//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Knight in Shining Armor // by ShinxX //------------------------------// Sky Knight, Volt Speed and Violet Strike weaved their way through the crowd, moving quickly and precisely between ponies. Sky looked up to the sign that hung off the ceiling in order to make sure they were going the right way. The arrow next to the words, ‘private party rooms’ pointed forward. He looked down at his wing to make sure he still had the cupcakes upright. Then, he looked back to his friends who were close behind him. “Almost there guys.” He informed. Volt Speed opened his mouth to say something until he bumped into a mare walking by, causing him to almost fall over. The mare he ran into stumbled, but kept her balance. Volt looked back at the mare and looked her over. He winked at her, only to have her roll her eyes at him. Volt felt a zap on his cutie mark from a shock spell from Violets horn. “Ow! What the heck?” Volt spat at the purple unicorn. “Eyes forward romeo.” Violet ordered. “Yes ma'am, jeez.” Volt continued to follow the blue pegasus through the crowd of ponies. Sky sighed in frustration with his friends. His frustration turned to relief when he saw the door leading to their destination. He flicked his tail to signal his two companions. They banked right, walking into an opening. The door was blocked off by a velvet rope with a body guard pony standing next to the entrance. Leaning against the wall, Sky Knight searched his body for a pass, but found nothing. He face hooved as he realized that he didn’t have a VIP pass to get into the pending alumni party. “Oh for Celestia’s sake, I don’t have a pass to get in!” Sky moaned. Volt and Violet groaned at the same time. Sky kept his face in his hoof, cursing himself for not reminding his mom to give him a pass. The, they heard a sweet, intelligent voice come from behind them, “Don’t worry, I’ll get you in.” Sky turned to see a purple alicorn standing behind him and his friends with a playful grin. Sky let out a sigh of relief and bowed his head in thanks. “Oh, thank you so much Twilight. You’re a lifesaver.” Sky replied. Volt and Violet bowed their heads along with their blue, pegasus friend. Twilight’s ear twitched, “Heads up, all three of you.” She looked at Sky and Violet, “Especially you two. You know how I don’t care for formalities like that.” They raised their heads and Violet smiled apologetically. “Sorry, Twilight.” “It’s fine. Let’s head inside,” She walked toward the door, revealing a white alicorn behind her who had been hiding shyly behind her aunt. Sky and Violet had already turned around, not seeing Crystal, but Volt was slow enough to get a glimpse at her. “Hey, who’s that pretty mare there?” He said flirtingly, getting a confused look from the white alicorn. Twilight turned with a non hostile, but stern look to Volt Speed, “That would be my niece, Crystal.” Volt blushed with embarrassment, realising he was checking out the princess's family. Sky looked back at her, realizing she looked familiar to him. “Nice to meet you, Crystal, I’m Violet.” the purple unicorn stuck out a hoof after turning to the new pony. Crystal accepted the hoof shake hesitantly. Sky looked back and tilted his head. “Have I seen you somewhere before? You seem familiar to me.” Sky curiously asked. Crystal hesitated for a moment, “You seem familiar to me, too.” She responded, in more ways than one. She thought. “From what I’ve heard, I believe you’ve both, informally met in front of the apple stand.” Twilight mentioned. Sky Knight thought for a second, then his cheeks turned as red as an apple and he put his hoof up to his eyes as he thought back to the moment he struck a pony in front of Applebloom’s stand. He had run into the princesses niece. Today was just full of failing for the son of one of the fastest pegasi in the history of Equestria. “I can’t believe that happened, holy cow.” Violet said after Sky explained to his confused friends what had happened prior to his cupcake pick up. “Dude, you tackled Twilight’s niece without knowing it?,” Volt Speed burst out into a fit of laughter, “And you guys say I’m bad with mares!” Volt continued his burst of laughter while Sky kept his head buried in his hoof. The laughing started to annoy Sky to the point where he stuck up his back leg and bucked his friend in the chest, knocking the green pegasus back a few steps. He regained his balance and beamed a look at Sky, “Ow, that hurt!” “You kinda deserved it though,” Violet Strike said, snickering. The buck prompted Crystal to let out a small giggle. “I am so, so, so sorry, Crystal. I had no idea. I was in a rush, and I should’ve made sure you were ok and-” Crystal interrupted Sky’s rambling, “It’s fine, accidents happen.” Sky walked up to the white alicorn, “Well, I guess I should formally greet you this time,” He offered her a hoof shake, “I’m Sky Knight, pleasure to meet you.” Crystal accepted the offered hoof shake, “Amor Crystallum, the pleasure is mutual.” She got a puzzled look from the blue pegasus. She looked around to see the other two had the same look on their faces. “Sorry, that’s my full name. I just prefer to go by Crystal.” The trio of friends had a collective moment of realization after Crystal’s explanation. Twilight watched with a smile, glad that her niece might be making friends so soon. That smile turned to a perplexed frown when Volt pushed Sky out of the way and kissed the hoof