Author's Note

This chapter is from two separate perspectives. The first one is Allen Busterfield, the second is Atrocitous.

Let me know what you think, I value opinion!

Intermission ft. Princess Luna & John Stewart

I’m navigating through a castle… This castle pisses me off beyond belief, all the nobles walking around like they've got sticks up their asses and guards standing around with straight faces. It's fucking boring and confusing. Everything looks the same. The only reason why I’m even here is because I asked Princess Celestia to let me talk to her sister. Just yesterday was this culture’s Halloween, a holiday called Nightmare Night. Celestia’s student, a girl that I would as annoying but not unpleasant, tried to teach Luna friendship. But this ended up making Luna go on a rampage that would've ended up with eaten children, had I not stopped her. Apparently Nightmare Moon isn't immune to bullets, I pumped that thing full of them.

I should probably tell you who I am, Lyra says it can come off as rude not to introduce yourself. My name is Allen Baxter Busterfield, I work in Ponyville as an assistant for Bon Bon in her candy store. Bon Bon is a bitch, but she's still a friend. Lyra trusts her so that's good enough for me.

Anyway, I’m here because I kicked Luna’s ass, and I only did it because she would've hurt those that Lyra cares for. When whatever that Nightmare thing was left her, she was still someone filled with holes. She healed overnight because Alicorns have corrective healing, but I know that she didn't take kindly to getting shot. I wouldn’t. I’m hoping that I can help Luna understand what I did and ask her if there's anything I can do for her.

As I continue to be lost in this god damned castle, I hear a noble walk up behind me.

“excuse me sir, but you appear to be lost.” The noble points out. Dear god, he's wearing a monocle and a three-piece tuxedo that he obviously didn't put on himself, “Perhaps the janitors quarters are somewhere near the dunge-“ I knock him to the ground with a hook to his face, “You Ruffian!”

“Chat-ta,” A guard says. This one isn't like the others, his mane looks like its got a nickel finish.

“I don't speak guard. Such jargon is-“

“It's short for chat-ta-fuck-up. If you can't tell, that's Allen Busterfield, the only human in Equestria.”

“Don't bother, I'm used to getting shit from rich assholes,” I tell the guard.

“Trust me, friend, they’re not as rich as you think. Name’s Nickelmane,” The guard says as he offers me his hand, “First Lieutenant of the Royal Guard.”

I accept his hand and shake it firmly.

“You think you can help? I’m looking for Luna’s room.”

“She's not there, I checked. I was instructed by Celestia to help you find her, she’s worried about Luna.”

“Is she pissed about what I did?”

“No, Celestia said that she… Something about some awfully dark words.”

“I need to see her, as soon as possible. Do you have any guesses as to where she might be?”

“My guess, the royal gardens. Probably in the gardener's shed, she’d hide there when she remembered what the Elements of Harmony did to her.”

“Take me there,” I say, Nickelmane guiding me through the castle. After a good half hour, we make it to the gardens. The gardens looked filled with life, but that's not important. What is important is what I’m about to do. Nickelmane shows me where the shed is, a small structure made from gray bricks I ask Nickelmane to wait outside while I check on the Princess. I knock on the door.

“Princess Luna, it's me, Allen Busterfield.” I say as calmly as I can, “I wish to speak to you, your majesty.”

“Go away, I’m not a princess.” I hear. I hear the door lock.

“Well, looks like we tried!” Nickelmane says hastily, “Now, can we go? You tried, Celestia would probably understand, and I don't want to lose guards because of Nightmare Moo-“

I pick up a brick and throw it at Nickelmane’s chest, expelling the air from his lungs and knocking him down.

“Ungrateful mother fucker,” I spit out. I knock on the door again, “If I’m not talking to a princess, then can I talk to Luna? I’ll talk to her whether she opens this door or I make it open.”

I hear the door open and I see Luna in a bloodied sleeveless dress sitting next to a bloody dagger. She has cuts that are closing themselves as she tries to hide them from me. I walk over and sit next to her.

“What do you want?” Luna asks.

“At first I came here to apologize about filling you with bullets.” I tell her, my tone changing to my usual, rather cold tone, “But now that I see the dagger and the blood, I think I’ll find directly apologizing to be pointless. Let's talk about the dagger and why you ruined a dress?”

