Children of The Guardian Chap 10

by ~Sunjian54

Children of the Guardian

Chap 10

David's entrance into the throne room was marked by the loud creaking of the giant throne room doors. They were massive doors covered in gold and precious gemstones such as diamonds and rubies. However on closer inspection a large crack could be seen running down the middle of the entire doorway from right to left. Everypony in the castle knew that the crack had been caused by David slicing through the doors almost 17 years ago when he had first become the Guardian. He had been furious with Celestia for hiding a letter Twilight had written to him about how Celestia was separating the both of them to keep Twilight safe, and rather than open the door, he had sliced it in half with his sword. Even now the memories of what his anger was capable of haunted him, which was why he had made himself a promise to never let his anger control him again.

He brushed the memories aside as he walked toward the throne where Twilight was sitting. Her lavender hair draped over her royal Canterlot dress. The dress had been made by Rarity and was a one of a kind masterpiece. It was a bright white and dark blue gown that represented Twilight's control over the sun and the moon. It had been stitched with lavender thread and decorated with valuable amethyst gemstones which matched the pink streak in her hair, and no matter how many times David saw her wearing that dress, it still amazed him with how beautiful she looked every time.

"Ready for dinner Twi?" He asked as he approached her. "Ok hang on one second." She said as she stood up from her throne and stepped down the stairs. As she did however, she suddenly stopped and turned around so she could pull something out from underneath the throne.

"Twi what is that?" David asked trying to look around her.

"Nothing!" She said quickly hiding the item behind her wings that unfurled as she spoke.

"Come on… what is it?" He asked trying to sneak a peek around her wings. "It's nothing. Come on we need to get to the dinner table." She said as she quickly turned and began to trot away only to have something fall from behind her. She gasped and blushed as David picked it up and looked at it.

It was an old book. Really old judging from how the spine was shredded and the pages were ripped and torn apart. He turned it over and read the cover aloud to himself.

"How to run a Country by Princess Celestia… Twilight come on!" He said shaking his head. "I thought you promised me that you wouldn't think about how Celestia would do things now that you're on the throne." He said shaking the book at her. David knew that Celestia had been a marvelous leader, perhaps one of the greatest. However it annoyed him when Twilight tried to read books on how to be a better leader, when she herself was already a skilled a leader of her own talent.

"Twi why do you do this? You look to others ideals when you should be listening to your own heart!" He said walking up next to her. Twilight sighed and looked at the ground.

"I know David, but its hard being a Princess… not ONCE in my life did I ever imagine that I would be made Princess. I mean I always wanted to run the Canterlot Library!" She said as her wings shot outwards at her words. "But now that I'm here… I want to be the best leader possible, and I feel the best way to do that is to learn from the best like Celestia." She said smiling.

"Alright I'll give you that much." David said smiling back. "But you need to gain experience by doing things your own way. Doing that builds confidence and helps prepare you for other challenges." He said as they both began walking toward the banquet hall.

"I guess that's true… but experience is only useful if its gathered the right way, and to gather it the right way I have to learn from the best, and to learn from the best I have to read Celestia's books and." David put a hoof over Twilight's mouth stopping her rant. "You talk too much egghead. You know that right?" He smiled as he wrapped his hooves around her body, while she in turn wrapped both her wings and hooves around him.

"Yeah well… old habits die hard right?" She asked smiling at him. David nodded and walked into the banquet hall to see Sunlight at the table already and Midnight's seat absent.

"David where's Midnight?" Twilight asked as she took her seat. "He went on a date with Celestial Brush, I told him it would be okay as long as he was back and rested for class in the morning." He said as he began eating the salad off his plate. David had never been a big fan of salad as a human, but since he had become a stallion his taste buds had shifted a bit, and it was now one of his favorite meals. While the chefs usually brought out fancy and expensive dishes for his family, he had convinced them that simple was sometimes better. This made things easier for the chefs, and it meant the family could enjoy "normal" meals.

"Hey dad I just realized something." Sunlight said as she put another piece of lettuce into her mouth and continued to talk. "A young Princess will mind her manners." He said calmly. Sunlight realized her error and closed her mouth and continued to eat.

"Today's the anniversary of the Eclipse War dad. It ended 17 years ago." She said finishing. David's mind exploded like a bomb as memories raced back to light. His mind flooded with images of corpses and blood, of victorious armies and a slain dictator. The images were filling his sight, he could see nothing but bodies and hear nothing but screams, and they were getting louder!

"David? Sweetie are you alright?" Twilight's voice snapped him back to reality as the horrific images faded. "Y-Yeah… I'm fine…" He said quietly as a cold sweat began to trickle down his head. His eyes fell back to his dinner, and his stomach quickly formed into a knot. "If you'll both… excuse me, I've… lost my appetite." He said as he struggled back to his feet and walked toward he and Twilight's room. "Mom…? Was it something I said?" Sunlight asked confused. "No dear. Your father… just has a lot of thinking to do." She said hiding the truth from her daughter.

Up in his room David flipped over his desk and threw his armor and sword across the ground in a rage. "WHY!! WHY WON'T THESE MEMORIES LEAVE!!!???" He roared as sweat poured down his head and his teeth grinded in anger. Images of the war once again flashed in his mind, he could hear the sounds of his sword clashing with Nightmare Sol's mane, and he could smell the blood from her wings when he cut them both off. The smell of this made him rush to the balcony outside and vomit.

