Chapter 15
The first day as the new leader was strange, Smile walked in, a bright smile in her face.
It shattered the moment she saw me, sitting on the glowing throne like a demon greeting her at the gates of tartarus. She walked closer and every step she did made her shiver and tremble more.
She feared me.
I look to my side, seeing her sitting at a small table, quill and parchment lying on it. She was still trembling.
"You don't have to be afraid" I speak quietly, calming but she still shrugs, and trembles more as she looks up to me.
"What" she gulps, "are you?" her voice is filled with primal fear, I see her hindlegs shifting and tremble, she was ready to run.
I sigh, "you will get an explanation once Luna has returned, for now let's say I'm.... the guardian of the throne" I look at her and try my warmest, friendlist smile. She shrugs more and looks down, still trembling.
A annoyed grunt escapes my throat.
I look up to the giant gate, it's open now, the destroyed part leaning against the wall.
Shining walks in.
The invisible particles of Garnjiels magic notice the unchanged captain and rush to him.
Shining Armor doesn't even flinch as the magic changes his coat, mane and armour colour.
He was truly the captain of the royal guard.
He walks in, his steps muffled by the soft carpet and look up tp me, his face shows something like anger, but not quiet that. It was confused anger, he was not sure if he should be angry at me.
He stops at the stairs before me, looking up to me, looking at the crown on my head.
He kneels down.
I'm confused, I guessed he would have tried to do something against this but it looks like he would just ignore it and live on, doing his job.
He rises back up, "permission to speak, miss" he speaks quietly.
"Permission granted" I answer.
"By the bloody gates of tartarus" his voice was annoyed and angry, his glare resembles the same, "what are you doing here Siren?"
I look down on him, not angry. I smile.
"I do that what Luna can't do for the moment" he raises a brow, "everything will be explained once Luna returns, I promise" he look at me, still annoyed and angry but ready to believe me.
He sighs and bows slightly, "any orders miss?"
I nod, which he can't see, "for now I would like to have you as personal guard, I expect some visitors in the next hours and I'm sure there are some who won't be friendly mannered" he raises back to his hooves and nods, walking to the left, standing right next to the stairs, a stoic expression now on his face.
My eyes wander over his body, his face showing the determination to follow the orders, the strong legs and hooves, trained to deal with almost any enemy without weapons, his strong neck and back. His flank showing the shield, showing that his fate is to protect.
I giggle, "nice flank" I simply state.
Shining blushs but doesn't even move a muscle.
I laugh.
And then the moment is over.
Lightning crackles in the middle of the hall and a dark portal opens up, Luna walking out, her eyes eradiating white light, showing her anger.
I'm surprised.
But I smile at her and rise from my chair, bowing down.
"HOW DARE YOU!?" she shouts through the hall, the windows tremble under the power of her voice.
Shining shrugs a little bit, surpirsed by the sudden outburst but he stands tall, looking at Luna.
Smile cowers under the table, trembling and shaking.
"Princess" I state quietly and rise back up, looking into her eyes.
Luna walks closer, her anger in form of lightning cackling around her.
"How dare you to attack me!?" she shouts, her voice not booming as before but still pretty loud.
"There is an explanation" I answer, looking at her with a calm expression.
Luna walks closer and closer. Standing now right in front of me, she looks down on me.
"Explain it quickly before I combust you, servant" her voice menacing, it was not a hollow threat, atleast she believes it.
"Two things" I start.
"First" I raise a hoof and push it softly against her chest, a wave of red energy sends her flying, it's not supposed to hurt so Luna can easily spread her wings and land softly.
"How dare y-"
"Protocol Divine Throne" I cut her off midsentence, "it's a protocol that was made long time ago, to the time of the Eclipse Guard, do you know what the Eclipse Guard is?" my eyes look at her, she still looks angry but her eyes show interest.
Only interest, no dark shadows, no faint echoes of another entity.
Luna shakes her head.
"Celestia never told me of that" she answers, her voice still annoyed and angry.
I look down at Shining, "Shining, please get the princess a cushion, the explanation will be a little longer" he turns to me and bows, walking out of the room.
I clear my throat, "please, bear the discomfort until he returns" I say, trying to smile.
"The Eclipse Guard" I begin.
"It was a very special group to the time of Celestias father. The sunstrider clan was the most powerful unicorn clan back then, it was told that they were the heirs of the ancient gods of the sun and moon. The Eclipse Guard was born after a civil war where their king, Solaris Sunstrider, lost his firstborn, his son Eclipsed Sun. So to honor his son, and to make sure his other child, Celestia, would be safe, he established the Eclipse Guard. The guard had two orders, all the time, they were part of their oath. The first order was, "To protect your liege until there is no enemy left or you are freed from the oath" it's a simple order, in the end we were guards" I close my eyes, memories of my own adjuration rush through my mind.
