Rise of the New Lunar Republic

by Reddened Chaos

Chapter 7: Operation Crystal Sword Part 2: Aftermath

Two days have passed since the success of Operation Crystal Sword, and the NLR team are relaxing a bit in the Crystal Empire. Nightmare and Red are asleep in one of the suites at the Crystal Castle, with their daughter, Nightmare's Long lost birth daughter Dawn, snuggled right there between her parents, feeling the love and warmth that she had longed for, ever since she was born.

Lone, Cadence, and Luna were out in the streets, making sure the citizens of the Crystal Empire were okay, as many were involved in the battle two days ago.

"So, Lone," Luna said, "Do you know what happened to the colt you found two days ago?"

Lone shook his head. "No. The last I saw of Lightning was when I gave him to one of his moms friends. Haven't seen him since. I like to think he's doing okay though."

Cadence spoke up "Well, I know where they stay, would you like to go check on them Lone?" She proposed, to help Lone possibly feel better, as inside the castle, Red woke up, kissing Nightmare, and Dawn. "Morning girls." He cooed gently smiling, nuzzling his daughter, and his future wife, as he planned to marry her, whether the war was over or not.

Red yawned, beginning to get up as he slipped on the Solid Eye he kept on for when he could make use of it, which was fairly often.

He looked down upon the streets, using his solid eye to look over the standard statistics of the infrastructure, as some of it was damaged during the battle, though the combined efforts of the NLR and Crystal army have been able to repair a fair portion of the infrastructure, and the progress on the rest was good.

"Morning, daddy," he heard Dawn say.

Red smiled, turning to see her as the Solid Eye flashed red when he did. As he approached her and picked her up into his arms "Morning Sweetheart. How did you sleep?"

"Good," she said, smiling. She then noticed his Solid eye. She tilted her head in curiosity and asked, "What is that thing on your eye?"

Red simply chuckled. "Oh it's just a little tool I use, it's called a Solid Eye System. It LOOKS like an ordinary plastic eye patch, however..." He said as he pulled it off him, and, holding her in his arm, he carefully slipped it around her onto her left eye. "It's also, a high tech monocle of sorts, in that it will detail a report to me on things like Somepony's heart rate, their temperature, how much they are sweating, I can see their foot prints, I can see them at night or pitch black around me, Or also see them in dark areas through tracking their own body heat." He said, giving a short explanation, as she looked at him with it and the Solid Eye shown it to her.

Name: Zero Star

AKA: Red

Allegiance: NLR

Weapons: Lightsaber, Z-Saber (Contains Hammer, Ax, Drill, Saw, and chain rod functionality along with the Saber form) Dual SMGs, Shotgun, Nightbringer Pistol, High Frequency Blade.

Red even switched the camera type as the screen looked normal, before turning a purpleish color, with various oranges and reds on the screen, of it's IR/Thermal vision setting, then again to be a dark green with brighter green forms around the view for Night Vision.

"Wow," Dawn whispered in amazement.

"Impressive, isn't it," Red asked.

All Dawn could do was nod, as she was to o awestruck to do anything else.

Red nodded smiling as he put it back on himself "Yeah. I really like it. Very handy. Sure it's a little redundant with my helmet on when I'm in my armor, but, it still does great..."

"And why are you boring our daughter with the details, Love," Nightmare, who was finally awake, said, walking over to Red and Dawn.

Red simply just began to laugh as he watched Nightmare walk over to them, and kissed her "Oh just, telling her about it love..." he said cooing gently to her.

Meanwhile

Lone, Luna, and Cadence were walking to where the records in the Empire said Lightning lived with his mom. When they made it, Lone was surprised at how lavish the house was. It was nowhere near as lavish as the homes of nobles in Canterlot. If anything, it appeared to be a mix of that style and the standard Ponyville style.

It was a modest two story frame house, with beautiful decorations along the front. Each depicted Cadence in some form or fashion, more often than not as a protector. Some, which looked as if they had recently been put up, showed Nightmare, Luna,Chrysalis, or some combination thereof.

"Impressive house," Lone said.

Luna blushed lightly noticing the statues of her and Nightmare around the place. "Very much so..." She said impressed as well.

"Well," Lone said. "Might as well see if the kid's alright." Lone walked up to the front door, and knocked on the front door. He waited for ten seconds before a mare with a white coat and yellow mane and tail with electric blue eyes opened the door. "Hello," she said.

Cadence walked up., and addressed the mare. "Radiant Joy?"

"P-Princess Cadence," she said, surprise in her voice. "What are you doing here."

