Stories in Stone, Luna's Royal Guard.

by TDR

Meteoric Iron

Stories in Stone
Luna's Royal Guard
By TDR

Twilight stared across the table at the Princess of the Night. Luna, for the most part, had been unable to meet Twilight's eyes since she arrived. It may have been the tone of Twilight's voice when she invited the dark alicorn in or the ever-present glare she was giving the princess, but Luna looked as if she was ashamed to be here.

Twilight did her best to ignore Luna's uncomfortable state. The Goddess had come of her own volition for something. The longer Luna stayed, the longer it would take for Twilight to finish her task.

She was about to simply tell the princess to get on with it when Luna finally spoke.

“We gather you have seen some of what we hath done in the past by now. We simply wish to know if you still wish to complete our task or if we should not hold out hope for an outside point of view to the situation?”

“We are not done with the book just yet, but yes, I have seen and my friends have read what was done in the Lunar Republic.”

The dark alicorn seemed to deflate a little more at that.

“We see. We had expected you would come across that before long. We did expect that it would be enough for a change of opinion on everything, though our sister predicted you would not let what was done in the past affect your studies. It is not your studies we worry about, though.”

“I have no plans to stop before I finish this, Princess, but none of my friends were too happy reading that part. There should not be much more left. Princess Celestia mentioned you were stopped while attacking Canterlot.”

“Yes, we were, and that is the crux of our issue. We... I would ask that when you are finished with the story of the five that you continue to follow the path the blade and the shards will show to you. I do not know if it will follow me still to the moon, but what happens after my imprisonment should be of interest to you at any rate.”

“You should not expect that to change my opinion of you right now.”

“I am not suggesting you look into the aftermath for my sake. I did not expect your study to do anything more than show others what I need to atone for. I do not agree with my sister’s decision to hide the truth.”

Twilight tilted her head a bit. “Hide the truth?”

“Have you not wondered why nopony recognized me, and yet you all celebrate Nightmare Night? Why nopony has blamed the royalty for altering the very map of the coastline? Tia made sure it was all hidden. That it was forgotten so that when I returned, I would not have to fight my own past for redemption. It seems that when I allowed an outsider to look into my past, I may have removed all that Tia hoped to accomplish by turning my tale into a foals’ story.”

“Not entirely. You are not on trial here, Luna. Even if you were, there is quite a bit of evidence showing you were not you. A friend of mine asked me when I first started stressing over this if your actions as Nightmare Moon would cancel out all that you did before that or after. Honestly, I am still mulling over that. I am not sure I can forgive even the indirect evil that you caused, but I also cannot forget those that you saved before that.”

“I see. I could not ask for anything more than that.”

Twilight sighed, looking down at the sword between them. The faint harmless blue flame licked around the edge of the weapon in the Goddess of Night's presence.

“Princess Celestia was willing to forgive you. That is enough for me, Princess Luna. I may not have to like it, but that is not what I am supposed to be looking for here. Perhaps if you explained why you are having so much difficulty deciding on whether to free them or not, I could help you more.”

Luna bit her lip, clearly not thrilled with the direction this had turned. “I have a few reasons, really, Twilight. The first among them is that even though I know they did it for my benefit, I am still angry. It is an anger that I unleashed upon them the last time they woke.”

“Wait, what? When did they wake up before?”

“They were awoken not that long ago, but I will leave that for you to witness when you get to that point. If the sword will not show you, I can find another item that was there for you to scry. I could have let them be free then, but I let my anger and the memories of the last time I saw them get the better of me. They were sealed again knowing I was angry and heaped with more guilt than they had before... particularly Jer'rahd. This was knowing that he once again nearly died for me.”

“I really am missing something here.”

“I am sorry, but I am sure you would prefer to find this out your way instead of mine. There is another reason, however, yet it is pure selfishness on my part. I am not sure if my anger is the real reason, or if this is.”

“Fine; one thing at a time. I will check up on that after I finish the main story. What's the other reason?”

“If they are freed of the stone, they will age, and they will die. I will lose another group of my friends and I will be alone again. So long as they are in stone, they will never do any of these things.”

Twilight blinked, her ears flattening to her head. “Oh geez... I don't know how to respond to that one, Princess. It’s not fair to them, though.”

“I am aware of that, Twilight Sparkle. That is why I asked you to help me make the decision. I cannot do it myself.”

“And yet you miss them enough that you still raise the moon from that spot and spent the entire wedding there.”

Luna blinked as she looked at the smaller unicorn, wondering where that information had come from. She smiled softly, realizing it was most likely her sister.

“I think you may be a better influence on my sister than I had first thought.”

Twilight blushed suddenly. “Wait, what?!”

“It is no secret that you two have shared of yourselves... Tia is… not quiet and my room is across the hall.”

Twilight turned brighter red and really wished Luna would leave. The lunar mare smiled a bit more, trying not to tease.

“In any event, I have never been able to follow her method for selecting a suitor. It is not often she allows herself to become fully attached as she seems to have done with you. Granted, she was much more attached to her last one.”

“Her last one?!”

“Be at ease, Twilight. The last love my sister had was a thousand years ago, after I was banished. It was an interesting situation, to say the least. I was only recently made aware of the full implications of it.”

“You really need to stop adding more things to my list of what I want to know.”

“My apologies.”

“You know who it was?”

“Indeed, but ‘tis not my place to say. Besides, that is why I suggested you continue to scry the story. I will not be telling you and Tia supports your study. I do not think she is aware of what you may find. I know when the Waning Moon was finally sealed and for what reason. You should see it yourself when you get that far. Once the weapon is sealed, the next vision should be of the five’s first return.”

“Can you at least tell me how I might compare?”

“Compare?”

“To her former love?”

“I do not think there are any similarities, and to be truthful, I do not wish to think of my sister like that.”

“There's got to be something you know, something she enjoyed about whoever it was.”

“I suppose there is one thing, going by how she regaled me with the tale. It was something she brought up a little too often for my taste that she loved, though it is nothing you can replicate.”

“I still want to know; maybe I can do something.”

Luna smirked softly, shaking her head. She was not quite as uncomfortable now, though the feeling of depression still nagged at her.

“It is warms me greatly to see you wish to do your best to make my sister happy, but I doubt this information will aid you. I suppose, though, if you are able to produce a phallus from yourself as long and thick as my foreleg, you could replicate what she enjoyed. Thankfully, I never sought to learn that spell.”

Twilight turned nearly as red as Big Mac as she stammered at the thought of that.

“I should leave you to your study. I have lingered too long and the moon will need to be raised soon. Please remain in contact and let me know if there is anything you need from me, Twilight. I will do what I can to aid you.”

Luna moved to the door and stepped out, motioning to her Guards to ready the chariot. Her ears perked as Twilight spoke softly behind her. “Do you think you have atoned for your actions?”

Luna paused, her ears flattening.

“Others may think I already have, or even soon will. I do not believe I will ever forgive myself for allowing the darkness to consume me. So no, I do not, but that will not stop me from trying to do so.”

Luna stepped out the door, closing it lightly behind her. Spike poked his head out from the closet he was hiding in.

“Is she gone?”

“Yes, Spike; she's gone.”

“Do you think she meant what she said?”

“She has no reason to lie, and it is clear she feels bad about what she did.”

“I guess so; she was trapped for a thousand years on the moon. That's like jail time or something. Not sure it was enough, though.”

“In any case, Spike, that's not our task here. We need to finish this. Princess Celestia forgives her enough to accept her back as the Goddess of the Night, so the least we should do is the same.”

“Alright, go ahead and get this over with already.”

“You realize all this did was give me a few thousand other avenues of study, right?”

“Wait what... oh no. I should have guessed as much.”

“Yep, this is gonna be a much more common thing as I check out everything else for study. Plenty of notes and dissertations along with hypotheses on everything that I have been avoiding with this story. The magic space, Avaiana, the full nature of the Elements and the books. I have years’ worth of work ahead from this.”

“And that, of course, means more work for me… great...”

“Cheer up, Spike. At least the sword will be gone, as it has little to no connection to any of that.”

“There is that, at least.”

“Okay, here we go then.”

“Just one more question, Twilight.”

“What’s that Spike?”

“What's a phallus?”

“I am NOT having that discussion with you now.”

“What?”

“Into the spell I go.”

Twilight let the outside world fade as she cast the spell. A glance back showed the little purple star that was Spike was still there. He was still mad, but at least for now he was hiding it better. She was still not sure of the true reason he was being bothered. Granted, it could very well be the story. He was seeing the sordid underbelly of history and his race as a whole.
She knew he could believe it after his encounter with those teenaged dragons on his quest. That trip had bothered him and now he was finding out why they were like that.

She glanced to the dark spot in the stars, that area still bothering her. She would have plenty of time to study it soon enough. Looking to the windows that had shown her the Five Beasts of the Moon's tale, she sighed.

This would likely be the last time she journeyed into their lives before their fate met them. She moved to slip into Jer'rahd's window, a bit pensive. All of this was strangely due to Discord. Without his snide remark, she might have never known of these Stories in Stone.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three ponies, a zebra, a dragon, and an alicorn stood around a large table with a map of Canterlot and the surrounding area in the middle. Chess pieces covered the map at various locations. A white queen rested in the center of Canterlot; hordes of pawns and a few more rooks than a normal chess set would contain sat about it representing key guards and troop formations. A collection of black pawns with a few rooks as well rested in various points around the city.

“Scouting from the air has shown that after the attack on Ponyville two days ago, Celestia pulled most of her forces back to Canterlot, expecting an attack. A few of the Shadowbolts were spotted watching the city, but they managed to get away before any Royal Guards or griffons could be sent to catch them.”Canterlot is simply on high alert regardless. Nearly every Royal Guard is in the city right now.”

“My network reports there are currently three gods other than Celestia residing in Canterlot: the last dragon god and a pair of griffon gods. It is suspected that there are diamond dog gods there as well, but they are keeping to the abandoned mines under the city.”

“Going by Fluffy Mane’s information, they are fielding quite a few things that were created by Celestia's school. We can expect mage cannons and airships at the very least. Celestia's got the war machine chugging away in there. She also has the other nations helping her build it up faster and supply raw materials.”

[“The soldiers have all been given a variation of the drug Oroboros concocted. The effects are the same, though there is less chance of a complete mental or physical breakdown now. If you had come to me first for this, I would have made something that didn't have such a high death toll.”]

“Alright, so we know what we are up against. I have sent the remaining 42nd to secure our assets in the remaining cities under our control. Since they are all ponies, involving them in this attack could bring about more defection. The primary attack force will be the prisoners, the trained monsters, the remaining Cult of the Moon members, and their creations. The Princess can command a large force of trolls and shadow creations to aid in this attack as well. With those additions, even without the 42nd, we outnumber the Canterlot defenders two to one. Here's the plan.”

The others looked to Jer'rahd as his magic picked up another series of pieces, placing five black knights to one side of Canterlot. His magic took all the black pawns, moving them to the rear of the castle to the gate there.

“The shadows and trolls will be taking the main brunt of the fire and they will be the first to attack Canterlot from behind. The gate there has been rebuilt, but it is harder to defend from that vantage due to the layout of the walls and parapets. The goal, however, is to harass and get as many defenders to focus on the mass hitting the back door. This is not the real attack.”

Jer'rahd moved most of the white pawns to the rear of the castle and moved another group of black pawns to the front of the castle.

“After the first attack is engaged, the secondary force will move to attack the side outer garden. This will be the Cult, the monsters, and the mercenaries we have. There is an entrance there that leads directly to Celestia's chambers that Velkorn found. Celestia will know we know about it. When she sees our forces headed there, she will move her own to stop us. This is where most of our mage cannons will be. The goal again is distraction. We want to keep most of the defenders alive if possible."

“Why is that? Should we not simply kill them all?”

“The goal is Celestia. The game is over for the others when we have her. If we kill everything there will be no one left for the Lunar Republic to rule over.”

He pointed to the white queen with a hoof, his magic moving the other pawns to the new location where the secret entrance was.

“I suspect we are represented by the black knights? So what is it we are doing, Jer?”

The gray unicorn smiled, fangs glistening in the light of the room.

“Waltzing in the front door like we own the place, of course. With the Guards distracted everywhere else, Bleu can fly Rhede, Velkorn, and me over the wall with Starfall. From there, we head up the main path to the castle proper. With the castle guard keeping our forces from using the secret entrance, we can simply waltz in the front gate as well. Resistance should be minimal until we get to Celestia.”

His magic moved the five black knight figures to the front of the castle between the distracted pawns.

“A grand plan, General, but I do not see my part in this scheme.”

“On top of calling the shadows and the trolls, you have one of the most important parts, Princess. Keeping Celestia busy and draining her power while we move in.”

“I do not follow.”

“The attack will begin at dawn; all you need to do is refuse to lower the moon. That should be a struggle enough between the two of you, yet you will be safe here and she will be under assault. I am sure the books would be willing to lend you more power if you need it. When she stops fighting you for control of the skies, that will be the time for you to move. None of us know a spell to seal her away, so that will be left to you.”

Jer'rahd moved the black queen to a spot near the castle before the knights and the white queen.

“Why not simply kill her and be done with it?”

“Several reasons, Princess. The first is that she knows more magic and lore than any of us do, including the location of possible allies to us that were threats to Equestria before. The second is that as long as she is alive, we can keep most of the other ponies in line by holding her hostage. There is also the fact that as long as she is alive there will not be another pony god born who might rise up with some strange ability that may be a threat. On top of all that, you will be able to gloat whenever you feel like it.”

The others stared at Jer'rahd, surprised and a little worried he had come up with all that so quickly. Nightmare Moon, however, smiled.

“I see you are doing your best to get back into my good graces.”

“I was unaware I was out of them, past a difference in how we want things to work. There is also my annoyance that you would bother to rely on fools to do what was needed. The five of us have already been through hell and back for you. What makes you think that would change when it came right down to it?”

“Valid point. When does this attack commence, then?”

“In two days; that will give us enough time to prepare the forces we have and get the cult’s monsters and prisoners under control. This also gives time for Celestia to pull back all her forces so we can remove this last bastion of resistance in Canterlot in one fell swoop. After this, all that will be left are the griffons. Tomorrow will be the last full day to ready our forces and move into positions around Canterlot. We will attack the dawn of the next day. We will be well-rested while Canterlot will be expecting an attack all night from us and be on high alert.”

“Hmmm… an impressive plan as always. I gather you have worked past your issue with my previous methods?”

“No, but once Canterlot falls, there will be little use for those methods again. Therefore, there will be no issue anymore. It is not as if there is anything left of the Hollow Shades group’s leadership to do anything more than feed the worms, anyway.”

Luna raised an eyebrow, but her smile grew a little wider. The others remained silent as they stared at the two, not sure if they liked where this was going.

“I see. Effective as always, Jer'rahd. “

“Thank you, Princess.”

“I would speak with you again on other things. Come to my study and we will talk there. The rest of you know what to do, so go to it.”

