Harvester Of Souls, Bringer Of Hope

Zemrite laid in bed as he stared up at the ceiling with Celestia curled up next to him with an arms over his chest. It was in the middle of the night and he had just woken up from a dream spending time with Luna so that both of them could be happy. But something forced him out of the dream realm and back into reality. He carefully moves her arm away from his chest and to the side before carefully sliding out of the bed. Celestia reached out for him in her sleep mumbling cutely. This made Zemrite give a silent chuckle before his slides a body pillow in her arms which she immediately wraps in her four limbs. He quickly dons his usual cloak and armor before making his way outside onto the balcony. Luna, who could sense his troubled mind through the dream realm was quick to join him at his side. As she knew when something bothered him, it was something that possibly meant trouble for someone else.

Just as Luna made her way to his side from flight, several cloaked figures emerged from the shadows and a few more seemed to have dropped out of thin air. Luna was a bit taken back by this, but noticed they all turned to Zemrite and gave a light bow before one of them spoke.”Mentor, it is as you thought. It seems that the enemy has sent a force to either capture or kill their soldier that you had taken prisoner and interrogated. One of our crawlers saw and overheard this while patrolling the outskirts of Canterlot earlier this evening.” Zemrite crossed his arms and gave a nod in response.”And is that crawler here with us now?” Zemrite asked. A shorter hooded figure stepped closer to Zemrite and spoke up in a soft and shy tone of voice.”Y-yes, Mentor. I am..the one w-who found this but of i-ntel…the force in question appears to be a small platoon of elite soldiers. S-some wearing heavy armor while the rest appeared to be fitting with leather, probably similar to our own combat specialists. B-but its nothing we can’t handle, I am sure...” She said while fidgeting with her fingers. Zemrite nodded again and placed a hand on her head and gently gave it a few pats.,”Excellent work. Your quiet nature is one of the reasons why you make such a good crawler. Do not worry, I know you are afraid of combat. Head down to the sanctuary and make sure to let the others know what’s going on. We will need to move quickly to resolve this.” He then looks to the others”As for the rest of you, keep an eye on the force that has come. The will most likely find a way to slip past the guards.”

“At once, Mentor.” they all said in a hushed tone so as to not wake Celestia up from her slumber. Luna on the other hand, stared at her future husband with a look of surprise and confusion. She snapped back into reality and crossed her arms under her bust with a look of ‘You better explain.’ at Zemrite. Zemrite sighed and simply shrugged his shoulders, “You would have been the first to find out eventually, Lulu. But that is the ‘secret division’ i had spoke of to you and Tia. Just as you and her govern the day and night, i now govern the shadows, and have been ever since I started this up.”. Luna looked down at the ground for a moment, then back to him before walking up to him and burying her face into his neck, wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace,”Why..did you feel the need to hide this from us…? Don’t you trust me and Tia..?” she asked in a shaky voice, as if she was about to start tearing up. “Lulu, of course I trust you and her. I love the both of you so damn much. But you and her have so much on your plates every day and night, that I worry for the both of you. And dealing with things like this when they come up and involving Twilight and her friends only puts stress on them and even more on you and Tia…” he then takes hold of her hands and laces his fingers with her, this making the alicorn blush and bring her teal gaze to his own.”..you and Tia don’t have to do this alone. My shadows and I will not allow a single pony to be awakened this night or any other by those fools, nor any enemy that tries to cause harm. But..I need to go now, Lulu. My shadows need me so that we can make sure that this gets taken care of. Don’t worry, I will be back soon. You return to the dream realm and do as you normally do as if nothing is happening. All will be just fine.” he said as he leans in and kisses her lips in a loving manner before disappearing into the shadows. All while this was going on, Tia was silently listening to what was being said as she had been woken up by Zemrite’s and Luna’s conversation. She laid there, bringing the body pillow that had her lover’s scent on it close to her body as if she was squeezing him for dear life. SHe was upset at first, but those words that he spoke to Luna made her realize that he truly and genuinely loves the both of them so very much. Luna sighed and turned to look at her sister,”Tia, I am sure you caught everything that he had said. What are your feelings on his words?”. Celestia sat up as she continued to her the pillow close to her body, her gaze trailing to the open balcony to look at her sister,”All this time...he was doing it for us. No, not just us. For Twilight and her friends. All for Equestria and its innocent citizens. Who knew that this stallion…our stallion who was shrouded in complete darkness upon his entry into our world would become someone who took the shadows out of our lives and made them into his own to protect us and everyone else. Even despite risking his own health and life, He never falters with how many injuries he acquires. He has so many scars that even our finest doctors can recover him from. But in all that, he doesn’t stop.”.

