Child of the Night

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Author's Note

One who has nothing to lose fights harder than one that does not.

So, I just remembered that I have a few chapters of this story complete, and will be uploading them today. I will also be putting words of wisdom that I have heard from my family up for each chapter from now on.

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I toss and turn as I try my best to sleep, but my mind is awake, and thinking. I growl before throwing my half of the blanket onto Silver, who I thought was asleep by my side.

“What is wrong?” She asks me before we yawn in unison. I growl as my mane flows into my face for a few seconds. I sigh after it moved back into its previous position.

“I’m not entirely sure my dearest.” I reply before looking out of my window to the moon. The day before had been tiring enough that night court has been canceled for the night, and all of us elected to sleep for now, but my mind was alive with its thoughts of the past, and what I could have done.

“You can’t sleep with the moon out can you?” Silver asks me with a small smile. I close my eyes before looking back to my beautiful mate. Only it seems something is missing in the feelings I get from gazing at her.

“You know me too well.” I say with a chuckle before moving back to our bed. She smiles before I catch her in an embrace. She returns it without hesitation. I loosen my embrace for a few seconds to kiss her, and she moans into me. I sigh as I don’t become as aroused as I normally did when we start to make love.

“Osi?” Silver asks as I pull away, and stand up from the bed.

“My apologies Silver, but I’m not up to par tonight.” I say as I ruffle my feathers. She gives me a small smile in understanding.

“I know, you have eyes for another, but I will not be jealous. I understand if you wish to court another.” She says before I see a tear fall from her eyes.

“I still love you Silver, but I also have feelings for another.” I say before a plume of grey smoke coalesces into a scroll in front of me. I noticed that it used draconic magic to do so.

“A scroll?” Silver asks as I pick it up opening it to read the message within.

(Dear Prince Osiris,
My friend Rainbow Dash would like to speak with you as soon as you are free to come down to Ponyville, or if you would rather her fly up to Canterlot. She seems really troubled about something, but I can’t find any solid reasons in my library that would help her. Please respond as soon as you can,

Your Friend, and Princess Celestia’s faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.) I sigh again before igniting my hands, and conjuring a small desk, and chair before levitating my writing supplies over to me. Much to my annoyance, my horn did so as well.

“Twilight Sparkle has written to me about Loyalty having troubles it seems.” I say as I quickly write a return letter. I roll it up into a scroll before sending it through a cloud of black smoke.

“Are you’re going to go back to Ponyville?” She asks me. I shake my head before walking over to my closet as I dismiss the table and chair back into the world’s raw magic ley lines.

“No, Loyalty will be coming here as I need to be here for our mother.” I answer before a second plume of smoke coalesced in front of me. I grab it, and read it before nodding with a small smile.

“I will be doing some minor errands tonight that need to be done before dawn, so rest Silver. I feel the next night is going to be a long one.” I say as I pull my casual attire out of my closet.

“Of course Osiris.” She replies before pulling the covers back up, and quickly falling asleep. I quickly get dressed in my night colored tunic, and trousers, before looking into the full body mirror to the right of the closet. The new clothes fit perfectly on my altered form, and I sigh as I look at my horn again.

“Cursed horn…” I mutter under my breath. What happens next caused me to jump a little.

‘(Why are you cursing us?)’ I hear in my head. I am shocked at how familiar the voice sounded.

“Night?” I ask in a whisper. The voice giggles in my head.

‘(Very perceptive of you, child of the night. However I have reverted back into my less violent self, Dream Weaver)’ Her voice replies.

“How are you in my mind?” I ask, barely whispering the words aloud.

‘(It was when you absorbed me as I tried to retake Luna’s body.)’ She replies before sighing.

‘(I have changed however. My mind is no longer focused on total domination. I have reverted back into what I once was… your mother’s second personality.)’ Nigh- Dream tells me with a downtrodden tone.

