Targeted and Firing

Chapters

Tragedy
Adoption and Sharing Heartache
Changes

Tragedy

Lockon Astros was a strapping young unicorn colt at the age of fourteen. He had a snow white coat, a short brown mane and tail, and sapphire blue eyes.

He was on his way back to his house in Canterlot from school with an excited look on his face. He could not wait to show his parents and his older sister what he now had.

At last, he had made it two his two-story house, which, while fancy, could not really be classified as a mansion.

"Hey guys! I'm home!" He called to his family as he stepped in through the door.

"Hey there, little bro." Said the voice of his older sister, Star Sapphire, as she came down the stairs. "What are you so excited about?"

This unicorn mare was at the age of seventeen, and quite beautiful. She had a sapphire blue coat, and a long and straight cut mane and tail that were of a similar color with a streak of light brown going down the middle. Her cutie mark was a star sapphire jewel above a microphone. And her eyes were the same shade of sapphire blue as Lockon's eyes.

"Check out what I finally got, sis!" Lockon answered her in a happy tone before showing her his flank. In place of blank pure whiteness, there was now a black circular targeting reticle with fine crosshairs and a smaller circle in the middle as the focus point, while in the background of all that was a bunch of white stars outlined with black borders.

"Hey!" Sapphire chuckled. "You finally got your cutie mark! Way to go, little brother!" Then she hugged him while ruffling his mane.

"I know!" Lockon said with an eager grin. "Wait until Mom and Dad see this!"

"See what, kids?" Came an older female voice. The two siblings turned to see their parents coming down the stairs.

Their father, Sharp Shooter, was a very muscular unicorn stallion with a gray coat and a medium length mane and tail that was the same shade of brown as Lockon's. Both siblings got their eye colors from him because his eyes were also sapphire blue. His cutie mark was a target with ten rings on it, with an arrow stuck inside the bull's-eye mark indicating that he was very skilled with a crossbow.

Their mother, whose name was Jade Glimmer, was a very beautiful unicorn mare. She had a lime green coat with a forest green mane. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of emerald green and her cutie mark was a sparkling lump of jade stone indicating her work as a jeweler.

"Check out what I got!" Lockon said as he showed them what he just showed his sister.

"Well how do you like that?!" Sharp Shooter chuckled while ruffling Lockon's mane. "Looks like you're following your old stallion's hoofsteps somewhat! Way to go, son!"

"I am so proud of you, honey!" Jade Glimmer smiled as she gave her son a hug.

"Thanks, Mom." Lockon smiled. "I am positive that I could do well as a royal guard with this kind of talent."

"I'm sure you will." Sapphire agreed. "The royal guard is probably going to need all the help it can get, especially with those changeling attacks becoming more frequent AND getting closer and closer to Canterlot."

"I'll say." Sharp Shooter replied. "The last reported sighting was confirmed to be just outside of Ponyville."

"That is close." Jade Glimmer agreed with slight worry. "But I am confident that Princess Celestia is taking every possible effort towards the prevention of any disasters they might cause. Now, let's get dinner started."

Soon afterwards, they had all just finished eating dinner. Lockon and Sapphire were just about to start ascending the staircase to their respective bedrooms to turn in for the night, when suddenly, they all heard what sounded like a cannon shot.

By the time the two siblings and their parents turned to see what was causing it, it was already too late. The next thing they knew, a sudden and powerful explosion blew through the front entrance to the house. Lockon and Sapphire were taken through the walls on the opposite side and landed in the back yard.

Both of them recovered and were able to stand on their hooves. The house was now on fire everywhere.

"Lockon!" Sapphire called to him. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, sis, I'm fine." He answered before turning around to the now destroyed house. "But where are-"

Then he gasped. "MOM! DAD!" He galloped over to the unconscious bodies of their parents. Both of them were covered in rubble and broken glass, and had serious third degree burns over every part of their bodies.

"No, no, no!" Lockon started crying. "Why is this happening?! Who would do something like this?!"

"Lockon, we have to go." Sapphire told him in a sort of half-choked sob. "There's nothing we can do for them."

"Then let's head to the castle." Lockon agreed in a very sad tone. "Princess Celestia will definitely help us."

"You're not going anywhere." A creepy unfamiliar voice replied. Both siblings turned to see an insectoid pony with a black hide, bug wings, a small horn on its head and fang like teeth in its mouth. Both siblings recognized this cockroach on hooves as a changeling, the creature from the attacks that they kept hearing about.

Lockon, immediately believing this creature to be responsible for the destruction of his home, and the deaths of his parents, instinctively charged up an attack spell and fired it at the changeling.

The changeling did not have any time to react as Lockon's sapphire blue magic beam struck him dead center and pushed him out of the house and a considerable distance further back.

"Lockon, we have to get to the castle now!" Sapphire said to him. "Who knows how many more of those things are out there?!"

"Let's high-tail it, then!" Lockon shouted in agreement as he broke into full gallop towards Canterlot Castle with Sapphire right behind him.

Sure enough, Sapphire was right. More changelings appeared and started to chase the pair of siblings as they were headed for the castle. Before long, the castle gates were visible to the eyes of both siblings.

"There it is, Sis!" Lockon shouted behind him to Sapphire. "We're almost there. Let's hurry!"

Sapphire nodded in agreement and both siblings kicked their legs into overdrive. Even though Sapphire was older than Lockon by three years, Lockon was still able to run faster than her. He was now increasing the distance gap between the two of them.

Lockon had just made it inside the castle gates and turned around to wait for his sister. He had to explain to the two royal guards on either side of the entrance that he and his sister were attacked and were just seeking protection.

Sapphire was running as fast as her legs could carry her and a few dozen changelings were in pursuit. However, just before Sapphire could get within a few dozen yards of the castle gates, she tripped and toppled forward for one complete rotation before collapsing on the ground.

