//------------------------------//
// Flint Meets Steel 
// Story: Batmare Begins 
// by Batbrony 
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In her current state of mind, the urge to pace about until she’d dug a trench into the earth was a terribly tempting notion to Derpy.  Unfortunately, even in the waning moments of the day that probably wasn’t the wisest course of action available to her.  Granted, most of Ponyville had probably retired for the evening at this late hour, but at the moment Derpy’s highest priority was remaining as inconspicuous as possible.  And so she resigned herself to laying on an old blanket she’d brought along, supposedly keeping vigil before her mother’s grave.

While it was unusual for her to be there so late or for such a long time, she was armed with a more than reasonable excuse in case any friends, curious onlookers, or passersby investigated: that being that it just so happened to be the anniversary of her mother’s death.  She’d brought a single black iris along for good measure, placing it before her mother’s grave alongside a number of other new tributes left by ponies who evidently had not forgotten her sacrifice either.  It did Derpy’s heart good to know that so many still cared enough to remember, even if she didn’t know who most of them were.  She was sure of who’d left one of the memorials, however; another black iris was there already when she’d arrived, and she could easily guess that a certain major had left it there just as she first had all those years ago in front of a crushed filly still reeling from her world being shattered.  She’d have to remember to thank Nimbus the next time she saw her.

With the sun’s rapid descent, the evening was quickly turning from a mild twilight into a crisp, cool spring night.  Although she had a scarf wrapped tightly about her neck, Derpy was shaking near uncontrollably, though she had a feeling that this was not on account of the cold.  Her tail flicked from side-to-side and she kept absentmindedly nipping at feathers which did not need to be preened, just to give herself something to do during the insufferable wait.  If anypony had been with her, they would have heard the sound of her heart thumping as though it were about to beat itself out of her chest.

Stop being silly, Derpy.  You don’t even know what’s about to happen.  No telling if she’ll even show up.  For all you know, you’ll just be left alone on this hillside all night long, like you never even sent a secret letter to one of the rulers of Equestria.  Then you’ll just… go back to the drawing board and figure something else out.  Some other way to help Ponyville that won’t involve getting an alicorn mixed up in all of it.

Then again… she could come.  And I suppose if she comes, she’ll be wanting an explanation.  Which is why you brought along the pile of stolen police files, of course, because that’s exactly what you need to be showing to an all-powerful alicorn princess!  Yep, that’s some A-plus logic you got there.  Buck me, what am I getting myself into?

Wrapping herself in her blanket, Derpy took a few deep, calming breaths, trying her best to steady her nerves.  She knew the best thing at the moment would be to have no expectations whatsoever, resigned to the fact that she had no idea what, if anything at all, was about to happen.  But alas, her gut would not allow such a benign thought to take root.  Her intuition kept annoyingly reminding her that she’d taken yet another leap of faith, and like all the leaps of faith she’d taken in the past year, going all the way back to that first momentous decision to climb that mountain and find herself a new life at the top, there was only one thing certain about the future that lay at the end of it.  Whatever happened tonight, for better or worse, would almost certainly be life-changing for her.

Growing more anxious by the minute, she stared longingly at her mother’s headstone, her name and the inscription, “Faithful to the end to all,” just barely visible in the moon’s soft glow.  That impeccable encapsulation of her mother’s life was stirring within her even more than usual; more than ever before, she wanted – no, needed – that, needed to be able to say, if to nopony else but herself, that she lived her life, to whatever end, faithful to all.

I wish you were here right now.  Well I wish you were here all the time, but tonight… tonight is one of those nights where I could really use you, mom.  If nothing else, just to be that calm, steadying rock that you always were.  You’d know just what to say right now and it’d be exactly what I’d need to hear in this moment.  But I suppose being here right beside you will have to do.

I wonder how many of these kind of moments you ever encountered in your life.  How did you deal with them?  Did you know you’d come to a crossroad in your life every time it happened, or were some more obvious than others?

Ya know, it’s funny.  The last time a princess was here, standing in this very spot, just her presence alone helped me get out of a very dark place.  In fact, it was exactly what I needed at that moment in my life.  Now another princess may come to this very same spot, and she too might be exactly what I need at this moment in my life.  If she comes, everything may change for me tonight… for better or worse.  Guess I can’t really say.  There’s a lot I can’t really say for sure right now, a lot that’s out of my hooves.  I wish I at least knew what the first thing I say to her will be, because for the life of me I can’t settle on anything.  

“Hey princess, how’s it going?” Derpy said out loud to herself, testing how it sounded.

Nah, too casual.

“Your majesty, it is my express and sincere pleasure to be honored with your presence this evening.”

Ehhhhh, I’m not some noble pony at the Canterlot Court, that honestly might be a bit much.  Not even sure the Royal Guards go that far in their decorum.

“Nice night for a stroll, eh?”

Might work… if I were some creepy guy stalking her to a gravesite.

“Hi princess, looking real… blue, tonight.  Nope.  Have a nice flight over here?  Maybe… but what if she teleports?  Yo.  What am I, Rainbow Dash?  Hmmm, I think Cloud’s seen her before, I wonder how she’d typically greet her- nope, we’re not even going down that road!  C’mon Derpy, this shouldn’t be that hard, think, think, think, think!”

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Buck!”

Derpy nearly fell over herself as she leapt with fright at the sudden appearance of the newcomer, clumsily throwing her blanket off of herself as she spun around.  If she’d been more focused she might have assumed a defensive stance, but at the moment she was too startled to even think straight, just managing to barely stay on her hooves.

“Ah, lovely,” the source of Derpy’s sudden fright deadpanned, and all the color drained from Derpy’s face as she realized who it was.  Ridiculously large wings and horn?  Check.  Coat and mane bluer than the most radiant sapphires?  Check.  Crown as black as a moonless night?  Check.  Aura befitting a thousand-year-old, nigh omnipotent being?  Check, check, check.

“Oh horsefeathers, of course it’s you,” she bemoaned.

Princess Luna raised an unamused eyebrow at that statement.  “Disappointed to see me?”

