Lighter Days To Come: The legend of King Guardian

Chapter two: It all starts with a fall…

My name was Jacques Helmsguard, a good man in my twenties. I had a little hobby store in Manhattan that held my economy together and left me with quite some freedom with my off work time. I was mostly writing small stuff, nothing big like some bigger book or anything, just small poems or small stories. Alternatively, I could sit around, write lyrics, and make songs with my guitar and keyboard/piano. Nothing more on that end, Just that I was living my own life with no one else in it. Well, I went to a bar from time to time and got recognised by a customer or two, but outside that I didn’t have any friends and I had lost contact with my family two years before I had started my small store. The day I am going to tell you about here, is the day I have my first visit in Equestria, the day it all started… the day the conflict between the good and bad inside me.

“Guardian, we’re closing in on the station.” I blinked and looked at Silver Shield that had spoken to me.

“What?” I asked tiredly and stretched my arms.

“We’re soon in Ponyville, so you should pack down your book.” Silver said and motioned to my book that was in my lap. Did I just fall asleep while I was writing? Looks like I did. I packed down, my book and quill, in my bag and stretched my legs. Even though the carts are a bit small for me, the comfortable seats made up for it. I remember that I always fall asleep during my train rides.

“So, have something special happened while I was gone in the void of sleep?” I asked and looked out my window.

“Well, somepony passed through the cart and gave a little laugh at their king sitting and snoring at the window.” Silver gave out with a little chuckle.

“Really? Well I can imagine what sight it would be, I would also have laughed a little.” I responded. “Was it a sweet mare?” I added and nudged Silver with my elbow and gave him a wink.

“What! Hey, you got a wife back at the castle! Remember what she would think!” Silver yelled out and seemed to blush a bit. Oh, she was pretty, interesting.

“That blush on your face tells me you had an attraction to that mare.” I said and gave him a nice smile.

“What! No, no, no! I didn’t have an attraction to that mare!” Silver said and blushed even more.

“Just denying it makes the truth stand out more, just admit it.” I said and looked in Silvers eyes.

“What is there to hide from you? I mean, really, you can like know everything that I think before I think it.” Silver said and turned away from my direction.

“No, I don’t know what you think, but I got something called eight hundred years of experience with reading expressions. That’s more than enough to know what’s true and what’s false, and also to know what certain ponies think about you.” I responded to his question and gave him a sigh to tell him I did not want to hear that again. “Now just admit that you thought she was pretty.”

“Fine, I thought she was pretty, so what? I’ve got affection to mares too, you know.” Silver gave out and gave me unhappy pout. I laughed a little.

“I’m just happy you got it, which means you don’t take your duty at the royal guard like it’s your life, like it’s the only thing you know.” I said and gave him another nice smile.

“Well, might be better if I actually did, you don’t really give me any free time.” Silver said and gave me a grunt.

“We can continue this some other time, it’s time to get off.” I said and motioned to the window where the Ponyville station rolled into view. It was starting to get dark already, ‘autumns coming’ was all I thought. Silver gave me a nod and got his saddlebags. I got my bag and let out a sigh at the sight through the window.

“Home sweet home.” I whispered to myself and followed Silver off the train.

“Jacques!” A familiar voice called out.

“Twilight!” I called out and rushed to meet the lavender alicorn. We met halfway and ended up in a hug.

“You’re here! You’re finally here! I’ve missed you so much!” Twilight said in our embrace.

“I’ve missed you too Twilight, it’s been months since we last met, so I’ve missed you too.” I responded and let go of our hug. “Where’s the others? I thought they should be here.” I added.

“Well… they’re… busy. Yes! Busy! That’s what they are!” Twilight called with a bit of hesitation.

“Okay, I’ll go with that. Now let me introduce a friend of mine, Silver Shield.” I said and waved Silver affront. “He’s my personal Royal Guard, but this time he’s just following me as my friend. Usually he keeps a watch over my stuff while I’m not at the castle.” I added and pushed a somewhat shocked Silver affront towards Twilight.

