---
“Is there something you know that I don’t?” he asked Fluttershy, who had a suspicious look about her ever since they came into town that morning.
“Oh, um...no.” The truth was quite the contrary. This was Knight Sky’s first time in town during the day, and Fluttershy immediately noticed a conspicuous lack of the one mare who exuberantly welcomed every new resident. In fact, she noted a conspicuous absence of many of her friends, but decided not to tell him. If her suspicions were correct, telling him would ruin the surprise.
They arrived at the library at the appointed time to find it looking as though it were closed for the day.
“Are you sure this is the library she meant?” Knight Sky asked, looking at the locked door.
“Yes, um, I’m sure. Try opening the door, i-if you don’t mind.”
Despite the apparent lock, at a simple push the door swung open to reveal a number of ponies inside. The library was festively decorated, and everyone inside immediately shouted, “Surprise!”
“Wh-what is this?” Knight Sky looked even more confused.
“It’s a party! For you! Your official Welcome-to-Equestria party!” a bright pink mare with a mane like pink cotton exclaimed directly to his face.
“Huh...so this is what a party is?”
Everyone in the room stopped, the pink mare’s curly mane flattened to become completely straight, and she went from over-the-top excited to depressed in a second.
“Y-you’ve never been to a party?” she asked dejectedly.
“Where I come from we didn’t really have much time for parties, even if we did there wasn’t really anything to celebrate. I read about parties though, they sounded fun,” he explained, not realizing just how much he’d upset her.
As quickly as she’d deflated, she exploded again, “Of course they are! And this one’s for you!” She shoved a large cupcake into his mouth, which he would have gagged on if it weren’t the single most delicious thing he’d ever tasted, especially as compared to the standard issue synthetic meals he’d eaten for most of his life. He was about to speak through his sudden mouthful of food when Twilight pulled him away from the crazy party mare.
“Don’t mind her, that’s Pinkie Pie. She can be a little eccentric at times, but no one throws better parties.”
“Is this why you called me here? Just for a party?” he asked, looking around slightly confused.
Twilight chuckled, “Weren’t you listening? It’s your party. We just wanted you to feel welcome, and I...I felt really bad about how I acted.”
“I already forgave you, you didn’t have to do this.” he replied, looking back to Twilight.
“I wanted to. And besides, it’s been all doom and gloom and uncovering horrible memories for the past few weeks you’ve spent on our planet, I thought it would be good to lighten the mood a little for you. You’re about to make some really good friends, trust me. Now go have some fun!”
Knight Sky smiled and rejoined the party. Even in his youth onboard a Faction drifter colony, life had been harsh. It only became harder when he was forced to join the Faction military fleet at 14 years old. His entire life since then had been military service for one side or the other. He’d never truly known a time when he could simply let loose and enjoy himself, not until that party.
Even just for a few hours, it felt as though all his worries and fears were lifted from his shoulders. He laughed and joked with others like he’d never been able to, ate sweet foods, played games, and forgot what lay in store for him.
He allowed himself to be introduced to everypony there. It seemed as though half the town had somehow crammed itself into the library to meet him. He met a mint green unicorn named Lyra Heartstrings, who, on finding out where he was from, simply said, “I knew it!” and asked him a barrage of questions about the human race, many of which he declined to answer. Though he had no problem answering the unusual amount of questions she had about hands.
Twilight introduced him to her friend Rarity, another unicorn, who kindly offered to repair his old uniform free of charge. Not that he’d be able to wear it again, but it was the thought that counted. It was then that he met Rainbow Dash.
Her personality was incredibly familiar, Knight Sky almost felt as though he’d met her before. However, there was something off about her. She regarded him with what almost seemed like regret, as if she’d met him before, and somehow failed him in a moment of need. Detecting a sensitive subject, he decided to ignore it for the time being. The party proceeded on well into the evening, and many guests slowly began to leave. It was just after nightfall when only he and six others remained at the party.
Rainbow Dash was relating a story to them of the first time she met Twilight. Knight Sky was laughing right along with them until she said, “...and then I told her, ‘Hey, I can clear the sky in ten seconds flat!’”
Knight Sky froze up immediately. His face went blank, and Fluttershy instantly knew what was happening.
She jumped in front of him and gave him the Stare.
“Fluttershy, what are you-” Twilight began, but suddenly realized what was going on when she saw how familiar it was. She shouted, “Everypony upstairs! Party’s over!” The five of them ran upstairs and waited.
