//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: The Gatekeeper 
// by FanofAwesomeness 
//------------------------------//

5/9/2058
8:57 am
“Now try moving inside and stunning your opponent before they can react,” I said to my students. “If you can do that, you stand a good chance of surviving a fight with a Changeling. But remember to think. Not so much you’re distracted, but enough to keep these things from feeding off of you.”
Twilight walked up to me and smiled. “They’ve come a long way since you started teaching them,” she said as my students practiced.
“They just needed the right motivation,” I said.
“They needed you,” Twilight said. “You’re the reason they might survive an encounter with a Changeling.”
“Don’t forget that I’m also the reason they need this knowledge,” I said.
“You made a mistake,” she said. “We all make mistakes.”
I walked back to the wall and rang the bell for the end of class. “Remember to practice,” I said.
Twilight walked up beside me and looked at me. “You’re not to blame for this,” she said. “You didn’t force them to attack, nor did you even suggest it to them.”
“But I did let the information through,” I said.
Twilight brushed up against me briefly before moving past. I stiffened before continuing to my room. Once I got there, I started to disarm myself.
That’s when everything went to hell.
The front of my room exploded, throwing me against the back wall. I hit the floor and was stunned, only for a moment, but that’s all the time it needed.
I felt something pick me up and smash me against the wall before hitting me repeatedly. I did all I could to block the oncoming assault, but it wasn’t much.
Soon, the thing got in a lucky hit to my head and I blacked out.

***********

	I looked at the board, trying to figure it out. There had to be some clue, some misstep that would lead to this guy.
“You’ve been staring at that board for hours,” said my partner. “You need to take a break. I’ll see if I can do anything about this.”
“No offense,” I said. “But you won’t be able to solve this. I’ve been tracking this guy for years and I’m just now starting to figure out where he is and who he took.”
She walked up and leaned against me. “Sometimes you need another perspective. Sometimes all it takes is something from the outside to help.”
I thought about that for a second. I sat down and closed my eyes, saying, “Maybe you’re right. See if you can find anything.”
 
************

	We had a location and were on our way so we could stop the guy. We had to move quickly, as he had just made a ransom move. I drove a little more recklessly trying to get there.
When we finally did get there, I leapt out of the car. I drew my sidearm and got to the door before waiting for anything else. I looked at my partner, her stern look telling me it was time for work. I moved in front of the door and kicked it in, yelling, “POLICE!”
We moved through, checking each floor of the warehouse to find him. When we finally did, though, it was nothing like what we had expected.
The girl was tied to a chair, duct tape around her mouth, with a bomb on the back. The man we were looking for was standing behind her, not looking very worried.
“Disarm the bomb and let her go,” I said with as much authority as I could muster. I had to stall this guy for as long as I could.
“I can’t,” he said, holding up a device. “It’s wired to this. Direct line. If anything interrupts the signal, it goes off.”
“Dead man’s trigger,” I muttered. “Let her go. We can all walk away from this.”
“None of us are walking away,” he said. “You broke the promise. Now we all pay the price.”
He let the trigger go.
I screamed, trying to get to the girl in time to save her, but I was too far away and the bomb blast blew me back. I felt heat and shrapnel rip at me; tearing at my body. I could feel the pressure as if some gigantic creature were sitting on me. My ears popped loudly as the ringing set in.
Then it was over. I carefully rolled over onto my back and looked at where the girl had been sitting with the man behind her. The spot my partner was trying to get into to stop him.
All that was left was bone fragments and a scorch mark.
I had failed.

