Equestria: The Afterlife

by Timzocker201

CH58: The Shadow Guard

The day had finally come, when the mysterious alicorn called Mortis would become an official prince of Equestria. Markus was, of course, aware of what that meant for him, regarding his new public standing and that he would likely have to tread even more carefully than he did before, but he nevertheless was… happy that this day had finally come.

Sadly, it didn’t seem like everypony was as euphoric as he was. In truth, he had felt that in the month prior to this day, Celestia seemed… almost hostile towards him, as if she was actually completely opposed to the idea.

However, these thoughts were pushed aside, when he heard Celestia hold a short speech about the upcoming coronation. He quickly readied himself, before the doors finally swung open and he stepped in.

Contrary to Twilight on her coronation, he had chosen not to wear any special garments, instead treading along the red carpet in naught but his deep red coat, with his wings slightly extended up- and outwards in a display.

This was not purely for show, though. In truth, during his little incursion in Twilight’s wedding, he had found that his wings were of truly magnificent size. So magnificent in fact, that he barely fit through the narrow passage and while the passage during his coronation was much bigger, he nevertheless chose to take preventive actions.

What was visible in his display were only the tips of his wings. The rest of them were actually hidden away within the death realm, via two portals which he constantly held open at the base of his wings.

He reached the throne and lowered his head before Celestia, who then lifted up a crown from behind her throne. Said crown was of a simple, six-pointed design with multiple blue crystals embedded into its sides.

The princess put the crown onto his head. However, as soon as metal touched fur, the golden colour began to fade. A swirl of black mist surrounded the crown, until the gold and blue colours were gone and replaced by black metal and red crystals. A few gasps became audible from the audience, however Celestia remained unfazed. After all, Markus had already mentioned that something might happen, the crown being corrupted by his magic as soon as it left Celestia’s (literal) sphere of influence.

“I hereby present to you…” She declared, “the newest addition to equestrian royalty. This stallion shall henceforth be known as: Prince Mortis.”

This declaration immediately caused Blueblood to step in from somewhere off to the side. “WHAT?! PRINCE?! Aunt Celestia, I don’t think this is appropriate. I am the only true prince of Equestria!”

Celestia facehoofed at Blueblood’s tantrum, however the prince didn’t seem to notice. He went over to the Markus and looked him dead in the eye. “Listen, you wannabe-prince: I am the only one who may ever truly carry the title of prince, so I command you to step down immediately!”

Markus lifted his head and looked down on the prince. He then looked over to the princesses, scanning them seemingly in search for something. “I am sorry, but I fail to see the connection.”

Blueblood gave an upset gasp. “How dare you?! It is no question that I carry the same coat and mane colour as my aunt does!”

“That may be,” Markus agreed, “yet, every royal pony in this room seems to at least carry a horn. An appendage that seems to be amiss on your forehead.”

Blueblood was speechless. Mortis had just picked at his weakest spot. The wound he had sustained from his failed duel with Markus. The stump that had been left was already healing, true, but it was still multiple years away from becoming the once magnificent horn that once adorned the most beautiful head in all of Equestria.

Multiple loud gasps sounded from the attending nobility.

“He has insulted Prince Blueblood!”

“He has insulted the Prince!”

“How could somepony like him even become an alicorn?!”

“Why would Celestia ever choose somepony like him?!”

Suddenly, a barrage of various fruits and vegetables came flying from the audience. At first, Markus wondered where they had even taken these from, seeing as he could not recall seeing anypony in the room holding anything when he came in. However, he quickly pushed these questions aside, when he was done analysing the projectile’s flight path and saw that they were headed not at him, but at the princesses sitting in front of him.

Immediately he reacted, pulling his wings out of the portals he had stored them in and shielded the nine mares and one stallion, who stood before him. Although he didn’t show it, he definitely felt a bit of pride well up from within, when his actions caused Rainbow, Fluttershy and Cadence to instinctively mimic the pose.

“That is enough.” Celestia commanded. Markus respectfully bowed his head, before he tucked his wings back into the portals. “We have made our decision to accept him into equestrian royalty. You as the equestrian nobility are to accept and respect such a decision! Now, the ceremony shall continue!”

Following her order, the festivities went on. The princesses and the newly crowned prince left the throne room and made their way towards a balcony, from which one could oversee a large plaza, where seemingly all of Equestria was currently gathered to witness this event.