Fluttershy simply continued her Stare, and Knight Sky’s face remained blank, though his eyes were frantic and his breathing fast and irregular.
In a calm voice, she said, “I know it hurts, but you have to fight it. You’re not ready to defeat your beast just yet. You have to be strong, you have to be a knight.”
The five who were upstairs simply watched as a mental battle raged. It only looked as though the two of them were just sitting there perfectly still, but Fluttershy’s Stare was what gave away that something important was happening.
Despite her usual calm, cool, and collected attitude, Rainbow Dash looked the most horrified of all of them.
After several tense moments, Knight Sky’s face regained its expression, he blinked several times, and said, “Fluttershy...I can’t...” and he passed out.
Twilight came down and levitated the unconscious stallion onto a cushion, as the other four came down as well.
“Uh, Twi, ya wanna let us in on what the hay jus’ happened?” Applejack asked.
“I agree, that was quite frightening. You two, however, seemed to know exactly what to do.” Rarity added.
Twilight looked over to the yellow pegasus, who’d just released her Stare. “Fluttershy, we have to tell them.”
She nodded in agreement, “Um...there’s a lot more to Knight Sky than what we’ve already told you.”
“We’re trusting you with some very sensitive information that we came to know first only through coincidence. You have to keep this amongst yourselves.” Twilight added.
They shared everything they knew about Knight Sky, everything they’d learned of his past: the human race, the war he’d just come from and lost, the circumstances surrounding Adra’s death, the rewrite device, the beast hiding in his consciousness, everything that had happened since Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash found him beside his wrecked space fighter, everything.
“And so, Princess Luna’s recommendation was that I help him make some friends. She said that while it may be true that he was a knight in the war, he’s a broken soldier now and needs to be treated like any one of us.”
Twilight’s friends sat in stunned silence at everything they’d just been told, and some of them looked to the grey pegasus stallion still passed out on the cushion. None of them had ever heard of such a cruel existence.
“Um, he may have come from a really horrible place, but he’s truly good at heart. Please be his friends, i-if you don’t mind.” Fluttershy added.
“Guys...there’s something you need to know.” Rainbow Dash said.
Applejack was the first to react, “Ya got some kinda confession ta make, Rainbow?”
“Ugh...ow.” Knight Sky moaned, drawing sudden looks from the six mares who were shocked to hear him awake.
“Knight Sky! Are you okay?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, I’m alright, that one just left me with a bad headache,” he replied, rubbing his head.
Twilight closed her eyes and sent a beam of purple energy from her horn to Knight Sky’s forehead.
“Better?” she asked with a sly grin.
Rubbing his head in disbelief, he said, “Uhh, yeah. Thanks.” Knight Sky looked around at the mares in the room, some of them still looking frightened, “I want to apologize for what you just saw. It’s...kind of hard to explain...”
“Ain’t no need. Twi here jus’ told us everything.” Applejack replied.
With a sad look, he said, “I see. Then I’m sorry you had to hear all that.” He stood and began walking to the door. “I should probably go.”
In one flap of her wings, Rainbow Dash propelled herself across the room, and blocked the exit.
“Just where do you think you’re going?” she asked with a smirk.
“Whatever your past, you’re here now, and you aren’t leaving just yet.” Rarity added.
“That’s right, you’ve got friends. You don’t have to face your past alone.” Twilight said.
Knight Sky was surprised at this sudden turn of events, “I have friends?” he said awkwardly.
Rainbow Dash replied, “Of course, what do you think we’re all doing here? We’re your friends, and I don’t care what you think you want, we’re not letting you go on alone.”
He was overwhelmed, not being accustomed to this sort of kindness. “I...I don’t know what to say.”
“There’s nothing you have to say,” Fluttershy said with a smile, “Yes, you have a horrible past, and nopony can blame you for running from it. But you don’t have to run from it anymore, not when you have us to help you.” She paused and went to comfort the stallion, who was tearing up, as did Twilight. Soon, the rest followed suit. “You have all of us to help you now.”
---
They spent the rest of the evening talking about their respective cultures. Knight Sky answered what he could about humanity before the Great Burning, and in turn, the ponies shared plenty on their own society.
“I been wonderin’ this fer a while, Knight Sky. If yer from another planet, why do ya’ll look jus’ like one of us? If I didn’t know from Twilight, I don’t think I’da looked twice.” Applejack asked.
It was true, the bioscribe had done a spectacular job with the transformation. He fit in perfectly as far as appearances were concerned. He even had an appropriate mark on his flank.
