//------------------------------// // A Flight Through the Forest // Story: The Knight // by TheStoveHater //------------------------------// "Promise me Twilight!" Twilight Sparkle and her friends had made it back to Golden Oaks Library, and now everpony, bar Twilight and Rainbow Dash, sat in a loose circle on the worn wooden floor, relaxing on cushions. Rainbow Dash was doing lazy laps around the library, her wings barely moving as she flew. Twilight sat in a large comforter in the corner of the room, mulling over the events of the night. She had led her new friends back through the Everfree forest, and this time there were no manticores, rock slides, or even unusually scary trees to slow them (even so it took nearly an hour to get back to Ponyville). Now she watched her friends talking quietly as they digested what had happened. Everypony knew Celestia as the calm, gentle, and soft spoken Goddess that she was, unflappable and strong as a mountain. That's how she appeared to most ponies anyway, including Twilight... At the same time, Twilight was probably the closest pony in the world to the Princess of the Sun. So when Twilight replayed things in her mind and examined what had flashed across her mentors face when she talked about the strange being that had intercepted the Elements... Why had she seen anger, concern, and a tiny bit of fear...? Shaking her head Twilight looked up, examining her friends as they lounged about, conversing quietly, clearly not as shaken as she was by her mentors brief show of weakness, if they had caught it at all. Twilight observed them for a moment, only to frown as she realized Pinkie was missing. Half a second later she knew why as her vision was obscured by something bright pink, and very, very fluffy. "Twilight! Let's play a game!" With a squeak Twilight jerked back into her chair, almost tipping it over as Pinkie Pie leaned over her from above, her hooves perked on the arms of the chair and keeping it from falling. "P-Pinkie?!" With a giggle the pink mare hopped down off the chair and sat in front of Twilight, smiling widely. "Cmon! You've been sitting in the corner with a big ol' frowny face since we got back!" Blinking a few times and waiting for her heart rate to slow down, Twilight shook her head. "P-pinkie, I don't have any games, besides, if I did they would probably still be in Canterlot. Aren't you even slightly worried about what happened? A giant 'thing' blocked the elements and stopped us from beating Nightmare Moon!" Pinkie giggled again and shrugged, suddenly pulling a game of Monopony from her mane. "Don't worry Twilight! I brought games!" Gawking for a moment before refocusing, Twilight glanced over at her other friends. "Girl's? Are you all not worried about that thing either?" Rarity, from her position on a cushion simply smiled and shook her head, "Darling whatever that ghastly thing was I'm sure the Princess can handle it." Rainbow Dash, circling lazily around the room on her back shrugged. "Yeah Twi, don't worry about it! You said Nightmare Moon was like, a million years old right? That means anything she throws at us will be like, super old! I think we can handle some old geezer." Applejack nodded in agreement before putting her two bits in. "Besides, Princess Celestia beat Nightmare ah long time ago right? Stands tah reason she can beat 'er again!" Twilight frown deepened, clearly nopony else shared her concerns over this strange being... Should she be worried? She didn't have enough information about this strange creature to... With a gasp Twilight jumped up, rushing to the history section of the Library. Rarity watched her with a raised eyebrow "What has you so excited, Darling?" Without a backward glance and a sparkle in her eye, Twilight started pulling history books from the shelves,explaining her sudden burst of energy excitedly. "Girls, before I got here I was worried about the Mare in the Moon, which was a Myth! Or so I thought! Which is why I only found a child's book with barely anything in it. I was looking in the wrong place all along! But if I can check history books I'm sure I can find something!" With a new stack of books Twilight sat back down in her chair, placing the stack on the side table next to her. Before she could even crack open the first book however, a loud knock came from the door of the library. A second later it opened and a small purple lizard walked through, talking to somepony behind him. "Dude, you're her brother, and this is a public library, I don't think we need to knock." Twilight froze for a moment, having totally forgotten about Spike in the rush to find the Elements of Harmony. "It's always polite