Nightmare Moon turned, trotting out of the war room, followed by Jer'rahd, who offered a glance back to Rhede. The earth pony gritted his teeth, recognizing that grin as the same one he used every time he left a bar with a mare when they were younger. He was about to say something when a loud click drew his attention back to the table.

The door shut behind the gray unicorn and the princess, leaving the four alone in the room. Bleu cursed heavily under her breath, and Starfall and Velkorn both sighed.

“Delightful; we are back to not knowing if Boss is going to go off for a bit of plot.”

Rhede scanned the table, seeing the faint green light of Jer'rahd's magic fade from a single piece on the map, a small smirk crossing his lips.

“I don't think we have to worry about anything. We all know Jer wouldn’t do anything that would get us hurt directly. I think there may be something else to this plan as well.”

“ Really? Any ideas on what, Rhede? Because I cannot figure out shit.”

“No, I just have a hunch this is not going to happen like he explained it. He's holding his cards close for some reason.”

They all stared at the piece for a few moments until a series of coughs and spitting sounded from Bleu. The little dragon backed away from the table, scraping her tongue with her claws, bits of wood falling from her mouth.

“Bleu, did you just try and eat some of the pawns?”

“They looked sooo tasty, but it was a tricksy trick... they are carved and painted wood.”

Rhede smiled slightly, looking back at the center of the table where the black queen had been carefully laid down in front of the five black knights and the white queen.

==========================================

This was the last night before the attack on Canterlot and Jer'rahd was trying hard to sleep. Luna, or rather, Nightmare Moon lay asleep on the bed as he paced, unable to think of a better plan than what he had come up with. He sighed, looking at the sleeping form of his Princess and smiled. She almost seemed back to normal while she slumbered; it was a false peace, however.

Soon, this would be over, one way or another. His gaze shifted around the room, focusing on the bookcase and the two books resting on it. The source of most of his troubles. There was an oppressive feeling of being watched and judged in the room that he had only noticed as of late. He shook his head, moving to the nightstand to look in the mirror and prepare his gear.

He considered going back into his room once more, but the only thing of value to him still in there was the painting. He was willing to let that go, as he would most likely see them soon anyway.

Fighting Celestia would not be easy, and there was no guarantee he would win even with his abilities. He could only hope they would weaken her enough for Luna to finish her off.

He looked down at the top of the dresser. The Element of Magic sat on the corner in a small jewelry box; next to it was his saddlebag and the items he would be bringing with him.

The star metal dagger, the shard of his grandfather’s blade that had become the Element of Loyalty, the Waning Moon, the patch he received upon joining the 42nd, Stonehoof's drill hat, an autographed image of Platinum, a map of Canterlot, a fragment of bone from a Tank, two gemstone earrings that he had given as a gift to a mare that tried to kill him, two large books of names of the fallen, and one of his father’s medals.Everything that had made him what he was sat on this table, all that had guided him to this point of his life. All he truly had to his name anymore. In what he knew could be his last battle, he thought it fitting to bring along all that he was.

A noise from behind him announced the stirring of the princess from her slumber. He swept everything but his sword into his saddlebags with a hoof. He attached the bags to his harness before sheathing the blade at his side.

“You're still awake?”

“It is almost time to join the troops for the attack. I cannot sleep with this much on my mind, Princess.”

“Considering how you spent your last night, I expected you would fall asleep quickly.”

“I do not find that sort of thing with you tiring at all.”

She chuckled and rose from the bed, stretching her wings and glancing briefly at the books. She smiled softly.

“You are rather determined to do this for me, are you not?”

“You deserve a fitting group of Generals. Let this be more proof to you that we are all that you will need for anything.”

“I shall keep that in mind, Jer'rahd, though you should purge those thoughts of failing from your mind. Your plan is sound; Celestia and Canterlot shall fall. When you succeed, there shall always be a place for you at my side.”

“I have no desire to be anywhere else Princess, but I have no want to rule.”

“And if I ask you to be my King?”

“I would not deny you.”

She smiled again, leaning forward lightly to kiss him. “Then you had best be victorious, as I would not think to take another as such.”

“As you wish, Princess.”

============================================================

Rhede slept poorly. He had spent most of the night preparing and arguing with Velkorn. The zebra mare had fallen asleep on his bed again and he had taken the couch. Even now, with the rays of dawn still hours away, the discussion continued.

[“There is no reason for you to go along with us, Velkorn. You will be of more use in the field hospital; there's no need to put yourself in danger.”]

[“I am more use in case one of you gets hurt. Besides, Jer'rahd has stated that he wants us all there.”]

[“I am sure he would make an exception for you; you are not really a combatant like the rest of us.”]

He rose, stretching, but a sudden impact knocked all four of his legs out from under him, throwing the earth pony back onto the couch with a thud. Velkorn moved swiftly, pressing a hoof up hard to his chest, her muzzle nearly touching his as she kept him pinned on his back.

[“I am a master of hoof to hoof combat, Rhede. You know this very well. My tally of kills may not be anywhere near yours or the others, but that is because I prefer not to kill, though I have proven that I am able to do so several times in the past. I am also the only one of the group who can easily keep up with you. If you are worried about your stupid prophesy again, then you best remember your promise to never let it happen to me. If you do that, you should never have to worry about that vision again.”]

[“I will have you know, stallions tend not to like forceful mares.”]

[“And I will have you know that I know better about your tastes.”]

[“Fine, fine, fine... I give. Don't think that means I am giving in to you, however. You can do far better for yourself.”]

Velkorn looked ready to smack him again when one of his rear hooves managed to lift up to poke her lightly in her side just below the rib cage. Her eyes widened as she stifled back a sudden burst of laughter, yanking away from his hoof and allowing him to roll back upright.

[“Glad to see that spot is still as ticklish as ever.”]

[“Cheater.”]

[“If you know me so well, my dear zebra, you should know I exploit any weakness. Come on, grab what you need. We only have a few hours before we need to be in position.”]

===================================================

Bleu stared at her hoard, her head and wings drooped. She cradled a small stuffed pony that had seen better days. The small figure’s black velvet coat had grayed with age, the silvery hair mostly gone, save a few strands.

With all the fighting, she had never managed to gain her sister the recognition that she deserved. There would be no epic tales of her life; no one would ever hear her voice again. Even the few ponies who knew her were either dead or had moved on with their lives. The only lasting memory that would remain was the Platinum Swan, and with how Equestria viewed her right now, that name might even be changed.

There was no real chance for Bleu to do anything at all to have her remembered. No one would listen to what she had to say. Even if the Lunar Republic won this fight, she could do nothing. She might be able to tell ponies they should remember the singer, but they would do so out of fear, not respect. That was not the way she wanted things.

She did not fault Boss for moving on. She knew he still had one of the few photos taken of her in the things he kept, but she had pushed him to move past Platinum and find some other pony. It took him some time to do that, and even longer to find one who didn't try to kill him, though the last mare he fell for still did a good job ruining his life.

It was only a few hours until they were to move out. This may be the last time she would see any of those things. Though, perhaps she would be seeing her sister again, and she would no longer need these things. She only hoped there would be a happy ending from all from all of this.

She wondered if they would deserve it, though.

======================================================

Starfall stared at the small photo on her dresser. The magic photo moved slightly as she watched a tiny filly being tossed in the air by her mother with two other mares watching, smiles plastered on their faces.

Her sister, Starshine, and her sister's marefriend, Stormsong, herself, and Cloud Dancer. The photo was taken not long after she had graduated basic training. The joy in all the faces present was quite clear. Now two of those faces were gone forever and a third was missing.

Starfall sighed. When was the last time she had felt like that? She had done nothing but rage and panic and go through the motions of living and fighting for several years now. The only time she even remembered smiling was when she could see her daughter, even for the short times she had.

Lately, she had not even had that luxury. She felt more like the emotionless half-dragon Lion Heart every day. He clearly cared about things, but he never showed it. He was more like a rock than a pony.

No matter the outcome of things, she would not give up hope that she could make amends with her daughter someday. She honestly considered it the only thing that kept her going now.

No. That was not true, not anymore.

She actually felt for her friends as well. Even if something did happen to Cloud Dancer, she would not abandon those that had stuck by her no matter what had happened. They may not think she owed them anything, but she still held out she owed them everything.

The five of them had shown her that she could live again beyond just her daughter and beyond the loss of Loc and revenge. They showed her that she might very well be able to move on past her grief some day. At times, she actually forgot about it for a while; forgot revenge, forgot that she was the fastest pony in Equestria and could do something no one had ever seen before, and act just like she was just a normal pony.

Win or lose at this point, however, those days were over. Either they would be killed taking on the Goddess of the Sun, or they would be known the world over as the Beasts of the Moon. There was never going to be a normal day again for them.

===========================================

Jer'rahd stared up at the sky, then back to Castle Winnysor. Nightmare Moon had begun to hold back the day. It was possibly the strangest thing he had ever seen. The red light of the coming dawn continuously faded in and out, making the landscape brighter before the color again faded to the black of night.

He looks over to Lion Heart, who was watching the spectacle with the same awe and fear that Jer'rahd felt.

“Enough gawking, Major. I have a task for you.”

“What is it you need, General?”

“I want you to take twenty of the most trusted half-dragons you have, the ones from Gallopagos, not the new ones, and stay with the Princess. Let nothing get close to her until she leaves. After that, leave the castle and return to your troops at Canterlot.”

“You are not leaving us to guard the castle?”

“There is no point. If we win, we will be staying in Canterlot; if we lose, there will be no one left alive anyway. “

“I see.”

Jer'rahd shook his head.

“No, you don't, but you will. When you get to Canterlot, I want you to round up all of the half-dragons you can, including the new ones, and go back home to Gallapagos Island. Bring the Shadowbolts with you as well.”

“General... wha?”

“Don't argue, Lion Heart. I questioned allowing you to join the Republic at first. That was a mistake; you are one of the best soldiers I have had the pleasure of serving with. Consider my orders as a last reward for this service.”

The half-dragon narrowed his eyes.

“You do not expect to win, do you General? You expect that you will all die here.”

“Not at all, Major. I expect to win; I always expect to win. In this battle particularly, there is nothing that will stop me from achieving victory here. The reward for a victory is too great this time to even contemplate the alternative.”

“I wish I had your confidence, General.”

“You would not like the other problems that come with it. Make sure you follow my orders, Lion Heart.”

“Yes, sir.”

==========================================================

The red glow of the sun trying to rise into the sky gave the white walls of Canterlot a blood red coloration. The five stood on a cliff facing the city, watching as the first set of troops began to move towards the back gate. This was the end of it; the only acceptable outcome now would be victory.

Bleu sighed softly, bringing a small glance from Jer'rahd as she changed size to let the others climb on her back. She hummed softly, closing her eyes, her voice carrying much further than the soft words should have.

“A warning to the ponies, the good and the evil. This. Is. War.”

She launches herself into the air, followed by Starfall, their shadows cast over the walls of Canterlot by the red glow from the horizon.

A griffon in armor looked up to the sky from the city as she guided an older mare into a shelter.

“To the soldier, the civilian.”

A tear fell from the blue dragon’s eye as a flash of Platinum's face crossed her mind.

“To the martyr and the victim, This. Is. War.”

The second wave begins the attack. The Canterlot Guard follow the predicted response, force of the battle shifts to he left side of the city. Jer'rahd grips the dragons spine hard as she descends still singing.

“It's the moment of truth, and the moment to lie.
The moment to live and the moment to die.”

Bleu swung low, tearing across the city streets, her wing tips nearly clipping the shops on either side of the cobblestone road. Starfall streaked ahead of her, a trail of light following the purple-maned pegasus. The rainboom exploded, throwing several squads of guards on the ground off their hooves. The energy she built up impacted the front gates of the castle proper, the wood and stone exploding into a shower of debris and rainbow-colored smoke.

“The moment to fight, the moment to fight, to fight, to fight!, TO FIGHT!”

Bleu sailed through the rubble as it showered the guards on the other side of the gate. The great arching doorway collapsed behind them, sealing the other soldiers outside. Rhede, Jer'rahd and Velkorn leaped off her back, landing among the startled palace guards and striking out quickly before they recovered from the sudden attack.

“To the right, to the left
We will fight to the death
To the Edge of the Earth
It's a brave new world from the last to the first”

Several guards went flying as the singing dragon lashed out with her tail. Jer'rahd layed out around him with his hooves and the back of the Waning Moon as the others did much the same. With the entryway clear, they moved for the next door and the main hall.

“A warning to the Prophet,”

Velkorn leaped into the air, knocking a pegasus from the sky with a few quick strikes.

“the liar,”

Rhede vanished from in front of a diamond dog wearing an imperial breast plate. The dog whirled around, looking for him before collapsing in a heap. Rhede pulled the hood back, scanning the room for another target, a sap gripped in its mouth.

“the Honest.”

Starfall slammed into a pair of griffons, sending them crashing into a wall to fall unconscious to the ground. She glared at the fallen foes a moment before moving on without finishing them off.

“This is war.”

The group smashed though the foyer door, charging down the great hall towards the throne room. The stained glass windows decorating the walls cast an eerie light over the hall and the charging group.

“To the leader...”

Jer'rahd galloped ahead, the armor forming around him as he smashed through a formation of guards trying to block their way.

“...the pariah...”

The group rushed past a stained glass window depicting Princess Luna before her moon.

“...the victim...”

Velkorn stopped, looking to a servant pony cowering behind an overturned table before galloping on.

“...the messiah.”

They smashed into the last door at the end of the hall, bursting into the throne room. The Princess of the Sun sat on her throne, eyes barely open as her magic flared, trying to hold back Nightmare Moon's efforts.

“This is war...”

=======================================

Rhede flattened his ears. This was too easy. Why would she even be in the throne room now of all times? With no guards?

“TRAP!”

“One that you fell for… brother.”

The last word dripped venom that did not seem to fit the mellow-sounding voice. Rhede did not have time to find out who said it before a huge armored stallion smashed into the ground next to him, dropping from the ceiling. Rhede's eyes widened as he dove to the side in time to dodge the stallion’s strike, the floor where he was standing exploding into dust from the impact.

The others scattered at the attack, whirling about to face the new challenge. Starfall drew one of her blades and dived for the armored stallion, only to be knocked out of the air by a blue blur. She bounced off the floor and slid across the tile, her armored hooves kicking up sparks as she came to a stop, shaking off the impact. Her eyes narrowed as she came face-to-face with her attacker. The mare was dressed in a bright blue armored outfit that was a mockery of the Shadowbolts armor she wore. Like Starfall's armor, her face was covered with a mask and she wore goggles over her eyes. A short-cut white mane and tail were all of the pony that could be seen under the armor

Bleu moved to aid Starfall, but before she could take more than a step, the ground under her exploded and a massive silver form slammed into her armored underbelly. She winced as she was flung into the air hard enough to impact the vaulted ceiling. The plaster and tile rained down with her as she fell back down, impacting hard against the tile floor. She lifted her head and glared at her attacker. It seemed to be an armored buffalo, though surrounding him, almost looking as if it was drawn in the air, was an outline of a giant mole. The image withdrew back into the armor as the silver-armored creature snorted.