“It’s funny you ask that, because I just recently remembered why.” That grabbed everyone’s attention. “My race developed a piece of technology called the bioscribe. It’s not a weapon, it’s a very advanced tool. When programmed correctly, it scans the first sentient life form it encounters, and completely changes the biology of the user to match the race of that individual. In this case, the first sentient being to come near my fighter was a pegasus, so that’s what I was transformed into.”
Twilight put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. “I see... So, if I were the first one to approach your fighter instead, you would be a unicorn?”
“That’s correct. We use it to study life on other worlds without the need for enviro-suits, and so the natives never even know we were there.”
“Is it permanent? Or can you turn back any time into...whatever it is you were?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Usually it’s completely reversible, you just have to do it within a few days. Otherwise, your mind adapts to the new body, and it becomes permanent. Because of damage it suffered in the crash landing, the bioscribe on my fighter was completely destroyed. Transforming me into a pegasus overloaded most of its circuits. I can never again resume my human form.”
Seeing their sad looks, he hastily explained, “I’m completely fine with that, though. At the very least, this body is far more resilient than my human one was, and the ability to fly was extremely useful once already. Not to mention, I look way better like this than I did as a human,” he smirked.
All of them except for Rainbow Dash seemed placated with the explanation.
Ever the honest mare, Applejack reminded Rainbow Dash of what she said earlier, “Hey Rainbow, ya said there was somethin’ ya wanted ta get off yer chest?”
With a sigh, the normally brash pegasus spoke as if ashamed of herself. “Fluttershy wasn’t the first to see him.”
She noticed the looks of confusion around her, and continued. “When his fighter was in the air, flying down to the fields from wherever it came from, I was out flying too. I flew right alongside it for a while.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Twilight asked her friend.
“Because it’s my fault he crashed,” she admitted, looking at the floor.
“What?! How?” the unicorn demanded.
“As he was coming down, I was gonna tap on the glass to get his attention, I saw how fast he was and I kinda wanted to race him. But when I got up close, his fighter burst into flame and...well...I wanted to save him, but it was too hot to get close enough.”
Rainbow Dash blinked back some tears and addressed Knight Sky, “I wasn’t fast enough to save you from crashing, it’s my fault you can never go back to being a human. And it’s my fault you had that crash and almost died.”
She choked back another sob, “So I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I failed you before I even met you. I never leave my friends hangin’, and the first thing I did was let you come within an inch of your life.”
Before she could continue, Knight Sky held up a hoof and said, “Stop right there.”
She stopped and sniffed back some tears, as he continued. “You don’t have to apologize. In fact, I’m glad you didn’t try anything. Those fighters get very hot at higher speeds, you could have been incinerated. Then I would never have met you, and the first thing I did on this world would have been murdering one of its inhabitants. Please don’t blame yourself for my situation. Like I said, I actually really like being a pegasus over being human. If there’s any race my bioscribe could have left me stuck as, I’m really glad it’s this one.”
“So...you’re not mad?” she asked.
Knight Sky got up, walked over to Rainbow Dash, and much to her surprise, wrapped a foreleg around her in a thankful embrace, “Of course not. I can already tell you’re going to be a very good friend. Just don’t hold yourself responsible for things beyond your control. It’s a lesson I’m still learning too.”
Not used to showing weakness in front of her friends, Rainbow Dash hesitated before returning the embrace. When she did, her attitude noticeably improved.
With a relieved sigh, she said, “Thanks, Knight Sky. I’m glad you’re okay.”
After a brief silence, Twilight asked, “I guess humans don’t have wings then?”
“No, but back when we still had a planet we built plenty of machines to do our flying for us.”
With a cocky demeanor that seemed eerily familiar, Rainbow Dash asked, “So how do you like flying the real way, without any machines?”
“Well, to be honest I didn’t really have a chance to appreciate it at the time. I was just trying not to get caught.”
“Tryin’ not ta what now?” Applejack asked.
“Oh, I guess Twilight left that part out,” he said with an awkward laugh. Knight Sky filled them in on his first encounter with Princess Luna, starting with when he and Fluttershy went to retrieve the plasma cannon.
“You outflew how many Lunar Guards?!” Rainbow Dash asked when the explanation was finished, somehow looking both shocked and slightly jealous.
“Ahh, I’m not sure I’d say I outflew them. In an open sky they would have caught me in seconds, but I was a master strategist in the war. All I had to do was use my surroundings to my advantage,” he explained with a hint of pride.
