Canterlot Academy: Knights of the Dark Moon

by LordLycaon

Suspicion

“You’re sure you don’t remember anything else?” Shining Armor asked the young pegasus mare sitting across from him, a clipboard held in his magic, and two cups of hot chocolate sitting on the desk between them. This questioning had been going on for about an hour, and he only now realized that it wasn’t going anywhere he hadn’t been before.

The mare shook her head. “I’m sorry, sir,” she said tentatively, taking the cup of chocolate closest to her and taking a careful sip. “I was walking down my usual route from the grocery store back to my house, then there was this tug on my wing, and I was dragged into an alley, and then… then there’s nothing. I swear, if I could remember anything else, I would tell you, but everything between then and now is a complete blank.”

Shining sighed and leaned back in his seat, writing down notes on his clipboard. This mare was yet another mysterious case. She had been reported as missing several days ago, then suddenly just reappeared without explanation.

‘These foalnappings are getting way out of hoof,’ he thought grimly. If it was just a bunch of thugs looking for a ransom, this would be a lot simpler. Pretend to pay the ransom, follow it discreetly, arrest the thugs when they found them. Worked every time. But whoever was orchestrating these foalnappings was clearly no ordinary thug, and they were very obviously up to something. As a precaution, all of the ponies who had disappeared and have reappeared were under close, quiet surveillance. One could never know when a victim could be struck again.

“Has it really been a week?” the mare asked, bringing the unicorn out of his musings. He gave her a glum nod, and she hung her head. She gave a light, humorless chuckle. “I’ll bet my family’s been worried sick about me.” She faced Shining again. “Do you still have questions for me? I… I should really get back to my family.”

Shining shook his head. “You’re free to go. Just be careful.” The mare nodded and left the room, leaving young guard captain to pour over his work. Things weren’t making sense. The only pattern to these disappearances was that ponies would be gone for about a week, give or take a day or two, then suddenly show up again just when the Royal Guard is about to give up on the search. At first, unicorns were the only ponies to vanish. Then, pegasi started disappearing, then earth ponies. Now, even young foals were vanishing. It was as if the foalnappers no longer cared who they stole away, just as long as they stole somepony.

There was a knock at his door. Without waiting for a response, the door opened to reveal Cadance, a small smile on her face and a bag held aloft in her magic. She was really getting the hang of magic, he noticed. Shining smiled at the sight of his marefriend and set his work aside for now. He had almost forgotten they were having lunch together today.

Sitting on the same chair that the other mare had, Cadance set the bag on the table and pulled out a couple of hayburgers, giving one to Shining, who accepted it gladly. “How’s work going today?” Cadance asked just before taking a bite out of her own hayburger, licking at the ketchup that covered her lip.

The guard captain sighed and lowered his lunch. “Could be better.”

She gulped down her food. “I saw that mare leaving your office. Another foalnapping?”

Shining nodded, lifting up his own burger to take a bite of. “Yeah. She’s one of the ones that came back.”

“Anything new?”

“Just more of the same.” He lifted his clipboard and read it over, examining his notes, hoping he could find an answer in there somewhere. “Disappeared about a week ago, we searched endlessly, and just when we were about to give up, she just appeared again. And once more, with no memory between then and now.”

Cadance put a hoof to her chin in thought. “You know, there’s something about that that actually sounds vaguely familiar.” Shining gave her an almost pleading look. He was desperate for answers. “Sorry. It was probably just a movie I saw, or a book I read, or something like that.” She took another bite of her food. “What’s Auntie Celestia doing about all of this?”

Shining visibly flinched, heaving out a long sigh. “The princess keeps saying that things will work out if we’re patient and pay attention. Unfortunately, I’m beginning to lose my patience, and I’m afraid I might not be paying enough attention.”

“Yeah, that sounds like her all right,” Cadance sighed. She looked at the picture that stood on Shining’s desk. It was a picture of the both of them with a young and very excited Twilight Sparkle, taken eight years ago when they got permission to show Twilight around the castle. She gave a nostalgic smile and said, “Have you heard anything from Twilight recently?”

