Prologue

Knights

of the Everfree

Prologue:

Lightning Shaker grinned as he prepared to storm the gates of the castle; his fair princess was waiting for him inside, guarded by the meanest, nastiest of nasties ever thought up by evil. His armor shone brightly in the darkness of the clouds that surrounded the castle, the occasional lightning strike the only thing that provided any real light aside from the torches dimly lighting the path to the drawbridge. It was locked in its closed position as the evil king of the black dragons sealed himself inside, knowing Lightning was drawing close.

Lightning’s face was grim as he readied his charge, his blue coat dampened by the rain and his white mane sticking to his face. His cutie mark – a flaming sword – shown prominently, the rain not darkening it, for it was his symbol of strength. Lightning Shaker charged the castle, letting out a roar of rage as he flew across the chasm surrounding it. He saw his opening in a window and smashed through it, landing easily on the cold stone floor.

The knightly pony saw he was surrounded by many enemies, monsters and skeletons of ponies – some with wings, some with horns and some Earth ponies. He grinned at let forth a mighty roar which broke apart the skeletons and caused the monsters to shrink back in fear. To Lightning Shaker’s shock, the skeletons reformed, bolstering the courage of the nearby monsters. The skeletons of the unicorn ponies’ horns started to glow with an eerie dark light.

Just as he thought all might be lost, a familiar loud shout erupted from behind the nearest door. The door exploded in a flurry of shrapnel of splintered wood, metal fragments from the hinges, and bits of stone from the walls. The shrapnel flew in to the skeleton ponies and monsters, distracting them and stopping the spells from being cast as they all looked to the door that had been bucked to bits. On the other side stood an Earth pony, Dream Dasher. His red coat and metal armor made him look ominous; especially the helmet that added two horns to the stallion’s head. He now used these horns to charge into the fray attacking the nearest of the unicorn skeletons, laughing the entire time.

Not one to be outdone, Lightning rocketed to the air, attacking the pegasus skeletons flying above. A series of bucks brought down most of the pegasus guards and Lightning quickly moved toward the earth pony skeletons to start clearing them out. Meanwhile, his friend Dream Dasher was alternating between bucking and head butting with his horned helmet. It didn’t take long for the remaining monsters to be cleaned up; the two ponies panting from the exertion, they looked at each other and grinned. The two had been friends for many years and knew how to communicate without words.

The two stallions made their way up the stairs. The princess was close now; all they had to do was beat a dragon. How hard could that be? As they rounded the corner at the top of the stairs. There he was – the biggest, meanest black dragon in the world, his lair filled with the gems and treasures he’d been collecting for centuries. He saw the two ponies and howled in rage. “Stay away” he yelled, breathing fire at the two. Lightning dodged by flying up in the air; the ceiling in the room was quite high, so he had no trouble with this. Dream Dasher charged forward, yelling something about the ‘Pink Ones’, paying no heed to the fire the dragon was breathing at him.

Lightning Shaker and Dream Dasher both attacked the dragon, bucking it with their legs. The dragon tried to fight back, its black claws swinging, its tail whipping and its breath spewing out in great green flames. Eventually, however, the two ponies prevailed in the end, standing over the beaten remains of the great black dragon. Dream Dasher decided to go check out the dragon’s pile of treasures, but all Lightning was interested in was the princess. He couldn’t see her or a cell of any sort but he did see a large curtain. He went to pull it back, when Dream Dasher shouted, “Hey, Lightning!” He looked back at his friend, figuring he must have found something. He flew over to his friend, who smiled at him and shouted, “Lightning Shaker, you up, man?!”

~Lightning opened his eyes to the bright light of a sunny day~

Lightning stirred, looking confused as Dream Dasher shouted for him once again. 'Oh, it was just a dream. Of course.' The young colt roused from his sleeping spot on the cloud, looked down at the earth pony, and sighed. “Man, you just ruined a great dream. What do you want?”

Dream Dasher frowned, his brown eyes narrowing on the pegasus above him. “I just was wondering if you wanted to go into the Everfree forest with me today. I heard there are some ruins that Cloudy saw and I want to explore them! Besides, why dream when we can have the adventure ourselves?”

Lightning sighed again. The irony of what his colt friend said was not lost on him. He flew down off his cloud, doing a quick flyby of the earth pony to stretch his wings before he landed. Lightning laughed as he looked at Dream Dasher, his shaggy mane looked even worse after the wind from his flight messed it up. “Alright, let’s go then. Maybe it’ll be just as cool as my dream.”

“You had an awesome dream? Dream Dasher asked, his eyes brightening with anticipation. “Fill me in on the juicy details."

“Sure. We have a ways to go before we get there anyway.” Lightning Shaker said, grinning.

The two colts gave each other a quick brohoof before starting off to find adventure.

Meetings and Adventure

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Knights

of the Everfree

Chapter One:

The two friends made their way to the market square of Ponyville to pick up some supplies to take, which mostly consisted of some apples and a couple bottles of apple juice from the stall with the intimidating-looking colt that was bigger than other ponies their age. Lightning figured he’d be a giant by the time he was full grown; what made it worse was he already had his cutie mark.

The main shopping square of Ponyville seemed to always have its goings on for most of the day. Somepony or another was always coming or going, the occasional sale creating what to Lightning was a mad panic to buy something before it ran out. Today seemed to be no exception as it was a rather nice day, the few clouds not managing to dampen the bright sunny sky. He thought it would be a great day for catching a nap on a cloud… then remembered he had been before he was so rudely awakened from such an awesome dream.

Supplies in hand, Lightning Shaker and Dream Dasher set out for the Everfree forest. This wouldn’t be the first time they had gone to the dark – and often dangerous – forest, which the older ponies would undoubtedly scold them again. The colts were often in trouble for doing things they shouldn’t, but this rarely stopped them.

As they walked, Dream Dasher began pondering what they would find. “I bet there’ll be lots of treasure there! Something so great we’ll have enough bits to build our own house here in Ponyville.”

Lightning chuckled and shook his head, knowing the odds of them finding treasure in those ruins were very slim, as they had likely been searched by somepony else. But it’d be fun either way.

Dream Dasher noticed Lightning chuckling and gave him a shove. “At least I’m tough, what are you going to do in there if something goes bad? Fly away?”

Lightning smiled proudly. “Me, a royal knight, flying away from danger? As if, Dash. I think you’ll be surprised at what I can do in a fight.”

The red colt grinned. “Prove it.” The two colts often challenged each other, usually ending in disaster due to each having an inability to back down.

“Alright, I will!” Lightning dashed up into the sky as he slammed into one cloud,then bucked another, making them break apart. As he moved to a third, he heard giggling coming from the nearby pond. Distracted, he landed on the next could rather than demolishing it, and peered down at the noise, ignoring his friend’s jab about how amazing that display was. He saw a young filly, her white coat and pink mane shining in the mid-morning sun. She was obviously a Unicorn and easily the prettiest thing Lightning had ever seen.

Summoning all his courage, he flew up and then darted down to land a bit behind her; he knew he had to talk to her. But now that he was this close, Lightning started to freeze up. What if she laughed at him, or thought he was dumb? What if he didn’t know what to say to her? He’d never really talked to any of the fillies before. He stood there staring dumbly at her, afraid to move, afraid she’d hear his heart beating in his chest; it seemed so loud to him.

“Hey Lightning what are you doing over here?” The worst possible person to come looking for him had chosen the worst possible time. The young Unicorn turned to look at them shocked that someone had come sneaking up behind her. She shrank away from the two colts taking a couple steps back towards the pond. “Who’s this?” Dream Dasher asked, looking at the new pony. “Is she some kind of nerd or something?” He asked as he took in her glasses and freckles. “I’m sorry, who are you?” She took another step back.

“Don’t scare her, Dash.” Lightning said, having finally found his voice.

“Hey, I was just asking,” the Earth pony said with a shrug, losing interest in what was going on. “We need to get going, though; remember, we have that thing to do.”

The Pegasus looked a little embarrassed as he had actually forgotten. “I’m sorry if we startled you.” He said as he started walking off.

“Wait, what’s your name?” The young Unicorn asked, having moved several steps forward.

“Oh, umm, my name is Lightning Shaker. What’s yours?”

“I’m Rare Charmer.”

The smile she gave warmed Lightning, his mind losing focus again. “Hey, you want to come with us? We’re going exploring in the Everfree forest.”

Dream Dasher glared at him sideways. “Did… did you really just tell her we were going to the forest? Man, I think you’re trying to get us in trouble with our guardians.” Lightning looked sheepish as he was being admonished by the Earth pony.

Rare Charmer looked confused. “Guardians?”

“Oh, uh, we don’t have parents, just ponies who are responsible for us.” The blue Pegasus said, feeling even more awkward.

“Look, if she wants to come along, let her; but we need to go or it’ll start getting too late and dark.It’s hard to see in the forest when it’s dark out.”

Lightning looked at Rare questioningly with some hope in his eyes. “Do you want to come? It’s going to be fun.”

She thought for a moment, unsure about the two colts but curious about going in to the Everfree forest as she’d always been told not to go there. “Okay, I’ll go.Sounds like fun!”

The three ponies – two colts and one filly – made their way through the outskirts of town until they arrived at the edge of the Everfree forest, being careful to not be seen as they left town. “This is really dangerous, are you sure we should do this?” Rare Charmer asked, looking a little shaken at the sight of the forest.

“Yeah, we do this all the time,” Dream Dasher told her confidently. “Lightning and I are going to be knights one day.” The filly looked doubtful, but seemed to be reassured that things would go well.

“Don’t worry; I will make sure you are safe.” Lightning tried his best to look at least a little bigger than he was to show her he could protect her. She smiled at Lightning and he felt as though his heart would stop.