***********

I slowly returned to consciousness and rolled over onto my stomach. I pushed myself to my hooves and looked around. My room was searched and there were holes outside as well.
I grabbed my things and ran out the front hole.
There was destruction everywhere. I could see craters and bodies all over the place. I checked the ones I came across and was relieved to find them still alive. I could feel something around me, though.  Something wasn’t right.
For the second time that day, everything exploded.
I could feel the blast shove me off the ground, almost hitting a wall. My armor took more of the impact this time, making it easier for me to recover and hit the oncoming Changeling.
It stopped in its tracks, stunned, and I hit it again. I pulled my blade and shoved it through the armored hide of the thing before turning around to face the surrounding creatures. I had a perfectly calm expression and was ready to take them on.
That’s when I heard the scream.
At that point, I didn’t care if they were feeding off of me. I didn’t care if my armor was almost useless against their magical attacks. I didn’t care about anything but stopping these creatures before they could hurt anyone else.
I couldn’t fail again.
I pulled my revolver and started to shoot. Each of my bullets hit home in the eyes of my opponents. The only problem was that there were two dozen Changelings and only six bullets. So I fixed that.
I unloaded my gun and pulled a sword out of the armory, swinging it around at my enemies. I used it effortlessly, cutting through them with ease. I would have continued if I hadn’t run out of Changelings.
“Gatekeeper,” I heard the ruler from before say. “Put the sword down. Now.”
I turned to face her. Why should I put the sword down? I thought. I like this sword. This sword is easy to use and very light.
“Stop before you hurt yourself,” she said. “You cannot control it.”
I was about to attack her when I heard Twilight behind her. She limped out in front of me and said, “Put it down. The fight is done.”
Somehow, she got to me. I set down the sword and was hit with a wave of exhaustion and pain. I fell to the side and almost passed out right then. But that would have been too kind.
I stared into the eyes of a dead pony before completely blacking out again.

***********

“It wasn’t your fault,” said the police chief. “You were the first ones there. It made sense to go in and stop him. He was just too far gone. He didn’t care. There was nothing you could have done.”
I could have stopped him,” I said. “I could have moved faster to get the trigger. I could have told her to stay back. I could have saved both of them.”
“No,” the chief said. “You couldn’t have. Accept that. Once you’ve done that, it makes it easier to handle. There was nothing you could have done.”
I simply nodded, not believing the words. I got up and started to go.
“Say it,” he said. “There was nothing you could do.”
“There was nothing I could do,” I said, feeling nothing.

