Soldiers Die

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6

Chapter 1

Soldiers Die

Chapter one

The day had been enjoyable. The princess of the sun laid on a blanket on the floor of her study, content and happy spending time with her most faithful student. A young unicorn filly and her patchwork doll, Smartypants, are both reading from an advanced applied magics book normally reserved for unicorns in universities. Turning the page with a glow from her horn, the young lavender unicorn turns to her doll, pretending to listen to it before turning the page back slowly.

"Okay hurry up and read that part again Smartypants, I want to move on to the part where they explain how to focus magic onto a point to amplify it's effect!" The young Twilight exclaims, nodding at the doll before turning the page once again. "This is so exciting I have to try it out!"

Her horn begins to glow purple before a larger golden aura surrounds it, stopping the filly's spell before it forms. Her face grimaces as she looks up at her teacher, who merely smiles serenely before speaking.

"Now Twilight, we are merely learning the theory tonight. There won't be any practice until you've memorized the steps and know them by heart." Celestia says gently as their horns stop glowing simultaneously.

"But I can handle this!" The unicorn leaps to her feet, accidentally knocking her study partner down which stares up with button eyes vacantly. "It won't be like last time when I made the door grow hair! I've learned much more focus since then!"

A light chuckle escaped the princess's mouth. Indeed it was interesting when Twilight cast a spell mid study that was intended to make the door change color, and even more so when Celestia had to ask her guards call in a barber to shave the door in order to restore it to it's former wooden self. A single spell component was woven incorrectly and caused a very radical change in effect. She admires her young enthusiastic student's desire to experiment and push herself to new levels, but on more than one occasion has been forced to step in to ensure the safety of Twilight and her study from harm of misfired spells.

"Very well then," she surrenders to the pout on her pupil's face "lets see if you can focus your magic on that piece of paper and amplify a simple telekinesis spell to put it back together." With a yellow glow, Celestia lifts the blank page and tears it in half.

The filly's jaw drops. "Telekinesis is a basic spell that deals with manipulating objects, every unicorn can do that." She gulps and looks down at the two pieces of paper in front of her. "Can it really do that as well?"

"Young student, you will merely be manipulating the two halves back together." She stands behind Twilight and lowers her head and speaks softly over her student's shoulder, guiding her step by step. "Pick up the pages.... Good... Now concentrate on the torn edges. Feel the fibers of the paper and move them gently."

With a determined grunt, the young unicorn squints at the hovering pages, her horn's aura flaring bright purple as she concentrates her magic into her task. "Good, now find the fibers on each sheet and bring them together one by one. Fuse them back together at a molecular level with your spell." A soothing voice whispers in her ear.

"And then what transpired next, sister?" Princess Luna asked impatiently, the two royal sisters sitting on large pillows on the floor of the very same study, relaxing with some drinks.

"Well, if you must know, the entire room and both ponies inside were wallpapered with confetti." Princess Celestia laughed before sipping some tea. "I had underestimated her uncanny knack for getting unexpected results from experiments. We had to continue in the courtyard for the evening while the poor maids had to clean the mess." Her blue younger sibling began to laugh as well, doubled over in tears. Another voice piped up, causing the younger princess to settle down some.

"Oh please Princess! That is so embarrassing!" Twilight Sparkle comes back to the middle of the room, laying a book and a fresh mug of coffee in front of herself before laying on her pillow to rejoin her royal friends. "I was so young then and it was barely a year after I started learning under you." Her head drifts over to Luna, who has managed to sit upright again, still giggling somewhat. "I had to wash Smartypants twice to get all the paper dust out of her!" She turns back to her mentor. "Thanks again Princess Celestia, for inviting me up here to hang out with Luna and yourself. I've had a lot of fun this weekend!"

"Oh please Twilight, you know you can call me Celestia." She replies lovingly with a gentle smile, knowing full well that Twilight will still ignore the request and insist on following protocols. In a way she envied the relationship Luna and Twilight have. Although a princess herself, Luna and Twilight have a more informal relationship as friends, not as royalty and subject, or teacher and pupil, but as friend and friend. Not to say that herself and Twilight aren't friends, but years of ruling over Equestria and being her faithful student's personal teacher have put an invisible boundary in their friendship. Twilight views her as an authority figure and a friend, and while always devoting it all to their friendship, she always puts on a show of respect that one gives peers as well.

"I know, Princess." Was Twilight's usual response to the request whenever it came up. She knew she couldn't possibly call her anything other than Princess Celestia. After all of those years looking up to her as a ruler, goddess, teacher, and friend she cannot bear to not give the one pony in the whole world she admires the most any less than the full respect she deserves, and it was always met with a warm smile from the princess.

Luna looks down at the book, if you could call it a book, it was more a tome, thick binding, the pages yellowed and worn around the edges almost as large as the pony that brought it over to the floor. The title was faded and unreadable due to the thick dust covering most of it. "Speaking of maids, it appears they have missed a rather large spot." She winces as Twilight blows the dust off the cover gently.

"I found it while making coffee, I noticed a painting crooked on the wall, when I tried to straighten it I noticed it was covering a small shelf that contained this book. Do you know what it is, Princess Celestia?" The Lavender pony tries to read the now mostly dust free cover, but the lettering is still too faded from age to read.

Celestia's eyes widen, in a swift motion she pulls the tome away from Twilight just before she turns open the cover. Unnoticed by the sun princess, a folded up letter slips out from between the pages as she stands up to return the book to its place. "I'm sorry, Twilight, this book is off limits for everypony." She says firmly but politely as she puts it back behind the painting where it had rested for a long time before. Twilight and Luna meet each other's gaze with a bit of confusion at Celestia's action. Luna levitates the paper from the book and looks at it quizzically before her eyes widen as well.

"What is it Luna?" Twilight asks quietly while Celestia is still away stashing the tome in it's hiding spot.

"I knew these ponies..." Her voice trailed off as she continued to read the letter.

"Oh my..." She looks up at her sister with grief, who is standing over her, awash with sadness in her face. Slowly she lets her elder sister have the letter, who turns slowly to place the letter back in the hiding place with the tome. "Tia, I'm sorry."

Tia. Luna's pet name she used for her sister, only when it was the two of them, never in front of others, not even Twilight before, who reacted to that name with even more confusion on her face. "It's alright, Lulu, it's just..." Her sentence is cut short by a sob.

Tia, and now Lulu. Twilight's gaze shifts back and forth between the princesses, her expression pleading for answers. Everypony had suddenly got all sad and serious and she was left in the dark. To top things off, Princess Celestia was crying. Twilight was stunned, she had never seen the princess cry, she wasn't even sure that the goddess could cry until today. The thought of the princess being vulnerable in such a way shocked her very core. She wasn't sure how to proceed, she needed more information. "Luna, what was in that letter?"

Luna said nothing, her gaze locked onto her sister, a grimace on her face. Celestia raised her head to look back at her younger sister. Slowly nodding to give Luna permission. "It's okay, Lulu. It wouldn't be right to keep this from my best friend now that her curiosity is peaked." She turns and goes to the balcony, spreading her wings. "I'm going to get some air, I will return after I clear my mind."

With a quick leap and flap of her wings, Celestia disappears into the night sky. Luna clenches her eyes shut for a moment, wiping away a tear for her sister. "Twilight Sparkle, this information does not leave the three of us. My sister has always considered you highly, and to be considered her 'best friend' is probably the closest anypony save myself and one other that anypony will ever get to her."

Best friend. Another word she had never heard the princess use, technically two words, but Twilight pushes the semantics out of her head for the moment. She always had assumed that the princess had many other friends in Canterlot, any of which were more important than herself and could be considered better than herself. Also, this other pony that Luna spoke of, who was it? Her mind raced a mile a minute before she opened her mouth to ask the first question. "One other?" She finally says.

"A soldier in the Equestrian army." Came Luna's response, plainly.

"Soldier? Equestrian army?" Twilight asks both questions rapidly. "Is that like the royal guards? I've never heard of those before."

Luna sighs, "You live in a lucky time, Twilight Sparkle, Celestia informed me that diplomacy has kept Equestria in peace for centuries now. The Equestrian army was dismantled and the Royal Guard replaced it generations ago. The guard is merely trained to repel threats to the kingdom. Soldiers are trained to be threats to other kingdoms, usually at great cost."

She had heard about large scale conflicts in history books, but most of the details were muddled by the passage of time and poor record keeping on the darker parts of Equestrian history. Ponies invading other nations seems so abhorring to her that she wretched at the idea that words could fail between nations. "So what do soldiers do exactly, and who was this pony that was closer to the Princess than I'll ever be?" A hint of jealousy washed over the last part of that question.

"Twilight Sparkle, soldiers are ordered to do things that put themselves at great risk. Simply put, soldiers die." Luna shifted slightly as she watched her unicorn friend's unpleasant mournful reaction to that last line. "The pony I speak of is Xiphos. He was a soldier that I knew before my fall and subsequent banishment to the moon."

"I don't understand," Twilight leans closer, disgusted and enthralled by the discussion at the same time. "What was his connection to the princess? Why would the princess be friends with such a brute that probably murdered others in battle?"

Luna stands up, looking down at Twilight sternly. "I'll forgive that remark for now Twilight, for what you hear my story you will see Xiphos in a much different light. He was a good friend of mine, as well as even your hero Star Swirl the Bearded, but he was much more to my sister. That earth pony was her bodyguard while we warred with the dragon clans. And saved many lives in villages bordering the gryphon lands with his heroism. He was there alongside my sister, trying to save me as she used the elements of harmony on Nightmare Moon." Her tone calmed as she sat back down.

"I'm.. I'm sorry, I judged him before I got any details about him..." Twilight felt bad for her snap judgement. "But that letter, what was it?"

"Ill get to it soon enough, Twilight Sparkle. The letter was written while I was in banishment, but I can begin the tale to give you understanding. My sister should be back by then to finish, assuming she feels up to it."