"The second order is a little bit confusing, atleast for all those who are not part of the oath" I open my eyes again and look at Luna, Shining walking in again, carrying a big, soft cushion. Luna nods at him and sits down on the cushion trying to get as comfortable as possible.
"The second order" a dramatic pause, "is called 'Sanity keeper'" Luna raises a brow, waiting for me to go on explaining.
"It's not as simple as it may sound, of course we had no influence on the sanity of our liege but it's not meant this way. The Sanity keeper order meant that we, the guard, are allowed to overthrow the current king or queen, if their rule becomes ill. If they are no longer ruling with wisdom and the strength to protect. In short, we were the guards of the throne, not the one sitting on it. The order would be active as long as needed and would go inactive when we found a new, better king or queen. If one of us had tried to overtake the throne as new king or queen they would have fallen, the oath had many consequences, one of them was the decay of the own body if we try to take over. With this oaths, it was guaranteed that we would always serve, never rule."
I look down on Smile, she was still under the table but she had stop trembling.
"So you see" I look back at Luna, "Protocol Divine Throne is active right now, or to call it by it's real name, Sanity keeper is active" Luna looks at me, mouth agape, "back in my room as I hit you, you were not yourself" I pull out the other darker crystal and throw it in front of her hooves.
"You know what this is?" I ask her, I know she does.
She nods, "It's called 'Essence' and is either black or clear" I look at her, waiting.
"That's all I know, Celestia only told me that the black essence had to be destroyed" she looks down on the black crystal, an irritated expression creeps over her face.
"'Essence'" I begin, "are crystallised emotions" Lunas eyes widen.
I nod, "raise your regalia a little bit" I say, Luna looks at me confused, her eyes still wide, "just do it, it will explain itself" Luna does as told and the crystal I lay under her regalia falls out under it's cover. The crystal had changed, it once clear form was now dull and had turned light grey.
"I lay this under your regalia to make sure it was always in contact with your skin" I explain, "your mind was overshadowed by dark emotions" Lunas eyes widen even more.
"Do you remember what you felt like, back before I knocked you out?" Luna nods.
"I was heartbroken, I was confused and sad" she explains.
"And these emotions reflected in your eyes" I state, "I knocked you out because of that" I stand up and walk closer to Luna, closer and closer, now right before her I look deeply into her eyes.
"The shadow has gone" I whisper.
"What do you mean?" she asks, she looks more and more confused.
"It's hard to explain for all those who haven't seen it" I walk back to my chair, sitting down on it.
"Essence changes the one who suffers from it" I start.
Luna shakes her head, "that's not what Celestia told me" she explains, "she told me everypony has essence and everypony has black and white essence in their bodies" I nod.
"True" I look at her, "but what happens to those who fall victim to dark emotions? What happens to the essence inside them if the feel only sorrow or hate? Anger, envy or any other of these emotions?" Luna can't answer. She hasn't seen Skull.
"They change" I go, "maybe you noticed that Commander Skull is missing?" Luna nods.
I sigh, "she died" Lunas eyes widen and Shining turns at me, looking shocked.
"By my hooves" I go on explaining, "apparently, after my fight with her, after I defeated her, she was consumed by hate. The day the changelings attacked she attacked me. Maybe you remember strange screams?" Shining nods slowly.
"Many soldiers reported strange shouts and screams during the battle. All said it didn't sound like any changeling, they were scared that they had brought a strange animal" I nod.
"The shouts were Skull" I explain, "her hatred grew so strong that her body, her armour, her soul had changed, it's very being to only one purpose. To get her revenge. Her body reacted to the call of her hatred. And changed her into something I like to call 'Nemesis'. Her body was destroyed and mangled by her hatred, after she transformed she didn't resemble a pony in any way. Her body was twisted and her hooves had changed into claws, her mouth turned into a maw filled with sharp shards or her armour as teeth. During our battle I noticed that Garnjiel reacted to her, and with Garnjiels reaction came my reaction, my realisation."
My voice gets quieter, "she was the reason I wasn't there to protect Celestia" I look at Luna, she still looks confused and shocked.
"What is this realisation you are talking about?" Luna asks.
I sigh and look into her eyes.
"Garnjiel is the embodiment of hatred" I close my eyes.
"And I'm the carry of this hatred"