//------------------------------// // The Darkness // Story: The Light Of The Moon // by FLUTTERxxDASH //------------------------------// The darkness Twilight could not see or hear anything in the room she lay, no muscle in her body could move, no words escaped her lips. A dark red hue mist entered her vision, it was red but dark like the blackness that wrapped it, two purple slitted eyes peered out of the red, a voice that could chill bone seeped through Twilights body, "the darkness will soon take over, you're end is nigh, soon eclipse will rule!", then nothingness again, the black was back but the echo of the creature lingered as that one sentance repeated in her head. A crowd of ponies stood around the lavender alicorn as she lay unconscious on the floor, "Twilight, please wake up, Twilight!" Spike was sat next to her with both arms attached as he cried, Twilight had collapsed moments before, everyone in the room rushed to see what had happened. "It's alright spike I'm sure shes just tired from all the work," Celestia tried to calm everypony in the room by explaining about how Twilight overworked herself getting ready for her new kingdom, "Luna could I talk to you in private for a moment," both alicorns moved out of ears reach, "Luna this isn't supposed to happen this fast, do you know what has happened?" "No sister, As you know its usually quite a few years more before this happens as mine did and you'res as well, still we haven't informed her of this yet, I peered into her dream state and it is what we fear, we must be careful about how we explain this to her but for now we must sort out this situation so it doesn't affect anypony else," the worried look on Luna's face became calm as she turned back to the group, "Don't worry I'm sure Twilight will be fine, she has been working to the bone and has worried about how she should act now being a princess, we have tried to calm her but we only get problematic looks, hopefully with her family here for a few days she will get some well deserved rest," as she said this the alicorn on the floor grumbled and began to squint at the lights touching her eyes. "*ah* e..e.everyponys here, where the....," Luna looked at Twilights face and she knew then that she should not go any further with what she was saying, "Ah, I must have fainted *haha* don't worry I..I..i'm sure with a bit of rest I'l be okay." "Careful Twily get up slowly okay," Shining placed a hoof under Twilights side as she was getting up, "what happened all we heard was a thud then we turned to my sis sprawled on the floor, if it is the work the calm it down will you please" Cadence looked up from Twilight over to Celestia, "Aunt Celly please tell me you don't let her work to the bone till she collapses, I'l say this once, no matter what she says you have to make her stop at some point if shes getting this tired" The white alicorn just nodded to this in compliance to her niece, "Now my dear student I think it is best you sit down for now and we can get you something to eat to get you're strength back" After that the night went smooth apart from an album that was brought by velvet, many photos of the young filly in different dress' and then one with both her brother and her in nightmare night costumes, many memories recorded to be shared but nevertheless all were embarrassing to the young alicorn, the night ended with all going back to the VIP sleeping quarters leaving Twilight and Luna to walk back to their quarter alone. "You might have many questions my little star," Luna nuzzled Twilight lightly as they walked, "but for now you must rest all will be answered in the morning before we begin the guard recruitment, plus I think our little spike here needs his rest as he is already sleeping, I'l take him to his room for you," Luna grasped Spike gently in her magic and placed him on her back, "I will see you tomorrow my little star" "Goodnight mother," and in a whisper, "goodnight Spike," nodding to her mom Twilight went through her doors, Still, what was that creature and who were those dark armored unicorns. The next day in Luna's study hall A knock came at the door to the dark room, "You may enter," the doors open to Twilight walking through, Luna didn't turn her head but recognized the hoofsteps, "Twilight my dear, come sit down I'l be with you in just a minute" Luna placed a pair of reading glass' onto the book she was just writing in and turned to Twilight, "how do you feel today, have you had anymore dreams like yesterday at all?" "No mother, I can still feel it though, its strange I've never felt a dream before but now I can, why? "As an alicorn we have many abilities apart from our magical boost, we can also enter dreams, that is why you can still feel the dream but I'm afraid thats only half wright" "Half wright?" "Yes, you see it was a dream but it wasn't at the same time, it was a possible future" "A possible future, of what?" "You remember when you saved me from nightmare moon my little star?" "Yes of course" "Well when I was a young alicorn I had a dream or rather a vision of a mare with