A series of crossbow bolts launched from the shadows, forcing Rhede to dodge again. Velkorn spotted his attacker hidden among the ceiling arches and moved to take care of him, but she pulled up short, leaping aside to avoid a kick by a pony wrapped in bandages.

The white cloth covering him was stained in blood, but with the colorations of it, the blood was clearly not all his. Only his amber eyes were fully visible and they did little but show a burning rage. He lashed out again, forcing the zebra mare to dodge once more. His forehoof impacted the pillar she slipped behind, shattering a large chunk of marble from it. He flicked his hoof lightly from the impact, though clearly uninjured by the blow.

Jer'rahd looked back at his friends before his attention turned again to Celestia. He narrowed his eyes as the image flickered and faded away, leaving the throne empty.

A unicorn stallion stepped from behind the throne, trotting towards him and stopping in the middle of the room as the armored buffalo rushed past, hammering into the dragon.

Jer'rahd moved to stand before the unicorn. Sizing him up, a small smirk crossed his muzzle at the armor the unicorn was wearing.

The bone had been polished to an almost metallic sheen and had been inlaid with silver. The patch for the 42nd carved into the shoulder guards had been replaced by the sigil of the Royal Guard. A pair of blue glowing eyes glared at him from within the eye sockets, the muzzle visible under the helm white enough to match the bone.

“I wondered what had happened to that armor.”

The unicorn said nothing; his horn glowed, his magic pulling a silver blade from its scabbard at his side. The blade was similar in design to the Waning Moon, though the twin blades were double sided and straight from the central grip rather than single sided and curved. The grip itself was white and the blade bright silver. The weapon was devoid of ornamentation much as his was, though a golden flame danced along the edge of the blade as the unicorn leveled it before him.
He felt the Waning Moon react to the other blade. Drawing his sword, the edge flared to life with dark blue fire. He stared at his blade a moment before leveling it before him and staring down the unicorn.

“Nice of you to want to do this honorably, so I will give you one chance to step aside and let us see Celestia.”

“You will go no further, Demon of Dullahan. Your attack ends here, as does your terror.”

“You have no idea what you are getting into, colt.”

He lashed out with the blade, his magic sending it screaming towards the unicorn. He was too close now to let some stupid trick stop him. The white unicorn did the same with his weapon, flinging it at the General. Both swords collided in midair...

------------------------------------------------------

Twilight screamed, stumbling backwards over her own rump in the starry void. She shivered, rubbing her head with a hoof as the impact of the two weapons ejected her from the scry on the Waning Moon.

What had happened? Did the sword break again? Looking at the window to the blade, multicolored flames flickered around it, though the window remained whole. She looked to the other windows, seeing no change in the shards of blade that they showed. She moved to Rhede's shard, slipping back into the battle.

----------------------------------------------------

Rhede was bouncing between the crossbow bolts raining down on him when the explosion hit him. He was unsure what happened, though a blinding light filled the room just before a shock wave hit. It felt like being at ground zero to one of Starfall's rain nukes. He glanced around, seeing most of the others flung about the room. Velkorn and her attacker both seemed to be the only ones to land gracefully.

A globe of power filled the center of the room, obscuring what was going on between the two unicorns. Blue and white fire swirled around the globe as a loud ringing of metal on metal filled the room. Thankfully, the Royal Guard they were dealing with did not seem to have expected that either and were staring at the globe with just as much confusion as the generals were.

After a few moments, the globe cleared, showing the two unicorns braced where they stood, their shadows burned into the tile floor. Both where charred, though neither seemed the slightest bit injured. Jer'rahd’s red and green eyes glowed just as brightly as the two blades locked in the air between the two. The white unicorn’s eyes flared a brilliant blue as he held back the Demon of Dullahan's attack.

“What the buck was that supposed to be?”

Rhede blinked, turning his head to the lanky pony against the wall near him. The dark orange earth pony was clad in black leather armor; his silver mane was tugged back into a long ponytail that draped over his neck, resting on one of the multitude of quivers full of crossbow bolts. A strangely-designed crossbow was clutched in his fore legs.

Rhede's eyes widened upon recognizing him. “Fox?!? What the buck?!”

The pony glared at his brother with a sneer.

“What in Tartarus do you mean ‘what the buck’, you damnable cur?!”

“I mean what the buck are you doing here?”

“Being a proper Royal Guard, you jackass, what the buck do you think I am doing here?!”

“Wait, that means that massive lump over there is Wolf and the pegasus is... oh shit.”

“Yeah, like what you are in for making Maw cry, you monster!”

Rhede rolled off the wall as the spot he was pressed against was filled with crossbow bolts from the angry earth pony. Rhede barely dodged that before the massive form of the heavily-armored Wolf charged him again, destroying another section of the tile floor.

“BLEU, SWITCH TARGETS WITH STARFALL NOW!”

==============================================

“I'M A LITTLE BUSY, FIRM FLANK!”

The wall exploded as Bleu shrank to avoid an attack from the armored buffalo. She flitted up into the air, changing back to pony size and firing off a blast of lightning at the armored bulk. The buffalo turned, taking the blast head-on without so much as a flinch. He lifted his head up and stared at the surprised Bleu, muttering something under his breath. A large pair of black and red wings emerged from the armor of his back. Much like the strange mole outline, the wings did not seem properly real, more like a tribal drawing’s attempts to look alive. The buffalo growled, kicking off the ground and flying into the air with a down sweep of the strange wings.

“OH COME ON!!”

“You think my kind do not have ways of dealing with you thunder lizards? You were our great foe in the first war. Though if you are an indication of your kind’s supposed skill, I do not understand why your race had that honor.”

=============================================

Velkorn leaped among the rubble caused by the armored earth pony, the dragon, and buffalo. The white-clad figure bounded after her using a very similar style to her own bare hoof combat. The white wrappings covering his form were offering a layer of light armor as well as hiding his movements enough to give him a small edge.

Her armor prevented him from landing an effective blow and his cloth made figuring out where to strike him without hitting a spot that would kill him impossible. This one knew her reluctance to taking a life and was using it to his advantage.

==============================

This bitch was fast. Not quite as fast as she was, but damn close. Starfall had recovered her blade and was meeting the mare’s attacks rather easily. Still, she was surprised at the savagery of the other pegasus's attacks.

She had two wing blades and held a third sword in her mouth as she attacked, her white mane and tail cut very short, giving Starfall the impression she either had not been out of basic long or was following Jer'rahd's school of mane care. The latter seemed more likely simply due to the skill she displayed.

The blast had thrown them both into the wall, though the mare was up before Starfall was and commencing the attack. Starfall growled glancing back to Jer'rahd and wondering if he would mind at least one death here, as she doubted this one would relent.

Seeing the purple maned pegasus's slight distraction, the crimson goggles of the other mare glinted as she lunged forward.
The rush was with a greater burst of speed than she had previously shown. Starfall yelped and launched into the air over the attack and slashed down with her blade, scoring the first blood of this match: a deep gash that sliced through the armor on the other mare’s flank.

Her ears perked up as Rhede yelled.

“Switch for what? She's not faster than I can... deal with...”

Starfall watched the mare bounce back from the blow, the armor over her flank wide open, exposing her pale blue coat and a white cloud cutie mark that was shaped like a dancing pony.

“By the stars...”

“Hello Mother... Die!”

============================================

Jer'rahd was quite aware of what was going on with the others and this was an unexpected problem with the plan. Rhede would not hurt his brothers and Starfall would not even so much as touch her daughter. The buffalo was likely Proud Tail and the unicorn Cyan. The only one he was unsure of was the masked pony.

He should have known Celestia would try something to demoralize the group and having Starfall's daughter and one of Rhede's family members fight was a sure way to put those two at a serious disadvantage. She must have had Proud Tail here after hearing about the agreement that was made, though that would mean that the buffalo had already sided with Celestia. Nightmare Moon was not going to like that.

The biggest surprise was the sword and his armor with Cyan. How the colt had managed to get either of them would likely be an interesting story, but he did not have time for that.

His horn glowed brighter, forcing the Waning Moon closer to the unicorn, but his magic poured from his horn, holding back the general's efforts.

“Stand aside, Sparkle; our business is with Celestia.”

“I will not allow you to come anywhere near her while I still draw breath.”

“That can be arranged, colt.”

“You do not know what you are dealing with this time, Demon. I am not the same pony you saved in Manehatten.”

“I am not the same pony that saved you.”

“Which is why I will not allow you near the Princess.”

Jer'rahd lunged towards him, ducking under the blades as he charged. The white unicorn clearly expected this and launched a few energy bolts from his horn while maintaining the struggle with the weapons.

“Does every unicorn in Equestria know how to do two spells at once now?”

He dodged another bolt of power, growling as he used some of the rubble for cover. He was getting tired of this. Starfall was going to be killed at this rate and Rhede was having a hard time fighting his brothers. Time to change things up a little.

“Yer good, colt, but let me show you how this is done.”

He charged at Cyan again, dropping his hold on the Waning Moon and letting it fall. He flung a pair of shields up, blocking both the sword and the bolts of magic. He caught his blade in his mouth as he galloped across the short distance to the colt.
Cyan stepped back and flung up his own shield, only to have Jer'rahd run past him to leap between Starfall and Cloud Dancer, blocking a sword strike from the younger pegasus.

“Black Knight Five to White Knights Three and Four.”

Bleu smirked, dodging a charge from the buffalo before growing to pony size suddenly and dropping down onto Wolf's back. She dug her claws into his armor, yanking at it and pulling sections of the metal plate away. Fox lifted his crossbow to fire at her, but was forced to dive aside as a lightning bolt arced his way. She hung on as the pony started to buck to throw her off.

“YEEEHAW!! I need a hat!”

“Black Knight Two to White Knight Six.”

Starfall blinked snapping out of the shock of finding her daughter. Instinct kicked in as she followed the order, launching herself upward and slashing her star metal blade through the buffalo's magic wing, sending the large armored form crashing to the ground.

“Black Knight Four to White Knight Two.”

Velkorn leaped over the fallen buffalo, kicking him in the top of his armored head for good measure, to launch herself in the air at Cloud Dancer. The tight armor the mare wore would not be much resistance to the zebra's stunning blows. The pegasus realized this and changed her attempt to continue the attack on Starfall, focusing on dodging the zebra.

“Black Knight Three to White Knight One.”

“Oh yes, ‘cause that's such a good idea, Jer; that colt is nuts.”

Rhede galloped past Jer'rahd, bouncing off the buffalo as he tried to get up and shoved him back into the rubble. He briefly managed to attain an airborne state over the white unicorn to unleash a barrage of star metal daggers at the colt. The unicorn raised a shield, screaming out as the blades dug into the magic shield. The backlash of it dropped him to his knees, but the blades did not manage to get past the shield.

Jer'rahd smirked, having called it right. The colt had practiced the same as he did, though it still gave a headache to end all headaches trying to stop a great amount of star metal, and Rhede had an ample supply.

He turned his attention to the bandaged pony, flinging up a shield to stop a blow he was aiming at Bleu. The masked one bounced off of it, flipping through the air to land before the war pony.

Jer'rahd darted towards the bandaged figure as he landed, a grin crossing his face. The pony dodged to the side from the charge, but the Waning Moon smacked into his side with the blade flat, sending him crashing to the ground.

====================================================

Starfall focused on the buffalo, doing her best to ignore the fight with her daughter. She knew Velkorn would not kill her and she was sure that was why Jer'rahd had given that order. Her focus was on the behemoth of a creature before her now. The armored buffalo barely seemed to be phased by the fall or the use of his head as a springboard as he rose up, the remaining wing fading away. He muttered again, inks seems to pour out of the metal armor, forming around him like a new set of clothing, though much more massive. It quickly took the shape of a giant cat, one that lashed out at Starfall following the buffalo's movements. This was an interesting ability.

Bleu was finally flung off the large stallion and was currently scampering across the hall with the massive pony on her tail. She smirked, tossing insults at both the large pony and the one trying to shoot her, along with the occasional blast of lightning. Her main goal was to keep the attention of both of them on her. Wolf was clearly easy to anger and she paused every so often just to make sure he remained on her tail by slapping him across the face with it.

“Now this is interesting; the big ole Wolf is just as much of a tail chaser as his brother HAHA!”

“SHUT UP!”

“Oh come on, you know you want a piece of this sexy thing; otherwise, you would not be trying so hard to get it.”

Velkorn was having a little bit of difficulty; she was keeping Cloud Dancer occupied, but she could not lay a hoof on the speedy mare. Thankfully, the pegasus was cautious enough to not press an attack that would put her in the zebra's reach… which was any attack at this point.

All in all, this was more a stalemate than anything else.

==============================================

Jer'rahd smirked; the masked pony was far faster than he was, and after the surprise attack with the blade, he had not managed to so much as touch the bouncing lunatic. The upside to this was no matter how much the unarmed fighter hit Jer'rahd, nothing was getting past his armor to cause issue.

“DO YOU THINK WE ONLY TRAINED TO TAKE ON ONE OF YOU EACH?”

He glanced back at the yelling unicorn, a sharp pain in his side causes him to throw himself sideways and glare at the wrapped combatant. The masked pony was holding two of Rhede's star metal daggers in the loose bindings at the end of his fore hooves, using them like bladed whips. One was already dripping with blood from the wound he inflicted. It was not a deep stab, but it was more of a warning of what he could do.

“Delightful.”

================================================

Rhede was hauling flank, bits of stone and gravel exploding behind him as the unicorn flung out a barrage of spells. Rhede countered the first few by disrupting them with his daggers, but he found he was rapidly running out of his favored weapons.
Whatever honor duel this pony had with Jer, it didn't transfer over to him.

Bleu winced as a small explosion flung her to the side. A bomb attached to a crossbow bolt had detonated near her. She was not hurt from the blast, but it was more than enough to make her head ring. That brief pause was all Wolf needed to grab her tail.

“Oh shit!”

The massive pony bit down harder, tossing his head about and smashing the dragonling into the ground before yanking her up to sling her into the wall, his death grip on her tail being used as a pivot point to swing her about.
Starfall could not touch the buffalo. Whatever armor he was wearing was preventing her from landing any sure strikes. It had to be thicker than normal Guard plate for her blades to only be scratching it. It did not help matters that he was barely offering her any sort of opening.

The buffalo, however, was wasting no time trying to crush the much smaller pegasus. He was playing with her like a cat plays with a small bird it caught.

Velkorn was wrong. This mare was not trying to stay out of her reach; she was herding her. Every dodge, every attack, was designed to get the zebra to back into someone else's attack or into a clear line of sight with the unicorn. A single blast of magic aimed to her instead of Rhede was all the proof she needed.

This was no longer a deadlocked fight.

=============================================

“Black Knight Four to White Knight Three, Three to Two. Sorry, Three Bear, Two to Five!”

