A Hollow in Rainbow Sand

It's been about three weeks since I got here. The locals seem friendly enough, I guess. They all have gotten used to me, but since I can't seem to rein in the hollow presence Ulqiora gave me, almost everyone is always a little tense, as if they are ready to run at a moment's notice.

Now from the civilians, I could understand and forgive this. After all, they are supposed to stay out of combat for the most part. But the thing that really annoyed me was that even the guards had this kind of reaction.

My eyebrow twitched as I watched how tense the guards were while I leaned against the wall in a shadowy corner towards the back of the throne room.

'That's it!' I thought as the last noble left, thus ending the royal court, 'This needs to be taken care of. These folks are supposed to guard the princesses with their lives, yet they are ready to run at the first sign of aggression!'

"Celestia, Luna..." I started out loud, thus gaining their attention, "...Can you clear the room? I need to talk to you and I don't want to risk the guards spreading what I'm about to say around."

Celestia and Luna shared a look before nodding and waving the guards out. Once it was only us in the room, the doors shut.

"Alright, we're alone," Luna said, "What's going on Jack?"

"Your guards suck ass, that's what's going on!" I replied heatedly, "Sure they put up a brave face, but whenever I enter the room they're ready to run and leave you two behind to save their own hides! If they can't handle my presence, then how are they going to react when a real threat comes along?"

Celestia seemed shocked by my language, but Luna had spent more time around me and was used to it. After a bit of time where she seemed thoughtful, she eventually sighed.

"You're right, Jack," Luna said with her hand massaging her temples, "The thing is, I don't know what we can do to fix it. Celestia, do you have any ideas?"

"Not really," Celestia replied with a shake of her head, "Jack, what about you?"

"I may have a few..." I said as I smiled evilly.

The next morning, at the crack of dawn I went into the guards' barracks. Shaking my head as I saw that they were deeply asleep, I used the only bit of Kaleidoscope magic I had mastered so far to pull out a crank powered air-raid siren and some earplugs. I could only pull out general, everyday items so far.

Quickly getting back on track, I put the earplugs in and placed the siren on the ground while the foam expanded to fit my ears. Once I was assured that all sound would be blocked out, I got on one knee and started turning the crank at high speed.

The guards all jumped out of bed and started running around in a panic before I pulled out the plugs and shouted "ATTENTION!"

Immediately after I shouted they lined up and stood as stiff as boards. Looking at their stances, I rubbed the bridge of my nose before glaring at them.

"I said ATTENTION soldiers! That means legs together, backs straight, hands at your sides and your heads held high! Is that clear?!"

"SIR, YES SIR!" They exclaimed as they altered their stances to my specifications.

I examined them once more and nodded. Then I started to pace in front of them, speaking as I did.

"Excellent! It seems you can be trained. Speaking of which, Princesses Celestia and Luna have authorized me to start your re-training. Yes, I said RE-training. The reasoning behind this is simple. You all right now, are feeling the presence given to me by certain powers that I have obtained. I am sure you have felt it to a lesser degree before."

I stopped and looked at them with a frown, "The reaction to the lesser amount of this aura, is why you are being re-trained. Your reaction was to ready yourselves, even if subconsciously, to run and leave everyone for themselves. Including the princesses you guard."

I noted that several of them had their heads down in shame, making me sigh and shake my head once again.

"Keep those heads up and let me finish, soldiers!" I exclaimed, startling them back into position, "Now, where was I? Ah yes, right..."

I started pacing again, which helped me to stay on track, "Now, I realize that this was an instinctual reaction. But, with the right training, those instincts can be ignored."

I looked over all of them, "I have gone through a lesser version of this training as I did not have instincts as strong as yours. You all, however, will be getting a version which is extreme even by my standards. I will not lie, it will seem that this training is straight out of hell. That means that you will hurt in ways that you have never hurt before, you will feel pain in places you didn't even know you had, and you will be exhausted to the point that you will want to pass out. If you are too scared to do this training, then you can stay here..."

I waited until I saw a few sigh and start to raise their hands before finishing, "...And write a resignation letter to the princesses that explains exactly how much of a coward you are. Just so you are aware, these resignation letters will be placed in tomorrow's newspaper. Thus you are very unlikely to get a job anywhere near here." I said the last bit with a devilish smirk, watching as those who had been about to quit paled and immediately got back into position.

The sound of screaming is surprisingly satisfying. I have no idea why...Maybe because of the training?

I watched as all of the guards attempted to run from my full presence, only to run full on into the electrifying bounded field that I had set up. For the fifth time. With a sigh, I brought my presence back again.

"ATTENTION!" I called, making them groan, though they didn't move.

"I said...ATTTEEEEEEEENNNNNTIOOOON!" I shouted the last word with a brief flare of my reiryoku. They quickly scrambled up.

"Now that's more like it!" I said with a nod, "Alright...From this point until I say otherwise, you are not soldiers, you are MAGGOTS!" The glare I sent at them stopped any protests.

"I understand that my aura is scary, but there are things out there with aura's far worse than my own!" I watched with hidden glee as they paled, "What would you do if you encountered such an aura, huh? I'll tell you what I think you would do. You would take your weapons and kill yourselves in order to get away! That's if you don't die of heart failure first!"

With a growl I put my hand on the ground, altering and enhancing them to go from a taser-like shock to something similar to a very low-level shock from an electrical outlet, along with a few sparks that would cause first-degree burns.

"Since it seems that a weak punishment like the last one didn't teach you not to run, then I guess I'll have to up the stakes," I growled out as I stood once more, "The injuries from this field will be more severe, and this time, I won't be healing you of any aftershocks."

The protests that came were turned into screams of fear and pain as I turned my presence back up to full and they tried to run again, only for the field to shock them again.

The training seemed harsh sure, but the idea was for them to associate fear with pain. Eventually, they would learn.

The guards groaned as they trekked back to their barracks at dusk. I called out to them just before they entered.

"Remember maggots, fear is the enemy. Stand proud and fight, and your legend will live on. The sooner you learn this, the sooner this training will end. For now, be here at the crack of dawn tomorrow, or I'll wake you up with yet another shock. And it won't be a mental shock either." The last bit was said with a smirk and another flare of my power, thus making them panic and start to fight each other in an effort to get inside.

I turned around and shook my head with a sigh before going into the castle to find my room so I could write up a report for Celestia and Luna to go over.