-Apple-

I woke up spooning with Blu behind me. His large and wide frame felt comforting with one arm under my head serving as a pillow; and his other arm slung over my hip. His soft snoring was always good to hear in the morning. I shifted to stretch my joints and that woke him, "Hm! What?" he shot up into a seated position.

I slowly got into one and smiled at him, "Good morning Blu."

"Oh, hey," he wiped the drool from his face with the back of his hand, "Good morning."

"What do you want to-?" I was cut off by the sound and feel of a small few minute earthquake, "The hell was that?" I asked and looked out the window facing out of the side of the Castle. Looking out, I saw a couple thousand soldiers filtering in and slowing to a stop in front of the castle.

I soon jumped out of bed and went to the dresser, "Get Dressed!" I told him and threw him a pair of boxer's shorts and a shirt. I took out the same exact thing and ran out the door. I ran and ran until I came to a small door that led out to the front. By the time I had gotten outside, Ecnedac and Luna and Rota were already out there standing on the stairs with Crystal Guards at their side. I walked up behind them, "What's going on?" I asked Ecnedac.

"I assume that they're going to challenge us," she responded.

"I'll go check it out," I pushed the Princesses aside and began walking.

"Apple, wait!" I turned around and saw Blaze running as he was buttoning up his pants, "I'm coming with you," he slowed his pace to a walk as I began walking. I stood in between Blaze and Blu as we walked. The Yakyakastanians were standing their ground until we walked up to them. Despite them being a barbaric and brutish frames, we still stood almost a half foot taller than they did. The tallest soldier probably stood at six foot two inches.

"Who are you three?" the obvious King with gems and the thickest fur layers asked.

"We are Celestia's top-class agents," I crossed my arms, "Who are you?"

"I am Golrien (gAh-lore-in). King of the Yakastanians and I am here to claim the Crystal Empire as my own," he responded with much gusto and pride.

"Didn't Sombra try and do that?" Blaze asked openly.

"Yes, but he was weak. He allowed his ego to blind him."

I leaned to my right and began whispering into Blaze's ear, "Have the Princesses evacuate and lock down the Empire. Send everyone toward Canterlot," without question or hesitation, he dipped his chin and left as I looked back at the large burly man, "How do you expect to take down the Crystal Empire with such a small army?"

"My army nears a hundred thousand soldiers," the number surprised me, but I kept my cool, "I don't see how you couldn't see that my army will overrun yours."

"Not with us three," Blaze came back and smirked.

"You three?" he laughed, "How can three younglings take on my army?" he continued laughing and as did the army. When things quieted down, he continued, "You're allowing your ego to get to you. You still don't see that I'm an Apple," his face turned hard and stern as I spoke, "I am third generation Hierarchical Apple and the granddaughter of Hiri Apple."

"So are you standing in for the Princess of the Crystal Empire as a proxy?" he asked.

"I stand as only the balancer of life and you seek to destroy it and implement your own greedy order. So in a sense, I am."

"Then you and I shall fight. No weapons," he dropped his axe and shield, "No armour," he took off his fur and the armour that was underneath, "Just our wit and fists."

"I'm fine with that, but I think you'd be needing it though."

"Yeah, okay," he chuckled as stripped down to only a unibody suit that hugged his frame, "If I win, we get the Empire, if you win, my armies and Yakyakastan shall be yours."

"I'm fine with that," the men behind him grabbed his things and stepped back.

-Blu-

I stepped back because there was nothing I could do at this point. The challenge had been issued and accepted. So I stepped back to give Apple some room as she got into a fighting stance, "I will have fun killing you Apple," the Yak chuckled.

"I would say the same about you if you weren't already a dead man," Apple threw the first punch and knocked him dead square in the cheek. He stumbled back a few steps before shaking off the pain, "Oh I'm sorry, did I hit you too hard?" Apple belittled him.

"You've got quite a hook for a woman," he dipped his chin, "I have underestimated you. But no more," he lunged forward with such speed and agility that he gave her a hook to the chin. Apple spun around before she jumped up to deliver a hard kick with the heel of her foot to the temple of the Yak. He spun a little before falling onto his face. Apple jumped and landed with her feet on either side of his back before bending over and snapping his neck with ease.

