Knights
of the Everfree
Chapter Eleven:
Lightning awoke to a cold but bright day. Celestia’s sun was shining, despite winter having already started. Lightning Shaker stretched yawning loudly. “What, no nightmares huh? You guys getting lazy or what?” He chuckled to himself as he got out of bed, already beginning to work on realigning his feathers, which were crooked from sleeping on them.
“Not lazy, just giving you a bit of a break. You think of us as heartless monsters; however what you need to know is there is a goal we are trying to reach. And before you ask, the answer is no, I’m not going to tell you what that is.” Lightning backed away as he saw one of the nightmares. This one was the unicorn. It had its back to him, and was sitting staring out the window as it spoke.
“Is this another nightmare, or are you really here?” Lightning asked, looking around for the other nightmares and eyeing the door to his room.
The nightmare sighed rising as it turned towards him. “This isn't a nightmare, yes I’m really here, the others aren't here, and no I’m not here to hurt you.” The nightmare’s horn flared with a tan aura as it brought an object to rest in front of Lightning. “This is for you. Consider it an early Hearths Warming gift. I won’t explain its use at the moment, but I promise it is meant to benefit you and not hurt you.”
As Lightning examined the ‘gift’, which seemed to be a pendant in the shape of a crescent moon, the nightmare sighed. “That should answer most of the questions you would ask. The rest I’m leaving vague for now. Despite the enthusiasm of my compatriots, my primary goal has little to do with causing you harm.”
Lightning let out a small huff at this. “You could have fooled me; you know if I’m supposed to do something for you guys, then putting me in the hospital for months probably was a bad call on your part. What is this anyway?” He asked, pointing at the jewelry.
From the look on his face, Lightning figured he had stumped the nightmare as it stared at the pegasus with confusion. “It’s a pendant; you wear it upon your neck.” It finally said as though that explained everything.
Lightning Shaker deadpanned at this. “Thanks for the information. What if I refuse?”
“Then nothing. I've said my piece. We are looking to work together to achieve a goal. The pendant will help you. If you don’t want to use it, that’s your choice.” The nightmare walked over to Lightning, its size making it tower over the pegasus. “Seems I have to leave now. I’ll make a deal with you, in the interest of trust so to speak. We need you to help us, so what I’m going to offer is a hands off approach. No more intrusions from any of us will happen; no more nightmares, in either sense, unless we need to give you instruction or visit you for some reason. For the time being, I can guarantee that no harm shall come to you from us.” The nightmare turned to look at the door as it burst open, a concerned Dream Dasher and Little Gear on the other side.
Little Gear stared at the creature in front of her with a puzzled look, staring in particular at the fire emanating from the spots where the nightmare’s mane and tail would be. Strangely she didn't seem particularly frightened, "Okay... so... umm... Dasher, what do you make of dis?" she looked aside to him.
Dream Dasher gave her a quizzical look before looking back to the nightmare and lowering his stance. "This is one of those nightmares that we fought in the forest. I don't know how it got in, but I'm gonna get rid of it now."
He started to charge forward, but suddenly found another nightmare directly in front of him. This one's eyes showed an intense madness as it looked at him. "Oh we remember you little one, we remember the way you kicked our head" It tapped it's head with a forehoof as it leaned in towards Dream Dasher, it's mane flaring up. "You killed us. That was fun." It seemed to ponder for a moment before its face lit up as though it had a good idea. "I know, we'll return the favor. Come little one; we shall kill you too."
Little Gear ran forward. "Wha’? You get back you jerk! Don't think I'm gonna let nothin' happen to him!" Once again Dream Dasher looked at her as though she had grown a horn.
"What happened to your voice?" He asked, seemingly having forgotten the nightmare standing in front of them.
Little Gear blushed, looking bashful. "Oh dat, it's a long story. Can we not get into it while firebutt here is glarin' at us?"
The nightmare who had been watching the conversation with little more than a bemused expression suddenly looked shocked and turned around to examine herself, muttering "Fire butt?" It suddenly leaped into the air, "Aaah! my flank is ablaze!" The nightmare ran over to its cohort. "Put it out, put it out, put it out!" It yelled in a panic.