This gave the pursuing changelings the chance they needed. Once they caught up to her, they started grabbing her body in an effort to hold her down.

"SAPPHIRE!" Lockon's voiced shouted as tried to come to his sister's aid.

Sapphire knew what he was doing and she responded by charging up and then firing a spell towards the castle gates. The spell hit its mark and formed a sapphire blue magic barrier around the entire castle gates.

Lockon was not aware of what Sapphire just did until his head collided with something invisible. When he rubbed his head and got a better look, he instantly recognized his sister's barrier spell.

"Sapphire! What are you doing?!" Lockon called out to her. "I can help you!"

"No, Lockon!" Sapphire answered him while the changelings held her down. "You can't do anything against this many changelings, especially not on your own. Run. Go find Princess Celestia. Ask for her help."

"I am NOT leaving you, sis!" Lockon replied. "We've already lost Mom and Dad. I don't want to lose you too!"

"You won't lose me, Lockon." Sapphire assured him with a smile, even despite her current situation. "And you haven't lost Mom and Dad either. We'll always be with you, inside your heart."

"Lockon," Sapphire continued, "this will probably the last time I see you like this. So I just want to say, ever since you were born, the last fourteen years have been the best time of my life. My only regret is that I won't get to see you grow up. I love you, little bro."

"I love you too, Sis. I always will." Lockon sniffled with tears streaming down from both of his eyes.

Then, he saw another changeling walk up to the group that was holding Sapphire down. This changeling however, was bigger than all the rest. It had a feminine appearance which was emphasized by a long mane and tail that was a mix of green and cerulean blue. She had eerily green eyes, and her horn had holes in it, giving it a mangled appearance, just like all of her legs.

"I thought I told you idiots that we needed as many ponies alive as possible." The large female changeling addressed and scolded the ones holding down Sapphire in a two-toned voice. "Your carelessness with your attack spells cost us two valuable sources from the very beginning."

"My sincerest apologies, Queen Chrysalis." One of the drones holding Sapphire down spoke to the large changeling. "But you'll be glad to know that the other one is right over there watching even as we speak. Once you drain this pony, her barrier will drop and we can go after the other one."

The changeling queen, now known as Chrysalis, then turned to Sapphire as she was held down by the drones.

"Do your worst, you overgrown cockroach!" Sapphire snapped towards the queen.

"Oh, I plan to." Chrysalis smirked before reaching her front hoof out over top of Sapphire's back, right above where her heart was.

Chrysalis's hoof then started glowing green like her horn would have. Then energy started flowing from Sapphire into Chrysalis's hoof. As this continued, Sapphire kept looking worse and worse as her strength kept on depleting, all the while, Lockon could only watch helplessly from behind the barrier as his beloved sister was drained of all her stamina.

This kept on going until Sapphire's hooves put up no more resistance and dropped lifelessly to the ground. Her head did the same thing as her eyes closed for the last time. The minions holding her down let go at this point. Chrysalis looked back towards the castle gates only to find that Sapphire's barrier spell was still functioning while Lockon was still behind it.

"I'm impressed." Chrysalis told to Sapphire's lifeless body as she lifted it up in a haunting green aura exactly like the one surrounding her hoof during the draining process. "Even in death, you still do everything you can to keep your little brother safe. Too bad that barrier won't protect him for long."

"Take down that barrier and bring her brother to me!" Chrysalis ordered her minions as she unceremoniously and uncaringly dropped Sapphire's lifeless body to the ground.

The minions then started smashing against the barrier while the two royal guards quickly got up in front of Lockon, facing the barrier and the oncoming enemies with their spears at the ready.

"Kid, get inside the castle!" One of the guards shouted to Lockon. "Find Princess Celestia and tell her about this! We'll hold them off!"

But Lockon didn't move. He just looked at the lifeless body of his beloved sister. Then, something inside him began to spark.

"Changelings…" he mumbled in anger. "You heartless monsters… I will never…forgive you…for this..."

Lockon just stood there, blood boiling, all the recent events of his beloved family fueling his rage. As he grunted with his rage rising, his magical power began to build up along with it. And this did not go unnoticed by all who were present.

As Lockon's rage fueled power kept on surging, the surrounding area was also affected. The ground was shaking violently. Loose pebbles and other such rubble near Lockon's hooves began to float up into the air on their own, without magic.

Lockon then shifted his attention back to Sapphire's magical barrier. The changelings had already cracked it to the point where it looked like only one more blow was needed to bring it down.

Chrysalis just stood there on the sidelines looking straight at Lockon through the weakened barrier with an evil, almost sadistic, smirk on her face. Then, she started laughing evilly in a manner as though she did it to mock Lockon.

That was when Lockon finally snapped. With that one last push, Lockon's magical power finally surged to breaking point. And with a mighty and thunderous yell, all that magic let out a powerful and somewhat explosive force.

The resulting shockwave left a huge crater-like indentation in the ground where Lockon was standing. It blew the two royal guards back and knocked their heads into the gate walls, thus rendering them unconscious. It even shattered Sapphire's barrier just as the changeling minions were about to touch it, causing them to be blown backwards and away from the gates.

"W-what?" Chrysalis shouted in shock and surprise, even though she was seemingly unaffected by the shockwave as she still stood where she was while her minions quickly recovered from the blow they had just received.

Lockon had also changed dramatically. Not only did his rage cause his magical power to surge, it also triggered something that nopony would have ever expected to happen from a situation like this.

When he instinctively checked his body by moving it slightly, he felt a certain set of muscles and appendages on each of his sides that he knew he never had before now.

'What's going on?!' He immediately thought to himself as he continued checking his body. 'Why do I suddenly have wings now?! And what is this incredible power surging through me?!'

"What the…?!" Chrysalis said in a shocked tone. "Where were you hiding such power?!"

This brought Lockon's attention back to her and her minions.