Derpy hastily shook her head, quickly trying to regain her bearings.  “No, no, it’s not you, I just can’t believe I just said that in front of you.  I swear, I was hoping to make a good first impression, but you kinda caught me off guard and, well… you know the rest.”

Princess Luna considered her explanation for a moment before continuing, her countenance back to a neutral expression (which Derpy hoped was a good thing, at least for the moment).  “I must admit, I cannot truly say I’ve ever been greeted in quite such a manner before,” she replied.

Derpy gave a weak chuckle, assuming it was a joke, but quickly realized the princess was being serious and stopped lest she annoy her again.

“Are you usually this anxious?”

“No, trust me, I’m not, but I’m usually not taking part in secret meetings with Equestrian royalty either,” Derpy replied.  “Truth be told, I’ve kinda been a bundle of nerves ever since I sent you my letter.”

“Ah, so you are this ‘Derpy Hooves’ I presume, yes?” Princess Luna asked.

“Yes, your majesty.  That’d be me.”

An awkward, heavy silence hung in the air between the two for a moment, both princess and subject clearly unsure of how to proceed from here.  Mercifully a potential conversation starter did eventually occur to Derpy and she decided to run with it.

“So… you came,” she noted.

“That I did,” Luna bluntly replied.

“Well, if you don’t mind my asking, uh… why did you come?”

The princess opened her mouth to speak, but just as she was about to answer abruptly stopped herself.  She frowned, scrunched her nose, and turned her eyes downward, searching for the right words for some time.  At that moment, she almost appeared to be letting her nerves get to her in very much the same way which Derpy’s had mere minutes ago, much to Derpy’s surprise.

Guess this is a first for her as well.

Finally, after a thorough bit of self-reflection, the princess had her answer.  “I was going to say curiosity is why I came, but that would not be accurate.  In truth, I suppose I needed to come after reading your letter.  After reading it more than a few times, I can safely say that I have not encountered such audacity from any one of my subjects since before my fall and exile centuries ago.”

Derpy bit her lower lip and warily asked, “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“That all depends,” Princess Luna said, tilting her head as though still contemplating said query herself, “on what happens tonight.  Before this night is over, I will reach a decision regarding what is to be done about you.  Whether or not that works out for the better for you is on your shoulders now.  But at this moment, there is no sure answer I can give to your question.  Not until I know more about you, the mare who seems to have a most peculiar taste in history long forgotten by most, will I be able to fully answer.

“So that all being said, why don’t you convince me that your daring to send me a secret message through my sister’s own personal pupil did not stem from reckless idiocy or sheer madness alone?  Show me the sanity behind such audacity, if you will.”

OK, this is it, game time.  You can do this, you can do this, you can do this, you can do this.  You will do this.  Here goes nothing.

“I guess the best place to start is from the beginning,” she began.

“That would probably be wise, yes,” Luna concurred.  “If your message is to be believed, your journey to this point all began some time ago with the Ordo Extraordinarii, correct?”

Derpy nodded, careful not to break eye contact with the princess.  “I’m guessing you’re still familiar with who they are.”

“Well seeing as I played a significant role in orchestrating their founding, yes, I am.  However, you’re going to have to do quite a bit to convince me that you were actually trained by them.  You see, last I knew, they’d been all but wiped out, and that was over a thousand years ago before my own exile.  My sister has said nothing to me about their still existing since my return, and it seems only academics even remember who they were, so as it stands the burden is on you to convince me that you’re not just making all of this up.  Bear in mind, I am not some gullible foal easily swayed by outlandish stories.  So go on, show me you speak the truth.”

Derpy gulped and feared she might break out into a cold sweat any second now under such pressure, but quickly shook off her anxieties, ready to do what needed to be done.

C’mon, you have nothing to fear.  You know that what you speak is the truth.  You lived it, it really happened, every single minute of it.  Now you just have to show her that it’s the truth as well.  No sweat, I mean, already convinced Carrot that it really happened, this is practically the same as that.  Kinda.

“You already know who they are, and you probably remember what it is they do as well.  Well, here’s what they did for me.  The Order changed my life, princess; when I was at my lowest, they reached out to me, believed in me as nopony else had in a long time.  Ultimately, they showed me how to lift myself up and become something I’d never even dreamed I could be.  For that, I owe them a debt I can never repay.”

From there it was rather easy recalling the events of the past year she’d spent with the Order, despite how outlandish she knew much of what she’d gone through must sound.  She told Princess Luna most everything, how the Order had reached out to her, helped her unlock and develop her full potential, and trained her to become a guardian of others.  She even delved into what had become of the Order since their near-annihilation centuries ago, how they’d rebuilt their ranks in that time from their hidden fortress Die Schmiede and continued their mission of helping those ponies who could least help themselves, albeit in secret and on a far smaller, limited scale.  After all, she reasoned, it might help more easily convince the princess that the Order was still around if she knew what they’d been up to in the centuries since their supposed destruction.

Throughout all of this, the Princess of the Night remained still as a statue, her face a cryptic canvas from which Derpy could derive nothing.  By the time she’d told Luna everything she believed she needed to hear, she still hadn’t the foggiest idea what the princess’s opinion about all of what she’d just been told might possibly be.

Much to her surprise, however, the princess almost immediately had a response prepared as soon as she’d finished, and even more surprising was what she had to say.  “It would appear, based on your meticulous overview of events, that the Order is still indeed very much alive.”

“Wait, so does that mean you really believe me?” Derpy asked incredulously.

“Why shouldn’t I?  The Ordo Extraordinarii at the height of its power was, in almost every respect except in name alone, a nation in and of itself, and a remarkable one at that.  Their leaders were always more than capable and especially resourceful, to say the least, and the wealth and resources they controlled were extensive.  It’s not particularly hard to believe that a number of them survived their supposed destruction and slowly rebuilt from there, especially for one such as myself who was privileged enough to witness three centuries of their existence.