to knock Spike." The second voice said from behind the door, it would have sounded familiar, but Twilight was too busy tackle hugging Spike and checking him over. "Spike! Oh Sweet Celestia I'm so so sorry! I totally forget in all of the panic! Aren't you supposed to be sleeping??" Hugging the small dragon to her Twilight continued checking over him, even as he squirmed and protested. "Twilight I'm fine! They're are bigger things to worry about than me sleeping y'know!" Spike said irritably, tired and a little cranky from having only a few hours of sleep, he motioned to the stallion in armor behind him, which Twilight hadn't noticed until now. "Good Morning Twilight! Or should I say Good Evening? But then again its supposed to be Morning." He said with a chuckle, sliding his helmet off and placing it on the floor next to him. It took Twilight a second, but the moment the helmet hit the wooden floor with a quiet thunk she gasped and placed Spike down, carefully, before leaping and wrapping her forelegs around her older brother. "B.B.B.F.F.S! Why're you here?! Oh! Are you going to help find the Nightmare??" Shining Armor shook his head, returning his sisters hug. "Not quite Twily, I'm actually here for you and your friends. Princess Celestia has ordered the guard to escort you all to Canterlot Castle for your safety." Pulling away Shining pulled his helmet back on, motioning for everyone in the room to follow. "We've got chariots awaiting outside for everypony here. We can catch up on the way!" Rarity was the first to speak up in protest. "My Dear I simply cannot! Who shall watch over my Dearest Sister?" Rarity moved a little closer, pointing out the door and in the direction of Carousel Boutique. Applejack nodded in agreement. "And what about mah farm? And mah family? Ah can't just leave em." She said with a frown. Fluttershy didn't want to leave her animal friends alone, but nopony realized she was talking so when Shining Armor spoke up she was still muttering quietly behind her mane about needing to feed Harry before he got too hungry and found dinner for himself. Shining nodded and waved a hoof behind him. Just past him was several large chariots, filled to the brim with Royal Guards. "Don't worry everypony, we've deployed Guards to every one of your homes to protect your family and property. Plus Intel suggests that the Nightmare is more focused on getting itself back to full strength, rather than attacking." Twilight blinked and tilted her head, wondering where this 'Intel' could have come from, only to pull back and head back towards her chair, pointing to her books. "Wait! I still need to do research! Where else am I supposed to find information on that thing?" Raising an eyebrow Shining pointed to the stack of books "Those? Why don't you take them with you?" "I haven't had time to make myself a library card yet, I can't check out any books without a card!" Twilight exclaimed, shaking her head vigorously. Shining and Spike glanced at one another, both knowing how much of a stickler for rules Twilight was. "Twilight can't you forgo the rules this one time? Why do you even need those books?" Frowning Shining totted over, glancing at the history books she had pulled off of the shelves. "I have to do research on Nightmare Moon, and that thing! For that I'll need all the books I can find!" Twilight waved the assortment of books around in her magic to push her point, then gestured to the library. "And where else would I find books but a library?" Spike sighed and dragged a claw down his face, waving to get Twilight's attention "Twilight, you do realize if we go to Canterlot we can just go to the Castle's library right? It's like, ten times bigger than this one!" Twilight stared at Spike for a moment, opening her mouth to retort, only to blush slightly and silently return the books to where she had taken them. "Ehe r-riiiighht..." The promise of more books quickly overruled her embarrassment, and she was eagerly trotting out the door to the chariot where the rest of her friends waited. __________________________________________________________________ "Duuuuuuh~ Duuuuuuh~ Duh Duuh Dun Duuuh~ Duuuuh~ Duuh Duuuh Duh~ Duh Duh Duh Duuuuh~" Why must thy do this? "I'm bo~ored~ Oh So very Bo~ored~ This is the Ooonly~ Way to keep me saaaane~" Thou realize the only reason thou art still in control is because thy singing is so annoying that even our new 'traveling companions' mayhaps toss us away correct? With a chuckle I lazily spin around the stick we sit upon, still singing. "I beeee~et~ You like my siiing~ing~ But you're too shhhyyy~ To let it shooow~" This song pops into my head any time I get bored