"BROTHER!" a man holding the now deceased Golrien's fur coats dropped them and ran over to kneel by his brother's side, "What have you done!"

"He asked to fight and he asked to fight to the death and that's what I did. I fought to the death and I have won. Your army is now mine."

"NO!" the man shot up, "YAKS! ATTACK!"

"Ah Shit!" Apple hissed as men began to charge. She was immediately overtaken by the men and they pinned her face down with her arms behind her back. I was hit with a hard punch which knocked me back and onto the ground.

-General View (GV)-

Apple saw the man she loved get knocked to the ground and that was her breaking point. She allowed whatever power resided in her to come to the light. Her eyes turned green as the earth began to tremble, "You Will All Pay!" she freed herself and launched herself into the air before dropping down and the earth below her cratered. Large cracks sprawled out in front of her and consumed a fourth of the army.

"Princess Ecnedac!" a Crystal Guard ran up to her, "The people have been evacuated and all is left is the guards."

"Have the guards leave as well!" she ordered, "What Celestia has talked so much about has now flourished!"

"But what about the army! We can't just leave our city defenseless!"

"I think Apple has it! If we don't leave now, the city won't be able to be rebuilt! Luna, Rota, we must leave!"

"NO!" Luna shouted over the sound of earth being moved, "I have to stay here and make sure!"

"Make sure of what?" the Princess asked her.

"Just Go! I'll Be Fine!"

Rota, Blaze, and Ecnedac left and ran into the castle. Luna and Blu stood back as they watched Apple move at unprecedented speeds to fight the army. After a few minutes, a large circular shape in the ground began turning into quicksand and it sucked up the army. Blu and Luna tried looking for Apple but they couldn't find her, "APPLE!" Blu called out before he ran to the epicenter of the smoothed over sand, "AAAAAPLE!" he called out again and he soon found an arm sticking out. The hand was waving around and he knew that it belonged to Apple, "OH GOD!" Blu ran over to the arm and began digging around the arm. He tugged on it and managed to pull out Apple's shoulder and head. She took a huge breath of air and Blu noticed that her eyes were still green. Without hesitation, he kept digging and pulling her out until she was sprawled out in front of him.

"Apple!" he lightly patted her cheek with his palm, "Are you okay?"

She fluttered her still glowing green eyes open slowly and took another big breath, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired is all."

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"There is something that I need to take care of," Apple walked up to Luna who was taking a few steps back, "Come on out Nightmare Moon, there is something I would like to say to you," her voice was soft and quiet as though she was a mother talking to her newborn child.

Luna looked down and away as white energy engulfed her torso and limbs. The white energy formed an all-white armour with a black crescent moon on her chest. As this was all happening, Luna's hair turned into a glowing dark purple mist. Luna opened her eyes as she locked them back into place with Apple's. They were coal black with white irises. She looked sad and filled with such despair and depression, "I never even had the chance to apologize for what I had done and when I realized I had messed up, you were already gone."

"I just want you to know," Apple lifted her chin, "I forgive you," Luna gasped, "Our relationship had turned into a bitter rivalry and I am the one to blame and innocent people, like Celestia paid the price. A thousand years apart gave a woman time to think and I have never forgiven myself for what I had done."

"I already have forgiven you," Luna then mewled into the hand of Apple's that was caressing her face, "I shouldn't have reacted the way I have. Maybe it was just time for that part of our lives to fade."

"I think I can agree to that," Apple said.

"So, do you think we can start over?" Luna looked into her loving eyes.

"Let's," both women closed their eyes and mysterious cosmic energy that was revealing itself through them faded and both their outward appearance and their minds went back to being under the control of theirs.

"What just happened?" Rota asked.

"I don't think Apples and Lunas were always rivals," Blu started, "I think it was a relationship gone badly and that's what started the bitterness between families," Blaze responded.