“Even the idea that they were able to do so in secret isn’t that farfetched; it wasn’t long after their destruction and the Crystal Empire’s disappearance that I fell to the Nightmare and tried to overthrow my sister.  Between the chaos and personal grief caused by my betrayal and exile, my sister was kept rather preoccupied by more than a few things as she worked to restore order and harmony to Equestria on her own.  In such a state of affairs, the idea of searching for survivors of the Order, much less a secret fortress hidden in the Crystal Mountains, probably never crossed her mind.

“I have found from personal experience that sometimes things are simply… forgotten, if they don’t seem particularly important to most at the moment.  ‘Tis a sad truth of much of our history, but it holds true even to this day.  However, I am more knowledgeable than almost any other pony alive of the Order’s capacity for achieving rather remarkable feats.  So… yes, all in all, I suppose I do find everything you have told me to be feasible.  Well, not simply feasible, even; I find myself fully believing you, Derpy Hooves.”

Get out of here!  Just like that?  She doesn’t even know me, and she already… this is just too good to be true.  OK, calm down.  She hasn’t said yes yet.  Keep it together, Derpy, she’s just said she believes you, that’s all.  Not out of the clear yet.

Derpy’s euphoric train of thought was broken when the princess suddenly spoke up.  “Before we move on, I do, however, have one more question concerning the Order,” she stated.  “Why did you part ways with them?”

Oh right, yeah, there’s that… horsefeathers.

Derpy suddenly found herself presented with a most alarming conundrum.  She’d needed to tell Luna in scrupulous detail exactly what made her qualified to protect others, and that meant telling her all about her time with the Order.  But in the process, she had conspicuously failed to mention when or why she had left them, an omission which Luna had evidently noticed.  Obviously she couldn’t just brush it off as an irrelevant detail not worth discussing, not now that the princess had asked.  Telling her the whole truth, however, could prove to be complicated, to say the least.

Derpy could only imagine that explaining the exact circumstances of her departure from the Order wouldn’t exactly leave the best impression of them on Princess Luna.  While it would be the easiest thing to tell her, she didn’t know how a princess would react upon hearing that the Order’s leader himself had killed an innocent pony right in front of her, prompting her to flee.  She may have had no soft spot for the murderous Dämons Hengst, but that didn’t mean the rest of the Order hadn’t been unbelievably good to her, and she had no desire to somehow inadvertently get them in a world of trouble with Equestrian royalty.  To do so would feel like a betrayal of friends and mentors who had worked an immeasurable amount of good into her life and helped put her into this position to now make a difference in the first place.  She just couldn’t do that to them.

On the other hoof, she couldn’t exactly lie to the Princess of the Night either if she hoped to earn her trust and the help she needed from her.  Even if she managed to deceive Luna (and she had no idea how perceptive an alicorn over a millennium old must be, but she had to believe it was quite a bit), building the foundation of their relationship in part on a lie did not strike her as a particularly prudent idea.  After a lie was spoken, there was no taking it back, but there would always be the possibility that the deception would be discovered at some point.  Be it a day, a month, even years or lifetimes, a lie could always become known for what it truly was at some point in time.

Derpy couldn’t bring herself to do that either, even if it were an easier option in the short-term.  If this were to work at all, if she were to win over Princess Luna’s support, she needed to do so with as much integrity as possible.  Making her dreams a reality could not be a corrupt venture, much less from the very start; if it were, she knew the whole thing could crumble at any second.  Becoming what she wanted to be, the kind of figure and symbol she had in mind, required the utmost uprightness and incorruptibility possible.  If any falsehood were to taint the dream, then the dream could only ever become a lie.

There has to be some way I can tell her the truth without betraying my friends.  But how?  Hmmm… maybe if I just ‘rephrase’ the truth a bit.  Yeah, that just might work.

“It wasn’t easy leaving the Order, believe me,” Derpy began after a pregnant moment’s pause.  “I was very close to many of my mentors when I left, after all they’d done for me.  But as I neared becoming a full-fledged member of the Order, it became apparent that there was a principled and philosophical difference between us, one which would prove irreconcilable.”

Princess Luna raised an eyebrow.  “Oh really?  Pray tell, what was it?”

Mouth dry and doing her best to stay as calm, cool, and collected as possible, Derpy answered, “Simple.  They made it clear to me that members of the Order were expected to kill should the need arise.  I made it clear to them that taking the life of another wasn’t an option for me.  Since I couldn’t fulfill every obligation asked of me as a member of the Order, I had to leave.

“No one was happy with the situation, but there wasn’t really any other course of action available.  So here I now am, just a mare with full training from some of the most adept fighters and practitioners of the martial arts in Equestrian history, and nothing to show for it.  To be blunt, I’m tired of sitting on my plot doing nothing.  I need to honor all that these ponies did for me to help me permanently turn my life around for the better, but I simply can’t do that as one of them.  Is that an acceptable enough of an answer for you, your majesty?  You can call me a coward if you’d like, I won’t take offense.”

The princess mulled over Derpy’s blunt response for some time.  For her part, Derpy was just glad she’d found a way to be truthful, albeit in as vague, general, and slightly evasive manner as possible.  Still, no matter what the princess had to say now, at least she could rest easy knowing she hadn’t technically lied to her or endangered the Order.

“It’s not disqualifying,” Luna suddenly stated, snapping Derpy out of her train of thought.

“What?”

“Your personal philosophy, it’s not disqualifying,” Luna clarified rather matter-of-factly.  “Protecting others does not necessitate applying lethal force, even if violence is involved.  That is what you wish to do, is it not?  Your message indicated that you want to safeguard your home, and given your experiences with the Order I can only assume that means that violence will be involved.”

Rather than say a word, Derpy simply gave a sharp nod.

“Why don’t we talk about what it is exactly that you wish to do and to be?  What does your town need that its denizens, including the Elements of Harmony themselves, cannot possibly handle on their own?”

Without missing a beat, Derpy instantly replied, “Simple.  A protector.”

The princess raised an eyebrow.  “From what?”

