Chapter 16
Guardians of Eclipse Part 1

After the event of dealing with the robotic monkey known as Coconuts, Sweetie Belle and Rarity had been given a room in the castle to stay in until the next night when Luna could meet with them again. Rarity had been absolutely furious with Sweetie Belle and had given her a huge time out. Luna herself was not happy with Eclipse at all for somehow circumventing her protection spells and going out wandering with Sweetie Belle. She had decided that she'd give Eclipse her punishment the next night once she had met with Sweetie Belle and Rarity again. So it was that they had concluded the night by all turning in at daybreak to sleep.

Now it was the following night and Celestia had already been told about what had happened. Celestia had decided to leave it to her sister to deal with things as a sort of challenge for her. Celestia had gone about her day as she normally did sad that she had been unable to spend time with her sister and new niece. But now it was time for dinner for herself and she hoped with all her heart that Luna would be there with Eclipse. She walked to the dining hall rather quickly with high hopes and was happy to find that they were indeed there.

Luna was once again holding Eclipse in her arm as she used her magic to eat the food that had been brought to her. She looked up at Celestia with a warm smile as she entered.

"Hello sister. I hope your day went well?" Luna asked with a happy demeanor. She was basically cuddling Eclipse into her chest at the moment just glad that her daughter was safe and unharmed.

"My day went as well as can be expected sister,"Celestia replied with a smile. "Now how are you and my favorite little niece?"

"We are doing well. Eclipse understands that I had to punish her for leaving the nursery without my permission and wandering off by herself with Lady Rarity's younger sister. I decided that her punishment would be a long timeout to give her time to think. She told me what she did wrong and what she would do differently next time. Her punishment is over now so we came to eat and spend time with you sister," Luna explained.

Celestia nodded with a smile as she quickly placed an order with the waiter that came up to her,"Well that is good to hear Luna. Its nice to know that she's learned her lesson without you having to give her to harsh a punishment. May I please hold her?"

Luna smiled back,"You may as long as its okay with Eclipse." She turned her head to look down at Eclipse,"Would you like to be held by Aunty Tia?"

Eclipse looked up at her mother with a small happy expression and nodded her head,"Yes Mommy."

Luna nodded her head as she carefully got up out of her seat. She moved over to Celestia with a few steps as she moved her foreleg out in front of her. She carefully handed Eclipse over to Celestia as she warned her sister to be careful with Eclipse's neck. Celestia held Eclipse close to her chest with her foreleg as she smiled down at her. An electrical current seemed to run through Celestia's body as she held Eclipse and the feeling spread throughout her body. Unknowingly to her, a small piece of her soul had just been drawn into one of Eclipse's blank soul chips. But she thought nothing about the feeling as she continued to hold Eclipse. She nodded her head to Luna that she had this and she didn't need to worry. Luna went back to her seat so she could resume eating her meal.

Celestia smiled warmly as she gazed down at Eclipse,"Hello there my little niece. How are you doing today?"

Eclipse looked up at her with a small smile,"We are doing fine Aunty Tia."

Celestia nodded with a smile as she continued to cuddle little Eclipse. She moved a hoof and gently tickled Eclipse's stomach making her giggle happily. It wasn't enough to hurt her neck luckily. As she held Eclipse in her arm, her thoughts strayed back to the feeling she had experienced earlier when she held Eclipse. Now that she thought about it the feeling had been tinged with magic. And it held the aura of a pony she had thought gone or hoped was gone at any rate. It had been the aura of Nightmare Moon but it seemed to be garbled and strange. And then there was the fact that her new niece had a coat color very similar to Nightmare Moon's. And the whole moon cutie mark didn't help things in the least. There was also the fact that Eclipse was always talking in the royal We. Could her new little niece actually be Nightmare Moon reborn? She continued her graceful smile but decided to ask Eclipse a few questions.

"Eclipse I'd like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."Celestia said calmly.

Eclipse stopped giggling as she looked up at her aunt with her wide eyes. She blinked a couple of times before she quietly said,"Ok Aunty Tia."

Celestia smiled calmly,"Ok my young niece. Could you please tell me why you are always speaking in the royal We?"

Eclipse blinked at the question and had to think hard for an answer but winced in pain as she tried to think,"We talk this way because it feels natural Aunty Tia."

Celestia nodded her head and asked,"Do you remember how you got your cutie mark?"

Eclipse winced in pain again as she tried to remember just how she got her cutie mark. But the more she tried to remember the worse the pain grew. She started to cry a bit as she put her hooves to her head in pain. Her horn sparked a bit and finally she wailed,"We don't remember Aunty Tia. Please don't be angry with us. We are sorry we can't remember."

Celestia's small look of suspicion left her face completely as she looked down at the crying Eclipse in her arm. This drove any thoughts of Nightmare Moon out of her head. There was no way this young filly could be Nightmare Moon despite the magical simularities. She was just a young filly in pain who apparently had some memory loss to go with her injuries. Maybe that choking she had received had done something to her brain to cause her to lose her memories. Whatever the case was she couldn't just let Eclipse cry especially since Luna was right there glaring at her. She was quickly able to calm Eclipse down by telling her she wasn't angry or disappointed. She also told her there was nothing to be sorry about and soothed her with a cuddle and some nuzzling. Soon enough she was back to playing with Eclipse.

Celestia's food arrived and she took a break to eat her meal before going back to paying attention to her niece. She tickled Eclipse lightly some more making Eclipse giggle even more with a nice lilting high giggle. As Celestia continued to play with her young niece she felt a feeling of loneliness grow inside of her. She was glad that she had her sister back and a new niece to play with but she felt a hole in her heart that was slowly growing. She realized that she was slowly growing jealous of Luna being Eclipse's mother. She wished she had a child of her own to mother over and raise just like Luna was raising Eclipse.

Celestia kept her serene smile on her face as she quietly said to Eclipse,"I think its time we get you back to your mother so you can eat your dinner Eclipse."

Eclipse's cheeks puffed outwards as she pouted at Celestia,"But Aunty Tia We want to play."

Celestia smiled,"And we will at a later time. For now you should be eating your dinner so you'll have strength for tonight." With that she gently hoofed Eclipse back over to Luna.

Celestia finished her own meal as Luna carefully fed Eclipse as she didn't want Eclipse to move her head at all at the moment. Celestia got up from her seat before nodding to Luna,"I'll be heading to my chambers to sleep for the night Luna. I wish you good luck in your duties tonight. I don't envy you that."

Luna nodded with a small smile,"Thank you sister. I hope you sleep well. I wish you pleasant dreams."

Celestia gave her one more nod befor leaving the dining hall. Once outside in the hallway Celestia moved a wing to her chest as she took a deep breath,"Why is it that now I feel such jealousy? I have never felt the need to be a mother to a child. All my subjects are my children. So just why do I feel this hole growing in my heart?"

She sighed to herself as she continued to walk along to her chambers. It wasn't to long before she was inside of them. Once she was, she quickly got into her bed and fell asleep to the soft ticking of a mechanical clock on the wall of her room.

A couple of hours later, Luna was sitting on her throne in the throne room with night guards standing at attention all about as she told the guards to let Rarity and Sweetie Belle inside. The guards did as they were told as they used their magic to open the big golden doors. Rarity lead Sweetie Belle inside of the throne room wearing a fancy dress that she had of course made herself. Sweetie Belle was also stuck in a dress of Rarity's design that she really didn't like wearing. They both bowed to Princess Luna till Luna had them rise. Luna spoke up softly to them.

"Thank you for coming Lady Rarity and Sweetie Belle. I wish to resolve the events of last night peacefully. I believe that you have already given Sweetie Belle a punishment of her own Lady Rarity?" Luna asked.

"Indeed I have Princess Luna. I gave her a huge timeout and no sweets for the next month,"Rarity spoke in a firm light tone.

Luna nodded,"A fitting punishment. But that is not the main reason that I asked for you all to be here for. The examiner's who watched you take your test Sweetie Belle have told me how it went for you. And I am happy to tell you the results of your test as I know you have not yet received them."