“I don't wish to talk about it.”

“Yeah, and I didn't commit genocide once.”

“I don't understand, you’ve committed genocide?”

“Your sister didn't tell you about me?”

“She never said anyone about killing in mass number… I guess that makes us equals.” Luna picks up the dagger and brings it to her arm. I effortlessly take it from her, “Please, I need this.”

“No. Besides, you're not a monster. If you were a monster, you wouldn't be doing this.”

“What do you know about being a monster. I’ve killed hundreds to satisfy my hunger before being banished to the moon.”

“Yeah, and I’ve killed millions in cold blood. Besides, you’re not Nightmare Moon. You’re Princess Luna. That monster isn’t anything like the woman who helps me sleep at night.”

“You speak of Lyra, yes?”

“I’m talking about what I see in my dreams. The ones that haunt me and made me cruel. Lyra can do a lot, but she can’t stop me from seeing the violence stuck in my head.”

“... What does that exactly make us?”

“I’m definitely not a wise man, but I’d say that we’re just two very fucked up people in a not so fucked up world. The only people who think that something’s wrong is both of us.”

“We made our own demons?”

“Exactly.”

“You are wiser than you say.”

“Trust me, I’m not. Just remember that you’re someone with a monster inside. I’m someone who’s a monster period. You’re hurting yourself because you regret doing what you did. I don’t.”

“Why was somepony like you allowed to be an Equestrian citizen?”

“Because you ponies aren’t humans. And because Lyra says that killing in cold blood is wrong. Now I only kill when it’s necessary.”

“Like when I once again became Nightmare Moon?”

“I wasn’t looking to kill you. I knew you Alicorns can take a few bullets. If I wanted to kill you, I’d find something else that could actually do the job. None of my guns can kill you, even if I blew your head off with my shotgun.”

“How did you learn about this, it’s not public knowledge?”

“Your sister told me as a threat when I got to this world. She didn’t think I was redeemable, but her student disagreed.”

“Twilight is quite the resourceful one.”

“I thought she was insane. I got proven dead wrong. Now c’mon, let's go talk to your sister…”

Six Years Later

In a sector that belongs to the Red Lanterns, I journey to one of two solar systems that are in a strange field of ancient magic as old as the Emotional Spectrum. Only two of things in this place are the only things worth note; a perfect replica of Earth’s Solar System and a planet where the sun and moon rotate around it. Both of these things hold a magic that appears to hold great strength. The Magic of Friendship. Mark my words, this magic can bend matter and physics. It can turn the invincible to being vulnerable, start and end wars without bloodshed, cure those doomed for death, and most of important… It shows you that there is always someone that you can call a friend.

I have reached the destination of my journey, the replica of earth. This earth is fascinating. It is not a perfect copy of earth by any means. It is a completely different earth, one that holds similarities to the planet of the second solar system. I have ventured to this earth to see my comrade Dex-Starr, as he has been the guardian of that world for some time. He has also claimed himself to be the pet of a human, a green-skinned female by the name Wallflower Blush. I asked Dex-Starr why he chose to lay dormant, but he has told me that he feels a coming conflict involving someone whose soul is filled with great confusion. Dex-Starr has already defeated a prior opponent, but he feels that this one requires my strength, rage, and understanding to defeat.

Without even needing to locate Dex-Starr, I sense a great conflict on the planet’s surface. I sense the fabric of reality being torn apart by a great demon. I sense someone delivering fear to the innocent surrounding her…

“What do you see?” An old enemy, now ally asks me.

“John Stewart,” I say, my constant rage feeling a tinge of joy at his presence, “I see that The Guardians sent you to Red Lantern territory?”

“I volunteered. How could I miss an opportunity to see what you’ve been up to?”

“Tell me, Green Lantern. Can you feel it?”

“Feel what, exactly?”

“A faint tinge of power deep inside. Our rings should be reacting to this.”

“Now that you mention it, something does feel off about this place. Other than the fact that we're hovering above a world that looks exactly like earth.”

“Ahh, but this is earth. It is not your earth, it is some form of ancient anomaly that is linking two separate planets. I would enjoy continuing this talk, but this world is experiencing a conflict that I believe will take more than myself to settle. Care to join me?”

“The superhero role never does get old.”

