//------------------------------// // Revelations and Reversals // Story: Knights of the Everfree // by Lightning Shaker //------------------------------// Knights of the Everfree Chapter Ten: Lightning Shaker awoke screaming, his heart hammering in his chest. That had been entirely too real. He felt around his neck, but it was free of burn marks. “That was the worst one, why was it so real?” He asked the room. “You thought that was a dream?” A voice asked from the shadows. Lightning jumped out of bed as the nightmare stepped out from the shadows. “What I showed you is your future, little one. That happens to you. All your friends die, and we will bind you and torment you for all the rest of time.” The nightmare, which was the same earth pony from his dream, seemed much more subdued than before. She had been terrifying in the dream, but now she was calm and her mane — though rippling with heat — was not a blazing inferno. Lightning Shaker stared at the nightmare confused. “I don’t get it. What is with you anyway? Why do you even care about torturing me? I never did anything to you.” Lightning pleaded with the creature. The nightmare looked up at him from under its mane. “We have our reasons, don’t doubt that. What I find interesting though, is that the physical pain I inflicted to you did not hurt you or scare you nearly as bad as the emotional suffering” “Why are you even in my room?” Lightning asked, backing away a bit. “It doesn’t really seem I’m getting through to you.” She laughed. “Though I see you weeping so sweetly.” “What are you talking about? I’m not weeping.” Lightning scoffed. “You always wanted people to remember you. To leave your little mark on society.” She grinned at what was clearly a private joke between her and the madness contained — though just barely — within her. “Of course I want people to remember me, who wouldn’t? But that stuff you showed me; how can I stop it?” Lightning asked, forgetting his fear of the creature and walking forward. The nightmares eyes rolled back as she let out a raucous bout of laughter. “Stop it? Are you serious? You CAUSE IT!” She began cackling madly. Lightning looked confused. “Why would you show me this, do you want me to stop it?” He asked, taking another couple steps forward. The nightmare's laughing stopped. “You are insane; this is the most fun I’ve had in a long, long time!” ‘Right, I’m the insane one...’ Lightning shook his head, the nightmare made no sense at all. “I don’t get you... what is it you want from me?” “What we want is irrelevant. You serve a purpose for us, and you will continue to do so until we no longer have need of you.” This was a new voice; more masculine. Lightning saw another of the nightmares, the unicorn. “You should be honored. Few mortal ponies are of any use to us, and you are special.” This came from another voice, it was arrogant and feminine. This one was the pegasus of the three. Like the other two, it stepped out of the shadows as though born from them. Lightning backed away from the three nightmares. “So is this the part where you three hurt me, like always?” “There will be pain, we will not stop.” The unicorn replied. Lightning felt a metal shod hoof on his back. “Hey there, you awake?” Little Gear was shaking him. Lightning rolled over out of bed and hugged her tight. Little Gear returned the hug awkwardly. “Umm thanks Lightning, good to see you too?” “They always come in my dreams, they always hurt me.” Lightning Shaker sobbed against her, his voice quavering. “I’m so tired of being hurt in my dreams.” “It’ll be alright Lightning, it was just a dream.” Little Gear whispered, stroking his mane. He shuddered, remembering. “They said they want something from me, but they wont tell me what.” Little Gear returned the hug a bit more forcefully this time, holding Lightning close. They stayed that way for a while until the pegasus finally calmed down. It took a moment, but that’s when Lightning looked confused. “Little Gear, you have both front legs.” He pulled back to look at her as she grinned at him. “I had some parts shipped in, I made it a big list and threw in some special capacitors that are able to use magical energy to run. With the piece of that orb you left with me I managed to get this prosthetic up and running.” She removed herself and took a few steps so Lightning could see. “I can walk now; I’ll have to make new prosthetics as I grow, but the design works!” All of a sudden Little Gear did a strange dance her leg awkwardly flailing about before she fell. “Okay, so there are a few kinks to work out, but still.” She blushed, embarrassed. “You just need to work out some bugs. Trial and error right?” Lightning hugged her again, his wings flapping with joy. “I knew you could do it, I’m so happy for you Little Gear.” She waved her prosthetic hoof at him, grinning. “That’s not all, look at this.” She turned and removed some notes from her saddlebags. “I’ve been working on some designs based on how this works; I think I can make prosthetics for just about anything really.” She showed him the designs. There were all sorts of replacement parts drawn up; legs, wings, and even parts for non ponies. There was a knock on the door. “Hey, I heard Little Gear was here.” Dream Dasher came in, followed shortly by Snow Star. “Oh sweet, you got that leg working.” She blushed. “More or less. Some bugs to work out, but that’s what test runs are for.” Snow Star coughed politely. “Oh right sorry about that. Little Gear, this is Snow Star. She’s training us to be members of