-Blu-

"AAAAAAAAAH!" Apple shrieked right when a blade was run through her chest. Behind her, stood a bloodied Yakyakastanian Soldier with an evil smirk on his face.

I caught Apple from the front and saw the hilt of the sword sticking out of her back as Luna moved with swiftness and agility. She picked up a spear head and rammed it through the neck of the tower-built man. I slowly got to my knees to try and cause Apple as little as pain as possible, "Apple?" I held her, "Apple, stay with me my love."

"…so…cold…," she coughed and I felt warm liquid running down my shoulder and back and I knew that it was blood.

"LUNA! GET HELP!" I ordered and she, along with the other Princess, ran toward the castle, "Apple, this is gonna hurt," I propped her on her knees and stuck the side of my hand in her mouth, "Bite down on this," her mouth was dripping blood as her once yellow tinted skin began turning white. She bit down on it and I reach behind her to slowly pull the blade out of her back. Her teeth broke the skin of my hand and it hurt, but it was worth it. I literally ripped my shirt off and split it in two. Bundling up both pieces, I sandwiched the open wounds in between them, "Just stay with me Apple," I said when I saw that her eyes were blood shot and began to close.

"I-I… can't," she said before her body went limp. I felt her heart rate slow, but not stop thankfully. Within minutes, Medics came and took her away. They rested her on a stretcher and bandaged her up as much as they could.

I was gonna follow them before Blaze stood in front of me, "You don't need this right now. Just wait until she's all better, okay?"

"Then in the meantime, I'm going to Yakyakastan and bringing down that city to its knees forever," I growled.

"What if they are people there?" Blu asked.

"Then all of them will perish at my hand. I knew the Yaks were bad, but to try and overthrow the Crystal Empire and kill Apple…"

"She won't die and I know that. You know that. She's stronger than we both think."

"But not strong enough. I know the human body and a blade through the chest would kill any human."

"But you and I know that she's not technically full human, now is she? I mean, correct me if I'm wrong Blu."

"It doesn't matter, she's dead all the same. So I'm going there and there's no way you're stopping me."

"What do expect to get out of destroying the rest of a city? Your vengeance satisfied? Apple's apparent death bought in full?"

"Yes actually," I looked at him, "I expect her death to not be in vein."

"Knowing Yaks, they don't allow women to join their army. So all that would be left at Yakyakastan would be women and children. Are there lives worth taking?"

"Why yes it is," he gasped at my words, "They belong to the same city as those bastards who attacked the Crystal Empire and I don't want them to be able to have another shot at it."

"Celestia won't like this," he frowned.

"Like I give a shit about what she likes. All she really sent us out here to do was retrieve Luna and bring her back safely. Should've left when we had the chance and none of this would've happened.

"This path that you're going down, where does it lead?"

"Power. I will claim whatever mystical power that Yakyakastan has and use to better myself and to better so she can protect herself better."

"Then I cannot follow you down this road mate and I don't think that Apple would either."

"That's not up for you to decide."

"Then may the almighty Cosmia grant you safe passage and a right frame of mind," he walked away as I walked in after him.

I walked all the way up to my room and there was Luna sitting there on my bed looking down at a picture she had in her hands, "Luna?" she looked up with black-stained cheeks. She had been crying and her make-up had run down, "What's wrong?"

"I'm going with you to Yakyakastan to rain vengeance upon that hellhole."

I smirked, "What are you reasons?"

"Yaks have always been a problem for Equestria, but today they drew a line. Celestia holds Apple in such high regard and now she's dying. If I hadn't said all those things to her ancestor all those years ago, none of this would've happened."

"What did happen all those years ago?" I sat on Apple's bed in front of her because I knew that the story would be long.

"It all started when Celestia and I came to power," she handed me the picture and it was a picture of her and Celestia as teens, "We were so young and carefree. The only thing Celestia really cared about was learning how to become Princess and I only cared about my one friend, Braeburn. In addition to sports and my magic. It was any typical day for me, I…"

-Luna, Centuries Earlier-

I was awakened by the sound and feel of someone jumping in my bed and I knew all too well who it was. I snapped my eyes open and yawned at the sound of Braeburn's good mornings. I looked at the clock and it was almost noonday. So I slowly sat up and the muscular frame of the cowgirl now going into a seat position. Her pink hair and pink eyes were in contrast of her orange freckles and yellow skin. She was just a marvelous sight to behold and I always loved seeing her beautiful face first thing in the morning.

