When Burst Spear opened his eyes after Arcane had transported them, he found himself in a large room. He heard snickering and looked around the room to find the source of it and noticed he was surrounded by lunar stallions but, before he could react to them, he was held in place with magic.
“Calm thyself, Burst Spear because you are now among allies.” Arcane said while stepping out of the darkness.
“You dare call these beasts’ allies. Release me at once!”
“Dost thou forget thy agreement or dost thou not care what happens.” Arcane said with an evil grin. Burst then remembered why he has to do this and gave up.
“What dost thou want me to do?”
“I SHALL ANSWER THIS.” said a voice that caused a shiver to run up his spine. The lunar stallions all bowed their heads as their mistress and the source of all this fighting, Nightmare Moon, appeared.
“I WAS SHOCK TO HEAR THAT THOU HAD SUCCEEDED ON THY TASK, ARCANE. THOU HAST PLEASED ME.” she said.
“I am at thou’s beck and call, my mistress.” he said while bowing. She nodded and turned her head towards Burst Spear.
“BURST SPEAR, I HAVE HEARD OF THY’S TENACITY IN BATTLE AND TOLD ARCANE TO CONVINCE THOU TO JOIN ME. IT SEEMS THOU HAST REALIZED THAT CELESTIA IS DOOMED.” she said. He didn’t say anything but just nodded to what she said. Nightmare Moon smiled, showing her razor like teeth, and levitated a medallion to him and placed it around his neck.
“SHOW THY COMMITMENT TO THE NIGHT. TAP THE MEDALLION ON THY CHEST AND THOU SHALL BE REBORN!”
Burst fought the urge to attack her with the reason he was doing this. Before he tapped the medallion, he uttered one phrase in his mind before resigning to his fate.
“Forgive me.” he said before everything went black only to be pierced by yellow slited eyes.
Burst awoke in a cold sweat, drenching him and the bed. He looked at the clock and noticed that the apple family will awake in an hour. He decided that he needed some air, so he grabbed his staff, left his room and exited the house without making a sound.
Unknown to him, Applejack woke up early to get a head start on the chores but, when she cracked her door open, she noticed Burst leave his room and go downstairs.
“Where is he goin at this hour?”
Applejack silently followed him outside and into an open field a mile away from the farmhouse. She hid behind an apple tree to find out what he was doing out here.
Burst stood in the middle of the field standing on his hind legs and staff in his right hoof. He goes into his battle stance and imagines he is surrounded by enemies and begins sparring with his imaginary foes.
She stood there and watched as he trained with all his might with every movement and couldn’t help but feel her heart speed and tense up while admiring his skills.
“Darn it. Why does he have to be so handsome?” she asked herself. However, she was snapped back to reality by the sounds of crying and looks to find the source only to be shocked that it’s coming from Burst. She galloped towards to see what happened.
“How can I defeat these foes yet I couldn’t protect the ones closest to me from harm?” he said through his tears. He looked up to see Applejack in front of him with a saddened look and tears in her eyes.
“Forgive me. I did not mean to cause you concern but, I assure –“ he didn’t get a chance to finish after Applejack rushed him and embraced him in a caring and emotional hug.
“It’s okay, sugarcube. I’m here and you don’t need to keep them bottled up anymore.” she said trying to comfort him. Burst was stunned at first but, his eye started to water as he gave in and cried.
At the entrance to the farm, Twilight, her friends, the princesses, Shining Armor and Cadence, Echo Break and Blitz Bolt arrived to speak with Burst Spear.
“Your majesty, forgive me but, why have asked me and Blitz Bolt to accompany you?” Echo asked.
“I asked you two to come with us because I believe there is a question that only he can answer and I believe it will ease tensions between the two of you, Blitz Bolt.” Celestia said. Blitz still couldn’t believe what he heard yesterday and could only nod at the statement. When they got to the farm house, Twilight knocked on the door and waited for an answer.
“They might be in the field already but, I don’t know where we can find them.” she said.
“Me and Fluttershy can get a bird’s eye view over the field and yell when we find them.” Rainbow said but, before she and Fluttershy could go up, they heard the bark from the Applejack’s dog, Winona.
“Maybe she knows where they are. Winona, can you lead us to where Applejack and Burst Spear are?” Twilight asked the Border collie who barked in agreement and took off with the others following her.