The three ponies entered the forest, the narrow path they were on was hard to see with so much brush overgrowth and the forest canopy really did make things so much darker. Lightning was happy because Rare was staying close to him; he had never liked fillies before, but she created a spark inside him. Lightning had always wanted to be a knight in service to the princess, but now he felt it meant something else, now he felt he could be a brave knight to always be there to protect her.

“I think Cloudy said it was this way.” The Earth pony said looking down an even darker and narrower trail off to the left. They all looked at the path, it was clearly too narrow for any of the ponies to walk side by side.

“Are you sure, Dash? I can’t see much here, but that path looks like a bad one… What if we get all the way down there and it’s a dead end?”

Dream Dasher rolled his eyes, and pointed a hoof at the path. “We can see the path; it has to go somewhere, right? I’m pretty sure Cloudy said it was only this far in.”

The forest was already gloomy, and it only got worse down the trail. Lightning noticed Rare was shaking, but when he asked, she simply smiled and said she was okay. With a twinge of worry, he elected to go in first, asking Dash to take up the rear so she would have someone on either side of her. His concerns weren’t for nothing; they had on more than one occasion run into dangerous creatures in the forest, and while they knew how to deal with these situations, Lightning was sure she didn’t.

As they walked down the narrow path Lightning figured he’d liven up the mood a bit with some small talk, mostly reminiscing about some of the things they had found in the forest. Like the one time they had encountered a strange striped pony who spoke in rhymes. Rare giggled at the description, she liked the stories, having never heard of some of the things the two colts were telling her of, but that wasn’t too much of a surprise as the Everfree forest was a strange place that no pony had really explored. Some even said that the animals here tended to themselves, and the weather happened all on its own.

The three talked and laughed for several minutes, not noticing the dark things that watched them from the trees...

Food and Danger

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Knights

of the Everfree

Chapter Two:

The three ponies continued on, trekking through the forest. The warm summer day seemed to be approaching a hot one very quickly, the forest canopy making the air feel stifling and closed-in. It was dark, the trees letting only small shafts of light waft through occasionally to get lost in the haze that seemed to emanate from the forest. To Lightning’s annoyance, the forest floor was overgrown with random roots and other things jutting out and making it difficult to walk.

Lightning Shaker looked at his companions, noting that he wasn't the only one sweating. He could see a clearing up ahead, and thought that maybe they could stop for a drink while there. He was suddenly glad he'd bought a bit more than they would need for this trip, since it looked like this was going to be a tiring day, also with having an extra person along. He thought back to one trip they’d made. It was the middle of winter, the trees in the forest had all lost their leaves, and they had gone into the forest with their friend Cloudy Skies, his insistence that there was a mine with a whole bunch of jewels he had found not far from one of the usual areas the three often went to.

The trip had been a bust, not because the mine wasn’t there, but because it was owned by some apparently humorless ponies. During the trip, Dream Dasher had eaten twenty two apples, two bags of hay fries, a whole pie, and drank three bottles of apple juice. Lightning Shaker chuckled. Dash was a healthy eater; the entire trip had only taken two hours. He wondered how the Earth pony hadn’t exploded.

As they neared the clearing, Lightning asked if they wanted to stop for a food break, he was slowing down, looking at them, when he caught a puzzled look on Rare Charmer’s face.

"Is something burning?" She asked, sniffing the air.

They looked around, and all three agreed there was a strange smell in the air, like something burning and some other acrid smell that Lightning Shaker couldn't seem to place. It was then that Lightning noticed the forest was beginning to glow, maybe there was a fire he thought, if so they needed to get out of there and inform Ponyville. A fire could spread and be very dangerous. He looked back to voice his opinion and noticed the glow was coming from behind them as well. He looked all around, starting to panic. It seemed like there was a glow coming from each direction, and he could smell the fire, but couldn’t hear it. Maybe they had time, he thought.

“We need to get out of here! I think the forest is on fire!” He shouted, looking about for an escape route.The other two seemed to agree, looking for a way to get safely away from the fire. This proved useless, as when they turned a corner, the path was completely blocked off by flames.

“We might just have to make our way through the trees and brush. There’s no other place to go." Dream Dasher said, sounding almost uninterested – even a bit bored. To him, the idea of fleeing and not going to the ruins was apparently worse than possibly burning in a fire.

They began to move towards the forest, leaving the path, when they heard the sound of another pony. It seemed to be causing a lot of commotion. Lightning wondered if maybe the pony was caught in the fire. Maybe it needed help. He looked to his companions, they had heard it too. “What should we do?” Rare Charmer asked. It was clear she was getting very scared.

“We should try to help." Lightning said. "We’ll find the pony that’s hurt, and maybe I can grab a cloud and drag it down to use it to put out the fire.” The three ponies seemed to agree that they needed to help. They headed in the direction of the other pony.

What they saw when they got there was horrible. They could see the pony now. Its body was on fire, its mane and tail; even his hooves stretching up beyond his fetlocks were burning. Lightning looked up. He couldn’t see a clear path to fly above the tree line; the forest canopy was too thick. “Hold on, we’ll help you, I just need to be able to fly up!” Lightning called out to the pony, shouting over the enraged sounds he was making.

It was then that the currently burning pony looked at them, its eyes ablaze as well, it exhaled and a plume of flame came with its breath. “Oh, dear Celestia, no.” Rare Charmer breathed as she stared at it. It was then that Lightning came to an odd realization. The pony before them was on fire; however, the forest was not.

"Wait, that pony is on fire! Not burning, just on fire... Why can't I be on fire?" Dream Dasher asked, with his usual ability to overlook the problem for some chance to have a cool thing. Despite the situation clearly being bad, Lightning spared a moment to give Dream Dasher a disapproving look. “What? I think having a flaming mane and tail sounds cool.” The Earth pony replied, grinning.

“Umm, guys? I’ve read about these things, it’s called a Nightmare, and it is a very dangerous creature.” Rare Charmer whispered.

Lightning sighed. “So, we need to run, then.” He backed up a bit as the creature pawed at the ground, its head lowered. It was ready to charge. “It’s blocking our path, let’s go back the other way and we’ll figure something out.” He said, flaring his wings out to look like the biggest – and hopefully best – target.

The three of them started running for the clearing, the Nightmare giving pursuit. Clearly, it was fast too, as Lightning Shaker could hear the hoofbeats getting closer. He pushed on, a plan forming in his mind. They would get to the clearing and hopefully be able to circle around and have an opening to run back along the path, if they were lucky, they could make it safely back to Ponyville.

Lightning’s hopes faded as they got to the clearing, the Nightmare right on their heels, there were three more of them in the clearing. Apparently, those were the other glows they had seen. “Dash, get Rare out of here, I’ll create a distraction.” He said, dropping into an aggressive stance.

“Umm, I think you're too late!” Rare Charmer shouted as Dream Dasher went charging after the nearest Nightmare running headfirst into it.

The other three Nightmares were charging now, right at Rare Charmer. Lightning threw himself in front of them and his world exploded in fire and pain as the first one hit him, throwing him across the clearing into a tree. He got up, shaking himself. The smell of burnt fur was strong, and his whole body hurt from the impact. He charged forward to the one closest to Rare Charmer, and pivoted on his front hooves, delivering a hard buck to the Nightmare, though he missed hitting in a good spot due to his much smaller size.

Lightning felt pain along his back as the Nightmare stomped just between his wings. The smell of burning feathers added to the burnt fur smell, and somewhere Lightning heard Rare Charmer screaming. He got up again, looking to protect her, but she was by herself. It was him she was screaming about. Was she crying? He smiled in spite of the pain, turning and throwing a quick jab with his hoof at the Nightmare, catching it in the face.

The Nightmare reeled back from the hit to the face; Lightning attacked another one that had run up to join in. His hoof, however, met another hoof as both ponies jabbed at the same time. A loud crack sounded, as Lightning landed back on his fore hooves he felt jarring pain and immediately had to take weight off the right hoof.

Rare Charmer had taken the opportunity to hide in the bushes while the fight was going on, seeing as every time she was attacked Lightning had thrown himself in the way of it and gotten hurt. She watched now, unable to stop the tears as she saw him get hurt and burned in so many places. He was trying so hard to protect her.

Lightning now laid prone on the ground, unable to hold himself up. He could see the hoof that hurt was cracked, the split going right up the middle. 'This is it.' He thought, knowing the end was coming. 'So much for being a knight for the princess; I can’t even protect one pony.' He looked around, wanting to see her one last time, but couldn’t find her. 'Good,' He thought. 'she must have gotten away.' Lightning closed his eyes, a small smile on his face, knowing he’d at least done that much.

It was strange, really. He didn’t feel the hoof hit him, but he heard it, and it sounded weird, like a blast of magic and angry shouting. He supposed that’s just the way the mind played tricks on you as you were dying. Loud hoof beats filled his ears. This must have been the others coming in to do whatever it is a Nightmare did to its victims. He had the startling thought that Dream Dasher must have fallen as well, or maybe he had gotten Rare away after all. More of those strange sounds, like magic,

And then blackness took him.

“Is he going to be ok? He’s hurt so badly.” Rare Charmer asked, still crying. She hadn’t stopped, even after they had been rescued. The four ponies, Rare Charmer, Dream Dasher, Lightning Shaker held on Dream Dasher’s back, and the pony that had saved them, exited the Everfree forest and headed towards Ponyville.

The Unicorn that had saved them looked down at Rare Charmer. “What you did was very brave, and very foolish little filly. Had I not come along they would have hurt you, and probably worse.”

