom seeing something stuck to her door. Hal tried to stop as soon as he could, only to fail and wind up tumbling into a wall.
“Need to work on my sudden stops,” Hal muttered as he made his way back to Luna’s room and found that the something was a note addressed to him.
Sinestro Lantern, I am going to be gone for a maximum of two days to see if the castle I once shared with my elder sister in what is now the Everfree Forest is liveable, and if not, see what can be salvaged from its remains. Unfortunately I will be unable to contact anyone, and be contacted, because I seemed to have misplaced the journal I used to send messages to my sister a while ago, if you happen to come across it then I will be eternally grateful. The book is bound in a material that shares my coat color, and bears my Cutie Mark on its front.
Sincerely, Princess Luna
“Son of a goat,” muttered Hal. Luna was gone. “Hopefully Twilight’s had better luck with Celestia.”
…
The following morning, the whole castle was abuzz for the wedding rehearsal. Apparently, as a reward for all their hard work, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash,, and Applejack had been made bridesmaids, but no one really seemed to know what happened to the original bridesmaids, which didn’t bode well with Hal. On top of that, he hadn’t seen Twilight all day, which didn’t exactly help him feel any better.
Celestia, meanwhile, was directing the wedding rehearsal like a director would a movie or play, while Hal lurked off to the side overseeing things, clad in a sleek black tuxedo with his Power Ring in his tailcoat pocket, his hand resting on it just in case.
“Perfect, girls, no need to rush,” said Celestia as the newly-appointed bridesmaids made their way towards the alter. “Then, of course, Cadence will enter.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than the large doors leading into the throne room opened, revealing Cadence, who casually entered the room with all the elegance and grace expected by a Princess on her wedding day.
“Then, I’ll say a few words, and then we’ll begin with the vows. Shining, you’ll get the ring from your best mare,” continued Celestia as Shining Armor turned around.
Only to find that instead of Twilight with the wedding rings behind him, it was Spike playing with the wedding cake dolls.
“Hey… has anypony seen Twilight today?” asked Shining Armor, sounding a little worried as he spoke.
Almost as if on cue, an aura of pink magic enveloped the throne room doors, which opened to reveal a very unhappy Twilight.
“I’m here!” the lavender sorceress shouted. “I’m not going to stand next to her, and neither should you!”
Both Hal and Shining Armor looked rather uncomfortable with Twilight’s outburst. Pulling himself together, Shining Armor gave his fiance an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why she’s acting this way,” he told her.
“Maybe we should just ignore her,” suggested Cadenza with a contemptuous look on her face.
“You have to listen to me!” shouted Twilight as Fluttershy and Applejack made their way over to her.
“Oh, goodness, are you okay?” asked Fluttershy.
“I’m fine,” said Twilight.
“Ya sure about that?” asked Applejack, to which Twilight said nothing, but rather used her magic to stuff Applejack’s hat against her face before she continued her rant.
“I’ve got something to say,” said Twilight as she walked right past her friends and pointed a finger at Cadenza, while Hal desperately made ‘cut it out’ signs across his neck. “She’s evil!”
Hal smacked a hand on his forehead and muttered, “Oh, here we go,” under his breath while the rest of the wedding cast and the two guards at the front door made it very clear that they didn’t take Twilight’s accusation very lightly.
“She’s been horrible to my friends,” said Twilight as she teleported behind Cadenza and advanced on her. “She’s obviously done something to her bridesmaids, and as if that wasn’t enough, Hal and I saw her put a spell on my brother that made his eyes go all,” continued Twilight, ending her sentence by making a goofy face.
Everyone in the room glared at Hal, apparently seeking confirmation. Hal held up his hands defensively. “Whoa, don’t look at me. I did see Cadneza put a spell on Shining Armor that made him go wall-eyed, but I don’t know anything about magic, so I’m thinking it was just a side-effect of a spell some kinda healing spell. I know nothing about magic, so I can’t say for sure, and Luna is out of the castle, so I can’t ask her about it, so… yeah,” he said.
Cadenza, for her part, was looking very much hurt as Twilight glared at her with a victorious smirk on her face.
“Why are you doing this to me?!” Cadenza wailed as tears began to well up in her eyes.