Taking a deep breath, Derpy slowly retrieved the files she’d brought along from beneath her blanket and presented them to the princess.  “From something which no one in this town was ready for,” she answered soberly.

Cocking her head to the side, Luna took the files in her magic and began studying them.  There was no turning back now.

All things considered, it took her far less time to get through all of the materials before her than Derpy had hoped it would; either she was a ridiculously fast reader, or she was just skimming over most of these files for the time being, but whatever the case it wasn’t giving Derpy’s nerves much time at all to calm down in the slightest.  Page after page flitted in front of her, her eyes darting across them at an incredible pace which even Twilight might balk at.  Strangely enough, Princess Luna’s expressions remained unreadable throughout this entire process, even though she had to have realized by now how these had come into Derpy’s possession.  Derpy wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing, but figured she’d know soon enough.

Finally, seemingly content with what she’d read, Luna gathered up in one swift motion every last page of the files with her magic, stacking them so precisely into their proper order that it looked as though they hadn’t even been touched.  Taking a deep breath of her own, she asked, “So, those are the genuine article, aren’t they?”

“Yep.”

“Which would mean they are the property of the Ponyville Police Department, correct?”

“Yep.”

“And most definitely not yours?”

“Nope, that they are not.”

“Hmmm… that is problematic,” Luna stated rather matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, I know,” Derpy candidly agreed.  “If it helps, I was planning on giving them back when I was done with them,” she volunteered, hoping that had to count for something.  As it turned out, it very well may have, as for the first time since she’d shown up the princess actually seemed to chortle ever-so-slightly at that, and could not hide the faintest of smiles.

“You are a bold one, indeed,” she remarked.  “Seeing as you’re here now, with these files in tow no less, you evidently were not caught.”

“That’s not entirely true, if I’m being honest,” Derpy admitted.

“Oh?  How so?”

“Well I was kind of… drunk at the time,” she said bashfully.  “No one got a good look at me but I did have to beat a hasty getaway.  Definitely not my finest moment.”

The princess shook her head in disbelief.  “Yet you still managed to do all that while inebriated!  It would appear you are the genuine article as well, if what you’re saying is true.  So, risking prison time, putting yourself in harm’s way, all that to steal some police files.  Was it worth it?”

“That remains to be seen,” Derpy replied.  “For now, they’ve at least given me a better idea of what I’d be up against, and I suppose also an understanding of what I know and what I don’t.”

“I still don’t understand why it needs to be you,” Luna confessed.  “I’m not doubting your qualifications, or that a problem even exists, but you’re telling me that no one else in all of Ponyville can help in confronting these threats?”

Derpy emphatically shook her head.  “Of course not, I’m not arrogant enough to think I can do this alone.  Ponyville obviously has more than enough good ponies capable of doing very good things, but what we don’t have right now is a flagbearer to rally around.  The police don’t have any concrete leads or evidence, horsefeathers, they don’t even know who in their ranks is dirty.  As for the Element Bearers, they’re always too busy with their own work and even when they’re not, criminal activities aren’t exactly their forte.  We don’t have anyone leading the charge, showing the rest how to confront this problem head-on.  That’s what I want to do… what I can do, if you’ll help me of course.”

“Ah yes, the true matter at hoof,” Princess Luna remarked, staring off into space in silent contemplation.  When she turned back to Derpy, looking her up and down like a jeweler examining a precious stone, attempting to determine its true worth, she asked, “And what exactly would my assisting you entail?”

Straightening herself up till she was standing as tall as she could, Derpy looked the considerably taller alicorn right in the eye.  It was time to take the plunge of her life.  “My most basic, fundamental needs are tools, and lots of them.  You know I have the skills to take on criminal organizations or dirty cops, but I need equipment and supplies as well.  I have a custom-made peytral and full set of hammer hooves at home already, a gift from the Order, but that’s all, and that’s not enough, not if I hope to wage war upon them.”

“That’s not all you need of me,” Princess Luna asserted, her eyes narrowing as her words suddenly took on a tense air.  “Your letter made that much apparent.  You need something from me far more precious than money or resources, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Derpy confessed, her voice barely above a whisper.  “I want to be a Dark Knight.  That’s why I needed you; you’re the only pony I know of who can help me with that.”

Bowing her head, the princess let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes.  “Child, do you even know what it is you are asking for?  Do you have the faintest notion what it means to be a Dark Knight?”

“All I know is from what I read,” she admitted.

“Then tell me.”

Derpy readily assented.  “Alright.  For starters, you created them.  You realized that there were those who abused your nightly domain, took advantage of the black of night to commit great evils against others.  It pained you, angered you, so you quickly devised a solution and put together a new chivalric order unlike any other.  An order specifically dedicated to defending the night from evildoers.

“From what I can tell, it worked great while it lasted.  Some of Equestria’s finest heroes during this age abounded in its ranks, and they were all free to roam the land and pursue whatever tasks or missions they prioritized, as long as they fulfilled their duties as Dark Knights in doing so.  It lasted centuries, and during that time the Dark Knights safeguarded Equestria and its citizens in the night like no others.  They only disbanded when you, well… went away.  That’s the really condensed version, at least; I know there’s more to it than all that, but those were my main takeaways from reading about them, your highness.”

“Then you know nothing!” the princess viciously retorted, almost spatting the words out, much to Derpy’s shock.  “You think this is all as simple as just wanting to be one of them?  Like this can all be brought back just like that, as though nothing ever happened?  As though the Nightmare didn’t bring them all to ruin, force them to choose between country and their precious Princess of the Night and then kill each other until none remained?  AS THOUGH THEIR BLOOD IS NOT ON MY HOOVES, THE BLOOD OF BELOVED FRIENDS WHO I RUINED, LED TO NOTHING BUT DUST, ASHES, AND EARLY GRAVES, WHO I– who I… who I… I… I… I… I… I’m sorry.  I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.  I am so sorry, Miss Hooves.”

Brimming with shame, Princess Luna spun away from Derpy and stood stiff as a board.  After that, it was just deathly quiet; for how long, neither pony really knew, they were both more concerned with making sense of what had just transpired and how to move on from it.  The longer they stood there in silence, the more Derpy realized it’d have to be her who broke it, something which at this very moment she was not looking forward to in the slightest after what had just happened.

