Chapter Five – Red Dead Redemption

---

Princess Luna

Turquoise eyes scanned the horizon, soaking in the serene landscape. Lush, fertile lands spanned far back into the distance, even further than one could see atop the balcony of Canterlot Castle. The blue alicorn who owned the turquoise eyes took a slow breath in, and exhaled.

It was the calm before the storm.

Luna was well aware of the devastations war would bring to Equestria. The lush, fertile land before her would soon be turned into a wasteland. If the prophecy was true, they could very well all be doomed.

It terrified her, the war not the prophecy. Prophecies could not be changed; the blue alicorn knew this from experience. In fact, attempting to change your destiny more often than not put you on the fast track to fulfilling it. War on the other hoof, was dangerous, unpredictable, and brutal. Nopony won when it came to war. They only ponies close to winning were those that got themselves as far away as fast as possible. But Luna was not one of those ponies. She'd volunteered to go headfirst into this war.

Because she had to.

"Sister?" Spoke a soft voice from behind her.

"Hello, Tia." Luna replied without turning around. The blue alicorn's eyes did not even waver from the vast expanse before her.

"All the soldiers we can spare have assembled in the Grand Hall. Twilight and her friends are also ready." Celestia told her.

Luna sighed. "Then it is time."

Princess Celestia took a few steps forwards to be right next to her sister. The white alicorn stared at Luna for a short time, until it became apparent that Luna would not look away.

"Did you want to give a rallying speech of some kind?" Celestia inquired innocently. Luna finally averted her gaze to her sister. "You know… to boost the moral of the troops?"

"They're about to go to war." Luna said bluntly. "I don't think anything will boost their moral." The blue alicorn began to walk off, resigned to finally leave the castle. "I know I'm not feeling particularly good about this."

"Then why did you volunteer?" Celestia asked, finally raising her voice. Luna stopped in her tracks, feeling her sister's eyes bore into her back. They were silent for a few seconds.

Shooting her sister a sideways glance, Luna said, "We're facing overwhelming odds. Having me at the frontlines is only sensible."

"Sensible?" Celestia asked bewildered. "You think risking your life is sensible?" The dark blue alicorn princess diverted her line of sight away from her sister. "Luna, I know we like to consider ourselves immortal, but we're not. The last time I tried facing the Queen of the Changelings, I lost… badly. You going without me is a horrible idea."

"DOST THOU DOUBT OUR STRENGTH?" Luna suddenly screamed, rage slipping her back to the archaic Royal Canterlot Voice of her youth. Her sister did not flinch or back down.

"I have never doubted you." Celestia responded in a much softer, yet still firm, voice. "But I don't understand you, Luna. I'm afraid you'll get mortally wound or worse. It terrifies me, especially since I don't even know why you feel so strongly about being on the frontlines."

Luna calmed down, seeing that her sister's concern for her was genuine. "I have my reasons, sister." She said, not meeting Celestia's eyes. "That will have to be good enough."

Luna turned away once again, this time determined to leave. She made it all of two steps before a bright flash of emerald light brought her sister right in front of her. Celestia's kind face had shifted to a scowl. Luna held her sister's stare, undaunted.

"That's not good enough, Luna." Celestia replied. "I need to know why you would put yourself in danger like this. If you don't, I'll have no choice but to prevent you from going to war."

"What?!" Luna replied, not expecting Tia to take that course of action. "You can't do that! You don't have the right."

"You won't step a single hoof in the Crystal Empire if I don't want you to." Celestia declared. "And you know I'm more than capable of having that happen."

Silence. Luna glared angrily at her sister, appalled that Tia would even try to hold her back when it came to this. Luna actually had a very good reason for wanting to fight in this war, but her sister… her sister would never understand it.

Luna sighed, unsure if Celestia had the power to stop her or not. Taking the chance that she would be too great a risk. The blue alicorn finally resigned herself to tell her sister.

"I need to fight in this war…" Luna said. "Because I need to redeem myself."

Celestia's scowl faded away, replaced by the face of a concerned and caring sister. "Luna… for what reason could you possibly be seeking redemption?"

"You ask that question like you don't know the answer." Luna said. Celestia blinked in apparent confusion. "Tia, it wasn't even a year ago that I… I…" Luna choked up before she could say it.

Celestia finally picked up on what her younger sister was talking about. "Luna… you don't need to redeem yourself because of what Nightmare Moon did. I have forgiven you. Twilight and her friends have forgiven you. Equestria has forgiven you."

"But I have not forgiven myself!" Luna shouted. Celestia's eyes widened. For once, her sister was caught off guard.

