Knights of Haysead

by Kaiser Perminente

Watch your Back, They're Stabbing it

-Knights of Haysead Ch. 5:

So I was going to wait until Dec. 1st to upload this, but I couldn't wait!! So, as always, thanks to Yoonicorn and space_pony for doing all the editing. I should be back on the regular schedule now, which means that Ch. 6 should be out on Dec. 8th... SHOULD BE...

The green pony blocked out every thought in his head. Nothing mattered but getting away from his pursuers. He didn’t want to turn around and risk slowing down, but he couldn’t change forms before breaking their line of sight. There were no crowds to sneak into or blend with in this part of town. No. This time he was running for his life. He listened intently over the sound of his own heartbeat to try and hear the heavy canter of the ponies chasing him.

He quickly began rounding corners before stopping, figuring that he had shaken them. He looked into the streets ahead, catching a glimpse of gilded royal armor. He stepped back into the alleyway before resurging with some gleaming armor of his own. The formerly green stallion began to walk down the street on which he originally saw the Royal Guardsman. He kept his eyes peeled for the three ponies that were following him earlier.

Just to his luck, up the street he saw one of the stallions. He was about to confront the stallion, when he saw a mare slam into his suspect at high speed. He winced for a second before charging forward himself to apprehend the predators. The mare stood up, yelling at her companion. As the self-proclaimed “Guardsman” approached, he raised his voice as well.

“What the hay is going on over here?!”
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The damp aroma was beginning to dissipate as Rainbow Dash’s time in her prison grew longer. She had taken a break from trying to remember the previous day’s events to wait out the darkness. Her plan wasn’t working. No light was permeating through the spaces in the old, rotting wood.

Standing again, she began to look through these spaces, trying to get a glimpse of anything outside. All that she saw was a sliver of extremely bright light.

“A door!” She shouted out her first clue with excitement, suddenly reinvigorated. She turned around and stepped forward. “Alright, I’m gonna buck my way out of this thing if I have to!”

She furiously began to kick the wall of her prison, but it wouldn’t budge. It felt like it was reinforced with something. She only tired herself out quickly. She sat back down, panting.

“Alright, that won’t work… Maybe I should just go back to trying to remember yesterday…” It was then that Rainbow Dash realized something that she hadn’t thought of before. She wasn’t sure if she really was thinking about yesterday. She had absolutely no idea how long she was out. It could’ve been days! She began breathing heavily, suddenly afraid. Tears began to well in her eyes when the thought of imminent death crossed her mind. Her mind drifted back to Sly Horn, and what he must have been thinking right before he was killed. Did he know it was coming? Was he afraid? She fell back to the floor and cried. For the first time in her life, she wished that somepony could hear it so they could comfort her. But there was no pony there.

She wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but she got to a point where she couldn’t cry any longer. That helped her to get back to her thoughts. If she was going to die, then she would die knowing how and why.
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The cool autumn air was comforting to Twilight. Her afternoon stroll helped take her mind off of the events occurring in Ponyville. Experiencing all of these horrible instances made her feel defenseless. She was one of the Elements of Harmony, for Celestia’s sake! She had to do something about those vile criminals, but not now. This was her time to get away from life and relax.

She was walking through the marketplace when she saw a friend whom she had wanted to talk with for a few days now. Approaching this friend, she prepared herself to be yelled at.

“Hi, Rainbow Dash!”

The pegasus mare turned towards the sound of her name. “Oh, hey Twilight. How’s it going?”

“I’m fine. How are you holding up?”

Twilight’s word choice made Dash raise an eyebrow. “I’m holding up fine… I’m just heading over to the coffee shop.”

“Oh, okay… well um, I was going to go to the Ponyville theatre to see Filly on the Roof. I wanted to see if you wanted to come with, but I guess you’re busy.”

“Yeah, sorry, Twilight…”

They began walking their separate ways, when Twilight turned back and yelled after her friend.

“Wait, Rainbow Dash!” Her cyan friend looked back again. “I’m sorry, you know, about Silent Step… I guess you’re going to have some conflicting emotions about him now…”

“What are you talking about, Twilight? He was fine. I don’t feel any different about him. Are you okay?”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘he was fine?’ You saw him?”

“Of course I saw him! Don’t you remember? The other day I flew to Canterlot to go visit him.”

Twilight was now officially confused. “How long were you there for?”

