//------------------------------// // Becoming a student of the night. // Story: Paladin Anon // by The7thElement //------------------------------// “Excuse my bluntness sir, but what exactly are you?” Raven asked Anon as they walked the halls of the castle. “Please don’t call me sir, not really a fan of titles, just call me Anon.” Anon said to her. “Okay then Anon.” Raven replied. “As for what I am. Well I’m a human, I come from a different world.” Anon explained to her. “Now if I may ask you what exactly would be your job in the castle Miss Raven?” Anon asked wondering if her cutie mark of a quill in an ink pot had anything to do with it. “I am Princess Celestia’s advisor, I also deal with any paperwork that she doesn’t have to oversee.” Raven explained to Anon. As they walked through the halls Anon noticed that they were passing ponies in golden armor, each of them holding a spear at their sides. “Don’t worry about the guards Anon. They won’t hurt you, unless you provoke them.” Raven said noticing Anon gazing at the guards. “Not scared of them Miss Raven, just interested in them. Tell me do you ponies have such a thing as knights?” Anon asked as they continued their journey through the halls of the castle. “Well we used to have individual knights. But the knightly order of Equestria disbanded a few years ago when their keep was set alight by a dragon. Although if memory serves me correctly there should be a few members of that order within the ranks of the day guard. Why do you ask?” “Well where I came from I always had an interest in knights and chivalry. It’s been sort of a hobby of mine studying them.” Anon said as he remembered his many nights at the local library researching about medieval times. “Heck I even went so far as to learn sword play from my uncle.” Anon said remembering the first time he picked up one of his uncle’s swords. “Sounds like fun. Maybe you should ask around the guard if you could talk to those veteran knights.” Raven said as they came to a stop out side of an oak wood door. “Well here we are.” Raven said as she opened the door and walked inside gesturing Anon to follow here inside. “Whoa.” Anon said as he admired the room. The room was about the size of Anon’s house’s living room and kitchen combined. Anon noticed that opposite the entrance door was a king sized bed, on either side of the bed were small tables. To the right of the bed was a large desk with rolled up scrolls, ink pots and quills on it. Next to the desk was a cabinet that Anon guessed was used to hold clothes. On the side of the room opposite the desk and cabinet was a door which when Anon investigated found led to a bathroom. “Quite the room isn’t it?” Raven spoke up. “Yeah it is. I’ll have to give the princesses my thanks.” Anon said walking over to inspect the desk. “Um, there isn’t anything on these scrolls right?” “No there isn’t. They’re just there if you need to write something down.” Raven said turning to the exit. “Now if you would please follow me there is someone else you would probably want to see.” “Who would that be?” Anon asked her as they left the room. “The castle’s seamstress. As I’m guessing what you’re wearing now is the only clothes you have with you.” Raven said as they made their way deeper into the castle. “Yeah they are. And I would like to have more than one set of clothing.” Anon said as they soon found themselves outside of another door. “Well here we are.” Raven said as she opened the door. “Why hello Raven how have you been as of late?” A voice said from inside the room. “So are you here for a new dress?” “No. I’m here to show you a friend of mine. Anon.” Raven said before Anon decided to enter the room. “So this is the creature that the princesses brought back from Ponyville.” Said the seamstress. “A pleasure to meet you.” “Nice to meet you as well Miss…” Anon said hoping that she would fill in the blank. “Oh forgive me for not introducing myself. My name is Cross Stitch.” The mare said holding out a hoof towards Anon. “Well as Raven said my name is Anon. It’s a pleasure to meet the castle’s seamstress. You are the castle’s seamstress correct?” Anon asked as he shook her hoof, uncertain whether she was an assistant or the actual seamstress. “Yes I am.” She said removing her hoof from Anon’s grasp. “Now what can I do for you?” “Well Anon here needs some new clothes and he was hoping you’d be able to provide.” Raven said to the seamstress. “Alright then. Anon can you please stand on this pedestal please.” Cross said gesturing to a part of the floor that was raised slightly. “Well I’ll leave him here with you Cross.” Raven said catching Anon’s attention. “Also Anon, I’m going to go ask the princesses something. I’ll be back to get you when my business is done.” With that she gave Anon a small wave before leaving the room. “So then Mr. Anon, what sort of clothes do you want?” Cross asked before she began taking Anon’s measurements. “How about something casual. A pair of pants and a t-shirt if you would be so kind.” Anon said as she