Knight of Apology
The dawning sun had but barely begun to rise over Equestria, and it was the third day after the Element bearers returned to Ponyville from the cliff side fortress. The Apple family was already up and preparing for their chores while most of the Ponyvile was still asleep. In the town library that was mostly true, Twilight Sparkle and her number one dragon assistant Spike would have slept for a couple more hours before they would have even considered getting up for the day. That was until a knocking at the door woke them both up.
Twilight sat up as the knocking paused for a moment, then continued again. “What the?...” She looked at a clock on her nightstand. “Who could want a book at this hour?” Twilight slipped out of her bed, while Spike simply groaned as he rolled over and went back to sleep with his blanket pulled over his head. The lavender mare yawned as she walked downstairs to answer the door.
The knocking continued till the librarian opened the door. “Do you know what time it is?” She questioned. Behind the door was a familiar blue unicorn standing.
“Good morning fair Twilight, bearer of Magic.” Winchester greeted with a polite smile and a quick bow. “I come bearing gifts.”
“At four in the morning.” Twilight replied dryly, allowing him inside somewhat reluctantly.
Winchester looked around curiously about the library tree home as he trotted in, and nodded. “Yeah, sorry about that...Inspiration and having the weight I carried lifted is well....” He grinned and decided that an example would be better. “I think this is what Pinkie Pie feels like most of the time.”
Twilight just stared at him, unsure what to make of the exceptionally happier Equestrian knight. The blue unicorn suggested, “Maybe these will brighten your opinion of my intrusion?” he smiled nervously as he levitated several old looking books into view and guided them to Twilight.
The lavender unicorn mare glared sleepily at Winchester, before she inspected the aged literature and gasped aloud as she read the first title. “THIS IS ONE OF THE LOST TOMES OF STAR SWIRL THE BEARDED!” She unfastened the ancient text with glee, it's restoration would bring Twilight many hours of enjoyment.
“I really don’t know why they call it that. I’ve had it in my collection for years.” Winchester admitted. “I've been meaning to restore it this whole time, but, well...never really had the time.”
With profound expertise Twilight scanned through the tattered parchment pages to examine the tome's condition, she shifted her gaze toward the other two books floating around her head. She looked excitedly at the second, sleep now the farthest thing from her mind. “A second addition of the History of Equestria. Do you know how rare this is?” Winchester didn't need to answer that. The last book was large and old, but not as old as the lost tome of Star Swirl. “What is this?” She pried it open and silently read one of the entries sealed within.
“It's something that I thought would be much more useful to you and the Element bearers than to me as a writer.” The knight replied with a smile in a sagely manner. Twilight was a slightly confused by the answer given, and looked at Winchester briefly as she tried to decipher it. “Huh?”
Hearing the confusion in her voice Winchester decided to explain “It's a collection of every myth, rare monster, and legend known to, well, most thinking creatures.”
“Really?” Twilight asked, now with even greater interest as she turned towards the center table of the library. Candles lit themselves as the lavender unicorn laid the three worn books onto it, and moved closer to delve further into the thick book. A lengthy description and beautiful illustration of Nightmare Moon caught her eye as she flipped through it's contents, she noticed that the details were more in depth than most that particular on the topic.
“Yes.” Winchester answered as he looked for a few books he would need. “I believe it was started a short time after princess Celestia took the throne.” he joined her after locating the proper tomes. Twilight however wasn’t even paying attention to him any longer now, she was sitting on her haunches and intently reading about another one of Equestria's mythological beings. The blue unicorn stallion let himself go as well, drawn into the books he had gathered for himself searching for the right information on settings, monsters, and anything else he may have sought to make use of in his own writing.
Hours passed and the sun started to climb well over the horizon. Winchester eventually determined that he had made enough notes for his work later. He looked over at Twilight and smiled at what he saw, sleep had caught up with the younger pony as she had read passages from the three gifts he had brought her. The stallion stood and carefully slid the tome of Star Swirl out from underneath her head, and replaced it with a throw pillow from one of the reading chairs.
