Moonlit Star looked worse for the wear. She was splayed out on the floor of one of the side offices near Princess Luna’s chambers. The tremors had stopped… mostly, but she still hadn’t quite formed a coherent sentence.
To her credit, she had managed to pull whatever she needed from the crystal before things had gone south. Now we had two… one obsidian and one dark grey. I guess a nightmare isn’t as dark as a war.
I idly patted Moonlit Star on the back, keeping my forehooves out of her direct line of vision. Crystal had been fixated on them. “It’s going to be a few weeks before those memories start to fade. You’re going to need care. Crystal did… does. Both. And please don’t think me cruel, but I’ve kept my end of the bargain. You know what needs to be done.”
“Yes,” she whispered. The elder unicorn struggled for a moment to push herself off the floor. I helped her up and steadied her.
“Are you all right? Crystal didn’t have any physical ailments. I can send for a doctor.”
Moonlit Star shook her head. “No, I am not unwell. I am just at a loss that such violence exists. This is why we secluded ourselves and swore to be pacifists. How anypony can actually do these things, I cannot fathom.”
My feathers ruffled and I let her go. “I did what was asked of me.”
She blinked, her eyes meeting mine. “Forgive me… I did not think before I spoke. It was truly not meant as a judgment of you personally. Now, it is time to honor my word and I, like you, will be glad to be rid of this.”
Her horn illuminated and surrounded the black crystal in a white glow. Slowly, she levitated it closer to me and set it on the floor in front of my hooves. “Crush it and do it soon. I won’t be able to maintain this spell long.”
I’d already tried to crush it several times. That had resulted in sore hooves and a broken hammer. Orders were orders, though, so I lifted a hoof and slammed it down on the crystal. I’d been bracing myself for another failure but, to my surprise, it exploded into a big plume of black smoke. The wisps trailed around us before fading into non-existence.
The matron’s horn went dark and she reached out a hoof to stabilize herself. I caught it and held her up.
“Easy there.”
“I’m too old for this,” she whispered.
“I’m not sure anypony is ready for this, regardless of age. All right, let’s get you into Princess Luna’s chamber and onto the couch. You look like you need a nap.”
Her head shook. “In time, but not right now. I saw what you thought was a nightmare… but that was no normal nightmare. Even from your memory, I could feel the magic oozing within it.
“The creatures there are dangerous. I do not know from where they hail but I have read about them in Lady Nocturna’s library. They invade dreams to manipulate the sleeper. Though how they could prevent Princess Luna from seeing their machinations, I cannot fathom. We must do more research and you must be vigilant now more than ever. You’re under attack.”
Under attack? No. Nightmare creatures that took over dreams? No. I’d expected this nonsense from Exemplar Ferrel, but not the matron. I shook my head. “I think you’re mistaken. If they were attacking me, why would they suddenly stop? There is no logic there.”
“I am quite certain, Silent Knight. Perhaps they already achieved their goal? You have resigned your commission. They may be an enemy of Equestria and our House.”
“That…” I sighed. “That unfortunately makes sense. You don’t have to destroy an enemy to defeat her.” I hate magic. I hate magic! “Okay, I can’t deal with this right now. I’m going to go see Dr. Kitty.”
When I turned to leave, Moonlit Star grabbed my hoof and held on. “Wait, please. The creatures cannot force you to do something you’d never consider. Their manipulations are subtle. They seemed to want you or… rather… the you from these memories. Beware of anypony looking to recruit you.”
“Don’t worry, I’m very wary of anypony doing that.” I tugged my hoof a bit and she let it go.
“Before you leave, I have something for you. I wasn’t sure if I should give it to you but now I’m certain.” The matron reached into her saddlebag, pulled out a thick, silk bound journal, and offered it to me. “This was High Marshall Moonglaives’s. It contains many things that did not make it into his training. I think you’re meant to have it.
“You may be the last Knight, just as I am the last Star. Please, take it and protect yourself.”