“Because you’re evil!” said Twilight just before Cadenza ran out of the room crying her head off. Twilight teleported behind her. “Evil! And if I don’t stop you, you’re going to ruin my brother’s life!” she called after the fleeing Cadenza.
As she turned to rejoin the rest of the wedding party, Twilight walked directly into a very unhappy-looking Shining Armor.
“You want to know why my eyes went all,” said Shining Armor, before he made the same face that Twilight had made earlier, before holding his head in pain for a second. “It’s because ever since I’ve started having to perform my protection spell, I’ve been getting these horrible migraines! And she replaced her bridesmaids because she found out that the only reason they wanted to be in the wedding, was so that they could meet Canterlot royalty! And the reason she hasn’t been on her best behavior with your friends, is because with me being so busy, she’s had to make all the decisions about the wedding!”
“I-I’m sorry, I was just trying to-” stammered Twilight before her brother cut her short with his own rant.
“She’s been so stressed out because it’s really important to her that our big day be perfect! Something that obviously isn’t important to you!” said Shining Armor, before he held his head in pain once more. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and comfort my bride,” Shining told his sister as he brushed past her. “You can forget about being my best mare. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn’t even bother showing up at all!”
Twilight could only stare after her brother, feeling both heartbroken and incredibly guilty about what she’d done.
“Come on, y’all. Let’s go and check on the Princess,” said Applejack as she and her extremely disappointed friends walked past her, not even bothering to look at her.
“I’ll stay here,” said Hal as Celestia walked past Twilight, who tried to say something, only to be drowned out by Celestia telling her that she had a lot to think about. But unknown to everyone Hal noticed a small green glow in Celestia’s eyes.
“Well… that went well,” said Hal as he walked up to Twilight. “What were you thinking, shouting accusations about Cadenza like that? We needed evidence, proof that there was something off about her. But… I thought I saw something in Celestia’s eyes.”
“Something like what, exactly?”
Hal and Twilight turned around to find Cadenza standing there. Hal frowned at Cadenza’s sudden re-appearance. How did she get there? he thought, his hand drifting toward the pocket his Power Ring was in.
Twilight ran up to her former foalsitter and through her arms around her. “I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry!” she wailed as Cadenza stroked her mane, before an evil look appeared on her face as her horn lit up with the same sinister green color as before.
“You will be,” she whispered, before green flames surrounded both Twilight and Hal, before engulfing them both completely, causing them both to pass out.
…
Hal groaned as he began to regain consciousness. He quickly came to realize that he was lying on some kind of stone surface. Pulling himself off the ground, Hal fished the Power Ring out of his pocket and slipped it on his finger, donning his Sinestro Lantern costume once more and illuminating the area, revealing it to be some sort of cave with reflective walls of some kind. Lying on the ground nearby was Twilight.
“Hey, Twilight, wake up,” said the Sinestro Lantern as he nudged the unconscious unicron into waking up.
“Ugh… what happened?” asked Twilight as her eyes fluttered open and she looked around the area. “Where are we?”
“The caves beneath Canterlot,” said Cadenza as her image appeared in a nearby wall, an unearthly green glow surrounding it. “Once home to greedy unicorns who wanted to claim the gems that could be found inside. And now, your prison.”
Hal snarled in rage as he fired an energy blast at Cadenza’s image, only for it to vanish as it came closer to the reflective surface. Hal was shocked at what had just happened.
“Huh. That’s interesting. Looks like your precious little ring won’t be helping you escape, so I’d get comfortable. I have a ring of my own to try on, after all,” Cadenza said as Twilight fired her own beam of energy at the image, only for it to go bouncing off the wall. Hal summoned a metal dome construct to protect himself, only to find that it too fizzled and faded away, forcing Hal to hop around from foot to foot to avoid the rebounding blast, until it demolished a nearby wall, revealing Cadenza. Their captor exposed, Twilight tackled Cadenza and held her down getting ready to clock her one, while the Sinestro Lantern approached them, his ring raised to contain the fight, or end the threat once and for all.