Shining nodded with a smile. “She sent me a letter. You remember her old foalhood friend Trixie? She has the same magic class.” Cadance didn’t know whether to giggle at that or let her face blanch in terror at the idea of those two fillies being in the same room again. That duo was infamous in Celestia's School for causing explosions in their classes, even when the lessons had nothing to do with magic. “Not only that, but she’s made more friends, too, one of whom can actually keep up with her whenever she rambles.”

At that, Cadance did giggle. Matching Twilight’s brain was quite the accomplishment. Even she had difficulty holding intelligent conversations with the younger mare on occasion, and Twilight credited her as the smartest pony she knows.

There was a knock at the door, and Shining opened it with his magic. A small, purple and green bipedal reptile walked in, carrying several scrolls in his claws. Shining groaned at the sight of what he instantly knew was paperwork.

“Spike,” Shining greeted the young lizard. “Let me guess: more missing pony reports?”

“Only one or two this time,” the infant dragon answered. “Most of these are just things you need to sign. A lot of places are asking for increased security patrols. Give you one guess why.”

The guard captain sighed and took the scrolls in his magic, placing them on his desk. As he did this, he wrote a quick letter and gave it to Spike. “Send that to the princess. Our district is understaffed, and we’ll need more ponies.” The dragon nodded and shot a breath of fire at the letter, turning it into a small cloud of green smoke, which flew out a nearby open window. The job done, Spike left the room, waving goodbye to the two ponies.

When the little drake was gone, Cadance smiled. “He’s grown up well since Twilight hatched him.”

Shining nodded in agreement. Spike had only been hatched a few years ago, thanks to Twilight working so hard to pass her entrance exam to get into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns as a filly. Ever since, Spike had been taken in by the Royal Guard for security reasons. Nopony knew what to expect from a newly hatched dragon. Despite initial mistrust, Spike quickly became a productive member of the force, if only as Shining’s division’s mailboy. There was a joke among the guards about Spike being a living mailbox, a title that the little dragon was actually quite all right with, to the point where he actually took pride in it.

“Well,” Cadance said, finishing her hayburger, “I’d best get going. Auntie Celestia wants me present for a meeting with some nobles today.” She gave her coltfriend a kiss upon the cheek and bid him farewell.

Once his marefriend was gone, Shining got back to work, starting with one of the reports of missing ponies. It was the exact same as all the others, the only differences being the name and place. This one was some teenage mare named Lyra Heartstrings, a student at—

“Sweet Celestia,” Shining muttered to himself, eyes wide. Miss Heartstrings was a student at Canterlot Academy. He silently cursed a thousand curses in his head. No doubt, they would have to send more guards to keep an eye on everything more closely, but that was only his second thought.

‘Twily,’ he thought, worry flooding his thoughts. If even one pony was taken from the currently heavily guarded Academy, then his sister was in danger. He couldn’t just have her pulled out of the school in the middle of the school year, though. She’d never let him hear the end of it. Plus, once the Academy had a student they liked, it would take a miracle to get them to let them go. For now, all he could do was supply the school with extra guards and hope that his little sister would stay safe.

-o-

Twilight tried to block out the mutterings from her classmates as she wrote down notes while Daring Do continued to lecture about the fabled Discordian Era, when the entire world was practically dominated by chaos. Next to her, Rainbow Dash was close to nodding off, her head gradually bobbing up and down. Twilight rolled her eyes at her friend's predicament. She'd warned her about staying up so late (though, admittedly, she wasn't much one to talk). Add to that the pegasus's daily exercise routine, and she had a recipe for disaster.

As Professor Daring continued her lecture, she happened to look in Rainbow's direction. She picked up a text book from her desk, still talking, and hovered over to Rainbow's desk. She then unceremoniously dropped the book just an inch shy of Rainbow's head, making the younger pegasus shoot up from seat with a high pitched squeak to hover over her desk, eyes wide.

"Nice of you to join us, Crayon Box," Daring said in way that could only have been intentionally condescending. "Have a nice nap?" Several students laughed at Rainbow's expense then while the multi-colored mare floated back down into her chair, mumbling something under her breath.

"Anyway," Daring continued, "I'm going to assign each of you to make a report on an event in Equestrian history. Anything between the pre-Discordian Era and the Solar Era is fair game. However, it has to have happened at least five hundred years ago. Have fun with that."