"We're just here to check to see if your son is alright."

"Lightning? Why?"

"That," Lone said, "would be because of me. I imagine he told you of the stallion who brought him the Crystal army camp after the battle?"

"Yes," Radiant said, confusion on her face. "But what do you have to do with it?"

Lone took off his helmet and said, "Because I wanted to see how he's doing."

Radient nodded almost instantly as she was surprised "Of course, do come in, come in..." She said, moving aside to let them all enter, as she walked away "Lightning honey? Somepony's here to see you!" She called out.

As Lone and the others walked in, they were surprised to see how, for lack of a better word, normal the interior of the house looked compared to the outside. The three of them made their way to a couch while Radiant went into the kitchen, most likely to get drinks.

"Who is it, Mom?" Lightning asked as he made his way into the living room. His eyes widened when he saw the two princesses and the stallion that had gotten him back to his mom.

"Hey, Lightning," Lone said.

Cadence smiled "Hey there little Lightning. How have you been?" She asked, since they were checking up on him.

Red soon is walking around with Fleur smiling "Such a beautiful place, isn't it Fleur?" He asked, looking to her.

"Indeed it is, Red. It's a shame Moony is stuck in the castle, not able to see this."

Red chuckled a bit "Well, she's just been reunited with a daughter that she was denied for far too long.....why she's not out here I wouldn't know but I imagine she's wanting to spend as much time with her little girl as she can." He said walking with Fleur.

As they continued to walk, they came across a small building, with it looking like nopony had lived there for a while.

"What do you think it used to be?" Fleur asked.

"No idea..." Red said as his Solid Eye flashed. "How about we go find out?" He spoke, motioning to it.

As Red and Fleur walked closer to the building, the Solid eye came up with data:

Status: abandoned

Last resident: . . . None

Warning: Life signs detected. Matches earth pony bio signature. Proceed with caution.

Red notices "Hmm?" He said, as he stops Fleur and whispers "My Solid Eye says that there's someone in here...we should be careful..." He said as they began to walk slower, to be wary. Red kept the Z-Saber out, but he didn't activate it, so that they could attack when ready.

They closed in on the door, Red on one side, Fleur on the other. Red was next to one of the windows, and he peered inside. For the most part, he saw nothing, except for a flash of movement.

Red switched it to night vision mode taking a closer look, as he waited to move with Fleur, checking if he could see who was inside.

What he saw moved too fast for him to make it out, but he began to think that his Solid eye had malfuntioned, as he could have sworn that the pony had wings.

Red switched it to Thermal vision, which would enable him to spot it from it's hiding spot, looking primarily for the size of the life form, as he was wary, and moved to check again.

I'm gonna have to remember to update, or upgrade my Solid Eye when this is done...

What he saw, near the middle of what he assumed to be the living room was a small child, one that didn' look much older than Dawn, though he couldn't tell the gender from this distance, and he didn't trust the Solid eye after it gave him a false warning of an earth pony

What he saw, near the middle of what he assumed to be the living room was a small child, one that didn' look much older than Dawn, though he couldn't tell the gender from this distance, and he didn't trust the Solid eye after it gave him a false warning of an earth pony

Red was wary, as he was duped by the eye earlier, he then motioned for Fleur to stand down, as he began to put away his own weapon. He called inside.

"Listen...it's alright child...we won't hurt you....we aren't your enemies...Do you have a name?" He asked, watching with the Solid Eye, figuring that if this thing was at least, partly accurate, the child would grow larger if it wasn't a child.

The child didn't move. It didn't speak. Hell, for all Red and Fleur could tell, it wasn't breathing. Red did notice, however, that the pony had bat like wings and ears, which meant only one thing:

"A Thestral," Red whispered. This caused the pony to turn.

"Yes...I know what you are...it's alright...I'm a friend...I will not hurt you...please...speak to me..do you have a name?" Red asked, as he slowly moved to try and open the door.

The pony remained silent, glaring at Red and Fleur. Now that he was close enough, he could tell that it was a she, and looked starved.

"Please, little child...calm that glare...we aren't your enemies...you look to be starved...How about something to eat?" He asked, as the little thestral filly tried to continued to glare but her stomach growled at the mention of food.

Red reached for one of the pockets on his outfit, and pulled out the first thing his hands came across: a chestnut.

Red smiled, as he offered it out to her "Here...would you like it? I won't hurt you...I can come to you, or you to me...which would you prefer?" He asked.

The fillies eyes went wide at hearing this. She then spoke, her voice gravelly . "Why are you being nice to me?"

