Red Banners, Red Stains

by BurgerFanMan

Interlude: War in the Heavens

Oh, our bombs and cannons do tarnish this lovely night sky... fire again!

The Dream Realm. Timeless.

A blue-coated alicorn wearing a tiara was tumbling through the darkness with a similar alicorn wearing a suit of armour.

"Hey, Lulu.," mocked the armoured alicorn with a grin, before her expression became serious. "We need to talk."

"You're asking to talk, Nightmare? No, thanks." Luna unfolded her wings, transitioning the tumbling freefall into a graceful descent. Nightmare matched her movement like a shadow.

"It's about the humans."

"The ones you tried to murder, along with my poor ponies?"

Nightmare Moon waved it off. "Nothing personal, just my latest attempt to take over the world."

[Was the murder attempt really necessary? The Russians did lose some people, you know.]

"Major!" cried out Luna and Nightmare, one relieved and the other slightly annoyed.

[Oh, god damn it. Sorry, not today.]

Luna skidded to a stop on the suddenly appearing pitch-black ground, casting a spell with her horn. She closed her eyes for a few moments before opening them with a sound of frustration.

"Gone." She looked up into the void. "Why couldn't Major stay?"

Nightmare stood up, ruffling her wings in annoyance at having hit the ground so ungracefully. "I do not know. Either something is keeping it away, or it does not want to talk. At least we know Major is still out there. This is quite the time to reappear, though."

"You don't think-" Luna began.

"It is too much of a coincidence. A century, and it returns now? Right after the humans arrived?"

"Major must want something. It can't move on."

Nightmare stomped her hoof. "It must move on. That's the natural order of things."

"The 'natural order' of things? We are not death. It's not our responsibility." Luna sighed. "I must awaken."

She looked to Nightmare Moon. "You can always make amends, you know. We don't have to fight."

"I cannot promise anything. Just..." Nightmare Moon gave Luna a small smile. "Good luck. You will need it in the weeks ahead."

"What?"

But the Princess of the Night was already waking up. She disappeared from the Dream Realm, leaving the Princess of the Dark alone.

---

Central London. August 7th, 1945. 8:53 AM

"Agent 5. Target's moved inside the courthouse."

Agent 7 frowned. He put down his binoculars and flicked on the walkie-talkie. "Agent 7. That's not possible, I just had visual on the target. He's surrounded by- oh, what the hell?"

He had looked through the binoculars again at the court house down the end of the street. Outside, confused military police were running out like ants from a kicked nest. The target, who had been in their custody on the steps of the courthouse, was nowhere to be seen.

"Agent 5! I have eyes on the target, exiting from the back of the courthouse. Taking the shot."

"Agent 3. I'm at the back of the courthouse, I don't see anyon- GAH!"

A loud shot rang out over the block. Agent 7 cursed, picking up his rifle and binoculars, and ran for the back stairs of the office building. He shouted into the radio as he descended.

"Agent 7, someone report!"

"Agent 2 here. Agent 5 is compromised. I repeat, Agent 5 is compromised. Agent 3 is down. I think- yep, that's the target there, entering a shop near you, Agent 7! 'Horton's Sweets'. Please advise."

Agent 7 left his equipment at the foot of the stairs. There was no time to collect it. "Agent 7. Agent 2 and Agent 6, arrest Agent 5. Use lethal force if necessary. I'm going after the target. Everyone else, regroup at the exfil point and secure our transport."

He pushed his way through the crowd of people on the street, receiving angry glares from the people he shoved aside. Agent 7 stopped just outside a sweet store with a glass front and a huge sign above it labelled 'Horton's Sweets'.

Drawing his pistol, he carefully entered the store. There was a single old woman sitting behind the counter who gave a frightened shriek and raised her hands when he entered.

"I'm with the police, don't worry, ma'am. Have you seen a middle-aged, brown-haired man in a red coat, and white shirt? Out of breath, maybe? He's armed and dangerous," He whispered, hoping the woman's shouting hadn't alerted the target. If he was still here.

The woman pointed towards a door set in the back of the small store. Agent 7 nodded and crept quietly to the door. He grasped the handle, creaking it open, just to see-

The target vanishing in a flash of white light. Agent 7 blinked, then rushed into the small room and looked around. It was completely bare, with nothing to hide behind or disappear into. He grasped for his walkie-talkie.

"Agent 7. The target just disappeared. What's the situation?"

Static.

"Report! Someone, report!"

"Agent 1. I have the target cornered in a sweet shop. Moving to eliminate."

Agent 7 turned around, a feeling of dread slowly creeping up on him. The door to the main store slowly slid open, revealing Agent 1 armed with a pistol.

"Agent 1? What are you..."

Agent 1 squeezed the trigger five times in quick succession.

Agent 7 stood no chance.

He looked down at the body and calmly turned on his walkie talkie. "Agent 1. Target is down. Agent 7, what's your location?"

---

More bodies to stand on. Heh...

Then stand on them proudly, young one.

Outpost Asp. August 7th, 2045. 7:13 AM

"Tell me where the Queen is, or die. Simple." A unicorn in Royal Guard armour wearily stared down a changeling in a white labcoat.

"Please, I don't know anything. The Queen left a while ago, I don't know where to," whimpered the changeling. It had been giving similar responses for the past couple of minutes.

"Fine then." The soldier threw down the changeling, and nodded to the other Royal Guard soldier in the corridor. "We have no more questions for you."

The changeling gave him a relieved look. "Thank-"

A levitating sword cast in a golden glow pierced its barrel. It fell backwards, choking and sputtering as its deep red blood stained the floor.

The two unicorns stepped back with a salute as a towering, white-coated alicorn with a rainbow-colored ethereal mane entered the corridor, accompanied by more Royal Guards.

"What happened here, soldiers? What's the situation?"

"Your Highness! We only found one changeling. The rest fled by the time we teleported in. This was one packing up some research equipment- probably used to make horrible bioweapons and such. We questioned it about the location of Chrysalis, and as you informed us, she was here earlier and likely responsible for the stasis spell. The changeling refused to cooperate further, so we disposed of it."

Princess Celestia stared at the twitching corpse. Slowly, slowly, her muzzle curled up in a very slight but utterly terrifying smile.

"Good job, my little ponies," she whispered.