"Morning babe," I said before we leaned forward and gave each other a quick kiss.

"It's always good seeing you," she giggled.

"Why did you have to wake me?" I asked her, "You know that I don't like waking up this early."

"I know, but I think it's time for me to tell my parents about us."

I grew rigid, "Are you sure? I don't think that's a good idea. They're very religious and your dad is on the council. It could mean very bad omens for us."

"But I don't care, I have money and so do you. If they react badly, you and I can just leave," she got on her hands and knees and began kissing my neck.

As much as it was turning me on, I pushed her off a little bit, "Okay, fine. But if they do react badly, we have to leave afterwards. Neolithic won't be so forgiving when he realizes that one of his daughters is gay."

"Your father isn't my concern and neither should you. All that matters is that we love each other."

"Fine okay," I smiled at her and kissed her lovingly.

The next day, we made it to Braeburn's parents' house. We sat them down and they were agitated that we were making them late for a very important political campaign, "This better be good Braeburn," her father spoke.

"Daddy, mommy, what I am about to tell you will be a shock to you and if you don't love me after that, that's fine. I have already accepted that."

"What?" her mom piped up, "You being gay?" Braeburn and I were completely at shock at what she had said, "We've always known, we just haven't said anything and didn't want to until you felt comfortable bringing it up."

"How did you find out?"

"We always just had a hunch," her father took his mother's hand into his, "Almost every waking second with Luna and we already knew that Luna was gay. Her sister is very much a blabber mouth."

"Celestia told you guys?" I asked.

"She told us everything when we asked about Brae's relationship with you," he looked at me with his yellow eyes through his green hair, "its all okay. Even Neolithic knows and he's on board with all of this."

"What about you being so religious?"

"Cosmia says that wherever you find love, hold onto it and never let it go. She never states that same sex love is evil. So, with that being said, we aren't going to hold you to being evil. You and she have found love. But you Luna, you have to talk to your sister about this. She says that she's okay with you dating someone of the same sex, but I know she's not. She's trying to make same sex marriage a crime punishable by death. There is something that she's doing that you must stop."

"How could she do this to me?" I spat as I ran my hands through my hair.

"You don't seem as upset as I thought you would be," Braeburn looked my way as she rested both hands on her hips, "It's as though you already knew."

"Yes, I already knew. Why do you think I disappear every night around the same time? It's to check up on her to see what angle she's getting at to try and become Princess."

"What have you found out?"

"She's working with Cosmia."

"Okay," she seemed lost.

"People are starting to lose hope for Cosmia's resolve. So Cosmia has promised mankind a warrior Saviour that would and will bring peace to all of the dimensions just to keep their attention. So when this warrior Saviour is born and starts bringing balance back to the dimensions, Cosmia will work with death in order to absorb the power and finally place all beings alive right now under her cosmic thumb. It's all a ruse just for power. Celestia will fail, I know that. The plan she's concocted will back fire and she'll feel compassion for this unborn child before she's ever born and will stand against all odds to protect her. Even if that means her life."

"If you already know this, why don't you do something?" Braeburn shouted.

"Because by the time this child will be born, you will already be long gone my love. But don't worry, this Perfect Being will be only the second and final Perfect Being."

"There will be a first?"

"Yes. One of your descendants will bear the burden of only keeping the world at peace. The granddaughter of this descendant will be the Supreme Being and will have a heart made of gold like you."

"How do you know all of this?"

"Those reasons are my own and there will be some things that I have to keep to myself."

"If my future generations will be at stake, I wanna help!" she stomped a foot.

"I'm sorry Braeburn, but if you get in the way, there won't be a future to protect anymore."

"If you won't tell me what's going on, then we are over!"

"Then so be it," I growled.

