The Beginning

In the great land of Equestria, in the capital city of Canterlot, in the royal castle, in the royal bed chambers, Princess Celestia woke with a start. She gasped then, quickly, silenced herself checking to make sure she had not woken Luna. She had shared a room with Luna since Celestia could remember. They slept in a large room with a mural that covered the walls and filled the ceiling and floor. The room was symmetrical except that Celestia's half of the room was a forest in the day while Luna's was the same forest, but at night. Celestia slept in the bed in the north-east corner of the room while Luna slept in the north-west corner of the room. There was a third bed in the center of the south wall which the princesses liked to call their "guest bed", just in case they ever happened to have a guest. Celestia quickly and quietly got up from her bed and moved to the door.

Outside the large door paced Adam Shield, Celestia's personal guard. He was a unicorn pony and a proud member of the Shield family, a family of nobles that had been producing bodyguards for ages. His fur was a burgundy while his hair was a dark cyan. His cutie mark was what truly made him special. His cutie mark was a shining shield in front of what appeared to be a sun perfectly identical to Princess Celestia's cutie mark. He got his cutie mark the first time he singlehoovedly saved Celestia's life from a changeling assassin. This cutie mark came with abilities, ever since that day whenever the Princess was in trouble he knew. It also came with the ability to sense Celestia's emotions and sometimes even thoughts. This is why he was specifically assigned to guard the Princess. This ability was at times considered a burden because that meant whatever Celestia felt so did Adam. He had woken up about half an hour ago because Princess Celestia had been having a nightmare. With sleep evading him he decided to head to the castle and see if she was ok. Now he paced back and forth in front of the door thinking about whether or not to knock on the door. On one hand, Celestia could be in distress or even danger as all he could feel was her fear. On the other hand, if she wasn't then he'd be in for a beating from both Celestia and Luna. He found himself about to knock on the door when it slowly opened with a small squeak and there, surprised to see him, stood Princess Celestia.

"Oh thank goodness," Adam sighed," You're ok"

"Of course I'm ok,"Celestia replied," I thought I gave you the week off."

"I thought you were in trouble, I felt your fear, and so I came down here"

"You know you can't trust those urges of yours"

"They haven't been wrong yet, Princess," Adam had begun to base his whole life around Celestia lately. The idea of these urges just being make believe, like most people thought, killed him inside but he knew they were real and he was going to stick to the belief," So, then, where are you going?"

"On a walk through the garden,"Celestia lied quite well.

"I'll come with you,"Adam wasn't convinced.

"I would like to go alone,"Celestia replied. Now Adam knew she was lying.

"You don't have that option, Miss," There was a pause in the conversation while Celestia thought about his answer. After a little while of Adam and Celestia just standing there in the hall she made her decision. Quickly her horn glowed a bright yellow, the color of the sun, and then she was gone as if she was never there in the first place. Adam knew what she had done. She used an invisibility spell in the hopes that she could get away but like Adam's abilities wouldn't let her get away so easily. Lately, whenever he needed to get to Celestia his powers would take over and he trusted his instinct. This was one of those times. His horn began to glow and suddenly he knew where she was. Maybe it was a location spell? He hadn't performed one of these before but he wasn't gonna waste time thinking about it. Celestia had made it pretty far with her long legs but Adam wasn't going to lose her very easily. He raced through the halls of the quiet, dark castle. He was outside the castle in no time but it was too late. Adam didn't understand how he knew but he knew that Celestia had gotten away flying to whatever location she was going to.

Adam was considered a confident colt but when he freaked out, he freaked out. Not many people ever saw what that looked like. At that moment, he raced back into the castle through the halls and straight to the Princess's room.

"Luna!" Adam didn't have time to lower his voice. Luna unaware of the situation slowly got up from her bed. Then something clicked in her head. She shot off her bed and quickly head over to Adam.

"What time is it!?"Luna yelled.

"It's about midnight but ..." Adam was interrupted.

"Oh no oh no, what about the moon?"Luna asked.

"Your sister raised it earlier,"Adam answered, " I'm trying to tell you, your sister left just a couple minutes ago for an unknown location"

"What?"

Adam had lost, " I'm freakin' out what if she's in danger? What if I could have stopped her? I've failed as her guard and now I don't know where she is," Luna sighed and gave him a why-did-you-wake-me-up-for-this look.

"Ok, just calm down. I'm sure my sister is simply a little stressed. She'll be back before you know it."

"I can still sense her fear!"He shouted, having completely lost it by now. Luckily, for Adam fate was definitely on his side that night because his horn began glowing once again, "What NOW?"And then Adam disappeared. Only when he reappeared he wasn't in the castle or even in Canterlot but instead he was next to a forest too large and too thick to see the other side. He stood in a small field in the middle of the forest. Other than a forest there was a small cave in front of him. He remembered something his mother used to tell him. She had told him when he was a young colt that a unicorns magic is special and never betrays you so if your magic ever does something unexpected or unexplained then you should probably go with it. Of course she didn't say it like that. She said it a lot more gracefully. Either way the meaning stays the same Adam had to trust that the same thing can be applied here as well. So thinking confident thoughts and about the hope of Celestia's safety he entered the cave.