“Not to mention, though I was no ace pilot, I did have extensive training on a number of space fighters much like the one that brought me here, so the basic principles of flight and aerial maneuvering still apply.”
Her cockiness back in force, Rainbow Dash asked, “So that’s why you landed it here so gracefully?”
He smiled almost knowingly and said, “You remind me of someone I lost. You would have liked her.” He spent a few seconds deep in thought before snapping back, “And while my landing was a bit rough, it’s only because that fighter was in bad shape before I even got here. You should see what those things can do when they’re not smashed to pieces.”
Rainbow Dash was unimpressed, “Yeah? How fast?”
“Are you familiar with the speed of sound?”
“Of course! I happen to be the only pegasus who can break it,” she said with obvious pride.
“Try seven times that speed.”
Rainbow Dash’s jaw hit the floor, “But...I...you...f-fast...?” she stammered, much to the laughter of the other ponies in the room.
“And when it’s in space and fully powered, try many thousands of times the speed of light itself.”
The blue pegasus merely blinked dumbly at the thought of speeds she could barely imagine, provoking more laughter. When she recovered, she decided to poke some fun of her own.
“So, Knight Sky,” she drifted over with a smirk and put a foreleg around Fluttershy, “Fluttershy here tells me you two have gotten pretty close.” the yellow mare’s face turned a bright red, and Knight Sky simply stammered an awkward response, “She, uhh, I...”
It was refreshing to laugh again, and even to be laughed at a bit since it was all in good fun. The casual banter went on well into the evening. Eventually, of course, they started tiring. Knight Sky decided it would be a good time to leave when Fluttershy began nodding off.
“I just want to thank all of you. You can’t imagine how much it means to know I don’t have to do this alone. I never really had many friends before...just fellow soldiers. If you make friends in war, sooner or later you have to watch a friend die, and it’s not an easy thing to do.”
“Knight Sky, you don’t have to think like that anymore. We’re all your friends now, and this is your new home. Maybe we don’t have ships that can sail between the stars, and maybe we don’t have machines that can fly seven times the speed of sound, but none of us are going anywhere anytime soon. We’ll always be here for you no matter what,” Twilight explained with a smile.
“Yeah! I never leave a friend hangin’. And when you feel like really learning how to fly, you know who to talk to. I’m sure Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack would have something to say too...if they were awake.” Rainbow Dash gestured to where the three mares lay asleep.
Rarity was daintily lounged on a cushion, Applejack casually leaned against a chair with her Stetson down over her eyes, and Pinkie Pie’s head was submerged within a large bowl of punch. Somehow, she was able to breathe just fine in her sleep despite the liquid, as evidenced by the slow rising and falling of her body, and the snores that were somehow emanating from the punch bowl through bubbles.
---
Fluttershy and Knight Sky said their goodnights, and stepped out of the library into the silent town. Its streets were lit only by the occasional gas lantern, which became more and more sparse as they left the village proper.
The pair enjoyed a serene night-time walk through town to her cottage. He had been staring at the stars above for several minutes when Fluttershy drew his attention.
“Um, Knight Sky, if you don’t mind my asking, why are you looking at the stars so much?”
It was a hard question, and he explained it as best he could. “Because of the life I lived as a human, this is actually the first time I’ve ever seen the stars from a planet, and they’re just...beautiful.”
He looked back at Fluttershy, who, before turning away quickly, looking slightly embarrassed, seemed to be looking at him in a certain way.
“Is it true? Did you say something to Rainbow Dash?” he asked gently.
“I-I’m sorry, I hope you’re not mad. I just...wanted her advice.”
“Please don’t be sorry. I just want to know, is it true, do you really feel that way about me? Please be honest.”
She hesitated. “At first, I just felt compassion for you, like I would with anything badly injured and nopony to turn to. But when I saw how badly you were hurt on the inside as well as the outside, and then how much you trusted me...” her voice trailed off, but she continued. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have put you in that position, especially after everything you lost.”
“Don’t be sorry.” he said, and she looked at him in confusion, but his smile was all the explanation she needed.
After another few moments of walking in blissful silence, Knight Sky spoke again.
“I feel like I owe you a bit of an explanation.” he said in a much more serious tone.
Fluttershy wore a worried expression as she looked at him. “The reason I had that...incident back at the party...Rainbow Dash reminded me of someone, the person I loved. Her name was Adra and her personality was just like Rainbow Dash’s. Talking to her just brought back a flood of memories of my old life.”