“We have a hard time believing this, but as long as you don’t try anything rash, or in any way malevolent with me or anyone that you can affect, then you can stay hidden, for now.” I tell her with concern in my voice. I feel a relieving feeling flow from my horn, and I sigh aloud because of it.

‘(Thank you Prince Osiris. I feared communicating with you as I thought you hated me, and I will move myself if you do not wish to have a horn.)’ Dream tells me.

“I would very much so appreciate that, but where, or what would you turn into?” I ask the mare of darkness. We both ponder this for a moment.

‘(I can become a piece of jewelry or some manner of accessory for you to wear at all times, as I might not be able to be removed from your person fully.)’ She offers.

“That may just work. Could you turn into a verrabrace?” I ask her. In an answer I feel an odd sensation as I watch my horn shrink back into my head and feel something moving inside my body down to my left arm. I look to my arm in a mix of wonder, and curiosity as obsidian black liquid oozes out of my arm before solidifying into a verrabrace that had a single cyan jewel at its center.

‘(This is the best I can do for now Prince, as I am now exhausted from moving so much.)’ Dream tells me. I smile down at my new passenger.

“Then rest Dream, you don’t need to speak with me if you are still weak.” I say as I gently caress her physical form. She sighs at my touch.

‘(Then until I wake from my rest Prince of Darkness.)’ She replies before my mind falls silent of her voice. I then see the verrabrace that she turned herself into, melt into my skin to look as if she were a tattoo. I smirk at this before walking over to the mannequin that held my royal regalia. The regalia was a simple smattering of accessories made out of the crystal named jet, making it black. I had a simple silver circlet similar to a tiara, just a band of silver; Crystal plated dress shoes, a couple full finger rings of brushed steel, and finally my royal crest necklace.

I put the boots on first before grabbing the circlet, and placing it atop my head resting just at my hairline. After that was situated, I take the necklace off of the mannequin, and let it fall over my head to rest on my armor medallion. I sigh as my royal crest is just over where my heart is, atop my armor medallion. I decided when I was eight that my crest would be both my mother’s, and my aunt’s cutie marks on top of each other, symbolizing an eclipse.

I look to the hidden blade device Clockwork had made for me before putting it on my right hand again. A tear falls from my left eye as I strap it to my fore arm.

Now finished with my attire I walk quietly over to the door to my chambers and exit silently.

“Prince.” The two guards stationed at my doors say with a bow to me.

“Rise, and one of you please take me to the Guard Claymore.” I say to the two solar guards.

“You, please stay here, and guard my chambers as Lady Silver is still resting.” I tell the guard on my left. He nods before replying with, “Of course, prince.” I then wave for the other to escort me.

The guard starts walking, and I followed at his side.

We passed a few ponies as we walked through the corridors of the castle. I nodded to the ones that bowed as we passed by.

The guard escorting me finally stops at one of the staff rooms before coming to attention and saluting me. I chuckle at this, as his salute was wrong.

“Your salute is for that of the solar ponies, when addressing a lunar person you do not bring your hoof to your head, you place it over your heart.” I tell him before demonstrating a perfect lunar salute.

“My apologies Prince.” He says before dropping his solar salute, and placing his right hoof over his heart. I smile at the tradition.

“You are dismissed.” I say happily before returning the lunar salute. I drop mine, and he does the same before walking back to his post by my door. I return my focus to the door in front of me. I bring up my fist, and gently knock a few times, as mother had shown me to do.

A couple moments later the door opens to a tired looking grey earth pony. Claymore sees who is at his door before giving me a proper lunar salute. I smile wide at his show of loyalty to his lunar rulers.

“Good evening Prince.” He says before a yawn takes him by surprise. I chuckle before he waves me inside of his home away from home. I quickly move inside before taking in my new surroundings. It wasn’t a very big room, first of all. Maybe at the most four meters in, and two meters wide.

“So what may I do for you…*yawn*… prince?” Claymore asks me. I am shocked at the state of his room, not because of the size, but because of what was in it. There were many books opened, and closed about his room, and from what I could see, they were all about lunar traditions, and mannerisms.