“And the quarterback is toast,” said Hal as he glared down at Cadenza, before he realized that there was something different about her. The mare before her seemed filthy, starving, and weak, while the Cadenza he’d met earlier seemed much more powerful and healthy.
“Wait, Twilight! It’s me! The real Cadence!” Cadenza said, clearly frightened.
“‘The real Cadence?’ What, so the Cadenza who locked me and Twilight down here is some kind of imposter? Are we supposed to believe that?” said Hal, his ring still poised as Twilight looked disbelievingly at her
“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hands and do a little shake,” sang Cadence, with Twilight joining in towards the end.
“Cadence!” said Twilight as she embraced Cadence like a sister. “You remember me!”
“Of course. How could I forget the filly I loved to sit for the most? Mind telling me who your friend is there?” said Cadence.
“Name’s Hal, Hal Jordan,” said Hal before explaining what had transpired recently, as short and quickly as he could. Once he finished, he addressed his Ring. “Which reminds me, Ring, why have all of my constructs and energy blasts been destabilizing?”
Large amounts of Hope and Will detected within the caverns. Unable to properly and successfully create stable Fear Constructs.
“Can you pinpoint the source?”
Negative, both sources spread throughout the entirety of this cavern system.
“Can you at least make an educated guess from a similar situation?”
There is a possibility that the crystals within this cave system are created from solidified Hope and Will. There has already been a situation where the Light of Fear has been contained within a crystal-like state, there is not much evidence to assume the other Lights cannot have similar situations occur.
“Great, so until we get out of this cavern I can't make a Construct for more than a few seconds.”
Affirmative.
“Well, looks like I’m not going to be much help getting out of here. Hope you two have something in mind,” said Hal.
Twilight and Cadence glanced at each other. “As a matter of fact, we might,” said Twilight.
…
...
“Then, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you-”
“STOP!”
Everyone in the room gasped loudly and looked towards the entrance to the throne room. Standing in the doorway was none other than Twilight Sparkle, and with her was the Sinestro Lantern.
Mi Amore growled in frustration. “Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?!” she snarled before tears welled up in her eyes. “Why does she have to ruin my special day?!”
“Because it’s not your special day!”
Everyone gasped at again at the sight of what was unmistakably an exact double of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, except she was looking a little battered, dirty, and seemed to have missed several decent meals.
“It’s mine!” said Princess Cadence.
“What?! But how did you escape my bridesmaids?!” demanded Cadenza.
Twilight, Sinestro Lantern, and Cadence all looked at each other, smirks on their faces.
…
Forty-five minutes earlier…
Sinestro Lantern, Cadence, and Twilight made their way around a corner in the caverns.
“I can see light! We’re almost home free!” Hal called to the others before they found their path blocked by who Hal immediately recognized as the former bridesmaids. But, their eerie green glow in their eyes suggested they might not be themselves at the moment.
“You’re not going anywhere,” the three bridesmaids said as they marched onto Hal, Cadence, and Twilight. Thinking quickly, Hal created a construct of a flower bouquet and held it out in front of the hypnotized bridesmaids, before giving to Cadence, who turned around and threw it over her head.
“It’s mine! I want it!” the bridesmaids shouted as they dove after the construct.
…
“Hmph, clever. But you’re still too late!” snarled Cadenza.
“Ah don’t understand, how can there be two of ‘em?” said Applejack in utter confusion.
“She’s a Changeling! She takes the form of someone you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them!” explained Cadence.
“Where I’m from, there are so many wrong ways that could be interpreted,” Hal muttered under his breath.
Green flames suddenly surrounded Cadenza before they rose high enough to touch the ceiling. Once the flames had died down, where Cadenza once stood was now what appeared to be some kind of insect pony with long teal hair, jet-black skin, and green snake-like eyes wearing form fitting greenish black body armor and a small crown of her head.
“Mwah ha ha ha ha ha! Right you are, Princess!” said Queen Chrysalis, her voice dripping with venom and menace as she made her way to Cadence. The Sinestro Lantern took a defensive stance as she did. “And as Queen of the Changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects! Equestria has more love than any place I’ve ever encountered! My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we have ever dreamed of!”
“They’ll never get the chance!” spat Cadence. “Shining Armor’s protection spell will keep them from ever even reaching us!”