For the most part, Winchester left the library in much better shape than he had last time, although there was a rather sizable stack of books on the table. Twilight would need some of the books for her work with her newest acquisition. Winchester found her a small blanket on the couch and draped it over her shoulders and back. He yawned and smiled looking over the cute mare one last time she look adorable snuggled up to the table surround by books. So not to wake her he tip hoofed out the door and closed it ever so slowly.
From there, the stallion trotted through the mostly empty streets of earlier morning Ponyville. He saw a few ponies jogging in the crisp morning air, but most of the town was still fast asleep. Winchester made his way to one of the many orchards that dotted the landscapes outside of town. Steadily, the smell of apples filled his nose as he went over his internal check list. His goal was to apologize to each of the Element bearers; For some he got gifts, and others he would have to be more creative. Winchester stopped at the front gates of Sweet Apple Acres and looked around until he saw who he was searching for. A orange mare and her large red brother, they were just finishing up loading a cart with long planks of wood and some posts.
The knight stood at the gate and called to the siblings. “Hello there fair tenders of the earth!”
The two country ponies looked up from the cart to the new comer and greeted him warmly. As Winchester opened the gate Applejack asked, “Well, what brings ya around these parts Mister Knight?”
“Well, honest Applejack.” Winchester said as he joined the pair, he bowed to Applejack as he spoke then gave Big Macintosh a polite nod. “After reporting to the princess she gave me a vacation. Which I thought I would put to good use in trying to mend the bridges I burned on our last meeting.”
“Oh.” Applejack responded, she could see where he was going with that logic. “Ah guess your thinkin' that a few hours of work on the farm and we'll think higher of ya?” The unicorn stallion nodded in reply. Applejack could tell that he meant well. “Well, ah guess it's a start. Mac and I were going to fix the fence on our road, but ah think the two of you can do the work together.”
“I’m pretty sure that I could do the work myself.” Winchester offered as his horn glowed light blue, very certain that he could handle the task alone.
“It ain’t punishment if it's easy.” Applejack smirked as she corrected him. “Besides, since ah found out that Big Mac's been ogling mah friends.” She glared at her brother as she continued. “He's been well....let's just say 'in the dog house'.” The orange mare didn’t notice as Winchester silently mouthed 'sorry' to her brother for ratting him out, something one stallion should never do to another stallion.
“So, you and Mac are going to fix that fence without magic.” Applejack repeated again to drive the point home. Applejack smiled. “Ah've got some of mah own chores to take care of. Y'all don't need me supervising ya, so get to work.” She trotted off leaving the stallions to their work. Winchester couldn’t help but wounder why Applejack, the younger of the siblings, seemed to be in charge.
The two stallions finished loading the cart, hitched it to Big Mac, and trotted over to the broken fence. Winchester checked the first old fence post thinking about how to get it out of the ground without magic. Big Macintosh however already knew how having done so countless times before...The red workhorse walked past the fence and with a single swift kick the post flew out of the ground, and clear over the barn. Winchester reared up and stepped back having seen that, “Did I mention how sorry I was?” he smiled apologetically as he looked over to the other stallion.
“Eeyup.” Big mac said as Applejack yelled about how they just scared the hay out of her, the stallions weren’t really paying attention.
Winchester pulled the weakened boards out of the next fence post and stated. “Bet I can hit that big hay bale over their in the barn.” The unicorn stallion knew he couldn’t match the large earth pony in strength, but strength wasn’t everything. The knight gave the weather beaten post a strong kick, followed by another, and on the third the stallion sent the post flying into the barn and hit his mark. Before the pair could continue to challenge each other, Applejack trotted nearby and said. “That’s mighty impressive and all, but Granny Smith would tan all our hides if y’all break a window.” Winchester nodded, he had heard of the legendary disciplinary actions of the elders of farming families. “Anyway, ah'm heading into town and to set up the cart for the day.”