“Guard Claymore, what was your rank in the solar division?” I ask him. He looks to me before shrugging off the question.

“Lieutenant First Class.” He tells me with indifference. I am shocked at his low officer rank, and look around at all of the books again. Some of them were fictional, but all had the same base theme of the night.

“How many of these have you read?” I ask him before picking up one of the books nearby. ‘Ancient Traditions of the Lunar Republic Guard’ was the title of the book I grabbed.

“All of them at least once, and a few of them twice. I like to know what I get myself into before doing anything of importance.” He tells me as he puts a coffee pot onto a small burner. I am shocked even more by this unexpected, but completely amazing turn of events.

“I see… are there any questions that you have from what you have read?” I ask him as I set the old text down where it was.

“Just a few.” He says as he takes out a small notebook. He opens it before flipping a few pages.

“Ah, here we are, how many guards did Princess Luna have before she was banished?” He asks me. I blink a few times before diving into my memory to find the answer. It was so long ago.

“I think around four to five thousand.” I answer. He nods before he uses his lips to write something in his notebook.

“Okay, how efficient was the guard before?” He asks as he turns to another page. I smirk.

“I’ll keep it simple. Anything ten solar guards could do, one lunar guard could do without breaking a sweat.” I say as I figure out what he was doing. Before he could answer the coffee pot makes a dinging sound, and the burner turns off.

“Would you care for a cup of coffee Prince?” He asks me.

“No thank you, I prefer tea over coffee.” I tell him. He shrugs before pouring himself a cup. He added nothing to his brewed beverage. I shudder as he takes a sip of the bitter liquid.

“Shall we get back to your questions?” I ask as a hint to return to the task he started. He nods before flipping the pages of his note book a few more times.

“Right, does the lunar guard require the gelding, or spaying of its recruits?” He asks me. I am shocked at this question before I tilt my head to look at his rear, only to find that he doesn’t have a pair of testicles. In their place was a scar from when they were removed. I blink-blinked before looking to him.

“No, in fact why in the underworld would that even be a tradition?!” I ask with slight shock in my voice.

“In the solar guard it is so that there can’t be any, AHEM, explicit actions between the guards, and the Princess, also so that the hormones can’t distract the guards from their duties.” He says with a slight tint of pink on his cheeks from my looking at his rear.

“That is the most unnecessary, and horrifying thing that I have heard. I’m not even going to think about how tyrannical that is. I will right this at once.” I say as I ready my magic for a regenerative spell.

“Prince.” Claymore says to me. I look to him to see him shake his head. I rest my magic.

“What?” I ask before seeing his answer in his eyes.

“It is an option for the recruits to take so that they are able to be on Celestia’s personal guard one day. I took that option because that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to guard the Princess with my entire being, but was never chosen to do so, that is why I asked.” He says as his voice shakes in slight anger.

“Do you want them back?” I ask him. He looks to me with confusion.

“I thought it was a permanent surgery, irreversible.” He says with his eyes wide.

“It is… for solar magic.” I say with a smug grin. He blinks a few times before looking to me, and falling into a deep bow.

“I would be eternally thankful milord.” He says with his head almost to the floor. My grin turned into a happy smile.

“Then come with me so I can make you into the first lunar guard in over one thousand years.” I say as I exit his room. He didn’t hesitate before he was right next to me.

“Of course milord.” He says as I guide him to the Lunar Wing of the castle. I enter the arcane chamber to make this the first official use of this room.

“Stand at the center while I gather the spell casters I am going to need.” I tell the guard. He cautiously steps into the center of the large casting circle. I nod before turning to the teleportation platforms that were in this chamber.

“Coget Nocturna.” I say in the ancient tongue, activating a summons to any mage that will help with the spell that I was about to use.

The first to appear was Tinnuchon. He sees me, and gives an elven bow. I return it, and he moves to one of the casting spots.