Rainbow Dash thought back to her endeavor through the Equestrian capital. “Well, I got there around noon time, and I went straight to the keep. It took me like, an hour in security before some genius recognized me as one of the Element of Harmony. Once they let me in, I talked with Silent Step for a while. Then left to grab something for lunch an-”

“Wait, you talked to Silent Step?”

“Yeah… It’s not like he was going to go anywhere.”

Twilight thought through all the scenarios that she could, before she arrived on one that seemed… plausible? No, Rainbow Dash would never… “When did you get back to Ponyville?”

Dash put her hoof to her chin in thought. “I’d say around eleven… why?”

Twilight thought back as well, She came home the same day much earlier than that… If Rainbow Dash had aided his escape, she wouldn’t have stayed in Canterlot that long. She would also be smarter than to bring him back to Ponyville. Or at least, Twilight hoped she would have been that smart.

The bell hung from the clock tower, rang loudly. Twilight and Rainbow Dash both looked up, almost instinctively. It read six o’clock. Rainbow Dash was supposed to be meeting with McIntosh. She quickly turned to run, yelling back at Twilight.

“I gotta go, Twilight. We can talk again later!”
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The room was small and quiet, but Silent Step didn’t complain. He’d been in small quarters for the past five days anyway. He sat at a small table facing a door. To his left was a guard, who stood stolidly staring blankly into the distance. On the scratched up wooden table, there was blank paper, a quill, and an inkwell. Silent Step patiently watched the door.
He could see a well dressed pony talking to the guard outside. After looking over the other’s papers, the guard opened the door and beckoned him in. Silent Step stood as his guest entered. “Nice to meet you, Mr.…”

“Case, Closed Case. I’m the lawyer that Princess Celestia hired to represent you in the Royal Court of Canterlot.” The stallion was a short, slender earth pony. He had a silver mane, his suit jacket nearly blended in with his black coat.
Both ponies sat down. Silent Step opened his mouth, but was quickly interrupted by Closed Case.

“Alright let’s get down to business.” He spoke with great speed and efficiency. “First things first: I looked over the case file, it looks like I’ll be able to drum up a good defense. Okay, next, the most important rule of a case, I don’t want to know if you did it, so just tell me you didn’t. That way will be better for both of us. Now, I need you to do a favor for me.” He pulled a blank sheet of paper from his briefcase, completely disregarding the one already on the table. “I’m going to need names and contact information of all witnesses that you want to appear during your trial. I’ll talk to them about the case and also courtroom etiquette. I’ll need you to talk to them about how they should appear.”

Silent Step looked up from the name list that he was scribbling on the page that Closed Case just passed him. He put the quill down to respond.

“What do you mean ‘How they should appear?”
The lawyer pony lengthened his neck to see what Silent Step had written on the list. After a short moment of silence, he began to speak. “It’s mostly psychological stuff for the jury’s sake. Make sure the keep their mane well groomed, tell them not to wear anything too flashy, and I know it seems strange, but get them to wear blue.”

“Blue?”

“Another psychology thing, wearing blue makes ponies trust you more.”
Silent Step looked down at Rainbow Dash’s name on the uncompleted witness list. “Well, I don’t think that will be a problem.”

Closed Case continued to ramble on about the case, what to expect, how the prosecution would most likely act, as well as other courtroom details that Silent Step didn’t really pay any attention to. He finished putting together the witness list and handed it back to his lawyer.

“Just be gentle when talking to these people, they can be a little… strange.”

Closed Case reached out and grabbed the page off of the table. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”
He placed the witness list into his briefcase and pulled out another piece of paper. On it was a list of Do’s and Don’ts in the courtroom. He passed it to Silent Step, who gave it a cursory glance.

“Those are the basics, just to make sure you don’t buck up. Any questions?”

“No, I think I’m good.”

Closed Case stood, closed his briefcase, and stretched his hoof out to Silent Step, who promptly shook it. “Then I will see you on Thursday. We’ll have to discuss the actual trial details then. Until then, I’ll talk to your witnesses and see what I can put together.”

“Thank you very much, sir.”

Closed Case left the room as the guardsman directed Silent Step to stand. He did as he was told and the stoic guard escorted him back through the stone hallway leading back to the cell block.
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Rainbow Dash frantically looked through the crowded town road. She spotted the building where she was supposed to meet Big McIntosh. She quickly ran to the front of the coffee shop, searching for the red draft horse. She spotted him standing in front of the door, looking around nervously. She started walking towards him and everything went black.