“Your… Your Highness.” He said and gave Twilight a bow.

“Oh please, just call me Twilight.” Twilight responded still not liking to be addressed as a royal.

“Oh… sure.” He then got out and backed away a little bit.

“Good, now that you’re introduced, why don’t you lead the way to the library?” I addressed Twilight.

“Yes, of course. I’m sorry that the others couldn’t be here, but you will probably meet them soon.” Twilight said and then leads the way through Ponyville.

We walked through Ponyville meeting a couple of ponies along the way. All of the ponies we met along the way stopped and either bowed or gave us a nice wave with their hoof. It was nice, well they all treated me like royalty now… but back then, I was treated just like any other pony, just like something out of the ordinary. I gave out a sigh and followed some birds with my eyes. Being royal are not that great really. Everypony around you treat you differently, all of your connections just disappear… and well… it’s not nice when you meet them after a while. They are so different towards you. They are not like themselves when I met them so long ago. Well, that is not the case with Twilight and her friends. They are always themselves around me, which is nice. They do not treat me like royalty; they treat me like their friend.

“Jacques!”

“What?” I said and looked around chocked. I heard Twilight giggle and turned to that direction.

“It’s so typical you to get lost in your own thoughts.” Twilight said and looked at me. “How did you and Silver Shield here meet in the first place?” She then asked.

“Give me a minute.” I said and returned to my thoughts to search. Was that time when I was doing that sweep of the royal gardens? No, that was before we met. Was it that time when I was doing my trip in the mountains? No, he was with me that time.

“Oh, I remember! We just ran into each other at the castle, Silver was one of the new recruits and was doing delivery service. It was quite funny actually as he came around the corner and…”

“I don’t want to hear anything more!” Silver cut me off. “That was too embarrassing!”

“Okay, if that’s how you want.” I said. Then I whispered to Twilight. “I can tell it to you sometime more private.”

“Sure.” She whispered back. We kept pacing a minute or two more until we reached her tree, um, library I mean. As we stood by the door Silver had a face that most newcomers had when they figured Twilights library is a hollowed out tree.

“Well, welcome to my home.” Twilight said and opened the door to the library.

“Thank you.” I said and stepped by Twilight but stopped abruptly by a ‘bonk’ and a slight pain in my forehead. “Ouch!” I got out, stepped back, and bent lower to get through the door. Twilight giggled at that.

“It seems you still are too big for my doorway.” She said and followed me inside her library.

“Don’t take that up, please, I have had enough of headaches because of that doorway.” I said and rubbed my forehead. Twilight’s library was as it always was when I was here, nice and clean. Every book was nicely organised and there was not a single piece of dust in sight. I looked over the last part just because Twilight probably has cleaned the place before my arrival. I looked around for Silver but did not see him. I turned for the door and saw him standing outside. He seemed unsure and rubbed his foreleg. I waved him inside and called out to him:

“Why are you standing out there? Come inside instead and warm yourself. Autumn’s on our doorstep you know and it’s getting darker by the second, even though I don’t mind you might.”

“Well, yes… but is it okay for her highness?” Silver got out shyly.

“It’s alright; you’re Jacques friend so it’s alright by me.” Twilight said as she stepped by me and shoved Silver inside. When Twilight had pushed Silver inside, I reached out and closed the front door.

“I’ve forgot to ask you, but how have you been Twilight? Have everything been alright?” I asked Twilight before she managed to get through her kitchen door.

“Things have been a bit stressful really; the whole royalty thing has been weighting me down a bit.” Twilight called out from her kitchen. She returned with a small bowl of fruit gripped in her magic. As she put it down on a small table, she spoke out:

“But other than that, things have been going well. Rainbow has started training me a bit so I can use my wings, well, that could’ve gone better. We’re working on it anyhow. Nevertheless, how have you been doing? Is everything all right between you and Celestia?”