Jer'rahd raised his shield, blocking a knife strike, barely flinching at the feedback as he charged at the armored buffalo.
Starfall pulled away from the catlike thing around Proud Tail, gathering enough speed to slam a blade flat into the masked pony on Jer'rahd before he could doge, sending him flying back into a wall.
Velkorn moved away from Cloud Dancer, kicking off Wolf, who was still slinging Bleu about like a rag doll, staggering him as she leaped at a cursing Fox.

Rhede launched a barrage of daggers at Cloud Dancer, forcing her to veer off from chasing Velkorn.
Jer'rahd flung up a multitude of shields around Sparkle, blocking any chance of a clear shot with his magic until he dealt with them. That gave the group a few seconds of not dealing with the caster. The gray unicorn continued his charge, plowing into the side of the buffalo. Brute force meeting brute force should have been a stalemate or favored the larger creature, but the strange power the buffalo had made him lighter to add to his speed as he went after Starfall. The cat form broke, the ink-like form fading back into the buffalo as he was sent tumbling across the room. He smashed into and through a pillar, landing near Cyan.

Wolf continued to simply brutalize Bleu by smashing her into every surface he could before she finally had had enough and changed back to full size as he lifted her to mash again. She landed atop of him, squishing the massive pony under her.

“BLEU!”

“WHAT ?! THIS SUCKER’S STILL BITING MY TAIL! HE'S FINE!”

Jer'rahd winced as his shields were ripped through by the unicorn’s glowing blade and another series of blasts flew off the pony's horn. He flung up another series of shields, blocking the shots aimed at his friends, but the magic blasts curved around the protection, slamming into the lunar Republic generals.
Jer'rahd shook off the pain of the energy coursing through him as one of the blasts struck home against his chest.

“THAT IS IT! ALL KNIGHTS, WEAPONS FREE! WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS!”

“ Jer... it's my brothers and Starfall's daughter!”

“WHICH IS WHY WE DO NOT NEED TO WASTE ANY MORE TIME HERE! IF YOU CANNOT HANDLE THEM LET SOMEONE ELSE DO IT!”

The Royal Guard had wasted no time climbing back to their hooves to continue the attack. Jer'rahd did not bother to move from the buffalo’s charge. His magic gripped the massive form, turning the charge and then adding more force to it, sending the out-of-control buffalo back at Cyan Sparkle.

The unicorn was quick to counter, catching the buffalo in his own magic rather than dodging, slowing his charge so that Proud Tail was not hurt.

Jer'rahd smirked at this. All the others’ faces were hidden in armor so he could not be sure, but these six worked well enough together because they were friends. He was sure every hit they took was reflected on their friends’ faces. The Generals had been together enough that they knew how much they each could take and were not swayed any by someone taking a hit or two. These ponies were still recruits at best and did not have the experience to ignore any one else's injuries.

===========================================

Velkorn lashed out in an effort to stun the lanky orange pony, who seemed to only barely dodge her. The bouncing around the pair were doing prevented him from reloading his weapon, however. Fox threw the whole crossbow at her, forcing
Velkorn to dodge before he yanked a hood over his head and vanished from sight.

[“HE'S GOT A CLOAK, RHEDE!”]

Velkorn staggered from an impact to her chest. The blow did not get past her armor, but it was enough to know she was going to feel it in the morning, if there was one. The bandaged pony was hopping around, dodging Starfall's attacks while Cloud Dancer was closing in on her mother from behind.

Rhede cursed, seeing the pegasus tear towards Starfall, and he reached for a few of his own blades, finding his quiver empty. His mind raced and a small smirk crossed his lips as he looked to Sparkle. Well, the colt was a noble at one point, here's hoping this would work.

[“JER, THROW YOU SWORD AT CLOUD DANCER! QUICK!!”]

A blue shield suddenly sprung up between Cloud Dancer and Jer'rahd, forcing the pegasus to veer away from Starfall.
Jer'rahd ignored the yelling and charged the unicorn.

Sparkle raised his blade quickly, only to have Jer'rahd run past it, deflecting the blade by throwing the Waning Moon with his teeth. His horn glowed and his magic wrapped around the bone helm on the unicorn’s head.

“I will have my armor back now, Sparkle.”

At the touch of its true owner’s magic, the helm pulled free, bone plates falling with a clatter to the floor around the wide-eyed unicorn. Before he could fire off a spell or fall back, Jer'rahd brought the helm around, smashing the white colt across the face with it. The white unicorn staggered, a gash opened in the side of his head before another blow with the Tank skull helmet sent him crashing to the floor.

“SPARK!”

“CYAN!”

“SHIT!”

“ALL OF YOU, STAND THE BUCK DOWN NOW OR I FINISH HIM OFF!”

Jer'rahd turned back, glaring at the others. His magic gripped his sword, poised to bring it down and finish the fallen pony.

“IGNORE HIM! STOP THEM BEFORE THEY GET TO THE PRINCESS!”

“You all know damn well that I am not bluffing. Stand down and drop your weapons or you will be one less in your little group.” He moved the blade closer, pressing it to Sparkle's throat for emphasis.
“Bucking monster.”

“I have been called worse. Weapons down, now. That means you sit down, Baelit.”

Both Velkorn and the masked pony seemed surprised. Jer'rahd smirked, glad he guessed correctly. The zebra glared at him as he sat down. Cloud Dancer landed as well, dropping her swords.

“Son of a bitch.”

“I wouldn't know; she died while I was rather young. Drop the cloak, Fox.”

Rhede's brother reappeared standing next to Baelit.

“Bleu... get off of Wolf before you smother him”

“You saying I got a big flank, boss?!”

“Yes. Now move.”

“Ungrateful lout.”

“Proud Tail, I don't know what the heck you are doing here, but don't make me go against what I promised your father.”

“I see no reason to believe you would honor anything at all.”

“You are still alive, are you not? You want to keep it that way, stand down. You lot are good, but it’s clear you don't have the experience just yet. If this had happened a few years from now, there’s a good chance you might even have won. Lucky for us, it didn't.” Jer'rahd looked over to Rhede. “What the buck were you screaming over there? You know I don't speak zebra.”

The white unicorn on the ground cursed as Rhede laughed.

“You know your name; that was enough. Curious how you knew it was Baelit, though.”

“I guessed, he would be the only one I could think of who would go after Velkorn first. This whole group seems assembled to take us down.”

“So what now? Planning to finish us off, demon?”

“No. Encountering you was not even in the plan. Besides, regardless of what you may think Fox, we don't kill family. We are only here for Celestia.”

“And you have her now, Demon of Dullahan.”

Jer'rahd looked up from the white unicorn to the white alicorn stepping through the doors at the back of the ruined throne room. Golden armor covered her form, a brilliant mirror of the dark armor Nightmare Moon wore. It crackled with golden flames that danced around her form, illuminating the room almost too brightly to look at.

Jer'rahd smiled, fangs bared.

“Velkorn, tend the unicorn here. He took a rather hard shot. Looks like we have the Princess in check.”

He tossed the skull helm away, approaching the glaring princess. He picked up his sword with his magic, stopping at the foot of the dais that the two thrones sat upon, somehow untouched throughout the combat.

He ignored Rhede's whistle and comment about the Sun Goddess’s flank, his gaze yet to leave the princess’s.
Celestia's eyes seemed to cast their own light, little flames licking from the edges. Her horn continued to glow as if she was still fighting back Nightmare Moon's power. He slipped the Waning Moon into its scabbard leaving the clasp open to quickly draw it if need be.

“You should know, Kaisur, that just because you put the queen in check does not mean it is checkmate.”

“And you should know that after finding out you cheat to win, I have no hesitation about doing the same.”

Celestia tensed, taking a small step back as his armor slid from his form, retreating into the Element of Loyalty that hung about his neck. There was no way she could deal with the beast with in him and her sister at the same time.

Her eyes widened as he sank down, kneeling before her, his head dipping, horn nearly touching the ground. Every face in the room had the same confused look as Celestia had, with the exception of Rhede, who simply had the largest grin anyone had seen him wear.

“Princess Celestia of Equestria. We, the Generals of the Lunar Republic, have come to ask your aid in stopping Nightmare Moon.”

======================================================

Velkorn helped the white unicorn back to his hooves after making sure Jer'rahd did not give him a concussion. He fought her and struggled to pull away, grabbing for his blade with a wince as he rushed to place himself between Jer'rahd and Celestia.

Starfall sighed, turning her attention to Cloud Dancer who pointedly ignored her mother. Bleu shrank down to her small size but remained sitting on Wolfs back, still teasing him. Fox reloaded his crossbow, seemingly ready to open fire again if this was a trick.

Rhede, of course, simply looked smug, as he knew something was up and Velkorn really wanted to slap that grin from his face.

The other, Baelit, moved to check on Cyan as well, ignoring the unicorn's urging that he was fine. Velkorn noted her nephew also was placing himself between Celestia and Jer'rahd and was focusing more on the general than on his own friend.

============================================

“Forgive me for not believing you, Kaisur, but one bearing the Element of Loyalty should not so easily turn on the one they are beholden to.”

“I swore to Princess Luna. Nightmare Moon is not Princess Luna. She is there somewhere, mind you, but not fully in control anymore.”

“Seems you were right on the books being a corruptive influence, Princess.” Celestia looked up to Rhede as he spoke. “Pity we did not catch onto that ‘til now. Though if he is going for the plan I think he is, then this is not over by a long shot.”

“What do you mean?!”

“Rhede found a way that we can cure her from the corruption of the books. The Elements of Harmony are theorized to be able to purge said corruption.”

“That may be, but Luna is the Bearer of Magic. To use the Elements, you would need all six bearers.”

“Am I correct in assuming you have wielded Magic before, Celestia?”

“I have wielded all of them at some point in my life, Kaisur.”

Jer'rahd smiled, letting out a long draw of breath he had not known he was holding. His horn glowed as he opened his saddle bag, pulling a dark crown from its confines and holding it up to Celestia. The Sun goddess's eyes widened further.

“Would you be willing to do it again to save your sister?”

Her eyes narrowed as she looked around the room at the others, focusing on the members of the Lunar Republic.

“I still do not trust that this is not a trap.”

“It is, just not for you. The signal for our defeat of you was that your fight over the day stops. When that happens, Nightmare Moon will show up to where we are. We need to be ready for her at that point. I don't care if you trust anything else I say; you should know that I am here to save Luna before everything else. If I thought a way to do that involved destroying you and Canterlot, it would have already been done, as I simply would have turned loose the Beast on the city. This was the best way I could come up with.”

“Fine then, Kaisur. What is your plan?”

“How long can you hold out against her keeping the moon raised?”

“For some time longer. She is expending more energy than I am.”

“Good. That gives us time to sort things out in case this fails horribly and she kills everyone.”

“Well, that is optimistic, Kaisur.”

“It is realistic, Celestia. Despite your assurance that you have more power than her right now, that is only due to the fact she is saving her energy as well. Starfall, Rhede, Velkorn, I figure you three need to have some talks with some ponies. Bleu... take Proud Tail and get something for us to eat.”

“Food, Boss? Yer kidding.”

“No; make sure it’s one fit for a last meal.”

“Geez, soo depressing.”

“Proud Tail, take Bleu to the east kitchens.”

“East kitchens... is that not where...”

“Yes. I have my reasons; now go.”

“Yes, Princess.”

“I do not like that you are spacing us out, Demon.”

“Do you have a better plan, Sparkle? Besides, they need to sort things out while there is still a chance, and I need to talk to Celestia without them present. I doubt I will get rid of you, however.”

“No, you will not, but you will leave your blade here if you wish to speak with her alone.”

“Fine.”

Jer'rahd drew the blade and laid it across the cushion on the throne of the night before starting to walk past the other two towards the hall leading to Celestia's study. Cyan raised an eyebrow, surprised that the general disarmed so quickly. He looks to Celestia, who nodded lightly. The white unicorn picked up his own blade before the pair turned to follow, the white unicorn making sure to stay between the Princess and the General.

=======================================================

“A freaking food run. Why the heck am I going on a freaking food run? Fer crying out loud, I'm not a cook! I burn water!”

“Do you shut up?”

The buffalo snorted in annoyance at the dragonling, who had opted to sit on his back the whole trip down to the kitchens. There was a war waging outside and he was ordered to escort one of the enemy generals to get food. This was humiliating.

“Not normally, no. So then, thick head… if your dad dies, does that make you chief, or are there others that could get it?”

Proud Tail stopped dead, flinging the little dragon off his back and glaring down at her as she rubbed her tail from the fall.

“You dare threaten my father!?”

“That wasn't a threat, you tonnage of hamburger, that was a question. Last I heard he was not doing too well at all.”

“It is none of your concern, lizard.”

“Fine be a pain in the ass. See if I care. Let’s get some food and get back before something stupid happens.”

“While I agree with that, if barely, your boss may have sent you for food, but Princess Celestia did not.”

“What, this some sort of double cross? Wait, if we crossed Luna and then got crossed by crossing is it a triple cross…?”

“IT IS NOT AN ANYTHING CROSS.”

“What in the world is this yelling about?!?”

Bleu turned her head, looking to the door of the kitchen as it opened. The spines along her back rose like hackles on a cat at the massive blue scaled head that poked out the door.

“Holy buck.”

“Ahhh, I gather since she is with one of the Guard, and at least somewhat peacefully, that something interesting has happened?”

The buffalo smirked at the expression on Bleu's face as she looked up to the visage of the last dragon god.

===========================================================

[“So why did you do it?”]

[“And what are you blaming me for this time, Baelit? The killing of the god? The experiments using my notes? Siding with Luna only to turn on her?”]

[“Actually, I was going to ask why you stuck to Rhede like flies on honey, but those are good questions, too.”]

Velkorn smiled a little, sighing.

[“Rhede is an interesting case. Despite what you know about him and what he has shown, he is far more complex than he seems. Far more worthy of what he denies than he seems to realize.”]

[“And the other things?”]

[“The god, you know why; the experiments were not mine, and Luna is... was a friend. “]

[“Do you know what sort of problems you have caused in our homeland? The mess you made for me to try and clean up?”]

[“I did nothing but follow the rules and judgment I was given. I did not foresee, nor control, any of this happening. Why anyone would kill others in my name goes against everything I worked for while I was queen.”]

Baelit took a seat next to her.

[“And yet here you are assaulting the castle with the others.”]

[“No one has died from our attack to get here. At the time, it was the only choice offered to us. To end the war, we needed to stop one of the goddesses. I did expect we would be fighting Celestia, not working with her, however. I find this choice much preferable.”]

[“I did not expect that Jer'rahd would choose Celestia over Luna.”]

Velkorn shook her head.

[“He did not choose Celestia over Luna. Her actions have shown she is no longer the princess we knew. The one he turned on was, as he stated, Nightmare Moon. He still hopes to save Luna from her; I am sure of this.”]

[“Let us hope that he is as honest with his intentions as you seem to think he is. He has been touched by the books as well. He may not be the same pony you once knew.”]