-o-

As usual, the cafeteria was bustling with activity, especially the table that Twilight always sat at. Her friends were once again swapping stories with one another. This time, they even had Flash Sentry and Wanderer with them. Even Rarity's entourage were contributing to the conversation. She, as per the norm, had her face buried in a book, occasionally snickering when she heard a joke from one of her friends, while never once losing focus on her studies.

"Hey, Twilight, what’re you reading?" asked Pinkie Pie, who leaned over the lavender unicorn's shoulder, trying to get a peek at what she was reading.

"It's a written documentation of the Nightmare Wars," Twilight answered readily, shrugging her shoulder as Pinkie leaned on it. "The civil war that broke out a thousand years ago between the respective supporters of Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon. Rainbow, Wanderer, and I have to give reports to our history professor."

A proud smile spread across Rainbow’s face. "Mine's on the history of the Wonderbolts. ‘Cause there’s nopony who knows them better than me.”

"Didn’t see that one coming," Trixie commented with a roll of her eyes as she took a sip from her milkshake, earning herself a slight glare from the prismatic pegasus. "So, Twi, any crazy facts that you'd like to share with us regarding those days?

"None that you all probably don't already know. The events of the Nightmare Wars are fairly common knowledge. Although, the followers of Nightmare Moon were notorious in those days for using numerous methods that would be considered war crimes today."

Applejack shook her head in disgust before she looked at Wanderer. "What about you, Wanderer? Somethin’ on the war too?"

He shook his head. "Nah. I'll be doing a report on ancient historic relics and locations," the earth stallion answered. "I just have to figure out which ones I'm going to talk about specifically." He gave her a wide grin. “You never know when the information might be useful.”

"You're smart," Flash said as he leaned back in his seat, a smirk on his face. "You'll probably figure something out. Eventually."

Wanderer gave an appreciative nod before giving the pegasus a glare.

"Yes, I'm hilarious,” Flash said with a growing grin.

Wanderer glowered at him. "You're an a—"

"Language. You're in the presence of mares as well as stallions, my friend." Rarity warned the aggravated stallion, earning laughs from everypony else. Eventually, Wanderer gave a slightly bemused chuckle at his own expense.

Twilight couldn't help but shake her head, a smile on her face. This was a routine she had come to truly enjoy.

"Oh!" Pinkie exclaimed suddenly. "Fluttershy, I heard your roommate Lyra went missing the other day!"

Good feelings gone. The reminder alone put an instant damper on everypony's spirits, much to Pinkie's dismay.

The demure pegasus looked away, her cheer replaced with a worried, fretful expression. "Yes. She didn't come back to our room the night before last. I just thought she might have been staying in another friend's dorm room for the night. She still hasn't shown up."

"Ah'm sure she'll show up again real soon, sugarcube," Applejack reassured the pegasus with a careful pat on her back. They all knew that Fluttershy and Lyra weren't particularly close, but Fluttershy still displayed a great concern for the mint unicorn, as she did with everypony.

A pensive frown crossed Twilight’s muzzle. Something about these foalnappings seemed eerily familiar, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on it. Just one more thing to research, she decided.

-o-

The library was remarkably devoid of life today. This was odd, because there were usually a number of fellow students either studying or reading for reading's sake, either of which Twilight admired when she saw it. There were still other ponies around; the librarians, of course, as well as a bare hoofful of students that were few and far between.

'I guess this just makes it an even more optimal environment for peaceful study,' the unicorn thought as she claimed a study desk in the library's historical section. She set a number of books on the Nightmare Wars down on the desk and immediately cracked it open, instantly enraptured by the knowledge that the tome contained.

The Nightmare Wars are considered by many to be Equestria's darkest age, both figuratively and quite literally. However, to understand those turbulent times, one must first know why the wars began.

Most assume that the would-be usurper Nightmare Moon had simply brainwashed her countless followers using some eldritch magic, twisting their thoughts to serve her will. This cannot be any more untrue. In truth, civil unrest had been widespread throughout Equestria prior to the rise of the so-called 'Mare of Darkness.'