Rare Charmer, her eyes still filled with tears looked up at him with an apologetic frown. “I know that. Logically, I should have stayed hidden, or even tried to run away, but they were hurting him, and he had tried so hard to protect me.” She sniffed loudly and looked away from him.

The Unicorn nodded, apparently satisfied with her answer and looked to the Earth pony. “And you, I am curious how you managed to take one of them out yourself. That is no small feat.”

Dream Dasher shrugged, careful not to let his cargo slip off. “Wasn’t a big deal, that’s life. Get used to it.”

The Unicorn chuckled, his blue eyes losing some of their hard edge now that they were out of the forest. “I’m White Star, by the way.” He said, almost as if he felt obligated to tell them, as he absently looked over his purple coat and checked his mane and tail for any marks that would show from the fight.

“I’m Rare Charmer.” The young filly said, still looking down.

“You can call me Ser Dream Dasher.” The Earth pony boasted, grinning.

They finally made it to the Ponyville hospital. Before they took Lightning inside, White Star looked down at them, a sudden thought occurring to him “Where are your parents?” He asked with a frown. “We’ll need to contact them. They’ll want to be here, at least your Pegasus friends parents will.”

Rare Charmer looked apprehensive, Dream Dasher just shrugged. “Lightning and I don’t have parents; we live with a guardian who takes care of us. We live in a house just off of Maple Park with her.” White Star looked sympathetic. “I’ll take you there once we get the doctors looking at Lightning.” Dream Dasher said, continuing into the hospital.

Lightning Shaker woke up in a white room; the smell of disinfectant and his own sweat making him feel queasy. He looked around the room, wincing as movement hurt; he saw a machine with tubes that ran from it to beneath the blanket he was under, likely going into him. He heard soft snoring coming from behind him, and turned his head slowly as it was very painful to move. In a chair by the bed was Melody Spring. The mare that had raised Dream Dasher and himself slept in an uncomfortable position, the fur beneath her eyes discolored from crying.

Lightning felt a pang of guilt knowing she had cried because of him, and hating himself for it. He tried to get up, but lacked the strength to move properly. He tried to call out to her, but his throat felt raw and only a slight rasp came out.

Dream Dasher came walking into the room, and then he grinned, seeing Lightning awake. “Hey man, how are you feeling?” He asked, whispering so as to not wake their guardian. Lightning frowned, pointing a hoof to his throat. He noticed the hoof was heavily bandaged and felt like it was splinted. “Yeah your hoof was cracked, almost split in two. You want a list of all your injuries?” Lightning Shaker shook his head and pointed to his throat again. He looked around, and seeing what he was looking for, pointed to a glass of water. “Thirsty? Alright, I’ll go get you something, I’m supposed to let the doctor know when you wake up, anyway.” He said, not waiting for the look of appreciation in his friend’s eyes as he walked out the door.

A few minutes later the door opened again Dream Dasher; the doctor, a Unicorn stallion wearing spectacles; and an Earth pony with a nurse’s cap came in. The Earth pony was carrying a tray with a pitcher of water and a glass on it; she set the tray down on a table and poured some water in a glass she smiled at Lightning as she stepped back.

The doctor, after a quick look at Lightning, levitated the glass to him. “Careful. You won’t be able to grip it as well as you are used to with that hoof bandaged." He said. He began to further examine his patient’s injuries.

Lightning drank the water in big gulps. His throat was so dry, it burned as the water hit it. “You’re finally awake; you’ve been asleep for days.” He looked over at Melody Spring, who had woken up and was looking at him, her emotions clearly somewhere between the joy of him being awake, and the sadness over his injuries.

“You have a split hoof, and some pretty severe burns, and some of your flight feathers were damaged. It’ll take some time before we know if it will affect your flight. You’ve cracked three ribs, and your left wing is dislocated. Frankly you are lucky to be alive, what were you doing in the Everfree forest?" The doctor asked, adjusting his spectacles.

Lightning never took his eyes off Melody Spring. “I’m sorry.” He said earnestly. “We didn’t think anything bad would happen.”

“Miss Spring, could nurse Redheart and I talk to you alone for a minute?” The doctor asked, motioning towards the door, a blue aura of magic turning the handle. She got up from her chair, still looking at Lightning as if she were on the verge of tears.

After they had left and the two colts were alone together Lightning finally asked. “How is it that we are still alive? I was pretty sure I was going to die back there.”

Dream Dasher shrugged in a non-committal sort of way. “When you went down, that filly came out of her hiding spot and started using magic on the one attacking you, and shouting at it like it would listen. I guess it wasn’t for nothing, as she got the attention of a Unicorn named White Star who had been traveling to Ponyville from Fillydelphia. If he hadn’t come along, I don’t think you would have made it. I would have been fine though.”

Lightning sighed and rolled his eyes, though the truth of what was said still struck him. “What about Rare Charmer?” He asked, worried.

“She’s fine, we decided not to mention that she was there; seemed easier. You know, the doctors say it could be months before you fully recover, if at all. I may have to start going on adventures without you.” Dream Dasher had something of a smirk on his face, but his eyes showed differently, he had been worried. Lightning Shaker decided to let it go. It was fine; he would get better, and they would become the knights they had always dreamed of.

Hospitals and Sleep

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Knights

of the Everfree

Chapter Three:

Lightning Shaker woke up with a start. Wherever he was, it was much too dark to see. He looked around but there didn’t seem to be anything. The blackness surrounded him. The young Pegasus could feel the ground beneath his feet; it felt soft and malleable. His right forehoof hurt as he put weight down on it, so he decided it was better to only walk on three legs rather than use the hurt one.

Lightning briefly considered flight, but figured it was a bad idea. He couldn’t see anything above him and that was dangerous. Though there was really nothing he could see. A few experimental flaps of his wings showed that they were too damaged for flight right now anyway. “Hello, is anypony there?” He called out, more than a little worried about his present situation. He looked down; he could see himself somehow, even though he couldn’t see anything else, not even the ground, he limped on slowly.

“Lightning Shaker, come here.” A familiar voice said behind him. He turned to look, and thought in the distance he could see some faint light. Eager for answers, and to not be alone in the dark, he tried to gallop but instantly remembered his hoof. If he kept putting weight on it, it would never heal right. So he slowed down to a slow, wobbly – but relatively safe – trot. The light in the distance seemed far away, and it only took a few minutes before Lightning Shaker felt exhausted, but he pushed on. As he moved, he gave some thought to what was going on.

The last thing he remembered was being in a hospital, his guardian Melody Spring crying over his broken body, Dash telling him that he had been saved by somepony. “Ok, I’m not dead then, right?” He asked no one in particular.

“No, you are not. Not yet, anyway.” He heard the voice again. It seemed much closer this time, though he couldn’t see the pony speaking, the light was getting nearer. It seemed to be coming from the ground in front of him.

“Who’re you? And where am I?” Lightning asked, looking around trying to spot the source of the voice.

“You will see soon enough; continue toward the light.” Something about the way the other pony spoke was irritating him for some reason. It felt like they were choosing their words carefully and being deliberate with how they enunciated each word.

Lightning was close enough now that he could see the light was coming from a pool of water. Whatever it was beneath the surface of the water, what drew his attention more was that the ground around the pool, as best as he could tell, was still black; the light wasn’t making anything easier to see. Now at the pool, Lightning looked around, he still couldn’t find the source of the voice. “Hello? I’m here, where are you?” He called out his voice shaking slightly.

“You truly are pathetic.” The voice said, its tone the same, save for a slight shift to mocking. “You seem scared by this place, young colt. You are not as brave as you would have others believe.”

Lightning Shaker snorted, lowering himself into an aggressive position. “I’m not scared; I just don’t like people hiding from me.” Lightning’s defiant tone was belied by his eyes nervously looking about.

“Do not be so simple Lightning Shaker, look down, and you shall find me.”

The voice seemed to be right in front of him; Lightning gulped and looked down at the pool standing on its edge.

He saw his own reflection. Somehow, he was disappointed.

“Oh don't be like that.” His reflection mocked. It was then that he noticed his reflection was wearing armor. He instinctively looked himself over and saw that he wasn’t.

“No Lightning Shaker, you are not me, and I am not you, at least I am not you as you are now.” There was disappointment in the reflections voice as he watched it speak he noticed more things, his reflection was clearly older. “I am what you would have become, at least you would have had you not failed to live up to your own dreams.” The reflected pony said sadly. Lightning Shaker looked confused, what was the reflection talking about, it had said he failed to live up to his dreams, of what becoming a knight? As if reading his thoughts his reflection smiled at him. “Not just becoming a knight, you have failed to protect her as well. You are beaten, and broken. I am afraid there is no more use for somepony like you.”

“W-what do you mean no use for 'somepony like me'? I’ll get better, and I’ll keep trying, you can’t tell me I’ve failed!” Lightning shouted angrily, the reflection looked dismissive.

“I am sorry, Lightning Shaker, but I cannot trust in your conviction.” The reflection stated calmly in that annoying voice, looking at one of its hooves with a bored look.

Out of the corner of his eye Lightning saw three Nightmares appear, the glow from the flames lighting up the area around them, even though everything was still the same indefinable black landscape. “What do you want, then?” Lightning asked, his anger rising even though he suddenly felt fear as the creatures began to approach. “What do I need to do to prove that I’m going to be the knight I set out to be?!”

Lightning looked back down at the pool, his heart filled with dread when all he saw was his own broken body. He was shocked to see just how bad he looked. His forehead was bloody, a large gash just under his mane seemed to be pouring freely, a jagged burn mark on his side surrounded by singed fur. Most worrisome was his left wing hung limply at his side.

Lightning realized the glow was all around him now. As he looked up, he saw the Nightmares were all around him.