"Heartless monsters!" Lockon said to them in anger. "You're all going to pay!! I will destroy you!!!"

Then, he fired a sapphire blue beam of magic at all the changelings. This beam was powerful enough to actually knock all of them back several dozen feet.

Despite all the damage, Chrysalis and her minions still recovered. Several of her minions headed straight for Lockon, but he somehow was able to punch away every minion that was headed his way.

Chrysalis then fired a beam of green magic at Lockon from the air, but he took to the sky to avoid it. Lockon did not even know how he was able to fly at that moment, especially after he just got his wings. Perhaps it was more instinct than anything else, but Lockon did not really care. The only thing that was currently on his mind was avenging his family by destroying the changelings who killed them.

Lockon then flew to a level height with Chrysalis, who fired a beam of green magic at Lockon. He countered it with a sapphire blue beam. The two beams struck each other dead on and were now in a heated battle with both sides trying to overpower the other.

At first Lockon was evenly matched against Chrysalis, but Lockon soon began to tire out and was starting to lose the struggle. Just before it looked like Chrysalis was about to win, Lockon let out an explosive yell, and his beam suddenly surged with magical power, easily pushing back Chrysalis's beam, causing both beams to strike her and push her back a considerable distance.

However, that explosive surge began to take its toll on Lockon, as it left him panting very heavily while trying to recover. Unfortunately for Lockon, that caused him to let his guard down, at which moment Chrysalis's minions all flew at him full speed, all at once, feeling certain they would capture him now.

However, just before they could grab him, a massive golden beam of magic blasted them all back towards their queen. Lockon turned to see Princess Celestia herself a short distance away from him.

This frightened the changelings. Even Chrysalis backed away.

"Blast it!" She said in slight anger before turning to her minions. "We wasted too much time. We're no match for Celestia. Retreat!"

She and her minions then turned around and took off into the horizon.

"Don't you dare run..." Lockon seethed in anger before heading to take off after them. "Don't you dare run away from me, changelings!!!" He then flew just outside and above the castle gates, directly above where his sister's deceased body lay.

He then fired a magic beam out towards the fleeing insectoid equines but it dissipated before it could even hit its mark. So he tried to fly after them, but was unable to move as he found himself inside a golden levitation bubble.

"Let me go!" Lockon shouted at Celestia. "I have to get those changelings. They need to pay!"

Celestia said nothing in response, but did not drop her spell. She just floated back down to the ground with Lockon in her levitation bubble floating down with her. By this point Lockon had stopped struggling to break free. He did not even notice the heavy rain that just started to pour.

When Celestia released him from her levitation bubble, Lockon looked up and saw Sapphire's body lying not too far from them. Lockon immediately walked up to her, tears cascading from both of his eyes.

"Sapphire…" Lockon wept as he stood over his beloved sister. "Why'd you have to do it?...Why'd you have to leave me?...It's not fair...You were my sister...and my best friend...You were everything to me...Everything...This just isn't fair..." Then he knelt down and wrapped both of his front legs, and somehow his wings as well, around his late sister's body and embraced her one last time while crying his eyes out.

Princess Celestia could only let tears of her flow down her cheeks from her own eyes, as she watched this heart wrenching scene. Never before had she seen Lockon in so much pain.

"Lockon…what happened?" Celestia gently asked him with worry and sympathy in her tone of voice. "Where are your parents?"

"They're gone…both of them…just like Sapphire…" Lockon sniffled in reply. "And you just let the ones responsible for their deaths get away."

Celestia then put a hoof to his chin before lifting it up make their eyes level with each other. Her horn then glowed with a golden aura before she touched it to his horn. For a brief moment, an orb of magic and light transferred from Lockon's horn to Celestia's. Then, she broke contact between their horns and the next thing Lockon knew, he saw her eyes turn to a pure white before they rapidly flashed through a bunch random images.

When the images stopped, Celestia's eyes turned back to normal before those beautiful amethyst purple eyes formed a sympathetic look in them. A lone tear even escaped from her left eye.

"Come." She gently said to Lockon as she used her magic to gently levitate Sapphire's body in front of her. "Let's get you to the infirmary. You can spend the night there. I'll send some guards to your house to look for your parent's bodies. We'll make sure that both of them and your sister get a proper burial."

Lockon only nodded sadly with tears in his eyes before following Celestia into the castle. After his initial checkup in the infirmary, Lockon was left to rest in his bed, where he cried himself to sleep for the night.

Adoption and Sharing Heartache

Lockon Astros woke up in what looked like a hospital bed. Yet he did not feel like he was in the hospital. For one thing, even Canterlot General Hospital did not have rooms that were as fancy-looking as this one was.

"How are you feeling, Lockon?" Came the unmistakable voice of Princess Celestia. Lockon turned his head to see she was sitting to the right side of his bed.

"Princess Celestia?" He puzzled. "What are you doing here? More importantly, what am I doing here in your castle's infirmary?"

"Though, to answer your question, I just had the most wicked nightmare." He continued. "Changelings attacked our home. My parents were caught in the blast. Then, they even drained the life out of my sister. You were also there. And the weirdest part was that I became a pegasus unicorn, just like you. I even gained wings and every…thing, whoa!"

As he was finishing his answer, his eyes went wide at the two feathery limbs that were coming from his own body. Then, he looked to the Princess.

"Yes, the proper and politically correct term is 'alicorn'." She said to him.

Then, Lockon's face turned to one of despair as all the memories from the previous night came rushing back to him.

"No, no, no!" He moaned as he put his front hooves to his face with tears starting to form in his eyes. "All of it was real?! Mom…Dad…Sapphire…why did they have to die?! What did we ever do to the changelings to make them attack us?"

Celestia just put a wing around him to comfort him.

"I understand how you feel, Lockon." She said sympathetically. "I have a sister of my own."