saphire dragon eyes and a body of black mist, she would tell me my end is nigh and nightmare moon would shroud the world in darkness, I was scared at the time so I consulted with my mother" "G..G..Grandmother?" "Yes, I was told that all true birth alicorns are born with a darkness within themselves, only controlled by emotion, dark emotions will make you lose control, when I thought you were not waking and you're father had passed I could not keep my emotion under control and lost my will to nightmare moon, even when my sister intervened to help me I would not accept the helping hoof and in that process forced Celestia to lock me on the moon, quite fitting for the creature I had become," Luna never looked away from Twilight but could not stop herself from starting to shake, "I'm afraid to say you also have this darkness my child, If you lose to your darker emotions, anger, sadness, jealousy, hatred, you will give way to the creature who dwells within you" "Eclipse, thats what it said," Twilight closed her eyes, "It said that I would lose control and that eclipse would rule" "That is the darkness, never listen to that voice, you must promise me, that is my only wish" "I promise but I don't know if I can handle it mom I..I.I..I............. I didn't want to think about this but now I'm an alicorn what about my age, what if when my friends and family grow old and pass on I can't handle it?" "I'm afraid this is one thing I cannot help you with, myself and Celestia both had to watch friends and lovers pass, myself had to watch you're father pass on early as he was my guard captain, the best Pegasus I have met but time could never let us be together forever as we wanted, he died fighting griffons and died at the age forty seven, a very young age but still for a pegasi it was quite old, I've had many relationships but he was the one I wanted a family with, he gave me you Twilight and for that I will never forget his love" "My father was a pegasus, wow what was he like" "He was quite the handsome colt, dark purple just a hue darker than yours, with a black mane, his eyes were diamonds to me, they were crimson red and they pierced my heart the moment I saw them" Luna opened her eyes to Twilight holding back tears, "*sniff* *sniff* I.II..I wish I could have met father," Luna also had some tears but she held them back. "You do not have to worry, you're father loved you more than you could ever know, every night for many years he stood near you're bed and read you stories whilst you slept, you never made a move but he was adamant about reading them to you," one tear had made an escape, "still I wish I never lost control when he passed but at least I'm here now" Minutes passed in silence, Luna coughed to break the silence, "now we must head off to you're study as I'm sure miss quill and Nightshade has waited long enough for us" "Nightshade? why is he there?" "Nightshade is my captain from the night guard, he will help you pick your captain, lieutenants and guards, then he will train them," Luna quickly packed her table equipment away and headed for the doors with Twilight in tow, "he is very experienced as he worked under Celly for many years, Oh and you might want to know of his race" "What do you mean, like theres some race that no pony knows of?" "You've seen them before but I don't think you will have taken much notice, many are just the same as everypony else but the pegasi of the night races have dragon like wings instead of feathers, many have heightened senses mainly in the eyes, making them able to see in the dark and shy away from light, thats also something you have but you never notice due to never being in a dark lit room at night, unless you already have found this out yourself" "I can see in the dark now too what am I now batmare?" "Close but no, hehe alicorns have all races flow through their essence as a being, anyways he will help you with your guards," the two guards infront of large wooden doors move to open them to Twilights study revealing both Mrs Quill and Nightshade. The guard in dark blue armor rose from his seat and bowed to the two alicorns, "You're majesty's, I am here as requested and have been briefed by Mrs Quill of my duty, Princess Twilight I will do my best to help you in you're choices" "STOP RIGHT THERE!!" the guard jumped at Twilights shout, "first drop the princess, call me just Twilight, I only let people do formalities when its meetings and well formal stuff," the guards face was shocked as his eyes flitted between Twilights and Luna's. Luna tried her best to not laugh but the guards face was priceless, "*kmmtch* nightshade I would do as she says but first close you're mouth else ponies think you weird" Nightshade took a few seconds to come back to reality before shaking his head violently, "yes you're highn..... Twilight *kukumph* as I was saying, we have listed the many ponies who want to join you're guards, we already have tended to the ones who can't be guards for obvious reasons such as age, health, etc. but apart from that the rest is just to nit through" Twilight looked through