//------------------------------//
// Unexpected Visit 
// Story: Dark Matter 
// by moguera 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 18: Unexpected Visit

"Once again, you have done a great service, both for me and Equestria," said Celestia as she and Swift reclined on the cushions before the fireplace.  After finishing up everything related to the nobles' rebellion, Celestia had retired to her quarters and taken Swift with her.  The last time they had been together in this room, Swift had just finished taking care of an even more dire problem than an army marching on the Royal Palace, a problem involving an escaped prisoner of Tartarus.
"Eh, it was pretty fun," said Swift with a chuckle before taking a sip of the iced tea that Celestia had ordered for the two of them, "You should've seen the looks on their faces when I told them they'd been poisoned."
Though she sighed in exasperation, Celestia couldn't quite keep a smile from her face.  Swift was very fond of his lies after all.  Still, he had always spoken the truth to her.  That much Celestia knew for certain.
"You were also the one who provided us with the information to bring down the Cult Solar," said Celestia, "I keep owing you more and more."
"It didn't do much good though," said Swift, his good mood faltering as he stared at the fire crackling away, "Even with everything I did, it wasn't enough.  Whatever Morning Star's plan was, we couldn't stop it.  I guess I spent too much time playing around."
"I don't doubt that you worked as quickly and expediently as you could," said Celestia, "Morning Star is an opponent who's power defies our common knowledge and understanding.  I gravely underestimated him and he was my own student."  She sighed.  "So your oversights are naught but an extension of my own foolishness."
"You're never too old to make mistakes, I  guess," commented Swift, setting down his cup before flopping onto his back, his icy-blue eyes clearly visible as he stared up at the ceiling, a pensive look on his face.
"Does it trouble you?" asked Celestia.
"Of course it does," said Swift with a grunt, "I know I had him.  I managed to outplay him even better than I expected, but he still came through.  The way he worked through things...We're playing a game with him, but only he knows all the rules.  What's more, if he wants or needs to, he can change those rules at any time he so desires so that the ones we do figure out don't apply anymore."
"Are you saying he's treacherous?" asked Celestia.
"I'm not talking about rules of engagement," said Swift, "I'm talking about the rules of reality, the rules that are supposed to govern what's possible and what's not.  Even taking into account the absolute limits of what unicorns are supposed to be capable of, he can do way too much.  Break his toys and he'll just make new ones that can't be broken the same way.  Crack the secrets of his magic and he'll change how it works so that those secrets don't mean anything..."
Something Swift said clicked with Celestia and her gaze went off into the distance as she picked up his line of thought.  "...Even take away his horn and he'll just make a new one..."
"Take away his horn?" asked Swift, looking sharply at Celestia, "What are you talking about?"
"Swift Stride...I realize I probably should have asked you this earlier, but did Morning Star have a horn."
"Yeah, he did," said Swift, his eyes widening slightly, "But it wasn't the same color at the rest of him.  It was-"
"White," said Celestia simply.
"How did you know?" asked Swift.
"Because I just realized how Morning Star was able to outmaneuver us," said Celestia, "I'd wondered how he managed to arrange Elderflower's foalnapping of Twilight and the theft of the Elements so quickly after we began to move.  He'd have to have nearly perfect information from the Royal Palace."
"So he has a pony on the inside," said Swift, getting to his hooves.
"Except that, not only does he get nearly perfect information, he's able to act on that information instantly," said Celestia, "I suspect that Morning Star is the pony on the inside."
"Eh?  But how?  He was...?"  Swift trailed off and blinked slightly as he tried to adjust to the idea.  "Never mind.  If it's that guy, he'd find some way to make it work."
"I had no idea...just how badly I've blundered," mused Celestia.
"What are we going to do about it?" asked Swift.
"I believe I know who to talk to," said Celestia, "I shall deal with it from here."
"If that's the case, I've got to start making plans of my own," said Swift.
That gave Celestia pause and she turned to look at her Knight.  "What do you mean?"
Swift sighed.  "Morning Star is way too much for us Knights.  Simple force isn't going to solve this problem.  So I'm going to have to do what I do best."
"Lie?" asked Celestia.
"That's right," said Swift, "There's no end to what my lies can accomplish.  All I need is to change the game on this guy before he realizes it.  If he thinks his current set of rules is working out for him, he won't bother to change it and I can use that to control him."
"And how are you going to do that?" asked Celestia.
Swift gave Celestia an unexpectedly sober look.  "You aren't going to like my answer..."



"So...what do you think?"  Wight Shade smiled as Perlin Bluestreak lifted his head up off the operating table and looked back at his wings.
Perlin frowned.  It wasn't an expression of disappointment or dislike.  Rather, he seemed a bit confused.  "They look...rather normal."  He began to spread and flex his new wings.