“And that’s what caused you to, um, have that problem?” Fluttershy asked, as if unsure how to phrase it.
He sighed as if the weight of the world bore down on him, “It was like I was drowning. No matter what I did, I had to force my mind to stay afloat, like something was dragging me down. It was much stronger than the last time that happened. If you hadn’t used your Stare, I don’t think... Listen, this beast in my mind is getting stronger by the day. I can feel it. I just want you to know something.”
“Know what?”
A look of anguish came to his previously calm face, “If it...if it takes my mind before Luna is able to help me defeat it, if I get rewritten, don’t be a hero. My mind will be gone. Don’t try to save me, just protect yourself and protect your friends. Please, don’t let me hurt anyone. Just do whatever you have to do to stop me, even if that means you have to ki-”
He failed to notice that Fluttershy was crying until she put a hoof to his mouth to stop him talking. “Stop it! Just stop! That won’t happen! I’ll save you no matter what, and they’re your friends too!” She paused and choked back her tears. “I care about you, I don’t want you to die. I’ve stood up to a dragon to protect my friends, I’ll protect you from the monster hiding in your mind.”
Her words reached deep down into his heart, and he looked into her eyes that were wet with tears and fraught with concern. He saw the stars reflected in those big pools of teal, and it reminded him suddenly of something that all Wolf-class fighters were equipped with. Something he desperately hoped was intact.
“Come with me,” he said, gesturing Fluttershy to follow him, as he took off into the air.
They flew to the shed where the wrecked fighter was being stored, and he went to the underside of the fighter. After working at a dented access door for several minutes with a crowbar, it finally gave, revealing an armored metal box inside. Knight Sky extricated it carefully, and held it in his forehooves.
“Follow me.” he said again.
“Um, Knight Sky, what is that?” she asked, deeply confused as to just what he had in mind.
He cryptically answered, “It’s a surprise.”
They flew again to a dark hill just outside of town. The stars were magnificent. Knight Sky began opening the box as he explained.
“Those fighters are all equipped with some basic supplies in case the pilot should become stranded on a planet.”
The lid of the box slowly opened on loaded springs.
“This box is equipped with a transmitter, useless because of how far away we are from humanity; a first aid kit; a flare gun; some other things completely useless to me now...and this.” He extracted a long metal tube with some strange devices attached. He laid it on the ground and touched a button on one of the devices with his hoof, bringing the object to life. The tube extended from itself, and propped itself up on three metal legs. A tray of lenses emerged.
“It’s a telescope: a simple refractor telescope, intended to aid the pilot in figuring out his position in the galaxy should his navigation and guidance systems be destroyed or rendered otherwise unusable.”
“Do you need to find out how far away you are?” Fluttershy asked, staring at the device.
“No, but this sky is just too beautiful. And I want to share one of the few things my race did right. We may have made some horrific weapons, but we also perfected the science of making incredible telescopes. By some old laws of optics, the lenses and prisms in this telescope shouldn’t even work, but the proof...” he inserted an eyepiece lens, pointed the tube at a particularly inviting cluster of stars, and took a quick look, “...is in the eyepiece.” he then gestured for Fluttershy to have a look.
“Oh...oh my goodness. How beautiful...I’ve never seen stars like this.”
Knight Sky smiled proudly. He had shown Fluttershy something other than the horrors his race had created. He brought something beautiful into her life, and the smile she wore looking into that telescope warmed his heart.
She looked back to him and caught him smiling stupidly at her. Ever bashful, she looked away with a rather fierce blush.
“Oh, um, would you like to look? It’s, um, quite beautiful.”
He caught himself, and was about to stumble awkwardly over his words when he heard a familiar voice in his head. “Just kiss her already...” Adra’s voice said from deep within his mind. Smiling inwardly, he decided she was right. Knight Sky walked closer to Fluttershy, until he was close enough for her to turn back to him and find his face inches from hers.
Though she was surprised, she did not flinch like he expected her to. Instead, she closed her eyes, and Knight Sky moved closer until their lips met in a soft kiss. He felt his wings flaring out and wasn’t sure what that meant, but he assumed it was normal when Fluttershy’s did the same.
They simply lingered in the kiss for a long moment, knowing only each other, until they finally pulled apart and stared into each others eyes. It didn’t escape his notice that she seemed sad for some reason.
“What’s wrong?” he asked gently.
She started. “I know we have to get rid of that beast in your mind, but I also know it’s going to be really dangerous,” she paused again and took a deep breath, clearly trying not to cry again, “and I really don’t want you to die.”