The cave was moist and despite the warm outside air it somehow managed to be cold. He walked through the cave for about a minute and just when he was about to give up he saw a dim light in the distance. As he got closer to the light he realized that the walls had become smoother as he walked further. Finally, he reached the light to find an even stranger sight. It was a large room made out of the cave walls. On the far wall chains hung from the wall. The chains themselves seemed to glow with power and without thinking Adam knew what Celestia had been afraid of the whole time. He understood why she wanted to go alone and he knew where she was going. She was coming here and he was here. That wouldn't look good. He had to get out of here before she showed up and as he turned around he was met by the shocked face of Princess Celestia.

"How did you get here?"was her first question.

"My horn, it brought me here" Adam replied.

"So you have no idea what this place is?" Celestia asked.

For a moment, Adam thought about telling her the truth and that Adam did but thinking about it again, "No, I have no idea"

"Well then I'd better tell you"Celestia replied. That wasn't what Adam had expected but he didn't reject the information as Celestia began her story. About an hour later after the story and after Adam's question they left the cave and began the long walk back to Canterlot. They talked a lot on the way back. Most of it was just to cover up the fear they now shared. However, both agreed sharing the burden was nicer than going at it alone. Adam insisted many times for Celestia to leave him as she would get back faster on her own. She, however, refused as that would mean leaving Adam behind. After three days, two nights and a terrified Canterlot they finally were found by a search party. Celestia and Adam were starved, tired and thirsty by the time they arrived back at Canterlot and with one last gasp, they both collapsed.

Celestia woke to find Adam pacing back and forth by her bed nervously. He stopped in the middle of his pace and turn to face the now awake Celestia. His horn glowed and suddenly Celestia found herself with a platter covered in her favorite breakfast in her lap. Toast, eggs, ,sunny-side-up, of course, and her favorite flower, the sunflower. Celestia didn't hesitate to dig in but between bits she spoke and she said," I need to warn Luna."

Adam was quick to reply,"Already done"

"She believed you?"

"She didn't believe the whole story. It seemed as if she doesn't remember... but she did close off Canterlot until you were better,"A long silence followed. Now what did they do? Adam knew something he shouldn't know and both of them knew that. Adam flinched. Ever since he had gotten back, his abilities had seemed to almost upgrade. He knew every dream Celestia had and any thought she thought. Celestia's mind was a scary place. Some of it scared him other images shocked him and very few ever made sense. Now that she was awake her thoughts became a lot clearer.

"What now?"She thought. It was a question he was asking himself as well. Then her mind switched to an idea that hadn't crossed Adam's, "Maybe a memory wipe would work,"was what she thought. Adam's eyes widened the idea of the Princess wiping his memory was beyond him. He couldn't begin to grasp the possibility Celestia could do something like that.

"What is it?"Celestia said out loud this time.

"Are you serious?" Adam asked. Celestia tilted her head. She didn't understand the comment.

Adam paused before going on. He had worried about the Princess all the time he would risk his life for her, he still would but he finds out a small secret and suddenly her first thought was to betray him. Now that he thought about it he couldn't read her memories this well before they got back. Maybe she had thought about this the entire time. Luckily for him, he could now always be a step ahead of her.

Adam had never convinced anyone, other than family, that he could truly read Princess Celestia's mind or tell when she was in danger. Everyone took it as a joke that he played on them. To his family, this was normal as they all felt this way to one person or another. They were considered the shield family because of their cutie marks. They were all a shield in front of something, sometimes even someone elses cutie mark. Others had gone as far as to believe it was just a family joke that they could read someones mind or spot danger a mile away.

He felt everything Celestia felt and read every thought. In a sense he could be considered another side of her that was hidden away. At the same time Adam was still Adam and still wanted things Adam wanted. Adam didn't want his mind wiped but at the same time Celestia was afraid of him because he knew these things. He feared that he would betray Celestia even if he didn't mean to. He knew what he had to do but he didn't want to know. Adam looked down at his hooves and thought about why he was Celestia's guard. There was a simple answer, he was good at it, and there was a much deeper answer which he didn't want to face. He hoped maybe that he wouldn't have to do it but Celestia wouldn't stop thinking it. Celestia was hesitant and you could tell by her thoughts she didn't want or mean to harm Adam in any way but at the same time Adam was a risk to the entire kingdom. Adam would have to do it," Maybe..Maybe, you should just wipe my memory," He didn't look up from his hooves.

"What!? No! I would never do that to you."Celestia sounded shocked and so did her thoughts. She had not expected the idea to come from Adam.

Adam looked up,"Don't lie to me!"Adam yelled. He was on the verge of tears. It was too much. He didn't want to, but he needed to, or did he? and he did, but why? just because? So many voices in his head he couldn't stand it,"Just do it quickly and get it over with."

Now it was Celestia's turn to look down. She got up from her bed and approached Adam. Adam the stallion who had managed to save her on multiple occasions and risked his life for her many other times. He had traveled for three full days with him insisting that she leave and let him die all along the way. Now she stood in front of him preparing to wipe his memory. She had met many people in her many years but Adam was one of the most remarkable of them all. She had cried many times in her early years but the last time she remembered crying was on her 500 birthday but standing there she let loose one tear. Her horn began to glow as she summoned her power.

"Promise I'll still be your guard?" Adam asked.

There was no time for Celestia to reply but Adam could hear her mind screaming yes. She could barely think another thought but if she had thought anything right before the spell had gone off it was. 'Goodbye' and then Adam realized his mistake.