Luna rotated away from her the white alicorn, speaking much quieter. "I've tried a hundred ways to atone for my sins, but nothing has worked. Defending Equestria may be the only thing that will alleviate my guilt. That's why I have to fight in this war."

Luna did not turn back around to see her sister's reaction. Judging by the silence that followed, the Princess of the Night it was not a good one.

She was proven wrong when Celestia walked up next to her. "Luna," She began. "I… I had no idea you felt this way. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I never tried to help you through your guilt, and if you feel that fighting this war is what you need to do… then I won't stand in your way."

Luna stopped breathing when she heard that. For nearly a year, she had been wrestling with the burden of her conscious thinking nopony would understand. But now her sister – the pony she had doubted the most when it came to this – had just proved she was not alone.

Water welled up behind her eyes, and Luna brushed them away slowly. "Thank you, Tia." She said smiling.

Celestia smiled warmly at her younger sister. "I only wish–"

Both sisters suddenly froze. A chill ran along Luna's spine and her pupils shrunk into tiny specks. The Princess of the Night shivered, uncomfortable in her own skin all of a sudden. She was experiencing an emotion that almost foreign to her.

Fear.

"You felt it too." Celestia stated. Luna nodded. Both alicorns turned their heads to the direction of the Crystal Empire, which was too far off in the distance to see clearly.

"Chrysalis shifted the Crystal Heart." Luna realized, her pupils dilating.

"That shouldn't be possible." Celestia proclaimed. "For all her heinous abilities dark magic was never one of them." The white alicorn looked at her sister. "Do you still wish to go?"

Luna swallowed, quelling the surge of dismay that had been caused by the Crystal Heart. "I have to go now more than ever."

The white alicorn nodded, fully aware her sister was not going to be deterred. Luna moved away for the last time, finally able to walk off the balcony. Descending the stairs to meet up with her soldiers, Luna wrestled with the artificial fear that the Crystal Heart had created. It made her want to scream, turn around, and lock herself away in her room to never come out again.

The blue alicorn was tempted, but knew she couldn't. Queen Chrysalis was not about to get the better of her. She was going to fight in this war. She was going to lead an army into this war.

And she was going to win this war.

---

Rainbow Dash

The attack of fear that the cyan pegasus had felt hours ago had finally subsided. All of her friends had been together when it happened. A sudden, unexpected wave fell over all of them.

Applejack had frozen up, halfway through putting on her armor. Pinkie Pie, in mid-laughter, choked up and fell silent. Twilight was sent to the floor, weeping. Rarity hyperventilated. Spike curled up in the fetal position. Fluttershy had ironically been the least affected out of all of them. Her face had grown concerned and she shivered a bit, but the experience was nowhere near the extent the other's had faced.

Dash herself had shut her eyes tightly and shook violently. The nauseating sensation of fear had come out of nowhere, and paralyzed her thoughts. It felt like all of her worst inhibitions had been sliced open. Her old fear of preforming for the Young Flyer's competition, which she had thought she had vanquished. Her fear of being rejected from the Wonderbolts. Her fear that she would lose her friends.

Princess Luna had arrived not long after and explained to them what was going on. The Crystal Heart had been shifted, taking away the feeling of happiness that it usually spread and replaced it with despair.

It had been hard at first to press down the sensation of fear, but each member of the Mane Six had managed it. Now the last of the fear was fading as Dash marched just ahead of the main army.

Her armor was beginning to feel heavy after traveling with it all afternoon. She refused to admit it out loud, however. Princess Luna had made it clear that they all needed to keep the metal coverings on their bodies in case of surprise attacks. Stopping was also out of the question, because they needed to keep pace with Luna, who was apparently unaffected by the armor she wore. Dash suffered in silence.

The cyan pegasus looked behind her and saw the throng of soldiers not far away. They all kept the same stone-faced look, even after hours of arduous trekking through Equestria. One thing Dash took notice of was how few their numbers seemed. At least half the number that had traveled to the Crystal Empire to find Frostburn.

That wasn't very reassuring to Rainbow Dash. Even with all the soldiers that had gone to the Empire, they had been near helpless when the army attacked. Now they had even less, and were going up against the same threat.

She would be lying if she said that didn't worry her a little bit.

Still, this time around would be different. They had the Elements of Harmony and the Princess of the Night. Instinctively, Dash touched the red lighting bolt necklace hugging her throat. It filled her with anticipation for the war.

Dash had never really considered herself a violent pony, but in the past week she had been exposed to more fighting than she had her entire life, and the cyan pegasus had learned something about herself in the process. She enjoyed fighting.

It was the thrill of combat, with her adrenaline kicking in, and all senses heightened that Rainbow loved. A feeling like that could only be rivaled by extreme flying. Which is why at first, she hadn't understood what Frostburn hated about it.

