The Past is Prologue-Part 1 The Honored Dead.
The Past is Prologue-Part 1 The Honored Dead.
by Moon Chaser (DA CrazymikePrime)
Applejack had made it halfway down the street before Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie caught up to her. The earth pony was walking with her jaw clenched, her eyes narrowed into a frown and her ears laid back in frustration. Her steps were heavy, like she was trying to fracture the ground with each footfall.
“Applejack!” YL Twilight Sparkle called out, “Slow down!” The ponies on the street stopped to watch the lantern of fear fly by. It was not every day that a unicorn flew without wings, and though the town folk knew of Twilight’s ring, it was still unusual to see a unicorn without wings flying.
“WAAAAIIT! Applejack!” The unmistakable sound of Pinkie Pie yelling brought the din of the street down to almost silence. Inside the glowing aura of SS Fluttershy’s making, the pink pony looked ahead trying to find the farm mare. “Come on, Fluttershy! That ring goes faster! GOGOGO!” Pinkie’s face was half frown and half grin, truly a strange facial expression that only Pinkie seemed to be able to carry off.
“Pinkie, I don’t feel it would be safe to fly much faster,” the Star Sapphire said quietly.
Pinkie flipped back in the violet energy field, reclining like Lyra on a park bench. She crossed her front legs, then scrunched her face in annoyance. ”Come ON, Fluttershy! Catch up!” Pinkie jumped a bit in the energy field, her eyes crossed and her lips pursed.
“WAHAHAHAHAHA!!” She burst into laughter.
SS Fluttershy slowed her flying a bit and looked over her shoulder and rump. “Pinkie? What’s so funny?”
Pinkie Pie wiped a tear from her eyes as she stopped laughing. ”Did you ever notice that all that stuff coming out of Dashie’s mouth looks like she was eating hay fries and she went crazy with a ketchup bottle and she got so carried away being Angry Agnes that she forgot to clean up? Catch up…ketchup!” Pinkie’s mouth quivered again and she resumed laughing. Fluttershy just shook her head as she approached Twilight and Applejack standing in the street and came in for a landing.
Twilight had stopped Applejack at the intersection. The unicorn reverted to her normal form, letting her uniform fade away. The earth pony shifted her weight back and forth between her front and rear legs, clearly agitated.
“Dang that Dash!” Applejack growled. Her hair had not been tied up when she left the spa and her loose mane and tail flutter and billow in the breeze. She shook her hair and cleared her mane away from her face. After landing and Fluttershy allowing the field to dissipate, Pinkie Pie trotted up and leaned on her friend, putting her head against Applejack’s neck.
“Ok, easy, Applejack.” Twilight Sparkle sat on the ground next to her friend.
“Goldurnit, she ALWAYS puts a burr under my saddle when she acts that way!” Applejack snapped.
“Aw, it’ll be fine, Applejack,” Pinkie said. “Look, it’s over for now.”
Applejack sat on the ground herself for a moment and said nothing. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. “Ah’m sorry y’all. Ah get mah dander up…”
“It’s ok, Applejack, just, let it go for now,” Twilight said flatly.
“Twilight,” Fluttershy called meekly. The yellow pegasus had reverted to her normal self, the Star Sapphire uniform reduced and absorbed by her ring. “I really hate to say this, but…um,” she looked down on the ground, “you may have to think about what to do with Rainbow Dash if this continues to get out of hoof.”
Twilight Sparkle scrunched her face a bit, her ears drooped. ‘I have Fluttershy,’ she thought. ‘It’s not something I’d like to do, but I do have a plan if I have to.’
“Um…” Twilight stammered for a moment, “we’ll worry about what to do about Rainbow later if it comes up. Right now, I’d like to know what AJ found.” Twilight faced Applejack, her ears up in alert.”Princess Celestia is coming later today for a briefing, and, while I may not have a lot of time to look at what you found as thoroughly as I’d like, I can still get an idea of what it is.”
“The Princess is comin’ here?” Applejack suddenly looked a little worried. “Today?”
