Ponies rushed back and forth in white garbs stained with crimson, gunpowder, and magical residue. Their faces calm despite the chaos surrounding the area. Shouts and calls, cries of pain from the many tents that were; gray, tough and have seen better days. The tough artificial fabric flapped wildly in the cold, winter wind. Snow piled around them, out of the way from the main paths the soldiers and doctors use from tent to tent to check up on injured or captured soldiers from the battle of Arcadia.

The Battle of Arcadia.

'How did that happen, I wonder?'

Such a thing shouldn't have been possible. The Crystal Empire's military shouldn't have been strong enough to break through the defenses at Luna Bay. Yet. They are wreaking havoc on my city without hesitation nor challenge to their rampage with weapons that shouldn't have existed in the first place. Even as I am carted by, Summer; a filly with the softest, misty-rose fur, gentle smile, and loving eyes, I could see it as clear as the day off in the distance.

Ten ships, flying without balloons. Made from a crystal that negated all attacks as if they were nothing. Then again, the AA-cannons weren't online, which was a problem since they should be, twenty-four seven. Dragon-fire, battle-spells, Hell. Even our own ships couldn't make a dent in their defenses as they were shot out of the air like shooting flying fish in a barrel. And I can't do anything.

We stopped at the very last tent furthest from the battle. The beige flaps opened, letting us in the warm escape from reality before I was placed on a luxurious 'cot and was tended to by none other than Dr. Edgy, himself. He gave me a curt nod as Summer tucked me in under the fur blankets before reaching down into a box that had was glowing a soft, blue hue.

"What is that?" I asked with nervous curiosity as Summer pulled out a blue, glowing bottle of liquid that was almost as thick as honey. With an innocent smile, she opened it, releasing an intoxicating scent that filled my senses with the addictive smell of...Mangoes.

"Your medicine," she replied, and brought the strange bottle in front of me, teasing me with it just out of my reach before bringing it up to my lips to drink. "Now drink up, Winny. I'll take over for you while you rest."

With a weak smile, I drank the glowing vial of wonderfulness that caused my body to shudder in delight as the viscous fluid poured into my mouth and down my throat like honey. I felt a little dribbled down my chin as I finished the medicine which was quickly cleaned up with a flick of Summer's delicate tongue. I let out a quiet purr, pressing my lips against hers as she did so before curling up snuggly in my bed as she left the tent, leaving me alone with my doctor.

"Well, Ms. Rose. It looks like we're stuck with each other again, huh?" Dr. Edgy said with a smirk, walking up to me with his medical clipboard.

"Yeah," I chuckled lightly into a yawn that turned my face into something adorable that made Edgy look away for a moment. "So what did Summer give me?" I asked, my eyes growing heavy.

Dr. Edgy wrote down something on the clipboard and hooked me up to a heart monitor. "She gave you what is known as a: Legacy Mana Potion. It's an elixir for idiots that pushed themselves so far that if they passed out before they took one, they would never wake up again and their body would turn into crystal," he explained, earning him another quiet chuckle from me. "In other words: you are lucky that you are an Empress of a country, otherwise, you would have never got one for how rare and expensive they are to produce."

"Yolo," I smiled in response. "Anything else I should know about before I pass out?"

"Nothing other than having a three-day nap and waking up so sore and stiff that it will be physically impossible to move, why?" he asked with an obvious roll of the eyes.

"I could use the nap," I said falling to sleep to the warm hum of Summer's distant heart.

I flew fast and swift over the scrambling bodies rushing to and fro around the docks, watching them with a sharp eye as they did their duties with fervor. The cold wind embraced my body as I banked a hard left towards the group that I left behind to drop of the mentally retarded mare known as, Winter Rose in the makeshift medical center to get healed up from the mind-boggling stress that she put herself through while she was away.

'Stupid filly,' I frowned internally.

