The Gates of Equestria

by SapphireRose87

Chapter Twenty-Five

One week later…

News of Sapphire winning the war and beheading Phantasia and Elder Facade spread all over the world like wildfire. Once the document was proven to be legit, the Princesses were praised for making such a good decision that helped Equestria win the war. A lot of ponies held respect for Sapphire because she was the one who beheaded Equestria's enemies.

However, there were some ponies who were complaining about the change in rulers. But they were the same ponies who complained when Princess Twilight took the throne saying everything was just fine and Alicorns live longer than most ponies so why did Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have to step down? It was mostly the high society stuck up ponies who complained about change in Equestria.

Elder Facade's family were considered traitors to the throne and they were also executed. The rest of Phantasia's soldiers were rounded up and executed.

Sapphire didn't like the idea of adding more bloodshed on her hooves but in her eyes this had to be done in order to make sure that Equestria was safe. Keeping Equestria safe was always Sapphire's main priority. However, ever since she stepped up and started ruling over Equestria, she knew she had to pick a new Head Guardian to take her place. She knew the pony she wanted to choose right off the bat and after her coronation, she called that pony into her office. She had thought about asking Purple to do the job but then she remembered that he didn't want to be a Prince. He just did it in order to make Princess Twilight happy. Not to mention after the war Purple gave up his position in the military and became a drifter.

Sapphire and Princess Twilight would get letters from Purple from time to time telling them how he was doing and from random places so Sapphire had a hard time trying to keep track of him.

As Sapphire finished packing up her stuff in her office she smiled as she took her seat as Head Guardian one last time. No sooner had she sat down, there was a knock on the door. "Come in!"

She smiled when she saw Aether walk into the room. "You wanted to see me Princess Sapphire?"

Sapphire nodded. "Yes. True I am ruling over Equestria from out of the shadows now so I need someone to take my place as Head Guardian."

Aether's eyes went wide. "You mean that you want me to be the next Head Guardian?"

She nodded again. "Oh yeah! You're capable and you can keep a cool head under tense circumstances."

"But who's going to protect the South Gate with Rarity?" Aether asked.

"Don't worry about that, I got everything under control," Sapphire said. "So next week you'll be starting your new job as Head Guardian. Oh and I hear you and Melody are planning a wedding soon?"

Aether smiled. "Yes we are. We were going to wait to get married until the end of the month."

"That's great you have my blessing to take the time off that you need for the honeymoon and everything," Sapphire said. "Congratulations you two!"

Aether's smile turned into a grin as he replied, "Thank you so much Princess Sapphire!"

"No problem, so I shall take my leave and let you start decorating this place how you see fit," Sapphire said. She smiled. "This office is yours now."

"Yes ma'am!" Aether said.

As soon as Sapphire left, Aether closed the door and did a victory dance and cheered with joy. Everything in his life was awesome at the moment and he hoped it would stay that way.

***

Ever since Fancy left to join Phantasia's army nopony had seen or heard from him since. But his body was found among the dead soldiers that Sapphire had ordered the military to round up and keep track of.

Lily, who was Fancy's replacement, has been growing stronger and stronger by the day. She proved her worth as a Gate Guardian and she has since then made friends with the Gate Guardians.

Sapphire chose another pony from the reserve team to take Aether's place as the South Gate Guardian. It was a mare who was an Earth pony named Starlight Row.

Thunder continues to guard the Center Gate and takes his naps whenever he wants to during his downtime. Most of the time Rainbow Dash doesn't bother him because she gets called out to do different jobs as a Wonderbolt and that was fine by Thunder. You'd often find him curled up in a ball tucked underneath his cloak sleeping at the entrance of his cave that was a few miles away from the Center Gate.

Firewing started dating a young Earth pony that reminded him of Applejack because she was from Applejack's family who lives in Appleloosa. Her name was Caramel Apple and her cutie mark was a caramel apple on a stick. That just so happened to be what she was good at making, that and other pastries. Her mane was a light brown color and her fur was orange.

After the war with Phantasia and Elder Facade and his soldiers Equestria seemed to be at peace for the time being. But Sapphire was still tired of life. She didn't know if she could ever get her wish to die and it was annoying to her that she was still alive.

It wasn't until she had been ruling over Equestria for thirty years on her birthday that she saw the ghost's of her parents once again.

Sapphire sighed when she saw them floating above the family photo album that she still has placed in the basement of her home. "Mom, Dad what are you guys doing here? It's been over thirty years since I last saw you."

"Well we came to tell you how proud we are to see how well you're doing as a ruler," Prince Zoe said with a kind smile.

"Thanks Dad but why do I have to keep living forever and watch my friends and family die all the time?" Sapphire asked.

Princess Zelda hesitated and then gave Prince Zoe a look. "Honey, I think it's time we tell her how to break the curse of immortality."

Prince Zoe raised an eyebrow. "You think so?"

Princess Zelda nodded. "Yes, I think our daughter has been alive long enough don't you think? And she can finally join us in the afterlife."

"Alright then," Prince Zoe said. He turned to Sapphire. "Remember that box you found the Gate Crystals in when you got your memories restored?"

Sapphire nodded slowly. "Yes, why?"

"You didn't throw that box away did you?" Prince Zoe asked.

Sapphire shook her head. "Nope. I kept everything I found with the Gate Crystals."

"Good, inside that box underneath the container that held the Gate Crystals was another crystal. It's an emerald green crystal. Next to that crystal will be a written spell written in the language of our kingdom. I'm pretty sure you'll remember how to speak our language once you read it," Prince Zoe explained. "As you recite the spell pour all of your energy into the crystal. Once you've done that, break the crystal. You should be able to die five hours after you've broken the crystal."

