//------------------------------// // Forbidden Knowledge Wasn't Always So (Twilight Sparkle Part 2) // Story: The Bar at the Edge of Nowhere // by Syric Philharmonica //------------------------------// "There have been many sightings of The Knight throughout Equestrian history and in all of them he is described the same. A well built stallion completely covered head to hoof in thick steel plating, emblazoned with a symbol of The Old Kingdom. The weapons he carried seem to vary dependent on the region he appears in, although that is mostly hearsay and rumor. Recently Historians have found out that the crest across his chest-plate was restricted to the Royal Guard of that time, and that the ornamentation all across his armor denoted him as even farther above that, but the rest of the details are too unclear to know at this time." -Look Back, The Last Knight of Olde Equestria, printed 1974 by The Equestrian Press. Deep in Canterlot's extensive castle library was where Twilight Sparkle was found a couple days after her... Enlightening... meeting with Princess Luna. hunched over and obsessively scouring the book she was reading for any information she could scrounge up from the depths of It's pages concerning the task Luna had set her on. With a bone-deep groan Twilight straitened out and stretched her forelegs toward the high ceiling, idly rubbing an eye as she levitated another heavy tome to peruse with the zealous fervor of those cultists that had been gaining traction recently. After Twilight felt somewhat loosened up and was getting herself ready top dive back into her studying trance before she was interrupted. "Excuse me miss?" At the sound of the polite voice Twilight jolted hard, flinging what was practically a grimoire out the window she had sat by at high speed. Both the ponies watched silently as the book kept going for quite a while before it began to finally drop, disappearing into the residential district of Canterlot. A moment passed before Twilight turned to the intruder, noting that it was one of the many maids in the castle that had scared her, and upon seeing the terrified expression on her face did her level best to smooth out her own as to not scare the poor mare anymore. "Yes? What do you need?" Unfortunately Twilight could not keep ALL of the annoyance out of her voice, and the sarcastic delivery had the maid wincing before she recomposed herself. "Ah, sorry for the interruption Miss Sparkle, but Her Majesty has requested your presence in her private study." The maid shuffled nervously before giving a quick bow and making herself scarce, to do what Twilight didn't know or care to know because there was now a more pressing matter that required her attention. "Sorry Princess Luna, you'll have to wait a bit longer." Twilight said to herself before giving herself a quick once-over, deeming herself presentable enough, and making her way out of the depths of the archives. Twilight raised her midnight pass that she got from Luna to the guards at the entrance and allowing them to scan her saddlebags for anything that could be smuggled out. 'It's sad that this is necessary now,' Twilight mused in her mind as her body moved on autopilot, taking her down the memorized path to Princess Celestia's study. 'But it's even worse that somepony would steal from the Princesses! Not to mention that the thief was caught with a book of rituals.' At this thought Twilight frowned, mind racing with all manner of ideas that someone could do with that book, each one worse than the last. 'The Archive is being recategorized to see if anything else is missing. I cant help but worry about the consequences.' Twilight blinked as she came back to herself, noticing that she had been standing in thought outside Celestia's office for a little while now if the subtle stares from the guards at the end of the hall were any indication. "Ok Twilight, Enough of all this doom and gloom." She shook her head and made a mental list to check that she had everything she could possibly need in her bag, floating out each item to visibly confirm she had it before moving on to the next one. 'Parchment, check. Quills, check. Friendship report to deliver directly? Check. Evidence that The Knight exists so The Princess can't brush it aside?' Twilight was about to check that off her metal list before she remembered that all that evidence was in the book shaped rocket that had flown into Canterlot. "... Oh no. No no no no no." Twilight whispered as she began to panic, trotting in place as her breath began to speed up, feeling all her perfectly made arguments and counter points slip away and crumble before her eyes. "Maybe I can go get them quick enough that The Princess doesn't notice." Twilight said to herself, already turning to make her way to the books location before the chime of magic and the creaking of a door caught her ears followed by The Princess' gentle voice. "Come in Twilight, no need to stand out in the hall." At the insistence of The Princess Twilight found herself unable to leave, meekly dragging her hooves as she sheepishly crossed the threshold. Twilight kept her eyes downcast as she desperately tried to find some way to salvage her carefully constructed plan of attack to get Princess Celestia to tell her about The Knight. 'Ok Twilight, calm down, remember what Princess Luna said about dealing with Princess Celestia.' Glancing upward, Twilight saw that The Princess was busying herself with setting the tea table for two ponies so twilight took the time given to her by this distraction to calm down and get her thoughts in order. 