Blackest Knight
Chapter 14
Twilight was horrified as John explained the disappearance of the filly, Morning Dew. “You were spying on my BROTHER!?” She yelled the question, but John’s muffle spell cut out the sound.
“Yes, because Chrysalis ordered us to find a way to get close to the princesses,” John could not meet her eyes. “This was before we knew about Cadance.” He shifted back into the story, “The little filly came out while we tried to make our way to the hotel in the middle of the night. She wanted to meet Cadance because she thought she was a princess.” He paused.
Twilight broke the silence, “What did you do?”
John sighed, “I closed her mouth with my hand before she screamed, then tried to calm her down. Once she was calm, I was going to send her back inside, but two of the changelings on my team scooped her into a bag. They told me they would release her after the mission was completed, but they took her back to the Hive instead.”
Twilight gasped. “They killed her?”
John looked pained as he continued his explanation. “Once we returned to the Hive, Halberd and I reported to Chrysalis. She ordered the two changelings that had kidnapped her to bring her in, and for me to interrogate her.” Twilight was silent, but her eyes grew. “I tried to be friendly, and asked her about the pink alicorn. She knew nothing, so Chrysalis ordered the two changelings to carry her outside the hive and place her head on a block.” Twilight gasped and John fell silent, unable to continue.
“That … That’s why you said not again?”
John nodded confirmation, looking at his feet. Silence filled the room. John dissipated the muffle spell and got up to go to the guest room. Twilight retired to her room as well.
Twilight slept fitfully. Her dreams were filled with a large metal monster, a bloody sword, and a filly’s horn. Her tossing and turning woke Spike, but he could not wake the lavender unicorn. Suddenly, Twilight stopped tossing and turning. Spike assumed that Luna had entered her dreams to calm her.
Luna was visiting the dreams of John, however. The pony that calmed Twilight was a small yellow filly with light green hair. The stump of a horn was visible on her head. “Hello Twilight Sparkle,” the filly’s voice fit the body, but her tone was more akin to a pony that had lived for centuries.
“Who are you?” Twilight and the filly stood in an empty abyss. Her dreams had scared her, but this empty abyss seemed to be soothing.
“I am Morning Dew,” the filly said simply.
“Why are you here? I thought only Luna could walk between dreams.” Twilight wondered why the dark alicorn was absent.
“Princess Luna has entered the dreams of the human, John. I came here to quell your fears.”
“How? Didn’t John … well …” Twilight realized that the filly probably didn’t need to answer questions like that.
“Do not fear that I am too young,” the filly answered her unspoken question. “And no, it was not him that killed me. My murderer was the curse, and through the curse, Chrysalis. John had no fault but being an unwilling tool. I have told him so, but guilt still haunts him.”
“So why did you come to me?” Twilight asked.
“You will be important for John. You will have to help him through his journey, but another pony is who will be his greatest influence. Your importance is for John, not to him, another will claim that role.”
“I don’t understand, what is the difference between for and to?”
“You will understand soon Twilight Sparkle,” The small filly was beginning to fade. “Just know now that the pony that will be important to him will be a Bearer.”
“Wait! Don’t leave!” Twilight began to run to the Morning Dew, but each hoofstep seemed to bring the filly farther. “There are so many questions!” Twilight yelled to her ceiling.
“Were you having another dream about talking books?” Spike glared at her for waking him up.
Twilight looked out her window and saw that Celestia was raising the sun.
John’s dreams were filled with a dark alicorn mare.
“So you are the presence that had been shielded from me for so long.” Luna circled in his dreamscape.
John was not happy that his dream had been interrupted. He had been laying in a grassy field looking up at the stars when the alicorn drifted down from among them. He knew it was not exciting, but the peaceful dream had been a nice respite from some that had haunted him during his time in this foreign world. It was also a pleasant dream for someone who lived their entire life in a large city, but didn’t quite belong there.
“Art thou not going to answer us?” The annoyed princess slipped back into the royal We.
“I was hoping that my mind would force you away, but I guess some dreams are persistent.”
“We are no dream. Though …” She tried to reestablish a modern dialect, “Though I guess you did not know that.”
“Wouldn’t that be what a dream says?” John knew it was the real Luna, a fake Luna wouldn’t have trouble with differing dialects.
“We are Princess of the Night! We … er … I am not a dream.” She kicked him to illustrate her point.
John chuckled as the pain quickly faded away. “I knew it was you from the start.” He picked himself up to avoid more kicks while he was down.
“Then why did you accuse me of being a dream?”
“Well I was holding out hope that you were, and that maybe the dream would start to get a little … warmer?” He winked.
John had to stifle another chuckle as the dark princess quickly turned red. “We … I … We …” She stopped her stuttering when she caught a glimpse of John’s smirk. Her red face turned to one of rage as she realized he was teasing her. She huffed, “You will not laugh when I figure out how to cut your anatomy.”
“You’ll have to find it first.” The princess became absolutely livid, and John decided to head her off before she carried out her threat. “Relax princess. It’s been too long that I’ve been able to let my sarcasm flow freely, and I guess I’m a little rusty on knowing when to quit.”
“You are rusty indeed. Anyways, I have come here for other reasons. If I wanted to be teased, I would have stayed with Tia.”
“Celestia?” John asked, “I guess I need to talk to her some more.”
“NO!” Luna’s rage returned, but she calmed herself down before continuing. “As I was going to say, I will visit your dreams once a week. I want you to report to me while Twilight will report to Celestia.”
“What is the point of two of us reporting?” John’s question was serious this time.
“Twilight will be reporting on how she feels you are adjusting and interacting with the residents of Ponyville. You will report to me how you feel you are adjusting, and your thoughts about this life.”
“That makes sense.”
“Good, now I will leave you to wake.” Luna began to withdraw from the dream.
John had one last thing to say, “Luna?”
“Yes,” she stopped.
John smiled. “You’re welcome to visit my dreams more than once a week,” he winked.
John snapped awake to see the sun raising through the window. His chest was still a little sore from the powerful buck the dark alicorn had chosen to wake him with.