"H-how do I know you aren't lying?" she asked.

"Technically you have no reason to believe me right now little Chestnut. The only thing you could do, is simply believe me at the moment...But...I do have this..." he said as he removed a picture he had taken of their army relaxing and eating at one point. and shown it to her, it was filled with not only ponies, of normal kinds, but also Thestrals, A lot of them!

"See," Red said. "Thestrals are treated like any other pony in the NLR." It was then a though occurred to him "What happened to your parents?" he asked.

Chestnut began to tear up, as Red and Fleur both had gotten to her, and sat down by her at this time.

"They were killed in front of me," Chestnut said, tearing up, "and I had to watch. That wasn't even the worst part of it, either. The bastard," she said, surprising the two at the use of the word due to her age, "that killed them made me watch it over and over again, and made me experience my worst Nightmare." Her eyes took on a determined look. "And I vowed to myself that when I found him, I would make what he did to me look like a damned picnic!"

"Listen well child...if you would like, Fleur and I can be your ...new parents....And know that You will have my full support, in slaughtering that sick jackass....you describe him...and I guaran-damn-tee...that his head will be on a pike."

The determined glare increased. "How? He himself said that I wouldn't see him again. Nopony would see him again, not until he wished."

"He lied," Red said. "We will find him, and we will make him shocking pay."

Red gave her a determined look. One that shown he was certainly on her side for this, and would see it through until the day he died. Fleur gave a similar look.

She crossed her arms and said, "Fine. Of what I saw, his coat was a more ashen shade of gray, with his eyes being as red as rubies. On his shoulder, he had a symbol that looked something like an atom with an 'X' over it. And his mane and tail were black, with his tail having a detailing of silver that looked like a scorpions tail."

Red nodded, memorizing that appearance. Particularly the symbol she mentioned. "I see...Thanks Chestnut....well...what of my offer? For Fleur here and I to raise you?" He asked her, as he gently held his hand to her, to give a sign that she'd let him. "I guarantee, that we will both give you love...Plus, we'll even give you a sister...or cousin, depending on how you want to look at it."

"Okay," she said weakly, after a second of hesitating

Red smiled, and gently held her close in a hug. "I'm glad you accepted, child...I swear, you will be treated better than ever before." He said, as he nuzzled her mane a little.

Meanwhile with Lone and the Princesses.

Lightning bowed as Cadence spoke to him. "Y-Your Highness'. Me and my mother have been doing well. If Mr. Shadow hadn't taken me back to the camp where Ms. Shine was, I don't know what would've happened to me," He said, his voice a little high-pitched as thought of what might have been came to his mind.

She smiled "Aw, it's alright little Lightning, we're allies now. There's nothing to worry about now, plus, Lone's your friend. I don't think he'd ever hurt you, not unless provoked.

"I know," he said, "but he didn't seem scared. I was scared though. I couldn't have gotten myself there."

Lone then did one of the most touching things he had done in the presence of Luna. He reached down to Lightning, and laid a hand on his shoulder and said, "That's just it, Lightning. I was afraid. Afraid of what would happen to you if we didn't find your mom. But I did it anyway. Do you want to know why?" Lightning nodded. "It's because the greatest heroes have two things in common: Doing what's right, regardless of public opinion towards them, and doing stuff despite their fear. Everypony is afraid, but the brave do what they do because they don't let it control them. You understand that?"

Lightning nodded happily, understanding very well.

"Good," Lone said, patting his shoulder. His mom came in, though she was listening to the entire thing in the kitchen. Lone got up and walked over to the door, the two princesses getting up with him. Before he left, Lightnings mom said, "Thank you," in a voice so low, it was barely heard. Lone looked back to her, and saw a hopeful expression on Lightnings face as he did so. He nodded, as if to say, "No problem," then opened the door, and left.

Luna and Cadence smiled as they left. "That was very kind of you." Luna said, impressed with his actions.

Lone shrugged. "Anypony with a conscience would do the same," he said. "Which actually reminds me. Have you told Celestia yet, Cadence?"

"Told Aunt Tia what? That I joined you guys? No. Not yet" She said, shaking her head.

"Well, we might as well," Luna said. "She'll find out soon enough."

Cadence nodded as they went back to the Castle.

IN CANTERLOT

Celestia, Twilight, Shining, and the others were in the Canterlot war room, all worried due to them not hearing from Cadence since three days ago.

"We need to look at the facts," a general, one of two, said. "They're under siege."

"It's been 3 days though. I'm sure that battle is over, one way or another." Flash said being one of the other guards there in the room. Worried more for his little brother and mom than anything.