“Well, I’ve had a bit to do myself, mostly running around the castle and doing royal business. However, I haven’t had the luck that you have to get a private flight teacher, and a professional one to add to it. On the flying part you’re probably better than me.” I stated and picked up an apple from the bowl. When I took a bite in it, I could tell by the taste that it was from Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight seemed to notice my satisfaction and said:

“It seems like you don’t have those good apples at the castle, right?”

“Of course not, nothing can beat Applejacks apples from around here. They always have that sweet taste that I love.” I responded and continued munching on my apple.

“Anyway, why don’t we get settled, I have to continue on my book and I need a place where I can do that.” I continued after a bite or two.

“Yes, but I’m thinking of where to put your friend Silver Shield, he wasn’t mentioned in Celestias letter that I got about your arrival today. So in short words I don’t know where to put him.” Twilight responded and rubbed her foreleg.

“I can sleep down here, I’m used to those hard beds that we have in the barracks so it shouldn’t be too much of a change.” Silver got out and placed down his saddlebags against one of the bookshelves.

“What do mean by ‘hard beds’? I gave out orders and paid out of my own pocket to change the beds to something softer.” I asked and gave Silver a look.

“Well then it seems like the beds either haven’t arrived yet, or those bits that you put out ended up somewhere else.” Silver responded and looked a bit worried.

“I hope it’s the former or else there might be some noise around the castle when I get back.” I said with an angry tone. I let out a sigh and added:

“I can take that some other time, right now I’m here to write in my book and enjoy some time with my friends that I haven’t met in months. Now, where did you plan for me to stay, we can fix where Silver will sleep after I know where I’ll be staying.”

“Well you will have your writing office right here.” Twilight said and opened a door opposite to the kitchen. Inside was a room about the size of a normal apartment bedroom, with a writing desk, some shelves with bits and pieces on them, and a couch in one of the corners with a matching lamp. Over the writing desk, a window viewed out over the front of the library. The walls where of the ordinary polished oak as the rest of the library’s interior. What disturbed me was that there was no bed in the room.

“Twilight, where did you plan for me to sleep?” I asked and gave her a curious look.

“Well I… I had in mind that you… that you…” She stammered and blushed deeply.

“Twilight, did you have in plan that I would sleep in your room?” I asked and gave her a somewhat annoyed look.

“Well… yes… I thought it would have been nice.” She got out shyly and stared at the floor.

“Yes I know that, but I have to think on that I’m married to Celestia!” I countered angrily and hut my finger towards her. She got a somewhat disappointed look and lowered her head. I felt guilty for making her sad and took her in my embrace.

“I’m sorry Twilight, I don’t think Celestia would mind so much if I slept in the same room as you, we’re not in the same bed at least.” I said in my embrace. She shifted a bit and put her hoofs around me. It was silent a moment before Twilight let out a sigh and said:

“It’s nice to be in your arms again Jacques, I have missed you so much.”

“I know Twilight, I know…” I said and held her closer.

“Hem!” Silver interrupted our hug with that and gave us, especially me, an angry look. Twilight and me departed quickly and tried to look as innocent as possible.

“If we can get to that point please, where will I sleep?” Silver continued. I had a quick look around and noticed there was enough space in the room to fit a normal bed in the room that would be my writing office.

“Twilight.” I started to get her attention. “Is it possible we can get hold of a normal pony bed before bedtime?” I continued.

“If we hurry, we might get hold of one.” She responded and rubbed her chin.

“Then we hurry, Silver will sleep in my upcoming writing office.” I said and quickly put down my things in the writing office and marched to the door. Twilight and Silver gave each other a quick look before Silver stated:

“It’s fine by me, I get to sleep in a somewhat good bed.” Twilight only nodded at that and followed me with Silver in tow out of her library.

It took us a good while to get the hold of a bed, but we managed to get the hold of one and to bring to the library and get it inside the writing office. When we were done, it was time to go to bed, well for Twilight and Silver that is. Me, I got myself comfortable in my bed in Twilights room.

“Good night Jacques.” That was the last thing heard from Twilight and then we drifted into sleep. Twilight did anyhow; I was up a minute or two extra thinking why I had not seen Spike today. ‘He’s probably just away somewhere, so I’ll meet him soon.’ I only thought before I drifted into sleep.