He wrapped his forelegs around her in an embrace and reassured her. “If it were just me, your fears would be completely justified, but Luna will be helping me fight it. And now I have something to fight for, to come back to, something I’m not willing to lose.”
Their eyes locked, and they kissed again. When Knight Sky’s eyes opened again, he and Fluttershy were lying side by side on the cool evening grass. She had dozed off in his embrace, and was resting placidly beside him. He was on his back, looking up at the stars above when he saw an ethereal blue mist stream overhead.
The Princess of the Night materialized beside him, and on noticing the sleeping Fluttershy, stopped her words and spoke in a whisper.
“Twilight Sparkle sent a letter informing me that today was successful. I desired to see for myself, and I see that was unnecessary.” She smiled down at him as he carefully detached himself from the sleeping mare to address the princess.
Knight Sky briefly searched for something to say, and with a smile, settled on, “Words fail me. I’ve never known such genuine friendship.”
Luna closed her eyes for a moment, “She dreams of you.”
“Are they good dreams?” he asked.
Luna chuckled quietly. “One could say as much,” she looked over to Fluttershy, whose wings were flaring out again, “though beneath the surface, she fears for you greatly. She fears to lose you.”
Seeming eager to change the subject, Luna walked over to the telescope. “This is a telescope, is it not?”
“Yes, it is. One of human design, actually. It’s one of the few things my race did right. I recovered it from my wrecked fighter.”
Luna looked into the eyepiece. “Impressive, a device this small should not be able to magnify so well, though I am curious. Why have you recovered this device?”
“In my entire life, I have never seen a true starry sky. I spent most of my time onboard mostly windowless starships, and when out in a fighter, the cockpit blurs out background stars so the pilot can focus instead on his target alone. This is the first planet I’ve ever actually been on.”
With a sad smile, Luna asked, “What do you think of the night sky for which you have been named?”
He looked back to the cosmos, “I never imagined anything could be so beautiful, so peaceful and serene. I would forego sleep every night just to take in this beauty.”
“It pleases me greatly that you adore it thusly,” Luna said proudly.
Thinking about her tone, Knight Sky asked, “Your power as the guardian of the night isn’t just the ability to enter dreams, is it?”
“I am responsible for the tapestry above you. I lower and raise the moon every night and day, and give the peace of the night to Equestria. My sister Celestia is responsible for the Sun.”
“You are an artist, and this,” he gestured to the skies above, “is a masterpiece.”
“Your appreciation of my work is immensely gratifying, but perhaps you should be a bit more quiet in your enthusiasm.” She gestured to Fluttershy, who was now stirring from her slumber.
Embarrassed, Knight Sky put a hoof over his mouth. “You say she fears for me...I don’t want her to know how much I fear that I won’t come back.”
“You fear to lose her as well. I will not say there is nothing to be afraid of, because there is. I will say that with somepony to love, your fear of losing them can either drive you into despair, or give you strength you never thought possible.”
“I see,” he said with a frown, looking at the ground.
Luna lifted his chin with her hoof and said, “You will not fight it alone. With true friends at your side, fear can only make you stronger. I will be with you as well.”
“Thank you,” was all he could muster in response.
Fluttershy had now risen from her slumber. Shocked to see Luna, she nervously stammered, “Oh, um, P-Princess Luna, hello.”
“Good evening, Fluttershy. I believe you will sleep better in your own home, perhaps there is somepony nearby who would be gentlecoltly enough to escort you.”
With a laugh, Knight Sky walked over to Fluttershy’s side. “Thank you, Luna. I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon.”
Luna smiled warmly, and vanished again into blue mist. Knight Sky touched the button on the telescope again to cause it to pack itself up, closed its armored case, and turned to Fluttershy.
“Shall we go?”
The two pegasi once again shared a bed. They slept in a mutual embrace, only waking once.
Knight Sky’s nightmare was nothing like he’d ever experienced. It was not a resurfacing relic of his past, it was a true nightmare. In it, he’d been rewritten, and his hijacked body said and did horrible things while he was helpless but to watch from within.
He awoke screaming just as his rewritten self used a ragged knife to open the throat of a dreamed version of the yellow pegasus who awoke beside him, and without a word knew exactly what had happened. She did all she could to calm him. His nightmares had never been bloodier or more terrifying, and he never felt more relieved to see her than he did when he awoke that night.
I’m not letting that happen in reality, not when I have her to come back to. The beast within is on borrowed time...