"Yeah, but you ended up having to banish her to the moon for a thousand years." Lockon said to her full of sorrow and somewhat skeptically. "At least you have a possible chance of being able to see her again and reunite with her. I'll never even have that chance again until I join them in the afterlife."

"We were able to recover your parents' bodies from your house." Celestia told him while still hugging him. "We can give them a proper burial along with your sister whenever you are ready."

"What's gonna happen to me now?" Lockon asked her. "I suppose once I am discharged from the infirmary, it's straight to the orphanage for me."

"You will do no such thing." Celestia said in a kind but firm tone. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

"Princess?" Lockon puzzled.

Celestia then levitated several written documents over to Lockon, who took them in his hooves before reading them over very carefully. When he finished, his eyes were wide and slightly watery.

"Are these…?" He asked, only for Celestia to cut him off with a simple nod.

"When I cast that spell on you last night, I looked into your most recent memories." Celestia started explaining to him. "I have been thinking about this decision ever since I saw that horrible tragedy. You might not be a colt anymore, Lockon, but you are still much too young to be living on your own."

"Plus, in all the time that I have known you and your family," she continued, "to me, you became like a son I never had. Of course, I do not wish to do anything of this sort without your consent, so if you don't want to do this, I underst-"

She was then cut off when Lockon immediately embraced her in his front hooves and his wings with a tight grip.

"I don't have any problems with this idea." He said with tears in his eyes. "And truth be told, Princess, you were always like a second mother to me."

Celestia just returned his hug upon hearing this.

"You said your guards were able to recover both of my parents' bodies?" Lockon asked her. Celestia just nodded in confirmation. "Then I would like to bury them as soon as possible. Does Canterlot Cemetery still have that huge oak tree in the middle of it?"

"Say no more." Celestia nodded. "We'll do it tomorrow."

"One other thing." Lockon said in reply. "As soon as I am eligible, I would like to sign up for the royal guard."

"But why?" Celestia asked in response.

"I want to protect anypony I can." Lockon answered her. "I want to help make it so that nopony ever has to go through what I did. I want to protect anypony I can for as long as I live."

"Alright then," Celestia smiled in agreement, "it is your dream to be a royal guard. I will let you sign up for it. Though, I am afraid the minimum age requirement is sixteen to be able to enlist for the royal guard."

"I can wait two more years." Lockon replied. "Plus, that will give me some time to get use to my wings and prepare myself for the entrance exam."

"You should still rest for a few days." Celestia advised him. "It's not good to push yourself too hard. Anyways, we can make your adoption official as soon as you are discharged from the infirmary."

Lockon then took that moment to seize Celestia in a strong but loving embrace.

"Thank you…Mom." He sniffled. "For everything."

Celestia widened her eyes in shock, not so much at the hug Lockon gave her, as it was at what he just called her. She certainly was not expecting him to call her 'mom' of all things, but this made her glad that he was willing and ready to accept such a life. So she eagerly returned the hug, ready to accept him as her son.

Lockon was discharged from the infirmary the following day. Then, he followed Celestia to a courtroom where she signed the adoption documents and made everything official.

After they returned to the castle, Lockon decided to explore around the castle some more afterwards. He had just entered the gardens when he heard a beautiful cawing sound.

Turning his head to the right, he saw a bird on a nearby fencepost. This bird was unlike any Lockon had ever seen before.

It was very beautiful, with its crimson and yellow feathers, making it look like a shimmering flame.

Lockon tilted his head to the right while trying to mentally figure out what kind of bird this was. Then he noticed it tilting its head to its left to mirror his movements.

Lockon then lightly shook his head. The bird did the same.

Lockon, surprised by this bird's mimicry, decided to play along. He flapped his wings slowly while stomping lightly on the ground. Sure enough, the bird did the same thing, albeit a little faster.

Lockon then smiled before the bird took off in flight towards the inside of the sculpture gardens. It circled around in the air a few times while cawing to Lockon.

Lockon, taking this to mean that the bird wanted to show him something, decided to humor it and follow it.

The bird eventually led him to a particular statue before stopping to perch on top of it.

This statue was beyond strange. It depicted a creature made up of a bunch of random parts.

Its head was a pony's, although it had a deer antler on top of the right side of its head and a goat horn on the left. It also had a goat beard and a long fang on the corner of its upper mouth.

Its body was long and serpentine in appearance, ending in a snake tail. The right arm looked like a lion's paw while the left arm was an eagle talon. The right leg was reptilian in appearance, while the left leg looked like it came from a goat.

Lockon then saw the bird fly off of the statue, and circle around in the air a few times cawing at Lockon to follow it, just like before.

Lockon, wondering what the deal with this new acquaintance of his was, decided to play along some more, and followed it yet again.

This time, the bird led him out of the sculpture gardens and back into the castle halls. It kept leading him down twists and turns, leaving him to wonder what he was going to be shown this time.

"Where are we going…my mysterious feathered friend?" Lockon panted as he tried to catch up with the bird, who was not even breaking a sweat.

Eventually, the bird stopped in front of a large wooden door in a seemingly secluded hallway. The door was slightly open. The bird kept trying to push its way in through the door, but was having trouble doing so, so Lockon used his magic to push it open.

When he entered the room along with his new ornithological associate before closing the door behind him, he was quite confused. The room was completely empty, except for one thing.

In the middle of this room, was a large mirror, the likes of which Lockon had never seen before. The base was two cylindrical disks which acted like steps, the smaller one sitting on top of the larger one which had horseshoes all around the border.

The mirror part looked like it had been made out of a horseshoe standing straight up in an arch. Eleven purplish jewels outlined the horseshoe border. Vine like projections were sticking out from and swirling to the sides of the mirror.

There was also a smaller horseshoe in an upside down position directly above the main mirror. The smaller horseshoe also had a purple jewel like the ones on the mirror. The smaller horseshoe also depicted a pony standing up on its two hind legs.

As soon as Lockon saw this mirror, his horn went into magic detection overdrive.