The other nightmare merely scoffed, "It's time for us to go, now that we've drawn too much attention here." It looked down at Little Gear, "I see you have magic with you, odd for an earth pony... I know this magic. Good; it will serve well" With a flick of its mane the two had vanished.
Snow Star was in the doorway, having come up after hearing the commotion. "What was that just now? Were those the nightmares you talked about?" She walked into the room, looking about for signs of where they had gone, her armor glinting in the morning sunlight. "Alright, get suited up and then meet me downstairs. I want a full report of what just happened, understood?"
Three responses of "Yes ma'am!" were enough for Snow Star as she headed downstairs.
Dream Dasher walked over to Lightning. "I'd like an explanation as well. Why was that thing here?"
Lightning looked down at the necklace that still lay on the floor. "I'm not entirely sure. They are way too cryptic with what they want." He opened the chest next to his bed and began pulling out parts of his armor.
Dream Dasher looked back at Little Gear. "What about you? What was up with the way you were talking?"
Little Gear seemed to be composing herself. She sat and began fidgeting with a loose screw in her prosthetic. "I have an accent." She said, finally looking up at Dream Dasher. "I get teased about it a lot so I try really hard to hide it. Even in Manehattan it is considered to be a low brow type of thing to have that accent, the 'bad side of town' is where that accent comes from. So rather than 'talk like dis', I just sort of hide it and try to sound more like a normal pony." She sighed and left the room before either of the colts could respond.
Lightning Shaker looked at Dream Dasher. "This is going to be one of those weird days, isn't it?"
Dream Dasher nodded, "They all are, aren't they?"
Downstairs after breakfast, with all ponies wearing their armor and with explanations as out of the way as possible, the day was seen to. Lightning Shaker had work to do in the weather patrol, still wanting to pay his own debts.
Snow Star took Dream Dasher and Little Gear out to the forest to look into more work on the ruins. The captain was pleased to note that the materials had arrived and that there were already some workers there to assist in securing the structure and rebuilding any areas that had crumbled in the many years it had been vacant.
"Alright, I need to go check and make sure the repairs are going well and that the crew knows what to do." She nodded to the two ponies with her. "I want you two to check on the work being done for the raft. I'm hoping they make something a bit more stable for you earth ponies to use."
As Snow Star headed off to the ruins, Dream Dasher grinned. "You really do look funny in armor, especially since you already are part metal."
Little Gear shoved him. "Shut up. Do not make fun of me like that." She stormed off to the sound of Dream Dasher chuckling.
Lightning sighed as he adjusted the necklace around his neck. "You shouldn't pick on her like that. It's one thing with you and me, but with her that's not right."
"I wouldn't worry. It's just some harmless jokes like always. I doubt she has a problem with it." Dream Dasher scoffed, looking puzzled as Lightning Shaker put the necklace back under his armor. "Why are you wearing that thing? I wouldn't trust it, seeing as it came from those things."
He lifted the necklace and looked down at it before shrugging. "I don't really think they're as bad as they seem. I think they just need help."
Dream Dasher chuckled. "That one certainly does; mental help at least."
Lightning laughed. "Maybe you kicked it too hard? I have trouble believing it's the same one, but maybe it is?"
"You think they're really immortal then? I thought only the Princess and, like, dragons lived forever." Dream Dasher said, his eyes moving toward Canterlot even though he couldn't see it.
Lightning Shaker winced as he lifted off the ground with a few flaps of his wings. His injuries were healed, but the scar between his wings still hurt. The armor didn't help. "I don't think dragons are immortal. They just live for a really really long time. Alright, I gotta head off to weather patrol, just... try to be nicer to Little Gear, okay? I don't think she's going to take jokes the same way we do." He slowed and got a little closer to Dream Dasher. "Also, I'm pretty sure it's not nice to tease someone about something like a lost leg."
As Lightning flew off, Dream Dasher looked back over at Little Gear, who was walking ahead several yards. Everything seemed so complicated lately. He wondered why he couldn't just have fun like normal without all these new rules. He ran forward to catch up with her; she was nearly to the raft. A few ponies were already working on it, and there were some guards keeping an eye out for them.
As he closed the distance, she saw him and looked away angrily. She moved away and started talking to one of the workers. Dream Dasher sighed, looking at the construction being done. It looked like they were replacing the raft with a wide boat.