I opened my eyes slowly. I always do in the morning. However, this was not my normal morning; this was a morning in hospital bed. One of the nurses had told me the three days earlier when I woke that someone had found me running around my apartment writing and drawing strange symbols and images on the walls and that I was rambling something about a ‘Reaper’ that was inside me and that I was some type of ‘guardian’ of a magical land. Therefore, they had called the police and the police got an ambulance. In addition, that brings me to Friday last week, where the doctors drugged me and put me under surveillance. When I woke up, I had no memory of my last three days, but I had new memories of things that I had not had before. Memories of creatures out of a story book, talking creatures, angels, well they looked like angels. One white one that was very gracious and kind, kind of a light side, a good side. Then there was a memory of a black one that was very mad and grim dark, a dark side of the white one, a bad side. I remembered a name for both of them, the white one was called ‘The Guardian’ and a memory recalled the black one as ‘The Reaper’. This did not make sense so I asked a nurse about what that had happened. Moreover, she told me about what had happened and that just did not seem right. So I asked for the police and that was two days ago, and yesterday they came and they brought picture of what I had written and drawn all over my apartment. The pictures that they had shown looked identical to my memories and the pictures of the ‘Reaper’ were not any nice pictures. However, the pictures of the ‘Guardian’ made him stand out like a god or a great hero. This got me worried, so I asked to keep some of the pictures and they allowed me. So today, I am going to analyse each one of them. So why wait? Let us get started I thought and picked the pictures affront and looked more closely at them. They allowed me to keep three pictures. The first one of the pictures was a picture of the ‘Guardian’ in the background with the big shadow of a cheering crowd in the foreground. I could not make out if the crowd was human or not, but what was most interesting was that The Guardian was really nicely dressed up in a Victorian style tuxedo and next to him stood someone or something dressed up in a wedding dress. This was absolutely his wedding. The rest of the picture was just white. The next one of the pictures was a dark picture with The Reaper standing there in the middle of the picture, with something in his left hand that looked like some skewered body piece. In his right hand, he held a long wretched sword that was flooded with blood. He wore a couple of white hakamas that had been stained red of blood. The creepiest thing about this picture was not the gore, but the fact that The Reaper had a big grin with many spiky teethes and he had a couple of glowing red eyes that just made him look even more evil. I always shuddered at that picture. The last of these three pictures, was a picture with both The Guardian and The Reaper, with both of them sitting in front of a fireplace in a couch each. The Reaper seems sad with a whiskey glass in his hand and The Guardian seems equally sad with a wine glass in his right hand and a piece of parchment in his left hand. Both were dressed in a couple of hakamas, where The Guardians where Henna brown and The Reapers was snow white. There was some type of nonaligned aura in the whole picture, some type of calmness. It was the complete opposite from the pictures before, The Reaper was just calm and downturned, and The Guardian was the same, He was not happy and energised as in his picture before. Moreover, The Reaper was not murder-like, like in his picture before. This made me wonder of course, why are they so different in this picture but so opposite to each other in the other pictures? I spent most of that day thinking about why it was like that and continued thinking on my question on why I suddenly had had this act of craziness. I could not get any good answers on any of my questions. I suddenly felt tired and that stopped my train of thought. My head got heavy and I decided to put the thinking aside to get some rest. I got my rest, but it was not for long, before the feeling of something cold showered over me. I opened my eyes quicker this time, and my vision was not of the hospital bed but of something that looked like space. Shocked, I quickly came to my feet and looked around like crazy.

“Ok, ok, ok… you’re just dreaming now Jacques, so calm down, just calm down.” I said to myself and breathed heavily. I closed my eyes slowly and pinched myself on my arm. I still had my eyes closed in hope that it just was a dream. I opened my eyes slowly this time around, but the same view came into my line of sight.