“Later today. Yes. My brother is already in town making sure everything is ready for her visit. I need you there, as a representative of the Green Lantern Corps. Originally, I was going to ask Big Mackintosh, but now you’re here.” Twilight stared at the green eyes of her friend. “The Princess requested you attend as an Element of Harmony.”
Applejack sighed, “Well. Alrighty, Twilight.” The farm pony wrapped a foreleg around her stomach, “But can Ah ask to get something ta’ eat. Ah haven’t had a real appetite in days, an’ for some reason Ah’m suddenly a bit peckish.”
“Hey, why don’t you all come to Sugar Cube Corner?” Pinkie bounced in her suggestion. “I have to go to work there soon anyway. I can go in early and fix everypony something to eat! I’ve got a great new muffin recipe Ditzy gave me. Anypony willing to give it a try?” Pinkie twisted her head sideways in a huge grin.
The orange earth pony, the yellow pegasus and the purple unicorn all looked at each other and nodded.
“Ok then, Pinkie…lead on.” Applejack rose to all of her hooves. “Ah’ll try anything once, with fresh coffee.”
***
Western Equestria 2:35 PM
The small town of 29 Fronds was located between Las Pegasus and Ghastly Gorge just off the main road between the two at the base of the mountains north of the road. The town earned its name because of the 29 frond plants the surrounded the oasis that was the only open water for many leagues around. Long ago the Equestrian military had set up an outpost fort on the location and, as the years of Celestia’s reign alone on the twin thrones of Equestria continued to grow in number, the town also grew, slowly becoming a sizable town in the current era. The Equestrian military still maintained the fort and a small arsenal in the town, and Twentynine Fronds had become a choice spot for many ponies who retired from the military to spend the rest of their lives in the relative comfort of a pleasant climate and in the company of their compatriots. When veterans died they were buried in the military cemetery outside of town.
Many in the Equestrian military looked at a posting to Twentynine Fronds as a mixed blessing. It was considered a quiet billet without any chance of action and therefore little chance of promotion, but the duty held honor, particularly the honor guard of the cemetery. The other thing nice about duty in this small military town was that you got to touch base with some interesting old veterans who would tell stories over a tankard of hard cider -- stories that became more outrageous as the drinking went on. The advent of the trains had reduced the importance of the site somewhat, but the water was still important and the town was still a destination for visitors wanting to see their family members in retirement from a lifetime of duty, or to pay their respects to the dead in the cemetery.
[=FLESH=]
[=FLESH=]
[=FLESH=]
Sergeant Major Silver Shard’s ears pricked up. He had heard a noise that sounded like a swarm of insects mixed with some ponies speaking strangely. The grey-coated Earth Guard got up from his desk in the guard room at the Twentynine Fronds Equestria Martial Cemetery entrance, donned his helmet and poked his head out the door. Outside his office station two Guard ponies, one unicorn and one pegasus dressed in their ceremonial armour and weapons looked around for what had caused the noise they had just heard. They could not make out where the noise had come from, even though they were searching in all directions. They saw nothing in the clear daylight that caused any suspicions.
“Corporal Sweet Water, Private Breezy Blaze,” the Sergeant Major called out, “did you both hear that?”
“Yes, Sergeant Major,” the guards responded in unison.
“Did either of you see what it was?” the earth pony asked.
“No, Sergeant Major, I didn’t see anything,” the green unicorn responded.
“Me either, Sergeant Major,” the blue pegasus answered.
“Ok.” The Sergeant Major had gathered his weapons to him in the meantime. “I counted three groups coming through our gate into the cemetery today, a total of…” he checked the visitors’ log on the wall, “thirteen ponies in total, group break downs into four, five, and four. None of these ponies have left, right?”
Both of the guards nodded in agreement.
“I don’t remember any of them being Goth-foals,” the earth guard said with a tone of annoyance.
“No, Sergeant Major,” the unicorn corporal answered. ”Besides, every time those foals from Las Pegasus do something in the cemetery, it’s always at midnight.”
“Any lone visitors?” the Sergeant Major asked.