Panicking, he tried to run past them. He immediately felt the heat as one of the creatures lashed out burning him. “Somepony help me!” He shouted, running away, his hoof screaming in pain as he desperately fled the Nightmares. As Lightning fled his attackers, he looked around for any way to escape, tears falling from his eyes as he realized there was nowhere to go. The Nightmares were outpacing him, one moving in front to cut him off.

There was suddenly another light as he heard humming, followed by a tune. The words were hard to make out, but he didn’t care, there was another pony here maybe they could help him. Lightning ran towards the sound of the voice; the song sounded familiar but he couldn’t figure out why. “Sleep, sleep, sleep, you know you have to rest; You’ve fought so hard, my little one, but now is time to end your quest.” He knew this one, he couldn’t remember why, but he knew it. “Sleep, sleep, sleep, you know you have to rest; Just look at you, my little knight, I know you did your best.”

It hit him. He did know this; it was a lullaby his guardian had sung to him when he was just a young colt. "The Earth ponies toiled in their vast field, but the land they farmed gave little yield." He said quietly, but then started singing the next part of the song. “The harvest was good, the crop so full; thanks to you the land was healed.”

Lighting was engulfed in a white light.

The young Pegasus opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the recovery ward at the Ponyville medical center. “Mom?” He asked, looking to the singer of the lullaby his guardian had sung so many times to him.

To his surprise, Rare Charmer giggled, interrupting her singing. She looked up from her book and smiled at him. “I’m a little young to be anypony’s mom.” She gave him a soft smile as her giggles died down. “How are you feeling?” Her face fell into sadness as she asked.

Lightning put on a brave face. “I’m fine; it’s not nearly as bad as it looks.” He sat up a bit and tried to puff out his chest, but his broken ribs were having none of that. He coughed a bit at the sudden pain in his chest.

“Are you okay, do you need anything!?” She asked, sitting up in a panic.

“No, no I’m good.” He said, easing down a bit and giving one last cough. “I forgot my ribs were broken.” He smiled sheepishly.

“More than just that.” She said quietly, her face fallen as tears began to fall from her eyes. “You got hurt so bad trying to protect me. And I couldn’t do anything to help you.” She cried, tears falling steadily onto her forgotten book.

“Hey, that’s what knights do.” He said, trying to reassure her with a smile. How could he let this pretty filly cry over him? “Besides, I said it’s not that bad, I’ll be better in no time.” He raised his hoof to his chest, the heavy bandage on it made it awkward to move.

The white-coated filly took off her glasses and levitated those and the book to the table as she reached over and hugged Lightning, his face suddenly buried in her pink mane. She held him as though she thought he’d break from the contact as her body shook with uncontrolled sobs.

It took the colt a moment to get over the sudden shock, his joy at being hugged at war with his terror; he didn’t know what to do to get her to stop crying. Lightning hugged her back awkwardly, his limbs stiff and the many bandages making it hard to move. He saw there was a bandage around his chest, probably for the ribs. It connected to his left wing, which was wrapped thickly in bandages and held in place by a splint.

A cough sounded from the other side of the room. Lightning looked up and saw Melody Spring standing in the door with the nurse. “How is my little colt doing?” Melody Spring asked, her white coat slightly dulled and her mane looking like she hadn’t brushed it in days.

He smiled, finding the need once again to reassure somepony. “I’m doing fine,Mom, I’ll be better in no time. It doesn’t even hurt anymore.” He lied but got the reaction he wanted when his guardian looked relieved.

“How would you like some fresh air? We can get you a wheelchair and take you outside for a while.” Nurse Redheart said with a wink. The doctor looked at Lightning, seeing the lie but choosing to ignore it, a small smile on his face for the way the young colt handled that.

“Outside sounds good, how long have I been in here?” He asked, realizing he had no idea how much time had passed since he was brought in.

“You’ve been in and out of consciousness for a few days now.” The doctor responded.

As they arrived outside in the courtyard, Lightning being pushed in the wheelchair by Nurse Redheart and flanked on either side by Melody Spring and Rare Charmer, he had to squint from the sudden brightness. As his eyes adjusted, Lightning could see several other ponies in the area, some doing physical therapy others just sitting and enjoying the warm sunny day.

“I have other patients to check on, but I’ll be nearby, just holler if you need anything.” Nurse Redheart said, walking off.

“I’m going to get us some drinks,” Melody Spring said, smiling. “Miss Charmer, could you watch over him for a few?” She asked, seeming much happier than she had been before.

“Of course ma’am, I’ll stay with him.” Rare Charmer waved as Melody walked off to get some drinks.

She looked at him a small blush on her face. “Would you like to sit on the grass?” She asked.

Lightning nodded and she helped him down off the chair being careful not to bother his wing, when it felt like she was going to lose her grip she steadied him with her magic, her horn glowing with a soft brown aura. “Thanks, this is much better.” He said giving her his best impression of someone not totally flustered by her presence, leaning slightly into her with the excuse of; “I need to keep my wing propped up, if it hangs it feels kind of heavy.” She seemed to buy it.

They sat there a while, she reading her book, and he simply enjoying the feeling of her pressed up against him, her soft breathing causing him to doze slightly.

“Oh!” Rare cried out in surprise. “Let me help you.” She said moving aside slowly. Lightning woke up and looked around. An Earth pony had fallen. She was missing her right foreleg.

“I’m fine, no need to help.” The orange filly said, looking embarrassed. Lightning got up too to help her, wincing as he put weight down on his leg. She looked at him as he tried to help her up, surprise on her face. “You’re hurt too, why are you helping me? Wait, you’re that Pegasus that got hurt in the Everfree forest, aren’t you?” She asked, her turquoise eyes showing surprise.

“Yeah, I am, and it’s ok, I can help you up.” He said. Something about her eyes seemed off for some reason.

“Thank you, both of you.” She said shyly as they got her back on her hooves.

Rare Charmer floated the crutch she had been using back to her. “Of course, we couldn’t just leave you lying there.” She said as she attempted to reattach the straps that held the crutch to the Earth pony’s missing limb.

Lightning Shaker noticed she was missing a tail too, maybe she had lost it along with her leg? Either way, he felt it best not to ask, suddenly feeling a bit dizzy and tired he made his way back over to his spot to lie down. “Thanks again, you guys.” The Earth pony said, a slight blush on her face. “I’m Little Gear, by the way.”

“It’s not a problem.” Rare Charmer said as a nurse came up to help. She noticed Lightning having gone back to lay down and went back to him. “You okay? Are you feeling tired again?” She asked, fretting slightly.

“I’m fine, just a little hard to move around right now is all.” He said, looking a bit winded.

Rare Charmer took her place back at his side allowing him to prop his wing against her again as Melody Spring returned with some drinks. She was surprised when she was given one as well. “Oh, you didn’t need to bring me one.” She said in a surprised voice.

“Hush dear, you’ve spent as much time here at the hospital as I have, and I heard what you did… I owe you, so enjoy.”

Rare Blushed at the mention of her attacking the Nightmares; she remembered her angry shouts and magic, which was distracting, but didn’t really hurt them. “I didn’t even do anything.” She said shyly. “If White Star hadn’t come by…” She trailed off quietly.

The mare patted her on the head, careful not to disturb Lightning who had once again dozed off. “Don’t think like that, you saved my boy. Even the condition he’s in now is so much better than what it could have been.” Melody said, her eyes glistening over with tears once again. She had cried so much the past few days, it was a wonder she still could.

Rare Charmer cried along with her softly, trying hard not to wake Lightning Shaker up. Despite her best efforts, her body trembled as it was wracked with sobs. She yelped in surprise when she felt her cheek being nuzzled. She looked over at Lightning who was smiling at her.

“I never did get to thank you, Dash told me how you saved me. Things would be so much worse if you hadn’t done that. Thank you, Rare.” She couldn’t hide the blush on her face; he was smiling at her, and thanking her.

Melody Spring coughed and looked away. “Hmm, I think I need to ask the doctor about something, I’ll be back in a little while.” She said, finishing her juice and carrying it off, a knowing smile on her face.

The two ponies continued talking for a while longer, simply enjoying each other’s company as the sky darkened, the weather patrol having scheduled a rain for the evening. They went inside to Lightning’s room. “Thanks for being here, Miss Charmer.” Lightning said, his blush standing out against his blue fur.

“Miss Charmer? That sounds so formal, why not Rare, or Charm?” She asked, matching his blush.

“Charm, I can get used to that.” He said, stifling a yawn. Clearly he would be sleeping a lot in the next few days.

A nurse came into the room. “Visiting hours are over. You’ll have to let him rest now, little filly.” She said in a voice that seemed much too happy.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. You rest up, okay?” Rare Charmer said, waving.

Melody Spring came into the room. “I’ll be in the lounge area if you need me, Lightning.”

He yawned. “Thanks Mom, but you should go home and get some rest. I’ll be fine.”

“Well it has been a few days since I’ve been home, Celestia knows what sort of trouble Dream is getting into.” She looked uncertain. “Are you sure?”

Lightning yawned again and smiled, giving a wave of his hoof. “Yeah, you go on, I’ll be asleep for a while anyway.”

“My brave little boy.” She nuzzled his cheek and patted him on the head before the three ponies left the room. Lightning sighed, looking at his injuries one last time before laying his head down and drifting off to sleep once again.

Plans and Forgiveness

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Knights

of the Everfree

Chapter Four:

It had been two and a half weeks; Lightning Shaker was still at Ponyville Medical. His time there had been painful, in a lot of ways, as well as hard for the pegasus to deal with being grounded his inability to fly weighing on his mood, it was also really boring. Lightning had managed to get into a bit of a routine that helped with his day though. If he was careful he could make it down the one flight of stairs to the ground level on his own, he liked to spend most afternoons outside, the days still warm enough to enjoy.