Big Macintosh acknowledged his sister with a nod, as he readied a rope to pull the next post out of the ground, while Winchester separated the reusable and unusable boards. Applejack told the stallions that she would see them later, as she pulled the apple cart down the road to town. Winchester and Big Macintosh soon found a rhythm in their work as they removed the boards and posts, in about an hour the damaged section of the fence was down.
Replacing the fence was a little harder. Getting the posts into place was easy, since Big Mac could easily stomp the earth back into place with just one large hooves. The knight was starting to think that even in his armor the work horse could at least crack a few of his ribs, if not outright kill him. Winchester thought he just may have put that to the test one day
he almost found out how he would fare without his armor as the frustration of replacing the boards got to the point of a rather heated argument, one that ended only because Applebloom would have witnessed it. Big Macintosh didn’t want his baby sister to see or hear some of the things that both the adult stallions were sure to do and say. the stallions relented, and slowly, with a little help from the filly, they apologized to each other and got back to work. Applebloom smiled and trotted off saying something about getting a cutie mark in negotiations.
As lunch time rolled around and the work was nearing completion, Winchester caught sight of Fluttershy sadly flying back the same way she had come. He assumed she had come to have lunch with Applejack only to find that her friend wasn’t there, or worse, that his mere presence was enough to scare her away before she even looked for her friend. Winchester took a mental note of that, it would be especially difficult to earn her forgiveness.
A little later, Big Macintosh finally spoke, "All done." as he tossed his hammer into his tool box.
Winchester smiled in agreement as he remarked. “Yes it is, and not a bad job if I do say so myself.” Big Macintosh smiled back, knowing that he would have it all painted by tomorrow. Winchester offered to help, but the big red earth pony politely declined repeating his sister words 'punishment shouldn’t be easy.' After cleaning up a little and saying his goodbyes, Big Macintosh went inside the large farm house to eat while Winchester decided on his next course of action.
The blue stallion walked down the road back to Ponyville. The apples in the expanse of trees along the road were far from being ripe enough for harvest, the writer thought that it might be good research to help harvest the fruit if the Apples would have him. Winchester didn’t think that helping repair a fence was much of a way to make up how he had acted before on their first meeting, like Applejack said 'it was a start'. He felt a pang of gilt over how his jealousy had made him act.
After a short stop at his hotel room and a military shower the writer was on his way again. This time with saddlebags hanging over his flanks, a few more gifts packed inside them.
It was already lunch time as he trotted up to Sugar Cube corner. A gray pegasus mare stepped out of the bakery with a small box on her head, making her short straw colored mane stick out in more directions than her eyes looked. The crossed eyed mare blinked away her double vision and waved at a similarly colored unicorn filly in a group of school foals following their teacher as she told them about town hall. Three fillies in the back of the group talked about becoming Cutie Mark Crusader Mayors. Winchester chuckled thinking they would make better leaders than some of the ponies he had met on his travels.
Winchester smiled as he entered the pastry shop, the sweet aroma of the many treats that the pleasantly plump blue mare and her lanky husband set in the displays filled the air. A few other patrons observed the new offerings with hungry eyes as Winchester's stomach rumbled just as hungrily. Off to the other side of the room, but not out of sight, a pair of foals played in a play pin. The pegasus colt was hitting two blocks together while his unicorn sister happily watched chewing on a teething ring. The knight continued to look around the room till he saw the pony he was searching for. The pink curly maned mare sat behind the counter next to the register checking out the last of a line of customers that bought some of the treats on sale.
“Why hello fair Pinkie Pie, mistress of Laughs.” Winchester said as he approached the easily amused mare.
“Hello! Didn’t expect to see you so soon!” Pinkie Pie replied with a big smile, she had never really harbored any hard feelings towards the stallion, some would say she was incapable of doing so. She tried to tell her friends that boys will be boys.