[“None of us are who we once were. No matter how much Jer'rahd has changed, his stubbornness and single-mindedness to a goal are the same, as is his loyalty. If he says he is willing to do this, then he is.”]

============================================================

“So what am I supposed to say?”

“I would prefer you did not say anything. Turning on the one you followed now after the hell you put this world through is not going to change anything. You have still managed to bring about nothing but suffering with your revenge. This will not be enough to unsully my father’s name either. You have dragged the name Silvertail through shit. Do you have any idea what sort of grief I received from others, or what I had to go through after signing up for the Guard?”

“No... no I don't...”

Cloud Dancer stared at the pegasus before her, a mare she used to think of as a mother, though now all she saw was a monster. The sooner Celestia finished off Luna, the sooner she could destroy this thing that sat before her and put an end to her own suffering.

=======================================================

“Fine, go ahead, lay the guilt trip on me. I know that’s what you two are planning to do anyway. How you joined the Royal
Guard to put an end to my sullying of the family name and all that. Just spit it out and get it over with already.”

“Doesn't sound like we need to, Rhede. You're spelling out everything we wanted to rant about anyway.” Fox looked over the odd crossbow, checking the damage, though Rhede was sure he was only doing so to have it ready to fire at him the moment he tried anything.

A hollow echo of a voice came from inside the armor of the pony standing next to the reclining Fox. Wolf had grown up massively and was taller than Rhede by the time he was fifteen. Four years later, and in armor, Rhede was surprised he fit through any doors.

“You made Maw cry, Rhede. That is more than enough for us to want you destroyed.”

Rhede snorted. “I probably did that more than she was willing to admit. She hit me with a brick, you know, last time I saw her. A bucking brick.”

“And?”

“And nothing... But if she had tried to do more than that, I would have let her.”

Fox and Wolf glanced to each other. “If you are looking for sympathy from us Rhede, you won't get it.”

“Good. I don't deserve it at this point, but what’s done is done, and I will not make apologies for things that I did. At the time, it was the choice I made. Wrong or right, I made the choice and I will back up that choice no matter how wrong others consider it. While I regret how things turned out from those choices, I cannot say I would have done anything different if the chance to do them again came up. Those choices got me this far in life and in many cases even the bad ones wound up with good results, just like this is turning out to be.”

“Typical ego there, Rhede.”

“Pfft. Without that, what am I? So tell me, did you join the Guard to get back at me or to pick up mares?”

Fox snorted, barely holding back a laugh, and Wolf simply shook his head.

“Fox joined for the mares, but I still get more of them.”

“Only ‘cause the mares seem to like them big and dumb.”

Rhede smiled slightly at the bickering, rather enjoying this brief respite, though he knew it would not last.

=====================================================

“So why did you wish to speak with me alone, Kaisur?”

Jer'rahd moved over to the fireplace, looking at the four chess pieces residing on the mantle: a black knight and queen, and a white knight and queen. He looked back at the unarmored white unicorn and his cutie mark. It was a polar opposite of his own: a golden shield with a white chess knight on it. He smiled slightly at the sight of it, which only made Sparkle scowl harder.

“Following a little to close after me, I think, colt.”

“Kaisur...”

He looked up to the annoyed face of Celestia, his smirk fading. This was the crux of the issue that he had been considering here.

“What are you going to do when she is cured, Celestia?”

“What?”

“Luna... if this works and Nightmare Moon is no more, what are you going to do? I seriously doubt after all this, the other nations of the world are simply going to think everything is alright and go back home peacefully.”

“You are correct. They will want her head.”

“You, of course, will not let that happen, with her being your sister, and therefore, the other nations will be alienated and we will be back to square one in our relationships with other races.”

Celestia bit her lip a little. “It should not come to that.”

“You know it will, Celestia. Even if she is cured, she would not be able to do anything for a long time without fear of starting another war. Buck, her very continued existence might start wars.”

Celestia sighed. “I am aware of all this, Kaisur. Why are you so intent on dashing the little bit of light that you managed to bring into this situation?”

Jer'rahd sighed, shaking his head. “I am not dashing that hope, Celestia. I am cementing it.”

“How so?”

“When she is cured, you will blame everything that has happened on me.”

Celestia's ears perked and Cyan's eyes widened.

“Again, I think I am missing something, Kaisur.”

“I do not see how, but I will use smaller words if you like, colt. I did nearly smash your head in earlier.”

“Do not push your luck, Kaisur.”

“Heh, at any rate, the other races want a scapegoat; a target for all that has happened, some pony to blame who can be brought to justice and punished for the crimes and slights that have been committed and have been perceived to be committed. Rather than let Princess Luna take the blame for anything, I am willing to accept all of it.”

“Do you really think they will believe one unicorn could accomplish all that has happened?”

“Why not? I went from nothing to a General in under six years, I kept an army from taking over a single keep with barely any force ready to repel the invaders, and I was personally invited to be a member of Luna's Royal Guard. I somehow managed to become a Bearer of an Element of Harmony despite my utter contempt for nearly everything and everyone that did not agree with me. Even without all that, both Claymore and Mustang showed that it could easily be done."

“Kaisur, you know two spells. No one is going to believe that with just...”

“Three.”

“What?”

“I know three spells. The last one allows me to turn into the beast. That power is well known from rumors and confirmed sightings among the Dragons, Griffons, and Diamond Dogs that escaped from the star metal crater, not to mention the members of the Guard that were there to see me climb out of that pit. Why would it be so hard to think that somepony who can do that does not have a way to influence a Goddess? I have killed more gods in my stint as a Guard than anyone likely even knew existed. You could say I stole the sun and put it in my saddle bag and everyone would believe it at this point.”

“Jer'rahd you realize that if you do that, you will be killed. It is not as if you could be put into the garden; they will want your blood.”

“Luna will be safe and my friends will be safe. Honestly, I would say that's a fair trade for all the crap that we have done. Just to only lose one of us.”

“She will not like it.”

“I know. This could be another Hooper situation, only this time, she will have the others to help her get over it. With someone else to blame, Rhede can spin something and perhaps be forgiven by the Pelts... or at least Maw. Velkorn might have the chance to stop the civil war in the zebra lands with Baelit's help. Starfall may even be able to come to some sort of terms with her daughter. Bleu... you will need to watch her. Hopefully, she and Luna will manage to keep each other distracted long enough to get on with their lives.”

“...This is something you have thought about a bit too long, I think, Kaisur.”

“Someone was going to die in this. I knew that from the start, though whether it was going to be you, Nightmare Moon, or me was the only thing I had not figured out. Since I would not kill Nightmare Moon because she could still be saved, that only left the two of us. We both know this is the best case scenario right now. One death to save five lives and keep the peace in the world. Fair trade. I will go to the chopping block smiling if I know the others will be safe.”

“Your friends would not agree.”

“Of course not; that is why I needed to talk to you alone. There are some last things, however. “

“And what are those?”

“When Nightmare Moon makes her move to come after you, the half-dragons are going to leave, along with the Shadowbolts. You should let them go; they will be leaving the Republic at that point as I ordered. The remaining members of the 42nd that fought in the last dragon war are currently all in position around Dullahan base camp. They are likely going to stay there. Don’t let these other idiots wipe them out; they are some good ponies who were loyal to the wrong team. You can most likely still talk to them. Major Dutch is in charge of that operation and Lion Heart is leading the half-dragons and Shadowbolts.”

“I see.”

“One more thing.”

“What is that?”

“Make sure the ax that takes my head is star metal, or my head might grow back.”

=================================================

Bleu had changed size and was now staring at the dragon god eye to eye. Wisp Wing had also not moved from the door and was staring at the somewhat smaller dragon. Proud Tail wondered if the pair were going to fight or just stare at each other. After only a few moments, he had enough.

“Princess Celestia sent her to this kitchen, Wisp Wing.”

“Oh... why?”

“Do you think I know that crap? She told me to come down here with the dragon, so I came down here with the dragon. Do I look like I can read the mind of an alicorn? Do I look like some spellcasting pony with a crystal ball or a deck of cards here to predict what the motives are behind everything?”

“You still have anger issues. You brought her here; now you can leave.”

“I am not letting her run about the castle unescorted.”

The larger dragon rolled her eyes, something Bleu almost broke into a smirk over.

“Fine. Sit here and be a good buffalo. I did not expect the company, but I would like to have a few words with this one. Celestia knew that, I suppose.”

“I do have a name.”

“It was granted to you by a pony and therefore does not count to dragons, whelpling.”

“Like I give a buck what dragons think of my name. It was given to me by someone I cared about. There's only three reasons I am not gutting you right now, Wisp Wing, if nothing else but for the insult you just slapped me with”

“Oh? I gather one has to do with why you have been allowed back in the castle with minimal guard.”

“Good guess; we have something going on with the princess.”

The larger dragon nodded.

“I expected as much; the other reason has to do with my son and his connection to your partner?”

Bleu's eyes narrowed as Proud Tail got more confused and angry. They both were guests for the moment, so he could not just smash them. However, there was also the fact these two were very large thunder lizards, both of them ready to fight. The better choice would be to sit back and stay out of the way.

“So she told you, did she?”

“Considering the situation, it was something that should have been brought up well before. Suffice to say that makes it that much harder for me to deal with after Cindervale. Your existence simply adds to that stress.”

“Oh?”

“Starscream was my daughter.”

Bleu blinked slowly, letting that sink in. When it finally clicked, she glanced back over her shoulder in the general direction of the throne room and Jer'rahd, muttering to herself.

“Holy buck. We really are related...” She turned back to the dragon. “You owe me a few dozen Hearth’s Warming cards, or sweaters, or something, you know.”

“...Yes, well past that. Image my annoyance when I find you two are the ones that forced me into the situation I am now in.”

“After all that was done to those I cared about, knowing you are my grandmother would not have changed anything, Wisp Wing.”

Proud Tail's ears perked, though he continued just to let the two rant. Fox was going to love this bit of info, however.

“Fine then, what is the third thing?”

“Can't guess that one, can you?”

“Honestly, considering how closely you follow my daughter’s antics, I would say it has something to do with the cake that is being baked.”

Bleu growled and points a claw at the older blue dragon. “You're good...”

==================================

Rhede sighed, rising to his hooves andlooking down at his brothers. He whipped his head a little, watching as they both rose as well, flanking him.

“I need you two to do something for me after this is done.”

“Why would we bother to do anything for you?”

Rhede tapped his hoof on his chin, glaring lightly at Wolf.

“Perhaps saying it is for me is a bit off. This is something for Maw, and don't bucking tell me I am not allowed to call her that. She already threw me out of the family and hit me with a brick. There is not much else she can do.”

“There is plenty she can still do, Rhede. But unlike Wolf, I am at least willing to listen to your shit before I laugh in your face.”

“Give it a rest, Fox. I am likely gonna get my ass killed when Nightmare Moon finds out about this. My biggest problem is gonna be not letting the vision happen.”

“What?”

“Never mind, it's not important.” Rhede turned, craning his head down into his ambassador robe, and pulled out a thick book. He set it on a splintered section of pillar in the middle of the throne room and slapped a hoof lightly on it, looking to Fox. His brother raised a brow, looking between the worn book and Rhede and waiting for a explanation. “Despite what she thinks of me, the ones in this book have done nothing wrong. Many are on bad times due to the civil war and she might very well still be interested in knowing them. It doesn't matter if she decides to contact them or not, so long as she sees the book and what is in it. Let’s face it; even if I survive this, I am never going to be adding any more names to this. These names will be pointless if they go with me.”

“You seem pretty sure that if Nightmare Moon doesn't kill you, yer dead anyway. Why?”

“Aside from the pair of you and your charming conversation about doing just that, it is a safe bet that the other nations are not going to be satisfied with Luna simply being cured.”

Rhede sighed, stepping away from the pillar and the book. Fox moved up, flipping the cover open curiously and looking over the names and locations. Wolf had not taken his eyes off his former brother.

“So what is it you hope to accomplish then, knowing this?”

“Well, considering what the options are, I plan to fully take the blame for everything that's happened. I figure you could somehow spin the thing enough to make it believable that I was the one who set everything up. I am sure Celestia will divulge a few of my records for just that purpose. I did quite a few nasty things working for The Order that would be choice bits.”

Both Wolf and Fox stared at him wondering briefly if he was serious. “Don't you two give me that look. Fox, you know exactly what would happen if we cure Luna. No one is going to believe it. Equestria will be back to square one with all the other nations. Give them a scapegoat and they should be happy enough to let the peace last a little longer.”

“You are an earth pony. I doubt it will be believed that you did all this. “

“So was Mustang, and he nearly beat all of us and almost killed Celestia. Look, Starfall needs time to try and get Cloud
Dancer not to hate her. That will not happen if everypony still blames her. Bleu has yet to do anything wrong and should not even be in the trouble she is in. Jer and Luna actually seemed to hook up finally, and after the shit he has been through and her story about Hooper, I don't plan to let those two lose what they gained this far.”

“You are not getting any sympathy from us on this, Rhede. You have done far too much shit.”

“You're talking to me. That's already better than I hoped when Maw disowned me.”

Fox had been listening, though most of his attention was on the book.

“Rhede, there’s nearly a hundred names in here not crossed out.”

Wolf and Rhede both looked over to the lanky pony.

“There are one hundred and seven, left.

“Earth pony, pegasus, unicorn. Buck, there's even a griffon, a couple of zebras, a minotaur, a dragon. The buck, Rhede...”

“Yes, well, the dragon was an interesting experience, and long before the war. I really don't know if she had an egg from me or not. My guess is, however, she was one of the ones killed in Cindervale.”

“The only things missing are a harpy and a diamond dog.”

“I never really found either of those races that attractive, but it is also missing a Shadow Walker and a Windigo... though the latter was not from lack of trying. And I regret the seapony...”

“What about Velkorn?”

Rhede sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head lightly.

“With me dead, she might finally get the hint that she needs to find someone else. That is the hope, anyway.”

===================================================

Starfall had endured the glare of her daughter long enough by this point. It was unlikely anything that was done now could make the filly... no, she was no longer a filly, could make the mare's hatred of her mother any worse. Starfall stood, ignoring the sudden rush of movement from Cloud Dancer. Her daughter simply seemed to be asking for her to do something. Starfall simply regarded her daughter sadly. “Since nothing I say will change your mind on your hating me, then I do not need to worry about what my future actions will do.”

She reached a wing into her saddlebag, pulling out a silver chain with a gold wing band on the end of it and tossed the jewelry to her daughter. Cloud Dancer snatched it out of the air and looked at it. “Now you have the matching set. And if anyone doubts you, feel free to tell them you took it from me by force.”

“Your wedding band...”

“It is not as if I will need it. Either Nightmare Moon will win and I am going to be killed by her or she loses and I die anyway.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I am not going to lie to hide what I have done. The world will want someone to pay for all that has happened and I will do it. Celestia will likely be able to convince everyone that the pegasus that could perform a Rainboom had other powers as well. Powers enough to control a god…”

“Why would you do that?”