gave a small hum in thought. “Any particular color or pattern?” She asked writing Anon’s measurements down. “Nothing to fancy or flashy. Just plain and simple please.” He said as Cross began to pull out a small list. “Well then let’s get started.” “Good afternoon princesses.” Raven said to the two sisters as she teleported into the throne room. “Good afternoon to you as well Raven.” Celestia said to the unicorn. “Have you shown Anon to his room Raven?” Luna asked raising an eyebrow in curiosity. “I have Princess Luna. For now, he is in the care of Cross Stitch. He’s currently getting a new set of clothes.” Raven replied to Luna. “And you left him alone without a guard?” Luna said raising her voice slightly. “Calm down sister, Cross Stitch can handle herself quite well, and I doubt that Anon would have a reason to hurt anypony.” Celestia said calming the lunar princess. She then shifted her gaze to Raven. “Is that you wished to tell us Raven?” “No it isn’t Princess.” Raven said adjusting her glasses slightly. “Anon has actually told me something very interesting. He has told me that back where he came from he had an interest in knights and chivalry. I thought that maybe one of the guards could give him some training, which could lead him to help out around the castle as a member of the guard.” Celestia then placed a hoof to her chin in thought. “He told you this information freely, as in it is not meant to be a secret between the two of you?” “He told me that freely without asking me to keep it a secret.” Raven replied. “Sister if I may interject.” Luna started. “Of course sister. What do you have to say?” Celestia said glad to hear Luna’s take on the matter. “Don’t get me wrong Miss Raven’s plan is quite the brilliant one, but I recommend something else. Now Before you ask I’m not saying that we shouldn’t allow him to become part of the guard. No.” Luna said. “So what is it you recommend sister.” Celestia asked wondering where Luna was going with this. “I recommend that I teach him what he wishes to learn. Not only would I be able to guide him along Miss Raven’s plan, but I may also be able to learn more about him and his species.” “Hmm that sounds like a good plan Luna.” Celestia said glad to here that she wished to help Anon. “Alright then I’ll go tell him.” Raven said as she made her way towards the door. “Wait Raven.” Luna called out to the unicorn. “Tell him to come to my chambers tonight. I would like to get his training started as soon as possible.” “Of course Princess.” Raven said giving a final bow as she left the throne room. “And there we go. Done.” Cross said standing back to admire her work. Atop the small pedestal Anon stood looking down at his new suit. He found that his new suit was a giant mess of blues and purples. “Um it’s nice.” Anon said uncertainly not wanting to hurt Cross’ feelings. “You don’t like it do you?” Cross said a downtrodden look on her face. “No, no, no… Yes, it’s sort of a bit too flashy. Don’t get me wrong I liked what you made for my casual wear but the suit just doesn’t suit me.” Anon said. “Well don’t worry about it dear because that wasn’t your real suit.” Cross said her mood changing from downtrodden to happy in an instant. Using her magic she pulled out a coat hanger from the back room, on it was an exact replica of the suit that Anon had arrived in. “Here’s the real thing. Now I know it’s the same as your other one but your other one fitted you so well so I decided to remake it.” She explained as Anon looked at her dumbfounded. “You mean this isn’t my real suit!” He exclaimed gesturing to the mess of blues and purples for emphasis. “What am I not aloud to have any fun.” She said pouting a bit. She then saw Raven enter the room. “Hello Raven, like what I made for Anon?” Cross asked gesturing to the suit. “It does look quite nice.” Raven said a small smirk on her muzzle. “Whatever. I’m going to get changed.” Anon said walking behind a changing screen getting changed into his suit that he had arrived in. “Well then where to now Raven?” Anon asked remerging from behind the screen with his joke suit draped over his arm. “Well then anything you wish to do here Anon before we go?” Raven asked him as he hung his joke suit up on a nearby coat hanger. “No not really.” Anon said as he joined Raven next to the door. “See ya Cross.” He said giving the seamstress a wave as he and Raven left the seamstress to her business. “Bye Anon!” Cross called out after them. “So then Raven where to next?” Anon asked raising an eyebrow. “Well first of all remember how you told me that you had an interest in knights?” Raven said to Anon as they continued their journey through the castle. “Yeah. Why?” “Well I told the princesses about that interest, and they said they would like to teach you the ways of the sword.” Raven said as they found themselves outside of a set of oak doors. “Here we are. We can continue this conversation over food.” She said before opening the door. After finding a seat at a large table that dominated the room Anon