I ducked under the ice-covered stone archway, trimming close to the giant ice teeth that tangled from the intricate stonework, causing one of the house-sized icicles to fall from its perch and impale the permafrost garden below.

"Oops," I whispered sheepishly, looking at an angry guard that was almost crushed by the icicle as I veered around a stone tower that lead towards the top of the archway, dodging arrows and cannon balls from one of the crystal-covered ships that were guarding the AA-cannons above with relentless intensity.

"Finally," a burly, orange, Earth Pony stallion grunted as I came into view and landed right in front of a small group that was waiting for me at the bottom of the tower, protected by the crystal ships above.

"What took you so long?" a rough yet boyish Diamond-erm-Faunus wolf wearing a suit, who was standing close to the stallion. "And where is little Rosy?" he asked as he rubbed his palms, causing them to flicker to life with a soft, orange flame, bringing warmth to his person. To his left stood the legendary: Daring Do, wearing a fur-lines beige coat with her signature pith helmet on her head.

As much as I wanted to squeal in girly delight at seeing my number one hero, gushing like a little school filly, wanting and begging for autographs and pictures would have to wait for a later time.

"I had to drop off Princess Evelyn, Nova Blade, Snowball, and Winny at the med bay at the docks with the others. So it will only be the four of us," I replied making the stallion shift uncomfortably.

"I...Ah...I don't want a purdy young filly on the battlefield. The Empress was okay because she could handle herself, but you?" he sighed nervously. "You're too innocent." I frowned at the stallion and stomped my hoof, creating a little cloud of snow with a muffled, "Poof!"

"Why can't I?!" I whined in defiance, earning me a stern glare from the stallion. "Just because I'm too innocent, doesn't mean I can't help!"

"We don't want 'ya getting hurt, Sunny. It's bad enough that the Empress knows the taste of death. You?" Stephen sighed with soft eyes. "You shouldn't be put through something that will make you hollow."

"I'm no stranger to battle!" I shouted, glaring slightly at the fire-breathing wolf. He just returned the glare with a sorrowful sigh, his kind heart showing through his tough, wild exterior with pain in his eyes. "Just not a lot of it," I said with a sigh, knowing little about an actual battlefield.

Sure I knew how to shoot a bow, mine slung over the shoulder of the adventures mare that was the grandmother of the Empress of my heart. The dragon bone bow, white as the clouds on a cool, spring morning. The bow that belonged to my mother whom I had to abandon with it in tow, and her mother and so on for generations.

It was with this bow that I got my cutie mark, and tasted blood for the first time. Only Winter knew the truth and all the pain that came with it. The shaking nock of the arrow against the silky sinew, rattling like a mouse to a falcon. The immense strength and struggle to pull the string back that scratched my cheek and scraped my arm from the release. A single arrow, flying through the air towards two figures running in a straight line. I remember the crunch of the skull as the arrow went straight through both of their skulls.

It was my first kill, and they were my father and brother, the two that used me like a toy. I felt no remorse for taking their lives, nor did I feel it went protecting myself against ponies that followed me to my special place to use me like they did.

I am sure that I will not feel that feeling of regret for taking a life. How could I? The ponies that were attacking my Rose's city, country and home were a threat and had to be stopped.

They will be stopped.

I looked up to the Faunus wolf with a solid stare filled with my resolve for showing my soul mate that I was worthy to fight at her side. "Now stop your bickering and let's go," I said, grabbing my bow from Daring Do with my quiver slung tightly to my back as I walked into the stone tower, ready to show how strong I was, despite the comments from everyone else.

"I agree, we have to go," Daring sighed from behind, walking in right behind me. "Even though I don't like the fact that there is more than one filly taken by the art of war."

I cracked a solemn smile as I looked up the stone, staircase at those words, knowing how true they were now that I believed them from my talk with Princess Luna. Before, they meant nothing, just a legend for foals like me. Yet, after seeing the signs, living the life, and struggling to find peace where I went. I was taken by the art of war and I didn't realize it until a few days ago. I shook my head, watching the others run up the stairs with their weapons drawn. The only light that guided them were the dim torches that lined the wall once every floor. With a heavy flap of my wings, I bolted straight up with my bow in my hooves, an arrow nocked and ready to fire.

