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// Gift or Curse? 
// Story: The Last Shadowlight 
// by Idhrenion 
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	I awoke to the sound of Celestia’s voice calling to me. She kept telling me to wake up. I stood up, my body feeling very strange. This had never happened to me before, but then, this was the first time I had rested at all since then.
“What did you do”? Celestia’s voice was full of anger and she was pacing around the room. She seemed to be more than displeased with me, but as always she somehow managed to remain calm. ”I noticed the way your body reacted to my magic. What have you done”? My head ached at the memory of that day.
“I had to”! I yelled, trying to justify the deed I had done. “In order to protect you”.
“Tell me what you did”.
I paused for a moment and surveyed the room. We were below the castle but not quite to the crystal caverns. Celestia and I were the only ponies present so I decided to tell her everything.
“Celestia”? I said softly.
“I'm listening”. Celestia said, still with an aura of harshness in her voice.
“When I told Shining that all of my ancestor’s magic had faded, that was only the partial truth”.
“And the whole truth”? She beckoned.
“The magic is all gone, but instead of just fading, I…I used it all up”.
“What!? How do you just use up thousands of years of magic”?
“I used it to create a permanent vessel for my soul. It was the only way the Shadowlights could live on. I've never married and I have no chil-”!
“You cannot justify this Idhrenion” she interjected, then paused for a moment as if to remain calm. “So the body your soul now inhabits is a magical copy of your original body. I assume that it’s arcane. Am I correct”? 
“Yes, your majesty”.
“You can stop calling me that you don’t work for me anymore”!
“But princess, I-“.
“Silence! Please listen to me Idhrenion you have done too much for me all ready. You and your family have protected my legacy for longer than most ponies will ever remember. You’ve never asked for a thank you, not once stopping and thinking about yourselves, and to top it all up you gave up your mortality”. I could have sworn the princess almost started to cry. She paused, again composing herself and started again. “I'm still reliving you of your job, but not as a punishment, as a gift. I'm giving you your freedom. No more listening to orders. No more protocol. Just go and live your life, please, for me”.
“Fine”. I was very reluctant to obey this order, but I could feel the hurt in Celestia’s voice. After all I knew why she was so angry.
“Thank you”. Celestia stood up straight and looked up at the ceiling as if avoiding eye contact. ”Now, tomorrow we shall have a very small ceremony honoring your time as a guard. Just Shining and I will attend. I ask that you keep the matter of your ‘body’ between the two of us”.
“Will do”. I felt strange not to say ‘yes, your majesty’, but at the same time it was a little relieving. I didn’t like it.
“Good”. She then began to tell me about the ceremony but not in too much detail. She told me that the rest would be explained when I arrived. It was to be held in three days, because that was the only time the princess had enough time to throw a secret ceremony that nopony would be allowed to attend. After that Celestia left and so did I. I had nothing to do since I had agreed not to be a guard anymore so I just waited silently for the ceremony to come. After all I was good at that.