Everypony had some kind of prophecy! Couldn’t I be left alone to just build my house and enjoy my wife? Reluctantly, I accepted the book and slipped it into my bag. “Try not to scare the princess with this nonsense. Good day, Matron, and get some rest.”
She nodded while I trotted out of the palace as fast as I could. This was crazy. Dream creatures manipulating me. That was ridiculous. There was no such thing… other than the beings that had promised Princess Luna to make things better for her.
It was early, but I thought it would be best to get to Dr. Kitty sooner rather than later. I cantered through town until I reached the Flower Foundation Headquarters.
To my surprise, Dr. Kitty was just coming out of the main doors. She looked surprised to see me too. “Hi, Silent Knight! What a coincidence. Well… not really. I mean we have an appointment later, but the coincidence was that I was going to come see you early.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
“I want to recruit you!”
My ears fell flat. “Pardon?”
“Recruit you! It is gardening day which means all of the volunteers and staff go to the Memorial Garden and work to spruce it up. Since you’re a veteran and very handy, I thought you’d want to come.”
Oh, well, if the creatures were motivating me to garden, I could live with that. Still, I wanted to have therapy. “Okay… but I need to talk. I don’t want to do it in front of a bunch of ponies I don’t know.”
Dr. Kitty looped her hoof around mine and started walking me towards the garden. “We can talk. We can leave as soon as you want. Let’s just try this first, okay? Oh, and you won’t be surrounded by a bunch of ponies you don’t know. You know a lot of our ponies!”
“Right, but something happened this morning. With the memory crystal.”
“Oh, not that thing. That does sound serious! Well, we don’t have to go to gardening day. We can turn right around and go back into the building.” She stopped and started to turn away from the open gate.
“Uncle Silent! Hi!” came the high pitched voice of Dot.
The little… well… svelte filly-mare came trotting out of the garden. “Are you here to help? That is so cool if you are!”
“Of course he is! He wouldn’t be here otherwise,” my sister’s voice called from just inside the gate. She was standing in one of the beds, wearing a big hat.
Dr. Kitty shook her head. “Oh no, we were just wal—“
I nodded. “Yes, I’m here to help. At least until Dr. Kitty and I have our appointment. Right, Dr. Kitty?”
She beamed and shrugged. “Apparently so!”
Dot bounced gleefully. “Yay!” She rushed into the garden. “Hey, everypony, guess what? Uncle Silent is here!”
Dr. Kitty whispered, “Are you sure?”
“I’ll be fine. We can leave any time we want.”
“Right!”
The two of us trotted into the garden where a small crowd of ponies was already busy with various tasks. Dr. Kitty was right, I knew a lot of them.
Miley Hooves was working with Winterspear over in one of the white flower beds. Dot and four colt-stallions were trimming flowers in the pink beds.
Opposite all of that, Azurite was touching flowers with her horn for some reason in the blue beds while Sunny Day was lying on her back just outside one, looking half dead. I walked over to her and lightly set a hoof on her chest. There was a pulse.
“Kill. Me,” she whispered.
“Celebrating has a price. Why did you even come if you were this ill?”
“Azurite. Came for Azurite. She gets nervous if Soarin and I aren’t here.”
“Oh, I see.” I softly patted her head. “Not going to kill you, though.” Then I raised my voice slightly to call, “Hi, Azurite!” Sunny winced.
Azurite’s head shot up and her eyes went big when she saw me. “Oh! Hi, you! Uh… hi. Bye.” Then she ducked down in the flowers as if she was trying to hide.
“All right…” I trailed before turning and walking towards an area with gardening tools.
Dr. Kitty tagged along at my side. “That wasn’t weird to you?”
“For Azurite? No. Okay, so what should we do?” I asked as I put on gardening shoes and a hat.
“We have to check with the boss!”
“Okay, so who is the boss?”
“She is.” Dr. Kitty’s hoof pointed up to where a delicate yellow pegasus mare fluttered above. Her pink mane and tail trailed behind her as she went from bed to bed, making sure everypony had what they needed.