"Wait!" the stallion yelled into a whisper as I reached the top, stopping in front of a large, metal door that blocked my path. I didn't hesitate. I couldn't. With a long breath, I kicked down the door to a storming blizzard with loud cannon fire coming from just a few meters away.

"Look!" shouted from someone through the loud cries of the blizzard. "Somepony is at the north tower. Kill him!" that someone ordered with venom in his voice. I bit my lip for being so careless and ducked behind one of the hundreds of AA-cannons that lined the bridge for, cover, just in time to see my old location get drenched in fire from a fire spell that one of the patrolling guards used in a weak attempted to kill me.

With a hiss of annoyance, I gripped my bow tightly and slowed my breathing while nocking an arrow. With the wind being so violent, my shot was going to be difficult, but it wouldn't matter. My main goal was to activate one of the AA-cannons to use as a shield as I reactivate the rest, and if a few guards get in the way, then I would use everything in my power to remove them from my mission.

"You missed!" one of the guards said as I took aim while taking account of the harsh winds from the cover that I was hiding behind.

"Whatever," the golden glad unicorn said, making that his final word before I fired my arrow, sending it straight into his neck as I nocked another and took aim as he fell to the ground.

"Captain!" the others shouted in unison before I fired again, killing another just in time for my comrades to join the party.

"Summer!" Daring shouted through the storm, alerting the two surviving Equestrian guards to her presence. I let out a hiss of annoyance and nocked two arrows at once and took aim as they gripped their spears with trembling hooves from the horrendous storm.

"Where are you?!" she called out as a red flame appeared right behind her at the tower door, giving the two guards their exact location, but before they could act. I let loose my two arrows, letting them fly with a muffled "twang!" from the string.

"Over here!" I shouted back as the two guards collapsed next to their fallen comrades, all of them killed by my hooves. "By the main AA-cannon!"

After I gave Daring Do my location, the storm let up just enough to show the silhouettes of the hundreds of giant cannons that lined the bridge. "Don't run off like that!" she shouted at the top of her lungs right in front of me, making me thankful that the storm diluted her volume. I liked my ears and not being able to hear Rose sing would suck.

"Well don't be so slow!" I shouted back, not frightened at the older mare.

"Why you little," she growled like a rabid fox, but thanks to the blinding storm. I couldn't see her angry face that would have otherwise made me shit myself.

"Save if for later. Right now, we need to activate this cannon," I said, clamping her mouth shut with my snow-covered hooves as Redbeard and Stephen joined us with their weapons drawn.

"And how do we do that?" Redbeard questioned, looking over the large tube of metal with a scrutinizing gaze, studying every inch of the cannon with an unblinking eye.

"It's simple," I began, removing my hoof from Daring's mouth and jumped up on the base of the cannon towards a strange box on the side of it that was two-time's bigger than my little body. "All we need to do is activate the spell matrix at each cannon before going to the main console near the castle. The others should be waiting there so all we need to do is activate all ten cannons by pressing this button," I explained as I opened a hatch, revealing a red crystal that was attached to hundreds of wires and without hesitation. I pressed the crystal with my hoof, causing it to turn blue, signaling us that it was primed and ready to fire.

"One down, ninety-nine to go," I said with a nod to the others just in time for the cannon to move on its own, taking aim at the crystal ship hovering over the others as the barrel began to glow up the barrel in little rings, telling everyone the time until it fires.

"That's impossible! How does Arcadia have anti-mana cannons?!" Daring gasped in horror as I jumped down from the mount back to her fear-filled side. "Their blueprints were destroyed at the end of the Nightmare Moon rebellion!"