When he reached the end of the balcony, Markus put his wings on display again and, according to equestrian tradition, held a speech regarding his ascension. Of course, the way he had actually ascended was kept secret, so he had to make up a few pieces here and there, when he wrote this earlier.

The speech concluded with a display by the wonderbolts, after which Markus retreated himself back into the castle. Twilight went after him and called out to him just before he could round a corner.

“Prince Mortis!”

Markus turned around and faced his now VERY heavily pregnant marefriend. “Twilight, please, there is no need to address me with my title. After all, we are of the same standing.” He said, making Twilight give a sheepish smile.

“Ehehe, yes, I know… Uhm, Mortis, there is something I wanted to ask you…”

“Go ahead. I will answer any question you may have.”

“Euhm… I’ve been wondering… if you know the date of his return… do you know where he currently is? And if you do, could you please tell me?”

Markus stood silent for a moment, making Twilight gulp in discomfort. Of course, he knew where he was, he was standing right in front of her! But could he tell her? In truth, yes, he could, but as much as he wanted to, the risk of her coming to harm because of it was still too great for him to do so.

“Well, I do indeed know where Markus currently is. However, I may not tell you.”

“Oh… Why don’t you want to tell me?” Twilight asked in slight disappointment.

“It is not that I don’t want to tell you, dear Twilight. Rather, it is because Markus doesn’t wish to be found. All I can do, is repeat to you what I have told you once before, for your rightful husband truly will return… in eight months.”

It hurt him deeply to see the disappointment in Twilight’s eyes, but the ball was already rolling. Now, he had to finish what he started. With those last words exchanged, the newly crowned Prince Mortis resumed his path. He rounded the corner and vanished from sight.

Later that evening, when the Festivities were over, Markus met up with Celestia and Luna, now being able to freely roam the castle in his alicorn form without the need of a disguise. They took a short walk together, discussing the steps to come, when the topic of actually fighting the cult came up.

“I mean, finding these cultists is one thing, but we can’t just take out every single hideout alone, Mark— Mortis! We will need additional forces, or they might slip through our hooves!” Luna insisted.

“True, but I am hesitant to use the royal guard in this matter. Firstly because I want Shining Armor to be kept in the dark for a while longer and secondly because there might be traitors within our own lines.” Markus answered.

“So what do you propose? That we hire mercenaries?” Luna asked sarcastically.

“No, of course not.” Markus said, a smirk coming to his face, as he looked over to the night princess. “But I have a favour to ask of you.”

---

“And why in Equestria would he want you and the entire company to come to Canterlot?!” Twilight asked hysterically, as Mystic was standing in the doorway, about to depart.

“As I said, I don’t know. All I know is that I got orders to come to Canterlot, with all three platoons, and meet with this new ‘Prince Mortis’. I don’t know why. That stuff usually only reaches me when it’s too late, if it does at all.” Mystic lamented, rolling her eyes upwards and staring at the ceiling for a moment.

“B-But…” Twilight sighed. “It’s just… We’re both going into labour soon and I… what if you’re sent somewhere? After everything that happened, I’m not sure if I could feel safe anymore without your protection…”

Mystic raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean? I can’t remember anything all-too dangerous apart from that thing with the kids… And Tirek… And the impostor… Okay, I think I see your point.”

Mystic looked back down, where she noticed that her recalling of the past events hasn’t really eased Twilight’s mood. “But I’m sure that everything will be okay!” She said quickly. “I mean, there are laws for such stuff. Even if he’s a prince, he can’t just send us to somewhere without doing the proper paperwork first! And even if he does: You are a princess, you can just veto his decision.”

“Oh… yeah, I can… hehe, eh, sorry, those hormones are really driving me crazy lately.” Twilight admitted meekly.

“Oh, I can imagine. I’ve got to go now, or I’ll miss the train. See ya later!”

Mystic waved and departed, but not before Twilight lunged forwards and gave her a quick, friendly hug.

The train ride was uneventful, with most of the passengers being the soldiers of the 4^th FRC. When they reached Canterlot, Mystic put them into a parade formation, which she then led through the streets of the capitol, all the way up into the royal palace, where the prince was waiting.