The unicorn answered, “An older dark turquoise unicorn with glasses and saddle bags. Oaken Rake and Pruner, the gardeners with their work cart. That’s about it.”
Sergeant Major Silver Shard ground his teeth for a moment. “Ok, just to be sure. Private, Breezy Blaze..”
“Yes, Sergeant Major?” The pegasus private came to attention in front of her guard commander.
“Go up and fly one circuit of the cemetery and report back, just to be sure. Get a pegasus-eye view of what’s going on in there. Check out the other guard stations.” The earth pony looked into the memorial park, gritting his teeth as he spoke, “I swear to Celestia if this is hi-jinks from fool kids like last time, I’m going to draft them AND their parents into the post and make them clean this place up for the next fortnight!”
“On the way.” The pegasus opened her wings and took off into the air, climbing in a gentle spiral over the heads of her fellow guardsponies. He then began flying around the cemetery in a clockwise circle.
The grey Sergeant Major turned and looked at Corporal Sweet Water. “Let me know when she’s coming in. I’m going to get the paperwork ready.”
“Understood,” the unicorn guard responded as he resumed his post in front of the guard station, looking about for his fellow guard to return with her report from the air.
“I bet it’s kids,” the earth pony growled.
***
“Mmm…!” Applejack smiled wide has she inhaled the fragrance of freshly brewing coffee.
Sugar Cube Corner was a bit slow at this time of day, so Twilight Sparkle and her friends had the shop pretty much to themselves. Pinkie had gone behind the main counter to begin working on the muffins she had promised and to start brewing the fresh pot of strong coffee that Applejack was now longing for.
Coffee for ponies mostly was a love/hate proposition. A pony either loved the drink or hated it.
Applejack and all the Apples in town loved it. Twilight was an exception to that rule; she thought coffee was just ok. The smell was pleasant, but the flavor was awful, it took milk and sugar to make the taste of the dark brew acceptable to her palette, and the caffeine gave her the jitters if she didn’t watch how much she drank. Morning was the time for Twilight to drink coffee; Applejack, on the other hoof, seemed to want a mug of the stuff to drink any time of day or night.
Pinkie Pie had come out from the kitchen with a tray of four steaming mugs, two pouring pots, stir sticks, some napkins, a small box, and a cream and sugar set balanced on her rump. The pink pony walked up to her friends’ table and Twilight used her magic to levitate the tray off of Pinkie and onto the table.
Fluttershy wrinkled her nose. She didn’t like the taste or the smell of coffee at all. To the pegasus it smelled like burning wet beans. While she understood her farm pony friend loved the drink, she herself really could not understand why Applejack enjoyed any part of it at all.
Pinkie grinned as she sat by Twilight at the round table. “Fluttershy, I brought you some tea for you. Oh, we got maple sugar cubes in yesterday, so please try them and tell me what you think.”
“Ah take mine black,” Applejack said as she reached for a mug. The farm pony took the mug with her left hoof and started to drink the hot beverage. Twilight frowned a bit while she opened the tea box to see what teas Pinkie had brought.
Fluttershy grimaced as she looked in the tea box. “Can I have some mint tea please?” she asked. Twilight levitated two mint tea bags out of the box and placed one next to her mug and one next to Fluttershy’s.
Pinkie poured herself a cup of coffee from one of the pour pots she had brought and started to put a sugar cube into the mug.
“So, Applejack,” Twilight started as she placed her tea bag into her mug with her magic and levitated the water pot, pouring hot water first into Fluttershy’s mug, and then into her own, “let’s take things from the top. Ok, first off said you made Raindrops a Green Lantern, right?”
Applejack finished emptying her mug and put it down on the table, ”Yes’m, that’s right,” she said as she reached for the coffee pot to pour herself another mug of coffee. Pinkie was still putting sugar cubes one by one into her own coffee as the friends talked. “When Ah had made the new ring for her, she needed to charge it up as the charge was split between mah ring an hers. “
Twilight rolled her eyes in Pinkie’s direction. ”Pinkie, don’t you think that’s enough sugar cubes?”