Sweetie Belle looked up at the Princess in anticipation,"What were the results Princess Luna?"

Luna gave her a small smile,"You passed the test with flying colors. You are high above the average unicorn who takes the entrance exam test. You came close to being at the same level of power Twilight Sparkle was at when she was your age taking the test. That is something to be admired and complimented. As such you will need a mentor who knows more than the teachers at the school. Sadly my sister is not taking any new students at this time. So I hope that you will consider letting me be your mentor Sweetie Belle. But keep in mind that I would also need the approval of your family before I could fully take you on as my personal student."

Sweetie Belle gasped in surprise at this revelation,"Really princess? You'd like me to be your student?"

Luna nodded her head as Rarity spoke up,"My goodness princess. Are you sure? I'd love for you to be her teacher but she could do just as well at the school I'm sure. We don't want to take up your valuable time."

Luna continued to give off her small smile,"Yes I would Sweetie Belle. And it would be no trouble at all Lady Rarity. I would simply be giving Sweetie Belle a lesson for an hour every night. Sadly that is the only time that I truly have to teach her."

Rarity's own smile slipped to one of unsureness,"Well if your sure Princess then it would of course be fine. But I'm not exactly sure how you would work things out. Sweetie will be staying with my parents here in Canterlot so that she can attend school while I go back to my shop in Ponyville."

Luna kept up her calm smile,"I will be able to work things out appropriately Lady Rarity. I just need the permission of your parents to fully accept Sweetie Belle as my personal student."

Rarity nodded her head as Sweetie Belle danced around Rarity's hooves happily. "I will talk with my parents about this Princess. We will have an answer for you as soon as possible."

Luna inclined her head,"Very well. You two may go now. I have an audience with a stallion who I had to summon back here sooner than expected."

"Of course Princess. Thank you for taking the time to see us." She turned to Sweetie Belle,"Come along Sweetie. Its time for us to go." She strotted off out of the throne room with a still giddy Sweetie Belle following along behind her.

The doors closed behind them after a moment leaving Luna alone with her daughter. Eclipse had been quietly listening to the whole thing as she cuddled into her mother's arm. She had of course been hidden from view by Luna's wing as Luna didn't want to let Eclipse out of sight after the debacle the previous night.

The doors to the throne room opened up a moment later to admit the next pony that Luna had summoned to see her. And that pony was none other than the stallion Night Shade, who had been at the party the previous night. Night Shade was looking rather nervous as he approached the throne room. Luna had levitated a set of papers up in front of her to read through rather quickly. Her eyebrow raised slightly at a few of the things she read before she lowered it and moved the papers away from her. She gave Night Shade a calm smile as she began to talk to him. Night Shade was currently in a bow before her.

"Please rise Mr. Shade. Thank you for coming back so quickly. I apologize for summoning you here without much warning but I felt this meeting could not wait. If you could I would love to hear that song you wanted to sing for me. Afterwards I'm afraid that there is another matter I must speak with you about."

Night Shade rose from his bow as he listened to Luna. He stuttered a bit,"O-of course P-Princess Luna. I'd be honored to play my song for you."

He pulled his guitar off his back as he brought it around in front of him. He sat on his haunches as he quickly strummed a few chords. His ears twitched as he realized that the strings were out of tune so he was forced to retune them. Once he was satisfied that the strings were in the correct scale he quickly strummed them before looking up at Luna.

"Ok princess I'm going to begin singing now with your permission,"He told her with nervousness in his voice.

"Of course Mr. Shade. You may begin when you wish."Princess Luna replied to him.

He nodded as he strummed his guitar and started to play his song. The first part of the song just seemed to be a calming instrumental of a sort that started to put little Eclipse to sleep. Then he started to sing.

"Oh,im standing in the dark,sad and alone
wondering how I got here.
Oh how, could it have come to this,
Unlightened and heartless
Oh please,tell me...
Oh please tell me... "

He had drawn out the oh's in his versus to give them a bit more emphasis and give the song a more somber feel. His music then started to get a bit louder as he played some more notes before the chorus.

"Oh I beg of thee,
please set me free,
Cause im cold and all alone and I dont know where to go,
Oh please set me free
Cause im standing on my own,and im so far from home
Oh please set me free "

Again he drew out the O's in his chorus to give more emphasis to them. But when he hit the word free in his chorus his voice went up a few octaves. He continued to play for a bit more before starting in on the second verse of his song.

"Now,the rain is falling down,the lightning flashes round,
Is this all I have to give,is this all that is left of me (Draws out the me abit)
I would trade it all away today,if it meant I could see your face again.
So I wander all alone,in this dark and covered landscape I call my home.
But whats this I see,I think it may just be."

He once again played the small bit of music before the chorus as his music became a little louder for the chorus once again. A smile had grown on his face as he continued to play his song and got himself lost in the music.

"Oh..I beg of thee
Please set me free,
Cause im cold and all alone and I dont know where to go,
Oh please set me free
Cause im standing on my own,and im so far from home.
Oh please set me free"

He played a small solo after he finished the chorus a second time. The notes drifting through the air. The louder music had kept Eclipse from falling asleep and brought her back to wakefulness instead as she listened to the song. A frown had crossed her face as she listened. It sounded oh so lonely and sad to her. Finally, Night Shade stopped playing his guitar altogether as he sang the third verse with his voice alone.

"Could this be it,the light thats left me all along,
Could this be it,the happiness I wanted long,
Could this be it the one to take it all away-ay-ay-ay
I think it just may be,the one for me"

His voice went higher and higher with each ay he sang in the word away. Things became sadder and sadder it seemed to Eclipse. She just didn't know what to make of the song other than to start softly crying. Night Shade resumed gently playing his guitar as he continued along with his third verse.

"Oh..now im no longer all alone
Now I can finally find my way back home
Oh now im no longer all alone
I can be happy once again,I have finally found a friend
I have been set free."

He continued to strum his guitar as Eclipse continued crying. But she realized what this verse was about and her tears had changed from ones of sadness to ones of joy. She was crying happily as she listened to the words. Night Shade started to slow down his playing as he sang the final words.

"Oh..I have been set free
Ohhh I have been set free
Oh...I have been...set...freeee"

He finished the last free word in his song by swiping his hoof downwards across all the strings one final time. He let his hooves come to a rest as he cradled his guitar before him. Luna's expression during the song had turned to one of sadness and heartache but perked up as she listened to the final verse. Now she was calmly looking down at Night Shade with an unreadable expression. After a few moments she finally trusted herself to speak.

"Mr. Shade that song was very beautiful. I thank you very much for coming here to sing it to me on such short notice. But if I may ask you something. Just what was your intent in writing this song. What is the meaning behind it in your own words?" She seemed very pensive at the moment.

Night Shade gave a wary smile,"When I wrote this all I could think about at the time was lonelyness and not having any friends at all. So I wrote this song about a stallion who was lonely and walked about in a world of darkness. But eventually he found someone who cared about him and that helped him to see the light again."

Luna nodded her head,"It is good to hear your own words behind the creation of the song and what it is about. I want you to realize that there are many ponys around that would be lucky to be friends with a stallion such as yourself. You need only reach out to make connections with them."

Night Shade's smile slipped to one of shyness and nervousness as he looked up at the Princess,"Well. I like to meet other ponies and talk to them but its really scary to actually go up to them and try to talk. I prefer to stick to the background rather than be in the spotlight. I was able to approach you so easily Princess because I figured you'd know or understand what it was like."

Luna graced him with a small smile,"Indeed. I know what you have been experiencing. Your song has my full approval and I will let all the studios know that it does. You should have a much easier time of getting your songs published after that."

Night Shade's smile grew to one of happiness as he replied,"Thank you so much Princess. This is a dream come true for me."

"Indeed Mr. Shade. However there is one other matter that I must talk with you about at this time," Luna replied with a more serious expression.

Night Shade's smile dropped right off of his face as he looked up at Luna with nervousness,"Of course Princess."