Rainbow Dash quickly jolted to a standing position as the memory began to pass and she began to again become aware of her surroundings. She realized that she was still trapped in the tiny space, unable to see much. Her eyes had somewhat adjusted to the darkness, and she was able to see more now than before. She felt a cold sweat all over her body. It was as if she was still experiencing the horror of her memory.

She mused on the thought for a while. That was the last thing she seemed to remember before waking up in this place. She had no recollection of talking to Big Mac or relaying any news to Wisp or Umbra. No, she was certain that that moment in her memory was her last time conscious before coming to in a wooden crate. But if that were so, why didn’t anypony try to help her when she passed out? If somepony who had any conscience whatsoever had found her, she would have been taken to the hospital, or at least back home. Why was she stuffed in a storage crate? Was there somepony out there who needed her out of the way? But why her? Why?!

“WHY?!” She shouted out into the darkness and again began furiously bucking at the wall.
The silence was again broken by another voice, which was familiar to Rainbow Dash. “Wha? Who’s there?”
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Wisp went over the files on her desk, double, triple checking them for discrepancies. They consisted of a log counting everypony that entered and left Ponyville. She had been occupied with this desk job for the last few weeks. The changeling that had impersonated Dius Cognatio wouldn’t be able to leave under their watch. Every name was listed any time that any of them had crossed the outer border of Ponyville was watched. She was looking over the list for the umpteenth time when she heard a pony approach.

“Wisp, I’m back.”

Wisp looked up to see Rainbow Dash with a disappointed look on her face. “That was quick… What happened?”

“I couldn’t find him anywhere. I looked around the whole area, but he wasn’t there. So, I went to Sweet Apple Acres and Applejack said that he was out.”

“Damn it! Now he’s either flaking on us or something really bad happened. Did you happen to see Green Hoof when you were at the farm?”

“No, she said he was with McIntosh.”

“Augh! That can’t be good! C’mon Rainbow, grab your cloak!”
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“C’mon Spike I don’t want to miss the train!” Twilight Sparkle shouted at her assistant from the front door of her library home.

“I’m coming Twilight. Hold on!”

He ran downstairs, carrying his luggage under his arms. He tripped on the way down and tumbled the remainder of the way down the circular stairway. Twilight quickly ran over and looked down at him, rolling her eyes. “We’re only going to be there for one night, Spike. You don’t need to pack all of this stuff”

Spike waited for his head to stop spinning before replying. “I just wanted to take the necessary precautions.”

Twilight looked at the nearest wall clock. They were going to be late if they didn’t hurry. She quickly grabbed Spike and one of the three bags which he was originally planning on bringing. They rushed out the door and down the street to the train station. The train was waiting there, about to leave. Twilight quickly pulled out her and Spike’s tickets and hopped on board the Canterlot-bound locomotive.

Once seated, Spike decided that then was a good point to ask a question that had been on his mind for a while. “Twilight, why are we going to Canterlot?”

“I told you, Spike, I need to talk to Silent Step and figure out what happened the other night. Something’s off about this whole situation.”

Spike was about to say something before erupting a large green flame out of his mouth. The flame coiled up and materialized into a sealed scroll. Twilight caught the scroll with a purple magic aura. She broke the seal and began to read aloud.

“Twilight Sparkle, you have been summoned by the Royal Court of Canterlot to testify in the federal case against Silent Step. The aforementioned stands accused of first degree murder and the association with a terrorist organization. You are scheduled to appear in court on the 10th of Hearthfire… The tenth? That’s only a week from now! Why didn’t I get this earlier?”

Spike laughed at the irony which only he seemed to notice. “Good thing I planned ahead! I have enough packed to last me the whole time.”

Twilight read over the rest of the letter silently. She had to meet with the prosecutors the next day as well as take a short seminar on courtroom etiquette. That would be a breeze for her. But this new association with the prosecution changed everything. Now she probably wouldn’t be allowed to visit Silent Step like she had wanted. This would also mean that she was going directly against Rainbow Dash in court. As if their friendship wasn’t teetering on an edge already.
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Gold Express had never been to Ponyville before. But because of a stupid route change, he had to walk an extra ten miles to deliver his mail. He couldn’t complain, though, the whole reason he had gotten this job was to meet knew ponies. He already knew everypony on his old route, so this would give him a chance to meet even more of them.