"We don't know for certain," Celestia said. "Until we know the Crystal Empire's fate, we are to act as if it has been lost." This got shocked looks from all present, as Celestia would have sent an entire force to assist the Empire.

It was at this point that the Holo table got a call from the Empire! Tagged as being from Cadence.

"Accept," Celestia said. The image that appeared was in full color, and what was seen led to shocked expressions all around.

What was seen, was Cadence, along with Luna, Nightmare Moon, Red, Lone, and Fleur. Cadence smiled "Aunt Tia. I'm sorry but we've joined the NLR."

The first to speak was Shining. "THEN YOU'RE A TRAITOR. I CAN'T BELIEVE I MARRIED YOU!!"

Cadence spoke back "I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY WERE RIGHT! YOU WOULD BETRAY ME JUST BECAUSE I CHOSE TO TAKE THEIR SIDE OVER TIA'S?! HOW DARE YOU SHINING ARMOR?!" She shouted back at him, as what they next heard and saw, shocked the entire group at Celestia's end.

"Mommy, Mommy," Dawn said, walking into view of the Canterlot side of the link, hugging Nightmares legs. "When can we go to the park?"

Nightmare nodded "Of course honey...Daddy and I can go with you to the park shortly...here, why don't you say hello to your Aunt Celestia?" She cooed, motioning to the Canterlot group on the Hologram.

"HEEEELLLLLOOOOO, Auntie," Dawn said, waving her hand as she did so.

Celestia didn't respond, rather, she and the others just stared with their jaws agape. "Oh," Nightmare cooed, "that's rude, Celestia. I thought a princess would have better manners, especially to her niece."

Red spoke up "Just because we're on opposing sides doesn't mean we can't be nice to one another." He said smirking as he lifted up Dawn, sitting her on his shoulders, after nuzzling her cheek.

The first thing to come out of Celestia's mouth was a very undignified, "Uhhhhhhhh."

Both sides now began to laugh at Celestia's response. Red, Dawn, and Nightmare being the ones to laugh the most, along with Luna.

It was here that Celestia and the others, though, mostly Celestia, as the others on her end were still laughing, saw Luna standing with Nightmare, unharmed. She narrowed her eyes and said, "Luna, why would you betray me and join with Nightmare?"

Luna spoke up. "Because you betrayed me first. You sent us to the Moon as banishment?! you hogged all the glory of ruling for yourself, never even considered how I was feeling."

"I know that, Luna, and I'm sorry for that, but I didn't think-" Celestia said, before she was cut off by Luna.

"Exactly. You didn't think. You didn't think about creating a festival in my honor. You didn't think about allowing me to take over some of your duties, so I would become known. You didn't think about how lonely we felt on the moon over the thousand years we were gone! YOU DIDN'T THINK ABOUT TELLING PONIES ABOUT YOUR SISTER DURING THE THOUSAND YEARS, MAKING THEM IDOLIZE YOU AS A SINGULAR GODDESS, THE PERFECT PONY!!!" Luna yelled, the last part being used with the Canterlot Royal voice, causing everypony on both ends, with the exception of Lone, who had his helmet on, to flinch.

Dawn began to tear up due to how loud Luna was as Red and Nightmare both held her, calming her down, before she would start crying, as Red spoke up placing a hand on Luna's shoulder. "She's right Tia....Let's not forget your recent mistakes...Tirek gets unleashed in Equestria from his prison in Tartarus, and rather than sending Twilight and her friends...what do you do? Entrust the safety of Equestria and his being taken back there, to none other than Discord. the spirit of Chaos and Disorder....Regardless of the fact that he's reformed, you put it in his mismatched hands rather than trusting YOUR MOST FAITHFUL STUDENT AND RECENTLY MADE PRINCESS, WHO ALSO BASICALLY WEAPONIZED FRIENDSHIP...and let's not forget Cadence and Sombra...Sombra returns to the empire and whilst you entrust Twilight and the others with Stopping him and finding the Crystal heart, do you do anything more to help, such as going yourself, or sending Dear Luna here?" he asked giving Luna a small hug, as Luna spoke up next

"NOPE! Heaven forbid little Luna gets a chance to help or be in the spot light, it's gotta be either you or Twilight Sparkle!" Luna said responding to Red's question, before he continued.