Luna sighed and took a seat next to her sister with her hands in her lap, leaning in close to rest her head upon her sister’s shoulder,”You know, ever since he came into our world, that stallion has brought a lot of crazy things with him. Dreadwolves, greenskins, large colossal light guardians. And yet, he doesn’t complain one bit when it comes to the things we have going on in our world either. I truly wish I had the kind of patience he does. I wanted to be mad at him for keeping this a secret from us. But..I just can’t.”Celestia wrapped his sister in a one armed hug, the two of them enjoying the fact that their lover, however or whatever he may be is a noble soul under the shadow vortex that surrounds his heart.

Zemrite walked through the main corridor of the sanctuary he had been secretly building in the unused catacombs that Princess Cadence and Twilight were imprisoned in by the changeling queen years ago. He was heading out towards the main entrance which a horde of hooded figures behind him. The steps as silent as the grave. And in each of their hands was a custom made mask hand carved by each individual. And of course, Zemrite has his own in his hand, “F4rom the shadows, we strike those who threaten our peace. But it enemy nations or enemies within our own. Remember to watch each other’s backs and stay in your teams. Flyers and runners, once the enemy spreads out to seek out their target, take them down one at a time. Crawler, use the shadow crawling spell to quickly remove the dead bodies from the area and transport them to the burning pyre. If you are confident that you can make the kill before your partners, do it quickly. And above all, I want each of you to return here alive. Is that clear?”. “Yes, Mentor!” they all shouted before putting their masks on, Zemrite then places his own on his face,”Make sure these masks are the very last thing these fools see.”.

With those last words, the living shadows soared in all directions into the sleeping city. And just as he thought would happen, the enemy had spit up into smaller groups to cover more ground. And Zemrite’s shadows have done exactly as they were ordered to. Soon enough it was down to just the commander who was now standing in the middle of the city square alone. The fear on his face was evident as he searched for any of his men. The shadows have plunged their blades or arrows into his troops, and the crawlers have dragged them into the darkness, never to be seen again. All while not disturbing a single pony’s sleep. “What the fuck is going on..? Where are the others?!” he asked as he kept turning around, frantically looking for any more of his men. However, the only thing that he could see now was Zemrite approaching him. His mask in full view and the icy blue eyes glowing behind it brought a chill to the commander’s spine as he got closer and closer, “Your soldiers are dead and soon to be burned into ash. And you will be joining them ...” He said as he now stood several feet away from the commander. The stallion was quick to pull out his staff and slam it into the ground. It radiated a burning light that started to hurt Zemrite. It caused him to growl and step back a few feet. But a smile formed on his face under his mask”You may know my weakness, but look around you. Your fate is sealed.”. The commander’s hand is suddenly pierced all the way through with a black arrow, the staff falling from his grip as he falls to his knees in pain. His gaze lifted up to the rooftops to see hooded ponies surrounding the whole area. And half of them with arrows trained on him,”Your spells may work on me. But I have a whole army here who can dwell in the darkness and live in the light with no issues at all.”. He reaches into his robe and pulls out his favored dagger, ‘Demon’s Demise’ and twirls it around in his hand as he now stood in front of the commander who looked up at him as if he was staring into the face of death,”Let your cult send more of its soldiers. We will do the same to them as we have done to your own. And now, I send you to wherever it is that your souls go.”. With a quick swing of his blade, he slices his throat clean open, jugular and all. The blood hisses as it spews out from the cut like a water hose that had a hole in it as he falls to the ground, twitching and convulsing before becoming limp and lifeless.

He takes his blade and swings it downward to get the blood off it with one quick swipe before placing it back into his robes. He calls forth a couple of his crawlers to take the body to the pyre and begin the burning before he sends them all off back to the sanctuary. Meanwhile, Zemrite makes his way down to the prison cells under the castle and makes his way to the cell that held the stallion he had interrogated a week prior to this event. He leans against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest as he speaks to him,”Your cult sent elite soldiers to come and free you. But we both know that wasn’t their true motive now was it?” The stallion looks up from where he was sitting. He looked tired, like he hadn’t slept for days,”And...my family?” he asked as if expecting the worst. But, Zemrite simply smiled,”They have no idea that they came. In fact, no one in the city does. Not even the guards themselves. But to answer your question, yes they are safe and sound. And the sooner you full renounce your allegiance with the Ordine De Lux and give me every grain of information you have, the sooner you can be reunited with them.Your wife keeps coming to ask for you and she is only growing more and more worried by the day.”