“She looks familiar to me, but I can’t place it,” I said as we idly walked towards where the mare was hovering.
“She should! She was a famous model for a little while. Oh, and she is on the board of directors for the Flower Foundation. Excuse me! Ms. Fluttershy! Hi!” Dr. Kitty called as she bounced.
A model and a director. Of course, I’d have led with the whole part about being one of the kingdom’s true heroes, but I guess the average pony wouldn’t know a ton about the Elements of Harmony. They were just ancient magical artifacts wielded by six mares that went out and solved problems. Big, magical problems.
Fluttershy slowly descended to us. “Well, hello, Dream Pop, I’m so happy you made it to gardening day again. And you’ve brought a big sturdy friend to help! How nice.”
Her voice was so sweet and soft… just as delicate as her. So, Dream Pop was her real name? I liked Dr. Kitty better.
Dr. Kitty nodded. “I did! This is Silent Knight. He’s Winterspear’s brother and Dot’s uncle… although I guess that last part is obvious.”
Fluttershy smiled. “Yes, and Crystal Wishes’s husband, a veteran, and a patient. We’re so glad to have you. Would you two be so kind as to spread fresh soil out in the purple beds?”
It was really weird that ponies knew me. Off-putting, too. Crystal was the famous one. I was just famous by association. “Glad to. Nice to meet you.” Best to just disengage and get to work. I trotted over to where there were piles of soil and buckets. The task was simple enough: fill the bucket with soil, carry it to a purple bed, and spread it out. No skill required.
Dr. Kitty came along with me and started helping. “She’s nice.”
“Uh-huh,” I replied as I carried the bucket over.
“Weirded you out, didn’t she?”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s super okay to be weirded out. Everypony seems to know you, but that is just coincidence. Look around at how many ponies here do know you. They talk about you fondly. She’d just picked that up.”
“Uh-huh,” I replied before starting to spread soil out in the bed. “I really don’t mind, it’s just weird. My head is full of weird stuff today.”
Dr. Kitty nodded and started spreading soil around. “That is super okay. We’ll talk about it at the house. We’ll do this instead of your exercising, though. If that is okay?”
“Super okay,” I replied flatly before smiling.
She just winked and tossed some soil at me.
We worked like that for about two hours as ponies came and went. Miley took some time to fill me in on all of the palace gossip and how she and Runic were starting to see each other more often.
Winterspear had asked me to help wrangle Dot and her legion of colt followers. They were getting competitive and the quality of work was slipping. In the end it seemed they were more afraid of me than in love with her.
When Dr. Kitty took a water break, I went to check on Sunny. She had moved about six inches so that her face remained in the shade. I sat by her and set a hoof on her forehead.
Sunny groaned and her eyes blinked open. “Evil stallion.”
“I’m just making sure you are okay.” I looked up to where Azurite was still working on the flowers with her magic. Was she paying attention? She’d been hiding from me all day. It was like we were playing a game, but only she was in on it. “Somepony has to,” I said loudly.
The tiny blue mare looked up and trotted over. “I’ve got an eye on her! She’s the one that got drunk last night and slept at another mare’s house!” A small hoof came up and poked my chest. “Who’re you to tell me about how to care for my Sunny?”
My little ploy had worked. I idly set my large hoof against her small one. “Her partner.”
Azurite shook her head. “Nope! Not true! You tried to resign!” She gasped and then stuck her hoof in her mouth.
Tried? What was she on about? “What?”
The little blue mare shook her head emphatically, her hoof still in her mouth. She turned and started to run away but somehow through her hangover stupor, Sunny had grabbed her tail and was holding onto it. “Nuh-uh, hold up. What are you hiding?”
Azurite squeaked and yelled, “Nothing! Let go! We need to go home now. Bye bye, everypony!”
Winterspear trotted over, alerted by the odd behavior. “What are you two doing to Azurite?”
“They’re being mean! Save me, Winterspear,” Azurite squeaked.