of Crystal. “And I am Volt Speed, and I am ever greatful to make your acquaintance, m’lady.” He said in a smooth, flirty tone. It was obvious she was uncomfortable with this, given her uneasy expression. She became more uneasy as Volt leaned closer to her. She backed her head up and looked around for help. Violet rolled her eyes as her horn began to glow magical blue. “Don’t worry, I’m on it.” The fluid, blue aura formed around the green pegasus and he slowly began to lift off the ground. The confidence in his eyes turned to surprise as he looked down and saw his hooves off the ground. Violet turned her head and lifted Volt across the hall and set him down in a nearby trash bin. She released her magic holding Volt, letting him fall into the half-full trash bin. The other three ponies watching started laughing at Volt’s expense after he yelped along with the thud from him hitting the trash. Violet held her head high and turned back to Crystal. “There, I sent him home.” She said with pride. Volt Speed struggled to get out of the trash bin, knocking it and himself on their side, making Crystal giggle more. “Don’t mind him, he’d flirt with any mare he sees.” Sky Knight said with a comforting smile. “Not any mare,” Volt claimed as he wriggled himself out of the bin, “Just the pretty ones.” He continued as he shook off the trash that had clung to his fur. Sky Knight and Violet rolled their eyes and Crystal let out an uneasy chuckle. Twilight looked around and noticed ponies trying to get around the group as they stood in front of the entrance. “Why don’t we head inside instead of crowding the hallway? The Wonderbolts will be here any second anyways.” Twilight suggested, prompting the guard to open the door. They all followed in stride, entering the tan walled room decked out with wonderbolt decorations, including table covers in the iconic blue and yellow bolt design. In the back of the room, Sky Knight spotted a long table that extended across the length of the room with a spread of a variety of foods including fruits, hay and water. He trotted over to the spread and placed the box in an open space on the table. He opened the box and checked to see if the cupcakes were all in one piece. Besides a few smudges, everything seemed in order and intact. He let out a sigh of relief and turned to the rest to the room. He looked around at the ponies that occupied the party room. He looked to his left and saw Violet struggling to keep Volt Speed away from the food on the table. He was just like Sky’s dad in his love for pie. Sky turned his head to the center of the room to see Twilight being her usual self, organizing anything she saw that she felt needed organizing. In this case, the gift bags for each alumni member needed to be put into alphabetical order. He grinned in amusement thinking about stories his mom would tell him about the princess nearly going insane over stuff like that. His amusement turned to concern when he looked for Crystal. She huddled herself in the corner of the room, alone. “Hey Crystal, everything alright?” He asked as he walked over to her. She jumped as if she expected no one to talk to her. She composed herself when she saw Sky look at her with concern. “Yea, I’m fine. Just… thinking.” She answered with a little hesitation in her voice. “About what?” Sky continued to question the white alicorn. Crystal searched for a little fib because she didn’t want him to know the two things she was thinking about. One being how she was feeling a bit awkward not really knowing what to say to get them to be friends with her. The second, the one thing she really didn’t want to tell him was that she was trying to think of why he seemed so familiar to her. She felt most comfortable around him, almost as comfortable as when she's around her mother or Twilight. Her first thought was, This is almost the kind of feeling my mom would describe as… love?! Her initial thoughts made her blush before Sky confronted her. She shook her head, no, it can’t be. Mother always said love happens gradually, not immediately. It must be something else, she convinced herself in her head. That is when Sky caught her by surprise. As she struggled to find an answer, help came into the room, and by help, Sky saw the Wonderbolts alumni walk into the room. Sky spun his head to watch as a cyan-blue mare with a rainbow mane walked into the room first, followed by a darker blue pegasus with a navy blue mane to her side. Everyone in the room turned to the alumni as the rest of them walked in. The alumni had changed into their suit uniforms. They were all in various conversations with different members of the alumni, many recalling moments in their careers when most of them were in their prime. Sky quickly turned his head back to Crystal. “Hold that thought.” He turned toward the incoming alumni and ran over to the rainbow maned pegasus. When he neared, the mare smiled widely and moved toward the incoming pegasus. They embraced each other in a big hug, nuzzling each other. “Congratulations, mom! You were so awesome!” Sky complimented. Rainbow Dash looked down at her son. “Your mom’s still got it, don’t she?” She boasted. “Still got it, by a long shot.” Sky replied. Soarin walked over to the two hugging pegasi. “How bout your old man? I still got it, right?” He asked with confidence. Sky grinned slyly, “Yup, still the same ol’ wonderbolt, pulling up on the last corner to finish third. Just like you used to.” Sky