Winchester was about to reply in the long winded manner of a noble, but decided it would be best not to. “Yeah, I got a vacation from the princess so I thought that I should make up for what I did the other day.” He paused to let Pinkie say he didn’t have to do that before he continued. “still I would like to buy some treats for Fluttershy. She seems like the type to like hot tea.”
“Oh yes! She really likes her tea, and she really likes these!” Pinkie said showing him a selection of tea cakes and cookies. “She likes to share with her animals so she's really picky with what goes into them. Did you know chocolate can be poisonous to some animals? That’s a really sad thought but anyway!” The pink pony's explanations increased in speed as she gathered more treats that Fluttershy liked seemingly out of nowhere.
Winchester caught most of what she said and smiled as he replied. “Good. I’ll take it all.”
“All of them?” Pinkie asked in disbelief looking at the large stack of treats on the counter. “That’s a lot you know!” The party pony was doing the math in her head, she wasn’t that good at math but she still had it pretty close.
“I do, and this should be more than enough to cover it.” The blue unicorn stallion said as he toss several bags of bits on the counter, each stamped with a label marked as 50 bits on them. Again, doing the math in her head Pinkie knew that he had tossed down at least double what he would need to pay. “You can keep the change as payment.” He smiled and bowed as he continued. “So that you may accompany me to Fluttershy's home. I fear she may still be afraid of me. Plussssss...I'm not exactly sure where she lives.” He chuckled lightly.
“Okie dokie!” Pinkie replied as she gathered the stallion's many items and told Mr and Mrs Cakes about what she was going to do. They smiled and told her to tell Fluttershy hello for them. Pumpkin and Pound Cake waved at their surrogate sister as she left.
Winchester and Pinkie Pie split the load between them as they walked through the streets. Pinkie talked about just about every single thing on her mind while the stallion nodded and listened. He smiled and whenever he got a chance to add his own relevant stories. He enjoyed being around mares like her or anypony so happy with their lives...Even if her boundless energy and excitable personalty could loose it's charm in some situations, luckily this wasn’t one of those times.
* * *
On the other side of town just outside of the Everfree forest was Fluttershy's modest little cottage. The front door opened, and a pastel yellow pegasus stepped outside. She paused and smiled as she looked out into the beautiful countryside. Happy despite her lonely lunch. The shy pegasus gave a short sweet whistle. Many of the animals she cared for turned their heads to the yellow pony, although they all knew who she was calling.
Quickly a white bunny hopped out of the bushes and hurried to her side. “Angel did you have a fun play time?” The bunny nodded and Fluttershy smiled contently. “That’s good.”
Angel smirked as he winked at a few female rabbits in the bushes and gave them a double thumbs up when his caretaker wasn’t looking. Fluttershy knew what his play time was this time of the year. The thought of such things just made her too nervous. She hoped that one day she would get a certain strong stallion to help her get over that phobia.
Fluttershy looked from a busy little bee flying around her flowerbed up to one of the many bird houses around her home. Her face changed from happy to horrified as a baby bird far to young to fly hopped out of the opening and onto the perch on the front of it's bird house. For a brief moment the baby bird stood there before it slipped off. Fluttershy gasped and jumped to try catch the bird in her hooves.
She landed on the ground with a soft grunt trembling seeing no bird in her hooves. She almost cried as she climbed to her hooves and looked down to the ground dreading to see what had become of the little bird.
“Nice catch Winchester!” Fluttershy heard Pinkie's unmistakeable voice chime in as she and the blue stallion walked up the path towards her. Winchester's horn was glowing as he lifted the frightened bird back into it's home.
“That was close.” Winchester said before bowing to Fluttershy. “Greetings kind Fluttershy.”
“H-hi...” The yellow pegasus replied meekly. She recoiled noticeably as the blue stallion approached her. To most he looked like any of the strong males in Ponyville all Fluttershy saw was the rage filled eyes from the night that haunted her nightmares. That was an other reason she wish she had the courage to bring a certain strong stallion into her home, so he could chase away the things that a bunny couldn’t.