The group continued to follow Winona into the acres until she came to a stop and heard the sounds of crying in the distance. They followed the noise until they saw Applejack hugging a crying Burst Spear.
“Oh dear, I wonder what’s wrong with him.” Fluttershy said while trying not to cry as well.
“I don’t know but, we should be careful before we approach them.” Celestia said. However, Winona rushed to her owner before any of them could stop her.
Applejack turned her head to see her dog next to her with a concern look. She looked up and noticed the group of her friends, royalty and guards. She used her right hoof to tell them to come over slowly and they did so. She told Burst that they had company and he looked up to see them and tried to bow.
“You don’t need to bow before us, Burst Spear. We only want know why you are crying.” Luna said which everyone nodded in agreement except, Blitz Bolt who had mixed feelings at the moment.
“He was out here sparring with himself and then he just stopped and started cryin’ and so I came to comfort him.” She said for him with a small blush. The group looked at Burst who nodded in agreement. Before Pinkie could try to cheer him up, he spoke.
“What is it that you needed to ask me?"
“My sister and I would like to hear your side of the story based on what you experienced.” Celestial suggested. He looked up to the sky, closed his eyes and sighed before opening them.
“Why don’t you see them yourself? Use the spell that allows looking into pony’s memories and projecting them for all to see and look for the memory of the day before you discovered I was gone.” He said with sadness in his voice. Celestia and Luna were surprised by this but, nodded in agreement and told everyone to get behind them.
Their horns began to glow as they cast the memory spell on him. An oval shaped mirror manifested itself in front of them and showed everyone the day when Burst was training with Blitz Shield.
“That’s Blitz Shield, so it is true, they were brothers.” Bolt said when he saw it. The memory fast forwards itself to when he saw Spring Flower’s body. Everyone gasped on seeing this now learning what really happened to his wife.
It then sped up to when Arcane appeared and made his deal with him.
“So he accepted because he was trying to save his daughter?” Cadence said with tears in her eyes. The memory then sped up to when Nightmare Moon revealed herself to him. Luna looked away, not wanting to look at her former, evil self.
The memories continued from when he changed into a lunar stallion. Every battle he was in to every single kill he made, few as they may be. The memories continued until the fateful day that Celestia cursed him to stone.
The memories ended and the mirror disappeared as the spell ended. Burst opened his eyes to see everyone’s faces with tears running down them and noticed that Pinkie’s mane and tail was straight and her body was a darker shade of pink.
“What happened to Rose Tip?” Celestia asked through her tears.
“… I don’t know.”
That was the only thing that Burst said before his tears started up again. Applejack went back over to him and hugged him to continue to comfort him even though she saw was still crying.
“Burst Spear, I am so sorry. If I had known what really happened I wouldn’t have acted on emotions of your betrayal. Please, forgive me.” Celestia asked while bowing her head.
“I do not blame you for what you did princess. If I was in your position, I would have done the same thing if one of my trusted generals betrayed me. Also, Blitz Bolt, I know you believed what you heard about me is from history but, know that I forgive you for your actions against me.”
Blitz was surprised by his statement but, he just continued to break down in tears.
“I must make an announcement to all my ponies on this news. I promise that I will clear your name Burst and much more. Come along everyone; let’s give these two a moment.”
The group than left the two and went towards the town to prepare for the announcement. Applejack and Burst just sat there in silence until he broke it.
“Applejack, I know you have feelings for me and I am sorry if I had not responded to them.” he said which caused her to blush deep red.
“I didn’t mean to be rude what with all you’ve been through but, yeah.”
“I understand and I appreciate your care. I will always love Spring Flower and Rose Tip and they always said ‘Follow your heart and we will always support you’ and I will honor their wishes and memories of happier days.”
Burst than surprised Applejack by planting a soft kiss on her cheek which caused her blush to deepen but, then relaxed with a smile on her face.
“Be careful, Burst. You’ll have to get through ma brother before you can be with me.”
“I think I can handle him but, first let’s go see the announcement okay.”
“Sure thing, sugarcube.” she said before giving him a kiss of her own.
They both got up and headed towards the town. However, unknown to them and the others, a lone figure watched the whole display before laughing evilly and disappearing in a flash of light.