Compared to the feathers of gleaming mithril he had previously sported, Perlin's new wings did indeed look more normal than they had originally.  Instead of shining silver, his wings were now a shade of slightly grayish dark-blue.  To the naked eye, they looked almost perfectly natural, exactly like normal pegasus feathers.  After years of sporting wings made of metal, the sight of something that looked so natural...so organic...was disconcerting to the young stallion.
"Feel them for yourself," prompted Kombu, who was observing from the opposite side of the operating table.
Sitting up, Perlin took one of his wings and curled it around to the front of his body.  With a forehoof, he began to gently stroke his feathers.  Even to the touch, they felt like normal feathers.  It was a sensation Perlin had believed he'd never experience again.  "Amazing!" he breathed, not quite believing his own senses.
"How do they feel on you?" asked Wight, genuinely curious.
"Different," said Perlin, trying to work out how to put his feeling into words, "I don't clearly remember how my original wings felt.  It's been so long.  They feel much more alive and responsive than the mithril ones.  Right down to the feathers, they feel almost exactly like a part of my body."
"Almost...?" prompted Wight.
"They feel slightly detached," elaborated Perlin, "Like I'm joined with them, but like they are slightly foreign to my own body...part of me, but not..."
"I'm sorry," said Wight, "I suppose if you give us more time, we can make adjustments-"
"I didn't say it was a bad thing," said Perlin quickly, "It just feels...different.  They move perfectly.  I can feel everything like I think I should."  He began flexing and rotating the wing around, getting a feel for it.
"The materials aside, from a biological perspective, they are perfect pegasus wings," said Kombu, "right down to the muscle and bone structure.  Their range of motion and the amount of strength they can exert are no different from your previous wings...as per your specifications."
"Good," said Perlin.
"Yet you feel a sense of detachment..." mused Wight, "...Perhaps the nerves aren't appropriately connected..."
"I checked them over when we made the connections," countered Kombu, "There should be nothing wrong with the nerves."
"I think it's a good thing," observed Perlin, drawing the attention of both stallions, who stared at him in surprise, "If a weapon were a perfect part of your body, it would be part of your body and, thus, no different from fighting unarmed.  True mastery of a weapon comes from that gestalt, when two separates, the wielder and the wielded, become one and the same, achieving something that is greater than the sum of their parts.  That was how I managed to do so much with the last set of wings.  They wouldn't be worth having if I didn't have to truly master them."
"I'm afraid that's something I would know little about," admitted Wight, "But I think I have the general idea.  I've seen something similar not too long ago.  I look forward to seeing how this idea of mastery works for you."
"Given that I was involved in his original development and training, I believe I can fill in the gaps," said Kombu, "That being the case, we should walk you through just what you can do with your new wings."



Night had fallen by the time Wight Shade returned to the Royal Palace.  He counted himself lucky that Princess Luna's Night Court was still relatively unpopular, with few petitioners seeking out her guidance.  It certainly left him with a bevy of free time to indulge in his other interests.
As he made his way down the hallway leading to Luna's audience chamber, Wight paused and glanced behind him.  "Is there something I can help you with, Princess?"
Celestia stood behind him, her gaze stony and composed, like that of a pony going to war.  It wasn't the glare of somepony looking at someone she hated, but rather, the resolved look of a pony prepared to put everything on the line to win.
Seeing that look on Celestia's face prompted a sigh from Wight.  "Well...I guess the jig is up then.  I probably shouldn't have been surprised that you'd figure it out once you and Swift Stride had a chance to compare notes."
Celestia's eyes narrowed.  "So it really is you...Morning Star..."
A smile spread across the unicorn's face as he turned around.  As he did so, he began to change.  It was subtle at first, but blotches of pink began to bleed out around his coat, like stains spontaneously forming, covering his originally tan coat with one of pink, while more colors began to spread up his white mane, staining his entire body the color of the sky at sunrise.  He slowly closed his eyes and reopened them, regarding Celestia with the eyes she had once known so well.  Only his horn remained unchanged, just as Swift Stride had reported.
"All this time, you were right here, right by my sister's side...even as you led a cult dedicated to her destruction..."
"Technically, I was both here and there," replied Morning Star, "One of the benefits of my development is that I no longer need to be limited to just being in one place at a given time."
"Doppelgangers," whispered Celestia, "Clones conjured by your magic, connected to a single consciousness."
"I wouldn't quite call it that," said Morning with a smile, "The Supreme Pontiff was truly a separate pony.  However, he was another me, so we naturally cooperated on our mutually desired goal.  Once he had fulfilled his purpose, he returned to me.  The big benefit was that I was able to share information with myself instantly.  The tricky part was actually pretending that I got my information through mundane channels when I probably knew everything before everypony else in the Or-sorry-Cult."
