The Crown of Night

by Daedalus Aegle

Interlude: White Knight

It was a brilliant summer day, warm and bright, when a strange carriage drawn by two earth ponies drove up the road towards the ancestral estate of the ruler of the Whiteblood Barony. The carriage was closed, which was enough to mark it as out of fashion to any who saw it pass by, as any carriage made in the past twenty years was open to the skies and relied on simple enchantments to protect its travellers from bad weather, and beyond that the windows on the doors were drawn with white curtains, matching the white paint of the carriage itself. The doors were adorned with a silver cross, which was barely visible against the white background, especially in direct sunlight.

The carriage drove up to the grand facade of the mansion. It was Old Money turned into architecture, opulent and classical, and half a dozen servants waited out front, standing silently on either side of the broad marble staircase that led to the front door. On the top of the stair waited the rulers of the estate: Margrave Baron and Baroness Whiteblood. They were both white-coated earth ponies; the Baron's mane was golden and the Baroness's a rich bright green, and they were both immaculately groomed and dressed in anticipation of their visitor.

The carriage arrived, and halted. A maid filly stepped up to its side and opened the door, bowing, and the White Knight stepped out.

True to his title, the pony from the carriage was covered every inch in white, white cloth and silver armor, and a white fur cape. The silver helmet, and behind it a white veil covering his eyes, meant that even his face was invisible.

Though the helmet at least revealed that he had no horn, the noble couple could not see for themselves if he was an earth pony: it would be possible to hide pegasus wings under his armor, though highly uncomfortable. They trusted that he would not insult them in this fashion, however. He knew who he was visiting.

"Welcome, sir knight, to Whiteblood Manor," said the Baron, and all the servants bowed.

"Greetings, Lord Whiteblood, Lady Whiteblood. My master sends his regards." His voice was coarse and powerful, the helmet giving it a booming, reverberating quality. Two servants opened the front doors, and they stepped inside the main hall.

The White Knight looked around. Compared to the blazing summer day outside, the hall was like a dank cavern, in spite of the massive crystal chandelier carrying what must easily have been fifty lit wax candles. More servants lined the sides of the room and bowed as they entered. The walls were lined with portraits of past Barons, each portrait done in the same style. Emphasizing the family resemblance, the ponies were even all sitting in almost exactly the same pose, clad in the same manner. In the center of the hall a broad staircase led to the upper floor.

"A maid will show you to your room," said the Baroness. "They will bring your luggage there. If there is anything you desire, anything at all, inform a maid and she will attend to it. We will dine within the hour, you may refresh yourself until then."

"We can begin our discussions immediately," said the Baron, ignoring his wife, who in return shot him an angry glance. "We are most... interested to hear your master's proposal."

"We will speak," said the White Knight, "in private. I do not doubt you will be most-"

The Baron saw a young maid, habitually performing her duty when welcoming guests, approach the knight and begin to unfasten his helmet: at the touch, the knight fell silent and twisted sharply, viciously, and with a hoof lashed out and struck her such that she was knocked back to the floor, blood gushing from her snout.

"Did I say you could lay hoof upon me, mare?!"

The Baron's face turned from haughty and aloof to burning anger in an instant. He was not going to lose this chance. "Steel! Scabbard!" Two guards immediately appeared from around the corner. "Take her away! ...Bring her to the corrections chamber. I will attend to her later myself." He turned to the knight. "My utmost and sincerest apologies, my honored guest...! I can assure you she will be properly punished for her insult."

The White Knight noticed out the corner of his eye a lone figure standing in the shadows in a corner at the top of the stairs: a young blue unicorn looking down at him with some interest. The Baron glanced around and saw him as well, and glared, and the colt left, exiting into another upstairs room.

"Are you all complete imbecils?" the Baroness hissed at the other servants, who shook in terror. "Did anypony else sleep through the instructions I gave concerning our guest? Have you made a wreck and ruin of his bedchamber as well, perhaps? Given him the open balcony chamber, or perhaps tore open the wall to let in the night air?"

"She had better," the knight said bitterly, one hoof clamping down on the buckle on the neck holding his helmet in place. "If this is how you treat your friendly emissaries-"

"I assure you it is not! Anything I can do to make up for her gross violation, you need only ask and I shall give it."

