Knights of the Everfree

by Lightning Shaker

Explosions and Training

Knights

of the Everfree

Chapter Nine:

The sun had just started to rise when Snow Star burst into the room, her armor already polished and her wings flapping excitedly. “Wake up boys; it’s time to begin your training!” A drowsy but awake Mercury shuffled along behind her. Lightning Shaker looked over his shoulder, having already been awake and staring out the window. He couldn’t suppress the grin on his face even though it was obvious he was tired.

Dream Dasher groaned, turning back over to sleep. “It’s way too early for this.” He mumbled.

Lightning Shaker chuckled as he looked back out the window while Snow Star went to shake Dream Dasher awake; most of Ponyville was still asleep at this hour. The elder pony moved to the edge of the bed, Mercury following along. “Come on, wake up. We’ve got a lot to do today. Please tell me you’re going to take this seriously.” She asked as she shook the bed, Mercury at her side, chuckling at the sleeping pony.

Dream Dasher turned over about to complain again when a loud boom shook the house, Lightning Shaker gasped as he watched transfixed at the window. Snow Star landed back on the ground, her instincts having thrown her in the air, ready to move. “What was that? Do you see anything?” She asked the other pegasus.

He pointed out the window as she got closer. “There was a loud explosion and this rainbow just flew out from Cloudsdale. You think there was an accident at the factory?” He asked as he watched the last of the rainbow flying away, Snow Star just barely catching any of it.

“Mercury, we need to get a letter to the Princess. Sorry you two, but it's possible your training will be postponed. If there’s an emergency, I’ll need to be available to help.” She took the parchment and quill from Mercury, and scribbled a hasty letter asking for orders.

“Training postponed? Good. I’m going back to sleep.” Dream Dasher said blearily.

Snow Star held the letter up for Mercury to send off, glaring at the colt. “No. Even if I have to leave, we’re at least getting you two started with exercises, which means getting some breakfast in you. Come on.” With that, she yanked the covers off of Dream Dasher, who finally relented and got out of bed.

Lightning Shaker followed Snow Star and Mercury out of the room as they headed for the kitchen, a worried expression on his face. “Do you really think something bad happened? I can help if you think it’s bad.”

She shook her head as they passed through the living room, giving a worried look to Mercury. The dragon just shrugged. “If it’s serious enough to call on the Royal Guard, then you aren’t ready to help Lightning. Sorry.”

They entered the kitchen, where Melody Spring was nervously pacing around, having heard the explosion as well. A skillet that was frying some daisies in butter with some herbs having been forgotten on the stovetop. Lightning went over to pull the food off the stove to keep it from burning, the smell coming from the food making his stomach growl. Warm sunlight was starting to pour in through the window, casting the room in a golden glow as the ponies waited for a response.

Snow Star shifted uncomfortably as she waited. It was taking entirely too long to get a reply. ‘Maybe whatever happened caused the Princess to be unable to respond.’ She thought, with worry written on her face. She began adjusting her armor to distract herself. Mercury, noticing her nervousness, poked the pegasus in the side and gave her a look while nodding to the two trainees in the room.

Snow Star was thankful for the reminder, having understood the message clearly. ‘Don’t let your charges see you nervous, you have to be in control.' She smiled her thanks to the dragon and cleared her throat. “Miss Spring, perhaps you should return to bed, I’ll see to these two.”

Melody Spring stopped her worried pacing, giving Snow Star a weak smile. “Oh I can’t go back to sleep, I’m already up. Though I suppose I could get to my garden work early. It’ll be nice to be done for the season.”

Mercury hopped back up on all fours, “Incoming message from the Princess.” She declared just before the room was lit with blue light as the dragon blew out a puff of flame containing Princess Celestia’s response.

Snow Star quickly grabbed the letter laying it out on the table to read, the pegasus visibly relaxed as she read. “The Princess assures me that there is no danger. What we heard was an isolated thing that caused no harm... but much good. Huh, I wonder what that means.” Snow Star looked up from the letter, smiling. “All is good apparently. We can still continue with training.”