Angel hopped over to the visitors and sniffed their saddle bags as best he could, the bunny loved sweets and could smell plenty in the bags. Winchester smiled as he spoke. “I heard that you like tea. If it would please you, I could make some of the brew I brought from Canterlot.” His horn glowed, magically lifting a very expensive box of tea bags to show the shy pegasus. “I also bought some treats that Pinkie said you liked.”
Pinkie Giggled. “Yeah he bought a lot!” She smiled. “Throws his money around like the big shots Rarity's always talking about.” Winchester nodded. It was true that he had been cut from that same cloth as those stuffed shirts, but he tried to be less self-important despite making some rather stupid choices every now and again but to err is to live.
“Oh, um t-thank you...” Fluttershy said nervously, as one of her forehooves lightly scratched at the ground. “But....I-I can’t...I can make the t-tea.... I co-couldn't have a guest do it....... I-it wouldn’t be p-polite.” Her voice quivered and nearly failed her several times as she spoke, she couldn’t bear to make eye contact with the stallion.
Winchester hid his disappointment, he could see that Fluttershy was still frightened of him and even a short tea break with her would do more harm then good right now. “Oh, it's alright.” He smiled and waved a hoof dismissively on the matter. “I was just dropping the tea and treats off with a friend of yours so you two could enjoy each others' company. I didn’t mean to partake in any of these gifts.” He was lying through his teeth, but the mares couldn’t tell.
“Oh....thank you.” Fluttershy timidly replied, and worriedly added, not use to getting such lavish expensive gifts. “But, you must have spent an awfully lot of bits for all this..."
“Yeah he did.” Pinkie added with a giggle.
“I-I simply couldn’t take so much...”
“It's nothing but a drop in the bucket.” Winchester stated, this time only bending the truth a little, he was loaded but by the end of the day he would be set back a bit. “I am an Equestrian knight and a world class writer.” Both the mares nodded remembering his professions. “I insist.” He levitated the rest of the gifts he bought Fluttershy over to a nearby table. He bowed again. “I hope you enjoy my gifts and this wonderful day.” The knight then took his leave, much to Fluttershy's hidden relief.
* * *
Not far down the road from Fluttershy's cottage, Rainbow Dash stared up at the sun as she reclined on a fluffy cloud with her pet tortoise Tank flying around her. The magical contraption Twilight made him sputtered and squeaked as he circled his mistress. Rainbow Dash silently thanked Celestia that today was her day off, she hadn’t been sleeping well for the past three days and the puffy bags under her eyes were starting to show. The sky blue pegasus caught the concerned tortoise and held him to her chest. “Don’t give me that look.” Rainbow Dash said looking into her little shelled pet's worried eyes. “I told you. I’m okay.” She had hoped some stunt practice would have made her feel better, unfortunately she was wrong.
“Hey!” Rainbow heard a stallion's voice call up to her. The sky blue mare sat up and let Tank hover on the cloud next to her as she looked over the side of the cloud to see who it was. “Ah, so it is you Rainbow Dash, mistress of speed.” Winchester greeted her.
“Hey dude. What's up?” The pegasus ended with a loud yawn trying to look like she was just woke up.
“Nothing. Just thought you would like this.” The blue unicorn said as he pulled a package from his saddle bag and tossed it up to her.
Rainbow Dash caught the package between her forehooves with ease. She smiled as she tore the paper off, Rainbow always liked getting presents and maybe this would distract her from her troubles at least for a little while. In seconds the present was unwrapped and laying in her lap. It was a book, however Rainbow Dash's eyes still lit up. In her lap laid the newest book in the Darning Do book series.
“Fresh off the presses and signed.” Winchester said with a smirk. “We have the same publisher.”