Luna nodded her head again,"Good. I have read through some reports that my guards have compiled on you or retreived for me. I find it odd that a musician of your talent does not have a musical cutie mark. So after reading the reports I know why that is. It seems you have quite a talent for using a scythe as a weapon. I read the reports of the Lonely Mountain massacre. It seems that you were quite good at defending the remaining pony's at the time from the diamond dogs. I realize now why you did not speak up about your role in it. That was a terrible tradgedy that I hope is never repeated again. It warms my heart to know that you will defend others when you need to and not seek fame or recognition for such actions."

Night Shade cringed and tried to hide behind his guitar as the Lonely Mountain Massacre was mentioned. All sorts of memories of that time flashed through his head as he closed his eyes with a wince. "With all due respect Princess I would really rather not talk about that incident right now. There are to many painful memories involved in it for me."

Luna winced,"I am sorry for mentioning it but I felt that it must be done. The matter I wished to talk with thee about was about employing you as a guard. And no I do not mean as one of my night guard. I would like to employ you as a personal bodyguard for my daughter Princess Eclipse. You are a cut above my own night guards and I feel you would be most suited for a job like this. You do not have to accept the job but I would be most grateful if you did."

Night Shade was blown away completely by what Princess Luna was saying to him. However a deep frown crossed his features as he listened to Princess Luna,"thank you for the complement on my fighting abilities Princess Luna but I'm not sure about a job like that. I'm all for protecting others especially someone like the princess in your arms but I really don't want a repeat of the incident from before."

Luna's eyes actually took on a pleading look as she replied,"We understand Mr. Shade but sadly I don't think my own guards can do the job as well. My daughter managed to sneak by a large amount of them and I'm sure someone with your qualities would be able to keep an eye on her all the time. You are one of the only ones I can ask to do such a thing."

Night Shade sighed as he fell into deep thought for a moment. It was unlikely that he would ever have to be in as bad a situation as the massacre again in his lifetime if he were guarding such a young princess. He probably wouldn't actually have to fight all that much if at all as much as just keep an eye on her. He looked up at the anxious princess before him. Finally he let out another deep sigh as he replied to Luna.

"Very well Princess Luna. I guess I could accept the job. The night has always seemed to agree with me more anyway."

Luna gave him a soft smile,"Thank you Mr. Shade. I am only asking you to guard over her a couple of days during the week. I realize that you have your own life to attend to and I don't want to take you away from that. I am only asking you to watch over her Monday night through Wednesday night. I would of course have a room set up here in the castle that you could use when you stay in Canterlot."

Night Shade nodded,"Thank you princess. I guess I will accept after all." He put his guitar on his back,"Besides I'll need to come to Canterlot anyway to publish more of my songs with the studios.

Luna nodded,"Indeed. You will also be receiving a good amount of bits from the crown for watching over our daughter when we are unable too. Thank you again for coming. I hope you have a good night my little pony."

Night Shade nodded before starting to leave the room,"Your welcome Princess."

Luna spoke up quickly,"One last thing Mr. Shade. We would like you to start tomorrow seeing as how tomorrow is Wednesday night."

Night Shade let out a sigh,"Can do Princess. I will see you and Princess Eclipse then." With that he left the throne room quietly yet quickly. The doors closed with a clang behind him leaving Luna alone in the room with her daughter and guards.

Luna sighed to herself before looking down at her daughter only to smile as she realized that Eclipse had fallen into a half drowsing state. Her eyes were struggling to stay open as she continue to look up at her mother. Luna chuckled down at her,"Rest my daughter. I will wake you again in a bit."

With that Eclipse's eyes fell completely closed as she fell asleep. Luna sighed as she turned to the pony in charge of her schedule. She had a long night ahead of her but she would spend as much time as she could with her daughter. So she got along with the next thing on her schedule.

The following morning Princess Luna was in bed asleep with Eclipse on her chest again. Over in Ponyville two of our resident heroes were going about their own lives. Poor Swift Shot had recovered enough with Rainbow Dash's help to actually move about again. Granted that he couldn't move around that well due to the chest injury but he was getting better. His cybernetics had ended up being fixed by a mechanic that new about them and he had bee helped further with the addition of a special cybernetic piece attached to his chest. It was designed to help speed up natural healing and could be able to be taken off in a couple of days. Swift Shot was actually looking for a new job as he had been basically fired from his old one due to being to injured to work. The place where he had worked just couldn't afford to keep him on staff while he recovered. So they sadly had to let him go without him being able to do anything.

As for Jack Hunt he had been fighting the different monsters that kept coming to Ponyville. He himself hadn't encountered any inter-dimensional villains strangely enough but that was all well and good. He actually had to head into Canterlot today to see about picking up a package for himself that couldn't be sent to Ponyville. Jack was going to be getting to Canterlot using a Soul Unison form. He had decided to use the Megaman Zero soul chip in order to get to Canterlot.

He was currently inside of his house with his Archiver visible and the satchel on his side. He reached inside of it with a hoof and fished out the right soul chip which he promptly slotted into the Archiver. He then pressed the green button on his Archiver as he held his foreleg in front of him. His Archiver beeped with a message for him to read but he only barely looked at it. All he cared about was how long he'd be able to hold the form for. He would be able to hold this form for the next 30 minutes. He nodded to himself as he spoke out loud.

"Hero of the Reploids and Neo Arcadia rise again to give me strength! Soul Unison, Megaman Zero, Zero soul chip!" He grinned as the orb of blue light surrounded him.

He closed his eyes as he felt the changes begin to his body. It happened exactly the same way that it had with Shattered Souls when he had used that chip the first time. He shattered the blew orb around him to reveal himself in Zero's armor. His grin grew as he accessed a form of power for this armor he had stumbled across by accident. Just how he had unlocked the form was beyond him but he didn't really care about that right now. He grinned as his coat color turned completely black as did the armor itself. His armor became reminiscient of the original Zero's Absolute Zero armor. The helmet had shifted to include a huge batlike wing on either side of the helmet as two huge bat wings extended from his back. His hooves had each gained a deadly set of large black hoof claws that he could use to tear into his foes. He opened the door to his house carefully and exited before closing the door behind him. He looked around quickly to see if there was anyone around and when he was satisfied he pushed off into the air quickly.

He blasted off at such speed that there was a small crater left behind where he had taken off. There was no one who would be able to keep up with him beyond maybe Rainbow Dash. He sped along through the air at hight speed looking like a large black bullet as he sped towards Canterlot. He landed on the mountain at such high speed that he created large gusts of wind behind him when he landed. Luckily for him he had been moving so fast that no one had noticed him. But his impact did create a loud thud that left behind a decent sized crater. He quickly dismissed his transformation to save his magical energy or least that is what he tried to do.

He had in all actuality landed right in the middle of the School for Gifted Unicorn's combat spell firing range. And the place was so full of old residual magic from so many combat spells that it messed with his Soul Archiver. And even more unknowingly to him was that this is where once upon a time Celestia had come to refine combat spells of her own along with an old friend she had at one time in the distant past. His soul Archiver appeared on his foreleg and started to spark dangerously as lines of electricity flowed outwards from it. Jack frowned as he watched it and tried to dismiss it.

The Archiver started to glow with a dangerous light as he frantically tried to dismiss it. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't make it disappear back to where it should be. Then with a great explosion he was covered in bright light as his form was warped and twisted. The Zero soul chip was ejected from the Archiver right before it overloaded and it landed in his satchel but it was to late for Jack himself.

Once the smoke of the explosion faded, he was revealed to still be glowing white as his form shifted. He grew much smaller than he should be as his body was forced to revert to its true form of a half dragon hybrid. The residual magic surged around his changing form and seemed to be absorbed into it. The strongest of the residual magic was a soft glowing yellow and a brilliant platinum color. These two different residual magical auras combined into his form with all the others.