He suddenly felt like he was being watched. looking around he thought he saw somepony — or something — watching him from the trees. Deciding that he wasn't going to get to talk to Little Gear any time soon, he started walking towards whatever it was he saw.
Little Gear saw him walk off and frowned. Then she remembered; 'Wait, I was mad at him from earlier!' Deciding to ignore him, she instead focused on the worker who was detailing some long list of rules to be followed when constructing an over water pulley system.
As he got near the tree-line, Dream Dasher heard a sound like a squeak and then there was a poof of dust that flew out of the trees. He tried to chase whatever it was, but suddenly he was floating in the air. He looked back to check, and seeing no wings he sighed with relief. 'Never know, not sure I could be bothered with that one.' He thought as he tried to move forward in one way or another.
Dream Dasher grunted and struggled, but to no avail; he was stuck fast in the air. The only sign of whatever it was he had heard was the crashing of something running through the forest. He sighed and hung limply in the air, finally curling up in a ball. There was no weight under him; it was like he was just floating. 'must be why Lightning likes sleeping on clouds...' he thought. Just then, gravity took over and he fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Little Gear came running up, having seen what was going on. "Were you flying just now!?" She asked, slightly out of breath.
"Not exactly..." He grunted from his prone position. "Some kind of spell had me in the air. I couldn't move at all."
She helped him up, dusting him off as she chuckled a bit. "Was it some kind of dangerous monster you were fighting? You think we should tell the captain?"
Dream Dasher gave her a glare at her chuckling, but figured he deserved it. He sighed as he looked off into the forest. Whatever it was, the thing was gone. "I don't think that'll be a problem. Seems like it was a defense thing that put me in the air. I guess I scared it off."
Little Gear smiled at him, "Well you do look kind of scary in that armor. Maybe that's why?"
He couldn't help but grin. The idea of looking intimidating or scary worked perfectly for him. Dream Dasher looked over at Little Gear, noticing how she seemed to have forgotten that she was angry with him. 'maybe thinking I was in danger worried her and calmed her down? Either way, I'm glad this worked out.' He shuffled up to her and poked her in the side. "Your armor looks great on you, though you have more than I do if you count that leg."
She looked down at the prosthetic frowning, "Not really, I had to use cheaper materials, and lightweight ones at that; the leg is heavy enough as it is. If I had used quality materials, I am not sure I could lift it, let alone walk." She gave a demonstrative wag of the leg. "Not to mention, now with this armor on I am even more loaded down. I know there will be payoff later, but this is an issue at the moment."
By the time they headed back to the ruins, the construction teams were already working on moving the materials inside for the night.
Snow Star greeted the two earth ponies near the main entrance, which was now a definable thing thanks to the construction. "How are things going on that raft? You two have been gone for a while now." She flapped her wings pensively, looking eager to be flying and relatively bored with being stuck on the ground.
Dream Dasher gave a salute, which Little Gear mimicked as best she could her legs clearly tired from the extra weight.
"Sorry about that. There was an incident at the edge of the forest. Not sure what, but I don't think it'll be a problem. Whatever it was, the thing was more scared of me than anything else." Dream Dasher looked nervously over at Little Gear. "Construction seems to be complete already. The crew said there shouldn't be any problems with the new design, but if there are, to just get somepony out here to adjust it."
Snow Star seemed to only listen to half of what was said. Her focus had shifted to Little Gear, "Are you having problems, Miss Gear? You seem to be having trouble standing."
Little Gear blushed, gritting her teeth in embarrassment. "No ma'am, just not used to the extra weight; it's putting a strain on my prosthetic."
She looked sympathetically at the filly. "I can understand, but for now I'd like you to keep the armor on. Do you think you can hold out for a bit longer? I want to do some checks on the rooms inside. We have to set up a few things like living quarters and a meeting hall for our long stints on duty."
Little Gear nodded, giving her best impression of a grin that she could manage at the moment. This seemed to please Snow Star, so she motioned for them to follow.
Dream Dasher was impressed with the work that had been done; a lot of the walls had either been repaired or had scaffolding up for workers to use, and any parts that were still a danger had braces put up to keep them from crumbling. There were also some magical light fixtures — such as the kind you would find in Canterlot — placed around, making the place not nearly so dark anymore.