She gasped and then said, "Get out of my house and never come back," I dipped my chin and headed for the door, "I hope that you beat your sister before she becomes Princess."

"Yeah, me too babe," I left and for the next two months, I was trying to figure out how to match my sister's strength magical powers so I can try and have a chance at beating her. Then it hit me. I could use the full power of the moon to awaken the inner lunar magic within me.

So after almost two months, on the eve of my sister's coronation, there was a full moon. I stood at the door of Celestia's room. On the inside, I heard her practicing her Coronation Speech. I barged in and she squealed in fright, "Luna! What the hell?" she laughed, "What is it?" her face turned grim when she saw that I wasn't laughing along with her.

"I know about you and Cosmia sister," she gasped, "I won't allow you to do this."

She smirked evilly, "I have a plan and you're not going to interfere Luna."

"What's your plan? To rule Equestria? As of tomorrow, you're going to anyway."

"My plan is to rule the world by the end of this week," even though she tried to seem evil, there was something there that was proving otherwise, "Just stay down and I won't have to hurt you," her voice turned hash when a mist formed in between us, "Just stay out of my way and I don't have to kill you baby girl."

'Baby girl?' I thought, 'Why would she call me that?' then I remembered. When she and I were younger, we played hide and seek and dad called me that when Celestia was seeking and he and I were hiding. He would say, "I'm going to protect you baby girl. I make a distraction and you run and hide somewhere," he would laugh and kiss me on the cheek before jumping out from behind the tree and playfully growl at my sister so I could go hide somewhere else.

This was her plan. Her plan was to cause a distraction as she allowed someone to do something, or allow something to fall into place. So I backed away and trusted her, "Fine okay, I'll back down. Just allow me to hide from all of this shame you will probably cause our family if this gets out," I dipped my chin in response and left the room.

The next day, she became Princess and passed the bill of all gays to be executed. That's when I decided to act because she said that she was trying to protect me, but yet she wants all gays dead. That following night, there was the rare Emerald Moon and I was just sitting on top of the castle crying; holding myself…crying. My sister had hurt me deeply, especially after the fact that the love of my life was on her way to being executed at the stroke of midnight. Braeburn was captured because her parents turned her in and all I did was run like a coward. Now I had to do something and I knew what I had to do.

I had to overthrow Celestia.

So I stood up and allowed the moon's energy to consume me and allowed my inner Luna to take over. Next thing I knew, I was standing in front of Celestia. She was looking at me with much fear in her eyes, and in her voice, "What is the meaning of this Luna?" she asked in a tone that tried to conceal the fear in her voice.

"I am not Luna. Instead, I am Nightmare Moon and I am here to put a stop to this madness!" I said aloud. I turned around and saw the love of my life, Braeburn, in a kneeling position with a gun pointed at the back of her head and with tears falling from her eyes.

"You said that we would always be together," she sobbed, "Now look at me. I'm about to die all because you didn't do anything."

"I'm about to do something now," I told her, "I will save the both of us!"

"What are you talking about Luna?" Celestia demanded.

I whipped around and spat, "I'm gay Celestia!" she gasped, "And now you're condemning the one I love to death all because what we are is apparently an offense to your moral stand point and I can't allow that to happen!"

"So what do you plan to do?" she asked as she walked down the throne stairs.

"I plan to defeat you and claim Equestria as my own!" I lunged forward as she prepared herself for a counterattack. She side stepped me and kneed me in the gut; the wind was knocked out of me as I dropped to my hands and knees to try and breathe again. I slowly stood up and turned around before I was captured by Celestia's magic.

"Because of your attack against the Princess in attempt to overthrow the good standing government, you have been charged with Treason. The penalty for Treason is death! But since you are my sister, I shall be merciful and banish you to a prison that was only built to keep only one person locked up. You!"

"Me!" I snapped, "What are you-!" I gasped, "You had this whole thing planned! You know that I'm stronger than you and that's why you've done all of this! You will never get away with this!"

"I already have my sister!" she smirked evilly.

"That's terrible," I said.