Zemrite waited for an answer from the stallion. But did not receive one. He simply shrugged and started to make his way back towards the exit of the cells,”Very well, enjoy your time here a while longer then. I don’t see why you even waste your energy and health protecting those that tried to not only kill you, but the ponies that you hold so dear ion your life.”. He gets nearly out of hearing range before he suddenly hears the stallion call out to him,”Wait! If you are a stallion of your word..I...I will tell you everything. Just please...I want to go back to my family…”. Zemrite stopped and turned back around made he way back to the cell. He leans into the bars and stares intensely at him. It was clear that he was being serious about helping him.”If you give me all I need. I truly am willing to release you to your family. But know full well that I will have eyes on you at all times should you go back to your cult and tell them everything you have told me. And then you won’t have to worry about coming back here. I will have you cut down and buried in a shallow grave where the wild life can dig you up and feast on your corpse. Do we have a deal?”. He reached in with extended hand waiting for the stallion to accept it. He reaches up and takes Zemrite’s hand and gives it a shake and nods his head. Zemrite nods and calls out to one of the guards,”You there, bring this one some food and fresh water. And when his finishes, take him to the interrogation room. A few of my shadows will be speaking with him. And after they are done, they will be releasing him.” he said before turning his attention back to the one in the cell. “By the way, I told your wife about what you had been doing behind her back. She knows what you have been doing and what cause you have been under while being a guard for this city. But...despite that. She is willing to forgive you if you stop serving that cult and live a normal life for her and your child’s sake.” He looked up at Zemrite and simply lowered his head before nodding”So she was even willing to forgive me for that..? I have truly taken her love for granted all this time…”

Zemrite watched as the guard came with a tray of food and a large glass of ice cold water.”Eat up and get some rest. My shadows will be coming to get you soon.”. As he starts to make his way off once more, the stallion calls out to him once more “Thank you...for protecting my family from them. I never would have ever thought you’d even care…” Zemrite turned with a smile on his face.”You see, Shatter Shield. Being a monster has its uses. But that doesn’t mean I have to be a monster about it. Just know that the words I spoke before aren’t a threat. But I am sure In don’t have to worry about that since your wife and child are waiting for you to return home. I look forward to hearing from my shadows that everything is going well with your second chance.” And with that, Zemrite was off and out of the prison cells

Soon after he returned to the castle, Zemrite was in the chambers he shared with his lovers taking a nice hot shower to remove the smell of blood and combat from his body. As hen stared into the reflection of the mirror that was in the stand in shower, he looked at all the scars he had gathered over his time in this world. Scratches, slashes, stab wounds, bite marks and burn marks that have scarred over his black markings. He places a hand to the mirror and closes his eyes with a sigh.”One day my luck isn’t going to help me any more. Then I’ll really be in trouble…” He suddenly felt arms wrap around him and a soft form lean against his back with a muzzle resting against his shoulder, the embrace tightened over a few moments which made Zemrite smile,”Well, if it isn’t my sweet lunar flower. Have you come to join me for a shower then drag me off to bed?” A soft giggle was heard and She took the soap and started washing him from behind, continuing to press her front into his back and she eyed the scars back there. She closed her eyes and squeezed her free arm around him while the other cleaned him,”Tia had some business to attend to early this morning. So she said I should be the one to take care of you when you returned.”. Zemrite chuckled,”Oh? So she is capable of sharing after all?” he joked. Lunar giggled at the joke to. She knew that he loved them both equally. But, this was her time with him now. “YOu know, I have said this before, but you and Tia look so much more beautiful when your manes are flowing like they normally do. When they are down and straight, it shows off more of your natural beauty. Plus, I like running my fingers through it.”. This made the alicorn blush heavily when he said this. She started to plant multiple kisses along his shoulder and upper back as she continued to clean him up.”You are such a sweet talker. But, Tia and I know you mean every word that you speak to us. We love you so so very much. We don’t know what we’d do without you if we would lose you…”. Zemrite turned around and lifted up Luna’s chin so that her eyes would meet his,”I am not going anywhere, Lulu. Sure I may get beaten and battered. But somehow I always come out of it on top don’t I?”. “Yes, but you worry us so damn much. Nearly give me and Tia a heart attack when you come back in such a mess.”. Zemrite laughed lightly and placed a kiss upon Luna’s soft lips”But I always make up for it, don’t I?” he asked before resting his hands upon her rear, giving it a firm squeeze with both of them. This made the mare jump lightly, but let out a soft gasp as she loved it when he touched her in such sensual ways,”That you do. And you can certainly make up for it after we are done here~. I need my lover’s touch as it has been far too long~.”. Zemrite agreed wholeheartedly before they ended their shower and went straight to the bed to catch up on their ‘couples time’.