After the Griffon War twenty years prior, Equestria was rendered to a recovering child, despite being the victor. During the twenty years between the two wars, poverty had begun to take hold, despite the best efforts of earth ponies everywhere. Many citizens felt that the royalty was to blame. While citizens toiled and suffered, many royals sat back and counted their bits.

During this period of unrest, Nightmare Moon claimed to see the plight of the downtrodden, and claimed that she would bring equality to Equestria. Most of Equestria's peasantry jumped at the opportunity, as did a hoofful of like-minded nobles.

Nightmare's followers had numerous names through the Nightmare Wars; the Children of Nightmare, the Lunar Chosen, the Nightborn, and many others. However, they most often referred to themselves as the Knights of the Dark Moon, the ever loyal servants of Nightmare Moon.

The book went on to explain in detail about the many battles fought in the Nightmare Wars, ranging from small standstills to major turning points. It also described some of the underhoofed methods that the Knights had employed, ranging from quiet assassinations to casting nightmare spells on enemies, causing Equestrian soldiers to become sleep deprived and unable to effectively combat the Knights. The Knights had also used powerful hypnosis to turn enemy soldiers and even civilians into sleeper agents, who would wreak havoc within Equestria's main forces once activated.

This last entry especially caught her attention. According to the book, these sleeper agents would mysteriously disappear for around a week, often varying between ponies, only to reappear without explanation, and with no memory of the time that they had been gone.

'Just like these recent foalnappings,' she thought as she rubbed a hoof on her chin out of habit, something she always did when in deep thought. Could the Knights of the Dark Moon be behind all of this? Most books said that they had disbanded and scattered after Princess Celestia banished Nightmare Moon to the… well, the moon. Could somepony have remade the ancient cult? Possible, but not probable. Could the cult have simply gone into hiding? If so, why would they take action now, after a thousand years of silence?

Twilight groaned loudly, too many unanswered questions floating around in her head. She hated it when she didn't know something for sure. It was one reason why she avoided tabloid newspapers and books about unexplained events at all costs. Unconfirmed conspiracy theories were torture on her poor brain. Not only that, but she knew for a fact that she wouldn't stop until she knew for absolute certain what was what.

'One thing at a time, Twilight,' she chastised herself. 'You have a history report to do. Then you can play conspiracy detective.' Nodding to herself, she set the first book aside and got started on her report, peeking into one of the many other books she had acquired. The whole time, she was unaware that she was being closely monitored.

-o-

After a week, Lyra Heartstrings reappeared without explanation, just like the others who had vanished. Word of her return had spread like wildfire throughout the Academy, with most ponies simply being relieved that she had turned up. Fluttershy had welcomed her back to their dorm room just before the Royal Guard showed up in response to the news. The mint unicorn was taken in for questioning, which had the unfortunate side effect of starting some rather unsavory rumors about her.

Lyra’s return only made Twilight’s suspicion of who was behind these foalnappings grow. It also made her somewhat wary of the mare. If the Knights of the Dark Moon were truly behind all of this, then she would be better off playing it safe. She had nothing against Lyra, of course. She hardly knew her. It was nothing personal, but Twilight had made a habit of keeping her distance from her.

Once the bell rang to signal the end of the final classes, Twilight immediately made her way to the library. Her history report was completed and turned in, of course, but she had made a promise to herself to try and figure out what was going on with these foalnappings, and, unfortunately, she was compelled to oblige. Thankfully, at least, the library was more than likely to hold the answers she sought.

She asked the librarians and interns around the library as she searched, inquiring as to whether they had anything regarding the Knights of the Dark Moon. Strangely, some of the full-time librarians gave her oddly skeptical, almost suspicious looks, but pointed her in the general direction of her goal regardless. She shrugged it off as the Knights simply being a sensitive topic.

"Servants of the Night: Tales of the Knights of the Dark Moon, The Midnight Hunters, Unreal Truths: The Knights of the Dark Moon..."

She muttered the names of various titles regarding the Knights. The ancient cult had somehow earned its own subsection within the history section of the library. At first, she thought that odd.

'I guess the Knights were technically historically significant, even if it's for all the wrong reasons.'