"How many other yous have you created?" Celestia wanted to know, uncertain she would get an answer.
"Just the one," replied Morning with a shrug, "It can probably be attributed to the differences in our environments, but there were a few minor differences between us.  If I created too many more than just one, I risked one of me actually becoming a distinctly different pony, possibly one who might oppose me, and I would be too busy to notice until it was too late."
He looked at Celestia and chuckled.  "Of course, you probably don't believe me.  But that's your call.  I can't exactly blame you, considering everything I've done."
"Why?" asked Celestia, "Why did you join the Cult Solar?  Do you really hate me so much that you would use the suffering of my sister and innocent ponies to punish me?"
Morning Star canted his head, looking slightly befuddled by Celestia's question.  "Hate you...?"  He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, pondering her words.  "Well...I can't rule out the possibility that I may have been feeling vindictive over having been forced to actually start well behind square one...not to mention that having my horn broken off most certainly hurt, even if I should have expected such an outcome, I wouldn't say that I hate you.  I'm afraid my head is far too busy for things like hatred.  The Cult Solar were just the most appropriate tool I found."
"Tool?"
Morning nodded, smiling brightly.  "Yes.  Through their organization, once I'd rebuilt it, I was able to obtain everything I needed; money, materials, willing hooves, even a cover to keep you from figuring out that I was behind it all.  On my own, I'd estimated that it would have taken me close to seventy years to finish the array.  With the Cult Solar, I managed it in under ten."
"If that was all you needed, then why?" demanded Celestia, "Why persecute innocent ponies like Dawn Lightwing and Flaxseed?"
"Oh...that?"  Morning tapped his chin.  "Convenience, I suppose."
Celestia's eyes bulged and she could barely keep the cold fury building in her gut from forcing its way out of her mouth.  "Convenience...?"
"That's right," replied Morning, "You see...your efforts were far more successful than you realized.  After your reprimand a thousand years ago, the Cult Solar had been reduced to scattered pockets of a scant hoofful of ponies in the farthest flung regions of Equestria.  The organization was probably a decade or less away from going extinct entirely.
"Naturally, when I decided to use them to complete my array, I knew I'd need them to have a bit more traction as a group.  Of course, getting the ball rolling wasn't easy.  When you need to build up a cause and rally a large number of ponies to it, adoration is all well and good for the long term.  But, in the short term, nothing quite does it like having a common enemy to rally against.  Nothing motivates ponies better than providing them with an outlet for their anger and suffering, something they can project their problems and their own flaws onto.
"Unfortunately, while Princess Luna was tailor-made for just such a role, she was on the moon at the time.  Sadly, a shadowy figure of a Mare on the Moon is not exactly the most galvanizing figure to breathe new life into a faltering religious order.  I required something more tangible, more immediate."
"Dawn Lightwing," breathed Celestia.
"It was quite by accident that I found him," continued Morning cheerfully, "From the moment I saw him, I knew he was exactly what I needed.  Here was a pony afflicted by a condition that came straight out of the Cult Solar's lore and, more importantly, incapable of concealing that condition from those around him.  By playing on his presence and directing the hatred of my soon-to-be followers at him, I gradually began to rally them to my cause.  From there, everything else followed naturally."
"But he evaded your efforts to destroy him," observed Celestia.
"Which is something I'm glad for," said Morning, "Every time he escaped a trap or evaded pursuit, it only painted him in a more dangerous light to the believers.  Even the fact that he actively avoided harming anypony while doing this was easily overlooked.  When he went into hiding in the wilderness, I was quite relieved.  I'm not sure I would have been able to keep such a rigorous schedule on the array's construction if my followers hadn't had the knowledge of him being out there somewhere as motivation.
"I was actually disappointed when we discovered he was living in Ponyville.  It meant that I would actually have to devote some energy towards making at least a token effort to eliminate him or ponies would start to wonder about my intentions if I didn't do something after building him up into such a terrible threat."
Celestia felt her heart grow heavier and heavier as she listened to Morning blithely discuss ruining an innocent colt's life solely for the purpose of carrying out his experiment.  The fact that his actions were completely devoid of malice or hatred of any kind actually made it even worse.  Dawn's suffering had just been a means to an end for him.  And it is all because of my negligence.  If I hadn't allowed Morning Star to live the first time I'd beaten him, Dawn could have had a normal life.  He would not have had to experience such crushing pain and loneliness.
Still, such reflections could come later.  Morning Star was here now and she had to deal with him.  "What are you planning now?  I know your experiment has not yet truly begun."