There was still a lot of work to be done, but the amount of things that had been taken care of was staggering. He gave a low whistle. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that a construction crew from Canterlot hired to work for the guard would be efficient, but this is still nuts."
Snow Star nodded. "Efficiency and order are what we are all about; well, that and doing our jobs of keeping ponies safe. speaking of which, tomorrow I believe some combat drills are in order." She looked over at Little Gear. "Though perhaps I'll limit it to you and Lightning. Little Gear seems like she could use some rest."
She shook her head. "No, I will be okay. I am just going to have to come up with a better solution to how this leg sits, or rather how I sit on it. I suppose a return to the drawing board may be in order, as well as a different scheme... This armor gave me an idea."
The pegasus chuckled, "Don't push yourself too hard; you're just a filly after all. I'm not going to push you three harder than you can go. I'm going to push you, but there is a limit to what I will make you do." She smiled before looking back towards the entrance. "Speaking of you three, where's Lightning? I didn't expect his duties in the weather patrol to take this long, especially since the last fly over I did of the base here showed the skies over Ponyville to be quite clear."
The two younger ponies followed her gaze to the entrance. "You're right, it's almost night time. Where is he?" Dream Dasher headed back towards the entrance just in time to have a very excited Lightning Shaker crash into him.
Little Gear and Snow Star couldn't help but laugh at the tangle of armored colts in the entryway, both struggling to get up. After a few moments of trying they finally helped the two colts get separated.
"Heh, sorry about that, I was just really excited." Lightning said, blushing a bit.
Snow Star gave him her best captain's glare. "You should have been back from weather patrol hours ago. Where have you been?"
Lightning Shaker managed to look sheepish despite the fact that he was grinning from ear to ear and couldn't stop. "Well I was doing my job at the weather patrol, but while I was working, well... Actually, can somepony help me out of my armor real quick?"
Snow Star looked disapproving, but helped him out of his armor anyway. The three ponies gasped at what they saw.
"Isn't it great? I got my cutie mark! It happened while I was moving some of those storm clouds that had been left over from a few days ago." He showed off the cutie mark, twin lightning bolts coming out of a cloud. He thought about it a moment. "Wait, does that mean my destiny is as a weather pony?"
Snow Star patted him on the back, chuckling. "Not at all. Mine is a snowflake over a blue swirl, and I don't work the weather at all. It just means that's your hidden talent of awesome." She gave him a narrow eyed look. "That still doesn't explain why you were gone so long."
Lightning backed away slightly 'that stare is intense!' "Well you see, after it happened and everyone was congratulating me, we finished up work for the day... then this filly — I can't remember her name, she was talking kind of fast — anyway, she threw me a party. Half the town was there it seemed. I wanted to come back, but there were so many ponies wanting to tell me I did great, even though I didn't get it on purpose."
Snow Star patted him on the back. "Well, it is a big deal for most ponies." She looked around the base and sighed. "I'll escort you three home. You can all relax and enjoy this new development. I'll finish up here after I get you back."
Little Gear stepped up. "Umm... Ma'am, can I return with you? I feel there is more I need to do around here, and I need your help."
Snow Star looked surprised at this. "No need to rush anything. Besides, the rooms won't be ready yet and it's late so I need you three home."
Little Gear sighed, thinking dreamily of making her own work station and forge. 'I'll be able to work all night without getting interrupted. So much to do, so many things to create!'
After taking the colts and filly home, Snow Star bid the family farewell.
Melody Spring stopped her. "Would you mind terribly helping me in the kitchen? The young ones seem very worn out, except for Dream Dasher, but he's not really— Oh how do I put this? I try to keep him far away from the kitchen."
The pegasus was eager to get back to the base and finish up her inspection, but relented. "No problem miss Spring, what sort of help do you need?"
The other mare smiled, leading her to the kitchen. "Well, with more mouths to feed it's a little bit harder for me to make all the food. Just a little help with the preparation would be wonderful."
Snow Star sighed inwardly, but began helping with a smile on her face.
The two got to the task of preparing the food; salad, an apple pie, and a cake.