Chapter 2

Chapter two

A Really Bad Day

The two ponies got settled in, Twilight put on some more coffee while Luna made herself more comfortable. It would be a long story and thus a long night. There was a silence between the two, the unicorn trying to prepare herself mentally for the wave of incoming knowledge, the alicorn trying to to figure the best way to share it. "Luna," Twilight finally broke the silence as she returned with two mugs of coffee this time, "I really want to be able to understand Princess Celestia the best I can, but I'm not certain I'm quite ready for all of this just yet."

"You are more ready than you believe, Twilight Sparkle." The moon princess gives her a reassuring smile as Twilight takes her seat. "My sister adores you greatly, and trusts you to a fault, I know you harbor just as much admiration and trust for her as well. You are quite possibly the only pony alive that would hear this tale of Xiphos and understand the full meaning of it."

Twilight sips her coffee and bows her head slightly, looking at the floor. "Am I going to regret hearing any of this, will this change the way the Princess and myself see each other?" Her voice is low and dull.

"Yes, it will change things greatly." Luna's voice becomes calming and she puts a hoof on Twilight's cheek, bringing her head back up. "I believe it will be a good change though." Twilight looks up at Luna's face, feeling a little better she mirrors the princess's smile. The young unicorn nods and sits attentively as Luna pulls her hoof back begins to sip at her own mug. "I believe the best place to start would be the beginning."

Xiphos was barely a stallion.

Before him stood what was left of his patrol, and a pair of gryphons that they had been hunting. For weeks they have been chasing this pair, male and female, around the settlements north of The Everfree forest where they had taken to hunting ponies for sport. The male gryphon, roughly three times his size, looks upon him with a murderous smile as it licks some blood off his beak. The female behind him, slightly smaller in stature but just as ferocious as it seems, finishes off one of the other pony soldiers that was already mortally wounded. A few other ponies lay scattered about, some dead, others hurt pretty badly.

He was on his own.

"Looks like we only have one toy left to play with, sis." The gryphon takes a step toward Xiphos, his large claw stomping down loudly, kicking up dirt.

"That's a shame." The other says and flys toward Xiphos with a claw extended. "Guess we can always find more after we break this one!"

Xiphos had only recently joined the army. 'Protect Equestria! Defend Ponykind! In service of the Princesses!' The posters would promote when he was a little tan colt. When he was in school he had a reputation for always sticking up for the smaller ponies from the bullies, especially the unicorn and pegasi ones that claimed superiority over him and his earth pony classmates. He learned at a young age how to fight against aerial opponents and magic alike in these schoolyard brawls, growing tougher and more resilient with every challenge. When he got out of school he had already earned his cutie mark, a blue round shield with a small red heart in the center of it, symbolizing his protective nature. He enlisted because he wanted to help make a difference and protect those that cannot protect themselves. When the gryphon raids in the north started growing in frequency, he volunteered immediately, thinking he would have no problem fighting a winged lion or two.

He was wrong. Combat, REAL combat, was much different than schoolyard brawls. His opponents weren't trying to merely beat him or others up, they were after blood. His training in the army didn't quite prepare him for this level of terror. A chill ran down his spine when the two gryphons first ambushed them, dropping both unicorns in their first attacks from above, crushing the pony's bodies under their larger mass. Then they had taken to the air and picked off the pegasi that flew up after them, forcing the earth ponies to watch them fall one by one from the sky. Once they returned to the ground he and the other earth pony greeted them with their sword and spear, his blue pony friend went down, leaving only Xiphos left, staring at the carnage.

His commander was one of the unicorns that was dropped in the first moments of the attack. She had a blue coat and pink mane that was tied back in a long ponytail. Her death brought a sense of reality to it all. They had socialized in the past, becoming good friends. He even got to meet her famous brother, although she might have been showing off to him. Her pink mane was now crimson and brown from the mud and blood that mixed into it. When she got promoted to commander, she personally insisted he gets brought into her unit, to, as she put it, 'keep him close'. He shook his head, still shocked at her death, without realizing what it all meant, all the signs, he was angry for not realizing that there was something more, and how foolish he was for not realizing it until it was too late.

When the female charged, his mind wasn't on the fight anymore. It was on the ponies he and his fellow comrades had seen in the villages nearby. Bodies torn asunder by claws, pegasi missing wings and unicorns with their horns snapped off and left to live, these gryphons were beyond cruel with their acts. Colts, fillys, stallions, mares, the elderly were all victimized. Broken and defeated and butchered like she was. Defenseless against these beasts many times their size, the villagers had no chance, they cheered at the arrival of troops from Everfree castle, hope filling their hearts.

Hope was all they had left now. He was all that they had left now. That hope fueled his spirit and extinguished his fear as his eyes narrowed on the speeding gryphon as he ducked low to the ground under the gryphon's claw at the last possible moment, it's eagle head shooting a surprised look downward as Xiphos quickly rises back up, sword in mouth, slashing the underside of the beast. The momentum of the attack helped lodge his blade into the gryphon's torso as she went limp in midair and rolled into a collapsed heap. Unarmed, Xiphos turns to the other gryphon, who has a myriad of expressions from surprise to shock to anger as it begins to run on all fours to extract revenge on the tan stallion.

Front Line had just woken up. The blue earth pony had been slashed badly on the side and knocked down, passed out from the pain. He winces in pain as he stands up slowly. Observing the fight in front of him for a moment, the large gryphon that took him down was fighting with Xiphos in claw to hoof combat. Both were extremely agile, avoiding each other's bucks and swipes. The gryphon was wary to take a direct hit from a stout earth pony, and the pony was avoiding the deadly blood stained talons of the gryphon, both knowing that one solid strike will win the melee. He looks around for anything that might help. Finding his discarded spear, he slowly picks it up in his mouth and gives it a heave toward the fight. "Take this you monster!" He yells after loosing the projectile then collapsing in pain once again.

The gryphon, upon hearing an unexpected shout behind him, cocks his head to the side at the source of the noise. Catching a glimpse of an iron spear landing a good twenty hooves short of its mark. He grinned for a split second when he noticed the spear was no threat. Unfortunately for him it was never meant to hit him and Front Line knew this when he threw it. Too hurt to make an accurate throw without risking hitting Xiphos, he did the next best thing.

He got the gryphon's attention for a moment.

He didn't even see the hooves that hit him square in the neck. Tumbling down to the ground, losing control of his body as his field of vision was limited to the ground and a cheering blue pony laying on the ground. It was strange that he barely felt any pain, only some pressure. Slowly his vision became blurry, then dark.

A few hours later, three ponies showed up along the edge of the village. Front Line, helped along by Xiphos, beside them both is a black pegasus named Onyx Daggers, her wing broken and bandaged up, she had gotten lucky and fell into some soft mud when the gryphons broke her wing mid flight. They were only survivors of the engagement, two unicorns and one other pegasus were not so lucky. Many ponies in the village raced to their aid, bringing fresh water and bandaging and food to the three worn out and beat up ponies. Some asked if there would be more attacks, others asking questions as to what happened, and others were giving thanks for their efforts. Xiphos tries his best to calm the crowd down, giving a few villagers the location of the fight so they can retrieve the other's bodies for burial.

"Three cheers for Xiphos, hero of Equestria!" Front Line shouts above the crowd. Still holding his bandaged side but grinning through the pain at his fellow soldier. "He defeated both gryphons single hoofedly and stopped their reign of terror!"

There was a short silence as the crowd soaked in that information. Xiphos took a step back with his eyes widened as heads turned toward him one by one. "No.. I... We..." Was all he got out before cheering drowned him out and he was thrust upon the backs of several ponies that began parading him around and praising him. Onyx chuckled a bit and helped Front Line up to follow the crowd.

"You sure you don't want some of the credit?" She raises an eyebrow at the blue stallion.

"No way, you know how much I hate the attention." He laughs back as he watches the parade carry Xiphos off. "Besides, it'll help get his mind off, you know..."

Onyx bends over and kisses him on the cheek. "You know, they would've made a cute couple if only they had taken that step.". She jabs at his good side. "We should be so lucky."

The two lean on one another a moment, happy to still be alive. "Maybe we should think about that step then... Before one of us..." He is silenced by a hoof on his lips as they just hold one another.

A brief speech from the village elder honoring the dead brought it all out in Xiphos. Tears began to flow as those around him tried to comfort him. The wounded ponies had called it an early night, retiring to their room that the villagers had set up for the night, allowing Xiphos to soak in all the thanks and gratitude the villagers had to spare in an attempt to cheer him up. Despite putting on a smile for the townsponies, he kept choking back memories. A burden had been lifted off their town, many of them happy for the first time in weeks and he didn't wish to ruin it for them. The following morning several carts were set up. The strongest townsponies volunteered to carry the soldiers and their fallen back to the Everfree castle, a few day's journey away.

"Wait, who are these other ponies," Twilight pauses Luna's story. "this 'Front Line' and 'Onyx Daggers'? Where are you? Where is the princess? Where is Star Swirl?" Her battery of questions attack the lunar princess rapidly. "And what is the Everfree castle? Is it related to the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters?"

Luna finishes her mug of coffee and sets it aside. "I started at the beginning, and Front Line and Onyx Daggers happened to be there at the beginning." She pushes her mane away from her eyes with one hoof and her eyes narrow. "As for the castle, your assumption is correct, the Everfree castle is now the ruins where you fought Nightmare Moon." Twilight grins happily like she just got an 'A' on her test. "They were with Xiphos when I first took notice of him and his heroic acts. They were soldiers, and good ones in their own right, and they were his friends." She gets up and stretches her legs, staring out the window, the sun was already starting to set and it was almost time to raise the moon. "When they returned to the castle it was nightfall, and thus my duty to take their report of the mission."