Finally he stopped glowing as his new true form was revealed for all to see if there had been anyone around at the time. He had a small set of stubby little dragon horns coming from the top of his head right between his pony ears. The horns themselves were a nice golden ivory color that seemed to twinkle and shine in the sunlight. He had a set of soft scales running down his back that were a brilliant platinum color. The scales continued to run down the little dragon tale he had in place of a normal pony tale. His tail ended in a small blunted little blade that was curved. The underside of his tail had smooth skin instead of scales and it was a nice soft aquamarine color. He had normal pony fur on his legs and underbelly as well as his neck and head. His coat color was a bright stark white the same color as Celestia's fur. He had a set of small fangs running down from his upper mouth that seemed to be dragon fangs. And he had a nice red colored mane running down his neck. Overall he had turned back into a foal the age of 4 that was still incredibly young.

He looked around and then down at himself before his eyes grew wide.He ran one of his hooves along his face and chest before looking around for a source of water. There was a small pond off to the side of the range that he managed to make his way over to while stumbling. He looked down into it to see his reflection and what he saw caused his ears to lay flat against his head in mounting fear. There before him was a completely different hybrid than before yet still similiar to his old self. He sat back as thoughts raced through his mind on what could of caused this. He finally settled onto the idea that his Archiver had something to do with it. He grunted as he concentrated on his magic and got it to appear on his foreleg. The machine beeped with a message for him to read. He looked down at it and did so.

What it said was this,"Error. Error. High amounts of residual magical energy were detected. All residual magical energy has been consumed by host. The magical energy reacted to this unit in a way that was unanticpated. Once the user tried to deactivate the Unison the residual magic interfered with this unit and caused an overload. This unit's power source was overloaded causing the residual magic to be absorbed by the user thus mixing with the user's own magic. This caused the user's magical signature to be changed and thus a new form had to be given to the user. The user's current form is one that can handle and process the vast amounts of magical energy the user now possesses. This new form is the user's new true form and the user will revert back to this form after any transformations."

Jack's eye twitched at the message that he had just read before looking up at the sky and letting out one of the loudest screams heard thus far. Actually it sounded more of a mix between a roar and the Royal Canterlot Voice,"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The scream was more than loud enough to reach all the way to the castle's throne room where Celestia was currently holding day court. The scream was then followed up by a huge pulse of magic that felt more divine in nature. Celestia looked towards where she felt the source came from only to see nothing out of the ordinary. She turned back to the ponies in front of her as she spoke up,"I am sorry my little ponies but there is a matter that I must attend to at once."

The ponies in front of her blinked at her standing up from her throne. One was a noble while the other was just a common mare. The noble spoke up with a haughty tone,"Princess surely the matter you speak of can wait? This is more important than anything else after all. This mare owes me a new designer coat after she spilled that tea all over me."

Celestia sighed internally as she kept her serene smile on her face,"I'm afraid that it can't wait Lord Moneybags. I will settle this case upon a later time. I am sorry about having to reschedule this but it will simply have to wait. Until then I am afraid I will have to ask you to return to your home."

The noble spluttered,"But Princess. Surely you can work this out now!"

But by this time Celestia had already walked past Moneybags and the poor mare. She left instructions with one of her guards to see the mare settled in a guest room until she had time to talk to her later. She quickly moved out of the throne room afterwards as she walked towards the castle gates. Once she had reached the outside of the castle she decided to forgo the castle gates in favor of flying. Two pegasi guards followed right behind her as she took wing. She went straight towards the source of whatever she had felt.

As she grew closer to where she felt the source had come from, she could hear the sounds of a foal crying ahead of her. This made a feeling of urgency spread throughout her frame as she called back to her guards,"Hurry. There might be a foal in danger."

The guards gave her a nod as she sped up to reach the sight as fast as she could. She landed with a thump on the ground leaving a small crater where she had landed as she frantically moved to where she could hear the crying. She couldn't feel anything malevolent nearby but that did not mean there wasn't. Her horn charged up with her golden aura as she prepared a spell just in case. She looked around for the source of the crying foal only to stop as her eyes widened in surprise.

There before her on the ground by a small pond was a half dragon hybrid the likes of which she hadn't ever seen before. She narrowed her eyes in thought for a moment as she listened to its crying. She noticed the platinum scales that the foal had running down its back which reminded her deeply of her old friend. But there was just no way that this foal could somehow be related to her old friend....right? She moved closer to the poor crying foal as her horn's charged spell was switched out for another one that ran an indepth scan without the foal noticing.

She stopped a little ways from the foal as the results were fed back into her head. The results were just screaming impossible to her yet at the same time it appeared true. According to the scan this foal was indeed related to her old friend and on top of that related to her. The scan's information kept screaming at her that this foal was somehow her biological son. The scan further said that the relationship this foal had with her old friend was as her old friend's son as well. She rubbed the bridge of her nose for a moment before shaking her head and approaching the foal again.

"Hello there little one. Are you okay?" Celestia quietly asked the crying foal.

The foal's sobbing cut off immediately as he turned to look up at her with an expression of surprise. Once his eyes had made contact with her own the both of them froze as it seemed a line of electricty sparked from their eyes to each others. Both of their eyes widened before the foal's eyelids started to droop downwards as if he was suddenly sleepy. Celestia's eyes had glazed over completely as she felt instincts within her stir deep inside. She walked over gently to the young foal and carefully picked him up with her hooves. She neslted him in the crook of an arm as the guards watched on with surprise and silence. She leaned her head down and ran her warm tounge over his face as his eyes became a little glazed themselves and he leaned into the tongue licking. Just like with Luna, she was claiming him as her own son to be raised and cared for by her. An electrical tingling feeling filled Celestia as she continued the ritual unknowing that a small piece of her soul had just been pulled into a soul chip. It was just like earlier that morning when she had held Eclipse in her arm. After the ancient ritual was over both of their eyes went back to normal as the new bond formed inside each of them.

Celestia blinked in surprise after she realized what she had just done but she just couldn't bring herself to care at all. She leaned down and nuzzled the young foal as she asked,"What is your name young one?"

Jack Hunt looked up at her with his wide eyes for a moment before his brain jumpstarted. He quietly replied,"Jack Hunt."

Celestia smiled,"That is a wonderful name but would you be ok if I gave you a new name. I have accepted you as my son."

Jack Hunt nodded his head after a moment. He knew he'd just been accepted as her son and his own past while it would never be forgotten was over now. So he might as well make a new fresh start with his new mother. He slowly nodded his head as he looked up at her,"Yes mother."

Celestia's smile became even more motherly as she gently nuzzled his cheek,"Very well. Your name shall be Solaire Dawnclaw my son."

Jack grunted in appreciation as he rubbed his own cheek along Celestia's,"That sounds good to me mother."

She nodded,"Then that is your new name. Now let us get you back to the castle where you will be living with me. Oh did you happen to see anything scary out here my son?"

Jack shook his head,"No. I just felt all alone out here. I didn't have any parents before you and I've been trying to live on my own.

Celestia sighed and shook her head,"You are far to young to be out on your own. I am glad that I found you." She turned to her guards,"Search the area just in case there is something he didn't see. I will be returning to the castle with your new prince."

The guards saluted her before moving off to start searching the area. Celestia spread her large wings as she held Solaire closer to her chest. She took off in a rush of air as she made for the castle. All of her subjects in the streets stopped what they were doing to look up and watch as she flew overhead. Many of them smiled and waved at her as she passed leaving her to wave with her free hoof as she flew. Solaire remained quiet as she flew along in the air back towards the castle.

Finally, Celestia reached the castle as she touched down on the steps leading inside. She quickly made to head towards her private chambers as she looked down at Solaire with a smile,"I can't wait for you to meet my sister and her daughter my son. I am sure you'll end up loving them just as much as I do."

Solaire's own smile grew bigger as he looked up at her,"I have more family?"

Celestia nodded her head with a smile,"Of course my son. You have an aunt and cousin. Your cousin is around your age but a little younger. You'll also have to be very careful around her. She's hurt in a way that makes her rather delicate."

Solaire's smile fell as he looked up at Celestia,"Is she going to be alright mother?"

Celestia gave him a gentle sad smile,"Sadly the most damaging injury she has will probably never heal fully Solaire. We believe that she will always get hurt rather easily because of the injuries she sustained."

Solaire gained a frown on his face that marred his features,"That is really sad mother. I'll just have to protect her to make sure she doesn't get hurt again."

