Princess Cadence found herself stumbling down the halls of her crystal castle, trying desperately not to fall asleep. She had been awake for Luna knows how long to keep the spell up that kept the evil King Sombra out of the empire, which as it turns out is harder than one might expect. For the longest time, she moved around as little as possible, dedicating as much energy as possible to keeping herself awake, but today was different. Earlier today, Cadence was joyfully reunited with her sister in law and some familiar faces along with some new ones. One of these familiar faces was an unconscious and bleeding Signal Flare, or “Cole Marksen”, being carried by a massive stallion.

So after explaining in detail what was happening here in the empire, she inquired about what happened to him and discovered that he took a serious injury while protecting Twilight. It was only now, when the group was setting up decorations for a festival to get the crystal pony’s memories back, that she discovered that Signal had just woken from his injuries. It was for that reason why she was walking down these halls, to thank him herself for saving Twilight, as well for another reason which she kept to herself.

“Cadence, please be careful!” Shining Armor, her husband, warned. “We can’t risk you getting hurt! Especially now!”.

Cadence failed to hold back a yawn as she approached the makeshift infirmary of the castle. “Shining, I’m fine. We’re safe in the castle. Nothing can hurt us in here and besides, I just want to say “thank you”. Is that so wrong?”.

“No, but you need to save your strength. With that in mind, don’t you think this is so strenuous?” He asked, careful to always be standing next to Cadence.

“I...I think I have the strength to say...”thank you”. Thank you for the concern though Shining. Besides, it’s just Signal Flare. What’s the worst that can hap-” But just as she said that a loud crash echoed from the other room.

”MR.FLARE!!! YOU-GAH-NEED TO-UGH-REST!!!”
*SLAM*
”I DO NOT! YOU NEED TO GET YOUR HOOVES OFF ME!!!!”
*CRASH*
”LET GO!! HEY KEEP THAT-
*prick*

“I spoke too soon....”

The couple dared not go into the room in fear of what was going on, so they waited for something to come out. A couple of minutes later the door slammed open to show a visibly injured unicorn in a medics outfit storming out of the room. “I’ve met Ursa Majors easier to put down than that pegasus!” he complained, not noticing the pair until it was too late. “What would he say if I retur-GAH! Princess Cadenza! Captian Armor!” The medic rushed to straighten his body and saluted as soon as he could with a bright blush on his face.

“Medic, what is going on in there?! It sounded like a wild animal was in there!” Shining asked, changing his normally calmer voice into a stricter sounding one.

“There might as well been sir. We were uh... just finishing tending to Mr.Flare’s injuries like you asked, but it seems somepony forgot to give him both the anesthetic and the sedatives.”

Cadence cringed at the thought of what Signal must have felt. “So he woke up feeling all that pain... oh dear the poor ma-pony...”

“But that wasn’t it. He took the pain quite well, all things considered, his screams only breaking one of my eardrums, but when we went to give him the anesthetic, he freaked out.”

“Was he scared of needles?” Cadence asked, trying not to think about her own tiny phobia of needles.

“I don’t think so. He was yelling something about, “Not again”. And despite taking such a serious injury, he was able to kick four other medics out cold before I injected him with the anesthetic.”

Shining looked “I thought you said his spine was shattered from the spike. How is he able to move at all?”

“I wish I knew sir. All we know is that that stallion is lucky to be alive at all, but not very lucky for me. There was a good chance the internal bleeding should have killed him before he could even make it to the castle, yet here is he is.”

“Can I talk to him? I wanted to thank him for saving my sister in law.”

“Well he is... sleeping right now, but I suppose a visit wouldn’t hurt.”

Cadence walked past the medic and looked inside the room to see that it was completely trashed. Medical equipment lay strewed across the floor, with even a pony or two on the floor unconscious. Out of the seven beds in the room, six were flipped over into makeshift barricades, which surrounded the seventh bed in the middle of the room. On this bed lay Signal, who was seemingly fast asleep. The only way she knew he wasn’t dead was because she saw the stallion taking tiny breaths that indicated he was alive, but it was so tiny he could have been mistaken for being dead. She slowly but surely walked over to the side of his bed, looking over his sleeping figure. Now that she could see him up close, there was nothing to hide the collection of bruises and bandages across his exposed body. It wasn’t helped by his white body, which only highlighted his injuries, but thankfully his lower half was hidden by a blanket, which surely must have hidden the more injured parts of his body.