The castle had never looked better and worse at the same time. He knew he would be the only one able to make the report to the princess before making his other stop. Xiphos walked alongside the two carts. In one cart his wounded comrades, that were still too injured to make the journey on their own strength, rode and occasionally snuggled. The other cart contained three forms covered in black sheets. He tried not to dwell on one of them, but thoughts and memories kept creeping in. The armored guards opened the front gates to allow the entire party into the main courtyard. At that point they all were split up. Doctors and nurses pull Front and Onyx away to treat them at the infirmary, another group took the covered bodies to begin arrangements.

Xiphos was given a quick once over by a nurse and told to get some bed rest for exhaustion. He thanked her and promised to do so once he gave his reports. Sore from the bruises he received and that long walk home, he is thankful for the journey to be near an end, to have time to be alone with his thoughts and mourn. He passes several heavily armored guards that grant him passage into the main keep of the castle. Climbing up the short stone stairway to a pair of large ornate wooden doors, a pair of princess Luna's personal Nightguard stop him momentarily.

"I am from commander Misty Swirl's unit, dispatched weeks ago to deal with the gryphon problems in the north." Xiphos stands at attention to the pair of ponies, the personal royal guards of either princess are considered equal in rank to commanders in the field should the need arise for them to take command in the defense of the goddesses.

"Where is your commander? Should she not be the one giving the report?" One of the guards replies strongly, eyeing the weary pony up and down with a suspicious look.

Without hesitation, Xiphos retorts. Shoving the emotion down deep to not show any of it. "Commander Swirl died in battle a few days ago, along with two others in my unit, the other members are all injured and in the infirmary." He turned his gaze at the guard eyeing him. "Her brother hasn't been notified yet, I would like to hurry this along so I may deliver that news myself."

The guard steps into Xiphos's face, their noses almost touching. "How dare you brush off Princess Luna for another errand just like that, you should know--".

Xiphos straightens his stance, an angry scowl washing over his face as he towers a few inches taller than the guard, leaning forward over him. His face full of fury at the obstacle between hisself and the princess. "You should know that you are impeding a formal military report from being made, and a subsequent message to the Royal Sister's personal student! How do you think the princess will react to your obvious posturing to a soldier back from battle from a guard that hasn't seen combat in his entire career!" The guard steps back in shock.

"I'll have you thrown in the dungeon or banished for that comment! I'll--" he is interrupted by his fellow guard who puts a hoof to his shoulder and whispers into his ear. The color fades from his face as his mouth hangs open, eyes widened in horror. He steps back to the door and opens cracks it open. "Ri-right this way, the princess will see you now." Xiphos walks in tiredly, trying to forget the guards and forces hisself not to scowl as he walks down the hall. "How was I supposed to know Misty was..." He hears behind him in whispers as the doors swing closed with a loud echo.

"YOU MAY APPROACH THE ROYAL THRONE, SOLDIER!" A loud echoing voice resonates throughout the hall, causing Xiphos to grit his teeth before approaching and bowing before Princess Luna. "Rise and report." She orders in a slightly less eardrum shattering decibel level.

"I am Xiphos, your majesty, of commander Misty Swirl's unit..." He never looks up, his eyes clenched shut. "Dispatched by yourself several weeks ago to investigate the gryphon attacks north of the Everfree forest." He thinks about her again, a teardrop full of regret splashes onto the midnight blue colored runner leading to the throne. "We took casualties but found a pair of gryphon, brother and sister, and defeated them." Her pink mane and a smile are all he sees for a moment until he opens his eyes and sees a pair of hooves in front of him wearing royal regalia. He stands slowly, raising his head to view the rest of his princess.

"We understand your commander was among those that did not return." Luna says, softer than before but still enough to jab the skull. "The threat to our little ponies is gone for now, but at a cost. Hast thou approached our apprentice with this dire news?" She remarks without changing her expression from her typical stern look.

"No..." He hangs his head down. "No princess, I came to give my report to you immediately upon my return." He feels miserable and begs silently to be dismissed.

"Your report can wait, Xiphos. Return to us once you have finished this important task. We will mourn for Commander Swirl as well, she was a good pony." She turns to head back to her throne, slowly seating herself. "You are dismissed, Commander Xiphos."

Commander? He had just been promoted to her position just like that. He felt even worse than he did before he arrived at the castle. "Commander, your highness?" The insolent question just blurted out, questioning a princess was very high on the things no pony ever did, not that he cared right now.

"I thought about zapping him right there on the spot." Luna looks at Twilight and sips her coffee, the moon already on the rise.

"Why would you do such a thing! He was just in shock, everything that happened to him was just horrible!" Twilight exclaims, hooves waving in the air.

"At the time, I did not have that information that he and commander Swirl were an item. Nor would it had mattered, one did not simply speak that way to a princess in that day and age." The moon princess explains. "It was a much darker time, attacks like with those gryphons were the least of our troubles and we... I did not have time to explain every military decision I made. At the time I needed a new commander, and he seemed right, I sensed it was a good decision at the time, although my sister disagreed the next morning."

"You and princess Celestia disagreeing? I thought you too got along so well, because well.. You are sisters!" Twilight tilts her head sideways a little.

"We have and we still do, it's natural for everypony to not be in agreement from time to time." Luna gives a teasing smile, "Of course It would be nice if we all had relationships like you and your BBBFF."

"Well, I guess I was a special case, having the best big brother ever." Twilight blushes a little at the compliment. "So I assume you decided not to zap him, why?"

Luna just stares off out the window, looking for any sign of her missing sister, but finding none yet. "Because Twilight, at the time, I thought zapping him would be too merciful for him, somepony still had to tell Star Swirl. He wasn't a violent pony, but very talented, and always looking for an excuse to test new spells."

Chapter 3

Ashes to Ashes

Twilight casts a grim look at Princess Luna, she had done as much as she can to prepare herself for learning intimate details of her mentor's past, but she wasn't sure she could handle both her mentor and her hero in one sitting. "Do you think we could maybe skip past all the Star Swirl the Bearded stuff that appears to be coming up and maybe just focus on the Princess?" She requests. "I'm really interested in knowing about him just as much as my teacher, but...." She trails off.

"Please, Twilight, this is a very important part of the story, I realize that Star Swirl the Bearded is an important role model for you." Luna peeks out of the corner of her eye at the window, seeing nothing but a partly cloudy night sky. "For Tia's sake I won't leave anything out, no matter how unimportant." She sees the purple mare's ears droop some. "Besides, you would be surprised how much you two are alike."

Her ears perked up with curiosity. "Really? How can that be? I'm just a lowly student and he was the greatest unicorn to ever live!" She exclaimed, only partially believing her friend's statement.

"He was a student just like you under my sister and myself." Luna nodded. "And he studied for hours and hours everyday, and never missed a session with either of us in his thirst for knowledge."

"Wait... You were in charge of night and the princess at day... When did he...?" Twilight fishes for more details, when only moments ago didn't want any details on him.

"He developed a refreshment spell that granted a night's rest to body and mind when cast on himself." Luna grinned at Twilight taking the bait.

Twilight Sparkle tried to to hold back, but it was too much. All that raced through her mind was 'STUDIES ARE NEVER INTERRUPTED BY SLEEP AGAIN!' She was about to calmly ask how to cast the spell in a matter that would make Luna not think it was a big deal and spill the beans, but when her mind caught up to what her body was doing she quickly became embarrassed. Apparently she was at laying in front of Luna's hooves looking up with big doughy eyes and saying "Please teach me! Please teach me! I'll do anything for you!" After standing back up slowly in front of the giggling princess, she regained her composure and returned to her seat. "I mean, please?" Her cheeks were flush as she tried to smile the embarrassment away.

"Maybe later..." Luna laughs, "I will see if my sister will teach you. I don't know the spell personally, but I'm sure she's used it a lot over the last millennium." She sees that she has Twilight's full attention. "Let us continue...."

Xiphos leaves the great hall of the moon princess and lets out an audible sigh. The guards from before eye him nervously as they watch him pass between them and slowly head away toward the south tower. Too many emotions race through his mind, sadness over Misty's death, anger at the princess over his promotion, her pink mane and smile floods his mind suddenly, pushing the negative out and bringing him to a smile briefly before he remembers that he will never see them again. He slowly approaches the tower, a large stone-blocked circular structure that stand different from the other square towers, getting himself prepared for the worst. He wonders if Front or Onyx will become commander after tonight, fearing now that the student of the alicorns themselves will erase him from existence.

The entrance at the base of the tower was a little used wooden door. Cracked and splintered, it leaks blue light from an unknown source inside. The latch surrenders after just a tiny knock that swings the door open with a loud creak and revealing a simple spiral stone stairway. Looking around he sees glowing blue drawings and writing on the walls, ceilings, floor, and even the steps themselves were covered. Fortunately his hoof steps were not smudging or damaging the writings in any way, so he sighed with some relief and began his ascent. Strange chemical odors and sounds of metal, stone, and wood grinding away on one another faintly filled the air. Eventually he reaches the top, a small platform with a simple wooden door, much cleaner and sturdier looking than the entrance below. He gives several knocks and waits, hoping that it will be a painless and merciful death. He sees her pink mane again in his mind as it sways back in forth tied up behind her head. She looks back at him and smiles just as he snaps out of his daydream. The door still motionless and closed, he knocks again before taking a hold on the handle. Realizing there is no lock on the door at all he swings it open cautiously.

"Hello?" Xiphos cranes his head through the door, immediately getting a maneful of cobwebs in his dark brown mane. The door obviously hadn't been used in ages. When Misty had introduced him to her famous brother, they were in the palace providing extra security for an ambassadorial visit from the dragon broods, so it was a brief meeting, barely having time to shake hooves and say hello before returning to whatever celestial students do at ambassadorial visits. He brushes the cobwebs away and opens the door fully, finding himself surrounded by dozens of shelves and tables piled high with books, scrolls, writing tools, strange bubbling liquids in vials over candles, and machinery with gears turning and magical motors whirring. It was hard to see past the tables in front of the forgotten doorway to the rest of the expansive chamber at the top of the tower. "Hello!?" He calls again, louder, but still no reply comes. He cautiously leaves the doorway and ventures into the laboratory.