Before Lockon's family was killed, Lockon always paid special attention to classes in school where he learned how to detect and avoid dark magic. He thought that this kind of skill would be essential for when he joined the royal guard. He could even tell what types of spells these things would use if they could.

At the current moment, Lockon was detecting a lot of magic inside this mirror, and at least HALF of it was dark magic. Luckily for him this gave him a sense of how dangerous this mirror could be, and he stayed a safe distance away from it.

"What is this thing?" He wondered out loud to himself. "The light half of the magic is…some kind of portal? But to where does it lead? And what is with all the dark magic in this thing? Do the light magic and dark magic balance each other out to make the whole thing stable inside this mirror?"

Then he turned his head and noticed his mysterious avian acquaintance perched on a windowsill looking at this mirror just like he was.

"Why did you bring me here, my mysterious friend?" Lockon asked the bird. "Is this mirror what you wanted to show me?" The bird nodded yes in reply.

"Why?" Lockon asked it. "What is so important about this mirror?"

The bird pointed its right wing at the mirror and answered Lockon with another cawing sound.

"You want me to take a closer look at it?" The bird nodded yes again. "Alright then, but this better not be some kind of trick." The bird just gave him a serious look in the eyes which told him otherwise.

Lockon then took a closer look at the mirror, and again his horn went into magic detection overdrive.

This time, however, he looked at the dark half of the magic. What he saw gave him the quite the shock.

"So that's what the dark magic does." Lockon silently said to himself in shock. "That is one of the cruelest failsafes I have ever seen. Why does Princess Celestia even keep this thing inside the castle at all? Does she even know how dangerous this thing is?" Then he turned his attention back to the bird.

"Is there anything else you want to show me?" He asked it. The bird shook its head. "Good, because I think I have found all that I needed to about this." The bird then flew over and landed on his shoulder before Lockon trotted towards the door, opening and closing it with his magic on the way out.

"Lockon!" Said the voice of Princess Celestia. Lockon turned his head to see her coming towards him from his left.

"What were you doing in there?!" She then spotted the bird on his shoulder and pointed to it with her hoof. "She led you in there, didn't she?"

"Uh…she?" Lockon asked in a puzzled manner before looking at the bird. "Wait, you know this beautiful bird?"

"That is Philomeena, my pet phoenix." Celestia answered him before turning to the bird.

"We will discuss this later, young lady." She lightly scolded Philomeena before turning back to Lockon. "I'm sorry Lockon, but that room is forbidden to all."

"I can understand that, Mom." Lockon replied. "Especially considering the amount of dark magic contained in that mirror."

"Wait…dark magic?!" Celestia gasped in somewhat surprise.

"You didn't know?" Lockon asked in surprise. "I thought you would since you make this forbidden to everypony else."

"Let's continue this someplace more private." Celestia said before her horn started glowing.

The next thing Lockon knew, he found himself, Philomeena, and Celestia inside a bedroom.

"I am guessing these are your personal chambers?" Lockon asked his adoptive mother in the form of a guess. Celestia nodded back to him while locking the door and casting a soundproofing spell on the entire room. Then, she turned back to Lockon.

"How did you end up in that room?" She asked him.

Lockon then explained how he met Philomeena out in the sculpture gardens and how she led him to the freaky statue that made him feel uneasy at first, and then she led him to the room containing that mirror.

Lockon then explained how he was cautious around the mirror and how he had trained himself at school to be able to detect any trace of magic, including dark magic, and protect and prevent himself from being affected by it in any way, since he figured this skill would be very useful for whenever he became a royal guard.

"What do you know about that mirror?" Celestia then asked him. "What did you find out?"

"I found a large amount of magic makes up that mirror." Lockon answered her. "Half of it is regular magic, and the other half is dark magic. The light half of the magic makes that mirror act like a portal of some kind, though I cannot even guess as to where it leads. In fact, I believe the main purpose of that mirror is to act as a portal."

"You are indeed correct." Celestia nodded in confirmation. "That mirror acts as a portal that only opens once every thirty moons for a period of three days. That portal leads to another world. What about the dark magic? Where does it fit in?"

"I think the light magic and dark magic exist in balance inside that mirror," Lockon explained, "cancelling each other out to make the whole thing exist in a stable equilibrium. The light magic acts as the portal. But the dark magic, I believe it exists as some kind of cruel and twisted failsafe."

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked him, now showing obvious concern and worry in her voice, although Lockon had not yet noticed it.

"I believe the dark magic makes it so that the portal itself can only be used by alicorns or ponies who are pure of heart." Lockon continued his answer. "It will let anypony look at it as it is not designed to hurt or zap anypony who are unworthy of looking at it. No, the failsafe mechanism in that mirror is much more cruel in my honest opinion."

"The mirror will let anypony and everypony who see it look at it." Lockon continued. "However, if it detects greed or ambition in the heart of anypony who looks at it, then that is when the failsafe does its work. If somepony looking at that mirror has any trace of greed or ambition in their heart, the dark magic in that mirror will seek out those qualities and amplify them. My guess is that if any non-alicorn ponies who have those qualities look at that mirror, it will show them a reflection of themselves as an alicorn princess."

Lockon continued his description with his back turned to Celestia. This made him unaware of the look of guilt and shock that was currently on her face.

"I suspect that kind of image would act as a catalyst." Lockon continued. "A catalyst that would ignite the greed and ambition that the dark magic will have already amplified. Then, those amplified qualities will make that pony obsess over that mirror constantly to the point where they would seek out power in some form or another, and then drive them to do anything to obtain that power. Even make them seek out that power in the world beyond that portal that the mirror becomes."

Lockon then heard sniffling coming behind him. He turned his head around to find Celestia with her eyes shut so tight, and yet tears were still flowing down from both of them.