decided to pick up the conversation. “So how would the princesses be able to help me?” Before Raven could give an answer an earth pony stallion appeared next to her. “Hello Madame Raven, what can I do for you and your guest?” “Ah good evening Quick Service. Before we continue with our order I would like you to meet a guest of the princesses, Anon.” Raven said to the stallion before gesturing to Anon. “Good evening Anon, a pleasure to meet you.” Quick said extending a hoof towards Anon. “Good evening to you as well Quick.” Anon said shaking his hoof. “So then what would you like to order?” Quick asked, pulling out a menu for Anon before turning to Raven. “I’m guessing you want the regular Miss Raven.” “If it isn’t to much of a trouble for the chefs to make a simple garden salad.” She replied before looking back to Anon. “So then decided on what you want yet?” “Well if it isn’t to much trouble can I please get a T-Bone Steak please.” Anon said hoping that the ponies wouldn’t have a problem with his order. “Of course not. I’ll be back in about ten minutes.” With that said Quick then left the dining room out through a small side door. “You don’t have a problem with me eating meat in front of you, do you?” Anon asked hoping he wasn’t going to drive Raven into an uncomfortable situation. “No I don’t. You sort of get used to it when you have political guests from species that eat meat visit.” “Good point. So what’s with the early dinner?” Anon asked raising an eyebrow. “Well Princess Luna has asked for you to meet her tonight to begin your training. So it would be best to have an early dinner and not keep her waiting.” Raven explained. It was at that moment that Quick returned with their dinner. “Here you go hope you enjoy it.” With that said he left the dining room once more. “Well let’s not let our food get cold.” Raven said before digging into her salad. “Good plan.” Anon said before tearing into his steak. “Thanks for taking me to dinner Raven.” Anon said as he and Raven left the dining room. “Your welcome Anon.” Raven said as he led him through the halls of the castle. “So where do I have to go to meet Luna?” Anon asked as he noticed that the sun had set outside. “Well all you have to do is follow me and I’ll show you.” Raven said as they rounded a corner and Anon found himself looking at a set of dark oak wood doors that stood at half the height of the throne room doors. As he and Raven got closer to the doors he noticed that to either side of the doors were two guards wearing dark blue and black armor. He also took notice of the intricate patterns on the doors which held similarities to the night sky. “Good evening Miss Raven. Do you have business with Lady Noctis?” One of the guards asked. “Well not me personally but Anon here does.” Raven said gesturing to the human in question. “Anon I would like you to meet two members of Luna’s night guard. A couple of things to note the night guard or more commonly known as the Lunar guard is made up entirely of Thestrals.” Raven said gesturing to the two guards. It was then that Anon noticed that they had bat wings. “So their like pegasi but with bat wings instead?” Anon asked Raven. She gave him a small nod in response. “Cool.” “Another thing when they say Lady Noctis they mean Princess Luna.” Raven further explained. When she finished saying this the doors were wrapped in a dark blue glow as they swung open. When they were fully opened Princess Luna walked out of the room a spear at her side. “Ah. Good evening Anon, Raven. I was just about to go looking for you Anon.” “Well here I am Princess.” Anon said as he took notice of the spear. “Good to hear now if you will please follow me and we shall start your training.” Luna said before walking in the direction Anon and Raven had approached Luna’s chambers from. “Well see ya Raven.” Anon said giving the unicorn a wave as he followed after Luna. “I do hope that you don’t mind staying up late during our training sessions.” Luna said as Anon walked by her side. “Not at all. Always been more of a night owl anyway. Something about being able to look up at the moon and not have my retinas burned out made me like the night even more than the day.” Anon said getting a small chuckle from Luna. “Good to hear that.” Luna said as they walked out side into a small courtyard. “Whoa. Didn’t know that it would be a full moon tonight.” Anon said admiring how the moon illuminated the courtyard. “Didn’t think that Equestria’s moon would be brighter than earth’s.” Anon said admiring the full moon. “What is this earth you speak of?” Luna asked as she floated a sword over to Anon. “Earth is where I come from. So what are we going to be doing?” Anon said gripping the sword and proceeding to give it a few practice swings. “Well we will be starting with the simple things.” Luna said giving her spear a few practice swings and thrusts. “Nothing to advanced to begin with.” Luna was then caught off guard as Anon thrust his sword out to intercept her spear causing a small metal clang to ring