The Red Moon of Equestria

In the local abandoned warehouse district that exists for some reason

In the middle of one of the many abandoned warehouses, Veronica Marksen and Samuel Vare sat at a table angrily looking at Alexia Vare. Alexia was sat across from them, looking at the two with awkward silence.

“So... did you find anything about the mysterious roar, little bro?” Alexia asked, growing a fake smile as she looked at her brother.

“All I could see was a broken window at the place. There were too many people to- wait... don’t change the subject! How the hell could you put that girl in the hospital!?” He asked angrily.

“It was self-defense! She was trying to gut us with a knife!” Alexia snapped, raising her arms in defense.

Samuel looked even angrier as she said that. “You gave her several broken bones, multiple puncture wounds, and even a Tore damn fractured skull! Since when is overkill a part of self-defense?!”

“And revealing your esper in public? Do you know how lucky you are that the only witness who saw it was that drugged up psycho?” Veronica added, who was equally as mad.

“What else could I do? She was about to kill Silver and I didn’t have enough time to grab my blade! Was I supposed to do nothing and let her kill him?” Alexia asked, angrier than before.

“Of course not! But did you have to put this girl in the hospital for Tore knows how long?!” Veronica asked, “You’re lucky that little attack didn’t kill the poor girl!”

“Then what should I have done?! Because clearly, all I get for saving his life are glares and disappointment!” She yelled, getting up and slamming her fists against the table. “Is that was being a Purifier is about?! Allowing innocents to die so we can do our job easier?!”

Veronica started to speak up. “No, but-”

“So what is it about? Is it about saving and protecting the innocent, or following stupid self-defeating directives!? Because last time that happened I remember it not ending well for us!!”

“Alexia Boren Vare! How could you say that?! This is nothing like Hav-”

“THIS IS EXACTLY LIKE HAVEN!!!!”

The room stood silent, not a single person making a sound or move. After several moments of tense silence, Alexia’s eyes widened at what she said. She slowly sat back down at her realization, putting her hands over her face as she leaned her body against the table. Veronica and Samuel just stared at Alexia, both trying to think of a reasonable response to what she said, but came up with nothing.

After several minutes, Samuel was the one to break the silence. He got up and walked over to Alexia, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Alexia, we’re happy you saved that boys life, don’t think we’re mad at you because of it. We’re just frustrated because of how you did it. If anyone else saw that, the public could have learned about Terran and make our job a million times worse.”

Alexia looked up at her little brother, tears building up in her eyes. “I know...but...it was my only option if I wanted to save him...”

Samuel smiled, thus making her sister smile. “We know. All we’re asking is for you to try to play it safer next time.”

Alexia nodded her head, rubbing her eyes with her hands.

“We all have to consider our esper use out in public too you know. Me, Samuel, and Wilson all understand what you’re feeling.” Veronica explained, “So don’t think we’re happy about us not being able to use our espers.”

Speaking of which, where is Wilson?” Alexia asked as Samuel, who returned to his seat and sat down. “I haven’t seen him all day.”

Samuel raised his hand for a moment before resting it on the table. “He said he was heading out to some orchard after Frostbite revealed himself. Haven’t heard from him since.”

Veronica rested her chin on her hand. “hmm... it isn’t like him to go silent for this long. Something must be up...”

”Oh som-zzz-ething i-zzzzz-s u-zzz-p.” A distorted voice answered, making everyone jerk their heads up to see a banged up Wilson in front of the door to the warehouse.

His armor was either bent, scratched, pierced, broken or all four combined. His helmet had a quarter of it seemingly forcefully removed, showing his mangled and ghostly white skin that was hidden under his mask. His armor flickered between invisible and visible as he limped forward, only making it a couple of inches before collapsing to the floor.

“What the Tore?! Wilson!!” Samuel screamed, him and Veronica running over to Wilson’s side, picking him up carefully.

Alexia was quick to follow the two, running up to Wilson and taking his helmet off to fully reveal his face. “I think those farmers didn’t appreciate him trespassing!”