She poured herself into each book, carefully taking in every minute detail. The Knights must've been quite secretive, because most of the books only contained information she was already aware of. Still, every bit counted, she supposed, even the authors' varying opinions.

Unbeknownst to her, somepony approached from behind. His steps were quiet and deliberate as he drew nearer to her. He reached out with a hoof and tapped her shoulder.

"GAH!"

Wanderer’s scream about matched hers’ as he narrowly avoided a bolt of violet energy from the purple unicorn's horn, which singed the floor where he had once been standing.

"Sheesh, is that how you greet everypony who taps your shoulder?" he quipped with a good-natured laugh, which got a bit heartier when Twilight offered a nervous chuckle.

"Sorry. You just startled me." She motioned to the pile of books on the table she'd been sitting at. "I tend to go into my own little world when I'm studying."

He gave the singe mark another nervous glance before he chuckled. "Yeah, I get that way, too sometimes."

There was a moment of awkward silence between them. The young unicorn would normally let others do the talking, and chime in whenever she felt necessary, or if asked a question. One-on-one conversations were not her forte.

She rubbed at the back of her head. "So... what brings you here?"

"Hmm? Oh, right." He rummaged through his saddlebags, which she had only just noticed. The earth pony dug through them for a good minute or so before he found what he was looking for - a rolled-up scroll, made of what appeared to be an old sort of paper, with slight tears at the edges. "I found this while doing research for my history report. Looks like some kind of magic scroll or something, so I thought you might be interested, since you're majoring in magic and all."

Twilight instantly perked up at the mention of magic, and quickly took the scroll in her magic. What could be inside? A unique spell of some sort? A formula for an improved variant of common magic? A thesis on the various forms of magic?

'Okay, maybe not that last one. This scroll isn't nearly large enough for that.'

"Thanks, Wanderer!" she said with a slight giddiness to her voice. "I'll definitely take a look at this!"

The young stallion nodded. "Let me know if you find any new spells in that thing." He waved goodbye and trotted off and out of the library.

Twilight waved back as he left, then returned her attention to the scroll that floated in her magic. Mind filled with questions and eagerness, she gingerly rolled the scroll open, slowly revealing its contents.

‘Walking in the Dreamscape: A Guide to the Most Mysterious of Realms,’ she read. The Dreamscape? That almost sounded like something from a lesser known fantasy book. She skimmed through the first few lines. The scroll contained instructions on how to safely enter and traverse the Dreamscape. It was… unusual. Some of the instructions contradicted each other, claiming that something that might be friendly in the Dreamscape might also try to kill any travellers. The scroll tried to justify these contradictions by explaining that the Dreamscape is a realm of unpredictability.

‘The Dreamscape is a realm comprised of the imaginings of countless millennia worth of dreams of sleeping creatures. It is just as dangerous as it is safe, as comforting as it is unnerving. The only pony ever known to have physically entered the Dreamscape rather than psychically and return unscathed was the Night Princess Luna, who—’

“Wait, who?” Luna? Who was that? The author of the scroll called her the “Night Princess.” Was it a name given to Nightmare Moon by her followers during the Nightmare Wars?

She ran a hoof through her mane. 'Great. Another mystery to drive me crazy.'

Rolling up the scroll, she decided to read more of it later tonight. Rainbow Dash always blasted rock music on a radio she'd bought a few days after coming to the Academy during her pre-sleep workouts. The music actually helped Twilight think more clearly for some reason, despite some of the rather vulgar lyrics. Perhaps that could help her figure out some of the scroll's contradictions.

At the library counter, the clerk was busy with what appeared to be taking inventory via several tabs and notes, which she quickly filed away into a cabinet. Upon noticing the purple unicorn, she stuffed away a file and turned her attention to the young mare.

"I'd like to check out this magic scroll, please." The clerk nodded and opened a cabinet drawer marked ‘SCROLLS.’

"What manner of magic does the scroll pertain to?" The clerk readied a quill in hoof and the check-out list.

"It refers to something called the Dreamscape." Twilight raised an eyebrow when the earth pony clerk suddenly fumbled with her quill. 'Odd,' she thought. She knew from watching Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and several of her earth pony classmates that the sturdiest of the pony races were more than capable of using quills, pens, and other writing utensils with their hooves. Had the clerk been startled by the mention of the Dreamscape?