“You would not believe what it took to get Mr.Flare to sleep. His... adrenaline must have been incredibly high because we had to use a dragon tranquilizer dart to get him like this.that makes sense right?” The medic explained, but Cadence wasn’t paying attention to him. No, her focus was on Signal’s unconscious body and the overwhelming sense of guilt she had looking at him.

“I am so sorry Marksen...this wasn’t your fight...”. She whispered in his ear, fully knowing he couldn’t hear her. As though the guilt of not being able to tell her dear sister in law how to save the Crystal Empire wasn’t enough of a burden to the alicorn, she had to hide so much from Signal Flare as well. She remembered getting the letters from Twilight shortly after the wedding, and how a good amount of them had been about how Signal’s struggles in Ponyville. His struggle to control his wings reminded her of when she first became an alicorn all that time ago, and how she struggled to control her new magic, so she was able to easily relate to the pegasus. But she remembered even more clearly the day she was contacted by the princesses and how they revealed Signal’s true identity. Celestia assured her that he would be put under her care and be perfectly safe during his time here. But here Cadence was, looking over the bloody, near-dead body of Signal Flare. This poor man was fighting for a nation not his own, in a body, not his own, and in perhaps the most dangerous place possible at the moment in Equestria.

”Is this what Celestia thinks being safe means?! I thought we were to keep him as far away from our problems as possible, not put him smack dab in the middle of it all!” Cadence screamed in her head, almost forgetting to keep the shield spell up. ”If I didn’t know better I would have thought Celestia was trying to get him killed!”. But then again, Cadence didn’t think Celestia was willing to risk an entire city of ponies just so she could test Twilight for something she was more than worthy of already.

She looked back down at Signal’s sleeping body, her guilt now joined by anger and confusion aimed at her “peers”. If she wasn’t so exhausted or had a job to do, she would have flown straight to Canterlot and find out why Celestia betrayed her trust like this. But for now, all she could do was keep the anger bottled up inside her until this was all over. But it was then that a truly terrifying thought entered her mind, one that she feared might consume her every waking moment if she let it.

”What else has Celestia lied to me about?”

just outside the Crystal Empire

”HOW MUCH LONGER DO WE WAIT?!” A unicorn loudly asked to seemingly no one. The unicorn was wearing a suit of plated metal armor with a helmet that fully covered her head. The armor’s design was similar to what the ancient equestrian military wore, focusing on intimidation and protection over aesthetics.
(Credit to J3rykCZ - DeviantArt for the design, but just imagine it being painted white instead of black)

”I THINK ONE OF MY HOOVES FELL ASLEEP!” She complained, her left hind leg feeling more unresponsive than the other three legs.

”HELL IF I KNOW! BUT I DO KNOW IF FROST CATCHES YOU WHINNING HE’LL CUT YOUR LEG OFF! SO STOP WHINNING LIKE A FILLY AND START ACTING LIKE AN ADULT!” A voice shouted, but even then the unicorn barely caught that due to the blizzard being so loud. The ironic part of it was that these two ponies were no more than a meter apart from eachother, but in the storm, they might as well have been sixty meters apart.

If the storm was not making visibility near impossible, one would see hundreds upon hundreds of unicorns dressed in the same armor as the first unicorn, all of them surrounding the shield that kept the Crystal Empire safe from this snow storm. Now to a normal pony, this would be considered suicide staying in such an inhosbitable enviroment, but not to these unicorns. To these unicorns this “no ponies land” was what they called home, it was all their familys knew for a thousand years. And as one would expect, living in such a place for over a thousand years would make these ponies adapt to the cold. They all knew the stories their elders told of how the cold sought out the weak, only leaving those who were able to adapt to the cold to survive. It was the ability to adapt (with a bit of help with magic) that allowed future generations to not only survive but thrive in the Frozen North, giving them fur thicker than yaks and legs as strong as an earth pony stallion. But one might ask how these herbivores would survive in an environment where next to zero plants could survive, and that is where perhaps the scariest adaptation these unicorns took on comes in, their teeth. For where there were little plants to find, the Frozen North had an abundance of burrowing rodents, large yet unwary predators, and the occasional yak that dared travel near the caves that these unicorns made into their homes. So like their distant cousins, the thestrals, these “Snow Ponies”, as they called themselves, adapted to have razor sharp teeth that could tear through flesh with ease.