She’d heard Luna speak like that at her first Nightmare Night in Ponyville, and while that too was intimidating, this was somehow worse.  There was a formality to her previous loudness, awkward and frightening to be sure, but also regal in its own strange and somewhat comical manner.  This, however, was simply unhinged, unadulterated, raw power and rage, a cacophony of a thousand emotions whirling together and pouring forth all at once.  If she were a saner pony or a more cowardly one she would have bolted already, but she wasn’t about to scare that easily, not when she was so close.

And so, with no other alternatives before her that could possibly do the trick, and Princess Luna clearly in a distraught state of mind, Derpy did the only thing in that moment which she thought might just work and slowly approached the nigh omnipotent alicorn.  Biting down hard upon her bottom lip to keep her nerves as steady as she could, she tenderly crept closer and closer until she was right alongside the troubled princess.  For a split second just the notion alone that she was about to somehow provide comfort and relief to the ruler of the night herself nearly induced a panic attack in her.

But then she saw her eyes, and all fears melted away.

In that moment she didn’t see a ruler or a fearsome force of nature.  What she saw instead, in those vivid cyan eyes fixed upon the moon, was fear, anguish, doubt, and above all pain.  For the first time that night, Derpy felt equal in some respect with the princess before her; the hurt Luna felt, a hurt sprung forth from the weight of the past, was one which she was all too familiar with herself.  She’d been weighed down by her own demons of the past as recently as the previous year, so she could only imagine what a millennium’s worth of that kind of torment would do to somepony.

Seeing her like this, it only made Derpy want to comfort her, relieve her of her thousand-year-old grief, but she had no idea where to even start.  If she could only show Princess Luna how truly loved she was, how much good she could and already had brought into the world through love, then things might get better, much as they had for her.  But this wasn’t some friend she’d known her whole life, or even just some run-of-the-mill acquaintance; this was a princess of Equestria herself, a centuries old-being who’d already seen and suffered ten times more than Derpy ever would in her comparably short lifespan.  What could she possibly have to teach a being like that?

After a moment’s worth of hard consideration, she fully realized that she couldn’t teach the princess anything, not at the moment at least.  But what she could do, however, was perhaps convince one of the few ponies who could help her out to actually do so.

“Why don’t you tell me about the Dark Knights, then?” she gently suggested.

Luna blinked in surprise and looked down upon Derpy as though she were just noticing her.  It took her a moment to process her unexpected request, but when she did her eyes softened considerably and her entire countenance appeared to relax somewhat, the knot within her chest seemingly loosening up.

“Very well,” she assented.  “They weren’t all that different from your Order in some ways, but there were distinctions.  They were never as sizable nor so heavily organized, their bonds not so much communal as that of brotherhood.  Some regularly travelled and adventured with their comrades, while others lived the remainder of their lives in dutiful solitude after receiving their knighthood.  No matter how they worked, however, their duty remained the same: to defend the night and safeguard all who would seek refuge in its comforting embrace.

“You have to understand, the world was well and truly untamed back then.  The Crystal Empire was more of a refuge from the rest of the world rather than a beacon, and Equestria, or at least the idea of what it could be, was more dream than reality in the aftermath of Discord’s downfall.  My sister and I, we did all we could, but we knew that all good things in our kingdom could not stem from us alone; we were there to guide ponykind to a brighter future, not dominate and dictate them into one by any means necessary.  Such ambitions, then, required as many ponies as possible buying into our dreams as much as we did, and oftentimes that meant presenting them with the opportunities to make a difference.  So we did just that.  The Royal Guard, Equestria’s governing bodies, the Order, and virtually any other organization that could benefit Equestria and help shape it into the marvelous realm that we knew it could be… we had our hooves involved in one way or another in most all of them.  But the one closest to my heart out of all of them was without a doubt the Dark Knights.”

Derpy nodded in understanding.  “So what led you to create them in the first place?” she asked.

“You already know why I made them.”

“I’d rather hear it in your own words.  Books can only tell me so much, after all, about your own intentions, what was going on in your head and heart at the time.”

Princess Luna raised a dubious eyebrow but quickly nodded in concurrence.  “Fair enough.  I should be able to say I only had the noblest of intentions at heart, but the truth of the matter, if I’m really being honest, is that they were born of my own personal indignation and hubris.”

Derpy had a hard time concealing her surprise at that remark.  “Really?  They seem like they did some great things for Equestria in their day.”

“Oh they did, undeniably,” Luna confirmed.  “But they thrived in spite of my initial pettiness when I first created them.  I was not a very mature princess back then, and childish jealousies were already planting the seeds that would in time be cultivated into the Nightmare.  I loved my night so very dearly, but it was a love as raw and inexperienced as it was passionate.  When I realized that the citizens of our land were being imperiled at night by all manner of wicked things, from criminals and griffon reivers to wild beasts and even mad sorcerers, I was livid beyond your wildest dreams.

“I already commanded our armies from the field far more often than my sister, but I quickly discovered that such blunt, massive force would not be enough to truly uproot and destroy these threats.  Properly confronting them required a more personal touch; calculated, intimate, precise in all things and capable of dealing with multiple threats at once all across the land.  My solution to this dilemma was, of course, the Dark Knights; I invited those who in my estimation were not only qualified but also had an appropriate level of affection for the night, and were willing to wholly dedicate themselves to it.”

“And the response?” Derpy inquired.

“Better than I could have imagined.  Initially, of course, most of those who answered the call were the Children of the Night themselves, the thestrals, but as the years went by more and more members of the other races joined the Dark Knights’ ranks.  They grew, performed their duties and drove back dark forces wherever they assailed the night, and every knight remained devoted through the years to both the night and each other.  It was… well, it was good.  It was all so very good.  Not just for Equestria, but for me as well.  In time the Dark Knights became my most cherished subjects, dear friends in many instances.  In one I even found… well, like I said, it was wonderful.”