"If you don't mind my saying, you seem a little young for the guard. And you're a captain? I thought the boys were young, but I'm surprised with your rank and how young you must be." Melody said as she began kneading the dough for the pie.
Snow Star nodded, while measuring flour. "I was recruited young. There was an accident and I lost both my parents. The guards who found me were impressed, and felt sorry for me at the same time."
Melody stopped kneading the dough, giving Snow Star a sympathetic look. She gave the other mare a quick hug. "No child should have to lose their parents, I'm so sorry sweetie."
Snow Star smiled, giving a shrug. "The guard is my family now. I've gotten used to having them around and being one of them."
Melody Spring smiled warmly at her. "Well if Lightning and the others are guards now, that makes them your family as well; you're like their sister. Which makes me your mom! Oh my gosh, my family seems to be growing by the day!" She gave Snow Star a big hug.
The pegasus blushed at being hugged, but returned it gratefully nonetheless. They returned to work on the food, both chatting casually. 'I can't believe how much she's opened up.' Melody thought as she put the cake in the oven. She looked over at Snow Star, who was sliding the pie out of the other part of the oven. "You know, I'm really happy you're taking such good care of the boys. I don't really have that much time for them these days and I always feel terrible about it."
"It's alright, they're a couple of fine colts. I'm rather impressed with how hard both of them work actually. I know what we do can be dangerous, but I promise I'll keep them as safe as I can." Snow Star closed the oven and sat down at the table, 'If I can get out of here soon I can still do my inspection, so much to do in the day.'
When the cake was almost done, they began preparing the salads so they could eat while the sweets were cooling, though the two mares did have a slice of the pie in the meantime.
Once prepared, the salads were brought out to the dining area where Little Gear was the only pony present; somehow managing to work on her prosthetic, which was laying on the table. Pen notes on a new design were already laid out in detail.
She looked up at the two older ponies as they came in, smiling at the food. "Let me just get this off the table." She said, moving her notes and shuffling them into a pile next to her chair. She then grabbed her prosthetic and moved it to lay next to them.
Snow Star eyed the prosthetic on the floor. "You know, I'm fairly certain we can get that fixed; your leg I mean. No reason a filly your age should have to use that thing."
Little Gear shook her head. "No, I do not think I want to grow back my leg. I think I get a lot of character from using this. It is hard sometimes — like today — but if life was easy, would any of us be together?"
Both mares were thoughtful at this.
"It makes me happy, to know that Dream Dasher and Lightning Shaker have such wonderful people to take care of them. Those boys need some happiness in their lives. Ah couldn't believe it when Lightning made friends with me, jus' out of nowhere." She sniffled a bit, absent mindedly moving her right shoulder before bringing her left foreleg up to wipe away a tear.
She was engulfed in a hug from Melody. "Sweetie, we're your family too. Lightning already said you were family, and I know that colt; he meant it. You make him just as happy as we do."
"Where are those boys anyway? Did they run off to get in trouble again?" Snow Star asked, idly arranging the bowls on the table.
"I believe they are taking turns bathing. They let me go first." Little Gear said, muffled as she was still being embraced by Melody.
Snow Star sighed, "Well if you two don't mind, I'm going to get started on eating. I need to get back to work."
Melody Spring chuckled. "You may as well stay for some cake, it's already awfully late. Your work will still be there tomorrow."
"But— But I have to finish this up. work won't wait." She sighed. "You tricked me didn't you?"
"Me? Trick you? Why ever would I do that?" Melody Spring asked, looking smug. She seemed pleased with herself, having foiled the guard in a way that helped her.
Lightning Shaker came downstairs to the sound of the three laughing over this, bringing a smile to his face. As much as he enjoyed the fact that he was a member of the Royal Guard, he was quite happy to be out of his armor for the moment; especially since he got to show off his cutie mark. He joined them at the table. Little Gear slid a bowl of salad over to him, which he dug straight into, being very hungry after the day's events.
A pony watched from outside, grinning at the family. "Do you think this is going to work?" The winged nightmare asked, looking down at the pony.
The pony fluttered its wings, enshrouded in darkness it was hard to tell as a cloud of dust blew away from it. "It has to work. There is no other way to fix this." They both walked off into the night, disappearing into the Everfree.