It was with all these adaptations that the Snow Pony tribe made the Frozen North their home, but they wanted more. These ponies did not want to wonder how long they would have to wait until the hunters would return with a meal. They did not want to live in uncomfortable caves that could collapse should an avalanche hit them. They wished for a life where they didn’t have to worry about pony eating yetis which shared territory with the Snow unicorns. It was for those reasons and more that they were preparing to take back what was stolen from them a thousand years ago, all ready to fight whatever would challenge them unlike their ancestors...well not all.

“WHY CAN’T WE JUST, YOU KNOW, NEGOTIATE WITH THEM LIKE NORMAL PONIES?!” The first unicorn asked, curious why they were automatically going with the violent solution.

“Because expecting these vile invaders to talk is like expecting a Yak to not talk like an idiot. It’ll never happen.” A raspy, unnatural voice answered, causing the unicorn to jerk itself around to see a pony in noticeably different armor walking towards him.

The armor was hard for the unicorn to describe as it was so different. It was like a plated suit of armor, but instead of being composed of individual pieces that one could take on and off, this suit was like it was all one piece. Even in this harsh blizzard, the unicorn could still hear the hoof steps this new unicorn took, each step sounding something akin to thunder. His eyes were hidden behind orange pieces of glass that were shaped like lightning bolts, which glowed an eerie orange hue whenever he spoke. Nopony knew where he got such strange armor, but they all knew who owned it.

The owner of this almost alien armor was whom the entire Snow Pony tribe had to thank for giving them hope. He was the one who found their king and managed to break him from his icy prison. He was the official second in command (and unofficial first since it’s hard for somepony who can only say “crystals” to lead an army) of their little army, the strategic mind that allowed them to infiltrate the capital city of Equestria itself. This pony’s name was Frostbite, the Windigo of the Frozen North.

At this point, Frostbite was directly in front of the first unicorn, their faces just one foot apart. “No...we must wait until their backs are turned. Then...when their guards are down...WE STRIKE! ”. The unicorn found herself backing slowly from her commander, almost tripping over at his outburst, only stopping when she was inches away from passing through the shield. “But by all means, go up to those barbarians and try to be civil. I imagine they’ll be very thankful for you revealing us to them as they stab you in the back. But then again, that might be preferable to what I would do to you if I found out you were going to actually try that.”.

The unicorn suddenly felt fearful for her life, recalling the stories of how brutal he was to soldiers for the most minor of offenses. The unicorn found herself bowing to Frostbite, hopeful she could avoid any brutal punishment. “ No no no commander! I had no i-in-intentions of doing any such things! I was simply c-c-curious! That’s all!” She explained frantically, not feeling the need to shout since the blizzard always seemed to be calmest around the commander. But as soon as she finished her plea, she instantly regretted it because what she just did was a sign of weakness. And weakness was the worst thing to show around the commander.

There was a brief moment of silence between the two unicorns, the only audible thing heard being the first unicorns panicked breath. “Impressive. Never have I seen such weakness so quickly in my life... until today.” Frost said, his horn already humming with magic. “What is your name soldier?

”d-d-Diamond Breaker s-s-sir...” She stuttered, her legs already shaking from fear, which only made her situation worse.

“Take off your helmet Diamond, and don’t make me repeat myself.” He commanded, waiting impatiently as the unicorn removed her helmet.

She had light red fur with a bright yellow mane with black highlights, something which was against protocol but nopony really cared about it since it was so inoffensive. Her eyes were emerald green, though one of them was covered by a bandage due to an accident involving three stallions, two mares, and a javelin that she would rather forget about. But that was the least of her concerns as the moment she got her helmet off, she was shocked to see the tip of a sword mere inches from her skull between her eyes.

Frostbite was the one who held this blade, levitating it with his magic which gave it a red outline. His lifeless lightning shaped visor stared directly into her eyes, making her feel uneasy on top of being terrified. He may have given the Snow Ponies hope, but it was easy to forget how easily he could make you feel helpless in seconds.