Rainbow Dash smiled wide and opened the book on the inside of the cover was a hoof written note. To my fastest fan, Rainbow Dash. Under that was the mare's signature, like many ponies it was barely readable. Rainbow Dash's smile brightened as she read the next part of the note. PS - The sonic rainboom you did was awesome. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh she knows me!” Rainbow Dash hugged the book to her chest and giggled happily.
Her mood suddenly sank when she looked at the cover again, it was an illustration of Daring Do flying between two Pegasi in black robes that had been chasing her. The tan mare's confident smile graced her face much like Rainbow's would have...Images of the fight in the air above the fortress flashed through her mind. Rainbow Dash shook away her tears. Her eyes moved from the book to her hooves and chest, despite taking about six baths in the past few days she swore she could see a dark stain on her coat. The sky blue pegasus sighed and flapped her wings to push her down through the cloud, it broke into several small puffs as the rainbow maned mare flipped over. She called to Winchester as she glided over to him, he had barely heard her with the book her in mouth. Tank followed his owner without hesitation.
The blue stallion stopped and watched the mare land, he noted her eyes right away. “Yes?” He asked, offering a polite smile.
Rainbow Dash set the book down already losing her nerve, she hated feeling vulnerable. “Hey...Remember the night when we stopped that cult?” Winchester nodded. “I uh........., how did you get out of that rock slide you were in?...” Rainbow asked a different question than she originally intended.
“Teleported.”
“Oh. Well, Twilight told me it that it takes a lot of concentration to teleport or some junk like that.”
“It does, but I’ve been doing it in situations like that for a long time now. So it's not that difficult for me.” Winchester said with a knowing smile. “I was thrown off target because a certain somepony needing to be tossed out of the way of some rocks though.” He hoped some good natured ribbing would get the mare out of her funk.
“Hehe, those rocks couldn’t touch me.” Rainbow Dash replied, her normally sharp wit dulled by lack of sleep.
Winchester chuckled and smiled, then looked at the young mare with sympathetic eyes. “Something is troubling you isn’t there?”
Rainbow Dash glared at him. “What makes you say that?” She hated feeling vulnerable, and hated when somepony knew she was.
“It's written on your face as clearly to me as the words in any book.” Rainbow Dash was stunned. “Let me guess.” Winchester added as he put the clues together in his head. “You are experiencing nightmares about the night you did battle with the Herd of the Night. Only this time you mess up, and you and your friends are either killed or captured.”
“No!” Rainbow Dash denied aloud, stepping back surprised about how close to the truth he got.“I can't lose, even in my nightmares.” Winchester raised an eyebrow. The mare sighed and decided to fess up to it. “Since that night I haven’t slept well. I've been having these nightmares about this one pony who I...I...” She didn’t want to admit to being a killer, and just let her head hang in shame.
Winchester knew all too well what she was going through, he sighed and said. “Rainbow, there’s blood on your hooves.” The sky blue pegasus opened her eyes and the dark stain on her hooves had suddenly became a splatter of red blood; She gasped and plopped on her rear as she tried to desperately wipe off the crimson liquid. Winchester was unfazed by her reaction, and the mare slowly realized that it was all in her head. “Your not the only one. Twilight and Applejack took their fair share of lives, and Big Macintosh probably matches the pair on his own. I believe even Rarity took the life of a cultist.” He paused as realization washed over the troubled stunt flier. “But it is nothing compared to what I have done. I am drenched in the blood of others.” Rainbow Dash almost jumped away as she looked up to him, for a second the blue unicorn appeared to be covered entirely in a ghastly red stain, but it faded in an instant. “But this isn’t about me. It's perfectly okay for you to react the way you are.”
Rainbow's face twisted up in anger. “How is it okay for me to wake up in the middle of the night crying like some little filly that needs her mommy?...” The sky blue mare huffed and stood to leave. However, she paused to ask. “...Hey...Could you do me a favor, and not tell anypony about this?” She sighed and mumbled something about the Wonderbolts before she looked back at Winchester expecting to see a smile on his face. There was not, instead there was only a distant look of sympathy.