Derpy smiled, the image of the young, robust Equestria a happy one indeed.  Sure things must have been in many respects scary and uncertain, with so much work to do in those days and nothing guaranteed, but it must have been exciting as well.  Between the arrival and ascension of the princesses, the growing ties between Equestria and the Crystal Empire, and the emergence of groups like the Order and the Dark Knights, it truly must have been an incredible age of heroes and unfathomable exploits.

Her smile swiftly turned into a frown, however, as she considered how this age had ended.  Equestria may have survived and prospered in the long run, but so much else had not.  The Crystal Empire, vanished without a trace.  The Order, nearly wiped out and now but a shadow of its former glory, forgotten by the rest of the world.  The Dark Knights, torn asunder and destroyed by competing loyalties between Equestria’s diarchs.  And of course Princess Luna herself, banished for a thousand years after warping into a terror of her own making.  It all raised more than a few troubling questions.

Looking her straight in the eye, Derpy soberly asked, “How’d it all go wrong?  Not just the Dark Knights, but… so much else as well.  Seems like so many of the world’s pillars, the very best it had to offer at the time, all crumbled in such very short succession.  How, princess?”

Princess Luna silently stared off into the distance at a darkening horizon, filling quickly with thousands of twinkling stars, like diamonds materializing upon a silky black tapestry.  It was as though she was peering into the past itself, searching to uproot something from it she wasn’t sure she wanted to, a truth she’d rather remain buried.

Finally, tearing her gaze away from the grief-filled days of yore back to the somber present, she looked down upon this curious young subject of hers.  “We underestimated the world, and overestimated ourselves.  So much was going right, that my sister and I, we… we became apathetic, so sure were we that the course of history was already set under our watchful eye.  We forgot how capable we were of failure, of making mistakes that could have terrible consequences for so many.

“You already know what happened to the Empire and the Order.  One day they were there, and the next, they weren’t.  We never thought in our wildest dreams before the rise of King Sombra that such a terrible price could be paid all to stop one such as him.  I don’t think we even truly admitted to ourselves how much we let things get out of control until it was all said and done.  Until so many, so much good in the world, was gone just like that.  Then we were truly forced to grapple with the fact that we had not acted until it was too late… left asking ourselves if there was more we could have done to stop all this.  The worst was knowing that we could have.”

“So how’d you deal with it?  All those regrets, the guilt, the shock of losing so much so quickly.”

“Painful as it was, Celestia bore it,” Luna replied.  “I, however, could not.  I was already falling into the grasp of what would become the Nightmare, and none of that helped.  As I descended to my lowest point, I felt well and truly helpless through and through.  I wanted so badly to save the world, to prevent any terrible atrocities from befalling the innocent.  I also craved love and affection, just the knowledge that my subjects sincerely appreciated my beloved night and didn’t simply rest through it for the sake of the day.”

Luna snorted and shook her head, scoffing in self-derision at herself.  “Like I said before, though, I was not very mature at that time.  My desire to save all swiftly morphed into an unhealthy thirst for cold control and order; simultaneously my craving for more love twisted into a hunger for unceasing worship and adoration.  The end result, well… everypony knows about that.  What most don’t remember, I have sadly discovered since my return, is how my selfishness hurt those I loved most besides my sister.  Their pain and suffering nearly drove me to a madness even more extreme than that of the Nightmare itself.”

She paused.  A less observant pony would have noted no change in her demeanor, but little tells offered Derpy more than enough clues that she was collecting her emotions.  Hairs standing stiff on the back of her neck, her chest visibly tightening beneath her peytral.  Even her ethereal mane and tail in that moment seemed to lose some of their typical luster.

“I saw it all,” she continued.  “You can’t imagine how much I was still able to see even all the way up there.  Stuck in the cold, desolate void, all I really even could do was watch… and mourn as I did.  The knights had always had an especially close connection with me.  Plenty knew their duty first and foremost was to Equestria, but all had initially been approached by me.  I made them knights.  I gave them their charge.  I saw remarkable qualities in them that few others could.  And some… some didn’t know what to do with themselves in the aftermath of my exile.  They became distraught, aimless, angry and many filled their hearts with hate towards those they blamed for my downfall.  That hate would become the ruin of them all.

“Oaths broken, bonds of brotherhood once nigh indestructible suddenly coming apart at the seams… the dream and promise of Equestria that every knight had been sworn to uphold and protect, now betrayed by far too many of them… and rivers of blood poured out so needlessly.  All of it in my name, the wretched, hateful name of the Nightmare.  Of all those I failed, I especially failed the Dark Knights in a most grievous manner.

“When it was all said and done, when the dust had settled and the bloodshed come to an end, almost all of them, whether they had betrayed Equestria for the Nightmare or remained loyal and fought for my sister and our dream, were gone.  The hoofful that remained were too broken to ensure the survival of the knights; they returned to their mission, but knowingly as the last.  When they died, the Dark Knights died with them.  Can you even imagine what it was like to watch all of that, knowing that you were responsible for it?  That all that was lost, all the blood that was shed, is on your hooves?  I hope, for your sake, that you cannot.”

With her sorrowful tale finally at an end, Princess Luna turned her gaze to the moon, seeking a comforting escape in its sublime image.  For her part, Derpy looked down at the ground in front of her; she could tell that the princess needed a moment to herself and her thoughts after remembering as painful an episode in her life as that, but she also needed some time to formulate her own next move as well.  Luna’s tale may have been a sad one indeed, but Derpy ultimately still needed to get things back on point, which meant finding a way to use what she’d been told just now to her benefit.

At least now I know what the Dark Knights truly meant to her.  Just have to find a way to use that knowledge to my advantage; it may sound a bit callous to do so, but I have to somehow find a way to convince her we really do need them again.  Or at least one.

Come on, Derpy, you got this!  What’s your hook, your angle, how’re you going to convince her beyond any reasonable doubt that the world doubtlessly deserves, no, needs this kind of protector once more?  Well… one tiny little corner of the world, at least.  But it’s my corner, and right now, if I’m gonna do this right, step up for my home as best as I can, then without a doubt I need her.  I really, really do.

