Shadow Flame
(A Path of Burning Darkness)
Chapter 11 Consequences
The sun was high in the air and the land was still. Birds were happily singing and small bugs were fluttering about, it seemed that Equestria was once again a happy care free place.
"Now! The Royal court is in session, all ponies take their seats!" said Princess Celestia with an official sound to her voice.
All the ponies in the room took their seats, Shadow Flame was standing in the middle of the room surrounded by everypony else. In front of him sat princess Celestia, The mane six, and Princess Luna. Luna had seemed quite healthy after the ordeal she had just went through. There were guards stationed all throughout the room there had to be at least 100 of them.
"Shadow you are here because you attempted to murder me and ultimately planned to burn Equestria to dust and in trying to do so have left much pain and sorrow in your wake. What do you have to say for yourself?" questioned Princess Celestia.
Shadow bowed to her,
"I'm very sorry, I know these words don't mean much, but all I wanted to do was avenge my family…. I was consumed by rage and hate, I jumped to conclusions too quickly. I was played like a hand of cards, I myself was on the same level as Nightmare Moon. I truly am sorry, everything I've done is 100% my fault and I take full responsibility for all my actions. I'm ready for whatever punishment you have in store for me princess."
Small tears started falling from shadows eyes,
"And the worst part is I never had any friends….but Twilight and the others….they were the closest things I ever had to friends and I betrayed them all…I'm so sorry I…I…am a monster for what I did to you all."
Shadow started crying, he tried the hardest be could to fight the tears back, but he couldn't.
"I….I'm sorry very sorry all of you, I just want to make things right." he fell to the floor.
"Please I just want to make things right" he looked at Celestia.
"Please Celestia give me another chance, I promise, that wasn't the real me…I was blind!"
All of the mane six saw Shadow crying and had different feelings about it. Applejack and Rarity could care less. Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Twilight all seemed quite sad, Rainbow Dash had mixed feelings on the matter.
Princess Celestia looked down at Shadow and then to the mane six.
"Because of this monster my father is dead!" Yelled one pony from the audience surrounding shadow.
A guard stood up
"He also killed 15 of our best colts!"
"Execute him" another voice shouted.
"SILENCE!" Shouted princess Celestia, "I have already made my decision!"
The room fell silent as what seemed like all of Equestria waited to hear the fate of Shadow Flame.
"Shadow as punishment for the tyranny you have committed I'm going to….!"
Shadow closed his eyes, his heart was pounding very fast…were these going to be his final hours?
"I'm going to make you a one of my Canterlot guards!"
Shadow eyes opened
"What?! Pr- Princess that is more of an honor than a punishment!"
The room broke out with yelling and arguing
"SILEANCE EVERPONY" yelled Princess Luna in the royal canterlot voice.
Luna smiled at Shadow and then began to speak to him,
"Shadow you're not guilty for what you did, you were led down the wrong path. You were led on a path of burning darkness, if sompony other than Nightmare Moon would've guided you I'm sure none of this would've happened. Besides if not for you that monster would still be living inside of me. Thanks to you she is gone for good, I thank you from the bottom of my heart."
Shadow bowed, "Thank you for your kind words princess."
Celestia cleared her throat,
"But let's not forget all the other things you have done Shadow, I said you will be a guard of Canterlot. You will receive the lowest possible rank and will have to listen to all of your superiors. You will also no longer be allowed to use or study magic in any way shape or form that is out of the power of any other unicorn, understood?"
"Yes", said Shadow wiping the tears from his eyes,
"Princess thank you for giving me this chance I will not disappoint I will be the best guard I can be and I will help any citizen in need! And you have my word I will also stop my study of magic."
He put his hoof on his chest.
"I swear it on the royal bloodline of the Flames. I will live up to your expectations princess."
"One more thing Shadow" said Princess Celestia.
"Yes?"
"You are not to make contact in anyway with these six, ok?
Shadow looked at the mane six and then stared at Twilight. His eyes slowly moved back to the princess.
"I understand fully, it won't be a problem."
"I will see you tomorrow then for the ceremony to become a guard."
Celestia looked at the crowed,
"COURT IS AJOURNED" she yelled
Everypony in the crowd stood up bowed and then began to leave. As they were leaving it seemed they were all whispering into one another's ear.
After everypony had left Princess Celestia walked down and sat next to Shadow, she extended her left wing and wrapped it around him, snuggling him in close to her, the same way a mother would a child.
"You've been through a lot Shadow, you shouldn't have had to go through so much, I'm the one who should be sorry. I didn't have enough power to save your parents all those years ago."
"Don't blame yourself Princess, It's far in the past now…nothing you can do will change what already happened. I'm trying to move forward now and not dwell on it."
Princess Celestia laid her head on top of Shadows.
"You are very strong Shadow…I'm sorry to inform you that life here won't be easy after what you've done."
"It shouldn't be easy…I've caused more destruction than this land has ever seen and I'm not even being punished for it."
"The punishment going on inside your head and what you have already went through is more than enough, but if you have the power to stand up through all this and pull through….it wouldn't be a surprise at all."
Shadow looked at Celestia with a confused look on his face.
She looked back at him
"What?" "You have the blood of the Flames in you, you're going to great things Shadow. You have traveled through the dark of the tunnel and you are about to reach the light on the other side……."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well there we have it, this was my story of how I alone almost killed an innocent princess and destroyed a peaceful land, But this is only the beginning of my tale. Now that you know the story of who I am and where I came from, I can tell you a much more interesting story, the story of the vicious war I was caught up in with my friends, how I met the love of my life, and ultimately how my fate caught up with me. Look to the stars my friend…for this is where THAT story starts……"