The second to appear was my mother, and shortly after three necromancer ponies.

“My son, are you the one who summons?” Mother asks me. I nod to her before she smiles and moves to the next casting spot. The three necromancers approach me.

“We have waited for both of your returns to the world of the living Prince of Darkness.” The center necromancer says to me. I smile and bow my head.

“We both welcome any that wish to return home.” I say to them. All three gave a deeper bow before moving to the next spots on the circle.

Before I stopped the summons spell, one more teleported in, and by the moon did the one to come through the teleport surprise me.

“We meet again Dark Prince.” The republic messenger says in the ancient elven tongue. I give him a small smile before a slow nod. He rose before standing on the second to last casting spot.

I end the summons and join the small group on the last casting spot.

“I would first like to show my gratitude to all of you for coming to assist me with this spell. So I thank all of you with this one gift that I can give… our first Captain of the Royal Lunar Guard.” I say with a motion to Claymore, who was looking over the two humanoid beings with curiosity before I said his new title. It was then that he stood completely straight in surprise. My mother looks the guard over before smirking to me, and I chuckle before lightning my hands in dark purple, causing the runes that were carved all over the room to flair to life.

“Let us begin.” I say in an amplified voice. The others that were casting with me nodded before, and lightning up their magic, causing the runes covering the room to glow even brighter, and I slowly begin to form the shape that our Captain would have in my mind.

“Claymore,” I say in a multilayered voice, and he looks over to me, “you must not move when the pain begins. If you do, I cannot guarantee your survival.” I finish. He looks frightened for all but two seconds before saluting me with his head bowed. I nod to signal the others to begin lending me their magic, and I looked to Claymore before saying, “I’m sorry.”

He had two seconds to look confused before I launched the power of the raw lunar magic I had in my command.

His natural solar magic started to fall from his body in bright flashes of golden liquid that dispersed back into the world. I knew this hurt, almost as much as getting hit with a magic missile.

I noticed that Claymore kept his ground, and stance that he had never changed. He still had his right hoof over his heart, and his head bowed. I then sighed as I started the spell that would rid him of any physical impurities that he had, “Stellarum exaudi preces et emissarius mederi errores alicuius eo usque acceperit.”

I watch as the magic I was sending over to the once solar stallion now arcs around, and absorbs into his body, and starts to reform his body back into its original form. Scars healed, and muscles bulged to their natural maximum size. I then add then next burst of magic into the spell, this one burst arcs straight to his groin, and infuses his genes with temporary regenerative abilities.

I watch as Claymore growls in pure pain before the magic starts to regrow his testicles in rapid regeneration. I watch as three staples fall to the ground, and cringe as blood spills down between his rear legs.

I growl as I see Dream Weaver wake up on my left arm before she releases my dark form. My power triples as the cyan jewel on Dream ignites in her magic, multiplying my power tenfold.

I feel my armor medallion fuse with my royal crest before activating, and sliding my armor over my body, but it felt different. My armor now also slid up my wings, and completely covered my head. I was left in darkness for less than half a second before the inside of my helmet lit up in a magic lit display of what I would have been seeing had I not been wearing it.

I return my sight to Claymore, as the restoration spell completes his body before the flow of magic starts to darken his coat.

“Haec est purus sed modo vacuum. Commodo repleo essentia illud de nocte.” I say in the olden tongue to continue the spell into the next phase.

The magic turns into two colors; midnight blue, and pure white. The two colors of the moon before the flow of magic screams directly into the body at the center of the arcane circle.

“Da ei virtutem. Da ei dixeritis. Reddite oculos tenebris. Da ei ius stellarum et lunae.” I say as the magic imbues him with these qualities. Even more strength, speed, improved sight in the dark, and some abilities that only show themselves under the moon, and stars.

“Claymore, repeat after me.” I say to the now dark stallion. I get a grunt in return.

“I state your full name…” I start.

“I Claymore Night Strike…” He echoes.

“Do solemnly swear…” I continue.