"I know Blu, but it's all okay. Celestia was dethroned for a little while so she could go through some kind of counseling and now I see that she's all better."

"But what about Braeburn?"

"The Apple family have a deep connection with their family; especially their ancestors. That's who I was talking to earlier. It wasn't Apple, but instead Braeburn. It was an ancient connection that centers more families like the Apples."

"So what do you want to do now?" I asked her.

"As I've said before, I plan on destroying Yakyakastan."

"Looks like you could use a partner," I stood up and pulled my pants up a little bit.

"You're wanting to go too?" she looked up at me with such hope.

"Uh, yeah," I chuckled, "Apple is my girlfriend and she almost died; so I'm taking it upon myself to avenge her."

"That is good, but are you sure you're doing it for her?"

"What do you mean?" I sat back down.

"I mean, are you doing it because it's what she wants or are you doing it because you feel that you didn't protect her enough, so you're doing it to make up for your insecurities?"

"Uh, wow, I, uh," I ran a hand through my hair, "I uh, never thought of it like that."

"Now you should think about it before I leave. I plan on leaving first thing in the morning."

-Blaze-

I was looking down at the surgery that was taking place from an elevated window. I saw doctors stitching up the last few stitches on Apple's chest. I really hated seeing her hurt like this. After a few more agonizing minutes, Apple was fully sewn up and the doctors looked up at me and one gave me the thumbs up, "She's all good Rainbow Blaze," she took off his surgical mask, "The blade was only grazed her heart thankfully, so we were able to keep her alive. She'll need a couple days in recovery before you can see her, okay?"

I pushed the button on the side of the window, "Okay, what about the Super Cava Vena that was severed? How did that turn out?"

"It's all okay we got it all fixed."

"Did you manage to fix the Pulmonary Artery and Veins that were severed?"

"Listen Rainbow Blaze, we know what we're doing. We are mastered heart surgeons and we don't need some punk kid questioning it."

"I know that you so-called mastered heart surgeons are doing your jobs at a competent level, but I love that woman in front of you and I want the best for you."

"What do mean by "so-called"?" she snapped.

"Well Doctor Joy Jenny Jenkinson, I know that you're only three years out of the diagnostic gates and I also know that this is only your fourth surgery. Otherwise, you've been on the sidelines doing clinic hours because of your temper and awkward social skills around people. You used to have your own team around year two because you were so good, but because of your inability to play nice with others, you lost your team."

"Now wait just a minute," another doctor piped up.

I interrupted him by saying, "And you, Doctor Goeman. You've had so many malpractices in Canterlot that you were stripped of your Doctorate's and now you work just as a Probationary consultant here in the Crystal Empire under the mercy of Ecnedac," the Doctors remained quiet so they wouldn't have to listen to me going off on them, "That's what I thought, stay quiet. Sweetie Apple is the one I care about the most. She is like my sister and I would be damned if anything more happens to her. All I care about is her well-being and that is my only priority."

"It hold priority over me?" I turned around and saw the tiny build of Rota, "It's good to see that you value her life more than mine."

"Rota, it's not like that," I told her, "Apple and I have been through a lot together and we are bound together by that."

"I get that, but I am your girlfriend."

"And she is my best friend; she's like my sister," I turned around to see the doctors cleaning up all the blood from Apple's nude body before moving her to a clean bed, "I will do anything to ensure her survival."

"Even alienate me as a girlfriend?"

I sighed, "If that is that action that needs to be taken, I will do it."

I heard her sigh, "I can't even be mad at you because I know that's true and I know that you're just acting out of insecurities."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I hissed at her.

"It means that you feel as though you didn't protect her enough, so in turn, you're just going through an emotional turmoil and you're just trying to figure out what to do."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, but it's just that I've always had her back and she's always had mine. I guess I just feel as though I failed her this time."

"Then I think that we should go to Yakyakastan and find out why the Yaks wanted to take down the Crystal Empire," Rota stated as she puffed out her chest. Her trying to act intimidating was really kind of cute and also really kind of arousing. She only stands a few inches passed my waist and what I really loved was that she satisfied my inner pedophile.