“You're not a little filly that needs her mother.” Winchester replied his voice was calm and soothing. “You are a strong pony that regrets that she took the life of another. Something that should never be easy. I wish I still felt that way sometimes.” Rainbow Dash immediately turned around and stood face to face with him again, as he continued. “You didn’t want to do it, but if you didn’t, the cultists may have succeeded and they would have killed you and your friends or worse.” Rainbow tired not to think about what a bunch of crazy ponies like that would have done with six mares like them. “The tears that come to your eyes in the night are not a sign of weakness. They show that you care for the lives of others no matter who they are, but your actions show that you are willing to do anything to insure the safety of your friends and country. I'm sure your friends are having similar dreams.”
Rainbow Dash oddly felt a little better, at least about the crying. “Oh.” Tank rubbed on his owner's leg to show that he would be there to help in anyway he could.
Winchester smiled and asked. “Why didn’t you talk to your friends about this?”
Rainbow Dash smiled rather weakly. “Didn’t want to seem weak..." She chuckled under her breath for a moment, adding. "And Twilight would have just made a speech with a lot of big words that I wouldn’t get.”
Winchester nodded. “Yeah.” He was pretty sure that was true. The unicorn's horn glowed and he lifted the Daring Do book from the ground and said. “Here, go enjoy your book and hopefully my words have helped.”
“I don’t know. I think...I feel a little better.” Rainbow Dash said with a sad sort of smile. She took her book and with a single wing beat she was in the air heading home, with Tank floating behind her happily. Winchester smiled as he watched the pegasus leave, then continued on his way to town. His stomach growled again, so he snacked on some grass on his way to help with his hunger. He was being neglectful perhaps, but there was one last place for him to visit...
The blue unicorn trotted back into Ponyville. The late afternoon sun glinted off the glass windows of the town, many of the stalls on the street were either empty or being cleaned up for the day. Winchester hoped he wasn’t too late as he neared Carousel Boutique. It was an odd building with the festive carnival look of a carousel, but maintained the elegance of it's owner. The same was true inside, bright and refined, but not overpoweringly so.
As he entered the establishment a tiny bell chimed. Winchester looked around, he was glad to see among the many well made dresses was a small selections of suits for stallions. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique where-” Rarity ceased her sewing and greeting upon seeing who it was, and she wasn’t overly enthusiastic about his arrival by the look on her face. The gorgeous white purple maned mare had never liked him, or more precisely, she had always been wary of him.
“Hello fair Rarity, bearer of Generosity.” He smiled and bowed low to her like he would any member of royalty, the white unicorn tried not to smile. Winchester stood and asked. “I am in need of a new suit.” He knew that Rarity would never accept any gift he bought no matter how nice, and a bribe of pure bits would only insult her more. However business was neither a bribe nor a gift, and gratuities should be expected.
“What is the occasion you would like a suit for?” Rarity replied looking her client over.
“The gala.” Winchester answered. "Knights are required to attend unless otherwise engaged and I would like a suit from the finest garment maker in all the land. I have already suggested to the other knights to do the same, I hope that’s okay.” Rarity blinked, she was utterly flattered. If the knights of Equestria all wore her designs she was sure it would be beneficial for her business.
“Dresses are my specialty, but I shall make you a suit so dashing that it would put every other stallion to shame.” Rarity explained in her elegant voice. The mare walked around Winchester, he was now a blank canvas for her mind.
“I see.” Winchester replied looking at the suits on display, seeing how they were simple yet expertly crafted. "I know that a suit doesn’t give you as much room to stretch your imagination like a dress would, but I’m sure you will find some way to add your personal style to whatever you make me...Those dresses you made your friends for the Gala were magnificent by the way. Anyway, this should be enough, correct?” He produced a number of bags filled with golden bits from his saddle bags and placed them next to Rarity's register.