“Not the time Alexia!” Veronica yelled, guiding Wilson’s body onto the table.

“Thank Tore you three are alright. I thought Frostbite got to you all. Wilson said as his comrades started to remove his armor pieces.

“Frostbite? What the hell happened?!” Samuel inquired, successfully removing Wilson’s chest plate to reveal several stab and claw wounds in his upper chest.

“What do you think happened? That son of a chet nearly killed me!” He explained, “Left me for dead. Thank Tore he didn’t stick around to make sure I kicked the bucket.”.

“As if we didn’t have enough problems right now,” Alexia complained, pressing her hands against the biggest wounds on his chest.

Veronica ran over to a pile of backpacks she had packed and rummaged through them, looking until she found a medical kit. She ran back over and opened it, grabbing what looked like a needle gun, and filled with a glowing green substance. “Just relax! We’ll get you fixed up soon!” She explained, pressing the needle gun against his skin.

But out of nowhere, Wilson grabbed her arm, looking at her with his grey eyes. “He...he said something about Marksen... he said, still looking into Veronica’s eyes.“He might still be alive...”

She stood still, not moving a muscle as she looked into his eyes, seemingly paralyzed by what he said. “ “Marksen?” she muttered, “He’s alive?”

“VERONICA! MUMBLE LATER! NEEDLES NOW!” Alexia yelled, snapping Veronica out of her daze.

She swiftly inserted the needle gun into Wilson’s arm, carefully injecting the correct amount of serum as to not overdose him. When looking at his body, She was relieved to see his body start to slowly repair itself, which would soon create more scars on his body. “Ok so while we’re waiting, care to explain how Frostbite almost killed you?”

Wilson clenched his teeth for a moment as his body was healing, but he soon adjusted to the pain. “Where to begin...”

Once his body was finished repairing itself and he finished telling his story, Veronica and the other’s helped Wilson off the table. He flexed his arm as Veronica tossed him a grey tank top, which he grabbed and put on.

“I know we don’t believe in gods, but what deity did you piss off to get this many scars on your body?” Alexia asked, walking over to the pile of backpacks pulling out a water bottle.

“Who knows. Heh, perhaps our ancestors were right and I was cursed when we blew up that temple in South America. ” Wilson quipped, chuckling for a moment.

Veronica wasn’t paying attention to him, instead, she was looking around at the big empty warehouse the four considered “home”. She thought about how isolated they were from everybody else in the little community, and how suspicious it would be if anyone saw them leave here. She knew how easy it would be for Frostbite to find them and attack them, something they could not afford at the moment. If she and the others were going to get anywhere on this while avoiding Frostbite, they would have to do something crazy. And luckily for her, she had an idea. The idea first came to her when she was first told Frostbite was here and had been wrestling with it for the entire day. It was only now, with her comrade bloody and bandaged, that she came to her decision.

“Get ready to move.” She coldly stated, walking over to the pile of backpacks and searching through them. Alexia and Samuel looked confused as Veronica pulled out a big black case and opened it, showing her full set of Terran armor. She pulled out her helmet, personally stylized after the T shaped barbute style of helmet she loved, and looked at it longingly.

“Umm...why? We aren’t under attack or anything.” Alexia pointed out, walking away from Veronica while opening the lid on a bottle of water.

“That’s what bothers me. We’re living in the middle of the abandoned warehouse section, far away from any civilian areas. No one comes here, the perfect place for us to hide.” She explained, putting the helmet on over her head.

“I don’t follow. Would you rather we be in a heavily populated area?” Samuel asked.

“Yes actually. I looked into the footage through what was left of Wilson’s helmet while he was telling his story and saw the fight. Frostbite attacked him when he was alone at the orchard, it was like he knew where he was.”

“So he must somehow know where we are. So where we can go?” Alexia asked.