“One more!” And a last maple sugar cube dropped into the mug. Pinkie then poured cream into the mug then quickly stirred the coffee with a stir stick and proceeded to guzzle the entire mix down.
Twilight shook her head. “Ok, so she has a power ring now. Where is she?”
Applejack finished pouring herself another cup of coffee. ”She’s with Mac right now, learnin’ how to use the ring. She took off flyin’ with it for starters.” The farmer took a swig of her mug. “Y’all should have seen her fly!” She took another sip. ”Anyway, when she finished chargin’ up her ring, she said she saw the same kinda thing Ah saw when Ah first charged my ring. That’s when the strange started. Her ring says she’s good for bein’ an ‘Alpha Lantern’ and keepin’ other lanterns obeyin’ the rules of the corps.”
Applejack lifted the leg on which rode her power ring and called the image she and Raindrops had found in the ring. Above her ring in the air was a construct of a large book which was very old in appearance. On the cover of the book was the symbol of the Green lantern Corps. Twilight’s eyes opened wide and seemed to twinkle at the appearance of the image. She levitated her tea with her magic and listened quietly.
“That’s when Raindrops an Ah found this. Raindrops just asked the ring the right question at the right time, Ah guess. We asked about the rules of the corps and what an Alpha Lantern was. It told us there were other jobs in the Green Lantern corps and it said all this was in this thing. It’s called ‘The Book of OA’ and it’s supposed to contain the history of the Green Lantern Corps.” There was a thump on the table as a levitating mug hit the surface hard. Fluttershy jumped at the sound. Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all looked at Twilight Sparkle.
“Twilight? You alright?” Applejack asked.
Yellow Lantern Leader Twilight Sparkle was frozen, still as a statue and silent. Slowly a huge and terrifyingly maniacal looking grin spread across the purple unicorn’s face. Her eyes flashed with a weird kind of light, and her ears perked straight up. “It’s here…” she said softly, grin unbroken, “it exists!”
***
“Sergeant Major! Sergeant Major!” Private Breezy Blaze screamed as she came in for a landing at a gallop. The pegasus skidded to a full stop in front of the guard station.
The earth pony came out of the small stone building. As he approached the private, her armor made a rattling noise. She was shaking like a leaf; her eyes were shut, wincing for some reason.
“Easy private…EASY!” Sergeant Major Silver Shard stood in front of the pegasus. “What in Tartarus has gotten into you?”
Breezy Blaze gulped and opened her gold eyes to look at her guard commander. “Tartarus!” She was still shaking. ”Um…it’s…the…graves…the…dead…I saw…” she sputtered.
“Sergeant Major Silver Shard!” another call came from above the guard station. Another pegasus was spiraling down and came into a landing. This mare pegasus was yellow with a red mane, her red eyes were like rubies. She was without armor, having on just the chest harness with guard insignia and rank; the stripes on the harness showed her rank as sergeant.
“Garnet Stare? What the hay is going on around here! Why are you out of uniform?”
“I lightened up for speed!” Garnet Stare shook out her wings. “Shard..we’ve got a BIG problem! You won’t believe it..heck I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it myself! “ She got eye to eye with the Sergeant Major. “I’ll just say it: the honored dead are climbing out of their graves!”
“Meadow muffins!” Silver Shard yelled. “The dead are rising from the grave? Are you kidding me?”
“No…she’s not!” Breezy Blaze finally spoke clearly. The pegasus had a crazed look in her eyes. “That’s what I saw! The dead are walking!” She started to shake again, “Discord’s back! Oh Celestia!”
Garnet Stare thumped the private in her ribs. Breezy Blaze blew air out hard from the blow and was quiet for the moment. “Calm down, Private! Discord generally didn’t play with the dead!” The red eyed pegasus turned to look at the grey earth pony. She was calm, but worried.
“Ok, apparently the dead are digging their way out of the graves and moving to attack anything living in their way.” She swallowed hard. ”I saw two of the civilians killed, a brother and a sister. They were screaming about their father…it was his ‘corpse’ that killed them—it tore their chests open!”