A few steps in, Xiphos sees a table with an interesting object on it. He peers into a jar containing a tiny blue furry ball with cute eyes and four tiny wings. He leans in to get a better look when it suddenly coughs up an identical looking orange version of itself, spooking him into backing up suddenly, knocking some dusty scrolls off another table. He turns to gather the scrolls as he eyes one rolling away down an aisle. He walks after it and stops as it disappears under a wall of pink hair. Shaking his head in disbelief his mouth opens again "Misty?" He says quietly as the owner of the pink tail turns, revealing a white coated flank bearing a mark he had seen on every bit and every seal in the kingdom. Large white wings with shining feathers remain folded against her sides and she she completes the turn, her soft smile and purple eyes and long white horn become visible as her pink mane flows out of the way. Shaking off his surprise, he quickly realizes who this pony is and bows before her.

"Please rise, my little pony." Celestia says in a reassuring voice and levitates the scroll that rolled into her hooves. "I believe you dropped something." She sends it slowly over to Xiphos who takes it silently and places it onto a table next to himself. "I hadn't realized that my student had another assistant other than Gyruss."

"I'm not an assistant, your highness," he tries to maintain eye contact but keeps drifting to the floor, trying not to stare at her. "I have just returned from a mission to investigate some gryphon attacks under orders of her highness, Princess Luna. I came to speak with Star Swirl about a private matter." He hopes that the princess will leave to make this easier and less distracting. He looks up at her face, so serene and happy compared to her sister Luna. She turns back to another pony behind her and glances between the two.

"My faithful student, you have a messenger." Celestia tells the other student and steps aside, her posture remaining regal as she allows Xiphos to pass. "We shall take a short break and can continue the lesson when you two are finished." She then wanders a few steps away to examine some documentation scattered around a dormant device on a table.

The other pony looked extremely disappointed at the interruption of his lesson. The cobalt blue colored stallion stared Xiphos down with his yellow eyes, his horn glows briefly, raising a hat with a star pattern and adorned with bells onto his baby blue mane which is cut short. A swath of two inch long facial hair juts out from his chin as he tilts his head up and down to size up the interruption. "Xiphos, if I remember correctly, Misty tells me much about you." He adjusts a few of his experiments with a quick flick of the horn, losing eye contact with Xiphos as he goes back to his notes and books. "What brings you all the way up here?." He begins to mutter aloud some notes on time travel being impossible before turning a page in his tome.

"I'm here to bring you news of Misty, she..." Xiphos swallows hard, looking at the princess who has been waiting patiently and began to pay attention when she overheard Misty's name. "She didn't return from the last mission..." He sees nothing but her bloodied pink mane in his vision and once again chokes back some tears. Celestia closes her eyes and bows her head at the news.

Star Swirl doesn't say a word, he doesn't even look up from his book, he just continues to read. He levitates a vial of green fluid and examines it briefly before setting it aside. Xiphos opens his eyes is disbelief at the lack of reaction from the famous student. He slams a hoof on the table in anger, shaking everything on it. "I would ask you to leave before I make you leave, Xiphos." Star Swirl stops reading briefly to adjust his hat again, the bell on the top had flopped down into his vision.

"That's it? That's all you have to say?" All sorrow has been transformed into rage now. The tan pony stomps both fore hooves onto the table this time, screaming at the blue unicorn who stays quiet. "You were her brother, her only family! She would tell us all kinds of stories about her amazing brother who was working on all kinds of new magic to make things better for Ponykind. How much her brother cared about making Equestria a better place for everypony. You were her entire world and you just act like I'm discussing the weather?!" Celestia puts a hoof on Xiphos's shoulder which seems to calm him just a tiny bit.

Without looking up from his book, his face mostly obscured by the large hat, Star Swirl picks up a quill with a glow of his horn and continues to take notes and read. With a quick lunge, Xiphos breaks free of Celestia's gentle hold and tries to slap the quill out of Star's magical grip, only to see his own hoof enveloped by the blue pony's aura. "It was you who was her world." He turns his head toward Xiphos with water filled eyes. "She would tell me of all the times you made her laugh, the times you would listen to her whenever she needed a good friend, the times you would help her practice her magic on a live target." His mouth smiled a little. "She told me how you had became resistant to certain magics and could overpower young unicorns in school so it didn't hurt you much. Take that quill from me if you can." Xiphos pushed hard, moving his hoof through the powerful unicorn's telekinetic grip slowly toward the quill. "She told me you protected her in training from the other unicorns that would pick on her. I sit in my tower day and night trying to make an Equestria that does not need my sister or you!" The unicorn stands up, his hat now fallen off onto the table as his horn glows brighter to keep Xiphos's hoof as motionless as he can.

"You didn't want us around? How can you be so cold?" Xiphos pushes another inch toward the quill, which continues to scribble down notes. He looks at Celestia to his side who only looks down to him and nods silently.

His horn flares brighter, obviously he is concentrating on keeping Xiphos from moving, the quill stops writing and merely hovers in place a few inches away from a glacial speed moving hoof. "I strive for an Equestria that doesn't need soldiers anymore!" He stops near a window and looks out at the night sky. "When harmony is restored to the nations of the world, then ill have time to mourn. I will..." He turns his head over to his mentor. "She's really gone isn't she?" A wave of grief washes over his face when the sun princess nods slowly, affirming the news. He buries his face in his hooves and begins to sob.

Xiphos finally reaches the quill, snatching it up with a hoof. The magic aura on the quill and hoof alike fade away as his anger subsides. An Equestria without soldiers... Can such a thing exist? pops in his head as he looks down at the paper the quill scribbled onto. It was Misty's name, written dozens of times all over the page. He goes over to the unicorn by the window and puts a hoof on his shoulder. The crying stallion turns and hugs the earth pony, choking on his tears as they all come out at once. "Misty said something like that once, that you wished that Equestria didn't need her. She would joke about if she ever retired that the country would be overrun in a week." Star smiles through the tears at the pleasant memories.

The tan earth pony and blue unicorn sit and exchange stories for the next few hours, mostly about Misty, some about politics, but mostly about her. Star Swirl had asked Celestia to stay, he felt more comfortable with her around, since she was pretty much the only friend he had, she gladly accepted the Invitation and shared her own wisdom and stories that deemed appropriate to the occasion. Morning had come, and after a brief absence to raise the sun, she returned.

"You really think it is possible, Princess Celestia?" Xiphos asks her a bit casually, the last few hours of conversation had really made him feel comfortable around her, having a goddess listen to and laugh with you works wonders on that apparently.

"What do you mean, Xiphos?" Celestia asks back in her soft, calming voice.

"An Equestria without me, without soldiers?" He asks with a yawn.

"I hope so," she looks out the window, watching the sunrise. "Commander Misty will hopefully be the last to have to die to protect Equestria." She frowns a little. "I have faith that my student will come up with something, and I hope our new friend will help."

"Who would that be, princess?" Xiphos wonders, looking over at Star Swirl, who has gone back to his research and studies. He looks over at the quill he had taken earlier in the night and picks it up, looking it over.

Celestia giggles and smiles. "You, my silly pony. As sad as the night was, the new day brings new beginnings. You should have the time to aid in our research now." She walks over to him. "With your commander... With unfortunate passing of Commander Misty Swirl you are now able to be reassigned however I see fit."

"Actually.. Umm." Xiphos had already seen one angry goddess in one day, he figures its time for go for both. He sinks his head down, a bit upset he didn't bring it up sooner. "Princess Luna promoted me to commander last night after I gave my report and requested me to return for redeployment as soon as I told Star about his sister."

Princess Celestia stands up straight, eyes squinted and looking down at Xiphos, who manages a weak grin at his princess in a sad attempt to spare his life. Instead of the half expected wrath, she turns and walks back to the window, her pink mane and tail flowing in the winds, looking spectacular in the morning sunrise. She turns her head to him and gives a brief wink and smile. "Don't act like you did anything wrong, commander, I'll sort things out with my sister and get back with you personally." With that statement, she vanishes with a leap from the window.

Xiphos moves over to Star Swirl, who continues to read a ancient tome written in a language that he doesn't recognize. He places the quill next to the tome. "Can we make her the last? Can I help you make sure she is?" He sits down at the table tiredly.

A dark blue hoof reaches out and takes the quill, without his eyes leaving the page of his tome, he slowly traces out his sister's name onto the table, leaving no marks due to the ink having dried hours ago. "I am so close..." He turns the page, examining a formula on the next page. "When Celestia came to me--" a bright flash of green light interrupts him.

A crimson red coated unicorn stallion with a short greenish grey mane appears near the two ponies. Xiphos takes note at his cutie mark, a glass beaker overflowing with a frothy green liquid, as he stands up. "I have returned with terrible news, Master Swirl, your sister..." He suddenly realizes by the looks on the two ponies with him that the news has already been delivered. "I'm sorry sir, I know she--"

"I know, Gyruss," Star says as he sets the quill down gently and closes his tome. "My... friend and I were just about to leave anyway." He stands up, resetting his hat once again and moving to a rack on the wall holding a matching cape.

"We were?" Xiphos watches the red unicorn begin to clean up piles of books and experiments that had been left everywhere in piles on tables.

"Of course, my window faces over the west wall of the castle, to the edge of the forest that surrounds this castle." He fastens his cape using his magic while pointing out the window. "Every day at noon they hold the funerals in the graveyard to the west, I watch as Celestia says kind words for the unfortunate soldiers that never returned. Noon is upon us shortly."

Xiphos goes to the window and peers out, trying not to yawn as he squints into the distance, seeing several ponies gathered in the clearing. A light envelops him suddenly and the urge to yawn fades, his ears perk up as he turns with energy to Star Swirl behind him. "What was.."

"Never mind that," Star smiles at him and puts a hoof on his shoulder. "She wouldn't want you looking like you were dragged through Tartarus now, would she?" Xiphos smiles back and nods. "Now, let us go say goodbye to our Misty." Another blue light envelops both ponies as they vanish from the tower in a bright blue flash.