"Mom…what's wrong?" Lockon asked her with his voice full of concern now. And that's when it hit him. "Did somepony you know fall victim to that mirror?"

"Yes…" Celestia wept. "And it's my fault that she's gone."

"I'm so sorry, Mom." Lockon asked while giving her a consoling hug with his hooves and wings.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Celestia cried in response while returning his embrace. "There was no way you could have known."

"But what do you mean it's your fault?" Lockon asked. "What happened? If you don't want to talk about it because it's too difficult for you to tell, I understand."

"No." Celestia replied. "I need to get this off of my chest. I am sure you are aware of my school for gifted unicorns?"

Lockon nodded yes in reply.

"Well, there was one unicorn who had a lot of potential when it came to magic." Celestia continued. "It was because of this that I made her my own personal student. Her name was Sunset Shimmer. In fact, you and she are just about the same age."

"She was very skilled when it came to practicing magic, even when she was just a filly." Celestia went on. "But as she grew, along with her skills in magic, so did her desire to learn more. She put her studies about magic and her lessons with me above all else, she even let it go to her head without realizing it. Because of this, she started to become antisocial, and she did not get along well with the other students. I tried to stress the importance of friendship to her countless times, but she was so stubborn and kept turning away from it, insistent that being the best was the most important thing in life."

"What happened?" Lockon asked, but he still had a pretty good idea as to where this was going.

"In an attempt to show her the error of her ways, I showed her the mirror, asked her to look into it and then tell me what she saw." Celestia cried. "I was hoping that it would show her that she was going down the wrong path, that it would show her what I had been trying to teach her."

"I was such a fool." Celestia cried as she berated herself. "I should have known that was a bad idea. But I didn't know, and because of that, she's gone now."

Lockon put a hoof on hers to comfort her.

"When she saw something that caught her interest, I pulled her away from the mirror, thinking something might have gone wrong." Celestia said after pulling herself together. "But from what you told me that you found out about that mirror, by that point it was probably already too late. The next day and every day afterwards during our lessons, she kept asking about the mirror, and every time she brought it up I kept telling her she was not ready to know more about it. It kept wearing my patience thin, and the same thing happened to her."

"One night, one of my librarians caught her sneaking into the forbidden dark magic section of the castle, and reported it to me." Celestia pressed on. "As it turned out, she was going behind my back to learn everything about that mirror. I was very upset with her, but she argued, saying that I was holding her back. It escalated to the point where I renounced her as my student and had two of my guards escort her out of the castle. But she took them by surprise and jumped into that mirror."

"This actually happened not too long before I adopted you." She then told Lockon directly. "I keep that mirror in the castle to remind me of my mistake, and also in the hopes that one day, Sunset Shimmer will return to seek out my guidance."

"And the worst part about the whole thing was that it was entirely my fault." Celestia continued with fresh tears coming down both of her eyes. "Because of my lack of the knowledge that you just discovered pertaining to the mirror, I lost a student. No…she wasn't just a student…she was also like a daughter to me as well." Then, she broke down sobbing again.

Lockon wrapped her up in another embrace to comfort her.

"It's not your fault, Mom." He whispered. "From what you just told me, there was no way that you or anypony else could have known what would happen to her when you showed her that mirror."

"There is one way, actually." She said as she levitated a book over to Lockon. "This was the book she was looking at when we had that falling out. Could you look through it to see if it says anything about the mirror other than its purpose as a portal?"

Lockon took the book in his own magical grasp. He flipped through the pages until he found the section detailing the mirror. What he saw shocked him.

"It just confirmed my suspicions about that mirror's dark magic failsafe." He told her in a grim and sad tone.

Upon hearing this, Celestia just broke down into sobs once more, and again Lockon wrapped his adoptive mother in a tight embrace using his hooves and his wings.

"Regardless of whether or not you could have done something to prevent this," Lockon whispered in a consoling tone, "there was still no possible way that you could have seen any of that coming. You made a mistake, and so did Sunset Shimmer. The reason mistakes are made is so that we can learn from them, and correct them if possible. That is just the sad and sometimes cruel reality of how fate works."

"It might be too late to correct this one now, but there is still the chance that it still CAN be corrected." Lockon continued as he held Celestia's face in his hooves and used his wings to wipe away her tears. "You just need to have faith. I know that I can't really say this as if I know it, but I am certain that one day Sunset Shimmer will return, and then you and she will both be given a chance to correct both of your mistakes. You just need to keep having faith in that belief and hold onto it. Because that is also how fate works."

Celestia smiled at her new adopted son and hugged him, this time with tears of joy in her eyes.

"Thank you, son." She sniffed. "Even though you are still so young, you are wise far beyond your years. I am certain that you will make a great prince for Equestria one day."

"I am glad I could help you through this, Mom." Lockon replied. "But, in all honesty, I am not so sure I would want to be a prince."

"Technically, you already became one when I adopted you." Celestia responded.

"I had a feeling that was the case." Lockon murmured. "Still, I would not want to let that kind of power go to my head. And I still need to get used to these." He then flapped his wings in indication.

"And I am very proud that you would take that into consideration." Celestia replied. "And don't think I won't let you join the royal guard, because of this. However, one day you will have to embrace your royal title, but thankfully it will not have to happen any time soon."

"Thanks for still letting me join the royal guard when I become eligible, Mom." Lockon said as he hugged her. "Let's go. I am pretty sure most of your subjects are going to be wondering where you are. Let's not make them worry any longer."

Celestia then nodded in agreement before grabbing the book about the mirror with her magic.

She was going to make sure that it, along with every book in the dark magic section would be locked away for good, so nopony should ever have to go through another situation like she had with her former student.

Changes

Lockon Astros and his new adoptive mother, known to everypony else as Princess Celestia, were currently in the Canterlot Cemetery. They were currently in the process of burying the bodies of Lockon's birth parents and his beloved older sister, Sapphire.