***********

I woke up in a hospital bed. I could see the outline of a yellow pony with a pink mane and tail… and wings?! Right. Pegasi and unicorns. Speaking of unicorns, there was a purple one right in front of me.
“How many?” I asked.
“What?” Twilight asked.
“How many did I hurt?” I repeated with that extra detail.
“It wasn’t you,” she said. “The Changelings did it. You stopped them.”
“Not before they did what they did,” I said. “I let the knowledge come here. My dimensional trail led them here. None of this would have happened if I had thought about it. All those injured and dead are on me.”
“How many times do I have to tell you it’s not your fault?” Twilight asked. “That’s in the past. Right now, you’re our only hope of getting through this.”
“Why’s that?” I asked, still thinking about everything.
“Because we haven’t seen fighting like this in over a thousand years,” Twilight said. “There’s an old word for this. War. And I don’t want to see war.”
“Then let’s see if we can stop them,” I said, moving to get up.
I felt a pain shoot up my side and lay back down. I looked at what had happened to me and saw all of the injuries. “When can I get out of here?”
“You won’t be for a while,” Twilight said. “Your injuries are beyond that of even Fluttershy’s skill. She was only able to lessen the extremes. I’m a little surprised you even survived at all.”
“I’m guessing that’s the doctor over there?” I asked, pointing with a hoof.
“Yes,” Twilight said. “She said you’re going to need to rest for a few days before doing anything important. That give us time to plan our next move and-”
“No,” I said. “No planning. They were organized. They set explosives. They’ve been here the entire time so they could catch us off-guard. We need to hit them back as hard and as fast as we can.”
“You need to stay here,” Twilight said. “I trust Fluttershy’s word. You are going to stay here and rest while we take care of everything else.”
I sighed. “You said yourself I was your only hope of stopping this. Seeing as my involvement is more than just spectating, I’m going to be helping.”
“You are going to stay in bed,” Twilight said firmly. “We don’t need our greatest asset killing himself because he thought he should get involved.”
“Fine,” I said. “At least get me a weapon in case something happens,” I said.
“I’ll have one sent here,” Twilight replied.
12:58 pm
I hate hospitals. This was more of a clinic, but it was too much like a hospital for me to enjoy rest. I couldn’t think about anything but what might happen to them without me. I had the one thing that would win this.
And I was stuck alone in a white room without thumbs to twiddle.
I was about to just give up and move around just to do something, but that’s when I heard something from down the hall.
I focused for a minute, and was able to successfully open a rift and step through. I turned to close it, only to see it had closed on its own. 
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
I felt my ears press against my head as I turned to see the ruling figure standing above me. I gave her a sheepish smile and said, “Um.” Yep. Me and my expert control over the English language. “I got bored and heard something down here.”
“You should be resting,” she said.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I’ve never been too good at sitting still.”
“You also seem to be in much better condition than I was led to believe,” she said, looking at me sternly. “How is that?”
“Injuries don’t like me,” I said, regaining some of my confidence.
She gave me a look I couldn’t quite place. That was a lot harder now that I knew equine facial expressions well. It really is!
“I was wondering what was going on,” I said.
Twilight walked out from around the corner. “We were having a private discussion about that sword you used.”
“What about it?” I asked.
The regal figure looked at me. “What is your name?” I asked her. “I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to keep thinking of you as ‘that regal figure’ or ‘magical ruling horse.’ They don’t really sound good.”
“My name is Celestia,” she said. “I find it odd that you didn’t ask sooner, considering who you are.”
“I tend to be unpredictable,” I said.
“As I’ve noticed,” Celestia replied.
“So what is it about that sword you find so interesting, Celestia?” I asked.
“It’s a sword of darkness,” Celestia replied. “It holds a power unlike any other and has only been tapped once before. That turned into a foe dangerous enough to banish to the Everlasting Nothing. However, it was only a temporary solution.”
“Wait, you can reach into the Void?!” I asked incredulously. “I knew you were powerful, but even I have trouble with that, and I have special abilities that let me do that!”
“It is much simpler in this world,” Celestia said. “We have inherent powers and the energy in our environment.
“But as I was saying, this blade caused the change in that pony’s heart. He was trying to steal the power away from those he didn’t think deserved it, and became the worst monarch in all of history. He was tainted by the dark powers of the Blade. This contamination led to his eventual escape.
“When he returned, he almost caused the entire world to suffer for his mistreatment of others. Only by completely destroying him did we defeat him.
“Now think of what will happen if you are tainted by the powers of the Blade.”
I looked over at the sword and could already feel the pull. “Could I just examine it?” I asked. “I won’t touch it, just look at it. I have a guess as to what it is, but I’m not exactly sure. Not to mention how impossible it is.”
“There is no need for that,” Celestia said. “We know of its origins.”
Twilight walked up to me and held out a very old looking scroll for me. I reached for it, and then remembered I didn’t have hands and took it in my telekinesis.

	Sword of Power  Blade of Darkness

	Properties: Sharp edge, doesn’t seem to dull; nothing available can break it; made of a red alloy; gives off strange power surges; acts like a drug to all users.
Test #1:
The Blade is able to cut through anything we throw at it. Nothing can get past it, or its wielder. It also shows immense strength and stability, not even bending with 700 kilomacs twisting it. We almost broke the machine trying to go higher.
It also shows strange effects on the subject. He seems to be using the Blade more and more often, occasionally sleeping with it. It’s almost as if the sword itself is talking to him to keep him there.
Test #7:
No change at all over the past week, other than the subject seeming to not go anywhere without the sword now. Nothing is the same as it was before. He doesn’t have the same goals. Now he wants to use the sword to not just take the power away, but take it for himself.
Day # 19:
I won’t be able to do much more of this, if any. A great responsibility has fallen to my sister and me.
All because of that sword.
The sword will be called something different as soon as I can correct the title. If only I could have tried it for myself. Maybe then this wouldn’t have happened.

I looked at Celestia over the scroll. “You couldn’t use it?” I asked.
“No,” she answered plainly. “I could barely watch the trials.”
I sighed. There was only one thing it could be at this point. Only one sword could be that dangerous.