There were three wooden containers, covered by three black cloths, on the cloths were the cutie marks of the the three fallen soldiers. Xiphos and Star Swirl stood by the far right one, the one with what appeared to be a handful of glitter blowing around a large five pointed star in the middle. Front Line and Onyx Daggers remained near the front and center of the small crowd of ponies that came to pay their respects. The widows of the other two ponies were in attendance, stricken with grief, finding very little comfort at the moment with their muzzles buried in relative's shoulders.

Celestia arrived by ground, she always walked the half mile from the castle to the graveyard every afternoon, hoping that this day would be the last time. But the next day always came, and more soldiers always needed her to come bury them. The enemies of Equestria were few, but powerful, each invading gryphon or dragon capable of sending many ponies to their graves before they were felled. She stands before the three caskets, noting their cutie marks, etching their names and images into her mind so none would be forgotten even as the centuries pass. She silently mourns for the three newest departures and their families. Her faithful student was in attendance, making this day a bit harder and more personal for her.

"Mares and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to honor and cherish three wonderful ponies, whose sacrifices will never be forgotten. These brave ponies saved countless others from harm at the cost of their own lives while serving Equestria. Their families should be proud that these ponies were a part of their lives, and a part of all of our lives in their actions." She scans the crowd, finding Star Swirl and Xiphos and giving them a nod, her pink mane and tail beginning to blow in the wind that had picked up slightly. "But as the sun rises and sets, so must the lives of every pony, we will remember their sunset as a beautiful thing. All of the lives they touched, all of the deeds they performed, all of the good memories they leave behind painted a beautiful sunset full of color and life for all of Equestria to see." A single tear flows down her own cheek as she sees Xiphos and Star Swirl proudly smiling, their eyes swollen with tears as well, but still smiling. "Ponies have a magical connection to the earth, and all ponies, earth, pegasus, and unicorn must one day return to the earth so their magic can return to the source." She nods at the groundskeeper ponies which take the cloths off the caskets, carefully folding them so the cutie mark stays on the top, and delivers them to their widows, or in Misty's case, her brother. They then turn and slowly lower the three coffins into three prepared graves. "We hereby commit these ponies to the ground, returning their magic to the earth. Ashes to ashes." She pauses and swallows a lump in her throat.

"Dust to dust."

Chapter 4

Lifting Weights

Twilight's tears are wiped away by a small neckerchief that Luna provides. The princess gives her time to regain her composure and takes another sip of her drink. "That... was so beautiful and sad..." Twilight comments between sobs, slowly calming herself after blowing her nose. "And in the jar in the lab was that a paraspr--"

"We will ignore the details of Star Swirl's failed experiments for now!" Luna quickly interrupts, buying time to think of a good change of subject. "Tia had come to see me prior to the funeral to speak of Xiphos's reassignment."

Her eyebrow raises a bit. "You mean the disagreement you mentioned earlier?" Twilight discards the spent cloth and briefly stretches her forehooves over her head with a small yawn. "I believe I have a little bit more left in me before I pass out."

"Oh my!" Luna suddenly jumps up and exclaims with a shocked look on her face. "What in the nine gates of Tartarus is that?" She points at something behind Twilight. Quickly the lavender unicorn hops up and spins around, alert and ready for anything when suddenly an aura from Luna's horn envelops her.

Twilight suddenly feels full of energy and well rested. She realizes she had been had and turns back to Luna, her face dead panned. "You knew that invigorating spell all along didn't you?" She asks the obvious. It is replied with a satisfied grin and silent nod from the moon princess. "And you didn't want to risk me learning it from watching you cast it on me didn't you?" Again, an obvious question, met with the same nod and smile. Sighing in frustration, Twilight sits again with her attention focused on the smug princess. "A little divination mixed with alteration and evocation magic..." She mumbles to herself, trying to analyze the composition of the spell but silences herself as Luna continues the story.

One by one, the mourners leave the burial site. Celestia offers her condolences to each family personally as they pass to return to their homes. Front Line and Onyx Daggers approach Xiphos as Star Swirl gathers up his Sister's funeral cloth and leave Xiphos to go to his mentor. "We're sorry, Xiphos." Front Line says "She was an awesome commander and friend."

"I never even realized how much I cared for her," Xiphos bows his head to the ground, "then she was gone so suddenly." He hugs his friends, tears welled up in his eyes. "Thank you for your support guys."

"Anything for you Xiphos, and we'll be there for you, we owe ya our lives after this week." Onyx pats his back gently. "We heard you got promoted, I guess when we are back on duty we'll be calling you Sir." She nudges him as she steps back a bit.

"Word gets around fast, it was only last night." Xiphos wipes his eyes dry and sits in the grass. "I've got some big horseshoes to fill." He swore he saw Misty's pink mane fluttering in the corner of his eye, snapping his head aside he sees Princess Celestia speaking with Star Swirl, her pink mane looking so much like hers. "No!" He scolds hisself quickly and turns his head back to the ground in front of him. A scowl forms across his face.

Front Line cocks his head to the side. "No, what?" He asks his comrade.

"No-nothing! I'm just a bit upset still." Xiphos gets up, his sorrow over Misty Swirl replaced with a bit of anger at hisself for his thoughts. "You guys get some rest, once I find out our new assignment I will let you two know." He dismisses them with a quick salute. The two ponies stand at attention and salute back before walking back together toward the castle. "Thanks guys." He adds as they turn, with a genuine smile, his first in a few days now. Front and Onyx wave and smile back, saying their goodbyes.

He turns to the only remaining ponies on the hillside, Princess Celestia and Star Swirl. Celestia catches his glance and leans down, telling her student something quietly. With a brief nod, Star Swirl charges his horn and teleports away in a flash of blue light. The Princess stands up tall and watches Xiphos approach her. His gaze averts to the ground quickly when he makes eye contact with her. "Commander? Is something the matter?" She says in a stern voice. Suddenly he snaps to attention, cursing himself for being a bit too casual with a superior.

"No, my Princess." Xiphos replies quickly, "I wanted to thank you for everything that you have done for myself and for Commander Swirl."

She turns to look at the graves, recently covered and the groundskeepers had already left. "I wish I could do more for all of my ponies. Every marker in this cemetary is a wound in my heart." Her hoof motions over the entire field, hundreds if not thousands of graves cover the landscape. "I thought after last night you wouldn't have been afraid of me like you were just now. I spoke with Princess Luna, but if you are going to fear me, perhaps I should not tell you of the results of the conversation."

"I apologize, Princess, I didn't mean to offend you." He continues to stand at attention as he apologizes. "I just had not had much exposure to--"

"To what?" Celestia looks down at him, her magenta eyes narrowed, making him think carefully next time he opened his mouth.

"Such beauty, your majesty, you remind me of...her." He flinched the moment he uttered those words, two days in a row he had blurted out emotionally to both princesses, part of him regretting saying it, and part of him relieved as well.

"You loved her greatly, and given the circumstances I understand why you may feel conflicted speaking to me. Misty cared much for Equestria and for you, please don't think you are betraying her by your thoughts or actions." She steps forward, turning to face him. Xiphos stands his ground and keeps his head held high, watching his princess's motions. "You truely do not fear my power, or my rank, or my status?"

"N-no Princess." Xiphos stutters a reply. "I respect those."

She smiles at the response, walking over to him, as big a stallion he is, she still towers a full head taller than him, leaning toward him a little. "I am relieved by your honesty, so many others would give me such insincere answers. As a soldier, and as a friend of my pupil, I have a mission for you." His eyes widen a bit at those words. "It requires that you dedicate yourself fully to the task and to not be afraid of me."

"Of course, Princess!" He answers back. "Your beauty will not be a problem, princess!" He manages to not smirk at the silliness of his comment, however serious is was meant to be.

Another chuckle later, the princess turns away to look back at the castle. "Star Swirl told me that he had never seen anypony resist his magic so strongly. It appears you have built up some sort of tolerance to magic, forcing even my great and powerful student to exert himself to try to hold you still. He wishes to have you accompany him and help with some research and testing with our project." She looks back at him. "I of course agreed, but as a commander, I have no jurisdiction over your assignments, as my sister handles troop deployments. I managed to 'convince' her to give you another assignment that will keep you here in the castle."

"But princess, soldiers aren't stationed here, only the castle guard is, and with their duties I would have little time for research with Star Swirl." He breaks attention and steps toward his princess.

"Starting tommorrow morning you will be assigned as my first personal bodyguard. Your job will be to accompany me whenever I am out of the main castle keep, which includes my time spent in my student's tower." She winks at Xiphos, getting a knowing nod back from him. "Princess Luna seems nervous about the relations with the dragon clans, so extra protection outside the keep is not unwarranted, but she was concerned that I chose you specifically and not a unicorn protector." Celestia explains. "A dragon is a formidable creature, many times more powerful than a gryphon. Which is why I needed to know if you feared me. For if you fear me, how can you protect me?"

For if you fear me, how can you protect me? echoes through his head as he flashbacks to the gryphon attack. Did he fear Misty? Was he afraid of getting to close to her? Was that why he failed to protect her in the end? Visualizing Misty's death causes him the tear up again. He wipes his eyes as he ponders the question. The wind changes suddenly, tossing Celestia's mane at his face. He brings a hoof up to move it, gently pushing it aside. It felt like expensive silk to the touch, pink stands of silk specifically. The princess apologizes and whips her head around, snatching the strands from his grasp as he stood looking up at her beauty. He comes to a decision and bows to her. "I pledge myself to your protection, and will not falter in ensuring your safety."

Celestia smiles and orders him to rise, which he does immediately. "Good to hear. Meet me tommorrow morning at sunrise in the keep. We will head over to Star Swirl's lab shortly afterward and there we will fill you in on our important project." Her wings open up and stretch themselves. "I have business to attend to now, I will see you after I raise the sun."