He huffed. "I will consider the matter. Now let us proceed with our business."

"As you wish," the Baron said. "If you are still willing to entertain us..."

"My master wishes me to present his offer, and hear your response. My personal feelings do not enter into it."

"I am very pleased to hear it," the Baron said, the anger slowly fading to his customary sneer of disdain. "This way," the Baron led the knight upstairs and into his private study. Red satin drapes and mahogany furniture decorated the large chamber, and in the center a great wooden table lay covered with a map of the barony and surrounding territories.

"Whiteblood Barony," the Baron said, looking down at the map. "The largest, and oldest of the border territories. Every other noble lord across the marches is an upstart compared to us, even the second oldest is centuries younger than the Whitebloods. While they all died out, went mad, were overthrown, squandered their wealth, or simply left, we held on... We watched as the world turned decadent and feeble around us, we watched as earth ponies sullied their pure blood by mingling with pegasi and unicorns..." His eyes narrowed and his voice took on a sharper edge. "Now even griffons wander the streets of our cities with impunity. And all this happens over our objections, our advice is ignored...! In the time of my long fathers, any who disregarded the word of a Whiteblood would see himself drawn and quartered. But in this wretched age, even our word loses its power. Our ancestral home slowly crumbles. Our coffers grow thin." He turned to the White Knight, who had stood by and silently listened. "And then I receive your master's letter. It was most... evocative. He promises me power, glory, and wealth to match that of my most revered ancestors, and the chance to purge my Barony of undeserving filth. I am interested to hear the details of what he proposes... and what he asks in return."

"My master is most attuned to your concerns, milord Baron," the Knight said. "Many ponies say that there should be harmony between unequals, that all the tribes of ponies and all the other races besides can coexist in peace. We know that's not true. We know that will never be true. We know, milord Baron, my master and I, that we live in a world of absolutes. There is light and there is darkness," the Knight raised a hoof to the chestplate of his silver armor, "there is good and there is evil. All of us must pick a side, and we cannot shirk our duties."

The Baron nodded.

"The pony tribes have been at war with the Griffon Kingdom regularly for the past several hundred years. The past twenty years of peace are the blink of an eye, and an aberration. Your ancestors made their names and their fortunes upon fields of valorous battle, not in the dry halls of court. Glory was never won by a trade agreement. So long as peace remains, your wealth will diminish, and your influence will crumble."

The Baron scowled, but nodded again.

"War, however," the White Knight continued, "is a purifying fire that burns away the mold. Imagine what a war with the Griffon Kingdom, fought here along this border, would do. Every Griffon cast out of your Barony as a spy, or imprisoned. A free licence to expand your territories with every acre you can seize across the border, seize by your own strength without concern for the thoughts of others. The eyes of Everhold, and every pony nation, fixed on the Barony, with you, the Margrave Baron Whiteblood, at the center... The armies of Everhold sent here to fight for the defence of Ponykind, under your command... Imagine yourself at the head of the army, your name in the history books."

"Imagine that," the Baron muttered, his lips contorting into an unaccustomed smile.

"Where armies go, wealth follows. Bits will pour into your cities and into your coffers. What the Griffons destroy, the princesses will pay to have rebuilt. What you conquer, ponies will flock to settle, taking all their life savings with them. The great merchants will plead for your support, and pay for it as you ask."

He paused, letting the thoughts of vast fortunes fully sink in before he continued. "But of course, there is more to life than mere wealth," the White Knight said. "There is also the matter of ridding the world of the right ponies."

The Baron's smile turned into a grin.

"Now, your family, milord Baron, made your name commanding earth pony armies, the thundering charge of heavy cavalry crushing their enemies underhoof, but Griffons are sadly not susceptible to being trampled," the White Knight said. "That is where the Everhold Royal Air Force comes in. Of course, pegasi warriors are needed to fight griffons, nopony can deny. As an unavoidable consequence of this, pegasi warriors will die in much larger numbers than earth pony warriors. A tragic loss, of course, but a sacrifice that must be made to preserve the integrity of the Barony, I am sure you will agree."

"And you can make this happen?" the Baron asked. "War with the Griffon Kingdom, here in my domains?" The White Knight nodded. "In that case," the Baron said, "I think I have heard all that I need to hear. But I am still curious as to what exactly your master wants in return."