“That's what I was wondering until I also thought about Wilson’s story. You said you were talking with a girl at the orchard for some time, but it was only after she left that Frostbite reared his ugly head right?” Wilson nodded his head before Veronica kept going on. “It’s possible he doesn’t want to be around civilians since he could have easily attacked you when the girl was there.” As she looked back at the three, she could tell by their faces that they understood what she was implying. “Now I know it sounds bad, but-”

“Sounds bad? Nails on a chalkboard sound bad!” Wilson yelled, “You want to use the people here as a shield! That sounds horrible!”

“It sounds like something a comic book villain would do.” Samuel added, “ Which only sounds worse coming from you.”

“It’s too much of a risk! And if I’m the one saying it, you know it’s too risky!”

Veronica sighed, taking off her helmet as she walked over to them. “I am completely aware of how dangerous this is. I know that if my hunch is wrong, plenty of innocent people will die. To be honest I don’t like this plan any more than you guys do.”

“Then why are you telling us it?!” Alexia angrily asked.

“Because even if I don’t like it, I know it’s our only choice.”, Veronica explained, her voice more agitated. “Now if it makes you feel better, you can blame me if anyone gets hurt.”.

Alexia, Wilson, and Samuel all looked at each other, not saying a word for what felt like forever. The room was eerily silent, Veronica swearing she could hear her own heartbeat as the seconds passed by. She didn’t know how but those three always had some strange connection with each other, always being able to seemingly talk with each other without saying a word. before giving a reluctant nod.

“The only reason we’re going through with this is that we trust you, Veronica. We know you must have thought long and hard about this to propose an idea like that to us.” Samuel explained, “I just hope you’re right.”

Veronica smiled for a moment before putting on her helmet again. It’s T shaped visor glowed bright yellow as she turned it on. “I do too Samuel. Now let’s go see if any of my black market contacts have their fingers in the housing industry.” She said in her metallic voice as she walked away. Veronica was taking a huge risk with this plan, living in such a populated area. If she was wrong, then she would be putting innocent lives in danger. It would be Haven Oasis but worse. But if she was right, and Frostbite wouldn’t endanger civilians, then it would be a worthwhile gamble. After all, as the old Terran saying goes, “Hliet Forsettean pliht.”, or when translated into English, “Reward prefers risk.”.

Sapphire Dazzle, or as she somewhat preferred to be called “Heart Breaker”, was walking back to the crystal castle after a less than successful attempt to find any information from the locals. Yet the fact that these locals seemed to have a strange case of amnesia didn’t worry her. What did worry her was how Signal Flare was doing. She didn’t know why but she couldn’t stop thinking about him after they rushed him to the castle’s medical room, and that actually worried her. ”Why can’t I stop thinking about that stallion?” She thought, trying to wrap her head around this strange obsession she suddenly had. ”I mean, it’s not like I like him. I barely know him after all...so why can’t I get him out of my head? I guess he’s kinda-”. Then out of nowhere, her train of thought was broken by a familiar hyperactive voice.

“HI, Sapphire!!!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, her voice as joyful as ever. But when she looked around, Sapphire did not see the pink pony, much to her confusion. “I’M UP HERE!”. As Sapphire looked up, she was surprised to see Pinkie Pie on top of the roof of a building, wearing a white outfit with a hood over her head. Sapphire could only look on confused as Pinkie bent her knees and leaped into the sky. She raised her arms over her head as she dove down to the ground, seemingly aiming for the large barrel of hay laying in front of Sapphire. Pinkie somehow managed to do a triple front flip, an angel, a quadruple backflip, and several other ridiculous poses while falling from the two-story building; how she was able to do so Sapphire didn’t know. So how else would such a performance end than by Pinkie completely overshooting her jump and landing face first on the floor several feet behind Sapphire?

“Celestia protect me.” Sapphire mumbled, taking several deep breaths before walking over to Pinkie. Sapphire saw that Pinkie’s face was at flat as a pancake on the floor, which naturally slightly unnerved her. “Um...are you ok Pinkamina?” she asked as she cautiously approaching Pinkie Pie.