“Manure!” Silver Shard yelled. “The dead rising! Ha! Garnet, do you know what you sound like? If this is a post prank, it’s not funny!”
The pegasus sergeant was stone faced. ” Yes, I know what I sound like. No, I’m not joking! This is happening, right now! What are we going to do, Shard?”
“If this is really happening, what the hay caused it?” The grey earth pony stomped his hoof.
“I don’t know!“ the red-maned pegasus answered. “What are your orders, Sergeant Major?’
The great grey stallion rubbed his chin with the back of his hoof for a moment. He stared at the two pegasi, trying to decide if they were for real or not. ‘The dead rising? Nuts! Hmmm...COULD be a drill of some kind; better cover at least the basics,’ he thought ’go by the numbers.’
“Ok, break out fire lances for live fire and get the civilians out of here. Take them to the barracks for safe keeping for the time being. All gates locked! Nothing else in or out without my or Captain Brass Hat’s ok!” He looked at the blue unicorn, ”Blaze, can you carry this order to the other stations and the barracks? Can you do this?”
The blue pegasus private nodded slowly, she seemed to have calmed down. “Yes, Sergeant Major.”
“Don’t land! Pass the order on the wing. Keep flying, understand?” The blue pegasus nodded slowly again. The grey earth pony continued, ”Go ahead and shed armor like Sergeant Garnet Stare did to fly faster and easier. Have the barrack troopers report to me at the rally point, which is the Night Flight Memorial Mausoleum. Action words of the day are ‘Blackberry Bramble.’ Remember to use those words as conformation of my orders! That’s what’s written inside the sealed emergency instruction scrolls.” Silver Shard turned and looked at Corporal Sweet Water, “Lock that gate, Corporal, then sound the alarm!”
There was a faint sound they all could hear now, like a groan.
Breezy Blaze shed her armor down to her chest harness and stretched her wings, getting ready for takeoff. She repeated the instructions out loud, then luanched herself into the air. Garnet Stare looked at the Sergeant Major as he went to the guard building to get his fire lance. There was the loud clang of the station alert bell as Sweet Water used his magic to ring the bell. Off in the distance other bells started to ring in response.
“What do you want me to do, Shard? You want me to go draw a lance and fall in back at my station?” the red-maned pegasus asked. “How about I stay here and act as your air eyes?”
“No. You go get the Captain and as many of the town troops as you can! Tell the Captain what’s going on and what I’ve done. We’ve got to alert the town, too.” He looked back at the now-locked gate, then back at the yellow pegasus. “We don’t know what we’re facing here and I’ve got foals barely out of training to fight with. Get us some battle magic, girl.”
Garnet Stare stretched her wings, getting ready to take off. “Rally at the Night Flight Mausoleum? Funny. You know their old leader is in there today laying flowers on their graves, right?”
The sergeant major’s eyes went wide and his ears pricked up, “Colonel Boomerang is in there?”
“Tonight is the full moon, Shard. You know he visits them on the full moon. This time he brought flowers. He came through my gate an hour ago with a cart full of special moon roses.” She started to take off. “Back soon,” she yelled as she climbed into the air.
“I swear to Celestia, Garnet, if this is a joke…” he thundered.
“It’s not. By her sun, it’s not!”
Silver Shard had retrieved his fire lance and began to check it for action. He looked at Corporal Sweet Water. The unicorn was nervous but held his lance steady. Both the ponies watched the pegasus sergeant fly off toward the town.
“Know any battle magic, colt?”
Corporal Sweet Water nodded. “ A little. Some shield spells. I only know some of the basics. I’m sorry, Sergeant Major. ”
“It’s ok, just stay with me. Got it?“ the unicorn nodded.
“There are no civilians or visitors near the main gate, sir, so we're clear. Now what? Should we leave the station and go into further inside? What do we do?” the unicorn asked with a crack in his voice.
The earth pony guard readied the lance. “No, we stay put. Now the hard part, corporal, now we wait.”