"That's correct," admitted Morning, "I've only almost finished laying the groundwork for it.  Of course, I'm not so stupid as to tell you the details that will allow you to stop me while there's still a chance of you actually doing so.  Admittedly, your best chance was to strike before the array's foci were completed, but you missed that one...barely."
"Yet you saw fit to arrange for Twilight's abduction and the Elements' theft," noted Celestia.
"True," agreed Morning, "That was a gamble, one that didn't pay off nearly as well as I had hoped.  But I suppose that's how it goes.  Not every gamble is a rousing success.  I admit that you had me quite worried there for a minute.  Perhaps the few minutes, seconds even, of hesitation my little gamble cost you ended up making all the difference."
Celestia's eyes narrowed at his words.  He spoke of stealing the Elements of Harmony and foalnapping one of their bearers as though it was merely a distraction, almost as though he didn't consider the Elements a threat at all.  Maybe there's a chance in that.
"I'm certain that if I stayed around for much longer, you'd probably try to kill me," observed Morning, already feeling the intensity of Celestia's gaze, "I'm guessing that you've already arranged for your sister to hear this conversation so that she doesn't think you're picking on her poor, defenseless steward."
Luna stepped out from around the corner opposite Celestia, concern and confusion warring in her gaze as she looked at Morning Star.  "Wight Shade," she said softly, "Are you really the Morning Star that Celestia told me about?"
"I would think that would be clear, given what you've heard so far," said the unicorn with a shrug, "Though you can continue to call me Wight Shade.  I've actually grown quite attached to it and prefer it to my old one."
Turning back to Celestia, he smiled again.  "If you're worried about stopping me, I would like to point out that I still have some time before I'm actually ready to fully activate the array.  It needs at least two months to...well...'charge' is not exactly the word I would use for it, but I suppose it's a suitable word.  You are most certainly not pressed for time at this juncture, although..."  He shrugged indifferently.  "...I could simply be lying to throw you off.  You might want to consult your Knight about that.  I must admit, though he proved to be the greatest threat to my work in ten years, I'm glad he came to me.  I think I learned almost as much from him as he did from me."
Having had enough, Celestia lowered her horn and blasted Morning Star with a shining ray of solar energy.  As soon as the beam contacted him, Morning's form seemed to shatter like glass before dissolving into dust, which then vanished entirely.
Luna slowly stepped forward to examine the spot where Morning had been standing.  "Did you...?"
Celestia sighed.  "No.  He has survived much more than that without difficulty.  He simply left.  I would say he was taunting me, though I'm not entirely sure Morning Star even has the capacity to taunt.  I suspect, if he has given himself a new horn, that his magic now has a different form from the unicorn magic that we know.  Much like how the Dark Matter he creates operates according to its own unique physical laws, so too does his magic operate in a manner that is alien from our own."
"It must have been him then," said Luna, still gazing sadly at the spot, "When Elderflower's mercenaries raided the Palace and stole the Elements, I confronted them at the gates and sought to prevent their escape.  However, I was struck down by some unknown means, by a force that I could not perceive, either physically or magically.   It must have been Wight Shade's work."
Celestia blinked, a bit thrown by the fact that Luna was referring to Morning Star by the name he'd used as cover.  However, she supposed it was a rather fitting name.  He was indeed the remnant of a pony Celestia had failed to destroy long ago, returning like a vengeful shade...minus the vengeful part.
"Do you think that his words are true," asked Luna, "that we might still have time?"
"Perhaps," said Celestia, "It is hard to say.  Morning...or Wight, I should say...was often the chatty sort when it came to his studies.  He did love to talk ponies' ears off about his ideas, whether they might understand him or not.  However, he did lie about his experiments when I originally forbade them.  He was a rather awkward and pitiful liar back then.  He has clearly matured in that area over the years.  However, I suspect that, if he were to use lies, he would probably do so through omission.  Rather than having us pierce through an outright deception in what he actually said, he'd rather that we overlook something he did not say."
"On that note," said Luna, "was there anything he did not say that stood out to you?"
"Far too much," said Celestia, shaking her head, "It worries me that he may have gained a little too much experience from his interactions with Swift Stride.  I hope my Knight has better luck in piercing through Wight's deceptions than we have...and better luck in deceiving Wight in turn."



"Come on Dinky.  Let's get to the next grove," called Apple Bloom over her shoulder as she pulled the cart down the path.
"Coming!" called Dinky, prancing along behind the wagon, grinning cheerfully as she levitated another wobbling basked up and emptied its contents into the wagon.