Lightning spent his time with Rare Charmer when she could come by, but obviously she couldn’t often. He had also started spending time with Little Gear, he shared a bond with the filly, they were both limited physically from what they could normally do. She had told him how she was from Manehattan, and her parents were clockmakers. “We do more than work on clocks, we’re general mechanics as well.” She had said.

Lightning found it all interesting having not personally known anypony who worked on machines, he had thought he was so clever when he’d asked. “So is that why you’re called Little Gear?” Yep, Lightning was a bright pony alright. Today Lightning knew he wouldn’t get any visitors, Dream Dasher and Rare Charmer were at school and Melody Spring was going to be at work till late. He decided to go looking for Little Gear, he knew where she likely was, she had been drawing some complicated looking things that went way above Lightning’s knowledge, he found himself often awestruck watching her design whatever it was. He found her where he expected her to be, drawing away as usual. “Hey Little Gear, how’s it going?” He asked in a friendly greeting.

“The same as any other day, I’m just working on my design.” She said, not looking up and with her voice slightly muffled around her quill. Lightning typically tried to not bother her too much while she was working, and though she seemed as usual a bit standoffish Lightning could hear the smile she wore. Lightning carefully set himself down, lounging in the shade of a tree a few feet away, Little Gear wouldn’t likely start a conversation, and he didn’t want to bother her so he just decided to relax a bit.

Lightning could smell burning, and he could hear the faint ripple of water, he knew where he was at some point he must have nodded off while he was resting. He opened his eyes, looking about he could see the nightmares standing off in the distance. This too had become part of his routine, not every time he fell asleep but most he would find himself- no maybe that wasn’t right, it was like this scene invaded his dreams. It was always here, this strange featureless place, the nightmares hovering menacingly and the other him in the pool taunting him about how he was such a failure.

Lightning had been here so often that it had gotten to the point he wasn’t even disturbed by it anymore, he could ignore the image in the water, and so long as he didn’t argue with the image the nightmares never seemed to attack. The only problem Lightning had this dream place, whatever it was is he never woke up from it feeling rested at all, like his physical body moved here each time, which he knew wasn’t true.

“Why do you come here, when you will not accept the truth that I try to bring you?” The voice asked in an annoyed tone. Lightning ignored the question he’d just wait it out and it would all go away when he woke up. “Some of us have better things to do than foalsit some bratty pegasus who cannot accept that he just is not going to be anything great, some of us actually succeeded in our goals.” The stallion in the pool said, clearly trying to egg him on. Lightning gave a snort but otherwise didn’t show he’d even heard the lame attempt to ruffle his feathers. “You do not even listen anymore; this is pointless, just like your vain attempts to justify yourself. You should just give up.”

Lightning snorted loudly. “It’s not like I choose to be here! If you don’t want me here then stop bringing me every time I go to sleep!” He shouted, his temper having finally boiled over.

“I do not bring you here; you come all on your own little foal so do not backtalk me about this. I have things I would rather be doing.” The reflection said, sharp anger in its voice, the nightmares flaring up as though fueled by his anger.

Lightning watched as the three nightmares stood up as one, scratching at the ground and watching him their eyes blazing and their hoofs leaving flaming trails in what stood in for a ground in this place. “Don’t sick your monsters on me, just because you don’t like me arguing with you, you could just let me sleep normally for once.” Lightning hadn’t even bothered getting up, the nightmares hurt him when they attacked, but it didn’t seem to affect him in the real world so the pain was something he didn’t care much about most of the time. “And another thing, stop it with the 'foal' thing already, I’m not so little.”

“The little foal not like name calling? And I have explained this, you bring all this here, not I. These monsters as you call them, you bring them, if they frighten you, you should do something about it.” Lightning Shaker had no time to ponder what that meant as the nightmares began to charge. Not wanting to feel the pain they could bring him, he began to run from them, knowing it didn’t really matter; they were always faster than he was.

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, his injured hoof still in pain, his wing with its heavy cast still weighing him down. “You will have to deal with them eventually Lightning Shaker.” The reflection shouted from the pool. “Do you hear me? You cannot run forever Lightning Shaker.”

“Lightning Shaker, can you hear me?”

“Hey, wake up already!”

Lightning woke up jumping a bit, Little Gear was nudging him with her hoof. “You had the dream again didn’t you?” She asked, a frown on her face. “I wasn’t going to wake you up, but after you told me how bad those dreams got, and the way you were crying like that… umm, sorry.” She realized what she said and turned her head away embarrassed. Lightning wiped his face with his good hoof, had he been crying? There was dampness on his fetlock when he looked at it. “I- umm, do you want to talk about it?” Little Gear asked, still not looking at him.

“It was the same as before, thanks for waking me up though; they didn’t catch up this time.” Lightning said, showing her a reassuring smile even though she wasn’t looking. “Let’s just ignore me crying like a foal again, how is your design coming along?” She looked up and smiled at him, happy for the change of subject, it was much easier for her to talk about machines than- well, pretty much anything else.

Little Gear pulled her stack of papers out of her bag and put it down to show him. Lightning could see that her design was now taking shape; it looked like a pony leg, but with gears and wires and other things in it. “This- is this a new leg for you?” He asked dumbly, feeling foalish the second he asked.

“That is what I plan, yes.” She replied, either not noticing, or giving Lightning an out on this one.

“It looks amazing!” Lightning exclaimed his good wing giving a couple flaps to punctuate the remark. “It’ll be great once you can walk normally again, wont it?” He flashed Little Gear a big toothy grin.

“Oh umm, yes, it would.” She stammered, blushing. She wasn’t used to this sort of conversation, or hardly much of any conversation for that matter. For a moment, she stared at the pegasus as though she thought his head might float away.

“Is it going to be hard to put together?”

“It might be tricky... It will certainly be tougher to put together than what I am used to, but I have experience working with my parents.” Little Gear shuffled the papers a bit with her hoof.

Lightning Shaker thought it odd suddenly and blurted out. “Hey, where are your parents? I haven’t seen anyone visit you while I’ve been here. Are they busy or something?” Little Gear fixed him with a blank stare, her short mane of unruly light brown bobbing slightly with the move. “Oh, I said too much again didn’t I?” Lightning asked, looking and feeling sheepish.

“It's fine, that was just an awkward question.” Her voice was quiet, but also lacked any of the inflection of emotion. She seemed shrinking in on herself, which Lightning had noticed seemed to be fairly common for her. “My parents are too busy with the business back in Manehattan. They sent me here to recover, away from all the troubles of a large city like that.”

“So you don’t have any family here in Ponyville?” Lightning asked, his voice breaking a bit when he said 'family'.

“I have none here that I know of.” That quiet emotionless voice again, as if she was being defensive but not actually hiding anything.

Lightning looked thoughtful a moment before finally saying in a casual matter of fact way. “Well, that just won’t do at all, I guess you’ll just have to be part of my family. At least for as long as you are here, or as long as you want to be.” He smiled at her again and she once again had the strange sensation that she had to watch him carefully to be sure his head wasn’t about to float away.

“What are you talking about?” She finally asked.

He started to put a hoof around her shoulder, but remembered what she had told him about not liking to be touched so settled for lamely waving it as though he were making some grand declaration. “Well, I think of all my friends as family, and we’re friends right? So that makes us family, even if you don’t have anypony else here, you’ll still have me, and Dash, and Mom. It may not be much, and Dash may be annoying but we can be your family.”

She stared at him for several moments her mouth agape. Finally she seemed to regain herself a bit before in a small voice she said, “You are truly a strange pony Lightning Shaker, I am not sure I know what to do with you.” Her face remained very serious, but she ruined it with a small chuckle, which Lightning acknowledged with a grin.

Lightning sat in his room occasionally picking at the covers of his bed, he was feeling antisocial, going outside was nice, but the need to spread his wings and fly was starting to get to him. When the doctors had told him that he had lost some of his secondaries and even a couple primaries that hadn’t been a big deal, the feathers would re-grow in time. Today however the doctors had giving him some bad news. His axillaries, the nerves at the base of his wings, had been damaged, the feathers were one thing, but this could possibly mean he might never fly again, or if he did it would likely not be very well.

Lightning looked out the window at the clear blue sky. “So much for dreams.” He whispered, laying down on his side. He just didn’t care anymore. He closed his eyes trying to shut out the light of the day.

Lightning Shaker stirred slowly. He hadn’t had the dream, and he had actually slept normally for once. When he looked up he saw Rare Charmer sitting on a chair nearby. “Miss Charmer.” He said, smiling.

She looked at him, annoyed. “I told you not to call me that. It’s weird.”

Lightning frowned at the harshness in her voice; she was sitting there no book, no cute little glasses that she used for reading. Rare Charmer's face was set in what could best be described as a scowl. “What’s the matter?” He asked hesitantly.

She looked at him her eyes angry and slightly puffy, red around the outsides. “You’re a big idiot, you know that?” She accused before looking away.

“I kind of thought so, but what do you mean?”

“Why?” Was all she said in response.

“Why what?” He asked, confused.

“Why did you protect me?” She sounded like she was crying but he couldn’t be sure.

“I had to, I’m a knight, and you are the most beautiful princess I’ve ever seen.”

“NO!” She shouted, and before she knew it she had leapt across to the bed and struck him with a hoof. She backed away a horrified look on her face. “Oh Celestia, I’m so sorry I didn’t...” She kept backing away as Lightning put his good hoof to his cheek, the sting from where she hit him leaving him slightly in shock. Rare Charmer was shaking her head as if trying to deny what she had just done. As she turned to run from the room Lightning leaped out of bed and caught her in his hooves hugging her tightly. “I’m so sorry!” She sobbed against him. “I was just so scared, they said you might not be able to use your wings anymore, and it’s all my fault.” She wrapped her hooves around him and hugged him back.