***
“Tarnation! How much longer am Ah gonna have to let Twilight go on ‘til Ah get ta ask a question? Ah know she’s getting info fer the princess an all, but dang.” Applejack tapped the front counter of the bakery with her hoof. “This is too much like book studyin’ for me, and Ah’m not the book studyin’ type, Ah’m more of a bitin’ in with mah teeth type. Besides, Ah’d like Mac and Raindrops here to hear some of this!” The farmer stamped her rear hoof. ”It wouldn’t be so bad if the dern thing would answer Twilight’s questions without me repeating them, but it seems the dern thing won’t answer a pony from another lantern corps. Heck, it answered Granny, but it won’t answer Twilight or Fluttershy. Dang if that don’t beat all.”
The pink pony chuckled. “Next time have it tell you a story, not a study. That’s Twilight’s thing. I think that’s what you need to hear from it, Applejack, a story!” Pinkie said as she brought out a tray of fresh muffins.
Applejack was up at the counter helping Pinkie Pie with two trays of baked goods when Sweetie Belle came into sugar cube corner with a large box in the wagon she was pulling. The filly unhooked from her small load and bounded up to the farm pony, hugging one of her forelegs.
“Applejack,” the unicorn filly squeaked with happiness, ”you’re here! Rarity said you would be here.” Sweetie Belle let go and turned back to her wagon, ”She told me to bring this to you.”
Sweetie Belle opened the large box marked Carousel Boutique in the wagon and gently pulled out Applejack’s Stetson. The hat looked clean, but still had the softness and shape saying it was well worn and used. Rarity had kept her word just like in the spa; the hat was just clean and neat and re-blocked to bring back its old shape and nothing more. Applejack placed the hat back onto her head. It felt the same.
“Much obliged to you and your sis, Sweetie. What do Ah owe ya?”
“Nothing, Applejack. Rarity says you owe her nothing after what happened at the spa.” Sweetie Belle looked at the farm pony and tilted her head, “Did you and Rarity have a fight again?”
Applejack let out a rumbling chuckle, “No, dearie! Change of pace for both of us this time. Dash is the one deep in my doghouse right now. Yer sister an Ah are good.” The earth pony mussed the small unicorn’s mane with her hoof.
Sweetie Belle hooked up to her wagon. “Well, I’ve got to be going. Do you think Applebloom will want me to visit soon?” The filly’s eyes showed a little hurt feeling. “I’d like to visit her.”
“Ah’ll tell you what, Sweetie, Ah’ll ask when I head back ta home after this lunch, an’ Ah’ll let ya know, ok?”
Sweetie Belle smiled. “Ok, thanks, Applejack. I’ve got to get back to the shop and,” she shivered, “feed Opal.” With that she left Sugar Cube Corner and headed back to Rarity’s shop.
Pinkie and Applejack laughed as Sweetie Belle walked down the street. “Now there’s a pony who can overcome great fear!” the Green Lantern said. Applejack then frowned a little.
“What’s the matter?” Pinkie Pie poked her nose close to Applejack’s face.
“Ah don’t rightly know, Pinkie. It’s like Ah need somethin’ more or Ah should talk to someone else maybe.”
Pinkie looked at Applejack with one eye wide open, the other squinted closed. “Hmm…I think…you should talk to the fish.” the party pony said in a matter of fact tone.
The farm pony pulled her head back, her face had a ‘what the hay’ expression. “Pinkamina Dianne Pie, What in the wide wide world are you talkin’ about? That is just about the silliest thing you have said to me in all the years we’ve known each other. Ah've heard it all now! Ya want me to talk to…a fish!”
Pinkie looked at Applejack with her head tilted the other way, both of her eyes and grin were wide. “No. Not a fish, the fish!”
“WHAT FISH?” Applejack growled. Twilight and Fluttershy looked over in her direction.
“The fish inside you, silly billie, or a whale...not sure.” And with that, Pinkie turned back to the door of the kitchen.
“The fish inside me? Applejack stammered. “Pinkie, land sakes girl what are you talkin’ about? A fish inside of me?”
“You’ll see,” Pinkie said in the cautious tone she used when she was telling you about her warning twitches. “I think it’s nicer than the bug in Twilight,” Pinkie said flatly.