"Yes princess!" He salutes her as she slowly raises off the ground with a few gentle flaps of her wings. Her reassuring smile filling his body with energy before she turns and flies away. Alone, Xiphos begins to head back to the castle at a slow pace. "I won't fail to protect anypony else, Misty..." He promises with determination, looking back once more at the grave behind him.

Gyruss finishes sweeping up the dust and debris around Star Swirl's laboratory. The red unicorn puts away his broom and takes a seat at the famous student's desk, browsing briefly over the pages on top of it. He had been alone for a while now and looks around himself once more to be sure of that fact before lifting a few pages of notes off the table. With a small gesture, the papers are hovered near a candle and set aflame. His grin widening as nothing but ash remains of the pages. Getting up once again, he whistles happily as he picks up his broom and sweeps up the ash with the rest of the refuse.

"I'm such a mule." Xiphos splashes water over his face, looking at himself in a mirror in his quarters. "At her funeral even!" He tosses the washbasin to the wall, spilling the water all over the floor. Please don't think you are betraying her by your thoughts or actions. he hears it in Celestia's voice in his head as he slumps down to his bed. "What am I supposed to do? I almost told a goddess that I was falling in love with her. I can't be her bodyguard now, I--"

"So that's what it's all about huh?" A familiar feminine voice interrupts him from the window. Xiphos quickly hops up and spins to the sound of the voice to see Onyx Daggers' head and forelegs draped over the windowsill, the rest of her body hovering outside. "Wanna talk about it, commander?"

He motions her in with a hoof before turning and finding a seat. "It's not nice to spy on other ponies." He plops down and eyes her as she flies in the window and leans against the wall. "How much did you hear?"

Onyx massages her recently healed wing with her hoof, "Front Line was a bit worried, he sent me to come check on ya and invite you down for some dinner." She picks out a damaged black feather with a wince and tosses it aside. "I got to the window right when you confessed your love for our princess. What's this about being a bodyguard?"

Xiphos stares at her incredulously, "That's all you wanted to ask? About my bodyguard offer?" He leans forward, staring down at the floor. "The princess asked me to be her bodyguard whenever she is out of the safety of the keep."

A small grin appears on the black pegasi's lips. "And of course you said yes, because of your feelings for her?"

"No, I mean, yes, I mean..." He sulks some, "It's complicated." He looks up at her, seeing that she is expecting more, he continues. "Onyx, you knew the commander pretty well. You know how she wanted Equestria to be safe and protected. I feel like I need to be close to Star Swirl and the princess to fulfill that dream of hers. After I failed her..." He is struck by a fast hoof to the jaw. Reeling back he rubs a hoof to his sore spot and gets angry. "What the hay was that about!"

"I'm just getting past the pity party part of this talk! You did not fail anyone that day. It was an ambush, there was no way for you to stop what happened!" Onyx stands over him, breathing heavily through her nostrils. "So just stop trying to take all the blame upon yourself for her death, she would've hated to see you tearing yourself apart with guilt like this." She calms a bit and plops down on her rear. "You do what you need to do, but do it because you want to, not because you feel that you are paying off a debt!"

He lets her scolding soak in a moment. Was there really nothing he could have done to stop her death? Was he agreeing to help her brother out of guilt, or because he really believed in her vision? "You.. You're right, Onyx." He says at last. "All my life I guess I had been doing the same thing, trying to make Equestria a better place. It's in my nature to protect, as sure as this shield on my flank shows." He looks at his cutie mark briefly before looking back at his friend. "I've been making promises all day now, to the princess to protect her, and to Misty to not fail in protecting anypony."

"How about one more?" Onyx holds out a forehoof toward Xiphos. "Promise me that you won't let guilt cloud your judgement, and you become the best damn bodyguard to ever exist."

Xiphos let's out a smile, his jaw still a little sore. He raises a hoof and shakes Onyx's. "I can do that, just go easy on me next time you feel like smacking me around."

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't." The pegasus shrugs, "Now, about Princess Celestia..."

"I was hoping you would forget about that." The tan earth pony frowns as the pegasus leans forward uncomfortably towards him.

"I can't say much on that, just make sure you are honest with yourself and your reasons." She pats his shoulder with a hoof as she gets up. "And if you really care for her, then let her know." She walks back to the window and stretches her muscles in her wings and back. "The worst she could do is assign you back to the unit with me and Front Line." She lets out a giggle and takes flight, drifting out the window, turning around to look back in. "Come on down and eat, Front Line is waiting on us."

Standing up, Xiphos gives an accepting nod to the pegasus, who quickly turns and flies away. He picks up the washbasin in the corner and sets it back onto the counter. Noticing himself smiling in the mirror, he turns his head side to side checking hisself before heading out the door to join his friends. He feels lighter in his trot, and happier than he has been the last few days.

Chapter 5

Eternal Love

Princess Luna stands from her comfortable pillow on the floor and stretches her legs a bit. Looking again outside with a bit of worry on her face, she scans the sky for her older sister but comes up with nothing but stars and light clouds covering part of her moon. Twilight had asked for a short break to use the little mare's room, giving the Princess of the night ample time to not be distracted by the storytelling and become worried sick about her sister. Usually the two goddesses can detect each other's whereabouts at all times, save when they actively masked their presence from one another. "Tia... Where did you go that you didn't wish for me to know?" She whispers to herself as she looks out into the night. Celestia had never hidden from her sister not once, even before and after Nightmare Moon's banishment when her very life was potentially at risk. She always wanted to let her younger sister know that she was there for her.

"I'm worried too, I tried to locate her also but could not, only that she traveled west before her trail disappeared." Twilight's voice broke the silence, nearly startling the younger goddess, her concentration so focused she hadn't realized that her unicorn friend had returned.

"We will cover no ground staring idly out the window, there is much story left to tell, Twilight Sparkle." Luna heads back to her seat, a little relieved.

"Aren't you worried about the princess?" Twilight reluctantly turns and follows Luna's lead.

"If she has in fact gone west then I do not fear for my sister's safety. I do hope she finds what she is looking for though." Luna attempts to ease the lavender unicorn's worries before continuing.

Xiphos returns to his quarters, night had fallen during his time eating and drinking with his friends. The first real enjoyable time he has had in the last week. Closing the door behind himself, he staggers a little drunkenly in the dark into his countertop, knocking his washbasin over onto the floor again, thankfully empty. He inches over to its silouetted form on the floor and picks it up with his teeth and stands back up, looking for a place to set it down in the shadows.

"So.." A dark glow of magic illuminates the room, startling the young stallion, who quickly drops the basin and backs away instinctively. "This little drunk colt is who my sister chose as her personal protector."

Sobering up slightly, Xiphos squints his eyes to focus into the darkness and makes out the outline of the princess of the night in full dress armor, no doubt for the intimidating factor. He quickly stands at attention, swaying a little left and right to maintain balance. He remains silent as the princess slowly approaches at an angle.

"I don't see it." Luna looks down on him, her horn giving a sickly blue and purple glow to light up the earth pony. Her head was all he could really see in the glowing light. "You are not capable of anything more than wrapping up minor threats on the borderlands."

"But your majes--"

"SILENCE!" Lightning outside the window briefly illuminates the room, her face filled with rage as she stamps a hoof on the floor. "I only accepted my sister's decision because i know she has no real use for a bodyguard, she plans to use you for other purposes." She paces back and forth in front of the soldier.

"I know of our sister's plans to bring peace, and i find them to be a waste of effort." She stops, staring right into his eyes. "If it were possible I would have brought peace about long ago."

"Then why," he says hesitantly, the princess just raises an eyebrow at him. "Why do you let her try if it is impossible?"

She leans forward, eyes and horn glowing brightly, causing Xiphos to flinch. "Bold, you are, to speak in such a manner to royalty." She backs away and begins pacing again. "I care much for my beloved sister, and protect her from her foolishness. I protect the kingdom by leading our armies and Celestia is free to do as she pleases so long as she is safe."

"She does more than that." Xiphos blurts out, not sure if it was an emotional or alcohol driven outburst. The princess before him stops in her tracks and casts another icy glare at him. "She goes out and meets with ponies, she mourns for them, she cares for everypony in Equestria and shows it everyday. She has high hopes in Star Swirl's research and everypony around her feeds on that hope."

"Speak out of line again and I shall-"

"You shall strike me down? Banish me to Tartarus? Celestia sees hope in me where all you see is-" Xiphos steps forward defiantly toward the angry and powerful princess.

"Love!" The princess finishes his sentence. "Eternal and everlasting." Her words confuse him a bit. Luna backs down some, her horn and eyes not glowing with rage anymore. "I love my sister, and wish not for any harm to come to her. Her 'hope' is good for the public, but the truth is her solution will place her in much peril, even by our standards." She calms her tone some more. "If it came down to it, could you lay your life down to ensure her safety?"

"I... I have sworn it!" He replies, being a bit empathetic to his princess. "Not a single pink strand on her mane!"

Luna stands tall, looking down over her subject again, staring directly into his eyes. "I believe you" She levitates a small charm bearing an engraving in a language that Xiphos does not recognize, but he does notice the image of Luna's cutie mark on it. "Your power is limited as an earth pony. If you break this charm, I will lend my power in the protection of my sister." She ties the charm around his neck and hides it in his mane. "Do not let anypony know of this pact."

Xiphos looks up at his princess of the night and ponders what is happening, letting curiosity get the better of him, he opens his mouth again. "Why did you change so suddenly from wanting to kill me to wanting to help me, your majesty?"

"Because I saw it in your eyes, the fire when you defended her with your words. Your lack of fear of my power, knowing I would destroy you with a thought if there was any doubt in your words. That is when I knew that you would keep my sister safe." Luna says with a proud grin on her face, "I fabricated this whole conversation to see how far you were willing to go. The truth is I too see hope in my sister's plans, for she is much more wise than myself. I have sworn to be her sword and will defend Equestria in any way possible until my sister's plans come to fruition, buying her the time to complete them." She raises a hoof to his shoulder, easing any tension remaining in the room. "You shall protect her while I can now focus on protecting Equestria."