"They were, but with the help of Princess Luna and my friend, Umbra Eon and her assistant, Flash Drive. They were not only able to remake it, but improve it," I smiled with pride at the older mare, causing her to look down at me in fear along with Redbeard and Stephen. "Now are you coming?" I glared back as the final ring primed and exploded with tremendous force, sending a ball of blue energy at the flying warship at the speed of sound before it collided against the hall. Then, within a fracture of a second, the ship was destroyed into a few million pieces with the gun aiming and began charging for another round.

"I don't want to make my soul mate push herself further to finish our job. Now you can stay there and gawk at my friend's intelligence and my soul mates military power, or you can help activate the rest."

The sound of metal clashing against metal, fire scorching stone, water splashing against the glass, blood splattering against armor echoed throughout the empty halls of the grand castle nestled strategically against the mountain near the southern coast of Arcadia.

"Twang!" "Boom!" "Clash!"

One would think that there was a battle going on against a small group of skilled foes, but in reality, there was only three. Three fight, two against one, up and down the halls of the castle of the wind. The home of the daughter of twilight.

"Die, Nightmare Moon, Die!" shouted one of the two, fighting against a mare of gentle blue. Her fire fueled by a blind love that came from one place: fear.

Luna could tell right from the start when Princes—No—Queen Cadence showed her face that was half-covered by a ruby-colored mask in the shape of a fox, with her body encased in eloquent, crimson armor that looked more of a dress created from roses than the ruby-encrusted-steel that it was made from.

Of course, with her husband wearing his usual armor from when he was the Captain of Celestia's Royal Guard, shined and polished for this moment. With Shining Armor wielding his spear—A lavished gold pole that was tipped with a one-foot diamond blade that was shaped to resembled a dragon's scale, with the base just a simple nob. It was a fine spear, however. It was severally flawed.

"Twang!" "Twang!" "CRUNCH!":

Luna could tell from the second he and Cadence walked into the throne room where she was waiting for Empress Rose's safe return that the pole and blade had a crack that, when struck just right, would cause it to shatter like glass, but she wouldn't destroy her sisters work. She didn't have the heart to do so even after she was banished to the moon.

Neither of them knew of the flaw, nor would they ever. Shining Armor nor Cadence has never tasted real battle. Not the mettle of a Griffin battalion, the vicious tenacity of a dragon, or the intelligence of one who knows what it is like to be weak. Her eye was trained to see all weaknesses as was her guards and the guards that protect the young country that she has sworn to guide with her millennia's worth of wisdom.

"Twang!" "Clash!" "Thump!"

Even now as she stalls them, pretending to show them that she was weak, she knew that they didn't hide their weaknesses. They were too honest, and as Captain of The Royal Guard, such a weakness shows how poorly trained his subordinates are.

She pities him and his fear-taken wife.

"You are weak Nightmare Moon!" Cadence shouts from the center of the throne room, drenched in sweat and the blood from Luna with a mad smile that belonged to a rabid dog. "Just surrender and give the Black Queen to us! And we'll take you back to the pits of Tartarus, where you belong!"

Luna cracked a weak smile, pretending to struggle to get back to her hooves at the base of the ivory throne. Her body ached from taking enough damage to kill a mortal pony, but as an Alicorn. It was just a mere scratch to her, even though her entire body was covered in a thousand cuts that bled, uncontrollably. In front of her at the destroyed podium was Cadence wielding her silver rapier that matched perfectly to her battle dress. Her face adorning a smile of victory, with her husband at her side adorning one himself.

From this position, she could see the city through one of the windows that was shattered, leaving only jagged shards protruding from the frames. The cold wind from the blizzard raging on outside sent a pleasant shudder throughout her body as snow filled the dark throne room, and from this distance, she could see Summer flying around one of the many great archways that connect the castle to the main wall. She couldn't quite tell what she was up too, but judging the direction she was going. Luna could easily guess that the filly was going to activate the cannons.

