The Mystifying Adventures of Occult Readings and Gallant Knight

by Giftmak3r

Peak at the Past

It had been two weeks since Gallant and Occult had arrived in Canterlot. Luna had driven him into the ground with her training. While Luna's training had been exhausting Gallant already felt the difference. He become more comfortable with his new body.

The only thing he still hasn't felt more confident with was the use of his wings. While he could somewhat liken his front and hind hooves to arms and legs if only a little. The problem came with his wings. The feeling was completely alien in every sense of the word. He had muscles on his back that he had to learn to use, and what was weirder was that the sections of his wings could move independently granting his wings more flexibility.

Luckily Luna was just content to make him practice his range of motion and moving individual bits of his wings. He wouldn't learn how to fly properly until his new trainer came. Apparently the new trainer is gonna be another thestral that hunted monsters for his clan and he'd be here within two days.

On the other hand his more academic learnings have been going well. A unicorn mare named Spring Showers had been teaching him earth pony script primarily as its the most common language and it wasn't that hard to decipher. Given how earth ponies had to write with their mouths they tended not to break their lines if it could be avoided. It really just looked like cursive from back home. Not that he was proficient with cursive, but he knew enough to help him through his lessons.

Apparently the rate at which he caught on caused some shock to his teacher. Celestia had told her about how he was "special" or something to explain his lack of basic knowledge so the teacher was shocked when he was able to read on his own after the first week. He was interested in learning the other two scripts, but seeing as he had no plans to stay in this world longer than he needed to he decided they weren't worth learning.

The more exciting part was how Occult was supposed to teach him magic tonight. Tonight was finally the night he'd start learning to kick demons where the sun didn't shine. He tried getting Occult to teach him earlier but he was so absorbed in that weird painting that his dad left him.

Gallant decided to arrive for lunch earlier than normal and found Celestia at the table speaking to a chef pony. Speaking up he got her attention and she dismissed the chef.

"Well Gallant, I've heard you've done well with your studies." She smiled with that warm loving aura about her.

"Yeah, it's kind of similar to my old language so it wasn't hard to catch on, but I don't think I'll be able to learn unicorn script very easily." He explained to the monarch as he sat down at the diner table. "How goes things in the political realm. I hope the nobles weren't too snobby today."

Celestia giggled at this. "The nobles weren't that bad today, they were all in in a huff over the dragon smoke that was caused this morning."

"That was a dragon? I figured it was a forest fire or something. Well did everything turn out well?" He asked.

"Nothing the Elements of Harmony couldn't solve." She said proudly.

"And how are you doing outside of rulership stuff?" He spotting Celestia frown for a split second before she hid it away.

"I'm doing just fine, and yourself?" She diverted the question not so subtlety. He wanted to find out what was wrong, but if she didn't want to tell him then that was her right.

"I'm excited to start learning magic from Occult tonight." He stated practically drooling at the thought. It was then Celestia's smile dropped and she didn't bother to fake a smile again. It didn't take a genius to figure out the thing upsetting her was Occult. He saw them both as friends so he didn't want to just leave it at that.

"Whats wrong with Occult?" He inquired only to be met with a deep groan from Celestia.

"He's behaving just like he was when he was a colt. Chasing his father's legacy even when I warn him against it." She explained in a pained tone. It was strange, Gallant had never heard Celestia upset. She always did her best to keep a smile on her face for the sake of every other pony around. If Occults dad has Celestia of all ponies upset he must be a real peice of work.

"Whats so bad about him wanting to be like his dad?" Gallant probed.

"His dad was a great stallion for the first few hundred years, but during the end of his legacy his sanity began to wane." Celestia explained grimly. For such a quick explanation Gallant's mind was blown. Occult's dad live for multiple hundreds of years? How is that possible? Was he an alicorn like Celestia?

Opening his mouth to ask another question Gallant found himself unable to speak. Celestia seeing this chuckled weakly. "No, he was not an alicorn. He had found a way to defy mortality dispite my warnings. Occult Readings followed the same path as his father. I'm worried that he too will lose his grip on reality should he pursue this path."

Gallant knew that Celestia was fishing for a response. He may technically be a child, but that didn't mean he wasn't aware of Celestia's plots. She had the eyes of somebody making a plan.

"Is Occult's dad still alive?" He asked cautiously. If Occult's dad was some evil immortal wizard or something she was probably worried that if Occult found him he'd turn evil too. Even if Gallant had no plans to stay in this realm he still had an obligation to his friends.

"I don't know. Last I've seen of his father he was so mad that he convinced himself he could wipe all demonkind from existence and tore a hole through the middle of the mountain ranges that opened the demon realm. It took me three days to close that tear in reality and after that I haven't seen him since." Celestia explained with tears welling up in her eyes. It was clearly not a fond memory.

Just then a thought struck Gallant. Ponies didn't seem very familiar with demons from what he understood. How is it a massive portal to the demon realm opened and nopony could remember? Was Occult also hundreds of years old or something?

"How long ago was this?" He asked unable to quell his curiosity.

"It was about three hundred years ago." Celestia explained. Three hundred years!? Occult was at least three hundred years old!? Not knowing how to respond Gallant sat there picking at his plate. Digesting both the food and hefty info drop he just recived. He had lots to discuss with Occult tonight.

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