Two royal guards were standing outside the throne room, when Mystic arrived. She gave a short salute to one of them, who saluted back and quickly opened the doors for her. On the other side, two further guards were waiting to close the doors, once she and the rest of the company were in. She let her soldiers form up behind her, while she went up to the throne to answer the prince’s call.

When she turned around and faced the prince for the first time, she froze for a moment. Looking upon him, sitting where her princesses would normally sit, he shared none of their known grace and benevolence. Instead, she felt another emotion that she hadn’t felt since the Gryphon war: genuine fear. But at the same time, she somehow felt protected. It was hard to describe and even harder to comprehend, so she chose to ignore that feeling altogether and instead focused on the task at hoof.

She took a few steps forward, before saluting and reporting: “Your highness Prince Mortis, Captain Mystic Gem and the 4^th Forward Reconnaissance Company reporting as ordered!”

“At ease, Captain.”

Mystic took her hoof to the ground again, adopting a more relaxed stance.

“I am certain that you are all wondering, why I have called you here.” He gestured the two guards who were still standing by the doors to leave and only continued when the doors audibly shut.

“I have called you here, because your unit, the 4^th Forward Reconnaissance Company will be disbanded.”

“WHAT?!” Mystic shot up, but was quickly silenced by the prince waving a hoof.

“All of the members of the former 4^th FRC are instead going to be transferred into a newly formed guard, called the ‘Shadow Guard’ and thus be placed under my direct command.”

“… Is this going to be a power-grab?” Mystic questioned tentatively.

“No, it is not.” The prince said sternly. “Although, I can’t deny that I plan on using you very soon.”

“Your highness, allow me to comment that, even if we’re bound by your orders, you can’t expect us to fully trust you yet.” Mystic commented without waiting for approval.

“Indeed, I do realize that you can’t just trust a new prince without knowing him.” The new prince said, while descending the stairs that led up to the throne. “But I know you would trust me.” He suddenly said with a much higher pitched voice. One that Mystic recognized immediately.

She watched with wide eyes, as black mist suddenly enveloped Prince Mortis and left a human she hadn’t seen for far too long in his place.

“Good evening, Mystic. It has been a while.” Markus said, as he now stood there in his normal, human form and his old uniform before Mystic and the rest of the newly formed Shadow Guard

“Uh… g-good evening, Captain.” Mystic stuttered in disbelief.

“Keep it together, Mystic! You can’t know for sure yet!” She berated herself, before pointing an accusing hoof at Markus.

“Wait, if you really are the Captain, you have to prove it first!” She demanded. “What was the first practical lesson you gave us?!”

Markus chuckled a little to himself. “It was a little game of hide and seek to introduce you to the concept of camouflage.”

As soon as the answer was given, the whole room erupted into cheers as the entire company, including Mystic, shouted: “YEEEEAAAAAH!!!! THE CAPTAIN LIVES! THE CAPTAIN LIVES!”

“Easy there. If you go any louder, you might break through the soundproofing spell.” Markus said with a chuckle.

“Eheh, yeah, sorry.” Mystic said sheepishly, after she calmed down. “Anyways, does that mean you’ll be leading us again?”

“Actually, to that, I’ve got something else to tell you.”

He took a step towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders, where she still wore his old rank markings. Two small clouds of black dust formed and when he pulled his hands away again, the three small stars were replaced by a single star, which sat atop two oak leaves which were bound in the middle and pointed to the sides.

“Captain Mystic Gem, in my power as a prince of Equestria, I hereby promote you to the rank of ‘Major’.” He said and saluted her.

Mystic looked at her shoulders in disbelief and then back at Markus, with her eyes wide and her mouth open. “I-I… but… how? I’m only a captain for half a year now. Aren’t there time restrictions to promotions?” She asked.

“Euh, yes, there are, but… Actually, now that I’m a prince, I am no longer allowed to be the leader of a military force, so I’ve decided that you would be perfect for it.” He said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Euh… but… is a major even allowed to lead a whole guard sub-division?” She asked almost drunkenly, her brain working overtime to process everything that was going on right now.

“Eh, no, which is why the Lt-Colonel is already pending, to be executed once the paperwork is through.”

That was the final straw that broke her. Her jaw hung open, her pupils dilated and her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of the water.