“I can’t possibly fathom what the agony you suffered was like, Princess Luna,” she finally began, the two unlikely colleagues turning back towards each other as she did.  “But I have known loss.  I know the pain of it, and the hardship of overcoming it.  Wondering every single day if things will ever really be ‘alright’ ever again when I’m constantly reminded of those I’ve lost.  What I lost with them… how precious and irreplaceable it all was.  How irreplaceable she was.”

Beckoning the princess to follow her, Derpy turned to the headstone beside them, and Luna followed suit.  “This is my mother, your majesty,” Derpy stated matter-of-factly, a tinge of pride in her voice.  “Sergeant Ditzy Doo, Squad 7 of the Cloudsdale Weather Brigade.  A devoted mother and wife, loyal and true friend… and a hero.  She laid down her life 17 years ago to the day protecting others when I was still a small filly, but I’d known her long enough to know the full extent of the pain of losing her.  It’s a daily struggle, even on the best of days, dealing with that fact, just wondering how my life would be different if she were still around.”

She suddenly spun around, now standing tall directly in front of Princess Luna and staring her straight in the eye with such an intense expression that it was almost as if she were attempting to stare her down.  “Do you want to know what’s worse, though, than all of that pain and the efforts it takes to handle it?  Knowing that right now I am not honoring her memory nor carrying on her legacy.  My mom spent every day of her life doing all that she could to touch the lives of ponies around her, whether she knew them or not, however she could.  Big or small, any act that brought even a tiny measure of joy, love, or goodness into the lives of others was worth doing.

“17 years since we all lost her, and I cannot say in any respect that I’ve ever fully lived up to her name; it’s even more inexcusable after my time spent with the Order, seeing as I now have a better idea than I’ve ever had at any other point in my life of what I’m capable of.  That, more than anything else, tears me up inside each and every day.  She gave her last full measure of devotion to safeguarding others; I have to do the same no matter what, in whatever way I know I can.”

“But yours would be a far darker path than the one your mother took, Miss Hooves,” Princess Luna sternly countered.  “You and I both know this.  The skills you possess, combined with the Dark Knights’ mission… it is not an easy road to travel down for anyone.  You propose reviving a dream that ultimately ended in failure centuries ago because those who advanced it could not decide whether I or Equestria was more important to them.  They chose the black of night over the good of all, and their hearts in turn became blacker for it; how can you possibly guarantee me that the same would not happen to you?  That you would not become consumed by this endeavor, twisted into something even worse than anything you might ever come up against?  Show me your strength of character, Miss Hooves, and the courage of your convictions, here and now.  If you cannot, then we have nothing further to discuss.”

The unexpected ultimatum gave Derpy pause, and she held her tongue before going any further.  Closing her eyes, she meditated as best as she could in a hoofful of fleeting seconds, knowing in her heart that her next words could very well change the course of her life forever.

This is your moment.  You’ve spent your whole life stumbling and clawing your way to get there, and now here it is.  It’s yours… take it, seize it, own it!

“I have no desire to be a glorified, fawning servant of you, your majesty.  Nor is my desire to pursue an anarchic mission bent on simply destroying the enemies of Equestria.

“I just… I just want to be like my mom.  I want to leave a mark on the world like she did, to be able to say at the end of my life that I left the world a better place than it was when I entered into it, and maybe inspired others to do the same along the way.  I make no pretentions that I’m the only one capable of doing so; I live in Ponyville for crying out loud, we’re chockful of some of the most remarkable ponies in all of Equestria!  But I believe with all of my heart that we all have the potential for doing something that others cannot, something we’re… uniquely qualified for.  My mom had her work with Squad 7; the Element Bearers have the Elements they embody; even you and your sister found your special calling centuries ago.

“Well, while I can’t see how exactly any of this will play out in the end, in my heart of hearts I know I’ve found my calling.  That special something that only I can do, and no one else can.  That’s not any hubris of mine talking, believe me, arrogant is the last thing I want to be.  But any time I think about it, ponder the future, even in all of my dreams, I can see that vision of me fulfilling this… this calling and it feels right, so right, more than right, even.  It’s my destiny, and I cannot deny it.  But I won’t let it consume me either; I will not be defined by my destiny, princess.  No… I will define it.  I will define my destiny and cultivate it into the greatest good for all that I can.  With your help, I really believe that it’ll only be easier doing so, and I’d be eternally grateful to have it.  But ultimately that’s your choice to make, and I can’t force you to help me; however, even if you won’t, I’ll still find a way.  I can’t deny my destiny any longer, Princess Luna, not when there’s ponies whom I know I can help.  I hope you understand that.”

Standing tall and steadfast, a burning desire gleaming in her eyes, Derpy gave off a bold, self-assured air.  “Well that’s it.  That’s all my cards on the table, your majesty.  I hope you can at the very least say you now know who I am and what it is I want.  And I, well… I guess I hope this isn’t our last meeting, but just the first of many more to come.  Whatever happens now, though, is out of my hooves; it’s all up to you now, princess.  So what do you say?”

As soon as she’d finished, however, the princess began striding away from her.  Derpy’s spirits started to sink, stunned that even after all of that she’d have to go back to the drawing board.  Her dismay turned to confusion, though, when instead of leaving, it became clear that Princess Luna was instead doing something else altogether.  Something rather odd.

What on earth is she… wait… is she… walking in circles?

Yes, there could be no mistaking it, Princess Luna was indeed walking in circles around the top of the hill.  She wasn’t even looking at anything in particular, in fact she appeared to be staring at the ground for the most part.

“Uh, princess… what’re you doing?” Derpy asked as bluntly as one could.

Without so much as even glancing her way, Luna replied, “Pacing… it helps me think.”

“Oh… OK then.”

Round and round and round she went, so much so that it was almost comical.  Anxious as Derpy was, it didn’t take long before watching Princess Luna circle the hill repeatedly became mundane.  Letting loose a frustrated sigh as quietly as she could, Derpy sat on her haunches and searched for something, anything at all even slightly more interesting to look at.