Bloom smiled as she heard the sound of apples thumping against each other, even if the wagon did get heavier with its additional load.  The smell of apples, both ripe and ripening filled the air as the fillies worked to help their family bring in the first big harvest of the year.  True, Bloom's calling might have more to do with construction than agriculture, but it didn't change the fact that she was an Apple down to the core.  And, as an Apple, there was nothing quite as invigorating as a good, hard day's work.
The cart was half the size of the ones that Applejack and Big Macintosh used, requiring more trips to the barn and back in order to deliver all its loads.  However, Bloom figured that all the extra pulling was good exercise for her.  It was also a good chance for her to practice earth pony magic, at Red River's recommendation.  When the wagon got really heavy for her, she had to take a deep, centering breath and draw in the power of the earth around her, allowing her to connect her hooves to the ground and push hard against the wagon's weight, when they might have otherwise simply skidded futilely against the dirt.  Using this technique, she began to see how Macintosh and Applejack could haul large wagons, filled to almost overflowing with fruit, without a single misstep.
Dinky's help was also for more than the sake of giving the youngest member of the family some extra chores.  Beginning recently, ponies had noticed that Dinky was becoming strangely prone to magic flares, accidentally levitating various objects without realizing it while trying to use her magic to accomplish some other task.  The fact that she was trying to use her magic at all, in spite of her age, was another surprising factor.  When she'd been Dinky's age, Sweetie Belle had had difficulty even coaxing sparks from her horn.  And yet, here Dinky was, levitating full baskets of apples into the back of the wagon, one right after the other.  Her telekinetic grip was unsteady and more than a few apples had taken a tumble.  But, there was no question that Dinky was already quite powerful for her age.  In fact, it had been Twilight Sparkle, who had been similarly talented at a young age who had suggested the exercise to help Dinky get accustomed to using her magic.
It had been a surprise to Bloom when Applejack had assigned her and Dinky a couple of small sections of the orchard near the farmhouse to clear out on their own, rather than having Dinky and Bloom follow along with the older ponies.  The fact that Applejack had trusted Bloom and Dinky out of her and Macintosh's sight spoke volumes for their trust in the younger ponies...or at least trust in Bloom's ability to keep Dinky out of trouble.
As they pulled the wagon into the next grove of apple trees, Bloom looked around, taking in the sight of all the baskets already set out to catch the falling produce.  Unhitching herself from the wagon, Bloom took a moment to stretch out her legs and back now that they were free from the burden of hauling several pounds of apples around.
After a moment, Bloom felt limber enough to begin bucking and set her sights on the first tree.  "Well, let's get started."
As she stepped towards the tree, Bloom noticed Dinky staring off at something else in the grove.  With a confused frown, Bloom approached her niece.  "What'cha lookin' at, Sugarcube?"
"I hear something," said Dinky, still staring.
Bloom strained her ears in the direction Dinky was looking.  For a few seconds, she didn't hear anything aside from the groaning of wood and the hissing of leaves as the wind played through the orchard.  Then she began to pick it out amongst all the background noise, a deeper, more rhythmic sound...the sound of a pony snoring.
"Oh," said Bloom, "That must be Rainbow Dash snoozin' in one 'o our trees.  Does it all the time."  Shaking her head, Bloom reminded herself to keep an eye out for which tree Rainbow was in so that the cerulean pegasus didn't accidentally get herself bucked off the branch she was napping on, something that Applejack sometimes did just to rile her up...
...It took a second for Bloom's memories to catch up to her and remind her that there was no way it could have been Rainbow Dash, seeing as Rainbow Dash was supposed to be off in Cloudsdale for her Wonderbolt training.
If that ain't Rainbow, then who in the hay is it?
Bloom set off towards to the source of the noise, scanning the trees and the ground for any signs of the sleeping pony.  Whilst Applejack and Macintosh had never said that only Rainbow was allowed to nap in the orchard, the cerulean mare had certainly been the only pegasus on the Weather Team to make a habit of it.  Bloom supposed that it could be some random pony passing through from some other place, who had missed the road and wandered into the orchard by mistake.  Such things had happened in the past.  However, because of the unknown background of such ponies, it was important to be much more cautious with them.
She made sure to keep ahead of Dinky as she followed the sound of somepony snoring.  Bloom wasn't a fighter and the basics of earth pony magic she'd learned from Red River had little to no combat use, though he had taught her the basics of standing firm, rooting herself to the earth and strengthening her body, she wasn't so foolish as to think as that qualified her to get into a fight with another pony.  However, at the very least, she'd make sure she was in a position to protect Dinky if things went south.
The snoring grew clearer and clearer.  As she got closer to the source, Bloom's ears were indeed able to confirm that the source of the noise was coming from somewhere above, in the branches of one of the apple trees.  Arriving at the tree she thought to be the source of the noise, Bloom squinted as she looked up into the branches.  Sure enough, she could make out the form of a pony resting on one of its branches, snoring away.