the room and onto the table, a stack about three hoof high was on the table, "Just asking, how many applicants are we looking at because I've been told the guard usually only is around five hundred to six hundred" "Around six thousand you're maj.... Twilight, it was around nine before" Moving over to where the rest sat, Twilight sighed, "at least I'm use to paper work now but this is going to take too long, we have to divide this stack, I want three separate piles for each race on pony," Around half an hour pass' as they sort the stack of papers and as they do get rid of around a third at the same time, "right, now we have around 2000 unicorns, 1500 pegasi and 1800 earth ponies, we haven't even made a dent in this pile, well I want to sort this pile further then, first nopony over the age of 25, if trained put them here," pointing a hoof to one part of the table, "I'm going to make three sets of guards adding up to 600, 100 advance guard, 200 main guard and 200 plain guard, maybe have an extra 100 for reserve," rubbing her temples she feels a hoof on her side finding her mother giving her support, "well best get started or we'll be here forever getting this done" For many hours they nit picked through the pile placing many in the no go pile but not enough so Twilight devised a plan to meet these ponies and split them further in to three more groups of magic users, sky guards and ground tacticians, over a space of a week they had been put through rigorous training methods leaving the inexperienced behind, with around 1000 left divided evenly in the three divisions there was still a small number of them left, the applicants who were trained beforehoof were accepted as the advanced guard with the odd pony here and there who also got into that division then there were three subdivisions, 200 unicorns made up the mages, 180 earth ponies made up the ground troops and just about 120 pegasi made the air guards with a 100 reserve guards just in case something happened. In front of the sunset guards Nightshade cleared his throat and addressed the crowd, "you have all been accepted in to Princess Twilights honor guard, I will now announce you're captain and subdivision leaders," four helmets were on a table with an Item each next to them, "First the unicorn lieutenant, will Crystal Scepter step forward" A mare stepped forward, red fur with a blond mane wrapped around her horn, "Here sir" "Step forward to this position and accept you're gear," Nightshade placed a helmet and horn ring on the mares head that was silver, made specifically for a unicorn, " I give you lieutenant Scepter" A round of applause came from the gathered unicorns, "now will the earth pony Iron Hammer step forward" A buff looking pony stepped from the crowd with cheers from his group, "SIR!! Here SIR!!" he had a brown fur coat and a black mane that was short. Nightshade was taken aback a bit by the sudden cheers but carried on, "I give you this helmet and map sash," once again a helmet made specifically for his race was given and this time an cylinder map holder with silver metal engraved armor was given to him, "not only do you have the metal to back you up you are a great tactician. Now will the pegasi Stealth Thunder make his way to the stand" "Sir," a light green coated colt came forward to the stand making no noise, his hair was just a darker shade of his fur but had blond streaks. "to you I give this helmet and these tail binders," again the helmet and Item was passed to him and the pony joined the other two, "now for the captain will the unicorn Midnight Flash please come up" A colt stepped out of the front row, he had a slender body but wasn't skinny he had just the right amount of body muscle, he had a pitch black fur coat and marble white mane,his eyes were silver, "Sir, here sir!" "Captain come here and take you're equipment then stand by you're lieutenants," another helmet designed for unicorns was given to him but it had parts of the helmet in dark purple, he was also given a sword in a purple sheath, "report to you're Princess then fall in line." He paced over in front of Twilight giving a quick bow and received one back then went to join his other three fellow guards, "you have all passed through vigorous training and succeed but these four show leadership and a levelheadedness that I hope you all will strive for in the future endeavors that I'm sure Princess Twilight will take you through, so here they are you're captain Midnight Flash *CHEERS* unicorn lieutenant Crystal Scepter *CHEERS AND WHISTLES* ground lieutenant Iron Hammer *CHEERS* and air lieutenant Stealth Thunder *CHEERS* there you have you're leaders, for now you will join the daily routines of canterlot and learn the skills needed for not only being a guard but being useful for the public" Twilight walked forward next to Nightshade, "Soon we will have a kingdom and I need my guards in top shape, I will regularly visit each sector and also teach some of the unicorn divisions offensive and defensive magics, for now you may retire to you're bunkers and rest for two days