"Really?" Sapphire said, "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Because we felt that you weren't ready to die and in case you're wondering how we know this will work is because the Head Guardian that had the spell before you did the same thing. Now to make sure the new Head Guardian has access to the Gate's magic at full power you'll have to do the ceremony that connects them to the Gate Crystals," Prince Zoe said. "The guy that was Head Guardian before you had the job for over 4,000 years! When he did that spell I just told you about, he died the next day, that's how we know the spell will work."

Princess Zelda chuckled, "Yeah knowing you you'll probably want to get right on that. But please be sure that your affairs are in order before you do this okay?"

Sapphire snorted. "I've been ruling this kingdom just fine for thirty years now and I've beheaded plenty of enemies to the throne more than I can count. So I think I got this."

Prince Zoe and Princess Zelda's ghosts gave Sapphire a hug. Prince Zoe smiled. "Well, I guess we'll be seeing you in the afterlife sometime soon."

Sapphire smiled. "Yes, there's a couple of things I'll have to take care of first."

Prince Zoe and Princess Zelda nodded and after that they disappeared.

***

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Princess Twilight asked as she and Sapphire walked down the hallway to the throne room.

Sapphire nodded. "Yeah I'm sure. I've been alive on this planet for far too long. I'm tired Princess. Not the type of tired that all you have to do is take a nap and you'll wake up refreshed tired if you know what I mean. My birthday's coming up again and the best birthday present I could get is to finally join my parents in the afterlife. I don't know why it took me another year to finally decide to use the spell to break the curse of immortality, but I think it's time."

"Is immortality really a curse?" Princess Twilight asked.

Sapphire tilted her and raised an eyebrow. "To me it is, but you live to three thousand one hundred and thirty-one years old and you see your loved ones pass away and tell me if it's a curse or not then."

Princess Twilight knew that arguing with Sapphire would get her nowhere so she just kept her mouth shut.

"So my birthday is in two weeks and that day will be the day that I'll be handing the keys to the kingdom back over to you," Sapphire said.

Once she and Princess Twilight reached the throne room Princess Twilight said, "Are you going to try and notify Purple about what's going to go down soon?"

Sapphire shook her head. "Nope. Purple's got a plan in mind for his life and I'm not interfering with that. I don't want to make him return just for my funeral. Besides, that pony is one hard pony to keep track of. He doesn't stay in one place for very long."

Princess Twilight sighed, "Alright then, if you say so."

Sapphire smiled. "I do say so."

***

Sapphire's three thousand one hundred and thirty second birthday rolled around and Pinkie Pie decided to throw Sapphire the biggest party ever! Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie really outdid herself on the party this year. She had thirty party cannons hidden throughout the venue that had been booked for the party. She made sure to have the biggest cake ever which was big enough to feed all of Equestria with thirty layers and each layer with a different flavor on it.

Pinkie said that if she could she would've made the cake with over three thousand layers instead of just thirty but she didn't want to risk it. So she went with thirty layers. Written in icing in big letters on the cake was: HAPPY 3,132nd BIRTHDAY PRINCESS SAPPHIRE!

Pinkie somehow managed to put a huge picture of Sapphire's cutie mark on it for the finishing touches. Sapphire grew to love Pinkie Pie's cakes and she was happy knowing that she would leave the world with a bang so to speak.

She would celebrate with the biggest party ever and leave knowing that Equestria would be in good hooves.

So that is what happened. The very night after she celebrated her birthday, Sapphire stood before an altar that she had made just for this occasion. She didn't tell Princess Twilight when she was going to break the curse of immortality. She just said she was going to turn in for the night and when she got to the room with the altar in it she made sure all of the doors were locked and no one could get in. Days before Sapphire's birthday she had done the ceremony to connect Aether's magic with the Gate's and she had made sure everything else was in place.

When Sapphire casted the spell she did exactly what her father told her to do and then she broke the emerald crystal. Five hours later she made sure to drink a poison that she knew would kill someone within minutes of drinking it. She made sure to take some deep breaths and forced herself to not fight the poison that was mixing with her blood inside of her. Before she took her last breath she smiled because she couldn't help but think that she had a good run and now it was her time to move on.

***

The next time Sapphire opened her eyes she was standing before her father Prince Zoe and her mother Princess Zelda and they were grinning at her. Sapphire tilted her head. "What?"

"My baby's coming home!" Princess Zelda cheered.

Prince Zoe grabbed Sapphire and ruffled her hair a bit. "Alright champ, you had a good run now it's time for you to join us."

Sapphire swatted Prince Zoe's hoof off her head. "Dad! You're messing up my mane!"

Prince Zoe snorted and shook his head. "Mares and their manes! You do realize you won't have to worry about stuff like that in the afterlife right?"

Sapphire smiled. She was getting ready to say something when she paused.

"There is one more thing that needs to be taken care of first so nopony can try to resurrect you when they find your dead body," Princess Zelda said.

Sapphire tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Look over there," Princess Zelda said. She pointed a hoof at a bright yellow door. "See that door? You need to close it and make it disappear."

Sapphire nodded and did as she was told. As soon as she did that Princess Zelda grabbed her and gave her a big bear hug. "My baby's coming home!"

Sapphire grinned from ear to ear at that statement. "Going home… I like the sound of that. True Equestria's been my home for three thousand one hundred and thirty-two years but going home to a place that doesn't need to constantly be protected by me sounds like a really good idea. Equestria will be safe without me, I'm sure of it."

Prince Zoe and Princess Zelda nodded in agreement. As her parents started to walk off into the afterlife Sapphire took one last look behind her. Equestria is in good hooves… It's time for me to move on…

With that, Sapphire turned back around and followed her parents into the afterlife.