and apparently I didn't get even a tiny bit of patience, so that was often, and any time I feel like things get boring I start singing! Or humming, whatever feels right for the moment. My other half of course didn't approve, although he never does of anything unless its 'For the Glory of our Queen!' bleagh. I continued spinning, giggling as the tip of the stick (we were fairly certain it was a spear at this point) grated against the inside of our helmet. "So Mysterious Stranger, how are you this fine morning hm? Well, evening I guess? But its technically morning... Hmm..." My other side growled and pointed us towards the forest. Doth thy feel it? Our armor, or at least parts of it, grows near... It shall only be a short time more... "Not really~ But whatever you say boss!" I spun around on the spear excitedly, I couldn't feel it, as it was considered part of my other half's jurisdiction, he got all of the cool things like, how to stab things and how to be a stick in the mud. I got all the fun things! Like singing and a crippling fear of water! Anyhow, our body was reforming! That means I could have proper graspy things again! This was wonderful! Fool! Thou speak aloud! Woops did I? Ehe... Guess we should leave then? "GAH! Imbecile!" Suddenly we were moving, blasting off of the tip of the spear with a burst of magic we flew up into the air, apparently I had lost my driving privileges. We didn't even turn to look at our former escorts, but I managed to shout out a quick "Thanksfortheridegottagobye!" before we flew away. Well, jumped away. A moment later we slammed into the tree branches of the forest, my other half easily navigating the thick foliage as agile as a squirrel, hopping from tree branch to tree branch. Meanwhile I was giggling like a drunk, I barely even knew how to do this magic jump thing, much less use it to fly from tree to tree, (My version looked more like a drunken fish flopping about) and it was exhilarating! "Must you act like a child with everything?" My other side grumbled as we flew along. Hey hey! If it weren't for me we wouldn't even be able to enjoy this! I remark without even trying to hide my smugness. My other half only grumbled in response, knowing this was the reason I was even still around. Nightmare had not quite been able to separate the 'use that poor sap in front of us as a battering ram to get past his buddies' side of our mind from my 'might betray you given the chance' side, as they were both part of the Ingenuity side of the mind. The branches parted around us, and suddenly we were in open air, well, for half a second before we smacked visor first into a crumbling stone wall. "Ah. We hath arrived." What gave you that idea? I ask with the last of my giggles as we slid down the wall. "Our torso still rests a distance away, however our leggings and one of our arms await us inside. Most likely with our sword and shield." We hopped along, occasionally landing on cobblestone with a loud clang, making our way around the large building and towards hole that was once a grand door. Yes a lot of good those do without something to connect it to. Now that I think about it, didn't we lead our 'escorts' here? Shouldn't we have waited until after our pieces were assembled? "Imbecile, such fools who think that we can be contained by naught but a spear stuck up our neck have no more brains than thyself." He said with a grumble. I started to retort, only for somebody, or should I say somepony, to interrupt me from behind. "Oh yeah, total fools, certainly fooled us. Right guys?" The Pegasus said with a growl, its blue eyes narrowed behind her helmet. We froze, my other side growled lowly, slowly turning in place. His growls only grew in volume as we found our former 'escorts'. My other half's growl grew as we noticed something interesting about these guards. "Companions." He spit the word like poison recently taken from a grievous wound, it seemed to surprise even the group in front of us with its venom. Although only one of them actually flinched, the rest just flicked their ears to varying degrees. I couldn't remember exactly why he hated them so much, but Sweet Luna on a Moon Pie he did NOT like these guys! Er, girls? It was difficult to tell with all that armor on. Standing straight, spears and armor gleaming in the moonlight, the six Pegusi stood in a loose semi circle around us. Each wore the symbol of the companions, a spear with a pair of wings embossed over a stylized sun, stamped proudly on the front of their chest, the one in the center spoke again. (Due to the voice I assumed it was a female, or a prepubescent colt... Probably a female.) "Oh? So you've heard about us huh?" She said cockily, standing a little straighter. "Seems even some old rust bucket knows about the Companions." That jab did nothing for my other half's mood, the visor slowly raised and I tilted my head mentally, he rarely raised our visor, not unless he wanted to summo- EYES! That's what they're called! 