"Thank you for your trust, your majesty." He manages to bow his head without wobbling too much, the adrenaline fading in his system slowly making him feel the effects of his drinking again. When he looks back up, he gets a smile from the princess before her horn grows silent, the room plunging into darkness again, them with a gentle breeze her presence is gone from his room. The tan earth pony staggers a bit toward his bed, and collapses in physical and mental exhaustion onto it. Before he can even begin to piece together what happened just now he falls asleep.

Morning came quicker than Xiphos would have liked, staying up a little later because of one princess's visit almost caused him to oversleep meeting the other princess at sunrise. The castle keep guards allow him access and instruct him to wait in the main hall per Celestia's orders. The hall is unoccupied at the moment as Princess Luna and her guard had already retired for the night. Other than the chandelier and candles on the walls, there was little light in the hall, making it seem rather cold to Xiphos. Large windows on the sides of the hall that normally provide light during the day remain dark as the moon almost finishes it's decent past the trees in the horizon.

"Good morning, Xiphos." A voice greets him from across the hall, he turns and sees Celestia standing there, looking out at the stars in the sky through the window. "Come over, I'd like to show you something before we start our day." She says without looking away from the window in front of her.

Xiphos trots over and stands beside his princess, looking out the same window with her. Not noting anything special of note, stars, darkness, a treeline faint in the distance, he turns his head toward her. "What is it, Princess?"

"It's a beautiful night that my sister had made, as always." She says with a smile. "But take note of the window itself."

He looks at the window, noticing that it is damaged, a thin crack in the glass runs all the way down it vertically near the middle, nearly bisecting the glass in two. None of the other windows have any damage to them after a quick look around the room. "It's broken, why hasn't it been replaced?"

"It was broken long ago during a battle here between my sister and I and a dangerous draconequus." She reminisces, "When we sought to rebuild after the battle, I thought to take it down and replace it as well, but then I noticed this." Her horn glows gently, and Xiphos begins to notice a light on the horizon. The sun slowly begins to raise, sending bands of red, orange, and yellow light across the morning sky which slowly becomes blue as the sun ascends. But he notices another light. On the floor in front of him, a rainbow a few inches across forms. Puzzled and amazed, he turns to Celestia with a questioning look.

"How did..?" He only manages to say.

"The window crack perfectly lines up with my sunrise, causing a prism effect and creating a rainbow." She explains to him, motioning for him to watch longer. The small rainbow begins to slowly elongate and stretch as the sun rises more until it completely covers both ponies sitting in front of it, casting a myriad of color over their bodies. "Even broken, I find it more beautiful than all of the other windows in this hall. That is why I kept it."

Xiphos looks out the window some more at the sunrise, a bit speechless as the sight. "That was beautiful, Princess." He turns to look at her, the rainbow light making her light pink mane mix into bands of light blue, turquoise, and pink. He holds his breath briefly as he soaks in her radiance. "Your mane, princess..."

Celestia looks back at him. "What is it, Xiphos?"

"It's absolutely stunning in the rainbow light, i love it." He replies as the sun slowly raises out of the optimal angle for the prism effect, causing her mane to return to it's normal color. She blushes momentarily and looks back out the window, breaking eye contact with him. He panics a moment and looks forward as well. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to--"

"No it is fine, Xiphos." She turns toward the front of the hall. "Come now, we have a long day ahead of us and we need to get you up to speed on our progress."

"May I ask a question, your majesty?" Xiphos asks as he follows her.

"Of course you may, and we will be spending much time together informally, please just call me Celestia when it is as such." She stops and turns to him with her signature heartwarming smile.

"Yes, Princess." He says politely, "I just wanted to thank you for letting me watch the sunrise with you, but was wondering why you showed me on the first day of my new duties."

"That is an easy enough question, I wanted to make you feel more comfortable around me." She says softly, slowly begins to turn but stops and turns back. "But..." She trails off in thought,

"Princess?" Xiphos asks, "but, what?"

"I'd like it if you could come again tommorrow morning, I think I would like to see my mane in a mirror as well during the sunrise, to see how 'stunning' it truely is." She tells him and turns back toward the door and trotting away.

It is Xiphos' turn to blush as he stands there stunned momentarily in thought before he snaps out of it and begins to follow his princess again toward the exit. "Of course, Princess, I'd like that too."

Author's Note

Patch notes, Luna saw a speech therapist.

Chapter 6

Shield

Princess Luna sips tea from her cup. The warmth had gone from it a while ago now, but she did not mind. Her focus was on recounting the events of so long ago to her friend.

"Luna, what is out west?" Twilight asks slowly and sips her own drink. "I could tell she traveled farther than the borders of Equestria before she blocked our tracking spells..." She trails off, looking out the window, worried about her mentor.

Luna lets out a light sigh, hesitating before opening her mouth again. "It was a beautiful land without a name. In the early days after the founding of Equestria and my Sister and I took the throne, we guided the united pony tribes into an era of prosperity. As the tribes flourished, settlers spread throughout the land and established settlements all over the continent."

"Was a beautiful land?" The unicorn nervously asks, unsure she wants to hear the answer.

"A large valley, miles and miles across, surrounded by mountains on all sides and teeming with all sorts of wildlife and flora I have not seen since it was regrettably destroyed." Luna sighs again and frowns. "It turned out that a large number of dragons had laid claim to the land. They destroyed our settlement and most of the ponies in it and then turned focus on Equestria. After a short series of skirmishes on the borderlands, Celestia negotiated peace with their elder, Grithore the Ageless, to stop the bloodshed. The two became good friends in over the decades that followed and the land was eventually developed and settled by dragon and pony alike in harmony. Peace was not everlasting though, some of Grithore's underlings sought to usurp him and destroy all of the pony 'invaders'. Grithore and a scant few dragons loyal to him were all that were left when Celestia arrived after his call for help. When her life became endangered in the battle, she lashed out instinctively and the sun came to aid her. Grithore and Celestia both told me afterwards that when they awoke after the battle, the entire valley was destroyed, every plant and animal reduced to ash, many dragons were dead or fleeing to escape the sun's wrath, the ground itself is black and lifeless." Twilight grimaces and shifts uncomfortably. "They now call the valley Celestia's Scar."

"That's terrible..." Twilight hangs her head down, feeling horrible for her mentor. "So long ago, I had no idea."

"In all of the battles I fought alongside my sister, I had never seen my sister use that much power without the use of the Elements of Harmony. I believe she was more frightened of herself than the dragons that fled that day were. She vowed to never again go into battle and risk destruction of that magnitude again on this world. While Grithore remained friends with my sister, many dragons came to fear and hate ponykind. He kept his loyal subjects away from Equestria, but there were plenty of rogues that sought out battle on our borders. That is why I controlled the military during the time of our story. I promised her I would make sure she never needed to raise her horn at another creature." Luna drops her head and closes her eyes. "A promise I broke personally in my own weakness." She looks out of the window again into the night sky.

The unicorn was shocked to hear all of this information, none of it existed in any history books that she had ever read. Collecting herself, she looks up at Luna. "Please continue."

Xiphos had caught up to Celestia as they left the keep, staying a few steps behind her as she led the way to Star Swirl's tower. The ponies in the courtyard were doing their normal morning routines, starting their day's activities, bowing to the passing princess, and giving the occasional curious look at the pony tagging along behind her.

"It would be considered difficult at best to guard a princess from behind her." Celestia directs a stern comment over her shoulder. "Please come alongside me, commander." a look of panic sweeps over his face for a moment before he looks serious and quickly catches up and marches alongside the princess.

"I'm sorry, Princess." Xiphos looks directly ahead, becoming attentive and alert to the surroundings as they walk. "I won't let it happen again."

"I'm sure it won't." Celestia says before she stifles a laugh, making Xiphos turn his head and give a befuddled look. "I'm sorry I couldn't resist! The look on your face was worth it though!" she giggles loudly and looks forward again with a big grin on her face. "Relax, commander, you are doing a fine job escorting me." She says as she quickly reverts to her usual soft, gentle tone.

Xiphos lets a small laugh and a smile escape his mouth and releases out a large breath he had inhaled in relief. "I'm still sorry, I should have been more attentive to my duties, princess."

Celestia again smiles at him. "You are correct, Xiphos, but remember the main reason for your assignment as my bodyguard." She looks up the side of the tower, their destination. "Star Swirl and myself believe you can speed up our research significantly and end this bloodshed." She looks down at the tan earth pony. "After our visit here we will go see if your armor is finished. After all if you are my personal guard you will need a uniform befitting the role."

"Yes, princess." Xiphos stands at attention.

"At ease, soldier." the princess jokingly says as she smiles softly again, "Oh, and watch your flank, I normally do not teleport other ponies and I don't quite have the hang of bringing others with me."

"Watch my flan--?" Xiphos starts as he and Celestia disappear in a golden flash of light.

Star Swirl runs around his laboratory, digging through stacks of papers and books, frantically searching but not finding. His assistant Gyruss follows him, picking up debris and cleaning up spills as fast as Star Swirl makes them. A golden light briefly fills the corner of the lab followed by a loud thud and a male voice yelping in momentary pain. Xiphos stands back up, rubbing a red spot on his flank which he landed on upon arrival, the princess giving him an apologetic smile.

"We can't start yet, I haven't found it!" Star Swirl shouts as he flings another pile of papers onto the floor. "I've been looking all morning for the spell and can't find it!" Celestia walks over to his desk and looks around as well.

"We wrote it just the other night before Xiphos arrived, it should be here on your desk." She levitates a stack of books up and looks underneath, finding nothing. "We were going to memorize it and test it just when you arrived." She looks back at the earth pony in the corner that has come over to help look as well.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Xiphos asks, wanting to help the frantic unicorn and concerned looking alicorn.