Celestia's sad smile was replaced by a genuinely happy one,"That makes me very happy to hear Solaire. For now we need to get you cleaned up and then presented to the nobility and the rest of my subjects. You are a prince now after all my son."

Solaire blinked in surprise but nodded his head,"Ok mother."

So with that Celestia went on to give him a bath that he really needed due to him having made himself dirty by being by the pond. And afterwards she ended up calling another unplanned meeting to introduce her son. That went a lot better as compared to the meeting before where Eclipse had been introduced. And then of course she called a press meeting that went even better than the meeting with the nobles. Solaire was adored by everyone because he was so cute and looked even more adorable when he tried to act courageous in front of everyone.

So it finally arrived at the time where it was getting to be towards evening so it was almost dinner time. Celestia had not had Luna woke up for the new discovery because she wanted it to be both a surprise and because she knew Luna needed her sleep alongside the still recovering Eclipse. She was currently walking towards the dining hall with a rather hyper Solaire on her back. He seemed to be looking around everywhere with quite a bit of energy. It looked like he wanted to go around everywhere just to explore but he was thankful a young colt that listened to her. Then again she did have a lot of experience in dealing with foals in the first place with her school.

Celestia opened the doors to the dining room with her magic and smiled once she moved inside. Luna was sitting in her seat yawning a bit as she worked to wake up completely. Her foreleg was of course still crooked and her wing was held out over her leg to hide Eclipse from everypony's view. Celestia smiled as she looked back at Solaire before using her magic to gently levitate him into her arm as she used her wing to hide him from view. She leaned her head down to him to whisper.

"Ok my son. I'm going to surprise my sister with you so I need you to remain quiet for a bit ok?"

He nodded his head,"Ok." He looked up at her with adoring and trusting eyes as she made her way over to the table.

Celestia sat down in her customary seat at the table as she quickly placed several order quietly before turning to Luna. "Good evening sister. How are you and young Eclipse fairing?"

Luna yawned not really looking at Celestia just yet,"We fair just fine sister. Eclipse is actually still asleep which is why I am keeping her covered with my wing. How did you day go?"

Celestia warmly replied,"It went a lot better than I thought it would. Something qutie interesting happened to me."

Luna took a sip of rejuvenating tea which helped her to wake up more than before as she replied,"Oh and what would that be sister?" She turned her head to look at her sister then. A puzzled expression made its way onto her face as she spoke up,"Tia why are you covering your foreleg with your wing just like me?"

Celestia smiled,"That's part of the interesting thing that happened to me. I have a pleasant surprise for you." She moved her wing out of the way to reveal Solaire who looked at Luna with wide eyes,"Say hello to your new nephew sister. I have a foal to call my own now as well."

Luna's eyes widened even further before she turned her head to Celestia again,"Sister what is going on here? Where did you find this young one? Where are his parents? Did you just adopt him because you were jealous of me and Eclipse?"

Celestia maintained her calm happy smile as she replied,"Its just as you see Luna. I did not adopt him because I was jealous of you. I will admit to feeling empty when I looked at you and Eclipse. I wished I had a child of my own at the time but I was never jealous. And I found young Solaire here outside of the city at my school's battle magic firing range. He had no parents Lulu. That is one of the reason's why I adopted him. I also ended up falling prey to my instincts when I encountered him sister and the next thing I knew I had already accepted him as my son."

Luna frowned for a moment but nodded,"Ok. But surely he had to have parents."

Celestia shook her head,"No. I ran a scan to determine who his parents might be but found something interesting. It would appear that he is somehow my biological son. I do not know how just that he is. And his father would be an old friend of mine who you never met because of your exile. His biological father is another immortal like the both of us but a dragon as you can guess."

Luna blinked as she fell into thought,"Who was this friend of yours Tia? I can't imagine that you actually courted him or he courted you."

Celestia chuckled,"You would be correct. We were only ever friends. My old friend is a dragon you may have heard of. His name is Bahumat and he is the god of all the good dragons that belong in another world."

Luna nodded her head after a moment,"I recognize that name. I believe he had a hand in creating that world you speak of. I did not realize that he would have been able to come here. I'm glad that you were able to make friends with him Tia."

Celestia gave her a warm smile,"Indeed. We still send each other letters every now and then. I'm still waiting on his next letter actually. But onto other matters. Would you like to meet your nephew? His name is Solaire Dawnclaw."

Luna nodded her head,"Indeed I would like to meet him sister." She carefully ate some of her food before she continued,"But at the moment I would like to eat. Then I will come closer."

Celestia nodded as she sat Eclipse on the seat next to her after she had a booster seat brought out for him to sit on. He happily dug into the meal that was brought to him as Celestia started to eat her own food. Luna was quietly eating her meal as she woke up Eclipse gently. After Luna had woken up Eclipse, Luna proceeded to quietly feed Eclipse herself before finishing her own meal. After she had finished her meal, Luna turned to Celestia again. She got up out of her seat and ended up sitting in the seat right next to little Solaire.

She smiled softly down at him as she spoke up,"Hello there young Solaire. How are you doing?"

Solaire stopped eating for a moment to look up at her as he smiled widely,"I'm good. You must be my new Aunt."

Luna chuckled,"Indeed. I am your Aunt Luna. I'm guessing your mother already told you that you have a cousin as well?"

Solaire nodded as his face became more somber and serious,"Yes. Mother said that my cousin is injured. Is she okay?"

Luna's smile became strained,"She will be fine. Her physical wounds will mostly heal but I doubt that the wounds done to her mind will heal as easily if ever."

Solaire frowned,"I'm not sure what you mean by wounds to her mind but I don't want her to be hurting. Can I see her?"

Luna's strained smile continued,"I believe so. Just let me ask her." She stuck her head under her wing and whispered quietly to Eclipse before withdrawing her head. She went back to a genuine smile when she looked at Solaire,"She would love to meet you Solaire."

Solaire's frown was replaced with a happy smile,"That's great."

Luna chuckled again before she removed her wing from across her foreleg to reveal young Eclipse. Solaire's eyes widened when he took in the appearance of a filly with a dark blue coat with a white frosty type mane. He could see she had her own regalia on which made her look cuter. But he frowned when he realized that he could see the imprint of something around her neck. It was mostly covered up by the torc she was wearing but he could still tell it was there because it had slipped down her neck a bit.

Still Solaire kept his smile on his face as he waved to Eclipse,"Hi there cousin. I'm Solaire nice to meet you. What's your name?"

He was finally looking into her brilliant soft blue eyes when a flash of recognition passed through his mind. He briefly registered that this young filly was none other than a transformed Shattered Souls. But that recognition quickly faded as if by magic and once again all he saw before himself was a young alicorn filly about his age. He was hoping she'd reply to him in a happy tone herself.

Eclipse herself was immediately able to recognize Jack after a moment despite his change in form. Still she felt the feeling of peace and safety settle around her as she gave him a small smile. She lifted a hoof and gave a tiny wave back to him as she spoke up softly.

"Its nice to meet you Solaire. My name is Shattered Eclipse."She had uncurled herself a tiny bit as she looked down at him from her mother's arm.

Solaire smiled happily,"That's a wonderful name. I hope we can get along and play together."

Eclipse's small smile remained as she replied,"I do too Solaire. But I don't feel up to playing to much at the moment." She curled back up in her mother's arm as she cuddled back into it.

Solaire nodded his head before Luna carefully moved her wing back over Eclipse. Luna smiled gently at Solaire,"I think that is enough for now young Solaire. Your cousin needs her rest right now. She is still recovering from an ordeal she had a couple of days ago."

Solaire nodded his head,"Yes Aunt Luna. But I promise I'm going to do my best to make her smile. I'll protect her from anything that tries to harm her." He puffed out his chest as he said this to make himself look more intimidating. All it did was make him look cute and adorable instead.

Luna chuckled at him as she pat him on the head gently,"Of course you will Solaire."

Solaire yelped a protest before he puffed out his cheeks in annoyance at having been pat on the head by Luna. Luna continued to chuckle,"Sadly I must be going now in order to go about my duties and take care of your cousin."