“It wasn’t your fault; we were going to go into the forest anyway.” He whispered into the crying filly’s mane.

She cried harder against him. “But you jumped in front of me and got hit because I was there, I couldn’t move and you stopped them from hurting me.”

Lightning nuzzled her cheek gently and smiled. “It was totally worth it, if I had the chance to do it again a million times I’d do the same thing every time.”

“But what if you can’t fly?!” She was crying so hard the words were hard to understand between sobs.

Lightning grabbed her shoulders with both hooves and moved her so she was looking at him, his face determined, his smile unwavering and sure. “Then I’ll just have to find some other way to be great, so I can be the knight that protects you.”

Rare Charmer looked uncertain but gave a small smile. “You’re such an idiot.” She gave a slight laugh, mixed with another sob.

They spent the rest of the day just talking, Lightning doing his best to be cheerful and happy. Rare Charmer had tried to coax him into going outside, but he had refused, claiming to be tired. He tried to keep her entertained with stories of his exploits with Dream Dasher, and talked about how he had marveled at Little Gear’s design for a new leg.

Eventually that time came when visiting hours were over, and she had to go. They hugged for several minutes and Lightning didn’t care if he never flew again, this was the best day ever.

It was another two days later when the doctors finally felt that Lightning could have the cast on his wing removed, they ran several tests, making sure he could extend his wing fully without pain. He was instructed to flap as hard as he could but not lift off, to make sure the muscles worked fine and hadn’t atrophied. Then they poked and prodded his wing joints, asking if this hurt, or if he felt that. Lightning figured it must be good that he felt everything they asked about because the doctors seemed to look pleased with the results.

The mail mare came by later that day with a letter for him, he thanked her and she smiled at him, at least he thought she did, one eye was looking at him, but the other seemed to be looking off towards the ceiling. It was a letter from White Star, he remembered Dream Dasher had told him that was the unicorn who had saved them, or as Dream Dasher had put it, 'Got there and stopped me from taking out even more of those things.'

Dear Lightning Shaker,
I hope this missive finds you well, you were in pretty bad shape when we got you to Ponyville Medical. I am sorry I couldn’t be there to check on your recovery progress in person, but I had other obligations that I couldn’t postpone. Try to stay out of trouble, and remember to thank your friends.
Sincerely, White Star.

Lightning Shaker felt the letter was slightly condescending but figured he deserved it. He wondered briefly what 'other obligations' meant, but doubted he would ever find out anyway so he pushed it to the back of his mind.

With his wings no longer bandaged, Lightning couldn’t resist going outside, the idea of feeling the wind running through his feathers sounded too good and he eagerly hobbled his way down the flight of stairs to head outside. He went to the usual spot, a couple trees surrounded partially by bushes, creating a semi secluded area where Little Gear liked to work. “You have not come by in a few days.” She observed, not looking up from her work.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I just didn’t really feel like seeing anyone for a while.” The apology was genuine, though Lightning hated that it sounded like an excuse.

“No need to be sorry, I know how it feels to get bad news.” She raised her shoulder where there should have been a leg.

“How did you know I got bad news?” Lightning asked a little shocked.

“When you stopped showing up, I decided to ask around about you. The nurse — Redheart I think — told me about the damage to your nerves. I went by your room, but you seemed upset, I could not go in... I am sorry.” As she spoke, the Manehattan accent that she normally spoke with seemed to have melted away, her voice taking on a slightly bitter tone. “I am ashamed of myself, but I did not want to confront you because I did not know what to say.”

Lightning Shaker stared at her, stunned. Was she actually apologizing for having not bothered him when he looked angry?“ Hey, it’s alright. I was in a pretty bad mood, and you aren’t expected to know what to do with me when I’m like that.” That reassuring smile was back in full force.

“But you had only a few days before said that we were family, and I just let you suffer alone.” The bitterness in Little Gear's voice stung.

“Family means not having to say you’re sorry for what you do. Besides, look; I’m getting better, look no more cast on my wing!” He emphasized this by flapping his wings rhythmically, and grinning. “Feels so good to feel the air in my feathers again.”

She smiled at him despite herself. “You are truly a strange pony Lightning Shaker.”

“Don’t you know it! Hey, is that your new leg? It’s looking good.” He had hopped around to the other side of her as he spoke, and noticing her designs he looked over them eagerly.

Little Gear looked down at her work, smiling. “Yes, I believe it is almost done, just a few more little details and I think I can build the prototype.”

“That’s awesome, you’ll be able to walk, I’ll be able to fly, it’s like the world is being set right again.” His enthusiasm caused Little Gear to grin, even if only just for a moment, it was as if he was infectious.

The two ponies went to get lunch together, Lightning felt as if a great weight had lifted off his shoulders, literally and figuratively. 'Maybe things really are looking up.' He thought to himself.

Boredom and Treasure

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Knights

of the Everfree

Chapter Five:

It was mid-afternoon, and Dream Dasher had just left Lightning Shaker after another visit to see him at the hospital. He was glad things were looking up; his adopted brother’s wing no longer being in a cast was enough of a sign of that. It looked like it was going to rain, so he went home; their guardian wouldn’t be home for several more hours, so the earth pony ate a quick meal of oats and some fresh lettuce crisps.

Dream Dasher briefly considered styling his shaggy mane of sandy brown hair, but then with a “Nah.” At the thought of grooming, he moved on to the living room. He sat lazily on the couch before getting up and pacing around for a bit, Dream Dasher felt mopey and kicked out at nothing in particular. There were no two ways about it, Dream Dasher was bored. Really really bored. Lightning wasn’t there, and that made him even more bored.

“Well, might as well go to the Everfree.” He said to himself. Not really needing any more encouragement than that, he gathered up some of the supplies he kept stashed in his room, and with his saddle bags heavy with food and drink, headed out of the house. Summer was slowly giving way to fall the temperature not cold, but noticeably cooler. Dream Dasher made his way through town, the sound of his hoofs loud on the paved roads of Ponyville, but as usual nopony gave the red earth pony more than a glance as he went.

He walked into the forest, using the same path that they had taken on that day. The earth pony bristled. He still couldn’t believe what had happened. Lightning was in the hospital because of that day. Dream Dasher was frustrated. Lightning should be here with him. He didn’t like not having his brother to do things with.

He found the path they had gone down and followed it. With the rain clouds, the narrow path was even darker than before, Dream Dasher had to move carefully to avoid tripping on the many exposed roots that were nearly invisible on the path hidden by darkness and leaves. H made his way slowly, but he finally came to the clearing where they had been attacked by the nightmares. The only evidence that this was the place was the spots where the grass was slightly charred from the flames the nightmares spouted. He saw the spot Lightning had been laying when the remaining nightmares had been chased off, he could still make out where the blood had been, even though it had been raining the past couple days.

The colt’s eyes narrowed as he remembered how his friend had looked.

The battle was over; the unicorn that had come to help them was breathing heavily and still looking around for more, his purple coat covered with a sheen of sweat. Dream Dasher thought it odd how he looked worn out already, he had only used magic and hadn’t fought physically like the earth pony had, Dream Dasher’s coat had blood on it but it was hard to tell with its red color. Rare Charmer was shaking Lightning, trying to get him to wake up and crying.

“We have to get him to a doctor, and fast. He’s hurt really badly.” The unicorn's horn began to glow as a blue aura lifted Lightning Shaker off the ground and deposited the unconscious pegasus onto his back. They all agreed, and the four of them headed back to Ponyville.

Dream Dasher shook himself out of his thoughts and moved on. He was going to find those ruins, he was going to make it worth it. As he crossed the clearing, he couldn’t see a path, everywhere he looked the trees seemed to be too close together, or the brush too high. It was a while longer before he finally spotted it, on the other side of a couple of trees a few feet back was a path that would take him further into the forest, it was in the right direction so it must be the right path.

Making his way through some trees and high brush, Dream Dasher arrived at the path. No wonder these ruins were so unknown; this path we well hidden, which seemed dumb since it was in the Everfree forest, not like anypony came here anyway. The path was dark, and as if to be really annoying, it started raining. Dream Dasher heard the rain long before he saw or felt it, the forest canopy was so thick that it just wasn’t getting through, but he could hear it pelting against the top of the trees.

He started moving more quickly through the path. The darkness was making him nervous, and the rain hitting the trees was becoming loud, making it hard to hear anything that might be nearby. When he saw another clearing further ahead, he broke into a run, which was a mistake as a moment later his hoof caught on something and he fell hard against the ground. Cursing with a few choice phrases that would get him in a lot of trouble if Melody Spring heard, Dream Dasher picked himself up and continued a bit more carefully towards the clearing. He could just hear the chuckles he would get from Lightning for that. Wait, that sounded real. He looked around nervously but didn't see anypony. "Hello, is anypony there?" He called out, but was only met with silence. He shrugged, figuring it was just his imagination.

The rain was coming down pretty hard when he entered the clearing. Looking around, Dream Dasher jumped in surprise when he saw a pony towering over him. He got down into a fighting position, ready to attack. The other pony didn’t move. Eyeing it warily, he moved a bit forward. A streak of lightning illuminated the area and he saw it was just a statue. Dream Dasher grunted with a facehoof and took a closer look at the statue; it was of a pegasus clad in armor, a coat of scales made it look more like a dragon. Taking note of how cool he thought it looked, He moved further into the clearing. Nearby was a lake. In the middle of it, on an island, he saw ruins; the ruins he was looking for no doubt.

