The Mystifying Adventures of Occult Readings and Gallant Knight

by Giftmak3r

New Schedule

The immediate drama of Occult trying to ditch him out of the way Gallant was invited to what was surely going to be an awkward lunch. He wasn't hungry nor was he eager for another argument.

"Celestia, would you mind if I checked out my new room before I eat?" He asked unsure of what to make of the white furred princess. Celestia said nothing but did nod with a soft smile. The three older ponies then said their piece and made their way out of the room. Not before Celestia ordered a gaurd to lead him to the kitchen once he was done.

Once Gallant was alone he searched the room. The most apparent thing was the amount of dust in the room. This was definitely Occult's old room. There were torn down voodoo dolls on the shelf and books that looked ominous. If he could read the darn things he wouldn't doubt there was dark magic and demonology or something crazy.

Pulling a book out of the shelf he saw pages so yellow and weathered that they could have been a thousand years old. Putting the book back he grabbed another and it was the same thing. One of the pages practically disintegrated as he tried to turn it. He checked every book and every one of them was like that. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of a child Occult was that he could be interested in and also trusted with these ancient tomes.

Looking around the room more Gallant spotted a painting of Occult and another pony, but the second pony had a distorted face and the paint looked like it was melting at that very moment. It was strange. The painting didn't look like it had been tampered with but it also didn't seem like the disturbance was meant to be there. He'd have to ask Occult who the pony in the painting was later.

"Ilatzi you there?" Gallant asked to the empty room. After waiting for a few seconds with no response he decided that the shadow demon had to be with Occult. Deciding he's seen enough of the room he left to great the gaurd outside.

"Hey could you guide me to Celestia and Luna." Gallant asked casually startling the gaurd.

"Of course, follow me." The gaurd said clearly disturbed by something. Though he was curious Gallant didn't have the energy to deal with the jumpy gaurd today.

It didn't take the two long to reach the dining area where Occult and the two princesses were eating. Without little motivation Gallant climbed up one of the chairs at the middle of the table opposite of Occult. Looking at the plate of food before him he was pleasantly surprised to find what looked like normal human food minus the meat. No flowers, no hay, no grass. Nothing was visually unappealing. It's what he imagined rich people ate every day.

"So Luna you said I would learn how to read and fight. Who's gonna teach me?" Gallant asked absent-mindedly ignorant of the tension present in the room.

"I can take care of that if you could forgive me for trying to leave you." Occult said dejected with ears flopped down and a frown on his muzzle. It was then Gallant started to notice the atmosphere in the room. They were probably all arguing before he got there.

"Yeah I forgive you. No problem." Gallant responded. He was still upset, but there was no point holding onto it.

"You'll forgive me? Just like that?" Occult asked confused.

"I understand why you did it, you don't want me to get hurt. I just wanted you to get my point of view." He explained to the older stallion.

"That if something happens to me that you'd be stuck here?"

"Got it in one." Gallant said as cool as he could in an attempt to lessen the pressure between everyone. Occult seemed to have a weight lifted off of his shoulders and Luna looked... less pissed off.

"Well, should we discuss your new day plans Gallant Knight?" Celestia chimed in cheerfully. He responded with just a nod as he began to begin eating his food. "Wonderful. As Occult said he will aid in your education, however one of my teachers will teach you the basics of the written language while Luna has offered to teach you combat until a suitable replacement has been found."

Celestia paused as she looked at Gallant, he wasn't sure if he was supposed to respond or if Celestia was trying to gage his reaction or something. Quickly swallowing the food in his mouth he told her he was fine with it.

"Well in that case you will start your training with Luna after you've taken some time to let your meal digest. Though your normal day plan from now on will be training at sunrise, schooling around noon and you will spend your evenings with Occult Readings." Celestia explained. It was a little bit daunting. He knew he had a lot of catching up to do, but waking up at sunrise to get his butt kicked in training every day didn't sound fun.

"Sounds like a plan." He responded unenthused.

"I think I'll take my leave. Thank you for lunch Celestia, Luna." Occult bowed before begining to leave.

"Wait Occult before you go I wanted to ask you about that weird painting in your room." He blurted out before Occult had the opportunity to teleport away or something.

"You mean the one of me and my father? What's weird about it?" Occult asked as if it wasn't a moving painting.

"Well I recognized you but your 'father' wasn't distinguishable. The painting was heavily distorted and the paint on the canvas looked like it was moving on its own." Gallant explained to his friend.

"No no, you must be mistaken. It's just a normal painting."

"No, there's definitely something wrong with it." Gallant pushed. Looking to the princesses for backup but they looked at him like he was speaking a different language.

"Very well, we can check the painting out before you head to training with Luna." Occult sighed as he began to leave the room. "I'll wait at the door as you finish your lunch."

Satisfied that Occult would check out the weird painting he snarfed down the rest of his plate and thanked Celestia and Luna for helping him as he left the room. Before he left Luna told him to meet her in the training grounds and that a guard would show him the way.

It was a short walk back before he saw Occult. Greeting him at the door the two walked in the room and looked at the painting.

"See its just a normal painting." Occult said as Gallant looked at the morphing distortion made of paint.

"Either you've never seen a normal painting in your life or were seeing different things Occult." He responded. The more he looked at the painting the more creeped out he got.

"In that case let's get a second opinion. GAURD." Occult shouted and the gaurd that was watching the room entered.

"What's the issue sir?"

"Would you take a look at this painting and tell me what you see?" Occult asked kindly.

"It looks like you as a colt and there's a massive distortion on the painting. It kind of looks like it's moving." The gaurd replied reinforcing Gallants point.

"Thank you, that is all." Occult said completely shocked. Eying the painting more critically his horn started glowing in yellow. "There's no magical signature on the painting. How could it possibly?"

"It's not dangerous or anything is it?"

"No no no, this is some sort of obstruction spell. The effects shouldn't be harmful. The real question is how there's no signature and why I can see it while you can't." Occult explained picking the painting up in his magic. "I'll take this with me to study."

"Will I be meeting you this evening?"

"No, we will wait to start our studies until you have at least learned earth pony script." Occult explained without even looking at him. The stallions attention solely focused on the painting before him.

"Ok then, I'll go find Luna at the training yard." He responded leaving the room. The gaurd must have heard him say that as she gave him a nod and started walking down the corridors. It didn't take more than ten minutes to reach the training ground. Luna was stretching as he arrived.

"Hey Luna, I'm ready to train now!" Gallant shouted out. Luna finished her stretch and looked over to the colt with a devilish smile across her face. Suddenly Gallant felt a tinge of regret for not staying in Ponyville.

Comments

[Ali della Morte]

Spotted some mistakes and have suggestions/solutions for fixing them.

he left to great

greet

trusted with these ancient tombs.

tomes (these are books, not King Tut's burial site)

Celestia was trying to gage

gauge

to let your meal finish

I believe "digest" would be a better choice of word over "finish".

your life or were

we're

there'd no signature and why I can see it

there's, can't

The stallions attention

stallion's

Luna was stretching waiting for him as he arrived.

This sentence isn't put together correctly. Why not try this: "Luna was stretching while waiting for him to arrive."