Lockon had personally requested that they be buried beneath the huge oak tree that stood in the center of the cemetery. Celestia took his request to heart.

After all three bodies were recovered, they were cleaned and healed of all scorch marks, but that was the only thing that could be done for them.

Before the coffins containing their bodies were sealed over top of them, Lockon placed a bouquet of blue roses each within the grasps of his beloved parents and older sister, all the while with tears streaming down his face.

Each of the three caskets were then lowered inside the freshly dug graves, which were then sealed and decorated with the properly labeled tombstones, all three of which sat next to each other side by side with the following names:

Star Sapphire

Jade Glimmer

Sharp Shooter

A lone tear escaped Lockon's eye as the graves were sealed, all the while Celestia laid a comforting wing over his shoulder in condolence.

They then headed back to the castle, where Lockon would spend what would seem to him like the remainder of his life.

Several days later…

"Nine hundred ninety seven, nine hundred ninety eight, nine hundred ninety nine, ONE THOUSAND!" Lockon strained through his mouth as he finished his wing-ups.

These were now a part of his new self-assigned training routine, which he had taken it upon himself to do as often as possible to stay in tip top shape for the day when he eventually tried out for the Royal Guard.

Then he immediately jumped up from his wing-up position to break into a fast gallop onto the start of the obstacle course used by the earth ponies and unicorns in the royal guard. At the moment, he was the only one on the course.

The course consisted of three high fences to jump over as well as three pits to jump across. It was in the pattern of fence, pit, fence, pit, fence, and then pit, with the fences increasing in height after each one with the pits increasing in length as well.

He jumped over the first fence and the first pit no problem. The second fence and second pit were each twice as high (or long) as the first ones, but Lockon still cleared the first two just as easily as the previous ones.

The last obstacles were the most difficult ones because they were three times as high and as long as the first set of obstacles. Lockon, however, was not a pony who backed down from a challenge.

He cleared the fence without even so much as bumping one of his hind legs on the top of the fence as he completed the jump over to the other side. The pit that followed was almost one hundred feet long. Hardly anypony ever made it across without using wings or magic to save themselves at the end, but Lockon leapt all the way across in one bound using nothing but his hooves.

"Yes! Nailed it!" He exclaimed in accomplishment after clearing it. He did not use his wings or his magic for two reasons. Firstly, he was still getting used to having wings at all and thus he did not even start learning how to fly yet. He suspected that he only flew out of instinct more than anything else his clash against the changelings on the night he obtained them.

Secondly, he also figured that when he finally became a royal guard, there were going to be times when he would not always be able to use his wings or magic. He did not use any magic or wing power on the obstacle course because he was training himself to the point where he could be confident enough to rely on his hooves alone in certain situations.

After that, Lockon trotted up to a different area where he came up to a bunch of large boulders. Each of them was at least double his height and weight.

Lockon then jumped ten feet into the air before bring his front hooves down on top of the first boulder, instantly smashing it to pieces.

Then he gave the closest intact boulder a powerful buck, producing the same result.

The last boulder that was still intact, Lockon used his magic to throw straight up into the sky. Soon afterwards it started to fall, dropping straight towards Lockon.

But Lockon was ready, for just before the boulder got within ten feet of him, he spun a full 180 degrees on a bit and drove his right front hoof into the center of the boulder, instantly shattering it, all the while not even suffering so much as a single scratch.

"Whoa." He gasped in sheer awe at the amount of physical power he just unleashed upon the boulder. "How can this even be possible? Even for an alicorn, this kind of strength seems pretty freaky. Then again, it might give me an edge in hoof to hoof combat."

Then he headed off to the targeting range, where the unicorn royal guards would polish their aim with attack spells. In the middle of the area was a special device that launched shooting disks into the air and then reloaded itself using magic.

Lockon positioned himself a few yards away from the device, before shouting "PULL!" at almost the top of his lungs.

The disk launching device then glowed with an artificially created magical aura before adjusting its angle, reloading and then launching several disks at once into the air.

Lockon charged his horn with his sapphire blue aura, before firing a quick succession of attack spells, all of which had hit their targets and leaving no traces at all.

This continued on for at least half an hour. Lockon had hit every single target that was launched. "Activate bull's-eye blitz mode." he suddenly said. The device then started reloading disks, but these were different from the previous ones.

Instead of being solidly colored all over, these new disks had black rings on them to make them look like targets, all the way down to the bull's-eye mark. The disks were also built to withstand immense damage, and would only break in a way where it just loses the piece of itself that the attack spell that struck it struck.

These new disks were loaded into the device, and then launched in rapid succession at various angles in all sorts of directions. Lockon just smirked in response to this as he fired attack spell after attack spell at each target patterned disk that was in midair, while turning at pace to match that of the launching mechanism.

He still hit every single disk before they even touched the ground. When he collected the disks to inspect them, he saw that every single one of them had a circular hole in place of what should have been their bull's-eye marks.

'Sweet Celestia!' Lockon thought to himself as he saw the results of his target practice. 'I knew I was good at this sort of thing, but I never even imagined I could be THIS good.'

Lockon then disposed of the disk fragments from his shooting session, and then headed back inside and towards the castle throne room.

He got there to find Celestia and another mare with her, but this other mare was unfamiliar to him. She looked to be about a year older than Sapphire was. She had a pink coat and a mane and tail that were dark-velvet with moderate-rose and pale-gold streaks. Her mane was tied up into a ponytail and her eyes were the most beautiful shade of amethyst purple Lockon had ever seen. The main clincher however, was the fact that this mare was also an alicorn.

"Ah, Lockon." Celestia acknowledged him as he walked towards her throne upon which she was currently sitting. "Glad you could make it. How was your solo training session?"