Starfall looked back at her daughter, glad to see something other than anger on the younger pegasus's face, even if it was only confusion.

“Luna is a friend of mine, despite what she has become. The others are as well, and if I can do something to ensure that they do not suffer further when all this is over, I will do so, and finally consider my debt to them repaid.” She closed her eyes, her ears flattening a little to her head. “And since my daughter hates me and wishes for my death as well, I can consider my life a last gift for her. After that, the only one who I will need to ask forgiveness from is Loc when I meet him again.”

Starfall turned, trotting away from her daughter, pulling her goggles back over her eyes to hide her crying.

================================================

“You know what you are doing is dangerous?”

“Most of what I do is dangerous, grahmaw. Haven’t you figured that out yet? This is just one more chance I’m giving death tah finish me off.”

Wisp Wing tilted her head back, looking at the now-pony-sized dragon devouring a rather large cake. The pastry had been meant for the guards at the wall, but she could make more. Celestia had forbidden either of them participating in this battle and her mate had blatantly ignored the Princess, choosing instead to lead the remaining dragon forces against Nightmare Moon's army. That the leaders were here had not stopped some of the more ambitious officers and mercenaries from pressing the attack on Canterlot's walls despite orders.

Wisp Wing would have been in the air with him for a last battle, but her energy was not what it should be after what she had done. She was lucky to be able to argue with her granddaughter with as weary as she felt.

“Quite like your mother; no fear of death at all.”

“Nearly everyone I know and love is already dead. Why would I worry about the chance to meet them again? If it was not for the few still alive I would probably be seeking death out rather than just giving it a chance at me.”

Wisp Wing nodded lightly, sliding another tray into the oven. The kitchen had been remodeled and all of the eggs that Bleu had recovered and given to Celestia were here, basking in the oven’s heat as Wisp Wing baked. An odd thing for a dragon to know how to do, but there was no one who would tell her she could not do what she wished.

“So what's a god like you hiding in a basement making cakes for anyway? Celestia tell you to sit tight or something?”

“Something like that, yes, though I am not a god anymore.”

“Ehh? Not a god?”

Wisp Wing stretched, the sound of her spine popping echoing around the large room.

“I am old, and likely one of the targets of an attack such as this.”

“Hey, I didn't tell anyone you were here; I promised Celestia that.”

“I did not say you did. But a god’s power is not easy to mask from another god. Nightmare Moon probably knows. When I passed my power on, she likely felt that too. “

“So who is the blue dragon god now? Your mate?”

“No, and there is no such thing as a blue, red, or whatever color dragon god. Color does not matter at all. Most non-dragons assume it to be so, however, as it simply appears to be the case.” She sighed. “There is far too much to try and teach you and far too little time to do it in. I should have taken the princess’s advice from the start and written a book on how to be a proper dragon.”

“Why would I want to be a proper dragon? I have seen what you do.”

“You have seen what many of our race chose to do, not what all of them chose to do. You have also seen that some of them are willing to act in a much less savage manner. You let them go from Cindervale, if Celestia is correct.”

“You still eat ponies.”

“And ponies eat grass and plants. Do any of them stop to see if the plants feel pain?”

“Most plants are grown just to be eaten.”

“And that is what Forgescale managed to convince most of the other dragons. If you found out tomorrow that the apples you had been eating were alive, had loved ones who would miss them if they were gone, would you starve to death to let them live, or would you continue as you have been, ignoring that fact?”

“Errr…”

“Dragons are not carnivores as the Harpies and Diamond Dogs are. We eat plants, meat and gems. The Flame Party did what they could to bring out the meat eating side of our nature, and they succeeded quite well. Forgescale brought out the bestial nature of our kind, and until his legacy was removed, there was little hope of that changing. Silver Claw was truly his father’s son in that regard. The Flame party undermined any effort for peace and urged the younger dragons to hate everything not of our kind.” Wisp Wing dipped her head, opening the steel door to look in on the cake. “Your mother was like that, as was Krisis. Krisis found a proper path, your mother did not. I was not happy to learn of her death, nor that my son led the group that took her down. That act cemented his place on the side of Equestria and provided a large number of eggs for the school Celestia and I founded.”

“You founded?”

“It was a somewhat foolish attempt to find some sort of lasting peace before the first dragon war began. A hope that somehow the two would be able to at least coexist. It worked for a time, then Forgescale returned and it was all destroyed. The goal was that the dragons would return after their partner had passed of old age. They would then be properly named and allowed to begin their life anew in adulthood with a proper respect for life.”

“Wasn't a complete loss.”

“Hmm?”

“If it had not been for my belief in that fabled coexistence I would have destroyed the dragons in Cindervale as well as all the eggs.”

Wisp Wing chuckled a little.

“I suppose it is not a complete failure then, if even one other than Celestia and I believe in it. You seem rather at ease for all this information you are receiving.”

Bleu leaned back and smirked slightly.

“I learned a trick a while back. If it is something that has already happened, or that you can do absolutely nothing about, accept it. If there is still a chance to alter or change it, do everything you can to do so. All you have been telling me is stuff that there's nothing I can do about at all since it has already happened, in some cases before I was even born. So why should I be stressed over it?”

“Rather wise for one of your age.”

“I had a very good teacher.”

Wisp Wing raised an eyebrow.

“Perhaps I should reconsider accepting the name you were given.”

“I don't care if you do or not. Now if you are going to teach me anything, how ‘bout something useful?”

“You can already fly, breathe two types of fire, and alter your size. There is very little that I can teach you past this point that will aid you beyond history.”

“Not entirely true.”

“Oh?”

“There are three things you could tell me that I still want to know.” The older dragon sighed as Bleu held up three clawed fingers.

“Yes, you can have another cake...” One finger went down. “No I will not tell you who the new dragon god is. Suffice to say I still do not fully trust what is going on here. And no, it is not you.” Another clawed finger was lowered. The older dragon stared at the little dragon and her rude gesture as she started in on another cake. “I will say you have me stumped on the last question.”

Bleu licked her muzzle, cleaning off some of the cream frosting.

“The hint was there with the gesture. Exactly how does the dragon mating process even go about? I understand the sex and egg laying, but is there any term before that, any special treatments or requirements for that sort of thing? Any specifics or dangers involved? Excetera, excetera.”

Wisp Wing looked in shock at the seriousness on the little dragons face.

“Forty thousand years of history and cultural information to draw upon, and you ask me about the birds and the bees?”

“I ask about what’s important to me. I might not have anyone in mind anytime soon, but I will be damned if I wind up being the last dragon in my family line. I don't have any glowy kung fu skills, and I don't have a Scottish accent either. Something like this may wind up being fairly important. Buck, I don't even know how to properly care for the eggs.”

“The eggs are fine so long as they are not broken. They could last nearly forever if left alone. They are kept warm because it is more comfortable to us and it aids in the hatching when the time comes. Potent magic or the parents’ breath is what is needed to wake them. As for the rest… I wish your mother was alive, because I always hated explaining this to young ones. So long as my great grandson is not in need of this information...”

“Trust me, if the sounds coming out of that room he shared with Luna are any indication, he could probably give Rhede pointers... either that, or the princess is reaaaaaaaaly sensitive.”

“Bleu… have you ever heard the term ‘too much information’?”

“That is another one of those things I chose to ignore... now quit stalling and start ‘splaining; there’s not much time left.”

=====================================================

Just past what should be high noon, the five stood on the dais overlooking the Gardens of Canterlot. Knowing what lay below them, this seemed more like a prison watchtower than anything else.
Celestia stood with her Guard, watching the five as they stood in silent contemplation, save Bleu who was nomming on her third cake.

She turned her attention to the Royal Guards. The six of them had been chosen to be her personal Guard as the ones that might have the most shock value in stalling the Generals. They were trained harder than any other guard before them and they all threw themselves into it with the force of a landslide.

The only problem was it had failed. They were still beaten; the five had known little but war their entire lives, and due to their connection with Luna, they had been in the thick of it constantly. She had been foolish to think surprise would give any edge over them, particularly since they had turned around to surprise her instead.

Speaking with Fox and Cloud Dancer, she was surprised to find that Rhede and Starfall were also willing to give up their lives. Celestia knew that any of them doing so was going to cause issue with the others. Of course, the hard part was going to be getting to the point where blame would need to be given.

She informed her Guard to seek cover in positions around the dais; they would stay out of the encounter unless it seemed the Generals were going to turn on her. She doubted that would be the case, but it was best to be safe.

Celestia closed her eyes, watching the members of her Royal Guard depart. This had been hard on them as well, and now she was putting far more trust than she wanted to in the hooves of those who had helped her sister become what she was right now.

Given the choice, she would let Kaisur die for the others. Out of all of them, he was the most responsible for aiding Luna's change into Nightmare Moon. Not to mention what he had within him now may be just as dangerous as the monster her sister had become. His death could very well be the easiest choice she had made lately. She did not like that she reached that decision so easily. Choosing to kill one pony over another should never be something that she should allow her emotions to control, but in all honesty, that pony was as grating on her as they came. She moved towards the group, still on top of the dais, looking at each of Luna's Royal Guard.

Rhede and Starfall both seemed to wish that this was over already; both were pensive and constantly looking to Jer'rahd, as if they both were afraid of what he might say when he heard of their decision.

Velkorn was upset, though her attention was focused more on Rhede than Jer'rahd.

Bleu was staring at something nearby in the garden, an angry look on her cake-smeared face. Following her gaze, Celestia sighed, seeing the blue tail that had to belong to Wisp Wing sticking out from behind some bushes. She was quite annoyed with this entire family of dragons. Granted, she could blame most of it on Wisp Wing as she was the mother or grandparent to them.

Jer'rahd was the one that worried her the most. He had no expression on his face that was readable. Even his usual tell of a glowing red eye was missing at this point. His gaze was unwavering to the sky, looking at the bright full moon that held defiantly in the sky above them. He seemed to notice her staring at him and lowered his gaze to meet hers.

“Are you ready, Celestia?”

She nodded, her magic adjusting the dark crown that housed the Element of Magic on her head, hiding it under her own golden ornamentation. She was unsure this plan would work properly, but they all had the same goal in this: curing her sister. The other four moved to positions around her. She exhales deeply, letting the magic fade, the soft glow vanishing from her horn. The red glow of the dawn slowly faded from the horizon, leaving only the pale white moon to light the black night.

Jer'rahd closed his eyes. His ears perked, hearing the cannons roaring as the shelling of the city continues. The castle remained in fairly good shape due to the magic of the Royal Guard's unicorns. Most of the damage was repaired as soon as it happened or was simply blocked from connecting with the castle walls.

“She's coming; be ready.”

Celestia looked to Jer'rahd, rather surprised that he could sense Luna, though the connection with the books might have something to do with that.

“She has the books with her as well; we will need to be quick. I hope you remember how to use that amulet, Celestia, or we are likely all going to die here.”

“Delightful optimism you have, Boss. We're not gonna die. We can't die, Boss. You know why? Because we are so... very... pretty. We are just too pretty for the stars to let us die.”

Rhede stifled a laugh and Velkorn grinned. Even Starfall and Jer'rahd tried to hide a smirk from Bleu's comments. Celestia offered a smile as well before whipping her head up to an approaching cloud, the dark mist twinkling as if full of stars.

“She's here.”

=========================================

The dark cloud drifted down, rapidly forming into a black alicorn just before it alit on the platform before the small group. Celestia swallowed hard as Jer'rahd nodded to the dark alicorn before them. Luna was holding a great deal of power within her at the moment, so much so that even Jer'rahd could feel it. He gritted his teeth, knowing something was wrong immediately as she formed. It was not the power she had built up that worried him, however. What worried him was that she had clearly been crying. Her face was still streaked with tears. This had already gone the worst possible way. Either the books had not been fooled by what he forced himself to think, or they had simply convinced her that she was betrayed.
He was possibly the only one not surprised when she lashed out with a dark bolt of energy. His shield was up before the others had time to react, though the power pouring off of Nightmare Moon was ripping chunks out of the green shield, shrinking it down as she unleashed her attack, screaming at the top of her lungs in a blind rage.

“MISSION COMPROMISED! SCATTER! DON'T GIVE HER A CLEAR TARGET!”

He shoved Celestia out of the way as Starfall launched skyward. Rhede and Velkorn were scooped up by Bleu as she followed the pegasus into the air.

The green shield shattered and the bolt of raw power struck the gray unicorn dead on, shattering the armor of his chest and helm and flinging him back off the edge of the dais, his body crackling with dark power.
Nightmare Moon snarled as he fell, ignoring him to glare at her sister.

“You all dare to betray me to her? After all I have done, all the times I have forgiven you. ALL THAT WE ACCOMPLISHED AND YOU TURN ON ME NOW!?” Nightmare Moon focused on Celestia as the Princess of the Sun pushed herself up to her hooves. “You seek to use this on me, sister?!” The dark alicorn's horn glowed, yanking the Element of Magic from the Goddess of the Sun's head. “I will not be undone by a trinket!”

“NO!”

The Goddess of War ignored the cry, slinging the crown to the ground at her hooves and stomping it, shattering the Element of Harmony into thousands of pieces.

“I should have done that a long time ago. Now then, sister... I will deal with you, then the rest of these traitors. I should have known they could not be trusted. No one can be, except myself. I should have known they would choose you. They ALWAYS choose you over me.” She snarled again. “Let us see if your precious subjects will choose you over me when you are naught but a rotting corpse!”

Nightmare Moon's horn glowed as she gathered power once more. A high pitched whine made her ears perk. Her head snapped up suddenly at the sound of the gathered energy releasing skyward at the gray pegasus streaking towards her. The blast was met with a barrage of star metal daggers that disrupted its power before it reached the falling pegasus.

The rainbow nimbus appeared around the pegasus, the air seeming to stretch before breaking. The wave of light and energy exploded around the pegasus and trailed after her as she rocketed at Nightmare Moon.
The dark alicorn sneered at the deflection of her spell. Her hair lashes out, smacking the pegasus aside as one might swat away a fly. The trail of light bounced off, arching over the garden in a wild spiral, only to be caught by Bleu before hitting the ground.

The raging alicorn screamed again, firing off a series of dark bolts of magic at the blue dragonling and stunned pegasus before turning her attention towards finding the source of the daggers. Bleu dodged the lead bolt, causing the deep purple blast to strike a statue in the garden instead. The statue almost instantly turns into a puddle of gray goo. Bleu's eyes widened as the others veered towards her. She took off flying over the garden, the blasts of magic in pursuit.

The Mare of the Night glared down at her sister as Celestia tried to recover from the shock of seeing the artifact destroyed before her. Nightmare Moon suddenly lashed out with her rear hooves, impacting solidly with something. Velkorn's face was awash with pain as the hood fell from her head, canceling the stealth cloak’s magic. She stopped suddenly in midair before falling off the pillar. The hood fell back off Rhede's head, revealing him before setting the zebra down.