replied with a joking chuckle. Soarin’s face went from prideful, to unamused as his frown went down to the bottom of his cheek and his eyes narrowed. Rainbow Dash giggled along with her son at her husband. Then, they heard a raspy, low mare's voice come from behind Soarin, “Heh, He’s not wrong you know.” A yellow-orange mare walked up and patted the pride ridden Soarin on the back. Sky and Rainbow chuckled some more along with Spitfire at Soarin’s expense. Sky Knight finally ended his chuckle. “Congratulations, Spitfire. That was a great race.” Sky complimented the former wonderbolt captain. “Thanks, Sky. That was one heck of a race.” Spitfire said, smiling at the rainbow maned pony. Rainbow Dash grinned back. “Yea it was. I don’t think we’ve raced that hard since before this squirt got his cutie mark.” She said, giving Sky Knight a knuckle sandwich. He tried to escape her grasp, but she held him back with her other hoof. They both laughed as Sky wiggled from her grasp. Twilight walked over to the group of Wonderbolts and son. Excitement was beaming off her face. “That was amazing Rainbow!” She said with extreme excitement, “You’re a legend now!” “I Know, this is one of the best days of my life!” They both started jumping up and down like little fillies, squeaking with joy. This is the excitement they were holding back on the track, finally able to let it all out. Soarin and Spitfire watched the two friends finally get to celebrate Rainbow Dash’s monumental achievement with happiness. Sky Knight watched along with them, but more with pride for his mom. Once the two friends finished their happy dance, Twilight turned to the other Wonderbolts. “I should congratulate you two as well, that was a very exciting race to watch. You’d think it was the Wonderbolts championship race.” Twilight said with delight. The former captain and Rainbow’s mate nodded their heads in thanks. “Dash sure made it feel like it was.” Spitfire replied. Twilight looked over and noticed Crystal wasn’t mingling like she wanted her niece to. She flicked her head at Crystal to get her to join the conversation. As she did, Violet and Volt had joined in the conversation and were talking with Sky, Spitfire and Soarin. Crystal hesitated, but obeyed and walked over to the group of ponies her aunt was mingled in with. She heard Volt and Soarin saying something about which type of pie is better, while Sky, Violet and Spitfire talked about Wonderbolts history. Twilight gestured Rainbow’s attention to the incoming white alicorn. “You remember my niece, Crystal, right?” She asked the rainbow maned pony. “How could I forget. I could never forget my friends alicorn niece no matter how long it’s been. How’ve ya been doing, Crystal?” Rainbow asked, thrilled to see Crystal again. “I’m alright. Great race by the way.” She replied. “Thanks! It’s great to see you again. Hey, have you met my boy, Sky, yet?” She asked as she reached over and dragged Sky Knight away from his conversation. Sky Knight smiled awkwardly to Violet and Spitfire as he was in the middle of a sentence when his mom pulled him away. Crystal nodded, “Yes I have. More than once today actually.” Rainbow Dash looked at her son for answers. “Uh, let’s not talk about that first… ‘meeting’” He said as he tried to hide a blush of embarrassment. His mom kept eying him for information. “We met in front of Applebloom’s apple stand. I was in a rush because I may or may not have been late picking up the desserts, so we didn’t really talk.” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, “Oh, so you almost forgot the cupcakes, eh?” Sky Knight nodded in defeat. “Well, at least you’re lucky you got your mom's speed to get here in time.” She boasted. “Not so lucky for Crystal.” Sky mumbled. “What?” “Nothing!” Sky scrunched his muzzle and jerked his eyes up toward the ceiling. Rainbow looked at her son in confusion while Twilight and Crystal shared a giggle. The moment was cut short by Violet jumping in front of Sky. “Sky we gotta go! Blue says they are about to announce the Wonderbolts!” Sky’s eyes widened. He nodded and hugged his mom and dad. “I gotta go see the race. I’ll see you when I get home.” He turned to the door with Volt and Violet and started toward the door. He was halfway out the door when he stopped in his tracks and turned around, “Oh yea, Crystal. You should hang out with us tomorrow. We’re all headed to Sugarcube corner. You in?” Crystal was caught completely off guard. She had no idea how to respond, she’d never been invited to ‘hang out’ with other ponies besides her foal hood friend. She looked to her aunt for help, getting a smile and nod from the purple alicorn. “Go ahead, I’ve got a meeting tomorrow with Captain Pip anyways. Better you be with friends than spending the afternoon alone.” Crystal had mixed feelings about what was unfolding in just a few seconds. She wanted to spend as much time with Twilight as she could, but she couldn’t if she was going to a meeting. Getting to know more ponies in this town and learning her way around wouldn’t hurt. She nodded to Sky, “Sure, I’ll join you.” “Sweet, I’ll swing by the castle around noon. See ya then.” Sky ran out of the doorway and chased his friends down the hall. Crystal turned to her aunt, “Why are they in such a rush to get back?” she asked. Before Twilight could think of the answer, Rainbow Dash stepped in. “One of their friends is making their Wonderbolt’s debut today.” Twilight nodded, “And