The pony in question seemed to be wearing some type of loose-fitting black clothes that covered most of his body below the neck, all the way down to the  hooves of all four of his legs.  A silvery, fox-like tail dangled down off the branch, swaying in the mild breeze as the stallion continued to snore away the afternoon.
Something seemed off to Apple Bloom.  It was hard to see from her angle, as the pony above was lying sprawled out along a branch, his legs dangling off both sides of it, his back in the air, but she was fairly certain that this pony had no wings and, thus, was not a pegasus.  The lack of the horn seemed to suggest it was an earth pony.  However, Bloom couldn't imagine what an earth pony was doing sleeping on such a high and precarious perch.
Taking a deep breath, Bloom pressed a forehoof to the trunk of the tree, drawing in her magic and slowly releasing it.  As she did, she felt it flow throughout the tree, feeling the tree's shape, its branches, and even the load placed on those branches by the leaves and apples growing there.  Gradually, her awareness found the pony resting above and what she learned made Bloom gasp.
The branch the stallion was laying on was a long, spindly specimen from the upper reaches of the tree.  Such a branch would have had difficulty supporting the weight of a lighter pegasus, much less a full-grown earth pony stallion.  However, it hardly seemed to bend under his weight at all, as though the stallion in question weighed next to nothing.  Furthermore, he was perfectly balanced, his center of gravity seeming to rest perfectly along the branch, with neither side teetering in the slightest, the expansion and contraction of his chest as he snored not even remotely disturbing the stallion's perch.  Bloom doubted that she'd even be able to knock the pony off if she bucked the tree.
In the few seconds she had spent examining him, Bloom had come to the conclusion that this was no ordinary pony.  Stepping back from the tree, Bloom cast her eyes around the ground, looking for signs that the intruder had been helping himself to the tree's weight of apples,  discarded cores and the like.  While having a few apples being lost to a munching passerby might not have made any dent in Sweet Apple Acres' productivity, it was a bad idea to foster the notion that just anypony could come up and help themselves.  Even Apple Bloom's and Applejack's close friends were generally careful to get permission before helping themselves to any apples on the house.
Looking back at Dinky, Bloom could see her niece's eyes alight with curiosity as she watched the sleeping pony in the branches.  No doubt, the little unicorn filly would love to know what this stallion was doing up there.  However, Bloom conscious of Dinky's safety, debated what to do about the interloper.  They had no idea whether or not this pony was dangerous, whether he might be a potential friend, or somepony who could threaten the two fillies.
Biting the inside of her lip, Bloom looked up at the sleeping stallion once more.  Wanting to get to the bottom of this mystery, she decided to wake the stallion up.  However, there was no reason she couldn't be cautious about it.
Carefully, Bloom began to back away from the tree, keeping Dinky behind her and edging the younger filly away from the strange stallion.  Dinky, though obviously eager to learn about the newcomer, had apparently noticed Bloom's caution and held her tongue while Bloom had been taking in the situation.
"Okay," said Bloom when she determined they were a safe distance from the sleeping stallion, "Ah'm gonna go ahead and wake that pony up and find out who he is.  If somethin' bad happens, Ah want ya to run to the farmhouse as fast as ya can, hollerin' at the top 'o yer lungs."
"'Kay," said Dinky, a bit nervous at Bloom's caution.
Normally, Bloom wouldn't have been so wary.  However, several months of deranged cultists, including members of her own extended family, and agents of manipulative Canterlot nobles, she'd gained a bit of a cynical view of unfamiliar ponies.  That was fine by her.  It wasn't like she was Pinkie Pie after all.
Seeing that Dinky was going to stay a safe distance back, Bloom returned to the tree, stopping just short of being directly below the stallion.  "Hey!" she shouted up.
The snores stopped abruptly.  "Huh?"
Up above, Bloom could see the stallion shifting, lifting a foreleg to rub his eyes before he appeared to fully wake up.  Leaning over to one side of the branch, yet somehow miraculously not simply sliding off, the stallion moved to peer down at her with eyes squinted so tightly that Bloom thought they were still closed at first.
"Who the hay are ya and what are ya doin' in our orchard?" asked Bloom, narrowing her eyes as she met the stallion's squinty gaze.  She might not have had her siblings' talent for noticing falsehoods, but her instincts told her that this pony was as shifty as they got.
The stallion grinned cheekily at her.  "Sleeping," he said simply.
"Ah got that," snapped Bloom, "But why are ya here?"
"I like the smell of apple trees, especially when there are so many apples around.  Besides, it's a nice day for napping."