Her eyes soon wandered to the twinkling tapestry of the starry night sky.  There was something inescapably calming about the myriad stars shimmering in the sea of black, at least in her current state of mind.  There was always something new to see in them, new jewels to find among the countless number scattered across the vast expanse.

Sure could get used to seeing more of this view most nights.  Assuming things turn out for the best right now, of course.  Sure hope she–

“Miss Hooves,” Princess Luna suddenly announced, snapping Derpy out of her tranquil reverie.  The princess was already making her way back over to where Derpy sat, taking sure, deliberate strides.  With every step she took, Derpy felt her heart pound harder and faster.

Finally, she was upon her.

For a moment, the princess simply looked her over, as though she were appraising her one last time.  Then, at long last, she spoke.  “A wise pony recently reminded me that I should involve myself in my subjects’ lives more.  Not simply try to solve all their problems for them, but learn to put trust in them as well.

“It was good advice.  Very good advice.  It is all too easy when you are as powerful as I am to fall into the habit of trying to solve all the world’s problems by yourself.  If only it were so easy, so simple, but it isn’t.  I can attest from my greatest personal failures just how disastrous it can be, for both myself and those I only wanted to protect.”

Derpy nodded, her heart racing by this point.  Was this really going where she thought it was?

“A good ruler, however, knows when to have faith in her subjects,” Princess Luna continued.  “She knows when it’s right to entrust them with heavy responsibilities and challenge them to achieve greatness, even if neither she nor her subject are completely sure they can.  Because it’s not about being sure of the results she’s going to get; it’s about building trust with her subjects, connecting with them, and letting them know she’s there to help them be the best they can be, or at the very least believes they can.

“It’s something I haven’t been very good at for a long time, Miss Hooves.  But I want to rectify that, I really do.  So, if you are truly committed to serving Equestria as a guardian of the night, if you are willing to do everything you must to do this right, then… then I will do everything in my power to help you do just that.  If you are willing to do what you must, then I shall help you become a true Dark Knight.  Are you willing?”

“Y-yes!” Derpy almost squealed in excitement before quickly collecting herself.  “Er, I mean, yes princess.  I am.  I really, really, really am.”

Princess Luna nodded in approval.  “Then it is settled.  You and I are now committed to this path, and if we are to succeed, we must do all that we can to not stray from it.  You are not a knight yet, so there is still time for you to reconsider.  But if you persevere, you shall prevail and together we will both see to it that your dream is fulfilled.  From there, it shall all be in your hooves.”

Derpy’s eyes flashed with a zealous hunger, and it took all her efforts to keep herself from grinning from ear to ear.  “I will, princess, I promise you I’ll see it through.  So, uh, what’s next?  Where do we go from here?”

“For now, wait for me to get back to you,” Luna instructed.  When Derpy gave her an apprehensive look in reply, Luna hastily explained, “I’m not going to neglect you Miss Hooves, you have my word.  I will be back in touch with you shortly.  First, however, I need to secure the assistance of another.”

Derpy raised an eyebrow.  She hadn’t expected Luna of all ponies would want to get anypony else involved, much less immediately propose doing just that.  “Who?” she asked.

“You said it yourself earlier.  If we’re going to make this work, you’re going to need more resources at your disposal.  However, we’re in a complicated position given that you will not be an official member of the Equestrian government or military in any way, shape, or form.  In fact, I have no intention of creating the impression that the Dark Knights have been officially restored.  The Dark Knights will never again exist as they once did; I cannot have you so closely identifying yourself with my personage, lest you wind up acting as a servant of myself rather than Equestria.  This is strictly your mission, Miss Hooves, I am simply here to help you along in fulfilling it.

“As I said, though, the fact that these shall all be very much informal, clandestine activities means that you cannot receive actual government funds or resources, so we need to get a little creative in figuring out how to acquire them.  I have a friend in mind already, but I need to approach him first and secure his aid before we do anything else.  If he says no then I shall look elsewhere, but hopefully that won’t be necessary.”

The princess turned to leave but paused after taking a few steps.  “It’s been some time since I took a chance on one of my subjects with stakes this high, Miss Hooves,” she called out over her shoulder.  “What will ultimately come of all this, for good or ill, I cannot say.  For now our faith in one another will have to be enough to keep us going in this endeavor.  Is that acceptable to you, Miss Hooves?”

Derpy didn’t even need a second for consideration before she had her answer.  “Yes.”

Princess Luna proffered a small, contemplative smile at that, apparently satisfied with that answer.  “Very well, then.  You will hear from me soon.  For now, I bid thee farewell.  Prepare yourself, for your journey will only grow more difficult from here on out; the night consumes those who underestimate it, and I pray that is not the case with you.  Goodnight, Miss Hooves.”

A brilliant blue flash radiated from her horn, and a second later the Princess of the Night was gone.  Almost at once Derpy’s chest unclenched, and she took more than a few deep, calming breaths, steadying her still-elated nerves, so overwhelmed was she with euphoria and trepidation all at once.

The princess certainly was not wrong.  She could no more say what would happen next, now or in the long run, as a result of what they’d committed to tonight.  Yet at the same time, she was more than OK with that, even if so many aspects of this uncertainty should have been terrifying.  She was about to get herself involved, if all things worked out as they should, in a very dark, dangerous and frightening side of the world, and yet the thought of it all didn’t shake her one bit.  It simply felt… proper.  Like she was finally fixed upon a path meant just for her.

So in spite of all the uncertainty and danger that lay ahead, that knowledge alone made this all oddly comforting to her.  The fire she’d brought with her tonight, the same fire that had driven her in so many wild endeavors already, was still there as it should be.  Now, however, it did not feel ravenous, but rather sated and content, knowing it would have a purpose to fulfill soon.  Very, very soon.

Light in the dark.  Vengeance in the black.  Justice in the night.  I will be all these things and more, much more, and good will come of it.  I swear it.