//------------------------------// // 2. Oathbreaker // Story: The Last Nightguard // by Georg //------------------------------// The Last Nightguard Oathbreaker “Betrayer of our order, lowest of the low. The trust of our brotherhood and our oath before all others, cast aside. Oathbreaker, I call thee. Oathbreaker, calls all thy brothers. Oathbreaker, calls the world. Let no place be your refuge under sky or above land until your blood cools to ice and worms devour your body. Your name shall be scoured from the rolls of the Sacred Band, and none shall ever utter it again, so long as Sun and Moon rule the sky.” —The Ritual of the Broken Oath, Sacred Book of the Royal Guard 🌙 “Warleader Ebon Tide.” Despite the chaos and incipient panic of the situation, Princess Celestia’s voice was clear and sharp as a razor, leaving the guard in question to twitch under his dark armor. “Yes, Your Highness,” responded Eb once he had turned and faced his Dread Sovereign, Princess Celestia, Ruler of the Day and Commander of the Sacred Band, who was standing on the cloud of her temporary command post. Smudges of dirt and soot stained Her Highness’ coat in messy blotches, and part of her mane had been burnt to a grey frazzle, but her violet eyes paralyzed Eb with the terror of the criminal who did not know just what crime had just been uncovered. Those firm lips were drawn back into nearly a grimace, and it was only then that he saw the long charred mark on her side that Celestia was covering with a bent wing. “Your fellow Nightguards do not seem to share your dedication to Our cause,” said Celestia slowly. “What prevents you from taking up their dark mantle and serving Our sister in her rebellion?” “They’re wrong,” blurted out Eb through the fear that held him hostage. “My loyalty is to both you and Princess Luna. Something evil has taken control of your sister. That’s not her anymore, and anypony who takes her side is a traitor to the Crown. That thing is an abomination that needs to be destroyed.” Unexpectedly, Princess Celestia flinched, but regained her stoic expression in moments and dismissed him with a curt nod of her head. “Then go. The evacuation is nearly complete, and Our forces have drawn the traitors away for the moment. I alone must face my sister’s wrath.” “But… What are your orders?” he asked, feeling more like a fresh initiate than a ten-year veteran of the Guard with dozens of battles to his credit. He was lost, cast adrift far more than when his wife had died and left him with two young fillies to raise. Even the cloud beneath his hooves had been weakened with the titanic magical blows that had echoed over the battlefield and left dozens of stunned pegasi across roofs and broken trees below. Warleader Ebon Tide had always followed orders, passing down the Word of the Royal Sisters to his cohorts, a living extension of their will. Now that harmony had been broken apart, shattered as much as the broken buildings and wounded ponies scattered across the entire Castle of the Two Sisters, and with it Warleader Ebon Tide had found himself disconnected from the familiar and thrown into chaos. “You are Our last loyal Nightguard,” said Celestia quietly. “Assist with the evacuation and use your own initiative,” she added, turning on her cloud without another word and plummeting down into the shattered ruins of the palace throne room. The tearing tension would have been easier if Eb just could hit somepony, but as he circled high around the smoldering and collapsed sections of the palace, the only other ponies he saw were corrupted servants of the Nightmare. Former brothers in arms, his companions through countless battles and skirmishes, all oathbreakers and traitors to everything he held dear. They would have turned on him in a moment and torn him from the sky if Eb did not have a natural coat black as coal instead of his colorful compatriots in the Dayguard. The batwinged monstrosities all took one look at his dark coat and proceeded to fly away, assuming he was one of their own despite his lack of perverted wings and glowing yellow eyes. Coward. That’s all he was now, without the moral rage to pursue them. He should have been furious at his own friends and fellow guards giving in to the honeyed words of the Nightmare and accepting a fraction of her power as their own. All of his anger seemed to have been drained away, leaving only an empty shell in hollow armor, unable to carry out his duties like he had for years in unbroken service to the Crown He did not know why he had remained true to his oath when the others had fallen. All he could feel was the sucking cold of his own heart and the chill breeze of his altitude as he soared high above the ground, looking around the area for any ponies who had not been evacuated. And then… he saw her. The Nightmare rose on wings of dark flame, so different from the quiet Princess Luna he had served for years. When Ebon Tide had risen to battle the Minotaur tribes, Celestia and Luna had flown in their vanguard, wing to wing as they smote their enemies and drove them thither and yon. When the Griffon Warflock had descended upon the far colonies, the Royal Sisters were the tip of their great spear, and the haughty cat-birds were brought to task under their hooves, beaten and sent back to their nests in disgrace. Together as one, Sun and Moon had protected the growing nation of Equestria until no enemy should have been willing to raise claw or axe against them. Now that unity had been broken, and Princess Luna had betrayed everything Ebon Tide believed in. She took a dark power that transformed her into a monster, and used that same magic to pervert the friends and companions that Ebon Tide had known all of his life. He wanted to plummet from the sky and beat her, to inflict on the infernal creature a tiny fraction of the pain she had bestowed on Equestria and the Sun Princess who guarded all. Caution stayed his assault because he had seen the casual way the creature had dealt with many Dayguards, striking them down with hoof or fel magic and laughing as they fell into the shattered castle. And rising like the sun, Princess Celestia ascended from the shattered buildings to take her place opposite the dark princess, glowing just as brightly as the Nightmare burned dark. He banked slowly above them, watching in awe as the two faced off in some sort of duel far below him, power versus power, princess against princess, untamed forces of the cosmos in conflict, and in that moment, his heart froze in his chest. Princess Celestia was going to lose. She already had lost once, chased through the complicated buildings of the palace as the Nightmare casually blasted away. Now she was injured, tired, and backed into a corner where there was no escape. She was going to sacrifice her own life so the evacuated ponies would have a chance to survive… His wings tilted down without any thought as equal powers blasted out between the Royal Sisters. As long as they were concentrating on each other, the Nightmare would not notice an attack from behind. It was the only way he could break the stalemate so Princess Celestia could win. The only way the race of ponies could survive. Even when he would not. Use your own initiative. Wind screamed past his flattened ears as Eb took advantage of every length of altitude he had, trading it for velocity while the glowing form of Nightmare Moon grew closer with astonishing speed. There would be no time for any fancy blows or maneuvers. He would have to strike right at the back of her head in a blow that would kill him as well when Celestia’s incandescent fire became victorious. His own life was meaningless. The last of a noble order who had served the Crown honorably until they had all betrayed their oaths. Guilt gave strength to his wings, pushing him far beyond any chance of recovering from his dive. One last service for Sun and Moon. His own worthless life laid down in sacrifice to save the only Princess worth serving. One blow to kill the sister who Celestia could not bear to strike. He never even noticed when the coruscating blast of the Elements of Harmony swept over them both. And then there was nothing.