Bloom couldn't really argue with the logic of the latter part of the stallion's statement.  The day was fine indeed and, in the shade of the trees, definitely the right temperature that Bloom would fancy taking a nap beneath one of them when their work for the day was done.  However..."So ya decided to come onto somepony's private property and sleep in their trees without askin'?"
"Pretty much," said the stallion, "I figured that, so long as I didn't eat any of your apples without permission, it'd probably be okay."
Bloom supposed he had a point.  Even if he was technically trespassing, that wasn't a major offense in the view of members of the Apple Family, particularly if the pony trespassing wasn't actually trying to steal their produce.
"Can ya tell me yer name?" asked Bloom, noting that the stallion had skirted around the earlier question of who he was.
"Well...seeing as I was in your orchard, sleeping in your trees, I probably should," said the stallion, rubbing his chin, "The name's Swift Stride."
Bloom blinked and looked down for a moment, contemplating that.  For some reason, the name was familiar, though she couldn't remember where she'd heard it before.
Up above, the stallion seemed to languidly slide off to one side of the branch, falling a few feet before halting sharply as the fetlocks of his hind leg and foreleg on his right side hooked over the branch and kept him from falling all the way off.  Instead, he dangled there for a moment before shifting his weight back and forth.  Finally, he released his hold on the branch and went spinning through the air before landing on the ground with all four hooves, touching down with barely a sound.
Bloom, who had looked up just in time to catch the acrobatic display stared with wide eyes at the stallion before looking back at the branch and then back at the stallion again, stunned by his display of agility.
"Wow!" squealed Dinky from behind, clapping her hooves and grinning at the show.
Swift's grin widened and he swept his right foreleg up to his chest, dipping his head almost all the way to the ground and bending his left leg in a dramatic, flourishing bow.  "Thank you!  Thank you!  My next performance is at five.”
"Could you teach me how to do that?" asked Dinky eagerly.
"I could, but you'll have to wait a few years," replied Swift, "You'll get yourself hurt otherwise."
"Aww..."
Bloom decided to step in before Dinky got any other ideas...not quite conscious of the fact that, a few months ago, her own thoughts on the matter wouldn't have been all that different from Dinky's.  "Are ya passin' through then?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm visiting a friend in Ponyville," replied Swift.
"Who is it?" asked Bloom, "Maybe we can help ya find that pony."
"He's an uptight guy by the name of Arkenstone," said Swift, "Maybe you've heard of him."
Bloom's eyes went wide.  Arkenstone's teahouse was popular, especially now that it had almost reopened.  However, ponies rarely came to Ponyville to see Arkenstone specifically.  They generally fell into one of two categories, merchants bringing the ingredients Arkenstone needed or...
All of a sudden, it hit her.  Bloom remembered why Swift Stride's name sounded so familiar to her.  She'd heard it before.  During the Hearth's Warming Season, Bloom had accompanied her sister, along with their friends and family, up to the Royal Palace for the holiday, followed by the Winter Gala.  During the Gala, Dawn and Scootaloo had been taken off to a special side party, where they got to meet six of the seven Knights of the Celestial Order.  Dawn and Scootaloo had told Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Rumble about it afterward.  But Bloom also remembered Dawn saying that one of the Knights had been absent, a Knight named...
"Yer one 'o the Knights!" she exclaimed, gaping up at Swift.
"Huh?  You've heard of me?"  Swift actually seemed rather perplexed by the idea.  "I guess Arkenstone's been getting chatty."
"Ain't ya the one nopony likes?" asked Bloom.
The bluntness of her observation made Swift burst into laughter.  "That's so true!  That could be one of my titles.  Actually..."  He tapped a forehoof against his chin.  "...it might be one of them."
"That ain't exactly somethin' a pony should be proud of," huffed Bloom, glowering at the stallion.  He seemed a nice enough pony, but there was something off about him that set Bloom's nerves on edge.
"Are we gonna help him find Arkenstone?" asked Dinky.
Bloom sighed.  While she might not be a hundred-percent sure of the stallion, she still had the Apple reputation for hospitality to uphold.  She'd offered to show Swift where Arkenstone was and he'd taken her up on it.  She'd just have to see things through to the end.
"We need to get this grove cleared out first," said Bloom, glancing around.
"I can help you with that," said Swift.  Lashing out with one hoof, he connected solidly with the trunk and making the entire tree shudder.  A second later, all of the tree's apples came tumbling down into their baskets.
Bloom's jaw dropped as she stared at the sight.  Applebucking was not as easy as it seemed.  There was an art to hitting the tree in just the right manner to knock down all of the ripe apples.  If one's kick didn't connect properly or have enough power behind it, only a few apples would be knocked down, if any at all.  If one kicked too hard, the tree could be damaged.  Furthermore, making the apples fall properly was also a consequence of an earth pony's magic.  It was an art that farmers like the Apples had spent years honing and perfecting.  Even Apple Bloom had only gotten the basics down well enough to do her own bucking around a year ago...