'May harmony protect her,' Luna thought with pride to her other student before turning her gaze back to the delusional Queen of Crystal.

"Big words for someone so young," Luna argued with blood coating her left eye, making it slightly difficult to see through the thick coat of crimson. "What makes you think Cerberus would take me in his maw to the Warden to be caged?"

"It's simple—"

"Is it really?" Luna countered with a simple smile while standing up with trembling hooves, preventing Cadence from forming her thought. "If you know anything of that wretched prison, then you would know the requirements for someone to be locked away in there and frankly," she paused, bringing back her scythe to her side with her telekinetic grip with a show of skill in the form of a fast twirl of her weapon around her neck that stopped with the blade embedding in the stone floor. "You would be taken before I ever will!" Luna shouted, lunging at the couple with blinding speed with her scythe dragging behind her in the stone, cutting it like molten butter as she dragged it behind her.

"Look out!" Shining Armor shouted pushing Cadence to the side into a mound of snow, but it was a fruitless effort.

"Out of my way," Luna growled, dropping her scythe from her mental grip and spun like a figure skater on ice with her back leg shooting out at the last minute, making contact with Shining's head with enough force to shatter his skull, but was saved by his helmet.

"Shining Armor!" Candance screamed for her lover as she watched him fly near the speed of sound down the length of the throne room like a ragdoll tumbling down a flight of stairs, only to be stopped by the wall that created a crater upon impact before falling in a mangled heap of flesh on the snow-covered floor.

"Insolent fool," Luna spat in resignation for the weak stallion with her gaze resting on the recovering Queen of Crystal. Her scythe returning to her side with a quick flick of her ear as her wounds healed right before the eyes of the mortified child that dared to challenge the guardian of dreams.

"I-m....Impossible!" Cadence gasped, standing back on all fours with her rapier that was as beautiful as a thornless, silver rose. "You should be on the brink of death! How can this be!?" she continued much to Luna's stark amusement, but she had a point.

If it weren't for the fact that she was using a weapon meant for mortal beings, she would have died the second she collapsed in front of the throne. She was lucky in that regard, but it brings into question of how much Cadence knows what it means to be an Alicorn or to match this current situation, what it takes to kill one.

'I still need to stall for, Summer and the mare known as Spooks. I might as well enlighten her on our current predicament,' she mused within her mind, bringing her scythe close to her body in case Cadence sends out a second barrage of attacks.

"Are you ignorant? Or has my sister taught you nothing?" she questioned with a stern gaze, making Cadence's ears flatten against her head as if she was frightened for a lecture... or could it be something else?

"Celestia has taught me plenty!" she shot back, earning a raised brown from the mare of the moon.

"Then you must realize that Alicorn Stone is the only material capable of killing our kind? If not, then I should tell you that a single cut from my Cresent Moon is enough to kill either of us within seconds," Luna yawned, turning away for a moment to see that Summer was on the bridge. "In any case. It is time for me to fight seriously. I've played with you for far too long."

"What are you talking...About..." Cadence managed to say before Luna erupted into flames of twilight and a sung a lullaby.

"Shining, Dragon. I believe," Luna sang as she equipped her armor under the protection of the flames. "You are my champion in my time of need."

One by one, her legs adorned large plates of black obsidian, curved like a flowing river against her fur like a second skin. "Blinded by fear, I couldn't see."

"All the whispers, the warning so clear." Cadence watched in horror as her body emerged, showing her the body of a black dragon, but in reality, it just looked like it. The god-like craftsmanship of Luna's armor terrified her. She backed away towards her bleeding husband as Luna continued to sing.

"I see the dragons. I'll lead them to the war," she continued, her head emerging from the flames with the skull of a two-horned black dragon with the jaw missing in place for her muzzle with her ears protruding nest to the straight, white horns with her own horn in the center, with a blade encasing it to the tip.