Solaire sighed and pouted,"Ok Aunt Luna. I want to play with my cousin soon though."

Luna smiled,"You'll have a chance in the future young one."

Solaire kept his pout up as he replied,"Yes Aunt Luna."

Luna chuckled again before she got up from her seat and nodded to Celestia,"Its time for me to go sister. I wish you and young Solaire a good night's sleep."

Celestia nodded her head,"Indeed. Have a good night Luna."

Luna inclined her head in reply as she quickly moved out of the dining room leaving Celestia with her new son. Celestia smiled as she turned to Solaire and said,"Well my son. We should be getting to bed now. We have to be up early in the morning after all."

Solaire nodded to her after a moment as he ate the remains of his dinner. Celestia picked him up in her hooves before setting him on her back. She moved off to her chambers where she was quickly able to get Solaire to sleep before she lowered the sun for her sister. As she stood there in the dark she sat by a candle and drafted a letter to her old friend. She quickly sent it off via dragonfire through a special portal that was designed to reach wherever he was. With that done she turned into bed herself for the night.

Luna was now moving towards her throne room in order to meet with another pony that she had summoned for that night. It was a pegasus from Ponyville with mechanical legs that one of her night guards had noticed and reported on. It seemed that he was recovering from a recent injury he had received from fighting off some sort of mechanical dragon that had appeared. He had come out on top with some help supposedly but the fact that he had been able to help was enough for her to summon him to see about a job for him.

She sat down on her throne quietly as she looked around to her night guards, who were stationing themselves in their places. After they were done getting in position, Luna signaled the door guards to open up the doors to let the recipient in. The pegasus that came through the door was of course Swift Shot and he looked better than he did before. He came further into the throne room and dropped into a bow before Luna.

Luna spoke up,"Rise good pegasus. I wish to congratulate you on your victory against the mechanical beast a couple weeks ago."

The pegasus nodded,"Thank you princess. But I did have a lot of help in taking it down."

Luna nodded her head,"Indeed. Well I will be giving my congragulations to the pony who helped you as well. Thank you for coming to answer my summons on such short notice. There is a matter I must speak with you about of great importance."

Swift Shot looked nervous,"What about Princess Luna?"

Luna's look became even more serious,"I need somepony who will be able to look after my daughter when I am unable to in the course of my duties. I do not feel that any of my current night guards beyond my captain and Lieutenant would be able to watch over her effectively. From the reports my guards gave me you are quite the capable fighter even if your not trained for combat very well. I would like to offer you a job watching over my daughter a couple of nights in the week."

Swift's eyes became bigger,"Princess that is a huge offer. Are you sure you want to make that offer to me? I'm sure there are plenty of other ponies out there who would be better suited."

Luna replied calmly,"I did make the offer to one other stallion who accepted it. He will be watching my daughter on Monday through Wednesday when I am unable too. You are the only other capable stallion that I can find to help guard my daughter. It would be a great help to me if you would accept."

Swift took on a thoughtful appearance as he stood there in front of the princess. He did need a new job to replace the one that he lost and this could actually pay better than his previous job. He didn't want to have to depend on Rainbow Dash all the time after all. So he looked up at the princess and asked,"Well what nights would I be working and how much is the pay?"

Luna replied,"You would be working Thursday through Saturday and the pay is 30 bits an hour because watching an Alicorn filly is a big job."

Swift's eyes widened in surprise as he heard how much it payed. That was three times more than he made on his own back at his previous job. He spoke up quickly,"I can do it Princess. Thank you for offering me the job."

Luna nodded her head,"And I thank you for accepting. You will be given a pass to ride the train to get to and from Ponyville when you need to. You will also have a room set up for you here in the castle when you are staying to watch over my daughter."

Swift nodded quickly,"Thank you princess."

Luna gave him a soft smile,"You are welcome. One of my guards will lead you to your room for the night. I bid you a good sleep."

Swift nodded happily as he turned to leave and was led away by a night guard. That left Luna in peace in the throne room with Eclipse. She smiled as she happily nuzzled Eclipse's cheek gently as Eclipse did the same due to Luna having used the enchantment on her torc again. Luna just cuddled her daughter for a good amount of time as she sat on her throne. She was waiting for the new guard she had hired the previous night to arrive for his shift. He wasn't late but would be soon if he didn't hurry up.

Ten minutes later when it was nearing 8:00 at night she finally heard the hoof steps of a frantic stallion coming towards the throne room. She figured that this was probably Night Shade who was very close to being late. The hoof steps stopped outside the throne room doors because they were of course closed. Luna gave the signal to the door guards to open it up and admit the stallion. The guards nodded before opening up the doors to admit Night Shade.

Night Shade moved into the room still panting a bit after having run all the way from the train station to get here in time. He had a rather large scythe strapped to his back with his guitar strapped on top of it. The scythe itself was unusual because the blade was a bright red due to it being made of a very rare metal known as Adamantium. The haft appeared to be made of a rather thick wood that would not break easily and the blade seemed to just sprout from the top of it. Night Shade moved further into the throne room before falling into a bow.

"Night Shade reporting for duty Princess Luna,"Night Shade panted as he heaved for air.

"Ah Mr. Shade. It is good to see tha tyou were able to make it. Please make sure to arrive in a more timely manner next time so as not to wear yourself out before your shift even begins. As it is you managed to arrive early which I am impressed with. Thank you for your diligence."

Night Shade nodded,"Of course princess." He stood back up fully with her permission.

Luna continued to speak,"As it is my duties will be consuming a fair amount of time tonight. So if you would please follow me to the nursery that would be appreciated."

Night Shade nodded,"Of course."

Luna carefully picked herself up from her throne before descending the steps to walk past Night Shade. Night Shade walked behind her closely with his scythe swinging from side to side. He ended up following her to nursery as she walked along rather quickly. Finally, they reached the nursery after about a 10 minute walk through the large halls of the castle. Once there Luna went about strengthening her enchantments to make sure that Eclipse wouldn't be able to bypass them.

After she finished strengthening them, Luna walked over to the middle of the nursery as she fed more power into the enchantment on Eclipse's torc so that it would last the next 5 hours. An hour had passed since she had used the enchantment tonight and the power she had just added would cause to last 5 more hours instead of just another 2. She set Eclipse down on the ground as she kissed Eclipse's forehead.

"I have to go see to my duties my daughter. I will be back later tonight so that we can spend some more time together. I need you to stay here for now while I'm gone. You have plenty of things to do while your here and if you need anything new just ask one of the nice mares that will be in the next room." She pointed to an adjoining door that was on the inside of the nursery that led to the next room where a couple of nursemaids were on standby just in case.

Eclipse looked up at Luna with a frown but nodded her head,"Yes Mommy." She looked around at all the different toys there were to play with while she sighed internally.

Luna smiled gently down at her before standing at her full height again,"I will be going now then. That nice stallion from the other night will be here watching you as well. If you ask nicely maybe he'll play you a few songs on the instrument that he brought with him."

Eclipse's blinked as a small smile graced her muzzle,"That sounds nice Mommy."

Luna's muzzle lifted into a small smile as well,"That is good. I really must be going now daughter."

She quickly turned and left with one last goodbye before leaving the room. She motioned for Night Shade to go inside the room and stay there with her daughter. Once he had, Luna closed the door behind them and moved off to attend to her duties. She actually had to go through night court tonight as well as patrol the dreamscape. She had fallen a bit behind on her work as she comforted and spend a lot of time with Eclipse and she had to make up for that now.

Back inside of the room, Night Shade was looking down at the small princess as she stared straight back at him. She seemed rather uncertain about him at the moment but as the seconds ticked by a small smile slowly appeared on her muzzle.

Night Shade was smiling softly himself as he looked at her,"Hello there princess. How are you this fine night?"

Eclipse spoke up softly,"We are doing fine thank you. That is a nice looking instrument sir." She was pointing at his guitar.

Night chuckled as he pulled it off his back,"Oh this old thing? I've had it for a couple of years now. Do you like music?"