'Rolling your EYES!' My other half ignored my outburst as two red flames (and two faded blue ones) sprung from the depths of our helmet, the first step to defeating an enemy is to demoralize them, make them think they will lose before the battles even won. Plus, you could roll them! My other half chuckled, it wasn't a real chuckle, as it was cold, quiet, evil... At that moment, if I could, I would have shivered."I only know of thine pitiful organization, because I once wiped thine kind from the face of this wretched planet..." My other half's eyes sparked and crackled audibly, the red flames flickering in the night. One of the Pegasi, situated on the far left and indistinguishable due to his armor's enchantments, seemed to hesitate at this, his spear shaking ever so slightly. The Pony front and center however? She laughed. "Hah! The Companions have been around for over a thousand years! The last time we even lost a Pony in combat was the Celestial Wars! And you!" She jabbed her spear at us, her words lowly and menacing. "Wiped out the entire five hundred guards without even having limbs? Taur Shit!" I rolled my eyes (Sweet Moon that felt nice) and waited for my other half's response, he stared at her for a moment, then started to chuckle again, it was low, menacing, devoid of all mirth, and existed only to make those in social situations feel awkward at best and downright worried at worst. For those in a combat situation however? It was enough to make the poor guard on the left whimper and take a step back! "Five hundred? Truly? It seems the Solar Wench has kept herself occupied. In our era the Companion guard consisted of no more than two hundred soldiers, each one equal in combat to that of fifteen standard guards." My other half started to chuckle, again, rocking back and forth slowly, the chuckling turned into a full blown laugh, then finally we fell onto our 'back', my other half still laughing loudly. It was the single most creepy and terrifying thing I've heard in the last thousand years. A-are you done...? I asked hesitantly as it started to fade, only to be ignored as he suddenly lifted us up, the crimson fire that made up his eyes blazing like a furnace. "Know this Child. Thou shalt perish. Thou comrades shall cease to draw air. All thou hold dear shall be wiped from this world!" At rising of our flames the mare took half a step backward, only to grit her teeth and step forward with my other half's threat. "We shall purge thine 'Holy Order' from this world once more! The fact that there now exists five hundred of you shall only serve to sweeten my Queens victory! Starting with thee!" With a roar we charged forward (well, hopped aggressively forward) towards the group of 5 ponies (one had decided to take a nap). Without a word the group watched as we hopped furiously towards them, and with a roar of triumph we leaped above the group and came hurtling down upon the foolish ponies that dared challenge us! ...Only to be received with a spear shaft to the visor, and with a loud clang we were sent hurtling back into the forest, smashing through leaves and branches (Weeeee!). To my disappointment we quickly lost momentum and dropped towards the ground, only to be caught by... A gauntlet? Wait! That's our gauntlet! My other half casually placed our helmet back upon our torso and I groaned in relief, it felt unbelievably nice to have a body again. Especially one that had been absorbing direct moonlight for the last few hours! Power coursed through us, no where near our full, but to regain the rest of our body and wipe these cocky punching bags away? Plenty! ...Probably. "The Moon shines its glory upon us! I knew our body was near!" My other half said triumphantly, checking over our newly mended torso and arm. I almost chocked on my laugh as I realized what had happened. W-wait! You-you didn't know that would happen?! I tried desperately to reign in my laughter, but the flight over had not helped. "... Twas planned." My other half answered quietly after a moment. It wasn't was it? I failed once more to hold back my laughter, my blue eyes dancing and flaring behind his larger crimson ones. "... Silence! We have ponies to destroy!" A-and! And what! W-what about our legs and- HAH! At this point I was practically flailing about inside our helmet, unable to complete my sentence. "I said Silence!"