He could see the ruins, but was unsure of how to get to them; he supposed he could swim across; he was already wet from the rain after all. Moving to the edge of the lake, Dream Dasher looked around. The lake was surrounded by the forest on all sides. It was then that he noticed a rope stretching across the lake a bit of ways off, it looked like it connected to a tree on this side and a pillar of some sort on the island.

It looked like somepony had made a raft that could be drug via the rope from shore to shore. He was glad it was clearly an earth pony idea, since a unicorn would have made it function by magic, and a pegasus would have just flown... “Lightning should be here.” He thought out loud, stepping onto the raft.

The earth pony gave an experimental tug on the rope, and was surprised that the raft moved easily. The rope seemed sturdy despite how clearly old it was. A few minutes later, Dream Dasher was standing on the island. The ruins were eerie, especially with the dark clouds and occasional flashes of lightning. There were more statues of ponies of all different types. Most wore armor, and they looked a bit frightening; not that Dream Dasher would admit it to anypony.

He found a building that looked like it might be a main structure. Standing outside it, he hesitated. He could go in now and look around, but he really wanted Lightning Shaker, his brother, and the only pony in Ponyville who was almost as cool as himself, to be here with him. “Well I’m here. Might as well see what’s in there.” Maybe it was dangerous, and Lightning was all busted up. He could at least make sure it was safe.

Having concluded it was the best choice, he went inside. The ruins were dark, a few holes in the ceiling not letting in enough light to really see by, though they did let in rain. It smelled wet and moldy, the only sounds besides his breathing was the splat-splat of the rain hitting the floor. Dream Dasher looked around a bit; once he was reasonably sure he was alone, he let out a squeal – not a girly one – doing a bit of hopping from hoof to hoof. “This is so cool!” He shouted, his voice echoing off the stone walls.

Once that was out of his system, he started looking around. There were pillars – some broken and crumbling – and a few paintings, though there was no way to tell what they had looked like, they were so worn and faded. The only door he could find that wasn’t collapsed and blocked off lead to a stairwell going down. He went down the stairs, which spiraled down, into an even darker part of the ruins. Dream Dasher suddenly wished he had thought to bring a light along as he was plunged into total darkness.

When he reached the bottom, he tripped trying to take another step down only to find there wasn’t one. “Stupid dark stairs, next time I’ll bring a buckin’ light.” He muttered rubbing his face with a hoof. Dream Dasher felt around. Finally he found a door, nudging it open. The first thing he noticed was light. Maybe there was another hole and it went all the way down. He figured the light seemed to be coming from behind one of the pillars in the room, which looked even worse than the first one he had been in, with cracks and holes in the walls and floor as well as several broken pillars.

Another thing he noticed was there were dead ponies in here – or at least skeletons of ponies – with a loud gulp he walked up to one of the skeletal bodies and gave it an experimental nudge with his hoof. Once again Dream Dasher was glad he was alone, for the yelp he gave when the skeleton fell apart was definitely not cool. These skeletons were all wearing armor, and there were even some weapons laying around. The armor was that same cool-looking armor the statues were wearing. He really wanted some, but somehow taking it off of dead ponies just seemed wrong.

As he went further into the room, Dream Dasher noticed that the light wasn’t coming from a hole in the ceiling, but was rather coming from some weird thing on the floor. When he looked at it close, it was like a glass ball with spikes on one side. It glowed with orange light, with another blue light in the middle of it. He saw a small pedestal nearby, and looking at the strange glowing orb, he thought it kind of looked like a fire. “Maybe it’s some magic light, designed to look like fire, like those weird lamps that look like other things?” He guessed, his voice echoing off of the walls.

At the very least, it was neat, and proof that he had found the place – not to mention a source of light – so Dream Dasher picked it up and placed it in one of the pockets in his pack, leaving the flap open. “Now I have a light. I always was the smart one.” He said smugly. Looking around the room again, now with a light that followed him, he saw some doors. Most of them seemed to be empty rooms or food storage, though the food was all long ago rotted.

One of the rooms seemed to be an armory. Much to Dream Dasher’s joy, he found armor and weapons, that weren’t on dead ponies. “Totally fair game if nopony's using it.” He grinned, grabbing one of the scale armor vests He realized it was heavy, and would probably be hard to get on without help. Plus it was made for a pony much larger than he was, but that wouldn’t stop him from getting it back to Ponyville; he could keep it till he was big enough to wear it.

Deciding that he had enough spoils for now, he draped the armor over his back as best he could, and started making his way back up the stairs. He would leave the armor at the edge of the forest till he could come back with a pack large enough to carry it home without anypony seeing. Back in the main room with the aid of the light he saw there were some doors up here too, he would have to remember these for later.

It took him a while, but Dream Dasher made it back to the edge of the Everfree. He laid down the armor at the edge of the forest and had a snack consisting of a few apples and some juice. Satisfied that his pack was empty enough to hold the glowing orb while closed, and making sure to remember which tree he stored the armor at, he made his way to Ponyville Medical to show off the orb and to tell Lightning Shaker what he had found. “He’s going to be so jealous; he’ll get better real quick now, just so he can go.” Dream Dasher said, picking up his pace to a decent trot now that he wasn’t carrying the armor anymore.

Unbeknownst to Dream Dasher, the orb in his pack pulsed strangely, and a maniacal laugh could be heard... at least by anypony close by who could feel magic. For one pony who had been watching Dream Dasher’s trip into and back out of the forest, this was a very disturbing thing.

Rain and Surprises

View Online

Knights

of the Everfree

Chapter Six:

Evening had come, and Lightning Shaker looked outside with a feeling of longing. The rain hadn’t let up for hours and so he was stuck indoors. Even if Lightning couldn’t run or fly it would still be nice to go outside and enjoy the warm sun. He stared out the window dejectedly, shivering a bit from the chill that came not only with the rain, but also with the all too rapid approach of fall. The rain came down in heavy rivulets, distorting the view through the window and making the outside world seem to dance and sway about.

A soft knock on the door broke Lightning Shaker out of his reverie. “Come in.” He called without looking back. The door opened and Lightning was greeted by the sound of an uneven gait, a thump followed by three quieter clips. “Hey Little Gear, what’s up?” He called over his shoulder, the distinctive sound she made while walking on her crutch unmistakable.

An exasperated sigh and a few more of her unsteady steps was the only response he got for a few moments. Deciding he didn’t feel like asking again Lightning continued his vigil of the outside wistfully gazing at the town outside, empty save for a few stray ponies with tasks too important to be stopped by rain.

“Why are you so down? The cast is off your wing, you should be happy about that right?” Little Gear asked, and Lightning could hear some shuffling coming from behind him.

He finally pulled himself away from the window turning around he gave Little Gear his best impression of a grin as he flared out his wings. “Yeah, it’s nice having the cast off, but I’m still not allowed to fly. Also, it’s raining out, so we’re stuck inside. I’m bored and I’d like to at least sit outside and be bored, you know?” He said as he climbed onto his bed. Little Gear gave him a wry grin as she laid out some papers and carefully laid down on the floor with her quill in mouth. Lightning took this as a silent offer of companionship, which he had grown used to in the past few weeks he had been here. Laying with his head over the edge of the bed, Lightning looked at the designs she was working on. “Looks like that’s finished, what do you still need to do on it?” He asked.

“Details, gear locations, all the fine little points that need working out to make sure it moves smoothly so I can actually use it.” She didn’t look up as she spoke around the quill. Lightning Shaker marveled at the detail that went into the device; a 'prosthetic' she had called it. He watched Little Gear work in silence for a while, the distraction was just what he had needed to cheer up, and he was as always grateful for the company; even if it was quiet company. “I wanted to thank you.” He was startled awake by Little Gear suddenly speaking having had nodded off.

He looked down at her a bit perplexed. “Thank me for what?” He asked, rubbing his eyes a bit.

She smiled at him, a slight blush darkening her orange coat. “Your offer to be family, even though I have one already I have been terribly lonely since I was left here in Ponyville, I have not hardly left this hospital because I was too nervous.”

Lightning Smiled down at her. “You don’t have to thank me for that; I figure you’ve helped me a lot since I got here too.”

“Does this mean I have to call you my brother?” Little Gear asked, grinning.

Lightning shrugged. “Only if you want to, I don’t think our kind of family means having to follow any weird rules.” He gave a stretch of his wings, still feeling the need to fly.

Little Gear was about to say something when the door was knocked on again, opening it without waiting for a response a very soaked Dream Dasher came walking in. “Hey Lightning you’ll never guess what I fou-“ He stopped when he saw Little Gear. “Oh hey, sorry. Didn’t know you had company.” Dream Dasher sat down and looked like he was simply going to wait, water dripping off of him and forming a puddle on the floor.

“Uh hey Dash, you met Little Gear right?” Lightning asked, seeing the filly starting to withdraw into her shell.

Dream Dasher looked at her with barely contained impatience as he was eager to show Lightning what he had found in the ruins but didn’t want to get another pony involved. “Maybe, I don’t remember.” He replied shortly.

Little Gear got up awkwardly, having to lean on the crutch while she secured the strap to her leg. “I will just leave you two alone.” She said quietly, picking up her papers and stuffing them into her saddlebag before slowly making her way to the door.

“Wait, you don’t need to go, Dash is just being a jerk.” Lightning said, glaring at Dream Dasher.

Little Gear looked at Lightning Shaker with her usual sad smile. “It is okay, I am used to it.”

Lightning shook his head, his face still a mask of anger. “Dash, she’s family now, so whatever it is you want to say she can hear too.”

Dream Dasher looked between them and shrugged, letting out a long sigh. “Whatever. She can stay then.” He checked outside the door to make sure nopony was there. Then shutting it, he locked the door. “I found the ruins.” He opened his saddlebag and pulled out the orb, glowing with its orange and blue lights.