Now Applejack was outright mystified. “What’s buggin’ Twilight?” she asked simply.
“Not bugging her, the bug inside her. Sheesh, Applejack, I thought I was being clear. Was I not being clear? I was trying to be clear. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.” Pinkie then put hot cross buns on the tray.
"A fish or whale in me? That don’t make any kind of sense." She wondered if this was earth pony magic again.
"That's what I see." Pinkie grabbed one of the two treys of food. “Come on, let’s get Twilight caught up for the princess. I have something planned for after the meeting.”
"Ponyfeathers!" exclaimed Applejack.
***
A turquoise green-coated, silver-maned unicorn mare wearing glasses and saddlebags followed by a younger earth pony stallion with a brown coat and green mane ran at full gallop towards the line of guards calling to them.
“This way! Get behind us!” their leader called out behind the phalanx of armored guards, “Hurry!”
Hot on their flanks was a sight no guard had thought to ever see.
A mass of churning, shifting corpses was moving towards them with a speed that matched the living. The wave of rotting bodies approached like crashing surf threatening to drown a house barely holding on to land.
“HavE yoU nO reSPecT foR thE hONoRed dEaD!” the wave of the deceased sounded.
As the last two ponies ran past the guards, Silver Shard barked an order, “LET FLY!”
The fire lances of the guards burst into action. Blast after blast of fire from the weapons poured like rain from a thunder storm. The wave of death seemed to pause in its advance, churning in place once again as it reformed. A wall of magic force sprang up between the two opponents as the unicorn guards generated a force wall in unison to hold the dead back.
“COmE noW sErgeAnT mAjoR!” a greyed-out pegasus spoke from the front of the mob of the dead, “ThAt WaSn’t vEry NiCe! BuT YoU aReN’T very NicE ArE yOU!”
“Breezy!” Sergeant Major Silver Shard’s tearing eyes fixed on the walking corpus of the private. She had succeeded in bringing the barrack guards to him and had gone back out on a recon flight. ‘She has not been gone that long,’ he thought. “No!” he yelled.
The pegasus moved forward to the barrier. “DO yoU REspecT mE NOw, noW ThAt I DieD aT yOUr OrDer? I wAS So aFRaiD wHEn I waS AliVE. I hAve No FEaR NoW!” The undead pegasus struck the barrier with such force that the wall of magic cracked along its entire length.
[=FEAR=][=COMPASSION=] “aH…yES!” the body of Breezy Blaze almost sounded joyful.
“I… Breezy,” her station leader said softly.
The earth pony had started to step forward off the battle line, his heart seemed to have a pain in it, when Corporal Sweet Water pulled on his tail, “Sergeant Major! What are you doing?”
Silver Shard shook his head. The pegasus Black undead struck the wall of magic again, more large cracks formed. The unicorns grunted and sweated trying to keep the barrier up.
“Shield about to fall, Sergeant Major!” Sweet Water yelled.
“F-F-Fall back! Fall back to the Night Flight Memorial. Fighting retreat!” the grey pony shouted.
The barrier dropped and the fire lances once again rained on the dead. Slowly the guards moved backwards.
[=FEAR=]
“See YoU sOoN SeRGeAnT mAjoR!”
***
Pinkie Pie looked a little dejected. Her mane was a little straight looking and she placed her head on the table top, trying hard to not become annoyed. She had not heard anything really interesting or exciting through the course of the lunch meeting, and, while she had been quiet throughout the whole thing, she really wanted to do something random to break the monotony. ‘Twilight needs this…as dull as it is. But gosh this is…’
“BOORRING!!!” she said out loud.
Her friends looked at her, Twilight had annoyance on her face, Applejack looked a little miffed, and Fluttershy was her normal calm self.
“Look I know this has been frustrating, everypony! It’s been frustrating for me, too!” Twilight said in an exasperated tone, a few of the strands of her mane popped away from the rest. “But I really, really needed to know some of these things, and I’ve only scratched the surface!”