Eclipse nodded her head,"We do. Umm...Could you play something please?"

Night smiled softly,"Of course princess. I'm guessing you'd like to hear something nice and soft?"

Eclipse nodded again,"Yes please. I don't really like anything loud. Sorry." Her ears drooped at the last statement as she made her sorry.

Night continued to smile,"Its alright Princess. Ponies have different tastes in music. I bet from all that you've been through you just don't like loud things in general."

Eclipse just gave him a small nod of her head in reply. He strummed the strings of his guitar a bit,"Well then its no problem at all. I believe I know a few songs that you would like to hear." With that he started to strum the strings of his guitar more as he launched into a gentle song.

What he ended up playing was a song that he had heard elsewhere from another pony. And that song just so happened to be a song about the two sisters so of course the song was none other than Lullaby for a Princess. The song flowed around in the air about the two of them. Eclipse listened silently as she held onto a stuffed animal that she had found lying around. Her ears twitched as she listened to the music. As it continued to play a wave of exhaustion washed over her. The song seemed to make her incredibly sleepy for some reason.

The song finished a bit later and luckily Eclipse was still awake. Her eyes opened more fully as the song ended and she became fully aware again. She smiled up at Night as she spoke up,"I really liked that song mister. Thank you for playing that."

Night chuckled,"Its no problem at all. Its just a song I happened to hear from someone else. And you can just call me Shade or Mr. Shade if that helps."

Eclipse's small smile grew a bit bigger as she continued to look up at him,"Thank you, Mr. Shade. Um could you play another song please?"

He nodded his head as he strummed the chords of his guitar again and launched into another song. This one just so happened to be a song that he had heard from yet another pony. The song just so happened to be Children of the Night and not the metal version. This was the nice soft version that helped Eclipse to relax as she listened. She cuddled the stuffed animal in her grip even more adorably as she looked up at him. He couldn't help but smile as he sang thanks to her adorableness. Soon enough he ended the song and her small smile was just a tiny bit bigger.

"Thanks again Mr. Shade."Eclipse said with a bit of a warm tone. "I really liked your singing." Her voice was still very quiet and shy but unlike fluttershy one could hear her a lot easier.

Night Shade smiled warmly himself,"I'm glad that I could help you feel happier princess. Now why don't you go ahead and play with a couple of the toys in here. I have to let my voice rest before I can sing for you again."

Eclipse nodded slightly as she turned to the toys in the room. She was able to find toys to keep herself occupied for a while so that Night Shade could rest. Night Shade set his guitar gently against the wall as he set his scythe alongside of it. He silently watched her playing with a smile on his face. He was able to rest comfortably against the wall. But he frowned when she suddenly froze and stopped playing.

She turned to face him as a feeling of electricity flowed through her body. There was that feeling again letting her know that he was a candidate to become a soul warrior. She blinked as she sat down on her rump while she extended her foreleg in front of her. Night Shade frowned at the action and was about to ask her why she was doing it when with a flash of light Eclipse's Archiver appeared on her foreleg. His expression shifted to one of confusion as he suddenly perceived the machine was humming.

The Archiver quickly scanned him while it processed all the data from the scan it was receiving. Then after a moment it beeped with a message for Eclipse to read which she quickly did. The message said,"The unicorn Night Shade is a viable candidate for becoming a soul warrior. Magic levels are optimal. Synchronization rates are optimal. Level of darkness and Light are troubling. This unit does believe the candidate could become a soul warrior but letting the candidate become one comes with great risk. This unit's scan revealed that the subject could be heavily influenced by darker forces. It is possible that in the future said candidate could fall to darkness completely. Candidate could possibly be redeemed if such a thing happened but the chances are slim. Does the user wish to continue with the current process?"

Eclipse quickly pressed the yes button that appeared on the screen. Admittedly what the message said did worry her but she wasn't going to let that stop her from giving this world another protector. She could protect herself she felt but the world never stopped needing more protectors. After she pressed the button the red beam of light emitted from the Archiver onto Night Shade's left foreleg.

Night Shade had no idea what was going on at the moment and he wanted to ask a question but once the red beam hit his foreleg he stopped. He froze as he felt an electrical tingling feeling spread throughout his body. New information was somehow transmitted directly into his brain on what was going on. He received all the knowledge on what a Soul Warrior was and what they had to do. He frowned as he poured over the information quickly with his mind. He didn't like to fight at all but this could be very useful in helping to defend the innocent and others if need be. And besides that was the point that Princess Eclipse was rather fragile and would be fragile even if she used her own Archiver. She would not be able to take hits well at all. If anything Eclipse was more of a glass cannon and it was his responsibility to protect her. So as the feeling filled him and his mind on whether he wanted to be a soul warrior he mentally told himself yes.

With a flash of light the beam grew brighter for a moment before cutting off entirely as the spell from the Archiver took hold of his magic. It drew heavily upon his magical reserves as a new Archiver took shape on his foreleg and a satchel appeared on his side. A certain soul chip flew up into the air in between the two of them to reveal just what kind of soul chip he could use. The soul chip hanging in the air was none other than BlackWarGreymon's soul chip. After a moment it flew back into Eclipse's bag but it had helped determine what kind of soul chip he could use. With another flash of light the Archiver finished taking form to look just like Solaire's own Archiver.

That meant his Archiver was also a model 2 but the biggest differences were that instead of Solaire's cutie mark his Archiver held his. And on top of that there were motifs of different pony's on it that seemed to be wielding what looked like dark magic or different dark weapons. A set of soul blank soul chips flew from his bag to hover in front of them as they glowed. Images appeared on them of beings he'd never seen before. One of them appeared to be a giant dragon of some sort that looked creepy. His Archiver booted up with a beep as it came online. It hummed for a moment before beeping again with a message for him to read as the display came to life.

He read the message and this is what it said,"Archiver mark 2 boot up successfully completed. Registering user.....User is Night Shade the unicorn. Welcome Night Shade to your new Soul Archiver. Your specialization is using warriors who fell to darkness but were redeemed but still retained their dark powers. You have the potential to be a general user but as per the requirements of the soul warriors there can only be one general user. As such you have been relegated to a specialization most suited to you. Please keep in mind that you are very susceptible to dark influence so you need to be careful. With that this unit wishes you luck in your endeavors as a new Soul Warrior."

Night Shade blinked in surprise as he looked down at the message but shook his head after a moment. He quickly dismissed the message with a flick of his hoof before grabbing the still floating soul chips right out of the air. He slid them into his satchel before leaning back to look at Eclipse again. This wasn't something for him to sort out right then so for now he'd just go about doing the job that Luna assigned to him. Eclipse was actually back to playing with the toys like nothing had happened at all. Her own Soul Archiver had disappeared without him noticing leaving her looking innocent again. His own Soul Archiver disappeared with a small flash of light a moment later as it wasn't being used and had become inactive.

Night Shade decided that for now it would be best just for him to think about other things and watch Eclipse. So with that the hours passed as he watched over her and played a few more songs for Eclipse. There was a time she knocked on the door to the nursemaids room where they ended up taking her to the little filly's room before bringing her back to the nursery. She then went back to playing with the toys until close to 5 hours had passed in total since they had come here. She could feel the enchantment on her torc slowly losing its power. The pain in her neck started to return so she moved over to the crib that was in the nursery. She felt and knew that she was to old for such things but she really needed someplace to lie down for the moment so she didn't overtax herself.

Eclipse climbed into the crib with a grunt as she lay down comfortably on the small mattress inside of it. Night Shade came over and moved the bars up till the connected with the rest of the crib to keep her inside. He then put the special cover over the top of the crib before he knelt down next to the bars of the crib.

"I don't know why you decided to crawl in here but this should at least offer a bit more protection for you." Night Shade said softly.

The enchantment in the torc wore out completely after Eclipse had laid on her back in the crib with a blanket over her. Her head rested on a pillow as she replied softly,"Its because We hurt. Our neck hurts to much without the spell Mommy uses to take away the pain. We needed to lie down to deal with the pain. We might as well nap since We are in here anyway."