“mmmhhhmmhm!” Was all Pinkie could say with her head stuck to the floor, which thankfully didn’t last long. She managed to get her head off the floor and then proceeded to shake it around like a dog. “I meant, I’m great Sapphire!! And you can just call me Pinkie! All my friends do after all!”

“Alright then...” Sapphire didn’t really know how to talk to Pinkie. They were almost complete opposites of each other, so Sapphire found it hard to approach the party pony in conversation. “Did...you find anything about the ponies here?”

“Nope!” Pinkie cheerfully answered, her carefree voice still offsetting to Sapphire. “But don’t worry! I know I’ll find something or my name isn’t Pinkimina “Secret finder” Pie!!”

Sapphire sighed, facehoofing herself at Pinkie Pie’s childishness. “But that isn’t...nevermind. Good luck on finding any info.” She then started to walk away, wanting to gain some distance from the childish pony. ”Ok, back to the matter at hand. Signals somewhat familiar..but I don’t know how he’s GAH!” Sapphire was caught off guard again when Pinkie seemingly teleported right in front of her, their muzzles practically touching. She stumbled back a couple of feet in shock, almost tripping over herself as Pinkie stared at her with a concerned expression.

“You don’t seem happy. Are you still sad about Princess Cadence not remembering you? Because she hasn’t had sleep in like a LONG time! Your mind does funny things when that happens!”

“No Pinkie it’s not that...”

“OH! Are you sad that Signal was really really hurt?”

“Maybe...I don’t know”

“Aren’t you two friends?”

“I wouldn’t say that...”

“GASP!!! Do you LIKE him?!”

“What?! Pinkie no!”

“Oh, now I know you do!”

“Did you not just hear what I said?”

“But you’re too shy to admit it and try to keep it to yourself! But you’ll keep doing so, the tension only getting bigger and bigger and bigger! You’ll try to stay away from him, but that will only make him want to be closer, creating a never-ending cycle of tension! And when the tension is at their highest, unforeseen circumstances will force you to confess! It will be AMAZING!!!!”

Sapphire attempted to process all of what Pinkie just said, staring at her for a couple of seconds before responding. “Pinkie...what makes you think something that farfetched could happen?” Implying you think at all

Pinkie just nonchalantly shrugged at her question. “Just a feeling.”

Sapphire fought the urge to facehoof herself, and lost. “Is there a reason why you’re here Pinkie Pie?” She asked, wishing the pink distraction would leave.

“Oh right! Twilight thinks she may have found something out! Everyone is waiting for you at the crystal castle!”

“Then tell Twilight I’ll be there in a moment. I need a minute to breathe after this.”

“Okie Dokie! Don’t take to long!”

And with that Pinkie hopped along happily towards the crystal castle, her white cloak nowhere to be seen. In fact, when Sapphire looked behind her, the large pile of hay was gone as well. She swore she felt her eye twitch as she desperately tried to come up with an answer for why those things were gone, but she came up with nothing. Her anger was rising with her confusion, boiling to the top until she... took another deep breath and started to walk off towards the castle. ”No point trying to question it now Heart Breaker...just complete your mission and go home...” She thought as she passed through the empty streets of the Crystal Empire, not a single “Crystal Pony” in sight. Thoughts of Signal Flare popped into her head again, making her groan. ”Not again...”

She was utterly frustrated by the predicament she was in, not helped by what Pinkie said. She knew she didn’t have romantic feelings towards the pegasus, yet she strangely also felt like Pinkie could be right. She didn’t know why but Pinkies word did help explain why Signal was always on her mind for some reason. But at the same time, it made no sense to her. She knew one hundred percent that she didn’t love this pony who she just met yesterday, that only happens in storybooks for little kids, but it was the most logical explanation for why her mind was filled with thoughts of him. She kept combating these thoughts, trying to find another logical explanation as she approached the crystal castle. But as she went up to the entrance of the castle, a certain phrase rang out in her mind out of the blue. It was an old Ponish saying she learned on while at an excavation at an old archeological dig site, and just so happened to be her favorite old Ponish saying.

“Hliet Forsettean pliht.”