the Royal Guard. Captain Snow Star, I’d like to introduce you to Little Gear. She’s a good friend of ours.” Lightning couldn’t contain his joy at the mention of the training as his wings began flapping. “Ah yes, I was told about you. Those artificial limbs are quite impressive. Work on those bugs and I’m sure even the Princess would find them interesting.” Snow star said, shaking hooves with Little Gear, which caused one of the mentioned bugs to happen as the limb got stuck in a shaking position moving up and down. “I suppose I could extend to you the offer of training as well, it wouldn’t be any trouble to be sure.” Little Gear thought about that a moment. “That sounds like it would be good. However, I have to return home, and now that I have the prototype working I need to improve the design and that may take some assistance from my parents.” “Once that is done however I would be more than happy to join you all.” She hastily added. Snow Star nodded in approval. “Of course, family comes first.” “Just remember to keep up with what I taught you.” Dream Dasher said, grinning. “Well, now that all of that is settled, I believe there are a few orders of business for the day to take care of. Little Gear, I know you need to return home, but I would appreciate it if you joined us for this. I think we need to set up a base of operations that won’t have us crowding your home, boys. Also I would like to see these ruins; it’s possible we can take care of both at the same time.” Snow Star walked to the door and poked her head out, saying something. A few moments later Mercury came in dragging a box behind her. “Oh my, is that a dragon?” Little Gear asked, backing up a bit. “Don’t worry, she’s friendly. This is Mercury, she is my companion and of great help to us.” Snow Star said, taking the box she brought in. “These are for the boys; sorry I don’t have one for you yet, Little Gear. These armors are made of iron, and they will get you used to wearing the real thing.” She said, lifting out a iron replica of the armor the Royal Guards wore; they even had the helmet with them. “Those look a lot better than that cardboard armor Lightning wore for Nightmare Night one year.” Dream Dasher scoffed as he grabbed the armor to start putting it on. Lightning Shaker sulked. “Don’t make fun. I won a contest for that, you know.” He grabbed the other armor and started sliding it on. “Oof, these are still a bit heavy.” Dream Dasher said as he shifted around. “They’re still troublesome to get on, too.” Lightning said, struggling with his. “Heavy as they are, they're still far lighter than the normal guard’s armor, and those don’t have all the extra bits for enchantments like mine does. You’ll get used to it. I promise.” Snow Star said as she helped Lightning figure out how to get his wings through the openings on the side of the armor. Dream Dasher nodded, grinning madly. “Oh I know how heavy armor is. I found some armor at the ruins and brought it back with me.” He walked over to the chest by his bed and pulled out the scaled armor, showing it off. Snow Star appraised the armor critically. “That looks quite ancient; I’m even more excited to see these ruins now.” Little Gear looked thoughtful. “You know... This gives me an idea; I may be able to put together something with my skills.” Snow Star stood once Lightning was all set. “Sounds good, I look forward to seeing your progress, shall we get going then?” The four ponies all agreed, and they headed out to make their way to the Everfree forest. “Captain Snow Star, what about Rare Charmer? Isn’t she supposed to be with us?” Lightning asked as they made their way through the forest, the dense canopy blocking out most of the light. The mare thought on that for a moment. “Well, I wasn’t assigned to oversee any training for her... she’s a unicorn right? She would likely receive a teacher in advanced magical studies if anything. I just couldn’t really be of any help with that." “I guess that makes sense. What about the base? Will she join us there?” He asked as they made their way along the path. Snow Star nodded, though with the low amount of light it was doubtful he could see it. “I can see this is important to you. Once I can secure the base of operations and make sure the area can accommodate the whole group, I’ll see to it that everyone the Princess wants to station here has their own place. It will be no small task, Princess Celestia has tasked us with safeguarding the Everfree and all who enter it.” Lightning Shaker felt a sense of awe at the thought, it made him feel important. They reached the clearing where the fight against the nightmares happened. “This is where we fought them; those creatures.” Lightning said, causing Snow Star to look about eagerly, but the nightmares were nowhere in sight. Eventually they made it through to the lake surrounding the ruins. It only took a cursory glance from Snow Star to know they would need to do some construction. There were a lot of places where the walls had caved in, and the roof seemed to be missing in quite a bit of it. “This is going to take some work; I’ll have to send for some supplies, and possibly an extra hoof or two for help.” She sighed. “Well, let’s survey the damage inside.” As they headed across the lake on the raft pulled by Dream Dasher, a pony watched them from the darkness of the forest with a sinister grin. Another watched it, fretting for the safety of the other ponies as well as itself. The four ponies were blissfully unaware of the dangerous creature watching them.