Sunny sat up and started to reel Azurite in by her tail until she could loop her forehooves around the mare’s waist. “She’s up to something suspicious.”
“Am not!” Azurite squealed while squirming.
“She said I tried to resign. What do you mean, tried?” I asked, leaning in to peer at Azurite.
“Yeah… what do you mean, tried? I was there,” Winterspear added.
Azurite squirmed around, set her hindhooves against Sunny’s belly, and tried to push away. “I get confused. I’m little. I meant resigned. Lemme go!”
Sunny grunted and pulled Azurite in closer, crushing her against herself. “No, you’re a terrible liar. You know something. Tell us or I’ll tickle you here in front of everypony.”
“Nooo!”
“Save yourself, just tell her what she wants to know,” Winterspear said.
“Fine! Silent Knight is still in the Army!”
It was good I was already sitting, because my legs went weak. “What? How?”
“I got your paperwork and I couldn’t process it. I just couldn’t! It felt wrong. Sooo… I buried it. Under all the other paperwork. And then put more paperwork on that. And then more.”
“I’m AWOL?”
Azurite shook her head frantically. “No! You’re in paperwork limbo. Not in, but not out. No assignment, no orders. Just a file on a desk.”
“Hah!” Sunny shouted as she let Azurite go. “I win! I’m going to the palace right now to tell Princess Celestia. I’ll show that overgrown ali—” Her eyes fell on me. “Oh… Silent.”
I sat there in shock. Still in the Army… paperwork limbo. No, that can’t be. Surely somepony would notice… right?
Winterspear seemed to sense my trepidation and she looped a wing around me. “Dr. Kitty,” she called.
“Still in the Army…” I heard myself say.
Dr. Kitty ended up on the side opposite of Winterspear. “It’s super okay, Silent Knight, this is just a minor hiccup. I’m sure Azurite will process your paperwork and get you out of limbo. Come on, I think you’ve had enough gardening for now.”
She took my hoof and lightly tugged on it, forcing me to stand.
Azurite puffed out her cheeks. “I will not! It isn’t what he wants. Silent Knight would never just up and quit!” She pushed between Winterspear and Dr. Kitty so she could set her forehooves on my shoulders.
The mare stood up on her hind legs to look me in the eyes. “There is something wrong here. Did you quit under duress? Are you under duress?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Blink twice if you’re under duress.”
Still in the Army. I hadn’t quit. I had, but it hadn’t happened. Nopony had checked up on it.
“Once!” Azurite interrupted my thoughts.
What? She’d trapped me in the Army.
“Twice! He’s under duress!”
“What? No, I’m not.” I blinked three more times. “Why would you do this?”
Azurite glared at me. “Because I didn’t believe it! I know Silent Knight. He’s stuffy, he is kind of mean, but he is a really good and proper officer who wouldn’t just take a medical discharge on a whim.”
Dr. Kitty gently pulled the small hooves off me and set them on the ground. “Okay, we’re all very upset right now and that is super okay, but I’m going to take Silent Knight inside. It would be just peachy if everypony could give us some room.”
My friends and family moved away so that Dr. Kitty could take me by the hoof and lead me out of the garden. We went into the Flower Foundation building together and found an empty multi-use room.
“Well, that was quite the revelation,” Dr. Kitty said before pulling her ball out of her bag and bouncing it to me.
I caught it with a hoof on instinct alone. My head was spinning. I wasn’t a civilian. I was still a major. They could order me back to war or anywhere. If they figured out where my paperwork was. I wouldn’t go back to another war. That was not happening.
“Silent Knight.”
“I made peace with quitting. I think I did. I don’t want to go to war again.”
Dr. Kitty shook her head and held her forehooves up. “You’re not going back to war. It’s over. You can still quit. This doesn’t change anything if you don’t want it to. We just break into the palace, incapacitate a few dozen guards, force the lock on Azurite’s door, steal the documents, forge her tiny signature, and then submit the paperwork. Easy. I’ll get my coat.”