“Ah feel like a parrot, just repeatin’ what you ask it!” Applejack’s ears went flat in annoyance. “You got enough for tonight’s meetin’? Frankly, Ah thought you’d want more stuff, Twilight. Aside from some questions that ‘confirmed what you already knew,’ all ya really wanted an’ got was about that Sinestro fella! That ain’t like you at all. Why?” the farm mare asked with a tone of exasperation.
“The information on Thaal Sinestro was critical to me and personal! I had to know about him. Sinestro made the yellow ring I use. I had no idea he was the greatest of Green Lanterns before his fall from grace! I know his story from his side; I wanted to get the other side.” ‘It was certainly disconcerting to have my findings confirmed by the Book of Oa. What a sad tale,’ Twilight thought. “The disturbing thing is the lack of any mentioning of the black lanterns, and what’s stranger still is the answer of the book to every kind of way I could come up with to ask it about them: ‘Restricted Access’. Frustrating! That’s part of why I’m letting go for now. I will get back at it when we’re finished with Princess Celestia.”
The purple unicorn sighed as she looked out the window at the town clock. ” I haven’t heard from Rarity since the spa. She was supposed to check in with me by now. I hope everything is alright.” Twilight Sparkle got up from the table. “I’m out of time anyway. I have to get back and get ready for the Princess. You are coming, right, Applejack?”
“Yeah. Headin’ home first.” Applejack was frowning and nudging a muffin with her right front hoof, while Pinkie started to pick up the table.
Twilight narrowed her eyes bit her bottom lip in thought. ‘I need to give Applejack something…something that she needs,‘ the unicorn thought. “AH!” she said out loud.
Twilight’s friends looked up, surprised at her exclamation. “Ah what, dear? Thought of somethin’ else to ask the magic book in the ring?” Applejack asked with a hint of resignation.
The pony scholar smiled as she put her ring-bearing hoof on the shoulder of her friend.”Yes.” Twilight smiled. “After the meeting is over, why don’t you stay and ask the ring this: are there any stories a green lantern should know? Is there a saga or a record that shows …what it means to be a green lantern? This should give you time to gather Big Mac and Raindrops; they should see it too.” The unicorn turned to face the pink earth pony. “Will that be a problem, Pinkie? I know you have some stuff planned for after the meeting.” The purple mare winked so Applejack could not see her. “And you said you want to hear a story, one that wasn’t boring. Will that be a problem?”
Pinkie Pie looked blankly at Twilight for a moment, then her eyes popped open in understanding. “Oh! Yes, I think I could stay over if it doesn’t get too late. I’ve got almost everything ready here already. I’d REALLY like to hear a story that wasn’t about some stallion…er…alien with control issues.” The party pony shook her head.
Applejack turned to look at her friend. The farm pony’s eyes were wide and sparkled like emeralds in the sun. She had been at a loss on how exactly to ask the ring that very question. “Thanks, Twi,” was the green lantern’s simple response to her friend.
The Yellow lantern leader headed to the door. “If you don’t mind, Applejack, Shining Armour is staying behind after Princess Celestia leaves. I’d like him to see what the ring tells you as well.”
“Sure. Ah ain’t got a problem with yer brother seein’ anything. If anythin’, maybe he can make more sense of it ta me than you can.” The farm mare looked at her unicorn friend with a sheepish grin, “Sorry Twilight, yer approach is a little too bookish fer me sometimes. No offense.”
The purple unicorn was in the middle of a swirl of yellow light as she summoned the Yellow Lantern Corps uniform over her again. She floated in the air smiling with that slightly disturbing grin back on her face. “None taken. I understand. See you later.” And with that, the lantern of fear flew out the open door.
Watching all of this was Pinkie, grinning like a fox about to use the pilfered keys to the egg coop to go on a robbery. Applejack looked at her with an eye of suspicion. Next to her with a slightly less guilty expression was Fluttershy, glowing slightly with the violet light of her ring.
“Pinkie, Fluttershy? What are you two up to?"
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A whale fish and a bug? Guess Pinkie is talking about Ion and Parallax respectively, Will and Fear incarnate.
Parallax: Hey! Douche.