The Celestial Guard

The presses had been rolling all night after the attack, many newspaper and printing firms were straining to keep up with demand. EVERYPONY was reading the recent news.

                                                                 Quick Quill was currently irritated with her current situation, the article she had planned to use to get an interview from Swift Hooves would be over shadowed by the attack that occurred during the yearly parade, so she would have to delay it. News spread like wild fire across the nation, within the day the news had spread so far that it reached the boarder towns, even Appaloosa. The casualty list had already been made public, names were withheld unless there was a personal request.

132 citizens,

56 guards.

It had came as quite the shock, since when was any group of ponies, or other creatures for that matter, able to inflict so much damage? Because of the presence of changelings, it was expected that Queen Chrysalis was behind the attack. Nopony though any more, or less. Why should they?

                                                                             Princess Celestia and Twilight were inconsolable from the recent events very well in fact they were not even working properly, Princess Luna had to return from her break in order to keep the country from falling into anarchy.

"Sister, we think that you should take a vacation, just to get away from all of this."

"I'm fine Luna, I've been running Equestria for thousands of years and I see no reason why I should."

"Not even when Swift is dead? To see somepony as special as him come and go is surely traumatic, is it not?"

"We were just friends, and what he did was what anypony in his position would do."

"But surely you are mad that he threw away his life so rashly for you?"

".....Yes."

"We know that you think of him more than a friend, and we think he did too."

"How would you know?"

"Because sister, you are blind, not literally, but in a metaphorical sense. You have looked for the wrong things in the way he acts, you have tried to see the awkwardness that a love struck pony would have around you, however, Swift was like that already, but you dismissed it as something else."

Celestia pondered the thought for a second. Had she been looking for the wrong things? Had she overlooked her friend's personality and looked for something that was already there, just underneath? The though brought tears to her eyes and she burst into tears. She buried her muzzle into the outstretched legs of her sister.

"There, there sister, let it come. We must go to the funeral now."

Swift Hooves groaned in pain as he got back up onto his hooves, he looked around taking in his current surroundings. Everything was dark, it was like standing in an endless void, just the darkness. Somehow though, it gave him a comforting feeling, like a mother embracing a son. Then came the clopping of hooves, he turned around to face the source of the noise and was shocked, it was him....

"Long time no see, Swift."

The Canterlot Graveyard was situated on the other side of the mountain on which Canterlot was built on. It unlike the city, had no colour, just the cold grey colour of the gravestones. Flowers left by loved ones had rotted away, leaving almost vomit colour piles in their wake. A crowd of ponies, 200 at most were attending funerals for the guards killed in action in the last attack. The coffins were of a magically enchanted oak, so that no pony could open the coffins once they were sealed. The Princesses were also attending, Princess Twilight left after one of the Royal Guard ponies had been buried. That left Princess Luna and Celestia, neither one would leave as the last body to be buried was Swift Hooves and when that time came, the only ponies left were them and the staff working to burry the bodies. The clouds looked like they were soaked with guilt, big grey blobs that crawled across the sky in a slow and mournfully way. The rites were said and the casket lowered into the hollow grave, then the soil poured over, covering the grave. On the grave stone it said,"Here lies Swift Hooves, dear friend of Celestia and last free captain of the Celestial Guard. May he run in the fields of Elysium for all of eternity."

                   The stone said no more, totally devoid of his achievements and sacrifices, but who knew of them apart from Celestia? Nopony in fact.

Swift Hooves stood gawking at the figure in front of him. Unable to make a coherent response he bowed in respect for the pony in front of him.

"Well, somepony looks surprised to see me."

"Well yo-your highness, I am."

"Did my daughter tell you that I was dead?"

"Yes she did. But she never once mentioned her mother, what happened to her?"

"Yes... her. "His voice faltered a bit." Her mind was twisted by Discord's offers of power. I was able to stop her, but barely. As we speak, she is locked away in a prison between worlds, similar to where we are now. However this is not a prison.", a smile appeared on his face, which was full of wrinkles.

"Then may I ask your highness, where are we?"

"Don't call me by that title, I lost it long time ago, just call me Helios. Right now we are in the Spirit World, a place where the dead reside."

"If we are both here doesn't that mean that we are dead?"

"No, it would seem reasonable, but that is not the case. For example, I am not dead, instead I found my way here after imprisoning my wife. You on the other hand, you are dead, but I intervened."

"How can you intervene with death? I though nopony could do that."

"I can't directly influence the passing of somepony, instead I can merely redirect it, like how a river can be made to change it's direction."

"Why are you doing this though? You have nothing to gain."

"Oh yes I do! Your friend Starswirl showed me the future after I sent you forward in time."

"Wait, you're the one who did that? Why?"

"Yes, it was to save your life, my little Celestia would have been completely broken had she seen you killed."

"Instead, you made her think I was dead, only to crash land in her royal garden 2000 years later."

"You landed in the garden? My aim was off, you were meant to fly into Celestia's bedroom."

"Somehow I think that would have gone down bad."

"No not really, I am expecting grandfoals from you two. May as well try to speed it up."

"Wha-What are you talking about?!" Swift Hooves' face burned in embarrassment.

"Spoilers! You'll find out soon enough. There is something else which is more pressing."

"What is that?"

"A PRESENT!"

"Really... has living here driven you insane or something?"

"Not sure if crazy or just eccentric from living here. In fact I have two." Suddenly a hissing noise could be heard and Swift Hooves' right hoof felt like it was on fire. He screamed in pain and lifted his hoof to look at it. Before it had been smooth, but now there was an symbol engraved onto his hoof. It was a circle with a crown and two swords. Then Helios began to speak.

"I, King Helios of the Old Kingdom name thee, Swift Hooves, as my heir and successor. I surrender the hoof of my daughter in marriage to thee as well, if thee wishes to take it. Rule in the name of the people and law, for those are everything."

The air around them filled with magic as an old spell took hold.

"However, thee shall my heir under one condition and one only. You must discover the second gift I have given you. Only then are you fit to rule along my daughter."

Swift Hooves' brain had not yet processed what had just happened.

"What?!"

"It's a lot to take in and I must send you back now. Don't do anymore stupid things though, I won't be here to bail you out all the time. It was just a fluke that I came across your soul here. Also, be a stallion for once and make your move on my daughter. She loves you like the way you do."

"She does?"

"Yes, is it not obvious?!"

"Nope."

"Sometimes I think you're hopeless with mares, and my daughter is hopeless with stallions. Its a perfect match!"

"Anything else before you send me back?"

"Yes, say hello to my other daughter, uhhhh...."

"Luna?"

"Yes, yes I knew that."

"What else?"

Helios' face grew cold in expression and he spoke gravely. "I fear that soon the peace Equestria has thrived in will soon end. The attempt to take my daughter's life has confirmed this. You and her will play a big part in it."

"Do you who it is?"

"No, not at all, but he is very old, and has recruited somepony you may know."

"Who is it?"

"Stoneheart."

"How?"

"I do not know, I lost track of him awhile ago and he did not travel through time. That is why I think some great evil is behind this. But enough of that, you must go now. Sorry about the eye though."

"Wha-"

The solid black floor underneath him gave way as he retuned to the world he had recently left. His eyelids opened, he felt cold and constricted, like he was in a box. Wait......

Did Celestia and the others bury me?