Sweat poured from his mane and all over his body as the memories continued their assault. Images of his resurrection when Celestia and Luna used their magic along with the mane 6 to revive him, and the image of his new body continued to surge into his eyes. "These… These are good memories… why do they haunt me?" He asked the empty room around him. "They haunt you because you question yourself David." A mighty voice answered from the room.

"Solaris…? Solaris where are you?" David asked confused. The mighty alicorn's spirit appeared in front of him with a concerned look on his face.

"Your memories are driving you insane David."

"You think I can't tell?? Why is this happening???"

"Your memories are returning for two reasons. One is very simple; the other is much more difficult to understand." The wise voice said. "The difficult reason is that you have questions that you have not answered. They are returning so that you can answer them."

"WHAT QUESTIONS COULD I POSSIBLY HAVE???" David roared.

"That's for you to discover my friend." David ran his hooves through his mane as he fell on the bed. "I… I don't know… I can't think of any questions. What's the other reason Solaris?" He asked rubbing his now pounding head.

"You're suffering from a disease called P.T.S.D." Twilight answered as she entered the door to the room with a large book. "Greetings Princess Sparkle."  Solaris said greeting her. "Greetings to you as well Lord Solaris. David I found out what's wrong with you." Twilight said as she plopped down on the bed and dropped the book near David's skull.

"After you left the room I went to the Library and looked up some medical illnesses. You're suffering from a disorder called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It's where traumatic memories resurface and cause suffering for the person who lived them. I'm guessing this all happened when Sunlight mentioned the war right?" She said rubbing his mane.

His wife's touch eased his tension and David began to relax. "No… this has been happening for months, just not on this big a scale. I could hear and see everything… it was frightening." He said looking out toward the moon in the sky. "But… what was confusing was that the moment I was revived was there too. Why would that be there? I don't have questions about Celestia and Luna saving my life." He said.

Twilight lay next to him and laid her wings over him. "That's not true… you always ask me why they did it. Why they choose to give up their powers and their kingdom to save you." Twilight said gently.

"That bothers you David? Why?" Solaris asked cocking an eyebrow.

"It just does…" David said as he rose and stepped back out into the cold November air and looked up at the moon. "Why would the two most powerful beings on this planet, and the rulers of this kingdom, give up EVERYTHING they owned and had to spare me? I was just one human, I was the Guardian who had done his job. So what if I was dead. Does that matter? Who the heck would have cared if I stayed dead?" He said coldly as he turned around.

Twilight's eyes filled with tears as she looked at him. "I would've cared. You were my brother." She said as she hugged him.

"Twi… I understand that I meant something to you and every other pony, but that still doesn't answer my question." He said as he and Twi hugged each other close.

"Perhaps I can enlighten you David." Solaris said as he stretched his wings. "Princess Celestia brought you back for many reasons, but let's cover the most basic. The first reason was she knew that Twilight and her friends would be heartbroken without you."

"I understand that." David interrupted as he stroked Twi's mane with his hoof as she laid her head on his shoulder.  

"Yes I know, but there are other reasons. The second reason was that Celestia knew that the time of the sister reign was over. She realized that although she was immortal her spirit was aging. She realized this when even with her vast power she was unable to keep Nightmare Moon's spirit from stealing her body from her. Not to mention the face that neither she nor Luna could stop Nightmare once she had a body of her own. Only YOU could. Thus bringing you back ensured that Equestria would have a bright future, plus uniting the species into on large army may have earned you a few bonus points." Solaris said smiling.

"Okay Solaris, reasons accepted but there have to be more." David said stubbornly.

Solaris's smile faded and was replaced by a dark glare and frown. "There is. The final reason was that Celestia had a vision of the future after your death. If you had remained dead Twilight and Luna would have become increasingly depressed. Twilight would spend no time with her friends and never leave the tree house, while Luna locked herself away in her tower and would not speak to anypony. Because of this, the seal containing one of Equestria's greatest threats would be broken, and the demon that brought chaos on the land would have reawakened, and without Twilight the Elements of Harmony would be useless. So you see… you being alive prevented a huge disaster." Solaris finished.

David blinked and began thinking. At that moment everything began to make sense. Celestia and Luna knew the consequences about the choice they were making, but they did it for a better Equestria, and because they had loved him. David smiled at this revelation. (I may not be perfect. But at least I mean something to some ponies.) He thought as he hugged the now sleeping Twilight. "Well… it looks like my job is done." Solaris said as he began to vanish. "Thank you old friend." David said as the alicorn vanished.

"Is he gone now?" Twilight whispered. "Yeah he's gone now." David answered. Twilight yawned and crawled under the blanket while David did the same. "Hey you know… one question has bugged me a bit. How come when you met me, you when from know it all nerd, to a nerdy, soft hearted, lover girl? Even Dash said you were made of tougher stuff before I showed up." He said smiling.

Twilight giggled and kissed his lips. The sweet taste of cherries filling David's mouth as she did. "It was just a kind of magic I guess." She said yawning again. "But I..."  He started only to have Twilight cover his mouth with a hoof. "It's magic, I don't have to explain shit." She said smiling. "Fair enough" he replied. Next Chapter: Chapter 11 Estimated time remaining: 57 Minutes