'Look for the signs that The Princess is attempting to change the subject, a glance away or subtly changing the subject.' Before twilight could remember more of Luna's advice or gather the courage to confront her idol, Celestia spoke first. "My most faithful student, please, come and sit with me. I feel as though we will not have much time for these one on one chats going forward." Twilight walked over and plopped herself down across from her teacher, picking up the teacup in her magic and swirling it around, too nervous to drink whatever blend The Princess had selected from them today. "Thank you Princess, I was told you wanted to see me?" Twilight DID want to get to the bottom of the cryptic hints Princess Luna had given her, but Twilight's loyalty to Celestia silenced that voice and had her give The Princess her full attention. "I did indeed Twilight. Tell me," Celestia shifted to lay on her side more, using her magic to add more sugar to her tea after the first sip. "With your predilection toward academia and the histories, I wanted to ask if you had stumbled upon any mention of what the historians have called The Knight throughout the ages." There was a clatter of ceramic from Twilight's side of the table and Celestia looked up to see that Twilight had dropped her teacup onto it's saucer and was staring at her with a mix of surprise and a small mount of irritation. "Wha- I. Ngh, UGH!" With a frustrated yell Twilight slumped down amidst the roaring laughter of Celestia, pouting as she looked up at her mentor. "Here I was getting myself all hyped up to interrogate you about him and you just go and throw all that preparation away!" Twilight's indignation only made Celestia laugh harder and the good cheer spread to Twilight, a wide grin stretching across her face as she continued to jokingly accuse Celestia. "I was AGONIZING over how I would convince you without all my evidence, and you just, UGH!" Eventually both Celestia and Twilight calmed down, Twilight settling back down into her cushion and Celestia taking another sip of tea. "My dear Twilight, it seems that we are the same page this time. I will have a new assignment for you, and your friends if they are willing, that involves The Knight." At that admission, Celestia put another cube of sugar in her tea as Twilight took the pause in conversation to process before speaking. "I'll be sure to ask them when I return to Ponyville, and I do have questions Princess, but before all of that," Here Twilight opened her saddlebag and lifted out the report she had made before coming to Canterlot. "I decided to forgo sending it forward through Spike in favor of giving it to you personally." She floated the report over to Celestia who began to read it with a satisfied smile, one ear flicking in Twilight's direction to let her know Celestia was still listening, which emboldened her to continue talking. Before she did however, Twilight also levitated fresh parchment and a quill out to write down the things Celestia said for her to pore over later, preferably in the Archive. "My first question, when I spoke to Princess Luna about what I had found about The Knight in history books she alluded to the fact that BOTH of you knew him. Would you care to elaborate on that?" At that question Celestia blinked before putting down the report and leaned her head back with what sounded suspiciously like a curse before looking back at twilight, a strained smile on her face. "Ah, I see. Well Twilight, as my Lovely sister has informed you, yes. We both do indeed know The Knight personally, however we call him by his name, of course. What else has she told you?" Although Celestia's tone was amicable enough, the undercurrent of steel told Twilight that no matter the outcome of this conversation Princess Luna would NOT be ending this day unscathed. "Uh... not, not much else. Eheh..." Twilight nervously laughed under the intense stare of Celestia, feeling a jolt of fear when The Princess' eyes narrowed at her. "I promise! Princess Luna didn't say anything else about The Knight! Just... Just left hints for me to follow. Really." At this point Twilight could feel sweat gathering at the nape of her neck, Celestia's glare not unmoving and Utterly Terrifying. Celestia kept it up for a couple more seconds, letting Twilight stew for a bit longer before all the animosity melted away, casting a warm smile at her scared stiff student. "Thank you, my dear. I shall make sure to have a talk with my sister. Oh!" Celestia must have sensed the small bit of hesitation that had entered Twilight after that exchange because she was quick to wrap a wing around her and speak more softly. "Don't misunderstand Twilight, I was always going to tell you, if you didn't figure it out yourself, about one of mine and my sisters oldest friends. I just seem to have forgotten that my sister absolutely cannot keep herself from meddling. My apologies." Twilight took in the warmth radiating from Celestia's wing and felt herself come back down from the intense aura Celestia had been putting out, the sense of familiarity putting her at ease. "It's alright Princess, I know you would never hurt any of us on purpose. but back to my questions," Twilight managed to extricate herself from Celestia's embrace and pull her question sheet out of her saddlebag, to frazzled to remember what she wanted to ask and the reminder was immediately welcomed. "My second question, is The Knight a danger to Equestria or her people?" Celestia shook her head fondly at the question and confidently held her head high when she answered. "No, he would much rather fall on his sword before bringing harm to either." After a moment Celestia cast her eyes downward and her tone matched to subdued energy. "Quite frankly, He cares for this land far more than I did. I cannot remember all the times he put himself in danger for me and my sister. And once he joined us in Immortality there was nothing holding him back anymore." After another moment Celestia regained her composure and turned to Twilight with her normal gentle smile. All in all my faithful student. My answer is no." "I see. Thank you Princess." Twilight's quill was a blur as she transcribed all that Celestia had said about The Knight and his tendencies. "Well that answers my next question I suppose." Just then, Twilight's horn began to pulse and give off a low chime, alerting the both of them to how low the sun had dipped from it's position high in the sky. "Oh! That's Spike using the tether I made for him," Twilight said as she begin to pack her supplies back up, throwing a regretful look to Celestia at how their time together had come to an abrupt end. " Our train back to Ponyville is unloading at the station. Sorry Princess." "Don't be sorry Twilight. Any amount of time spent with you is more than worth it." Celestia gave Twilight one more hug as the younger mare stood with her belongings strapped to her flank once again. "Just promise me that next time will be no business, won't you?" "It's a deal Princess!"