"My master's requests are reasonable," the White Knight said. "A slim portion of the great wealth that will be flooding into your domain. Your voice in the Court of Everhold, should it be needed. A place of business, with full freedom to act. Your discretion with regard to all his dealings."

"This is agreeable," the Baron said.

"Oh, and one other thing, that my master does not believe you will find objectionable," the White Knight said finally. "In war, the unexpected happens. Chaos creeps in. Ponies... disappear. My master will expect you to keep your attention focused where it matters, and know to leave issues of less importance untouched... Such as if, for instance, unicorns were to vanish from the streets, well, they are not earth ponies, after all, and tragedies happen in wars, do they not?"

"They surely do," the Baron chuckled to himself. "Nothing to be done about that."

"My master will be very pleased to hear it," the White Knight said.

A gong rang from below, signalling that dinner was served.

"Ah, dinner is ready," the Baron said. "Will you be joining us?"

"We will continue our discussion," the White Knight said. "But I will not be eating. You understand."

"Of course," the Baron said. "It will be brought to your chamber, as per your instructions."

The White Knight nodded.

– – –

There were only the three of them sitting at the dinner table, the Knight, the Baron, and his wife. All the time they ate the Baron spoke with pride about the Whiteblood legacy, and how he, with the support of the White Knight's master, would revitalize it.

The Baron emptied his wine glass, and a purple-coated maid stepped forward to refill it. The Baron looked at her and scowled. "Where is the other filly?"

"She is delivering food to young Blue Horn, milord," she answered meekly. The clatter of a fork on porcelain silenced her, and she realized her mistake. "M-my apologies, milord, but the maid who would normally do so is, well, you sent her to-" she fell silent at a wave of the Baron's hoof.

"Blue Horn?" asked the Knight. "Who is that, may I ask?"

"...My nephew," said the Baron, and his face contorted in disgust at the words. "A stain upon my bloodline. He has been staying here, but he is soon to leave, good riddance."

"From the name, I take it, he is a unicorn?"

"A freak," the Baron said. "An aberration. The rest of the world may have forgotten their corrupted conception, but Whitebloods have a long memory."

"Who knows where such a corruption of our family tree could have come from," the Baroness said sharply. Her eyes were locked on her husband, who glared back.

He dropped his knife with a soft tink against the porcelain plate, and rose from his place. "I am sated. I shall attend to the matter of disciplining the maid. My wife will attend to your wishes, sir knight."

The Baroness's eyes stabbed him from behind as he stalked away from the dining hall. The white knight observed the scene quietly.

"Our nephew," the Baroness said slowly, the words leaving a bad taste in her mouth, "will be attending the Cambridle Academy of Magic, one of the finest schools of unicorn magic in the world. Which is akin to calling it the cleanest pit of mud, or the most graceful of rotten cadavers, admittedly, but we can at least hope that he may learn something there that will make him useful to the family."

"He is not your nephew, of course," the White Knight said.

The Baroness cringed at the words, but a moment later leaned forward and put on a sultry smirk. "You're a sharp one, aren't you?" she murmured softly "Yes, he is our son, much as it pains me to admit it. My husband would very much like to believe I had a lover at the time, that some ragged, wandering conjurer of cheap tricks is the real father. But he knows perfectly well that he went to great lengths to prevent any other stallion so much as coming near me all the time we were trying for an heir. Blue Horn is his, all right, and that horn certainly didn't come from my side of the family either."

The White Knight didn't respond. His eye had turned to the great painting on the wall at the head of the table: a battle between a contingent of earth ponies, backed by the sun, against a line of shadowy entities beneath a dark storm. The earth ponies were led in their charge by a radiant, regal mare, and opposite them a black-coated unicorn snarled as she commanded the dark monsters from behind the line.

The Baroness noticed the White Knight looking, and smiled. "The Battle of Braydon Hill," she said. "Llamrei and the Steeds of the Round Stable defeat and destroy Morgan le Neigh, ending the age of unicorn rule in Braytannia. The Whiteblood family legend says that we are descended from Llamrei herself." She put her hooves together and leaned forward over the table. "...But you're not here to hear about our family history, are you? You're here for purposes of power. And much as I may despise my wretched husband, and certainly I know that whatever love he has for me is not enough to keep him away from the maid fillies, if the Whiteblood Barony grows in stature, it takes us all with it. So whatever plot he offered you... Well, I'll add my own as well. A worldly stallion like yourself no doubt knows the unique advantages of having a powerful pony's wife on your side. Just something to consider, yes?"