Lightning Shaker cheered as Dream Dasher groaned in disappointment, going back to sleep suddenly off the table. “Well then, let’s have breakfast before you start. After all, you can’t do your best without food in your belly.” Melody said as she moved the tasty smelling food onto plates. They ate quickly, the excitement the day had shown already, even though it was still early, making the small group eager to get started.

The two colts donned some training gear that Snow Star had brought along for them to 'get used to wearing the armor of the Royal Guard'” It was heavy and bulky made of thick leather with iron plates, but it made Lightning Shaker ecstatic because this was the official beginning of his training. They started with some basic stretches then moved on to exercises, and some push-ups, followed by a run around Ponyville. Melody Spring watched as she tended her garden, harvesting the vegetables and flowers to take to the cellar for storage.

Snow Star arrived back at the house, her two trainees lagging behind, their breath coming out in short gasps as they struggled to lift their tired legs. “Wow that was a rough run. You’re really fast.” Lightning said as he skidded to a stop, wobbling under the weight of his gear. Dream Dasher huffed a few times grinning, the workout having successfully woken him up.

“Alright, I believe you still have an obligation at the Apple Family farm, correct? We'll go do that as well.” Snow Star said as she waved to Melody Spring.

Lightning Shaker nodded. “Just let us get this gear off and we’ll go.”

Snow Star chuckled. “I never said anything about taking off your training gear. No, you will do the work wearing it.”

Lightning Shaker visibly paled through his blue coat. “I could barely manage yesterday without this stuff. I’m not sure I can do it with it on.”

The elder pegasus nodded. “It’ll be hard, but consider it good training. This will make you strong, and you need to be strong to be a Royal Guard.”

Lightning grinned at that, and nodded. “We’ll be gone for a while doing work, Mom. Be back when we’re done.” He said, hugging the earth pony.

She waved as the three ponies headed off to Sweet Apple Acres, looking down she noticed Mercury staring at her from the door. “Are you hungry? I can make something for you if you need.” She said, smiling at the little dragon despite the unnerving effect those glowing eyes had on her.

The baby dragon shook her head before slowly stepping out of the house, looking warily from side to side, clutching her wings to her side. “I had the rest of what you made for breakfast.” She said, still glancing about nervously.

“Are you alright? Nothing bad is going to happen to you here in Ponyville.” Melody said, patting the young dragon on the head. Now that Mercury was out in the light, her eyes didn’t appear to be glowing, which helped to ease the earth pony a bit.

“It’s not just Ponyville... even in Canterlot it was often that I would get treated differently; either as though I was a pet, or a monster. To my knowledge I’m the only non-wild dragon around, and I’m not even like the other dragons from this area. My home is very far away, I’m told.” Mercury snorted a plume of blue flame as she curled up into a tight ball near Melody’s hooves.

The mare felt a pang of guilt as she looked down at the now quietly sobbing dragon; she had acted the same way so far towards Mercury. ‘She’s just a baby after all. I’m sure none of this is easy for her.’ She thought as she gently stroked a hoof along Mercury’s spines. “Say Mercury, how would you like to help me here in the garden? I’ve got to get all these vegetables and flowers stored before winter starts, and I could certainly use some help.”

Mercury looked up and gave a small nod her sobs having been reduced to sniffles. As they got to work, Melody decided she could cheer the dragon up with some stories, the first one coming to mind being when she got little Lightning Shaker and Dream Dasher to look after.

It was late in the evening when they returned from the Apple Family Farm. All three ponies were considerably tired; Lightning Shaker and Dream Dasher were barely able to lift their hooves as they came in through the front door of the house. Snow Star was visibly less exhausted, but apple bucking and carrying heavy barrels of apples was still hard work, and she was glad to be done. They were greeted by the delicious smell of warm food, and the smiles of Melody Spring and Mercury. “We thought you would be hungry, so we made some stew!” Mercury said enthusiastically, her tail swishing from side to side.

“That sounds perfect, thank you.” Snow Star said as she helped Lightning Shaker and Dream Dasher out of their training outfits, both colts happy to have the heavy outfits off, and their tired muscles causing them to collapse in the living room. It was decided it would be better to have their meal there instead of making the tired colts get up.

“How did my boys do?” Melody asked as she ladled more of the tasty stew into each bowl.