“I don’t have to remind you of what I do to the weak do I?” He asked rhetorically, his blade as unmoving as a statue. Diamond nodded slowly, her eyes frantically looking around in vain for a way out of this situation. And while faint, Diamond was able to hear Frostbite give a small sinister chuckle as it suddendly felt noticably harder for her to breathe. ”hehe...good. This should be over quickly then.”. And with that, Diamond was sent face first into snow in agonizing pain as she felt her exposed knees get slashed by Frost’s blade.

She would have screamed in pain, and maybe even defend herself, but she could hardly breathe at this point, only tiny pockets of air entering her lungs. The pure white snow was stained with her blood as Diamond struggled to get up, but it was like Frostbite made surgical cuts to her leg muscles, meaning her wounds would be stuck in the cold, unforgiving snow. There was a moment of respite for her as she felt the front half of her body levitate into the air, making breathing easier if only by a bit. But as soon as she thought Frostbite was actually having mercy on her, she found herself being sent back to the ground with tremendous force, knocking what little wind she had in her out.

Our ancestors showed weakness, and look where we are now! We’re borderline savages! beasts! ANIMALS! We must crush any weakness we once had to become more!” He said as he raised her back up into the air, only to slam her again back onto the snowy ground. He did it again and again, each time more and more blood splattering out of her [the rest of this scene has been censored because showing it would warrant this fic an M rating. We humbly apologize with this picture of Derpy being derpy]

[Aww...You may now continue reading this fan fiction]

After what felt like forever to the poor unicorn, she finally felt Frostbite’s magic release their hold on her lungs, allowing her to take several gasps for air. It hurt to move anything in her body so Diamond just laid there on the cold, bloody snow as Frostbite left, satisfied with his “purification” of her weakness. It took several minutes for her to find the strength to get up, but when she finally did, she was shocked to see more blood around her than she thought she could lose and live. At this point, the blizzard was starting to kick back up, slowly covering the ground with a new layer of snow.

Her face took the brunt of the damage, so she reasonably wanted to find her helmet and protect her injuries from the elements, so she quickly looked around to see where her helmet may have been. Afer a couple of seconds, she managed to find her helmet laying in the blood-stained snow and went to pick it up with her magic, but stopped as she levitated it near her face. She had seen her helmet dozens of times before and never thought about its design before, but something was off about it to her after taking that beating.

The helmet looked...scary...intimidating...threatening...almost demonic; all things she wouldn’t associate with a righteous and just cause. This realization reminded her of when she was hunting a young yak one day, but slipped and accidentally revealed herself to the yak. She hadn’t thought it before but before it ran, the yak called her something that only now sent shivers down her back. It called her...“Demon”.

She then thought back to early in the day, just before they had surrounded the city. They were waiting for a group of ponies to come by, but for what reasons Frostbite never said. All he said was that they were “heartless, unfeeling killers who came to kill us all.”.He was also strangely obsessed with one purple unicorn when the group showed up, telling them to focus their crystal attacks on her. Diamond almost landed an attack on the unicorn, but out of nowhere some strangely familiar pegasus came out of nowhere and shoved the unicorn out of the way, taking the hits for her before being sent flying into the air and somehow parkouring his way on the spikes to the rest of the group.

”Frostbite said they were heartless and unfeeling...so why did that pegasus put himself in more danger like that?” Diamond wondered. ”And why have I only thought about this now?”

But that question gave birth to more questions, which in turn gave birth to more and more until her mind was overflowing with them. Questions like “Is it right that we treat our Earth pony and Pegasi brothers and sisters as lesser than Unicorns?” and “Why does our armor look like something that came out of Tartarus?” plagued her mind, her mind making answers that went against everything she was taught growing up. She was told they were good, that despite how bad the action seemed, their goals justified their means. But that all came crashing down when a single question echoed through her mind. A question that, in hindsight, she should have been asking when their king was a black and red smoke monster.

“Are we the bad guys?”

Author's Note

So I was thinking for a while and decided to add dark and drama to the tags on this story because my vision for Red Moon was always a dark and somewhat tragic story combined with a comedic tone so it wouldn’t feel too depressing. At first, I just wanted a straight action comedy with some hints of darkness and tragedy, but I now know that Red Moon needs a bit of a darker edge for it to be what I’ve envisioned it to be.