...And Swift had done it as casually as a pony idly kicking a ball in the park, almost effortlessly in fact.  Bloom's mind returned to how she had found the stallion, asleep and perfectly balanced on a branch that should have been too weak to support his weight.  Ah guess those are the kind 'o things ya can do when yer a Knight.
"Ah guess there's no harm in havin' ya help," said Bloom, "Seein' as ya can buck pretty well.  Let's get it done then."  In her own thoughts, she just put it down as Swift making up for deciding to sleep in one of their trees.
With Swift's help, divesting the trees of their fruit went quickly and, in short order, the wagon was full of more apples to be brought to the family's cellar.  Even though Swift offered, Bloom still insisted on pulling the wagon herself, even though it was much heavier now.  Instead, Swift walked alongside her, Dinky trotting along on her opposite flank, watching as Bloom strained against the harness.
When they arrived at the farmhouse, Swift helped Bloom and Dinky to transport the apples down into the cellar.  With his assistance, the work went at a brisk pace.  Before too long, they had the fruit stored away and the wagon had been returned to the barn.
Seeing that the other wagon wasn't back yet, Bloom guessed that Applejack and Macintosh were still out working in their areas.  Part of her was tempted to wait until they returned.  Even if he was a Knight (and they only had his word on that), Swift still struck Bloom as a shady pony.  She doubted that Applejack would approve of Bloom going off with Swift on her own, much less take Dinky along, which the younger filly would probably insist on.
It should be okay if Ah check with Red River first, thought Bloom.
"Hold here fer a minute," she said to Swift.  She gestured for her niece to join her.  "Come on Dinky.  We should tell Red where we're goin'."
"'Kay," squeaked Dinky as she fell into step behind Bloom.
The two of them left Swift in the front yard and headed up into the farm house.  As they came into the living room, Bloom immediately laid eyes on her sister's coltfriend.  Red River was quietly reading as he lay, sprawled out across the couch.  Normally, Bloom would have bristled at the thought of the stallion simply laying there and doing nothing when everypony else was so busy.  Even Granny Smith, as old as she had been, had usually spent her time baking or preparing for the next meal.  However, two things checked any frustration Bloom might have felt.
The first was the brace around Red's right foreleg, going all the way from his shoulder to the bottom of his hoof, holding his leg in position so that he could barely use the brace as something of a crutch whenever he needed to move about the house.  It was a step above the wheelchair Red had been using before, but he still needed time before he regained full use of that leg.  As a consequence, going anywhere was a difficult task for him and actually doing anything that required the use of his forehooves became nearly impossible if the task had to be done with more than one hoof.
The second reason was that Bloom had tasted Red's attempts at cooking and, consequently, learned why Red had always said that Storm Front had been the cook of the pair.  Red seemed to have a very poor eye for ingredients and amounts, frequently botched the cooking times or cooked food at either a temperature that was too high or too low.  Edible the results might have been.  Palatable they were not.
"Back already," said Red as he smiled at Bloom, "That was faster than I expected."
"Yeah, we got some help," said Bloom.
"Really?"  Red raised an eyebrow.
"Eeyup," said Bloom, "We met a stallion named Swift Stride sleepin' in the orchard.  He helped us finish buckin' and now we're gonna take him to see Arkenstone."
Now Red's other eyebrow rose to join its companion.  "Swift Stride?  Really?"
"That's right," said Bloom, "Ya wanna see fer yerself?"
"I think I do," said Red, carefully getting off the couch.  His leg brace clonked against the floorboards as he hobbled to the door behind Bloom as she and Dinky led him out onto the front porch to see the visitor.
As soon as he laid eyes on the stallion, Red's body immediately tensed up.  Swift was still waiting on the front lawn.  At some point, Winona, the family collie, had come over to inspect the new arrival.  Already she was panting happily, having rolled over onto her back while Swift was giving her an enthusiastic belly rub.
"Who's a good girl?" he said in a low, affectionate tone, "You are!  Yes you are!"
Then, sensing eyes upon him, Swift looked up, still grinning widely at the three ponies on the porch.  His gaze immediately settled upon Red.  "Howdy there, Partner," he said in a remarkable impersonation of the Apples' accent, "It sure is a fine day out here."
"So this is Swift Stride," Red muttered.
"Dinky and Ah were gonna take him into town and show 'im where Arkenstone's place is," said Bloom, "Ya think it's gonna be okay?"
"I think so," said Red, "I certainly hope so."
Swift merely continued to grin.