Frostburn. The cyan mare looked over at the blue stallion. He looked dejected, and weary. Probably not helping was a chatty Pinkie Pie, skipping next to him. The pink mare's bouncing motion made a loud clattering noise as it tossed her armor around. Frostburn's armor on the other hoof was practically silent has he walked in it. Dash also took notice of the fact that he chose to wear Earth pony armor, covering his wings.

I have to talk to him. Dash told herself. But what was she supposed to say? Frostburn told her one of his deepest and darkest secrets, and she had reacted poorly.

Just letting him run off like that? Dash thought. What was I thinking? The truth was, she hadn't been thinking. The pegasus had been shocked to hear that Frostburn had killed before, and even more shocked to learn that Rarity had already known that about him. Now she had to think very carefully about what she was going to say next.

Mustering the courage needed, she trotted over to him, just in time to hear Pinkie Pie finish talking.

"…and then he chomped really quickly on my hoof, but it didn't hurt or anything because he didn't have teeth yet, and that's why I named him Gummy!" Pinkie merrily said over the clattering of her armor.

"Nice story." Frostburn replied, though he was disfocused with the arrival of Rainbow.

"Hey Pinkie." Dash began. "Can you give us a minute?"

"Okie Dokie Lokie!" The pink mare responded, and proceeded to hop away. Rainbow Dash waited until the clanking of her armor had fully faded.

"Frost," She prodded gently. His head turned so he could see her. His gold-colored helmet covered most of his face, but Dash could still see his eyes. They looked pained.

"What?" He asked.

"I… I've got to apologize to you." Rainbow said. Frostburn's expression told her that was the last thing he expected, and she continued. "When you told me that you'd killed ponies before… I sort of just froze up. I should have done something… anything else, but I didn't. I'm sorry."

Frostburn sighed. "It's not what you did Dash, it's… I thought you hated me."

"What?" Dash asked. "You thought I… Frost of course I don't hate you."

The blue pegasus smiled, a great weight lifted off his shoulders. "…Thanks. I needed that." He faced the trail in front of them. "I shouldn't have doubted you, Rainbow."

"Darn right you shouldn't have." Dash joked. Frostburn cracked a grin, and Dash smiled back. It was fleeting though, because Frostburn soon reverted to his previous melancholy mood.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Dash asked him. Frostburn looked grateful that she brought the topic up, but reluctant.

"Not now. I really don't think I'm ready to relive it all." The blue pegasus said. "But I would like to talk about you."

"Me?" Dash asked, curious.

"Uh… yeah." Frostburn said, the coverings of his helmet hinting a slight blush. "Even after all we've been through… I feel like I don't know you all that well."

Dash realized he was right. Despite going on a life altering adventure with Frostburn, the two never really had a moment to stop and get to know each other. Dash knew some of Frostburn's past, but that was it.

To make up for lost time, Dash began telling Frostburn about herself. What life was like in Cloudsdale, moving to Ponyville, meeting the rest of the Mane Six. The cyan pegasus took great detail into describing their exploits. She took great pride whenever she recounted their feats of heroism and reveled in the awed look the stallion got when she told them. She smiled at fondly remembered moments, and laughed along with Frostburn when she retold times that had been fun to live through. He had one of the happiest laughs she had ever heard, and Dash resolved to hear it more often.

After melting away the last few hours with Frostburn, the cyan pegasus suddenly remembered something she had been meaning to discuss for days. "Hey, now that we're speaking to each other again, I have a question to ask you." Rainbow Dash said.

"What is it?" Frostburn asked, suspicious.

"On the train, when you saved me… how did you control your powers?"

Frostburn's face fell a little. "I… I don't know if I can answer that question, Dash."

"Why not?" Dash asked, confused.

"It's uh… very complicated." Frostburn replied nervously.

Dash narrowed her eyes. Immediately, she could tell the red-haired stallion was keeping something from her. Frostburn nervously looked around, beads of sweat forming behind his helmet. Rainbow Dash was about to inquire further, when suddenly it seemed the entire army had stopped dead in its tracks.

Casting her gaze to the Princess, Dash grew worried. Luna had halted towards the peak of a nearby hill and was gazing beyond it. Dash unfurled her wings, and began hovering over to the Princess of the Night. The rest of the Mane Six, Spike, and Frostburn followed her, each curious to see what was making Luna pause.

Dash's eyes widened in horror as she crested over the hilltop, touching the ground just next to the Princess of the Night. Her friends reached the top of the hill shortly, and reacted more or less the same way.