“But speaking of promotions: Nambs, Broom and Squeaks, to me!”

Three ‘Yes sir!’s came from the formation in the back, before three Privates quickly ran forward and formed a row, with the foremost, Nambs, saluting “Your Highness, Private First Cla-“

“At ease, private, no need for formalities right now.” Markus interrupted. “I must say, when I first met you three, I was not really impressed. You were sloppy, messy and were all around… not quite unfit, but definitely not up to my standard either. However, experience says that those who have a rough start can turn out to be true gems and that is exactly what happened here. You three did well and that calls to be rewarded. As far as I can see, there are still three free officer positions in the company. I hereby promote you three to corporals, with a recommendation for an officer career. I will arrange it so that if you choose to take it, you’ll just have to go to the academy next Monday and say your name.”

“Yes sir! Thank you, Sir!” Nambs thanked.

“No need. Actually, there’s one more thing for you. It’s an experiment I want to run on you. There are health risks involved, so you don’t have to agree, if you don’t want to.” Markus said.

“What kind of experiment, sir?” Broom asked.

“I want to try if I can infuse you with some of my magic. I know for a fact that harmonic magic and mine are incompatible. What I don’t know is what would happen, if both were to meet within a living body. Like I said, there are major health risks involved, but if my hypothesis is correct, you might just end up with some of my abilities.”

The three corporals shared a short glance, before looking back at Markus with determination.

“I’m in.” Nambs said.

“Me too!” Squeaks agreed.

“I also volunteer.” Broom said lastly.

“Splendid! We shall take the first step right now!” Markus said with excitement, as he changed forms back to his Alicorn Form. “Now, I need you three to hold your foreheads against my horn. I’ll do the rest.” He instructed, angling his head down, so they could reach.

They did as instructed and pressed their heads against the horn. A short surge of black mist passed between him and them and then a short moment of silence ensued.

The silence was abruptly broken, as all three backpedalled, screaming in anguish and pain. They rubbed their foreheads with their hooves, trying to lessen the pain a bit, but it didn’t work.

Their coat colours slowly paled and faded into grey and their eyes and mane started to grow darker in contrast, until, when their screaming finally ceased, no more colour could be found on those three ponies.

Markus stood to the side, back in his human form and with his eyes wide. “Woah… I expected side-effects, but I didn’t expect them to be so visible… well, I’m sorry but with that, I’ll have to treat you as a national secret, until—“

A sudden burst of black mist caught his attention and when he turned to look, he saw that the previously monochrome Corporal ‘Squeaks’ had now returned to colour.

“Wow, that worked!” She exclaimed.

“What worked?” Nambs asked.

“That transformation thingy! Just imagine your old coat colours and try pressing that image into your body or something… I don’t know how to explain, just try it!” Squeaks answered excitedly.

Nambs shrugged and closed his eyes. After a short moment, he also erupted in a cloud of black mist, before he, as well, had regained all his colours. “Huh, neat.”

And as Broom mimicked the other two, Markus stood there, open-mouthed. “Okay, I didn’t expect you to gain that ability, but huh… works too I guess? One last test though: imagine yourself standing behind me for a second and see what happens.”

The three did as he asked and the result was exactly as he predicted: The three suddenly evaporated, flew over and re-condensed behind him.

“Wow… well, that’s certainly something I can work with. I will keep you here for a while, though. You will be registered as my personal guard, so you don’t stand out too much.
Now one last thing: As my new personal guard, I will grant you new nicknames. These shall serve as your new, official names whenever I call for you and whenever you are otherwise on duty.” He said, walking up to the first in the line: Corporal ‘Nambs’. “Nambs, henceforth, you shall be called ‘Shadow’…”

Next in line was Broom “And Broom, you shall be called ‘Night’…”

And lastly… “Squeaks, your new name will be ‘Darkness’.”

“Eh… is it just me or do these names sound kinda… dark…?” Mystic asked, having finally regained herself.

“Well, yes they do. That’s because your field of operation has changed. From now on, the Shadow Guard will, in addition to acting like a conventional army, also act in the field of covert ops. And as for you three:” He turned back to his three experiments. “While you will officially be working as officers in the Shadow Guard, you will soon also be used for things like espionage and assassinations and stuff like that.”

“Espionage? Assassinations?! Captain, what in Equestria is going on?!” Mystic exclaimed.

