My parents pulled away from me, and their smiles looked really sad. I turned and looked the body of the would-be assassin, and realized with a jolt, I actually took somepony's life. I squinted my ears back and looked away. I heard a moan to my left and remembered the Crystal Guards. I rushed over to them and saw they looked badly injured.
I looked to King Rubinus as he walked up next to me. "Can they be healed?" I asked him, tears starting to form in my eyes.
Mom and dad walked up as well. "They'll survive, my little angel," she said, after looking carefully over their wounds. "Their injuries aren't life threatening thanks to your quick actions." She looked to King Rubinus, "I can heal them, but I need you to adjust my healing spell to compensate for their crystal coats, Rubinus."
The king nodded, "Of course," he said.
They both walked closer to the injured guards, touched the tips of their horns together and summoned their magic. Moms' sunlight colored magic, and King Rubinus' ruby magic ran up their respective horns and turned a rosy, pink color when they united at the touching tips. The same rosy, pink magic enveloped the injured stallions, and I watched in awe as the blood seem to flow in reverse into their wounds and the skin and crystal coats stitch itself back together. When they were done, they both stepped back, and we all watched, waiting for them to move. A few minutes passed when the captain was the first to stir. One-by-one they got to their hooves, and realizing they were no longer injured, stood at attention, awaiting orders.
King Rubinus cleared his throat, "Once again, I'm glad you all responded so quickly to my call, and I'm sorry you all got so badly hurt due to my inattention to the assassins position."
Captain Diamond Shield stepped forward, shook his head, and kneeling on his front legs, said, "It is not your fault, your majesty. We were injured due to our own negligence. You know we would lay down our lives for everypony in this room. Please, do not blame yourself."
Smiling, King Rubinus said, "You honor me, my family, and my friends with your words of loyalty."
The captain rose to his full height, walked over till he was standing a few feet in front of me, kneeled down again, and said, "Princess Angel Lightning, I humbly thank you from the bottom of my heart for not only coming to the rescue of me and my soldiers, but also for saving the life of our Empires' beloved princess. We are in your debt." Behind him, the other guards follow suit and kneel before me as well, muttering their thanks.
I feel a hoof fall over my shoulder. I look back and see Queen Amethyst smiling down at me, little Cadence cradled in the nook of her left front leg. "I also thank you for protecting my daughter," she said. "Not many fillies as young as you would be able to take on an assassin as fearlessly as you, and win."
"Actually," I say, looking down at the floor, "I was terrified. I thought I was going to die. I don't even know what came over me when I charged at him." I look back up at her, just as she leaned down to kiss me on the forehead.
She pulled back, with an even bigger smile, and said, "And that fear is what makes you strong. Remember; the greater the fear you feel, the stronger you become when you overcome that fear." She looked at my sisters. "That goes for the two of you as well."
We all stand there in silence for a few minutes. Then, King Rubinus breaks the silence, "Captain?" he said, as he turned toward Captain Diamond Shield, who immediately saluted. "Could you and your men clean up the assassins' body, please?"
"Yessir," the captain replied. But before anypony could move, the assassins body started to glow in an eerie light, even his severed leg was glowing. There was a bright flash of light that blinded us all. I was the first to recover. I looked at the spot where the body was and gasped. His body, and leg, were gone, leaving a gem that was almost identical to the gem Aunt Tesla was in the form of before she fused with my horn.
"What happened?" I asked, stunned.
"It would appear that the unicorn was possessed by that shadow elemental gem," Aunt Tes said.
Twilight walked over to it with a look of longing in her eyes. I looked at her aura, and noticed something dark stirring deep within her, getting stronger as she got closer. I realized she must have either been in direct contact with a strong dark magic, or she used it herself. I immediately erect a small, electric field around the gem, just in time to keep her from touching it. She touches the barrier and is sent flying backwards. She hits the far wall, next to the bed, and crumples to the ground. I rush over to her, everypony else close behind me, just as she is standing back up and shaking her head.
She looks at us, and with a confused expression on her face, asks, "What just happened?"
"You were walking towards the shadow gem," I told her. I then explained what I saw.
She looks at the gem again and her eyes start to glaze over again. I step into her line of sight, blocking her view of the gem. She starts blinking rapidly and shakes her head again. "I don't know why, but I'm just drawn to it for some reason," she exclaims, panic creeping into her voice.
I look directly into her eyes, and ask her, "Have you ever come in contact with a dark magic item, or used dark magic of any form at any point in your life?"
She puts her left hoof up under her chin as she thinks back, concentrating hard. Then her eyes grew wide as realization dawned on her. She looks at me and says, "I think I have used a bit of dark magic once before, twice in a single day, in fact, during a mission to help out with protecting the Crystal Empire in its time of need about a few months before I became an alicorn. But I didn't think much of it at the time so I never reported it."
I look at King Rubinus with my rear right eye, and ask, "Is there any way to seal that gem, with it being a crystal type power item?"
"Even better," he replied. "I can cleanse the gem of the evil presence emanating from it. That way, we can find somepony who could use it responsibly."
"You know as well as I that the power of an elemental can't be used by just anypony, Rubinus," Aunt Tes warns.
The king nods in agreement. "I am well aware of that, Tesla," he says. He turns to me, and says, "Could you use your lightning to lift the gem off of the ground, so that I might encase it in an insulating ruby seal? Just your lightning. Do not cannel your magic into the lightning or the gem might take hold of your mind."
I nod, suddenly nervous. I had never used just my lightning before. I had always partially used magic with lightning, so I knew I wasn't going to lose control of it. So, I spread my wings, and charged them, feeling the familiar tingling sensation I always do, and I start to feel my energy start to wane. I slowly but quickly move my wings forward, so they are parallel to each other on either side of my head, and will the lightning to spread toward the gem, using the tendrils of shadow I saw the assassin use as a reference. I feel the connection and lift the gem about a foot off the ground, and, with a straining voice, I say, "Hurry!"
King Rubinus quickly encases it, and says, "You can let go of it now."
My lightning fizzles out as I collapse to the ground, huffing hard. The ruby encased shadow gem remains in the air for a few seconds longer before it falls to the ground with a heavy thud, chipping the crystal floor of the room. My sisters rush over to me, and they help me up, holding me between them.
Mom walks so she's standing in front of me, and with a concerned look in her eyes, asks, "Are you alright?"
Before I could answer, however, I feel a spell run over and through me. Mom looks behind me, at Twilight as I hear her say, "She'll be fine. She's just exhausted. I don't think she's used to manipulating just the lighting like that." She walks in front of us, looks at me and says, "Thanks for helping me out." Then she smiles, and I feel the tension I didn't realize I was still holding drain from my body.
"It was the least I could do, Twi," I say in response, and her smile gets bigger. And then something she said earlier hits me, "What did you mean earlier when you said before you 'became an alicorn'?" I ask, then quickly add, "I know that, you being a time traveler and all, you can't reveal too much about the future, but that got me confused. Weren't you born an alicorn?"
She closes her eyes and shakes her head. "No, Ang. I was born a simple unicorn. I'm still not entirely used to these wings yet," she adds, chuckling.
All of a sudden, we hear a loud growling noise. I squint my ears back, embarrassed. King Rubinus laughs. "Well, why don't we all head to the dining hall to eat before Angels' stomach eats her," he says, adding to my embarrassment. "You're going to need your strength if you're going to learn how to grow your own crystals," he adds, looking at me.
He then orders Captain Diamond Shield to take the shadow gem to his study so he could get to work cleansing it later. Then we all head to the dining hall for lunch.