"And that's the tip of the iceberg with Tirek. You could have easily put all alicorn magic into, oh, I don't know, a rock, which you could have told him, and he still wouldn't know, because there are a ton of rocks! I don't think that there's a rule of magic that says magic from one living thing has to go to another. And let's not forget when Cadence was kidnapped by Chrysalis? Regardless of the fact that they are clearly now working together, to beat you, I should mention that TWILIGHT HERSELF knew something was up. did you believe her? Nope. None of you did. even her friends and brother. You all wrote her off as being crazy. And on top of that, you didn't even let Luna assist at all in the battle against Chrysalis or the changelings when she was revealed...so Yeah, nice job there sunbutt"

Twilight, who had finished her laughing fit, shrunk at this.

Red then looked towards Twilight "Remind me Twiley, WHY DO YOU FOLLOW HER?!? OH OH OH I almost forgot that last little insult to you. Discord once made a joke at the Gala...where he said that he could fly better than you with his tiny mismatched wings, and whilst that statement MIGHT be true, what does Celestia, your grand idol and mentor do? Laugh at ya!"

"Well," Twilight said, crossing her arms, "to be fair to him, he was right. And I can't believe I just defended him. Besides, it was in good humor, as a friend."

"Twiley. Discord had done that because he also wanted attention. Should I bring up the fact that He had also brought a Blob monster with him that was obsessed with Shiny things? AND basically swallowed up EVERYONE because Discord locked him in what may very well have been a trophy case, because he wanted Fluttershy's attention more than he wanted Tree Hugger to?" Red spoke back, to counter.

"That's unimportant," Luna said. "All that matters is that Celestia knows her current situation." At this, the holoprojector deactivated, leaving varied expressions in the room.

Celestia was the first to speak. "General," she said to the general in the room, "any and all ponies from the Crystal Empire are to be detained until we are certain of their loyalty."

Shining Armor, Flash Sentry and every other Crystal guard present are instantly in cuffs, much to Shinings both confusion and understanding. Flash is worried more about his brother and mother than anything, as he did not want to fight against them, he had joined the guard to protect them.

"Wha- but-but Princess-" Twilight said before Celestia cut her off.

"This is war, Twilight. Your brother understands. If Nightmare and the others were in our position, they would do the same."

"But we aren't them."

"And that is why we will win. They kill innocent civilians, like in Applelossa," Celestia said, bringing up bad memories of the fall of Applelossa, and all the dead citizens who lived there, including Applejacks cousin, Braeburn, "but we don't."

Shining nodded before he was taken off. "She's right Twiley. it's alright." He said giving his little sister a hug, showing that he understood and he'd be fine.

As Shining and the other ponies from the Empire were led away, a second message appeared on the table, and it was registered as coming from Manehatten.

Twilight spoke up "Accept!" She called as the message appeared.

The holo-projector came to life, and the general in change of Manehatten, an all black pony, whose name was Shadow Strike, an ex-Lunar guard that stayed with Celestia since the war had started, appeared.

Celestia spoke up "General Strike...what is it?" she asked, being straight forward, and demanding of his report.

"Ma'am," he said, saluting, "All defenses are up, and we are doing constant visual, radar, and magical scans of the area, so it's unlikely we'll get caught by surprise. Also, some troops have reported seeing ponies in neither the armor of our forces or the traitors, as their reports say it's more advanced than ours."

"Really? Are you certain?" She asked bringing her hand to her chin, as she began to think of something "Could it be similar to that one member of the resistance's armor?" She asked aloud, thinking of Lone Shadow.

"I don't know, Your Highness. My troops haven't been able to get a good look at the armor. The only constant is that they all have a symbol that looks like two of the swords of the pony that attacked you crossed over a red octagon on their shoulders. Aside from that, they all have drastically different color schemes."

At this, a new recruit for the guard, though one that advanced quickly, came in. He wore gun gray armor, had a black coat and white mane and tail, and was named Nightengale. "Ma'ams," he said, saluting, "A package came for you, and it's best if you see it yourself. Don't worry, we checked, and no explosives."

She nodded taking it as she went to open it "Thank you Nightengale." She said as she opened it up happily to see, before she looked to General Strike.

"General. I know we are at war but please heed this order. The NLR leaders are currently at the Crystal Empire, AND have gotten the empire on their side. Do NOT engage them. Instead, I wish for you to send a message to them for me. Send them the troops's reports of this new 3rd party...inform them that they are not our troops nor theirs, to our knowledge. Is that clear?"

The general stood straighter, saluted, and said, "Yes, Ma'am," before the holo-table was deactivated.

Celestia then opened the box, with the Elements of Harmony that were still with her standing beside her, and what they saw in the box both surprised them, and scared them a little.

What was in the box were four energy swords.