The fields in front of them were strewn with the dead bodies of hundred – likely thousands – of ponies. Dash stopped breathing as she took in the horrifying amount of carnage in front of her. Gory, maimed bodies of what she could now tell were pegasi were scattered in the dirt. They had all fallen from the air, as far as the cyan pegasus could tell, the impact of the ground shattering bones and creating massive blood splatters. Some pegasi had bones jutting from their bodies, while other's had their throats ripped out. The scene was more brutal than anything Dash could have ever imagined. She looked up to see the empty city of Cloudsdale sitting above their heads, and found the cloud fortress to appear much smaller than she remembered.

Her eyes were finally torn away from the sight when she heard the heaving sounds of Fluttershy throwing up. The rest of her friends looked to be on the brink of the same. Twilight turned to Luna, mouth agape.

"P-princess… do you know what happened here?" The purple unicorn asked, barely able to form a sentence.

The dark blue alicorn solemnly looked at Twilight and everypony else. "It appears to have been a changeling attack." She stated.

"But how?" Dash asked her voice cracking. "Cloudsdale isn't supposed to be anywhere near here! The city was all the way across Equestria last time I checked."

Luna took a deep breath before answering. "Princess Celestia ordered the city to be moved in preparation for war." The dark alicorn glanced back at the massacre as that news sunk in. "It must have been attacked before we arrived."

"She… what?" The cyan pegasus said, mortified. Dash felt her blood boil. Cloudsdale, her hometown, had just been slaughtered, and it happened because of Celestia's orders.

Rage began to spill over as Dash screamed. "What was she thinking?!"

Her friends back up in surprise of the outburst. Luna did not. "I am sure my sister had no idea this would happen." The Princess of the Night assured her.

Rainbow still had a lot of directionless fury, unfortunately. She knew Luna was right, there was no way Princess Celestia would have moved Cloudsdale if she had any idea this would be the result. The logic behind that didn't help, and left Dash seething with anger.

Frostburn in front of her, worried. "Rainbow, are you okay?" He asked slowly.

Dash looked from Frostburn, to her friends, to the carnage behind them. Choking back another hate-filled scream the cyan pegasus realized something. She wasn't as angry as she thought she was; she was sad.

Tears sprang to her face suddenly, Dash unable to stop them. Her hometown, slaughtered, everypony she had known growing up might be dead right now. Neighbors, classmates, oh buck! Could her parents be among the dead?

Frostburn immediately took notice and moved to comfort Dash. The stallion wrapped both forelegs around her, and she latched onto him as the first of the sobs broke out.

Her friends all stood back in a mix of shock and awkwardness. Amidst her sniffling, Dash could hear the conversation they were having.

"Spike, I need you to write a letter to Princess Celestia to inform her of the situation." Twilight's voice said.

"Okay Twilight" The dragon's shaky voice responded.

"We'll need to search for any survivors." Princess Luna said. "Applejack, can you round up a few search teams?"

"Right away Princess." The orange mare began to walk off.

Rainbow finally grabbed a hold of herself and stopped crying long enough to speak. "W-We have to bury the dead too." She said. AJ stopped walking away for a moment. Spike looked up from his quill and parchment.

Princess Luna gave her a somber look. "I don't think we will be able to, Rainbow Dash. It won't be time efficient and we certainly don't have enough ponies to accomplish it."

Frostburn moved out of her way so she could reply. "Princess, we need to bury the dead. We owe them that much. And if you disagree, then fine. I'll dig every last one of them if I have too." Dash spoke with a growing determination in her voice, though the threat of sobbing was still present.

"I'll help you." Frostburn said, stepping forward with a genuine expression on his face. Dash looked to her friends, and saw their expressions change slowly as they empathized with her plight.

"We hafta do this, Princess." Applejack said, taking Rainbow's side.

"I agree." Twilight said, with Spike right behind her. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity showed their consent with firm faces and matching nods.

Luna looked at each Element of Harmony, Spike, and Frostburn, before finally ending on Rainbow Dash. The cyan pegasus had bloodshot eyes and tear remants on her face, but nevertheless gave a look that showed she wasn't about to back down. It was tense for a moment.

Finally, Luna nodded her consent. "I will alert the soldiers that it will be a long night." She said. Each member of the Mane Six breathed in relief. Dash looked back at the sea of bodies, emotions whirling like a torrent inside of her. She hoped burying them would bring her peace.

---

Oh thank Celestia I finally got this damn chapter finished. Having writer's block is never fun, but at least I can safely say I conquered the fifth chapter. Next week will be Shattered Glass chapter 15, so be sure to check that out. And thanks for all the favorites, follows, and reviews everypony; keep them coming!