Chrysalis chuckled. “Oh, I doubt that. Isn’t that right, dear?” she said, her horn glowing a sinister green color.
“Mm-hmm…” said Shining Armor, nodding his head like a wind-up toy soldier.
A look of shock appeared on Cadence’s face for a brief moment before the young Princess attempted to get to Shining Armor, and Sinestro Lantern made ready to fight.
“I’ll teach you fear!” Hal cried as he charged up his ring.
“Ah, ah, ah,” said Chrysalis, standing in front of Cadence, who froze in her tracks, and fired a warning shot at Hal, which missed him by inches. “Don’t want to go back to the caves now, do we?” Chrysalis then returned to Shining Armor’s side. “Ever since I took your place, I’ve been feeding off of Shining Armor’s love for you. Every moment he grows weaker, and so does his spell. Even now, my minions are chipping away at it.”
Everyone’s heads immediately turned upward, as though they could gaze past the the high ceiling and see the swarm of human-insect hybrids trying to break through the shield, and in Hal’s case, he could. That’s a LOT of bugs, he thought.
Chrysalis let out another evil laugh. “He may not be my husband, but he IS under my total control now,” she said, causing Twilight and Cadence to gasp in horror. “And I’m sorry to say unable to perform his duties as Captain of the Royal Guard!”
“Not my Shining Armor!” cried Cadence.
“Soon, my Changeling Army will break through. First we take Canterlot, then all of Equestria!” said Chrysalis as she took to the air.
“No. You won’t.”
Chrysalis looked down to find Princess Celestia glaring up at her, a powerful aura of heat coming from her as she rose up to face the Changeling Queen.
“You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self, I can protect my subjects from you!”
On that last word, Princess Celestia’s horn glowed as she fired a beam of golden energy at Chrysalis, who countered with a beam of her own green magic. For the better part of a few minutes, Celestia and Chrysalis were deadlocked, until Chrysalis’ magic began to overpower Celestia’s, before finally the attack made contact.
The sound of Celestia’s tiara hitting the ground was heard by everybody in the room as Princess Celestia landed painfully on the ground, among the horrified gasps of the onlookers.
“Princess Celestia!” cried Twilight as she, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Sinestro Lantern ran to her aid.
“Shining Armor’s love for you is even stronger than I thought… consuming it has made me even stronger than Celestia!” snarled Chrysalis triumphantly.
“The Elements of Harmony… you must get to them, and use their power… to defeat the Queen!” Celestia instructed Twilight.
“I’ll keep her and her minions busy while you get them. Now, go!” said Hal
With a quick glance at one another, The Elements of Harmony dashed out of the room to get changed out of their dresses and into their regular clothes before they tried to save Equestria.
Chrysalis chuckled evilly as she watched them go. “You can run, but you can’t hide!” she called after them.
With a determined look on his face, Sinestro Lantern took to the air to confront Queen Chrysalis.
“So… Hal, was it?” said Chrysalis, contempt in her voice as she and the Sinestro Lantern circled each other in the air. “Do you really think you can defeat me all by yourself, when I’ve more power than Princess Celestia herself?”
“Yes… and if you surrender peacefully now, I promise that I will spare your life and sanity,” said Hal.
Chrysalis hesitated for a moment, her own fear of what this creature could do to her holding her back. Finally, mustering what confidence she could, she spoke. “It’s too late for that now. I’ve gone too far to stop, and I refuse to allow some mutated monkey to foil my plans now. Equestria will be mine!”
With her last word, Chrysalis fired a blast of green energy at the Sinestro Lantern, who countered with a yellow blast of his own, resulting in another deadlock.
“Very well then. You will die screaming!” snarled Hal as he broke free of the deadlock and created a few rocket constructs, which he launched at the Changeling Queen, who only barely evaded the attack in time before she counter by using her magic to levitate a few of the wedding guests and throwing them at Hal.
“I didn’t sign up for this!” cried one of the guests as Chrysalis threw him at Hal.
“MY FATHER IS A CONGRESSPONY!” screamed a second.
“Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!” said a third, apparently having decided to make the best out of the situation.