Bleu fired a bolt of lightning back at the streaks of darkness chasing her, cursing as they sucked up the energy and increased in speed, gaining on her. Another form impacted into the side of the speeding dragon, knocking her out of the air. The bolts of energy struck the larger blue-scaled form, rapidly turning it to ash. Bleu hit the ground, cradling the injured Starfall, her eyes wide as her newly discovered grandmother turned to dust before her.

“There is a great potential for a final peace riding on you, granddaughter. Do not let me down, Bleu”

===========================================

“YOU FOOLS THINK YOU ARE ANY MATCH FOR ME!? I WILL KILL YOU ALL!”

Nightmare Moon's eyes flared brightly, her body crackling with power as she pulled it from her celestial object. The moon far above rapidly changed its phases and shrank down as the goddess drew power from it.
Her mane and tail began to swirl as shadows lengthened around her. Rhede winced at the familiar sight; this was what she had cast that ripped apart the dragon armies. Rhede flattened his ears to his head, having no idea how to counter this.

The Dark Goddess screamed out again, unleashing the shadows just as a green glowing shield formed around her and the writhing dark forms.

A loud growl came from the edge of the dais as Jer'rahd pulled himself back up. His armor was gone from his head and down to his shoulders where the first blast hit him. The molten metal had run rivulets though his fur. The blast itself had stripped the flesh on the side of his face down to the bone, barely missing his eye, but exposing his jaw and the meat of his neck.

The wound swirled with shadow, the rapidly regrowing fur and flesh having a much darker coloration to it. His tail whipped, seeming more serpentine than pony, and his legs ended in claws rather than hooves. His teeth were clenched tightly as he struggled to maintain control.

Celestia's eyes widened at the sight. She looked to the screaming form of her sister lashing out under the cracking dome of energy, then down to the shattered remains of the Element of Magic.

===========================================

“I am sorry sister, please forgive me for what I must do, but there is no time left to search for another way.”

Celestia stood, spreading her wings wide. A bright flare of energy and white hot flame enveloped her form, illuminating the garden as bright as the noonday sun.

Rhede winced, hiding his gaze from the brilliant light, though he could feel the immense heat pouring off the Princess of the Sun. The bright light focused suddenly into a ball of light at the tip of her horn, the very air around the goddess catching fire before being drawn into the tiny globe.

Celestia released the power suddenly, the white light blazing from her horn shredding the green shield and the shadows trapped inside to strike the black alicorn within. Jer'rahd screamed out, collapsing as his shield was shredded and Nightmare Moon's scream at the touch of that power echos across the whole of Equestria, bringing a pause to the battle that, until then, had still been raging.

The power flared brighter, encompassing the entire garden before shrinking to a pin prick of light where the dark alicorn had been before streaking upwards into the sky.

When Rhede's eyes finally adjusted, both the shield and Nightmare Moon were gone. Where she had stood, four hoof prints were burned into the marble top of the rise. Celestia staggered, her form much smaller than Rhede had ever seen it, her hair a mix of pink and white, though she barely seemed able to keep her hooves.

“WHAT THE BUCK DID YOU DO TO HER!!?”

The cry was more like a roar as Jer'rahd turned on Celestia, his eyes flaring a red that flowed from the charred socket like a burning ember. The Waning Moon did not leave the scabbard at his side, so much as rip from it and destroy the rest of the Armor of Loyalty from the sheer force of it being pulled away from his side. The weapon spun with a black fire as he rushed at the weakened Celestia. The Waning Moon screamed as it swung at the white alicorn.

Rhede managed two steps towards Jer to try and stop him when his weapon impacted into a blade of glowing white fire, a blue shield forming around the stunned Princess at the same time. A shockwave of light similar to what happened in the throne room threw Rhede off his hooves.

Two massive armored forms slammed hard into the unicorn, trying to force him to the ground as he raged. Proud Tail and Wolf were flung free as if they were nothing, and Cyan Sparkle's blade was flung aside as Jer'rahd advanced on Celestia. The shadows swirled around him, making him look more draconic than anything else as the creature within him surged and tried to break free. He lashed out with the weapon, shattering Cyan's shield like glass before glaring down at the Princess.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!?!”

“Boss... look at the moon.”

Jer'rahd spared a glance to Bleu as she landed next to him, still holding Starfall. He tore his eyes away from Celestia long enough to follow the dragon’s gaze to the sky to the glowing white orb that was fully restored in the sky.
There, on the lunar surface, was the silhouette of a mare’s face etched into the moon. His eyes widened at the sight, the red glow leaving his eye. The Waning Moon fell to clatter on the stone before him.

“We could not cure her with the Element of Magic destroyed. I do not think we could have anyway, as I am a lousy substitute for a friend, particularly with what I was thinking the whole time. We were not friends, Jer'rahd Kaisur; the elements only work with that bond. I was forced to do what I could to save everyone. The amount of power she held, I could not seal her in stone. I was forced to send her back along the energy she was drawing on, back to the source of her power and seal her there, in the moon.”

“No...”

“I am sorry, Jer'rahd.”

The gray unicorn fell to the ground, still staring up at the full moon and Luna's visage on its surface. All of the signs of the beast that had been starting to show faded, leaving him with a new scar on his face of the same leathery skin that the other wounds had become.

“It was not supposed to happen like this.”

His head dropped to his forehooves, sobs beginning to wrack his form. The Demon of Dullahan, the second most feared creature alive on Equestria, proceeded to bawl like a foal.

======================================================

Rhede looked out off the balcony of Luna's former quarters. Velkorn and Starfall were asleep on the bed. The zebra had a few cracked ribs that only the armor had stopped from being worse, and one of Starfall's wings had been crushed when Bleu caught her. Aside from those injuries and Jer's breakdown, they got off light for this failure.

Bleu had gone somewhere and Jer was still out there in the garden atop the pillar.

They had tended to the wounded first before checking on him. Aside from a demand to be left alone, he refused to answer anything. There had been one attempt to move him, which wound up with Proud Tail and Wolf being flung across the garden again before it was decided to simply leave him be. Celestia had put them up in Luna's old room, under guard of course, until such time as something could be figured out to do with them. With Luna gone, all the plans had fallen apart.

The battle had stopped as soon as the light show started and Luna's visage appeared on the moon. The half-dragons were already gone by this point, following Jer's orders, and the remaining ponies and monsters had all fled back to Winnysor.
The moon still hung in the sky, as Celestia did not have the energy to move it aside to raise her sun. That did not seem to bother the castle’s defenders as a massive celebration had started the moment the princess confirmed that Nightmare Moon was defeated.

While the exact details of the battle between the sisters were unknown to those outside the personal guard of the two princesses, most did not care, as it meant the War of Night was over.

A light knock at the door drew Rhede's attention away from the new face of the moon. He movd away from the window, trotting over to the door as the knock sounded again. Pulling open the door, he was rather surprised to see both Fox and

Wolf standing there. He sighed, his ears flattening.

“Come to gloat?”

“You're the ass, brother, not us... well, maybe Wolf here is too, but not me.”

Wolf growled lightly and Fox smirks. Rhede sighed, not really in the mood for it. “So what do you want, then?”

“Money, power, mares... mostly mares.”

Wolf cuffed Fox in the back of the head, glaring down at the lanky pony.

“Right, right, to the point then. We will give that book to Maw. What she does with it is up to her, though you might not be thrown out if she hears about what happened here. If not for you five, Nightmare Moon would have killed everyone.”

“No...”

“Ehh?”

“I have done enough damage to everyone; its better if no one knows our parts in this.”

“What? Why? All that crap might be forgiven or at least not used against you for what you did!”

Rhede sighed, looking back into the room and the two mares asleep on the bed.

“I generally try not to speak for everyone else if I can help it, but its better we remain the villains in this. There are still far too many races out there who hate ponies. This battle justified that belief further to some of them.”

Fox tilted his head and Wolf looked completely lost. Rhede sighed, rubbing his forehead with a hoof.

“If the world thinks that Princess Celestia defeated Nightmare Moon and the Five Beasts of the Moon by herself, do you really think there is a single other nation in the world that would even consider bucking with ponies ever again?”

Both the brothers stared at their older brother in a bit of shock as the realization set in. Fox was the first to recover from it.

“Clever, Rhede. Clever. Do you know what you are going to do now, then?”

“No. I know a few spots in the world where we can all vanish if need be. Places that have yet to be really settled. Not exactly the best idea, but it's one of the options we have. I need to figure out what the others want to do first. Especially Jer.”

“I see. Let us know what you decide, bro...”

“Alright... unless someone tells me otherwise, I will.”

“Apple.”

Rhede looked up to Wolf, the shaggy gray pony stares down at him and at first Rhede was not sure he said anything. Fox smirked, looking to the larger pony.

“What?”

“Apple. That is what was decided to be the new name when Pelt was abandoned. Golden chose it.”

“The Apple family, huh? Thanks for that, Wolf.”

The large pony nodded and turned, trotting down the hall with Fox as they moved back into their position to guard the room. Rhede smiled slightly and closed the door again.

==================================================

Celestia lay back on her bed, finally having stopped crying. Baelit had repeatedly come in to check on her before she sent the zebra off to his own bed. She could have used the company, but she felt more like being alone for a time. Sleep eluded her, however, and she found herself staring at the ceiling for several hours. She could barely move after such a spell, though she could feel her power returning to her. With Luna gone, the power to control the moon had come to her and the silver orb was restoring her magic, just as the sun would.

She closed her eyes in another attempt to rest when a light scraping noise caught her attention. Her ears perked. As the sound repeated, she opened her eyes, scanning over the darkened room. Next to her head was a large slice of frosted cake on a small platter with a fork sticking out of it. She slowly sat up, wincing. She stared at the cake for a moment, then looked around her quarters, trying to see who had brought it.

“It's from the last one she made. I had to frost it, though; she didn't manage to make it back to do that. Her mate didn't make it back, either. So now, you and me? We are the last two to know my families secrets. I figure a bit of cake might help me come to terms with that, but I lost my appetite a while ago.”

Celestia leaned forward, looking down over the edge of her bed at the blue dragonling leaning against the side of it.

“How did you manage to get in here, Bleu?”

“Dragon secret.”

“I see. I gather that you did manage to talk to Wisp Wing?”

“Yeah. Did you know she was my grandmother?”

“She told me when I informed her about Jer'rahd's linage. She had found out about yours some time ago and had been watching you.”

“She said she gave up her god status... she maybe could have lived if she kept it.”

“She knew it was her time to go and she chose to do so how she saw fit.”

“How the buck would she know that?”

“I gather she did not explain everything about dragons to you, then?”

“I didn't care.”

“I asked the same question when she told me she was going to pass on her godhood. Elder dragons know when their time in the world is over and they seek out a hidden place in which to finally pass on. Many believe it is in the Windigo lands, though some do not even believe it resides on this world at all. She and her mate were going to leave to that place when the Republic attack came.”

“Great, something else we screwed up.”

Celestia poked the cake with a fork, holding the utensil with her wing. “I do not think that. I think it was the best thing that could have happened for those two.”

“Ehh?”

“Wisp Wing's mate was named Rahs. I am not entirely certain if he was your grandfather, though I know he was not Jer'rahd's great grandfather. He was a warrior and a blacksmith; with my help and power he forged the weapon that Cyan now wields: the counterpoint to the Waning Moon, the Brilliant Dawn. He joined the battle hoping to die in combat, something that was granted to him.”

“Yeah, great for him.Sound's like a crappy way to go to me.”

“Wisp Wing got to meet her last direct descendant. She had not produced a clutch since the one that bore your mother and

Jer'rahd's grandfather about six hundred years ago. To find out you were not the monster she had been lead to believe surely lifted a heavier weight from her than anything else. She gave her life to save yours, so it was clear she believed in you.”

“Doesn't make it right. She should not have been there. None of this should have happened.”

“Because she was there, you are still alive. She thought it was a fair tradeoff.”

“It is not a fair trade off when someone dies because they care about you.”

Bleu dipped her head, staring at the end of her tail. Celestia briefly wondered if the dragonling had fallen asleep like that all of a sudden. A small melodic hum caused her ears to perk as the dragonling started to softly sing. Celestia smiled slightly, taking a bite of the cake as she listened to Bleu.

“A falling star... fell from your heart, and landed in my eyes...”

==================================================

Jer'rahd slowly lifts himself up. His face still streaked with tears as he raised his head, gaze lifting to the night sky and the moon still far above. He did not think he had any more tears in him.

He sighed and closed his eyes. A cool breeze blew through his fur, ruffling his tail and mane. An owl hooted in the distance and the din of the celebration of victory could still be heard even in the maze of the gardens.

“I am sorry, Princess. I had only hoped to make everything better. All I did was make everything worse. I did not mean for any of this to happen this way. I am sorry.”

His horn glowed, lifting the Waning Moon from where he had dropped it and floated it over before him. His eyes looked over the weapon, ears perking at the soft song the wind played as the edge of the weapon cut it .
He closes his eyes, pressing the blade to his throat and looking up again at the moon. “I am sorry I failed you, Princess. It will never happen again. You shall not need to worry that I sought another or spent any of my days enjoying the life I have while you are imprisoned.”

He hesitated, a bead of blood running down the edge blade as he chuckled softly. “I remember the last time I was going to do this, for that stupid rule of three thing. The whole Wu joke you pulled and your sister’s threat to me... What was it? Ah yeah... she threatened to turn me to stone so she could wake me up when she saw fit to punish me again. She was rather pissed at me before she flung me into the lake...”

He blinked and slowly pulled the blade away from his throat. “She was going to turn me to stone. Like everything else in the garden...”

The wind picked up, blowing his mane and tail hard. It rustled the bushes and trees of the garden below him, revealing countless statues of monsters and ponies sealed in a rock state. Nearly all of it was visible in the moon’s white light. All of the occupants sat there, unmoving, neither dead nor alive, waiting until someone came along and forgave them for whatever their crimes were. Unmoving, unflinching, undying, until they were forgiven...

A small smile crossed his features, growing larger as he looked over the garden.

“...she would turn me to stone...”

====================================

Celestia rubbed her temples with her hooves, trying not to meet the gaze of the clearly mad pony before her. Yesterday was enough of a tragedy as it was, and her magic, while returning, was still nowhere near strong enough to grant this request. She had already dealt with far too much today in her state, and if not for Baelit and Cyan at her side, she would have probably curled into a ball somewhere to cry some more.

The sun was raised, though it had taken the power of most of her unicorn mages to do so, and now they were all exhausted. She planned to leave the sun in the sky for longer this time as she had neither the inkling nor the energy to raise the moon herself yet.

The remaining dragons were outraged at the death of both Wisp Wing and Rahs and were eager to press the attack against the remaining Lunar Republic. The Griffons and Diamond Dogs were more than happy to do the same. The groups were preparing to move out when Celestia intervened.

She made it quite clear that the forces would be doing nothing until she gave them the go-ahead. With what she was rumored to have done, there was no argument from any of the gathered generals or gods. The rumors of Celestia having single-hoofedly beaten both Nightmare Moon and all five of the Beasts of the Moon was already being spread by everyone, though she felt that Fox may have had a hoof in it as well.