Rarity was speechless for a moment, at a glance she guessed that he was paying her almost twice as much as she normally charged for a custom suit. The white unicorn was about to refute such overpayment, however the look on the stallion's face told her that she would be keeping the change. She regained her composure and said, motioning a hoof for Winchester to stand on the fitting platform so she could get his measurements. “Very well, right this way.” Winchester obliged and removed his empty saddle bags and set them to the side.
As Rarity started with measuring Winchester's wrist she asked, “You were at the Gala when we were there.” there was a hint of embarrassment in her voice.
“Yes.” Winchester answered. “I helped sing that surprisingly contagious song you girls sang.” Rarity blinked remembering the number she and her friends sang at the gates of Canterlot. “As fun as that was, I do believe the best part of the night was you telling off that pompous fool Blue Blood.”
“He was a jerk.” Rarity said on impulse she continued her measuring. Winchester held his tongue on the subject as Rarity started to hum 'At the Gala', the same song that he just had mentioned.
As Rarity measured Winchester's chest she noticed two distinct differences between him and most of other stallions she had been this close too. Like Big Macintosh his muscles were toned and rock hard, the other was the many odd lines and holes in his coat where his fine blue fur didn't line up like it should have. Normally imperfections would have absolutely bothered Rarity to no end, however there was something odd about them. The white unicorn traced the ones on his chest to the many on his sides, on his back, and even on his legs. She didn’t know if there was any on his face, but they didn’t seem natural so there was no telling.
“Sorry about all the battle scars.” Winchester said looking over his shoulder. Rarity epped realizing that she was staring. “But there would be more if I had not met some of the friends I have known in my years of service.” His voice calm yet reserved.
“Oh, sorry.” She glanced away nervously for a second. “I didn’t mean to stare.”
“I’m sure you have never seen anything like them.” Winchester said facing forward again. “A life like mine is rare in our country.”
“I guess that is true.” Rarity said as she resumed her task. “Are you still in touch with these friends of yours?”
“No.” Winchester replied sorrow seeping into his voice. “Not by choice mind you.”
It took a moment for Rarity to put two and two together and spoke, shaking her head as she wrapped a tape measure around his chest. “I’m so sorry...I cannot fathom how that must feel.”
Winchester sighed. “As I told all of you before, it is by blood that our great country maintains it's peace.” Winchester gazed at her with a faint smile, but retained that same sadness in his eyes. “Do not mourn them, they gave their lives so that others didn't have to.” Rarity nodded, but couldn’t stop a sniffle before she continued to get her measurements. Her thoughts drifted, haunting memories came back that caused a shiver to run down her spine. She was glad for ponies like Winchester, the white mare didn’t have the heart for battle.
Rarity finished her measurements and stood straighter. “Your custom suit will be ready by tomorrow afternoon.” the white unicorn smiled as she walked over to her counter.
“You don't have to do that. I can wait.” The tall blue unicorn replied thoughtfully. “I'm on vacation.”
“Oh no no no no...” Rarity chided playfully with her usual theatrics, as she felt her lips form into an amused grin. “A knight must be dressed for battle, whether it's with hideous monsters or the farrr more frightening Canterlot elite.”
Winchester bowed one last time, while saying. “You are far too kind, fair Rarity..." He chortled this had gone far better to him, and added on his way out of the Carousel Boutique. "Or should I say, generous?” Rarity smiled softly, as she finally forgave him.
With that he left the fashion minded mare to her work, and walked through the streets with a pleasant smile. The ponies of Ponyville happily went about their peaceful lives. Colts and fillies played throughout the town without a worry in their hearts nor a care in the world. Their parents began to call them home for dinner. “The princess is right.” Winchester said as he reached the top of a hill overlooking most of the town, his quill scribbling notes on the scene before him. “This town...is what we fight for, this peace.” His mind was made, his questing days were over. Adventure would find him here. “Besides, from what I hear, the bearers find plenty of adventures on their own.”