Snow Star eagerly took another helping, grinning from ear to ear. “They did really well actually; I was impressed with their ability to stick to it even though it was hard work. I’m sure most would have quit, but they didn’t.” She patted each of the boys on the head before digging in to her meal.

Lightning grinned at his mom. “Oh hey, Applejack came back to the farm today too; I guess she decided city life wasn’t for her.”

Dream Dasher frowned. “City life? What city? Where did she go?” The earth pony asked, his bowl already empty.

Lightning Shaker shrugged. “Something about living with her Aunt and Uncle in Manehattan. I didn’t really get it, but now she’s back at the farm. Big Mac and Granny Smith sure seemed happy though.”

Melody Spring smiled at her two boys happily as they all sat and ate their meal, talking and laughing before eventually it was time to put the boys to bed.

Lightning awoke with a start, the familiar backdrop of black nothingness greeting him. “Really? I thought you had gone away. What do you want now?” He called out to the older pegasus he knew was watching.

The pool lit up off to his side. The nightmares lounged beside it, indifferent to the pegasus colt. “You’re progressing, much more than I thought you would considering how worthless you are.” Lightning’s reflection sneered as it mocked him.

Lightning Shaker sighed, sitting down. “Look, I’m not interested in doing this with you. I’ve gotten what I was after, and I’ve been accepted into the Royal Guard. Your prediction was wrong.”

The reflection chuckled as he polished his armor with a hoof. “Prediction? I didn’t make any predictions. I simply goaded you into attempting to reach your own goals.”

Lightning jumped up onto his hooves. “Why? What do you want from me!?” He yelled angrily.

It was the reflection's turn to get angry. “What do I want? What do I WANT!? WHAT I WANT IS TO HAVE A TOMORROW!” The surface of the glowing pool shook violently with the force of his anger. The nightmares got up from their resting place, stirred by his rage.

Lightning eyed them warily, but focused back on his reflection. “What do you mean ‘have a tomorrow’?” He asked.

The reflection showed its shock at having given something away, but quickly schooled his features. “I’m already tired of this conversation. You know what time it is now.” With that, the nightmares began to move around the glowing pool of water, their manes and tails flickering with flames, and their hooves hissing where the pool brushed against them.

Lightning grinned at the nightmares. “Bring it on then, I’m healed up, and I'm not weak anymore. I’ve been looking forward to a rematch!” He crouched down in an attack position. Suddenly the nightmares and the reflection all looked to the side, Lightning Shaker turned to look as well but he didn’t see anything. He looked back to the pool, seeing his reflection staring angrily at the spot off to the side. Then he saw it.

A light was forming. It was intensely bright, and Lightning thought he could see it breaking through the darkness for once, revealing the area around them as something other than a black void with a pool in it. The nightmares backed away as the light grew, the reflection of Lightning merely sighed as it watched the real Lightning begin to wake up. “We’ll discuss this later.” The reflection said.

Lightning woke up with a start. The room was bathed in light. ‘Must be morning already, I didn’t think I slept that long.’ He thought, looking out the window. Lightning saw a silhouette before suddenly the light disappeared, leaving the room in darkness. All that was left was the sound of laughter, not malicious, but genuinely happy laughter. “I have got to stop having these weird dreams. Why is so much strange stuff happening?” He asked before lying back down.

Try as he might, sleep would not come to him as he sat up and watched dawn approach casting its light on the room he shared with Dream Dasher. Lightning Shaker sighed. “This is going to be a long day.”

Comments

[Lightning Shaker]

Alright new chapter is up with some new questions and some answers, and yes I did in fact set the timeline story wise again obviously. Have fun reading.

[Solid 6GEAR]

Quite an entertaining chapter, we get more stuff about that 'dream world' and a few hints at a darker plot ahead. This is gonna be a blast!

[Inspira Flash]

That laughter.... >________________>

[Lightning Shaker]

1153336>>1146812 Ah try, Ah try.

[Sunset Strider]

Dat silhouette. >>

xD Good chapter! Yay return of the mean dreams! Can't wait to see where all that foreshadowing leads. :3

[Lightning Shaker]

1162726 Heehee, I'm building up so much, I hope I don't let everyone down in the end.