That the King of the Zebra Lands and the new Chief of the Buffalo tribes also swore by this rumor, coupled with the evidence in the very astral body that filled the sky at night, was more than enough to guarantee that when the Princess of the Sun spoke, there was not a single creature that did not listen.

Well, there was one creature who would not listen, and that was the issue right now. Thankfully, he waited until the throne room was cleared of anypony but her and Cyan.

“Jer'rahd, why in Equestria would I want to do that? I am not turning you into a statue.”

The smirk on the unicorn’s face was enough to assure her he had snapped, but despite the flawed logic, he was insistent.

“Honestly, I don't care what you would want to do. This is what I want. You have no idea how long she will be sealed. You do not even know what will happen now that the Element of Magic is destroyed.”

“When the five others have gathered, the sixth shall appear. That was how it was when I first used the Element of Magic. It did not exist until it was needed. I have no doubt that it shall be that way again. That is still not a valid reason for me to seal you away. That is a punishment reserved for those who deserve it. You have nearly redeemed yourself with your actions. Nearly.”

She sighed. Cyan Sparkle glanced from her to Jer'rahd, remaining oddly silent about the gray unicorn’s request.

“I know you are suffering as much as I am due to my sister’s banishment, but there is no reason you need to join her.”

“There is nothing for me here. I understand why Ruin did what he did. There is no place for a warrior in a time of peace. I would be forced to hide for the rest of my life. And according to Rhede, that is going to be a very long time just due to my interaction with the Element of Loyalty. Then there are the books.”

“The books are going to be sealed in Tartarus. When I have recovered enough, my knights and I will be going there to do so.”

“How nice for you. Allow me to give you this bit of warning, Celestia. I don't give a shit about you, Canterlot, or Equestria. What I do care about I know you will not touch just to get to me, particularly since they are just as responsible for stopping Nightmare Moon as I am. But I will not hesitate to let the whole world know I am still very much alive and still very capable of very bad things until you have no choice but to either kill me or seal me away. I took a blast in the face that was meant to kill you and got up with only a new scar. You don't have enough of an army left to take me out if I cut loose.”

“After all that has been done, all the suffering that has gone on, you again threaten me? You have a chance at forgiveness for your actions, Kaisur.”

“I don't give a buck about your forgiveness, Celestia. I don't care if the whole world keeps on hating me forever. There is only one princess I wish to be forgiven by, and she's the one I failed when she needed me the most. Now then, are you going to grant my request or do I start tearing up the place?”

“It is not as if I am able to do anything right now anyway.”

“I can wait.”

“Do you think your friends will not have an issue with this?”

“This is not their choice. They are not even involved in this.”

“I beg to differ, Jer.”
“Seriously, General? This is the plan?”
“Yer an idiot, Boss.”
“You plan to leave us all alone and spend your days sealed in stone?”

“Buck me...”

Celestia smileed slightly as the others trotted out of where they had been hiding since Jer'rahd had stormed into the throne room. Surely they would be able to talk sense into him. This was one hassle she did not want to deal with.

“Honestly, though, it's not that bad of an idea.”
“I agree with Rhede.”
“Ehh, why not?”
“We never will again be quite as free. This may be our out; we shall have to see.”

…Or they all could have gone mad. Celestia smacked her face with a hoof.

“What are you all talking about? He wants to be made a statue to wait for Nightmare Moon to return!”

Rhede shrugged.

“The longer I remain running about in the world, the more likely it will be that someone recognizes me and the whole family gets in trouble all over again. I can't go back to the Pelts. My only hope to continue the lifestyle I have come to enjoy is to vanish for a while and come back when everypony has forgotten me. I'm thinking a few thousand years or so might do it.”

“I expect jokes from Bleu, not you, Rhede.”

“Don't get me started. Not like sexy hooves there can sing either. But I am taking this seriously. After all that's happened, the only family I have left is my brother.”

“Well then, go to him!”

“I am. The idiot is looking to turn himself into a rock.”

Celestia gritted her teeth.

“Starfall, please tell me you are not considering this, seriously?”

“My daughter hates me, Celestia. The only people who still care about me are looking to turn themselves into statues. Besides, if your sister comes back and wants revenge, I would rather she seek it on me than on any family that I might have at the time. If Cloud Dancer has children, I do not want them worrying about someone seeking revenge for what their grandmother did. I am fully for this.”

“Velkorn?”

[“What do I have for me here? A broken kingdom that does not want me, just what they think I stand for, a host of ponies and other creatures that hate me. My friends and the one I have chosen are insistent on waiting for Luna as prisoners in your garden. Why should you think I would want anything different?”]

“You have a choice in the matter. You do not need to blindly follow Rhede!”

[“It is my choice if I wish to blindly follow Rhede and the others.”]

“GAAAAH!!” You are all nuts.”

Jer'rahd growled, glaring at the others.

“No; I refuse to allow you to do this. This is my choice alone; I order you not to follow me!”

“When have I ever listened to you, Jer?”
“Ditto, Boss.”
“With the Lunar Republic gone, you are no longer a general above me. I don't have to listen to you.”
[“Learn to speak zebra and perhaps I will listen.”]

“Great... this is the damned vision. This is how I kill every one and Luna.”

Bleu reached over with her tail and walloped Jer'rahd across the back of the head with it, snorting a bit of electricity in annoyance.

“Stop being so bucking melodramatic, boss. This is just as much our choice as yours. You really think we didn't know you were gonna offer yerself up as the mastermind if we did succeed, just so the rest of us could go free?”

“Wait, he was? Crap, Jer, I was planning the same thing so you and Luna could still be together.”

“I was as well, so that Velkorn might finally have a chance with you, Rhede.”

[“I think I am going to bludgeon the lot of you and not stop until I feel better.”]

“Oookay, I WAS the only one who saw that coming.”

Celestia snorted in anger. “I never agreed to any of this!”

“True... well, we could always find a cockatrice.”
“Pity that big one was killed; it would have been the most effective.”
“Maybe we can find that snake-haired pony of legend.”
[“I might be able to make something if I had enough time and some rare regents.”]

“You are all insane, you know that? Let me do what I want and go live your bucking lives!”

“Shut up, Boss; the adults are talking here.”

The group started arguing before the princess. Celestia was not thrilled, though both Baelit and Cyan do their best not to laugh at their antics. Their repressed snickers made her want to smack the lot of them.

“ALRIGHT, FINE!”

They all stopped and stared at the ranting Princess.

“I will turn you to stone and place you in the garden on the very dais where we fought my sister. It is going to take me some time to regain my power enough to even perform that spell. Until that time, you are to all remain here. If there is anything you need to have done, do it. I suggest you find something that will keep you from thinking becoming a lawn ornament is the best course of action!”

“I don't need to do anything. Any affairs I may have had to put in order are moot with the Republic's death.”

“You could always stop the 42nd from rampaging after news of your death!”

“The members of the 42nd who are not simply slaving beasts or war mongers have already left. I saw to that same as I did with the half-dragons. Most of them are currently in or around Dullahan. You tell them to stand down and most of them will.”

“We will need to deal with them and the half-dragons.”

“No, you will have to deal with them. I plan to be a statue by that point.”

“You are requiring a great deal from me, Kaisur.”

“He is keeping you busy, Princess. He knows depression will set in if you are not occupied nearly all the time. Is that not right, Kaisur?”

Jer'rahd looked over at the unicorn standing next to the princess as he spoke, a small smirk on the younger stallion’s face.

“Got it in one.”

Celestia sighed and shook her head.

“You have until I recover to deal with what you have left. I pray you find a reason not to follow this foalish plan.”

“Nah; we're stubborn like that, Princess. Best get yer spell casting booties on or whatever, ‘cause we gonna rock.”

=======================================

Celestia recovered her power far faster than she had wished. With both the moon and the sun aiding in her recovery, she had enough power to cast the spell that would seal them several times over. She did not bother to tell the five that, however.
Velkorn took the time to develop an antidote to what the Cult had done to the prisoners. It would provide an antidote to the addition and the brain washing, though it was no substitute for the therapy and help that the recovering thralls would need.
She also requested several blank tomes and the aid of Baelit and some scribes. The four days that Celestia gave them saw her documenting everything she knew about medicine down to the smallest detail. This included all she knew about caring for alicorns. That book was only given to Baelit, along with the star metal surgery tools. Bleu aided them as well, and in that short period of time, thirty six tomes of the pinnacles of medical knowledge were crafted. She gave permission for them to be copied and sent to every hospital that could be found.

Rhede dropped in on a noble who owed him a favor. Apart from nearly scaring the poor pony half to death, he managed to arrange his finances.Celestia found out later what he truly had done. A rather large sum of money was stored to be doled out to all those still alive in the book of names he had given Fox. A set amount was to be given to his foals when they came of age to allow them to pursue the training they wanted in order to make the most out of their lives.

Starfall sulked and recovered from her injury. Celestia was unsure of what could be done for the pegasus as she did not wish to be bothered.

Bleu somehow managed to track down the Platinum Swan and turned over the entire collection of songs that she had written, as well as all the ones she could recall Platinum singing. She also helped them select a new lead singer for the group. She was also suspected ofthe savage clubbing a pony named Proudmore, nearly to death with a bass guitar, though there was no direct evidence of that.

Jer'rahd and Cyan sparred. Due to this, the training grounds and several other areas would be added to the list of sections of the castle that needed to be repaired. After each session, both of them looked as if they had gone hoof to hoof with a army of hydra, but it was mostly to pass time as well as pass on some skills. It was clear that he considered the younger pony his successor, though he never said as much.

At the end of the week, she was prepared to do as the five asked. They met atop the dais in the garden. Celestia was escorted up to where they stood by her Royal Guard.

Velkorn stood in her leather guard armor, pouches and packs filled with a variety of things. The multitude of packs covered her form, each adorned with dozens of symbols of medicine from other races. Two new patches stood out among the others. One was a red plus mark outlined in silver; that was the symbol for the Queen's Cross. Baelit had kept one when the design had changed and now gave it to his aunt. She had also sewn in the new blue and gold cross that was the symbol for the King's Cross, a name Baelit still refused to acknowledge.

Bleu was there in her pony sized form, tapping a clawed finger against her jaw as if plotting something. She glanced to the others curiously, waiting for now, it seemed. The only thing she wore was the silver necklace of the Element of Laughter.

Jer'rahd stood in a new suit of armor that had been recovered from Winnysor. His rank, the patch for the 42nd, and the patch for the Lunar Republic were emblazoned on it. The Waning Moon hung at his side in its new scabbard. Out of all of them, he seemed the most determined to go through with this.

Rhede was dressed in what Celestia could have sworn was the same thing he wore to the last Gala. That ever-present smirk on his face seemed much more forced this time.

Starfall stood a little apart from the others, her gaze shifting between Cloud Dancer and her own friends. She wore the Shadowbolts’ armor, minus the hood, with her goggles about her neck. The twin wing blades she had been given by Meteor Shower were sheathed at her sides.

Celestia's gaze turned to the Waning Moon, then up to look at Jer'rahd.

“If you are still serious about doing this, General, I will need to ask you to give up your blade.”

“Why?”

“It is star metal, as are Starfall's weapons... and oddly, most of Rhede. I will not be able to overcome the resistance to magic it has in my state. You will need to give up what you have.”

Rhede sighed and started digging around in his suit, pulling daggers free. Starfall unfastened the scabbards from her sides, looking to Cloud Dancer, then back to the blades before setting them down on the ground near Rhede's pile of daggers. Rhede then started plucking blades out of his tail.

Jer'rahd drew his sword, floating it up before his eyes and watching the fading sunlight reflect off the blade. He lifted the weapon higher, looking over it to the rising moon in the distance. The unicorn mages had managed to not screw up the spell too badly tonight. Celestia almost wished they had so she would not have the power to do this.

Rhede pulled a few more blades from his clothing. Velkorn smiled a bit, having already given Baelit the only star metal she possessed. A few more clinks of metal on stone signaled that Rhede had more blades still. Jer'rahd floated the Waning Moon over to Cyan, nodding for him to take the weapon.

“She may fight you for a bit, but if you treat her well, she will do the same for you. There are not many I would allow to wield her. You're at least close enough for now, Sparkle.”

He smirked as Cyan took the blade, glaring at Jer'rahd, The blade nearly dropped away from his magic as the fight started between the two already. The white unicorn stared at the blade he was barely keeping a loft in surprise and Jer'rahd chuckles.

“Told you. I also have this. You may want it, Celestia, as it is pretty much what started all of this.”

His magic gripped a single jagged dagger made of star metal and sized for a Diamond Dog from his pouch, floating it over to lay it to rest at Celestia's hooves.

A loud thud drew the attention of everyone on the dais. A spell cannon sat atop the pile of daggers Rhede had been producing. The weapon was larger than the pony was. The whole group stared at the earth pony as he hopped around a bit while Bleu snickered to herself .

“Well, I feel a great deal lighter now.”

Fox looked over at Bleu and shook his head, having spotted the dragon’s claw marks on the weapon’s barrel, though he was unsure where she had retrieved it from.

“Um, thank you, Kaisur. But I most assuredly do not want something that lead to all of this. I will put it somewhere, however, for when you awaken. Was there anything else?”

Jer'rahd watched Proud Tail and Wolf haul the pile of things away from the dais.

“No, though I wish the others had not chosen to follow me. In any event, I will leave you with this; it is something we did discuss: if something comes up and you need somepony to do what we do best, feel free to let us out. But until Luna forgives us, we will return to statues once that task is done.”

The others nodded before moving to stand in the middle of the dais. They all looked up to the moon rising over the horizon as Celestia cast the spell, the stone slowly forming up over their hoves and crackling likeiceunderhoof as it formed covering their bodies, turning the Five Beasts of the Moon into statues.

A bright glow formed around each one of the figures, the energy spiraling into the air in a multitude of colors before shooting off towards the Everfree Forest.Cloud Dancer launched herself airborne, flying after the energy to see where it was going.
The others looked to Celestia as she sighed.

“So now what, Princess?”

“Now the cleanup begins. Come; let us head back inside. I do not wish to remain out here. It is already far too depressing.”

As they trotted off, she spared a glance back at the five new statues in the garden bathing in the pale moonlight.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight pulled back from the vision with a gasp, her ears flattening as she shook her head a little. She knew this was coming and expected it, but still, to witness the end of ponies she had grown attached to over the course of this study bothered her.

It was like this for her every time a story ended; she always wished for more and rarely was it given. Luna had told her there was more after they were sealed in stone, but she was not up to looking into that right now. She had enough for what was needed.

“Spike, are you still awake?”

“Barely; that took a lot longer than normal.”

“Sorry, I did not want to stop until it was over this time.”

The purple dragon yawned softly, stretching as he slid off the couch and clamored up to look at some of the writing in the book.

“I guess the next steps are to copy this and let the others read it?”

“Yes. Once everyone is caught up, we can make a decision, though I am not really sure what that might be right now.”