Despite my trepidation, a smirk crossed my face. I looked up to meet Dr. Kitty’s eyes with my own. She was trying to make me laugh… I hoped. “Easy, huh. What are you, some kind of secret agent?” I tossed the ball back.
She caught it and shook her head no. “Sadly, that is not one of the many jobs I’ve had. But I do have three nosy sisters so I’m very good at sneaking. Seriously, though, this doesn’t have to change anything. It’s just a momentary—” She tossed the ball off to my side.
I had to lean way over to catch it and, when I did, I tumbled onto the soft carpet.
“—curve ball. We let it come, we breathe, we feel, but we’re going to be super okay. Okay?”
I held the ball in my forehooves. “Yes, we’re going to be okay. Super okay, even. But what if it does change something?”
Dr. Kitty’s head tilted. “Like what?”
“The choice. It isn’t final. Now I can change my mind.”
She shook her head. “You could have changed it before. They’d have taken you back. You’ve always been the pony in control, Silent Knight. Perhaps making you think this over again, with a cooler head, is exactly what you need. Then, if you decide to take the medical discharge again, you’ll never question it.”
“That is a really good point,” I replied as I sat up. “I hadn’t considered that.” I tossed her the ball.
“Well, now you can! Do you want to stay in here or go work on your house? I think some hammering might be what you need today.”
“Little Azurite-shaped nails?”
Dr. Kitty shook her head. “Don’t blame her. She was misguided, but her heart was presumably in the right place. Come on, let’s go get started.”
☾
Crystal hummed happily to herself out in the kitchen while she worked on making dinner.
I was in the bedroom that had previously been Winterspear’s, working at my desk. It wasn’t particularly necessary for me to have one, but Crystal’s writing nest was in the room and I enjoyed being near her.
While she wrote, I would read rulebooks, paint miniatures, or just shuffle papers and pretend to be her secretary. That would have been more fun if it wasn’t for the fact that Crystal did, in fact, have an assistant now.
That was a good thing, but it also meant there was another stallion taking up her time. Then again, I had been spending a lot of time working on our house with Dr. Kitty and anypony else who’d help, and there had been a lot of help over the last week.
Even Azurite had sheepishly come to give us a hoof. By sheepishly, I mean that Sunny and Soarin had literally dragged her over. She was worried I’d stomp on her. Dr. Kitty made it clear that Azurite had actually done me a favor, so I forgave her and assigned her the noble task of going into the crawlspace to look at the old plumbing.
Suffice to say, the plumbing needed a lot of work. Azurite was not a plumber, so a few things went wrong and… well… it took us about an hour to wash the smell off her. She’d taken it well enough and, in the end, we called everything even.
I was looking over a brochure for employment at Jet Ventures. Even with the war being over, they were still hiring. All of the money that had been pumped into the business to build the fleet had grown the company. Now they were gearing up to use what they’d learned in protecting military ships to protect leisure ones.
Getting a job wouldn’t be that difficult given I was married to the sole heiress. Jet Set also seemed to like me decently enough. I’m sure they’d have some use for a competent leader with experience in riding airships into battle.
That thought soured me. I set the brochure down and picked up another one. Plush Pony Production Supervisor for the Plush Pony Production Practice. They had a small factory down in Ca—
There was a strong knock at our door. “I’ll get it!” Crystal called as she left the kitchen. It was probably for her, anyway. One of her many business associates.
“Uh… Silent, it’s for you. The pony representing the military is here,” she called from the main room.
I blinked. The military? What did she mean by that? “Tell them to go away, please,” I called back.
“No, sweetie, I don’t think I should. Can you come out here?”
My mind was made up. I was going to stick with my decision and that was that. I got up and trotted out into the living room. “Listen, I appreciate that you want me to stay, but I—“
I stopped mid-sentence. Minister Sombra was standing in our doorway with two royal guards behind him.
“Yes, Major Knight. I understand, but I was hoping before you finalized your decision, you would at least hear what I have to offer.”