“Do solemnly swear…”

“By my soul, will, and life…”

“To protect, and serve Equestria, and her citizens…”

“While the moon and stars shine on them…”

“I will watch for any threat, and stop it before it acts…”

“And all those that oppose the Equestrian Crowns, or those who wear them…”

“Shall know the might and power of the Royal Lunar Guard…”

“With I, state your full name, as its Captain.”

“With I, Claymore Night Strike, as its Captain.” He finishes without moving as the magic finishes his augmentations and dies away.

[Princeps esto in tenebris.] A bodiless, genderless voice whispers as I return the leftover magic to the other casters. I look around for the owner of the voice before calming myself as I remember who it belonged to. The night herself. A literal god/goddess that guided in near silence.

The runes in the chamber slowly dim to darkness, and I move off of the casting spot to check on Captain Claymore’s health.

“You can move now Captain.” I say before seeing something wrong. His eyes were glossed over, and were darting all over the place. I then see a blue mist pluming from his open mouth. His entire body is shivering as magic settles back into his being.

“Fifrath, come here for a moment.” I say to the elven man.

“Yes milord?” He asks before I motion to Claymore. Tinnuchon immediately pushes me away from them before he lights his hands in what seems to be panic.

“Oss varrin op kraaz.” He says before pushing magic into Claymore’s head, causing the stallion to slump to the floor before standing up while rubbing his head with a hoof.

“Fifrath?” I ask the elf.

“A thousand apologies milord, but the Captain was still finishing his vows on his own, causing an unbalanced buildup of lunar and solar magic.” He reports before the magic that he put into Claymore returns to Tinnuchon’s outstretched arm as an orb of dense solar magic.

“Let me see that.” I say as I hold up my right hand. He tosses the ball of light at me, and I catch it before Dream’s cyan jewel flashes. This causes the ball of solar magic to turn straight into lunar power.

‘(When the restoration spell finished its work, his inner magic came back. Replace it now to complete the transformation.)’ Nightmare tells me. I nod slowly a couple times as I look over the orb of raw power before returning to Claymore’s side.

“This might hurt a little.” I say to him before pushing the orb back into his head. This causes him to growl before blood falls from his mouth, and eyes as his transformation finishes in whole.

“I am fine milord.” Claymore says in a deeper voice that now belonged to him.

“Yes, and now you need to rest. You will be at the throne room after you have gotten twenty five hours of rest. You will report to me when you do so.” I tell him.

“Yes milord.” He says before saluting me, and exiting the room.

“Prince Osiris?” I hear one of the necromancers ask. I turn to see all three of them.

“Yes my dark ponies?” I ask. They smiled at that.

“We wish to offer our services to you and you alone.” The eldest one says.

“I see…” I say before looking between the three of them.

“Fifrath, what do you think?” I ask the elven man at my side.

“Only that they are all sincere with their offer.” He tells me. I smile before waving for the three necromancer ponies to follow me.

“Have a good rest mother.” I call over my shoulder.

“You as well my child.” She says as well before I exit the arcane chamber with the three mages right behind me.

That was how we were before a cloaked pony ran straight past me, and I felt a sharp pain in my side. I look down to see a pure crystal dagger, with orange trim, stuck into the space between my armor’s plating.

“Great, just what I needed.” I say before tearing the dagger out of my side, almost crushing the hilt in my hand, knowing its owner.

“Prince… you’re bleeding.” The youngest of the necromancers says.

“I know,” I growl before my dark magic seals the wound shut, “And we have a very special person to find.” I say as my magic turns the blade that was in my hand pure black.

“And who may this be?” The prime aged one asks me. I sigh before releasing my magic inhibiters, causing my armor to revert to its medallion form. My ethereal hair turns into a flame like mass of pure black with a single line of silver that bisected my flaming locks perfectly. I feel my eyes sting a bit as they glow with my magic.

“My sister… Sunset Shimmer.” I say as my magic flairs in anger.

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