Hal was able to catch most of the ponies Chrysalis threw at him, except for one unicorn with a white coat and a blonde mane and tail wearing a black tux with a rose in one of the buttonholes, who hit the wall directly behind Hal, and painfully slid down said wall. That had to hurt, and I should at least feel sorry, but I am somehow literally incapable of feeling anything towards him. …strange.
Almost as if on cue, the sound of breaking glass reached Hal’s ears, causing him to look out the window to see that Shining Armor’s shield was breaking like glass. Unfortunately for Hal, that gave Chrysalis the opening she needed to fire a blast that hit Hal full in the chest and caused him to slam against the wall, knocking him out of the air and land hard on the ground.
“Ha!” shouted Chrysalis triumphantly as Hal struggled to pull himself up to his feet, right before a small group of what Hal assumed were Changeling Drones of some kind.
“Deal with him! And someone contain Celestia while you’re at it!” commanded Chrysalis.
“Yes, my Queen,” the drones said, their voices having a buzzing sound overlapping them, as they charged towards the Sinestro Lantern.
Alright… time to break out the heavy artillery, thought Hal as he used his constructs to form several missiles, which he fired at the Changeling Queen and her minions. The projectiles were able to score direct hits on the Drones, rendering them out of commission, but the Changeling Queen was able to avoid the attack.
“This ends… NOW!!!!” screamed Chrysalis as she fired as powerful a blast as she could at the Sinestro Lantern, who put up a shield construct to defend himself, only for the blast to break through the construct and blast him into a wall, where he left an inch-deep imprint.
“Ouch…” said Hal before he fell out of the imprint and landed on the ground, where he lay, apparently unconscious.
“Good night, sweet prince,” said Chrysalis with clear disdain in her voice, right before the doors leading into the throne room opened, and through it emerged the Elements of Harmony, held captive by a small battalion of Changeling Drones. “Ah, yes, I’d forgotten about them. You six do, of course, realize the receptions been canceled on count of the bride’s hive invading, yes? GO! FEED!” ordered the Changeling Queen. Her children saluted before flying off to wreak havoc and feed on the love of the panicking citizens of Canterlot. As they did, the Changeling Queen walked up to the Elements of Harmony, a triumphant smirk on her face.
“You know, it’s funny really. Twilight and your… Hal… friend were suspicious of my behavior all along. Pity you didn’t believe her,” said the Changeling Queen as she made her way over to a nearby balcony, where she began to sing a victory song that seemed to have come from the top of her head.
While Chrysalis was so consumed with her apparent victory, Twilight took the opportunity to sneak over to the captured Cadence and used her magic to free her from the green goo that bound her.
“Quick! Go to him while you still have the chance!” Twilight told Cadence.
As quietly as she could, Cadence made her way over to Shining Armor, and used her magic to create a small heart that, when it made contact with her fiance, snapped him out of his trance.
Shining Armor let out a groan."Is the wedding over?" the bemused stallion asked.
"It's ALL over!" Chrysalis said as she landed in front of the royal couple, having heard what they were up to.
"The spell! Use your spell!" Twilight told her brother.
Chrysalis cackled. “What good would that do? My Changelings already roam free!” the Changeling Queen snarled those present looked out the window and saw the destruction her subjects were creating, only for their attention to return to Chrysalis, who was currently in a struggle with the Sinestro Lantern, who had apparently snuck up unseen and attacked her from behind, sending her to the floor.
“Ngh! How did you-? Where did you-?” the Changeling Queen snarled as she tried to toss Hal off of her.
“Cheap trick of mine. My ring lets me turn invisible. Impressive, wouldn’t you say?” said Hal as he began to overpower the struggling Queen.
“Nragh! Get your filthy hands away from me, you wretched ape!” snarled Chrysalis.
“Now, let's see what you fear most!” Sinestro Lantern said as he forced his hand onto Chrysalis’s head as both their eyes glow yellow. Unknown to Hal, this would also cause the rest of the Changelings in Canterlot to have glowing yellow eyes. All of the changelings saw their very worst fears.
“No… no! I-I’ve tried my hardest! I don’t know what else to do!” cried Chrysalis.
Twilight turned to her elder brother and whispered. “Quickly, use your spell while she’s distracted!”