After dropping off a few letters, magazines, and parcels, he came to an address which gave him some difficulty. After arriving upon the location at which the house should have been, he wasn’t able to find it until taking a cursory glance upward. The abode, modeled after the architecture of Cloudsdale, hung about thirty feet above the ground. There was no earth-mounted mailbox in which he could place the resident’s delivery. Being an earth pony, he wasn’t able to fly or levitate it to its destination. He looked around for a helpful neighbor or townspony to assist him. To his luck, a cyan pegasus happened to be roaming by.

“Excuse me, ma’am, but can you help me out here? I need to get this letter to that cloud house up there but, as you can see that’s going to be a bit of a problem for me.”

The mare turned to him, then looked at the letter he was holding, and then the house itself. “That’s my house. I’ll just take the letter now, thanks!”

“Oh, well how ‘bout that!”

Gold Express gave the message to her and continued on his way. Rainbow Dash quickly flew up to the house before opening it. The first thing she noticed was the sender: The Royal Court of Canterlot. She quickly looked at the content of the body.

Rainbow Dash,
You have been summoned by The Royal Court of Canterlot to testify in the federal case against Silent Step. The aforementioned stands accused of first degree murder and the association with a terrorist organization. You are scheduled to appear in court on the 10th of Hearthfire in courtroom B-3 at 11:00 AM. Your presence will be required for the duration of the trial, as you may be called to testify at any time. You will be questioned, under oath, by both the defense and the prosecution. All statements will be recorded for further use. Please note that proper courtroom attire and behavior are mandatory. The presiding judge will be the honorable, Fair Verdict.

Thank you,

Royal Court of Canterlot

“He called her to testify? Oh, this just got so much better.”
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The countdown had reached zero. The day of Silent Step’s trial had arrived. He was walked through the courtroom hallway by two steel-clad guards, Closed Case walking nearby. Silent Step stayed true to his name, not saying a word to anypony they passed, even with reporters badgering him non-stop. Once they reached a small conference room. The guards led Silent Step in, along with his lawyer, to give them some privacy from the watching eyes.

“Alright, remember what we talked about. Keep calm, eyes forward, speak slowly and clearly, but think about what to say before saying it, alright?”

“I think I’ll remember.” Silent Step’s voice had a sneer, sarcastic tone to it. He looked up at the wall clock, 10:15. “I need to use the restroom, I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t say anything to anypony, Silent Step!”

Silent Step walked out the door and had a guard escort him down the hallway. Along the walk, a certain, tall stallion caught his eye. He flinched, before quickly looking away and continuing forward.

He stepped into the restroom, leaving the guard at the door. He walked up to the mirror and stared at himself. He hadn’t seen his reflection in weeks. He mulled over how much his short prison stay had altered his appearance. The differences were subtle, but certainly there. His mane was disheveled, he had dark circles under his eyes, but the change that scared him most, was that the subtle smile that he always had at the corner of his lips, had completely disappeared.

While Silent Step mused over his missing or altered facial features, another stallion walked in. Silent Step caught a glimpse of his face in the mirror.

“What do you think you’re doing here?”

The other stallion looked at Silent Step, before responding in a deep register. “Well, when I heard that one of my boys was on trial, I figured that I shouldn’t let him go it alone. But, I guess you don’t want me here.”

Silent Step turned around and stared the stallion strait in the face. “If they find out who you are, we’ll both be in big trouble. Not to mention all of the crap that Celestia will have to deal with!”

“I think that I’ll be able to keep attention away from myself, seeing as that is my job…”

“Admissaurius, with all due respect, sir, I think it would be best if you left.”

Both of them could hear the guard yell in from the doorway. “Hey, hurry up in there!”

Silent Step turned away from his leader and began walking toward the exit. “I’m not taking any blame if you’re caught.”

The guard escorted him back to the conference room where Closed Case was still waiting. He went over the schedule for the trial, as well as any other minor details that Silent Step would need to know. They waited for the remainder of the time for the minutes to click away. Silent Step went over the incident over and over in his head, trying to recall every minute detail. The clock struck five minutes to eleven. They both stood and were brought from the conference room to the courtroom door, which was a relatively short walk.

“Are you ready?”

“I don’t think it really makes a difference at this point…”

The double doors swung open as Silent Step took a final, deep breath, and entered the courtroom.

Comments

[Rainbow87dash]

Well he's screwed