“Ok, I’m not dreaming. Am I dead then?” I asked myself and looked around in this place. I do not know why put I decided to see if there was a wall somewhere, because well, I was standing on something. So I walked forward, carefully though, I did not know if what I was walking on could suddenly just end. Suddenly, I saw a picture come rolling in to the left of me. I studied it quickly and noticed it was the picture of The Guardians wedding. I stopped in front of it and studied it closer. It had a lot more detail than the one I had cluttered in my apartment, and now I could see many more details in the picture. First, I could see that the crowd was not human… they are… ponies. Small colourful ponies, where some had horns and others had wings. I did not get more time to think on it before the whole picture sprung to life and showed me the event like a film. I just studied as the scene rolled on until it stopped at a moment where The Guardian kissed the bride. Then it faded away and a new picture rolled into its place, a picture of The Reaper, that special one I always shuddered at, so I turned away from it quickly. What greeted my eyes was something different then the emptiness of this space, what greeted my eyes was a long corridor of pictures and films featuring both The Guardian and The Reaper respectively. I walked down this corridor and browsed the pictures and films to my left and right sides. There was a lot more of things here than what I had cluttered in my apartment, other events, ordinary everyday moments. There were also a couple of pictures more, were The Reaper and The Guardian where either alone or with a couple of ponies around them. In addition, those pictures were of everyday events, dinners, walks, shopping and more stuff like that. However, what nagged me was that they did not treat The Reaper as if he was a monster, like most of these pictures and small films showed, these pictured showed him being treated like an equal.

“You don’t seem contactable.” I jumped and turned quickly around. Nothing greeted my eyes. I turned around again, but there was nothing there either, except the hallway of pictures and films. I looked around one last time, but there was just me here in this strange place. I scratched my head and turned back to the direction I was heading.

“Am I really that hard to see, Jacques?” Now I jumped really high, because now there was someone standing at the end of the hallway. At a closer inspection, I saw it was The Guardian standing there with all his pride.

“You’re The Guardian, Right?” I asked and slowly made my way towards him.

“Yes, I’m The Guardian, but I might also say that I’m you.” He said and made a pointing gesture at me. I stopped at his last statement.

“What do you mean that you’re me?” I asked and looked at him carefully. “Am I you when I am in heaven? No, are you me when I’m in heaven?” I added. My mind was spinning and was thinking on how he could be me and how I could be him, I mean, he is standing in front of me right now. How is that even possible?

“You have been given a great task, Jacques.” The Guardian said and gained my attention.

“What do you, I mean, I, mean by that?” I asked back.

“You have been given the task to protect the world of ponies, the task to protect Equestria. It’s a great task and this is also why you will be called The Guardian, like me, after you have passed certain periods of your life. Your life will also be very long, more than Eight hundred years.” The Guardian explained. I thought about what he said, I mean… forget it, I will say he. Anyhow, I thought it over.

“But how do I become you?” Was all I got out after I had thought awhile, I do not know why I asked that, it was not thought trough.

“You will get all of your answers with time. Look around you… all that you see around here, is your life.” The Guardian started and looked around. “You will live through all of this, but remember the most important thing; you will not only be me. You will also be The Reaper.” As he said ‘The Reaper’ his skin suddenly changed and in front of me now stood The Reaper. I stepped back a bit and prepared for the worse, but he just motioned with his arms for me to calm down.

“You don’t need to be afraid of me; my evil isn’t directed towards you. I need you to be alive you know. We share the same body. We are the same body. Nevertheless, we’re also the same mind and soul. We were at least the same mind and soul. But that was in your body that you’re in now.” The Reaper said and looked at some of the pictures. “In that body your good and bad are mixed, but in this body that you will get when the time is right, good and bad are two completely different things.” He added and focused his eyes on me. He stepped forward again and I would have stepped back but I could not move. He continued slowly towards me and placed himself in front of me.

“Now is where your real life begins.” He stated shortly and did a small, almost teasing push, and pushed me over. I fell down but nothing stopped my fall. The last thing I saw before I went unconscious was both The Reaper and The Guardian standing and looking down at me.