“Oh, nothing much, calm down Mystic, all is well.” Markus tried to defuse.

“No, it’s not ‘all well’! I know you are hiding something from us, Captain!”

“Oh please, why should I hide something?” Markus lied, forcing a smile.

“Because every time something is bothering you, you try to hide it by acting cheerful, tremendously overdoing it in the process.” Mystic replied flatly.

Markus smile fell the moment she started the sentence. He knew he had been found out, so there was no use in further hiding it.

“Alright, I guess there’s no hiding it anymore. I wanted to hide it because I know how much this might hurt some of you to hear, but…” He looked around, seeing that the whole company had come closer and gathered around him. With a last sigh, he continued speaking. “I have found that the Bloodmoon cult is still active.”

The mere mention of the name brought forth a row of gasps and mutters of disbelief.

“WHAT?!” Mystic shouted. “B-But I saw how you literally DETONATED their leader! How are they still there?!”

“Apparently, Sugarcoat, who seemingly acted as that guy’s deputy, has taken over and gathered the remnant of the cult. We also know their motive: resurrecting Nightmare Moon.”

Another row of gasps sounded.

“WHAT?! And we are still sitting here?!” One of the soldiers cried.

“Yeah, we should go kick their butts!” Another chimed in.

“YEAH, Come on! Let’s get ‘em!” A third.

“I THOUGHT I TAUGHT YOU DISCIPLINE!!!” Markus suddenly roared. Immediately, everypony went silent and stood at attention.

“Yes sir, sorry sir!” They said in unison.

“At ease. I know how you all feel about this, but we can’t just barge in there without a plan. I want to be sure to wipe them out good this time, but for that we need to know where exactly they are first. Like I said, you will be operating in covert ops and espionage. You will help me get that information and will be the ones to serve the – hopefully – final blow to these bastards. But until then, all this is to be kept top secret. Nopony – and I mean NOpony, including former members and young princesses – “ He said, glancing over to Mystic, who blushed lightly and looked away. “Is to know this. Every bit of information gathered on this matter is to be delivered to me directly, as soon as you get it. No stops in-between and no showing it around. You will get all the information you need for your missions, don’t worry, but until then, we need to keep as low a profile as possible. Dismissed.”

The company saluted, before, on Mystic’s command, they retook their formation and exited the throne room.

The train ride home was uneventful and seeing as it was already dark when they came back, Mystic sent her company off-duty before the train even reached Ponyville.

When she reached the Castle again, Mystic was immediately greeted by an excited Twilight.

“So? What happened? Did he relocate you? Did he dissolve the company?! Did he FIRE YOU?!!” Twilight worked herself up.

Mystic was momentarily taken aback by how accurate one of her guesses was, but quickly pushed that out of her mind and donned a happy smile.

“I got promoted.”

Author's Note:

I can't help but feel like this chapter is of very low quality... I don't know why, really. Maybe I'm just overly critical with myself or something? Who knows? In any case, starting next week, I'll be back to the old schedule, meaning one chapter per week, published on Friday. Until then: see ya soon

Comments

[Valk]

Nah the chapter is fine

[Kitsune_Kenshi]

Can we timeskip a bit? It's taking a bit too long.

[badbog187]

👍👍🥾🥾🦇🦇🦇

[Timzocker201]

10618530
congrats, we just timeskipped 61 minutes! feel better now?

Seriously though: the story is already planned out. If you don't like that, feel free to drop out. I'm not going to make every day of the 8 months we have left into a chapter, sure, but I also don't want to just rush through that whole thing and leave too many questions unanswered. That being said: the last chapter happened during Christmas and we're now at the 3rd of February, so I'd say we ARE skipping enough time.

[Kitsune_Kenshi]

10618603
Eh, I say that count as well.

[Inqusitor]

I sometimes wonder.
Maybe Marcus should leave some sort of mark that he knows about them?
Like letter or present.

[Fireeaters]

Nice

[Munro]

there is one little detail i did not get out of this chapter.

did they tell the population mortis is the alicorn of life and death ?

[rafaeliscorrelis]

It´s a good chapter, waiting for normal schedule, please continue with the good job!

[ChakatRedstripe]

Though not one of your better chapters it is still very good, and interesting to see some more world building.