Night Shade sighed as he listened,"Ok then. I hope you feel better in the future princess. I'll just be keeping watch out here while you get some rest."

Eclipse spoke up softly one more time,"Thank you Mr. Shade." After that she quickly drifted off into the land of sleep as she rested in the crib.

Night Shade went back to leaning against the wall of the nursery as he looked at her sleeping in the crib. He grunted as he tried to think of something he could do. Finally he got up from the wall again and knocked on the nursemaids door till it opened. Once it did, Night requested a couple of books to read while he continued to watch over the sleeping princess which the nurse maids happily got for him. So he settled back down as he pulled one of the books in front of himself with his hooves and started to read it.

Celestia was in a deep sleep in her own chambers under the cover of her blankets with little Solaire resting on her chest. But unknowingly to her sleeping form, Solaire himself had woken up. He had woken up because he was disturbed by a great surge of magic he had felt. It was a familiar type of magical energy to himself and upon thinking for a moment on his mother's chest he realized that it was the feeling of soul magic and a new Soul Warrior being born. This in turn caused him to think that something was wrong if a new soul warrior just had to be brought into being just then.

So he had wiggled out of Celestia's surprisingl strong yet gentle grip. He had quickly put a pillow in his place on her chest to make sure she wouldn't wake up and go looking for him. After he had done, Solaire had hopped off of her bed and headed right for the door to her chambers. He frowned as he stuck out his tounge in concentration as he reached for his magic. Thankfully for him he still retained knowledge on how to access his magic so his horns glowed with a soft golden light as he opened up the door quietly and gently.

Surprisingly, there were no guards on the outside of the door so he was able to just walk right on out. Solaire shook his head with a frown because he felt that the guard was getting to sloppy if they had forgot to post guards outside his mother's door. He walked straight for the source of the magic he had felt hoping it would lead him to the new soul warrior. But as he walked along his new childish mind flitted to other thoughts until they settled onto one thing in particular. His new cousin Eclipse was the subject of his thoughts now.

He couldn't help but think about how frail she had looked to him. She also seemed incredibly shy and afraid of everything. He hoped that he could get her to come out of her shell eventually. Sadly, only time would be able to tell if he would be able to get her to open up to him. For now he had to find her before anything else found her. He felt that she would be a prime target if any inter dimensional threats were to appear. He just had to protect her from anything that could be a threat. So that was another reason to find the source of the soul magic he had felt. That meant there could be a villain nearby that could hurt her.

So with that he took off running towards the source of the magic he had felt not even aware that there were no night guards in sight. It was actually rather strange that there were no guards at all around. You'd think that they would be busy patrolling the castle and whatnot. But he quickly managed to make it to the source of the soul magic only to stop an frown at the door that was barring him entry from the place where he wanted to go.

He shook his head as his two horns glowed softly again as he tugged on the door. He was satisfied to see it open a crack. He could hear the sounds of somepony inside the nursery. He strained his ears as he neared the door to try and make out who it could be. He heard a rustling and it certainly didn't sound like the dress a nursemaid would wear in a nursery. And he also didn't see any guards in sight. He knew the guards would be standing outside the door if they were on watch. So to his mind the rustling he heard inside of the room was that of an assasin. He could feel the magical presence of his cousin inside of the room so she knew she was in there.

He started to growl as the magic around his horns grew brighter and he practically slammed the door open. Once the door hit the wall of the hallways outside with a loud slam, Eclipse woke up from her sleep with a squeak of fear. She looked about scared to try and find the source of the noise as her mind slipped into a sort of trance. Her aura became that of one who was exteremely frightened and scared and Solaire easily picked up on this. To him it only confirmed that an assassin was in the room trying to get at her. It never registered with him that the cause of her fear had been him slamming the door open.

He ran into the room only to encounter a stallion at the ready who held a large red scythe in his magical grip. He growled at the stallion whoe blinked for a moment as he looked down at Solaire. After a moment, Solaire heard the stallion finally speak up.

"Huh. Its only another young foal. That's no threat at all." The stallion lowered his scythe a bit.

Solaire immediately spotted Eclipse in the crib and ran over towards it. He placed himself between the crib and the stallion in front of him as he started to growl. "Don't come any closer. I won't let you anywhere near my cousin. I won't let you harm or kill her."

The stallion blinked confused before replying,"Now see here little one I'm not here to hurt her. I'm actually guarding her."

Solaire growled,"As If I'd believe that. Leave now or I'll make you." He could already feel a growing bond with his cousin forming inside of him.

The stallion sighed and lowered his scythe entirely,"I'm telling you the truth little one. Now we should probably get you back to your mother. I'm guessing that would be Princess Celestia. I'm sure if she found you missing that it would worry her.

Eclipse's fear was still constantly radiating as she watched the two of them talk. Her mind was trying to pull itself out of the fear it was in but just couldn't. So all she could do was tremble as she continued to lie in the crib. Solaire noticed her trembling and to him it was because she was scared of this stallion.

He turned his attention back to the approaching stallion as he growled,"I warned you to leave. Now i'm going to make you leave."

He concentrated on his magic which made his Archiver appear on his foreleg as he continued to glare at the stallion. The stallion stopped where he was as he blinked in surprise as the sudden appearance of the Soul Archiver. Solaire quickly reached into his satchel with a hoof to pull out a soul chip. It was the Zero soul chip again which he quickly slotted into the Archiver. He pushed the button on the Archiver causing it to hum for a moment before beeping. He quickly skimmed the message that appeared.

It read,"Megaman Zero soul chip at full capacity. Soul Unison program on standby. Synchronization rate is at 90 percent. Time to hold form......40 minutes. Please say initiation phrase."

Solaire continued to growl at the stallion in front of him as he spat out the phrase he needed,"Savior of the Reploids and Neo Arcadia help me rise again!" Soul Unison, Megaman Zero soul!" With a flash of light he was surrounded by the blue orb of light.

He closed his eyes as he felt the changes happen to him. They were just the same as if he had been in his old unicorn form with except some minor changes. One of the minor changes was that the helmet had formed around his small dragon horns. And the second was that there was now armoring running down his tail leaving his tail blade exposed. His tail blade had also grown incredibly sharp as a green line dance along the blade meaning energy of some sort. Furthermore he had grown back to adult age and height as he stood within the orb. And there was also red wing braces along his wings to act as armoring as well. there were also little jets within those braces that could help him maneuver in the air easily and give him small bursts of speed. He lashed out with a hoof which shattered the orb.

He stood before the stallion in his new form which was still a half dragon hybrid. He growled at the stallion,"I told you'd that I would make you leave." He stood up on his hind legs more easily than most ponies due to his draconic heritage. He didn't feel any pain in his spine especially when he pulled the Z saber out of nowhere. He growled as he continued to stand in front of the pony before him with his Z saber in a battle stance.

The stallion raised his scythe up again as he spoke,"I don't know what's going on here but I guess I'll have to beat you to get you back to the colt you really are. I tried to tell you it was all a misunderstanding but you wouldn't listen. At least now that your an adult I won't feel any guilt from knocking some sense into you."

Solaire growled dangerously before he pushed off the floor and dashed across the room towards the stallion as he swung his sword. The stallion moved his scythe into position only to yelp in shock as the Z saber slice right through the hard wood cleanly. Solaire then proceeded to knock the stallion in the side of the head hard with the flat of his his blade. This sent the stallion flying out of the room at a high speed before impacting against the floor of the hall outside.

And this is where we will be leaving our heroes for the moment. I think now is a good time for an intermission. Its a little evil don't you think. But don't worry they'll be back in the next installment. The thing to keep in mind here is that Eclipse has gained new guardians to protect her and Equestria. So until next time have a good day.

Author's Note

Hey everyone. So with the advisement of my beta readers I decided to split this particular chapter up into two parts. I had way to much to put into this chapter and I didn't want it to be one huge thing. So this is just part one. So let me know just what you liked about the chapter in comments down below or send me a female OC to use for my story. Also the song in this chapter was not done by me. All credit for it goes to the user ShadowWolf112. So thanks for that. See you all next time.