"It was pretty good." Lockon answered her. "I successfully leaped all three walls and all three pits. I am a little surprised at my own physical strength now that I am an alicorn, seeing as how I broke a few boulders with my bare hooves, one of which I only needed one punch to do so. As for my shooting abilities, they have not rusted at all. In fact, I even did a session with the disk launcher on bull's-eye blitz mode, and I hit the bull's-eye on every single target. I still can't fly yet though."

"Well," Celestia responded. "I know somepony who could definitely help you out with that."

Then she turned her head to nod at the mystery alicorn, who then walked forward with a sincere smile on her face.

"This is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." Celestia continued. "She recently became an alicorn not that long ago. She is going to be staying in the castle now as well. I thought it would be a good idea for you two to get to know each other. If it's not too much trouble, would you be willing to show her around?"

"Not a problem, Princess." Lockon said in reply before turning to Cadenza. "I can even start right now, if that's alright with Princess Mi Amore Cadenza that is?"

"It's perfectly fine, Lockon." She responded as she trotted down the throne steps to join him. "And please, call me Cadance."

"Alright then, Cadance." Lockon replied as they both turned toward the throne room doors. "Let's get this tour started then."

Lockon then began giving Cadance a tour of the castle layout, from the bedrooms to the royal guard quarters, to the kitchens and dining halls.

When they stopped for a moment, Lockon got a good look at Cadance's cutie mark. It appeared to be a crystalline heart that was a mixture of diamond and sapphire blue in color, with two golden branch-like things on either side of it.

"So Cadance," Lockon began, "before I show you the training area for the royal guard, I just want to know, how exactly did you become an alicorn?"

"Well," Cadance began to answer him, "before my ascension, I was just a normal pegasus who was found as a baby in the woods by Earth ponies. They took me to their village and raised me as their own."

"Then one day, this evil enchantress named Prismia cast a love-stealing spell on the village." Cadance continued. "She even boosted the spell with this necklace she always wore, which amplified the evil and jealousy within her own heart."

"I could not let the ponies I loved have their love for each other taken away from them like that." Cadance continued. "So I went and confronted Prismia. Luckily for me, her necklace also amplified the power of my love, which allowed me to defeat her. After Prismia changed her horrible ways, I was surrounded by magical energy and transported to this bizarre place. The next thing I knew, I had a horn on my head and I was meeting Princess Celestia, who then offered me to live in the castle with her as her adopted niece."

"My special talent has always been my amazing ability to spread love wherever I went - settling conflicts and bringing ponies of all kinds together." She pressed on as they got to the royal guard training area where Lockon just finished not too long ago.

"Now I understand why Princess Celestia made you a Princess as well." Lockon smirked slightly in understanding. "Skills like that should come quite in handy in the political aspect."

"What about you, Lockon?" Cadance asked him. "What's your special talent?"

"Well, Cadance," Lockon answered her, "my special talent is firing attack spells from long distances. I figure they could use that kind of talent in the Canterlot Royal Guard. In fact, I actually just finished a personal training session in this area not too long ago. I don't usually like to boast, but I actually cleared all six of those pit/wall hurdles in one bound each, smashed a bunch of boulders to pieces with my bare hooves, some with only one punch, and blasted apart attack spell target discs all in one shot without missing. And that was all after completing 1000 wing-ups."

"Wow, you really want to become a royal guard, don't you?" Cadance responded with an almost teasing smirk.

"Are you kidding?" Lockon replied. "It's always been my dream to be in the royal guard."

"What I don't understand is why an alicorn prince would want to be in the royal guard." Cadance responded in a confused manner.

"That's because I am not really a prince, Cadance." Lockon answered her.

"An adopted son of Princess Celestia who is self-conscious about his royal title?" Cadance said in a surprised tone, causing Lockon to tense up and freeze immediately afterwards. "My, what are the odds?"

"Whatever gave you an idea like that?" Lockon said in a slightly concerned manner.

"I could see it in your eyes while you were talking to her." Cadance said with a playful smirk. "That is the kind of look I see somepony get whenever they view somepony as a second mother or whatever."

"Which raises one question." She continued. "Lockon, how did you become her adopted son?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." Lockon answered her in a more depressed tone. "It's something much too painful for me, especially since it happened less than a week ago. The only way I can help you find out is by showing you. Follow me."

Lockon eventually led Cadance to a certain oak tree in the middle of Canterlot Cemetery. Once Cadence saw the three headstones, she became confused, but had a very good idea of where this was going.

"Were these dear friends of yours?" She asked in a worried tone.

"No." Lockon answered her. "These three ponies…are my parents…and my seventeen-year-old sister."

"Oh my gosh!" She cried in exclamation. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know. How did they die?"

"They didn't." Lockon answered her. "They were…they were…I can't even say it…"

Unknown to Lockon, Cadance used a spell to look into his heart and mind at the same time. What she saw brought her on the verge of tears as she gasped.

"You poor thing." She said as she wrapped her wings and hooves around Lockon in a comforting and consoling hug. "To have your entire family taken from you like that. I had no idea fate could be so cruel and unfair to somepony."

"You don't know how lucky you are Cadance." Lockon said with tears streaming down his eyes. "You might not have had any biological family to begin with, but at least that means you didn't have to go through what I have been through just less than a week ago."

"You should not have had to go through something like that either." Cadance said while tears were steadily streaming down her face. "Nopony should."

"I know." Lockon replied. "And that is one of the main reasons I want to join the royal guard as of now. To make sure that nopony else ever has to go through what I did. Of course, I'll never be able to do that if I can't fly yet. The most I can do with my wings is use them for wing-ups or hugs."

"Well, I can help you out with that if you want, Lockon." Cadance enthusiastically offered. "I was born as a pegasus so I know all about flying. I can teach you if you want."

"Really?!" Lockon asked eagerly. "That's awesome. I can't wait to get started. You know Cadance, I think we might actually end up becoming the best of friends."

"I couldn't agree more." Cadance chimed as she led Lockon to a place where she could easily teach him how to fly for the first time.