if I remember correctly, you helped train that wonderbolt, correct?” “Yup,” Rainbow Dash answered, “Sky asked Soarin and I if Flitter Rose could train with him. She’s pretty fast.” “You could say that again. I’ve watched her train under Rarejolt. I along with him think she could be the next star Wonderbolt.” Spitfire added in. “I think she will be, too. However, she’s still not as fast as my lil’ man, Sky.” Soarin boasted for his son. The two other alumni along with the princess of friendship nodded in agreement. “If he’d become a Wonderbolt, I would probably have to say goodbye to probably half of my records just in his first couple years.” Rainbow Dash said confidently. Crystal tilted her head in confusion. “So, why isn’t he one?” She asked, baffled as to why somepony would not be a star, celebrity Wonderbolt when they could’ve been the best. She thought of many scenarios in her head but none of them made sense. “Well, it was ultimately his cutie mark.” Crystal turned to her aunt with a puzzled look on her face. “Did you see his cutie mark?” Twilight continued. Crystal thought for a moment. She never did look at his cutie mark intentionally, though when he went to talk to his parents, she caught a glimpse of it. She remembered the main color was a pale yellow, like the Flag of Ponyville. The secondary colors were pink and purple, but she couldn’t remember the shape. She thought hard, but the shape wouldn’t appear in her head. The white alicorn sighed in defeat and shook her head. Soarin looked over at Twilight, “Gimme a sec.” He reached a hoof into his jacket and pulled out a small, black wallet with the Wonderbolts logo stitched onto it. He opened it up and flipped the fold of the leather to reveal a tiny picture. “I always keep the picture Rainbow took of Sky when he first got his cutie mark. It still baffles me how you got out your camera that quickly.” Soarin explained as he looked at his wife. “Hey, a mother is always prepared to take a picture of a special moment of their child's life.” the colorful maned pegasus defended herself, shooting a look at Soarin. Crystal looked carefully at the picture. It showed a small, blue pegasus colt with his navy blue and yellow hair which was longer than it is now and messier too, like Rainbow Dash’s mane when she was a filly. His eyes were wide with pride looking at his flank. His smile reached the lobe of his ear. Crystal followed his gaze to his flank to see the same colors as she had thought of, but in a shape she was not expecting. The pink outlined the yellow in the shape of a shield. A purple line went across the shield diagonally and in that stripe was a standard spear with a brown, wooden handle and the gray, stone arrow head. “Ooh.” She let out a soft hum in realization. “Yup, his destiny is to be with the royal guards.” Rainbow Dash announced proudly. Crystal nodded her head to acknowledge the cyan pony’s statement. She continued to scan the cutie mark when she noticed that in the top corner of the shield wa a light blue heart. She felt like the heart should mean something given it seemed a bit out of place with the other features, but she could not put her hoof on it. “So, I know the shield and spear represent his aspirations to be a royal guard, but what does that heart mean?” She asked the married pegasi. They looked at each other for a moment before Rainbow shrugged. “Nopony is entirely sure. Sky didn’’t know what it could’ve meant to him. Not even Scoots and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders could figure it out.” Crystal tried not to get distracted by asking who they were and remained focused on the heart. What could that heart mean? Why did it seem to have so much meaning to her? Could it have something to do with the familiarity she feels with the blue pony? So many questions to ask with not so many answers. Her thoughts were interrupted by Twilight speaking. “Well, maybe you can ask him about it tomorrow when he picks you up. We should head back to our seats. The race will be starting any minute now and it wouldn’t look good if the only princess at the event missed the race.” She explained. Crystal held back a groan of impatience as she wanted answers as soon as possible. Twilight continued, “Are you all watching the race?” “We are, but from here. We have monitors in here that get footage from magical orbs that film the race.” Rainbow Dash explained. Twilight nodded and looked to her niece. “Alright, you ready?” Crystal wanted to say no so she could ask more questions, but she decided against it and nodded. Twilight's horn glowed with magic as she smiled. “We won’t make it in time on hoof, so I’m going to teleport us, ok?” Crystal jolted a bit, but nodded in acceptance as she was going to have to get used to teleporting long distances. Her and Twilight waved to the Wonderbolts after they had said their goodbyes. A purple mass formed around the two alicorns and engulfed their image. It shrank down and flashed a blinding beam of light. When the ponies in the room could see again, the alicorns had disappeared. After a moment of silence, Sky Knight’s father spoke. “The way she was asking about Sky, you’d think she had a thing for him.” He said. “Soarin!” Rainbow Dash scolded the blue pegasus she loved. He shrugged in defense, “What? I’m just sayin’.” The two mares rolled their eyes before turning their gaze to the monitor in the corner of the room where the race was about to get underway.