With the transformation complete, her eyes spot Cadence making a break for Shining armor in a vain attempt for escape. "There's no escape now, no mercy no more!" she finished with a warcry, lunging at the fleeing Queen faster than before. The immense pressure from the lunge shattering the remaining windows, bringing the full force of the blizzard into the throne room.

Realizing the immediate danger, Cadence rolled to the right just as Luna crushed the tiled floor into a million pieces with her hoof, however. To Luna, this was just a farce.

She cracked a smirk as the pillar Cadence jumped beside began to crumble like weak clay with chunks falling around the trembling mare as she struggled to find traction on the forming ice.

"Having trouble my niece?" Luna mocked as she slowly approached the stumbling mare. "You thought challenging a mare that was trained by her father and Jormungand was a good idea and believed that you would win? How arrogant of you," she hissed, lunging again at Cadence again.

"I'm not arrogant. You are, Nightmare Moon!" Cadence shouted back before teleporting away, but Luna saw that move coming and teleported with her speed right next to Cadence, tackling her to the ground and began to slide down the throne room and out the hall with Luna's hooves gripped tightly around Cadence's neck. Crashing into statues and pillars until Luna had to let go, stopping short of the stairs of the main foyer of the castle.

Cadence took this change and jumped back, breathing heavily. She gripped her rapier tighter in her telekinetic grip before charging at the stoic mare of the night.

"You insolent fool," Luna said, side-stepping the mare while lifting her knee like a cart into Cadence's stomach before rolling into her arm, gripping the hoof tightly in her teeth and tossed her over her shoulder down the stairs.

"You think you stand a chance against a mare that took the trail of the Styx River. I fought hoards of lesser demons to grab my fathers flag on the beach of eternity with The Warden himself waiting for me. Even Winter Rose is stronger than you, Cadence," Luna huffed as she made her way down the stairs towards the coughing mare that was struggling to breathe from the blow.

Cadence looked up at her in pure rage, taking her rapier back in her grip and charged again. "That just proves that you belong there with those demons!"

Luna sighed, tilting her head to the right to dodge Cadence's lunge and grabbed her scythe with Cadence's neck in her telekinetic grip, lifting her up in the air as she choked her for all her air. "Celestia took that trial as well, same with Starswirl, Clover the Cleaver, Commander Hurricane and I wouldn't be surprised if Rose did too when she comes of age. It's not long until someone else proves that she is worth of such an honor."

"Your...Words are nothing but...Lies!" Cadence choked out just as a large, *Boom!* echoed throughout the city, followed by another and another.

Luna's smiled returned as she threw Cadence back into the throne room and teleported right beside her, grabbing her mane with her teeth and slammed her down into the tiled floor, creating a sizable crater from the impact.

"What lies?" she asked, stomping down on Cadence's heaving chest and aimed her sight towards the city and at the bridge that exploded with flashes of light that collided with the ships flying above, destroying them within seconds of contact. "My mission is complete and your forces that used the Equestrian border as a cover is now falling. Face it, Cadence. You. Have. Lost. And to a filly, no less."

Cadence gripped Luna's hoof that was on her chest with a rage induced death grip with her horn glowing lightly. "I have not lost, and we, WILL, return, Nightmare Moon!" she spluttered before teleporting herself and the mangled body of Shining Armor out of the country as her soldiers began falling out of the sky.

Luna let out another sigh and took off her armor, placing it back in its resting place as she knew that she wouldn't need it for a time and stared with pride for her young student's triumph, ignoring the fact that Cadence ran like a coward and straight back to her Crystal Empire with her tail in between her legs.

"This is a victory was difficult, but now the real battle begins. The fight for Luna Bay will be the end, but with so little fighting for us due to the wars all over the world. Arcadia's first war will end on the day of the winter's solstice."

"I hope we last that long..."

Author's Notes:

Hey,Guys! Just like you to know that I is alive and that I isn't dead. Just went through writers block thing and is still feeling the effects, but don't you worry! I is going to finish this come hell or cute femboys! Hopefully the femboys!