"R-right, then," the clerk stammered, the anxiety in her voice obvious even to Twilight. "That would be... Walking in the Dreamscape: A Guide to the Most Mysterious of Realms, correct?" The unicorn nodded, and the clerk reciprocated with a nod of her own as she wrote down the scroll's title. "Name?"

"Twilight Sparkle." The clerk nodded again and reluctantly wrote down the name.

"Okay. Remember that scrolls can only be checked out for a maximum of five days."

"Of course. Thank you." Twilight waved a goodbye to the anxious clerk, who looked almost relieved. She thought about it for a moment as she headed back to her dorm room. Why had the clerk acted so strange about the scroll? Did she have personal experience with it?

'That can't be it. Most earth ponies don't bother studying magic unless they have a talent in magic theory.'

Perhaps the scroll had a bad history behind it? It did seem as though the scroll's author might have had connections to the Knights of the Dark Moon, but that was unlikely. Come to think of it, who wrote the scroll? No name had been given on it. That was also pretty odd when she thought about—

"Oof!" She lost her train of thought when she bumped into somepony, dropping a few things that she had been carrying via her magic. The guard she had collided with gave a slightly annoyed look as he went to gather some things he had dropped.

"S-sorry, sir," she stammered as she picked up the scroll and books she'd been holding. The guard wordlessly rolled his eyes, grabbed his things, and left, leaving the unicorn on her own, an incredulous and somewhat insulted look on her face.

'Rude,' she thought to herself. She almost left when she noticed something on the floor, nearly stepping on it. Some sort of medallion. It could only have the guard's. She picked it up with her magic.

"Guard, you dropped your..." He was already gone from sight. It would be impossible to track him down in the massive Academy campus, especially since Royal Guard armor was enchanted to make guards resemble one another. Sighing in resignation, Twilight eyed the curious medallion. It bore an image of the full moon, complete with the face of the Mare in the Moon.

'Why would a Royal Guardpony have something like this?'

-o-

The library clerk named Index gulped nervously as she knocked on the door. While she had spoken with this stallion many times before, she couldn't help but feel nervous now. Surely, he wouldn't be pleased with this latest development. It had been her job to make sure that nopony found anything regarding the Dreamscape. That was the One Queen's domain, and hers alone. Rejecting a check-out request would've been suspicious, though.

"Enter."

Slowly, ever so carefully, Index entered the room, where her master sat reading a simple book. Even so, he didn't look up from his book to fully acknowledge her, as if she weren't worth acknowledging.

"What is it, Index?"

"I..." She swallowed down as much of her anxiety as she could. "I-I'm sorry, sir. Somepony found something regarding the Dreamscape. A scroll. She checked it out of the library."

He looked up slightly from his book, sending chills down Index's spine. "You didn't stop her?"

"N-no, sir. She would've considered it suspicious to—"

His eyes narrowed. "And I suppose it never crossed your mind to tell her it was a misplaced scroll on a restricted subject?"

A cold sweat began pouring down the mare's neck as she shook her head.

He settled back in his chair again. "Who checked out the scroll?"

"A-a unicorn mare, sir. Twilight Sparkle."

He was silent for several moments, his expression thoughtful as an amused smirk crossed his lips. "I see. This blunder of yours may yet prove to be in our benefit." He turned away from her. "You are dismissed."

With a grateful and almost unbelieving nod, Index fled the room as the stallion clicked his front hooves together in thought.

'Let us see how this plays out.'

Comments

[NobleValor]

Well, wasn't expecting the sleeper agent angle. To tell the truth, I figured they were looking for the element bearers. So THAT'S where Spike went! Wonder how or if he finds Twilight.
There were a couple things you might want to address: For starters, '...jumped ag the opportunity...' should be 'at'. Also '...holding. The wordlessly rolled...' either the word 'guard' is missing or 'The' should be 'He'. If it makes you feel any better, one of the chapters in my work had 'tried' instead of 'tired.'

[kingthe13]

Well I was suspecting sleeper agents or a type of possession by nightmare creatures.
Or there was the off chance they were recruiting and those that didn't join just got there memory's erased and those who did joined faked it.