Shining Armor nodded in understanding and attempted to focus his magical energies, causing his horn to glow, only for it to flicker and fade.
“I can’t! I don’t have the strength,” said Shining Armor dejectedly.
“My love will give you strength,” said Cadence, her eyes glowing blue as she embraced her fiance.
Almost like power flowing from a pair of jumper cables into a car battery, Cadence’s magical energies flowed through her into Shining Armor, causing them both to be lifted into the air, enveloped in a soft violet glow as they kissed. As the energy around them grew to its peak, Shining Armor and Cadence’s bodies made a sort of heart shape as it was unleashed in all its fury.
As the violet shield made its way towards the Sinestro Lantern, and the now crying Queen, Hal turned around and slammed his Ringed fist against the shield holding it back momentarily before the shield gained cracks beginning at the epicenter of the impact zone. It was only a few extra seconds before the spell shattered!
The Elements, the guards, Celestia, Cadence and Shining Armor just looked towards him, some with betrayal clearly in their eyes.
“This… attempt at survival… is over.”
…
Space Sector Zero-Oa.
A lone figure made his way up the stone steps leading up to the Guardian’s Council Chambers. This figure was a human male, and on top of that, he was the almost exact double of Hal Jordan from Equestria, the only real differences being that the yellow parts of his suit were green, and the symbol on his chest and the backs of his hands were different.
Wonder what the Smurfs want now. The Green Lantern Hal thought as he reached the top of the structure.
“Green Lantern 2814.” said one of the Guardians to Hal.
“Guardians,” said Green Lantern with the utmost respect.
“We’ve detected something rather… peculiar. A Sinestro Corpsman seems to have found his way into a sector of space that has somehow eluded us until now,” said another Guardian.
“Wow. So, you’d like me to go check out this… Sector 3601, and kick this Sinestro Corpsman out, right?” asked Hal
“More or less,” said a third Guardian.
“But, why me? Why not someone from the Honor Guard or Alpha Corps?” asked Hal.
The Guardians all looked at each other, unsure how to answer this question.
“You will know soon enough,” said a fourth Guardian.
…
Qward-Yellow Power Battery
Two beings clad in the yellow and black uniforms of the Sinestro Corps made their way up the stairs leading to the Yellow Power Battery, where the entity of Fear, Parallax, was held. One was a well-built human male with sleek black hair, the other could pass as a human with grayish-black hair from a distance, but upon closer inspection, it could be determined that no human could ever have his skin tone or eye color.
“Do not worry yourself, Mr. Wayne. It’ll be a cold day on every planet in Sector 666 before that clown enemy of yours becomes one of us. I’ve heard stories about what he’s done on your planet alone. Villain though the Guardians may paint me, I cannot, in good conscience allow such atrocities to be committed on a universal scale,” said Thaal Sinestro, leader of the Yellow Lanterns, aka the Sinestro Corps.
Before “Mr. Wayne,” could reply, another human Sinestro Corpsman, who was dressed up like a scarecrow, approached them, a worried look in his eyes. “Thaal! Bats- I mean, Bruce!” called Dr. Jonathan Crane, or “The Scarecrow,” as he was known by many on his home world.
“Yes, Jonathan, what is it?” said Sinestro.
“We’ve picked up a New Recruit Signal. But…”
“Yes, out with it.”
“It’s coming from an unknown sector of space,” said Scarecrow.
An urgent, and possibly excited look crept onto Sinestro’s face as he smiled. “How fortuitous! A new recruit and a sector of space not yet under the protection of the Green Lanterns! Bruce, Crane, what say we go pay this pioneering new recruit and the inhabitants of Sector 3601 a visit, and show them that Fright Makes Right,” Sinestro said cheerfully.
Author's Note
FINALLY! THIS CHAPTER IS COMPLETED! 
Anyways, it looks like Equestria is about to become the epicenter of an all-out brawl between The Green Lantern of Sector 2814, his Doppelganger, and two other familiar faces who happen to be members of the Sinestro Corps. So, if you'd be so kind as to leave fav, follow, and review on this length chapter of mine, that'd be wonderful. And remember: dying is easy, comedy is hard!