out through the night air. “Don’t bother teaching me the simple things. I learnt those from my Uncle. Instead let’s go to the advanced steps.” Anon said drawing his sword back to his side. “Alright then but if you think we should tone down the difficulty please tell me.” Luna said before disarming Anon with her spear. “We wouldn’t want for you to get hurt.” “Okay got to admit that was pretty cool.” Anon said as he picked up his sword. “But one rule no using magic okay.” “Then how am I to hold the spear?” Luna said cutting her magic off for a second to let her spear rest on the ground. “You can use your magic to wield your spear but nothing else okay.” Anon said as she picked up her spear. “Alright then.” Luna said before taking a defensive stance. “Show us what skills you have.” At this a stream of memories came flooding back to Anon about what his Uncle had taught him. Anon then decided to let the princess have her fun as he made the first move giving a small thrust toward the princess. When she shifted her spear to deflect the thrust Anon changed the trajectory of the thrust to be aimed at the ground. Once Luna had seen her mistake she jumped back a few feet with the help of her wings. Anon then saw that her spear was still hovering above his sword. Before she could levitate the spear back to her side Anon stretched a hand out to grab it, once the staff of the spear was in his grasp he gave it a quick tug pulling it from the blue aura that was wrapped around it. Luna let out a gasp of shock as she found that her hold on her spear had been removed. When she looked back to where her spear was she found that Anon had managed to get his hands on it. “Impressive. Very few can say that they have bested me in combat.” Luna said dropping her defensive pose slightly. “Technically I didn’t beat you.” Anon said as he saw the blue aura return around the staff of the spear as it floated back to Luna’s side. “You could have hit me with a blast of magic. Or reclaim your spear with enough magic.” Anon said as he saw Luna discard her defensive pose. “A good point Anon. Now I must know did you learn to do that with your Uncle, or did you have another source?” Luna asked as she approached Anon. Anon then saw that Luna was shifting her spear in her magic. In a split second Anon then threw his sword up to guard his neck. As he did that Luna moved her spear to hover over Anon’s neck, but instead finding noting but air to stop the tip of her spear she found that her spear had collided with Anon’s blade. “Nice try Princess.” Anon said before using his blade to push Luna’s spear away from his face. “How did you?” Luna asked taking a step back from Anon. “Saw you rotating your spear into a position where it could do what you just made it do.” Anon explained. “Now for how I learnt that little disarm trick. Well some of it I learnt from my Uncle but the rest I learnt from a few books that I had managed to find on swordplay.” “Impressive.” Luna said before looking up and down Anon’s form. “Also quite the impressive stance you have there. Ready to both attack an enemy or defend yourself.” “Well it does help to be ready to perform either of those things.” He said before giving a quick flick of his sword so it was resting against Luna’s neck. “Maybe you should keep the same pose.” Anon said jokingly as Luna realized how she had left herself open to attack. “In all my years I never would have thought I’d see the day when somebody had gotten the drop on me.” Luna said as Anon removed the blade from her neck. “Word of advice no matter how good you think you are you always have to be on the defensive. Just in case you come across someone how’s better than you.” Anon said sheathing his sword. “That’s something my Uncle always told me.” “Well your Uncle sounds like a wise man.” Luna said letting out a small chuckle. “Like a unicorn that my sister and I once knew.” “Who would that be?” Anon asked wondering who this unicorn was. “His name was Star Swirl the Bearded. He was a very wise Unicorn, and a close friend of my sister.” Luna said looking up at the skies. “Sounds like a cool guy.” Anon said following her gaze to see the stars shining more than they would back on earth. “Whoa.” Anon said as he admired the night sky. “A fan of my night?” Luna asked Anon as she noticed him take a seat. “What do you mean by your night?” Anon asked looking at the princess as she took a seat next to him. “Well as princess of the night it is my duty to not only raise and lower the moon, but to also arrange the position of the stars.” Luna explained. When she looked over to see if Anon had understood what she had said. Instead all she found was Anon wearing a dumbfounded expression on his face. “Y’know what I’m not going to say how that is impossible as most of the things on this world shouldn’t even exist.” Anon said causing Luna to give a small chuckle. “How about we get back to training?” “Good plan.” Luna said rising back to her hoofs and taking a defensive stance. “Let us continue from where we left off.”