With that, I opened a portal a location near where Dex-Starr should be. But once I found him, I saw Wallflower Blush holding him in her arms. He has been extensively injured, though his ring keeps him alive.

“M-mr. Atrocitous, Dex-Starr got hurt trying to protect me!” The girl tells me, fear flowing through her veins.

“What attacked you?” John asked as he knelt down and put an assuring hand on Wallflower’s shoulder, “You can tell me anything, I’m from the Green Lantern Corps.”

“… Over in the schoolyard. Twilight, a girl from Crystal Prep. S-she made some kind of magic absorbing device, and I think It's gonna break and hurt people!”

“Then I shall show her hellish hate-“

“Wait Atrocitous-“ I ignore my friend as I soar towards the scene of several teenagers in a courtyard while a young girl is being pulled into a purple ball of energy.

“Heeeelp meeee…” The girl cries out as she is pulled into the ball of energy. With the girl consumed, the ball expands and lets off a flash. The flash dies down to reveal the girl from before, but in a form twisted by dark magic that is laughing maniacally.

“You were right!” The twisted form says is a voice as sinister as any truly evil force, “I didn't understand magic before. But I Do Now!!”

The twisted girl fires a beam of power at a statue of a horse, destroying it and tearing a hole in the fabric of space, yet not time. A hole that leads to a town in the land known as Equestria, a land that was once one of beauty before a recent invasion. With an apparent crack running through the ground, the twisted girl blasts it open to make another hole in space that again leads to Equestria.

“FOOL!!!” I cry out as I charge for the girl, “I’ll Show You Hellish Hate!!”

The girl quickly dispatches me with a beam attack that sends me soaring towards where John and Wallflower currently stand.

“Still feeling vengeful?” John asks me, using his power battery to charge his ring.

I spit out blood non-insultingly.

“Rage is my natural state,” I struggle slightly to answer, still feeling the power of the attack upon my chest.

“Shocker. Maybe what that thing needs is a taste of willpower.”

“So long as it satisfies my rage.”

And with that, John floats over to the twisted girl, his ring being shown with pride.

“Seen a lot of things, but nothing like you,” John says as he examines the girl.

“I’m going destroy this world to learn it's magic!” The girl announces to John, as well as the people around her.

“I don't like the sound of that.” John says warningly, “You probably don't know, but I’m what's called a Green Lantern. I’m part of an intergalactic corps of people like me that exist to stop people like you from destroying worlds and civilizations. Call us the intergalactic police.”

“Is that so, ‘Green Lantern’? I’ll take it that the red one from earlier was a pet who is just like you. He was nothing compared to me!”

“He was my friend, and you kinda kicked his ass. I’m enforcing intergalactic law, but this is also payback.”

The twisted girl threw a ball of energy at John, John constructing a green bat to bat it away. The girl telekinetically threw a piece of the ground at John, the Green Lantern grabbing it with a large green hand and crushing it. The girl then tried to blast a beam of her power at John, John firing a beam back. The two beams contest with each other, the twisted girl’s beam seeming to overpower John’s. More tears in space begin to form as the twisted girl’s beam gets closer and closer to John until he looks around to see the fear in the innocent civilians that are becoming victims of the tears as they scramble to save themselves and each other. It is at this moment that I see a spark within John. The spark that he had when I warned him about Sinestro’s plot. The spark he had when I saved him with a Red Lantern ring. The spark he had when he took the ring off without dying. The spark he used when Sinestro nearly killed me…

A spark of green.

A spark of will.

“In brightest day, in blackest night.”

John continues to lose the beam contest, but he begins to glow.

“No evil shall escape my sight.”

John has lost the contest, and the beam begins to consume him while seeming to send cracks of purple through his body.

“Let those who worship evil’s might!”

“Say Goodbye!!” The twisted girl says as John becomes consumed by her attack.

“Beware My Power!!” John says as he blasts a beam that immediately overwhelms the twisted girl and begins to strip her of power, “Green Lantern’s Light!!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

The beam ceases and becomes a great field that surrounds a girl who looks nothing like her twisted transformation. I walk over to the girl as she’s slowly lowered and get a better view of her. She’s but a mere schoolgirl who wears glasses, likely one who was under much pressure. The girl is lain on the ground with John and I standing on either side of her as she wakes.

“Easy now, you got hit hard,” John says as he kneels down and lifts the girl into his arms.