after such time I will send out a messenger with times and schedules to each sector for their respective tasks, that is all, apart from you four I wish for yo to join me for dinner." The four guards saluted and in unison "YES, YOU'RE MAJESTY," Twilight looked over to Nightshade with a bland look. Twilight facehoofed "Well there is always a place to start, first drop the majesty,its Twilight not princess or any other title unless were at a formal event got it?" In unison "Yes, Twilight" Twilight nodded, "And stop with the rigidness I wont bite you're heads off, sheesh" "Erm .... Twilight were would it be that we are going," Midnight shared a mutual confusion with the rest of the troops. "Like I said I want you all to attend for dinner, I cant have guards who I don't know personally now am I correct," they all nodded, "good now come along you can meet my family, you already know the Princess' but I want you all to know my son so that if any danger happens he is the one I want you to take priority of" The group traveled through the garden to pass by all the nobles who crowded the halls in chance of meeting Twilight to win her side although really they just want to dig their teeth into me to get control of my new court that's being created, twenty so minutes passed as they arrived at the dining area, "Take a seat everypony, there are menus or if you have a specific dish you want prepared I'm sure Revaire will gladly create the dish without trouble," many just shuffled their own menu's awkwardly except once, stealth sat there with an expression that didn't change. Stealth lifted a hoof, "I'l just take eggs beans and hay," everypony apart from Twilight turned to him in a shocked manner, "what? she did say we could order anything," Revaire just quickly scribbled down some notes. Crystal cleared her throat, "If you don't mind I'l just have a simple salad" "Hay bacon for me on whole bread," Iron didn't talk much, he liked to get to the point. Placing the menu down and looking to Revaire, "*clears throat* Just something simple for me revaire, Erm Twilight if you don't mind me asking what exactly is needed from us to be here, from what I have come to understand the new kingdom wont be built for a few months and you're guards will only need training for now so why would you announce us so soon at this party for the nobles?" Midnight's face had a kind but stern feature. Putting her china cup back to the table Twilight turned with a mischievous grin on her face, "Firstly, the nobles, they will expect me to be a pushover being the fourth princess, many will try to get their hooves on my assets when I get empowered upon my throne, second, unwanted guests around myself and my studies, I've noticed that a certain Colts henchponies have been sneaking around in the shadows gathering information upon what I do in the day, Stealth this is were you come in, I want you to gather a team to stay out of sight and ear but find out who the culprit is" Stealth just nods quickly before plowing into the food that was just brought from the kitchen. Nodding back, "Crystal, I want runes and glyph's placed upon my living quarters as well, just in case they try to get a bit more personal and Iron I want you to study the grounds and have some training regoment created for troops to quickly move to the places I want you to go when told, I will not be taken lightly if someone wants to know me, I'l make sure they damn well know me good! got it!" she placed her hooves onto the table and looked at them all who nodded. Midnight spoke up, "don't worry nothing will harm you while we are around....." "HAHAHAH, thats funny, I'm not worried about being harmed thats just laughable, I just want to know who wants to get to know me so I can thoroughly get to know them, just a precaution is all nothing to truly be worried about plus I already think I know who it is" "ERM who do you think it would be then" Midnights face was scrunched at his job already being done by the one he was supposed to protect. "Woah nelly this is good grub *looks up at the rest with an embarrassed look* ........... hehe it is tho ain't it?" Crystal just buries her face behind her bangs. With an eyebrow raised Twilight answers both questions, "yes it is good..erm......grub? and no I wont say anything until you think you know who it is, this is my first task for you, I solved it in twenty minutes, you have til tommorow, for now though eat then we can go to the garden party tonight" "MOM!" Unanimously, "A dragon?" all the guards had looks of confusion as their eyes bolted between Twilight and Spike, Iron spoke for the group oddly, "I would have thought this son would be little unicorn or pegasi not baby dragon" his thick moscony russian accent spoke the words with intervals. Spike and Twilight burst out laughing, "ha, never gets old, so I'm guessing big and burly is you're main captain then mom" "Afraid not its Mr skinny over here," She looked over to a peeved face, "*PFFT* *HYSTERIC LAUGHTER* haaaa......haa... sorry, just couldn't help it you're all acting like robots around me, liven up"