The White Knight nodded.

He glanced towards the windows. The dining hall faced the east, and the sun hung low above the horizon. "I must retire. I trust my accomodations have been made ready in accordance with my requests?"

"Of course," the Baroness said. "Do you wish anything sent to your room along with your food? A filly, perhaps? My husband informs me they are adequate to the purpose."

"No fillies. And no colts either. Wine. Red wine."

"Wine is the least of the pleasures I can offer you," she said, studying his movements closely, "But the wine is good."

She thought she could hear his breathing change, but if he blushed at her tone, his armor concealed it. She smirked to herself, listening to the clopping of his armored hooves.

– – –

A maid silently showed him to his room. Their instructions had been very precise. Contrary to all rules of hospitality, his room was on the ground floor, and landlocked, with no wall facing outside and no windows. The air was musty and still, like the depths of a tomb. Not even the Baron's most hated enemies would be given this room, in the event that they visited. The maid waited tensely, afraid that the guest would fly into a rage at such conditions. Instead he only nodded at her, and she curtseyed and withdrew.

An oil lamp on a table was the only source of light in the room. He sat down by it, pulled up a scroll of parchment, a quill and an a bottle of ink, from his satchel, wrote a letter.

Master,

The Baron has accepted the offer. He is exactly as you expected him to be, and his estate will serve your purposes well. I will remain and see the next phase of the plan put into motion.

Your faithful servant,

The White Knight.

He rolled up the parchment and bound it with his seal in wax. In the morning, he would send his messenger away with the usual explicit instructions: fly only in the day, be under full cover every night before the stars emerge. They were always searching for him.

The time would come when he would stand beneath the stars unhidden, and they would see all their fears come true. But until then, until they were ready, he would not be caught.

Comments

[Periphery]

Hmm, curious how this is going to relate to Star Swirl, though I can think of several potential ways. And I don't remember Blue Horn being mentioned before, but it seems likely he's where the Blueblood name will come from.

Also wonder who the White Knight guy and his master are, of course. I would guess that the war they plan to start is what led to the conflict between the pony tribes, but since Clover is a long way from being born yet in this, that seems too large a time-frame for anything but the most distant setting of the stage.

Interesting to see a story with earth ponies as the racist conquerors, by the way. It's almost always the unicorns or pegasi doing stuff like that.

[Daedalus Aegle]

3200911 "Interesting to see a story with earth ponies as the racist conquerors, by the way. It's almost always the unicorns or pegasi doing stuff like that."

I like to think that everyone has their own distinctive way of being awful. Earth Ponies, at their most xenophobic, probably see themselves as being the ones who do all the work, growing the food, building the cities, and generally keeping society going, while pegasi are just barbarian imbeciles and unicorns are detached intellectuals with no understanding of the real world. And that, it occurred to me, is pretty much how fascists saw themselves: the voice of the hard-working common man against those who would leech off them.
But, every group has some racists in it, of course.

Re the other stuff: we will have to wait and see.

[djthomp]

Yeah, if we don't get the Bluebloods from Blue Horn I will be very surprised.

[statoose]

To quote Periphery, I am very interested to see how this ties into the main plot line. I must say, this story is very well-paced, as if I could see it playing out as a movie. Also, I thought I'd mention that I imagine The White Knight voiced by Patrick Stewart.

[Daedalus Aegle]

4429220
The thought of a character I wrote making people think of Patrick Stewart brings me great joy
Hope you're still enjoying the story, I'm curious to hear what you think of the later chapters

[Derpmind]

4429220

Ya made me re-read this chapter with Patrick Steward's voice. Thank you!

3202453

Earth pony fascists makes too much sense now.

[Alondro]

4482022 I hear more the voice of The Thing from "A Wrinkle in Time".

It causes me to desire to eliminate its quantum signature from all realities.

[AyanamiRei]

Curious and more curious this chapter is. Frankly I doubt this creature is even a pony...at least certainly not anymore. I imagine he is some sort of unholy abomination.