“Y-you saved me.” The schoolgirl says, looking John in the eyes.

“Just doin’ my job, ma’am.”

“No, you saved me, but Midnight-“

“I WILL TEAR YOU APART!!!” The twisted girl cries out as she flies out of one of the cracks in space, charging for John and the school girl. I position myself to intervene, but it is apparent that Wallflower has beaten me to it while wearing a Red Lantern ring with a heart filled with anger and hate.

Wallflower tackles the twisted girl into the side of the school’s wall, sending the two through the wall and into a classroom.

“You!” Wallflower calls out while pointing towards Midnight then gesturing through the hole to the ruined flowering vines that bring beauty to the bland brick walls, “You Took My Flowers From Me! I Planted Those With Dex-Starr During My Freshmen Year! I’ll Kill You For Destroying Them!!”

Surpassingly, Dex-Starr jumps onto the hole in the wall, then onto Wallflower’s shoulder. He hisses violently at Midnight Sparkle. Foolishly, Midnight charges at Wallflower, only for the Wallflower to spear Midnight with a shovel. With the twisted girl stunned, Wallflower front-flips over the form and grabs hold of its wings. With her shoes firmly planted into the twisted girl’s back, Wallflower begins to tear its wings from its back.

“You’re the only ONE-“ Wallflower tears one wing off and the form screams, “Getting torn APART!” Wallflower tears the other wing off and tosses them to the side before putting a hand over Midnight’s mouth, “Shut the fuck up. You will be punished for your attempt at tearing this world apart.”

Wallflower punches into the twisted girl's chest and removes its heart, destroying the twisted form. The form fades and the tears begin to repair themselves, Wallflower jumping through the hole and everyone but John and I looks to her in shock.

“Oh, fucking stop.” Wallflower says while removing her Red Lantern rings, “You're going to forget this ever happened by morning… You're right Dex-Starr, let's just go home.”

With that, Wallflower left the school with Dex-Starr purring in her arms.

“Atrocitous, how did she take off a Red Lantern ring without dying of heart failure?” John asks.

“I was hoping that you would be able to assist me in finding out how we can now remove our rings.” I admit, "I thought that you might have some insight on the matter.”

“Look, I couldn't tell you what's happening to the Red Lanterns even if I could figure it out. You know more than I do. The only thing that I could guess is that this ‘Magic of Friendship’ might something to do with it. Hell, it might affect all the Lanterns if it's already affecting one Corps.”

“E-excuse me?” The prior host of the twisted form says in an attempt to grab our attention, an attempt that proves successful.

“Speck, young girl.” I grunt.

“How can we help you?” John asks.

“I-I think I can h-help you with y-your-u-uh-“

“Fear not.”

“You’ve got two Lanterns here to keep you safe. I only blasted you ‘cause that thing from earlier was possessing you. What would you like to help us with?”

The girl takes a deep breath before saying what she has to say.

“I think I can help you figure out what is affecting you.” The girl says, “If you give me all the data I need, I might be able to figure out what's happening.”

“You have my word that the Green Lanterns will give you all the information you need.”

“And as leader of the Red Lanterns, I shall provide you with all the information you need, as well as a ring for testing.”

“I’ll see if The Guardians will give you a ring too. I think we would all like to know what exactly is going on with the Red Lanterns and if it means anything for the Green Lanterns.”

“Anything that you give to me, I’ll be careful with. I already have a way of gathering the ‘Friendship Magic’, I just need to modify it to collect it from a better source.”

“Leave the collection of energy to Dex-Starr, as he is currently residing in this very city. How long should your research take?”

“It took me only a few months to find out about ‘Friendship Magic’, but I’m guessing that this might take almost a year if you want extensive results.”

“Take your time, we don't want inaccurate results.”

I bring my hand out and present the girl with a Red Lantern ring. She takes it from my hand and stores it in her pocket.

“I’ll explain what just happened to the authorities, Atrocitous. They're gonna be confused, but I’m willing to bet that this wasn't the first showdown here.”

John makes his way to whomever is in charge and I offer the girl safe passage home. As for the rest of the night, I left the girl and took to the stars, John following shortly after. I must inform the Guardians about the girl, and John is to be debriefed. I will remember this night, as it was no ordinary night. Even for a Red Lantern.