"It was a powerful spell we needed for our research." Star Swirl mutters a curse and stomps his hoof down hard in frustration. "Gyruss, did you move anything off my desk?" he glares at his assistant.

The red unicorn steps back instinctively in reaction to the look he recieved. "N-no sir, I merely swept the floor and incinerated the trash while you were all away." He immediately went back to cleaning up the messes left behind by the frantic bearded unicorn.

Celestia approaches her student and rests a hoof on his back. "Please don't lash out at your assistant, it would not be his fault. The window was left open, it is possible a breeze blew it to the floor or into the trash, we left a lot of scrap paper everywhere and it could have blended in well." Star Swirl just sighs and walks to his desk and takes a seat. Celestia offers another apologetic smile to Gyruss who is still cleaning up and nods in appreciation.

"All that work for nothing." he pulls another piece of paper out and levitates a quill to it. He makes a few scribbles then stops and looks back up at his mentor. "How much of it do you remember?"

Celestia pauses a moment. "A lot of it actually. We can possibly rebuild the spell by tonight if we work hard enough." She stands at his side by the desk. "Are you feeling up to it, though? It's only been--"

"I'll be fine." Star Swirl snapped at the princess. He begins to write on the page before him again before stopping and setting the quill down. He turns to Celestia, who had taken a step back, and quickly gets up. "I'm so sorry, Princess... it's just... I..." he is silenced by a hug, Celestia holds her student gently.

"Shhh, it's okay. I forgive you." She calms him with her soft voice. Xiphos silently observes, reminded again of Misty, her funeral still fresh in his mind despite all of the other recent events. "We can take more time if you need it."

He slowly pulls away from the hug and returns to his seat. "No... we must do this while it is still fresh in our minds, then I will take a proper break." He swallows hard and picks up the quill again, jotting down some symbols.

From the corner, a red unicorn watches with a slight frown at the trio at the desk. It was supposed to delay them longer than just a day, the master needs more time. He pulls a small flask off a shelf that was concealed behind some books along with a dagger. I can only hope that this thing works on the princess long enough for me to get my target. He lobs the flask in the direction of the ponies distracted by Star Swirl's writing. A moment later a sound of glass shattering followed by an intense burst of light that fills the room.

"So we used this theorem here in conjunction with this--" Star Swirl stops entirely, the aura around his quill releases the feather and it plops onto the desk. Xiphos blinks and rubs his eyes from the burst of light temporarily blinding him only to see Star Swirl and Princess Celestia completely motionless. A quick galloping noise from across the room catches his attention as he sees a small black creature racing towards them. It's green eyes focused on the blue unicorn at the desk, brandishing a dagger in it's teeth.

Xiphos quickly leaps between the hostile creature and the motionless ponies, catching the attacker off guard momentarily. It halts it's charge and throws the dagger expertly towards it's target, only to have it impact the earth pony in the upper foreleg, imbedding itself a few inches deep. Xiphos howls in pain after blocking the dagger and tries to pull it out with his teeth but cries out again when he touches it. He stands on three legs, shifting the weight from his injured right foreleg as he sizes up the invader.

"That magic explosive was strong enough to paralyze the princess! How could a mud pony possibly avoid it's effect!" Gyruss's voice comes from the attacker's mouth. It hovers just off the ground with thin insectoid wings, keeping some distance from the wounded soldier in front of him for his own safety. Impossible! There's no way this can be... must act fast, he's wounded, I can take him despite his strength... He buzzes quickly toward Xiphos's right side, taking advantage of the wounded leg and kicks him hard to the ground.

"You destroyed that spell, didn't you?" Xiphos yells at the changeling as he limps back to his hooves, only to be knocked down and into a bookcase by another flying kick. He started to feel a little dizzy, he was starting to feel the blood loss from his injury, the dagger had been knocked out of his leg, only a warm flow of blood replacing it, and from the amount, it appeared to be from an artery. The attacker turns back to his target and grabs the blue unicorn's head.

"Yes, I was sent to delay the research as long as possible, failing that, I am to eliminate Star Swirl." The changeling begins to apply pressure to the blue unicorn's neck gently as it gets ready to snap the pony's neck. "This is going to feel so good after cleaning up after this slob for so many months."

"No... my student... Please don't do this..." Celestia manages to speak but still cannot move, pleading for Star Swirl's life.

"Already coming out of it, Princess?" the creature pauses and looks up into Celestia's eyes, which are tear filled and staring back at him. "Don't worry, It will be quick, so I can attend to you ne--" It's grip on Star's neck becomes loose and the changeling slumps over the desk, a dagger deep in it's back.

"Xiphos?" Celestia calls out as loudly as she can. "I still cannot move, are you okay?" A loud thud is heard behind her. Her eyes widen in a moment of panic. "XIPHOS?!" she strains to move her neck, but the effects of the explosive are still too strong. "Say something, anything!" Tears begin to drop down the sides of her face. "Xiphos..."

Xiphos opens his eyes, shielding them with his good hoof from a bright sun in front of him. The pain in his shoulder is gone, as is any trace of a wound. A shadowy silhouette of a pony approaches. As his vision focuses he makes out a pink mane and tail. "Thank goodness, Princess, I blacked out there and wasn't sure if..." He stops as the pony gets closer, he notices her blue coat. "Misty?"

"Look what the cat dragged in, or rather the changeling i guess." She giggles and hugs him tightly. "I'm sorry..." He embraces her back tightly, smiling and calm.

"I don't understand... I was with your brother and the princess..." His eyes widen "The princess! Are they okay!?" He looks around, a bright light in all directions limiting his vision. With a sudden realization he slumps down on his rear and Misty takes a seat in front of him.

"Yes they are both fine, you don't see them with us do you?" Misty jabs at Xiphos' ribs. "You saved them, but I'm afraid you were hurt pretty badly." She frowns a bit.

Xiphos holds his hoof to her cheek, brushing it gently. "Whats with the sad face? I get to say what I regretted not saying my whole life now." she puts a hoof over his mouth, stopping him momentarily.

"We don't have much time. I was allowed to see you and I want you to know I love you. I waited more than my whole life to say it I suppose." She lets out a small laugh.

"What do you mean we don't have much time? I just got here, I'm dead, right?" Xiphos looks into her eyes and and can tell there is more.

"You are not dead yet, just on the edge of death, close enough for me to hold you if only for a moment. I may not ever get another chance." She embraces him again tightly. "Harmony asked me to tell you to be her shield and to be strong, and stop getting ambushed." She sniffles back some tears "Okay the last one was from me." She manages another weak laugh.

"Harmony? I don't understand!" Xiphos holds onto Misty as tight as he can. "I don't want to go back now! I lo--" again he is stopped by a hoof to the mouth.

"Promise me you'll tell me the moment you get back here." She says, staring into his eyes, trying to smile.

He sat there for a few seconds, slowly taking her blue hoof and holding it over his heart. "If our plans succeed and we bring peace, it might be a long time."

"I know, and I'll be the proudest mare in the afterlife when you succeed. I'm not going anywhere, but you have a world to save and a life to live still." She motions around herself. Her hoof passes through his chest as he begins to fade.

"No wait!" Xiphos shouts out into the light.

"It's time I guess... remember to be her shield, she needs you as much as Equestria needs her." Misty's voice becomes distorted in his ears as he vanishes completely, leaving the Blue mare alone, smiling. She looks into the light, listening. "I know, Harmony, but I will still love him."

"Wait no!" Xiphos thrashes out, suddenly feeling pain again in his foreleg and falling back onto a soft mattress. He looks around as his vision comes into focus. He is in a bed in a small room, a warm fireplace illuminates the room with it's dancing flames. Seated next to the bed, and asleep, is Princess Celestia, her crown a little crooked, her pink mane a bit disheveled. He slowly reaches a hoof out toward her but stops to let her sleep, even asleep she looks tired. "How long was I out?" he asks himself.

"Almost three days." A cold monotone voice answers him from across the room. Xiphos, startled, turns his head to see Princess Luna seated in the shadows on the opposite wall. She was adorned in her regular crown and regalia, instead of the battle armor he saw her in last time. "It appears you kept your vow to me." She rises and approaches Xiphos, her eyes glowing ever so slightly in the low light.

"I always keep my promises, princess." He laughs a moment then winces in pain as his shoulder moves. Luna goes over to her sister and straightens the crown on her head carefully.

"She never left this room." Luna says softly, "When the bomb's effects wore off she began trying to heal you but apparently your natural magic resistance applies to positive magic effects as well. She exhausted herself to keep you barely alive until doctors arrived."

"Is she okay? And what was that bomb?" He asks the Princess of the night while looking at the slumbering Celestia.

"She is exhausted, but physically fine." Luna goes to the window and looks out at the moon hovering overhead. "As for the bomb, our student examined what remained and determined it to be some sort of powerful paralytic spell held within a vessel so anypony could use it once created. I do not know who is powerful enough to create a spell that strong save myself and my sister." She turns back to Xiphos in bed, who is still looking at the pink maned princess gently snoring. "I had to cast a sleeping spell over her to make her rest, she had not slept since the incident occurred three days ago." She looks back at her sister, then to Xiphos with a smirk. "When she awakens she will be fine, now that her shield is awake."

"Shield? How did you..." he barely manages to sit up, then he looks back at the window at her.

"I tried to view your dreams while you were out, I was attempting to find a way to awaken you." Luna confessed. "I saw everything, but was unable to interfere, Harmony forbid it. Please do as she asks and continue to be my sister's shield, I will be continue to be her sword."

"I swore to protect her, and I will for as long as I am able... I will be her shield." He looks at the sleeping princess for a moment and smiles, when he turns back to the window, Luna had already gone. Feeling a little tired again, he turns and lays back again. "Good night, Princess."

Author's Note

Okay wow, it's been a year... I'm sorry for the long wait, real life > all unfortunately! updates will be more frequent than 12 months, I swear this time.

I hope my writing hasn't lost it's edge, this is the most I've done in a while now on any site.