Lightning leaned forward a shocked expression on his face, Little Gear let out a low whistle followed by an “Ooh.”

The orb emitted a glow that lit up the whole room; it seemed to give off a soft hum that could be heard over the steady sound of the rain pelting against the window. “This was in a room down some stairs, it was easy to find because the room was dark, there were bodies all over most were wearing armor. I found some of the armor that wasn’t being used too, but it’s too big to wear.” Dream Dasher said, poking the orb a bit with his hoof.

“What were the ruins like?” Lightning asked, finally looking away from the orb.

Dream Dasher shrugged. “They were like ruins, dark and wet. You’ll have to come with me next time.” He grinned.

“This thing is somehow magical; it seems to be radiating energy.” Little Gear stated, having been silently studying the orb with great interest.

“Magical? It’s just a glowing orb-thing.” Dream Dasher said, poking it again. The light from the orb was making his features harsher, the whole room being flooded with the glow both orange and blue. “It came in handy as a light when I was in the ruins.” He continued smugly.

Little Gear gasped loudly, her timid nature washed away by her more mechanical – and Lightning assumed scientific – mindset as she set her features to lecture. Clearing her throat a bit to get his attention, Little Gear began as if reading from a book. “Magic is the very thing that binds all of Equestria and indeed every other land as well together. Everypony has magic, be they unicorn, pegasus or earth pony. And absolutely none of it should be taken lightly, especially given the nature with which you found it. You said there were bodies of ponies in that room, how do you know this didn’t kill them?” Her annoyed look dissipated a moment later as she realized what she had said.

Dream Dasher gave her a brief look before turning to Lightning Shaker, his eyes narrowing. “Suddenly we are in school...”

Lightning didn’t have a chance to respond, as with a loud pop and a bright flash the lights went out, the heavy rumble of thunder sounded almost immediately. The only light, now coming from the orb sitting between them, was at least enough to see by as Lightning Shaker and Dream Dasher made their way to the window to look at the storm that was now raging outside.

“Huh, wasn’t that bad when I came from the forest. I wonder why the weather team made this storm so big.” Dream Dasher said, looking around at the town as a few ponies scrambled to get out of the rain and wind. The sky was really dark now. A streak of lightning lit up the area and he thought he saw somepony standing by a tree near the building, but when he looked again he didn’t see anything.

Lightning Shaker frowned at the heavy rain outside. “You’ll have to stay here till this lets up, no sense being out in that.” He said, stretching a bit as he walked back to his bed. Being on his injured hoof was still painful.

Dream Dasher sighed as he went over to his saddlebags. “I guess we shouldn't leave this out. It’ll get noticed, and I don’t want to have to explain it to the grown-ups.” He stuffed the orb back in its place in his bag and closed it, sealing the room once again in darkness.

Lightning Shaker wished he had a lantern to use, but you pretty much had to have those set up in advance, and couldn’t use them for too long before you had to release the bugs inside. They sat in silence for a while, just listening to the sound of the rain and thunder; Lightning was getting tired and thought about trying to get some sleep.

Suddenly the sound of rain pelting against the window stopped. Lightning looked up, figuring that maybe the storm was letting up. ‘No.’ He thought, he could still hear the rain outside, just not on the window. A flash of lightning lit up the sky outside, but most of the window remained darkened. With a jolt, Lightning realized somepony must be outside.

His thoughts were mirrored when a small voice came from the other side of the room. “Is there somepony at the window? I thought I saw something when the lightning struck.” It was Little Gear, barely audible over the rumble of thunder. Lightning felt sheepish realizing he had forgotten she was there.

Dream Dasher was already at the window looking out, he called over his shoulder. “You’re still here? You’re so quiet I forgot you were in the room still.” He opened the window looking out; a moment later he pulled his head back in shrugging in the darkness. “I don’t see anypony out there.” He stated. Looking around, he found Little Gear hiding in a corner. “Why are you trying to hide? For a moment I thought you had grown a spine.” He said, smirking at her.

“Dash, why are you being so rude?” Lightning couldn’t believe the way his friend was acting.

“Hey, you said we’re family right? Do you expect me to be all nice and cuddly with family? I’m not even nice to ponies who aren’t family, Lightning.” Dream Dasher chuckled.

“I really do not mind, I am used to it.” Little Gear said in her quiet voice from her shadowy corner.

A jiggle of the handle and a knock at the door was followed by the voice of nurse Redheart on the other side. “Is everypony alright?” Lightning got up and unlocked the door, opening it for the nurse. She looked around the room, a flashlight carefully cradled in one hoof. “Oh dear, Mister Dasher, Miss Gear, it’s getting late. Mister Dasher, would you like to stay in one of the empty rooms tonight? This storm doesn’t look like it’s going to die down anytime soon.” She said in her usual cheery voice.

Little Gear smiled at Lightning and waved as she made her way out of the room quietly, her papers once again secured in her saddlebags. Dream Dasher groaned audibly. “Do I look like a Mister Anypony?” His indigent response rattling the nurse. The two ponies followed Little Gear out of the room. “I’ll come see you in the morning.” Dream Dasher called over his shoulder, the earth pony chuckling to himself.

Lightning yawned he felt drained. He looked back at the window again, he was sure he had seen somepony there.

The next day was bright, the sky cloudless now that the storm had passed. Some ponies were cleaning up after the storm, as it had been pretty severe. Others seemed to be running about town, trying to get things done that had been put off the day before.

Lightning had gotten up early and was watching the town out his window, from his vantage point he couldn’t see much of Ponyville, but he could still see some of it, as well as Sweet Apple Acres, and even Cloudsdale much to the young pegasus pony’s joy. As he was watching out his window Lightning saw a young filly leaving Sweet Apple Acres, she had one of those sacks attached to a stick, a 'bindle' he remembered it being called by Melody Spring. “Doesn’t that mean she’s running away from home?” He asked out loud.

Lightning tried to remember the little filly’s name, was it Applejack? That sounded right to him, he wondered if he should tell anypony. There was a knock at his door, and it opened almost immediately. “Come on in Dash.” He muttered watching the little filly disappear off to the west.

“There you go again thinking I’m somepony else, I wonder if it’s the hospital, or if this is just a thing you do.” Rare Charmer said chuckling behind him.

He turned around smiling. “Oh sorry Miss Charmer, I thought you were Dash making good on his promise to show up in the morning.”

“Lightning Shaker, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me Miss Charmer?” She sighed as she set down her saddlebags near the door.

“Oh right... sorry, Charm.” He blushed again at using the informal name for her.

“That’s better.” She said smiling brightly. “You want to go outside? I brought some lunch along if you want, it’s a nice day out.”

He smiled and nodded, it felt like he had been stuck in this room forever. As they walked – more of a hobble in Lightning’s case – they talked about various things, Lightning only paid enough attention to be able to give the right answers his mind drawn to the things that had happened recently.

He couldn’t believe how much things had changed in the past month, he was still just a colt but had met a filly he thought he could spend the rest of his life with, and he smiled at her now causing her expression to shift, and it seemed he had distracted her in mid sentence. She asked him about the smile and he just grinned in return. Lightning went back to his musings on recent events; the trip to the forest should have been like any other, those nightmares... he had never seen creatures like those before. It bothered him, as it almost felt like it had been a trap set up on purpose.

He had been injured pretty badly in the fight, but of course what could he do against such big ponies like those? He had met Little Gear, who was a great pony and he really enjoyed her company, watching her work on her designs for her new leg was always fun, even if they didn’t talk or if he fell asleep. It was great to have company here at the hospital when Dash and Charm couldn’t be there.

Speaking of Dash, he had gone back into the Everfree forest alone, and had found the ruins. Lightning was a bit upset that he hadn’t gotten to find them with him, but he was still excited at the prospect, they were there, and there was stuff to find in them. It made Lightning even more eager to be healthy again so he could go, and they could find adventure together. ‘And just who was that outside my window last night?’ He wondered to himself. He was sure he had seen somepony out there, it must have been a pegasus as his room was on the second floor, and there were no trees or anything outside it to climb on.

His thoughts were interrupted as Lightning noticed they were outside now, his fillyfriend; he blushed as he thought that, was setting up a blanket and a basket she must have left somewhere nearby, Lightning hadn’t noticed her grab them as he thought to himself. Where they a couple? They hadn’t talked about it, but she certainly acted like it. ‘I’ll ask her if she wants to be my fillyfriend later.’ He thought, smiling at her again.

Rare Charmer patted a spot on the blanket, and he took that as a cue to lay down there. His movements only slightly slow from a dull ache and being careful of his injured hoof, Lightning lowered himself down, once settled he spread his wings as he stretched working out the kinks in his aching muscles he hadn’t been very active lately and it was making him feel sore all over.

Rare Charmer smiled at Lightning as he spread his wings out a bit, clearly enjoying the warmth of the day. Looking at his unkempt mane, and his tail and coat all matted, she wondered if he had even bathed himself since he had gotten here. Rare Charmer shuddered at the thought as an idea came to her. Levitating a brush from her saddlebags she went to work on brushing his mane.

Lightning Shaker gave a bit of a start at this, but didn’t protest. Feeling encouraged Rare Charmer continued brushing his mane with light brown aura wrapped around the brush. While she was busy with that, she pulled some sandwiches and a couple bottles of juice out of her basket. A boisterous laugh caught their attention and both looked over to see Dream Dasher rolling in hysterics as Little Gear was gesturing wildly, a grin plastered on her face as she regaled him with some tale that was apparently very funny.

Lightning smiled; clearly whatever issues Dash had with her had been worked out when he had accepted her as family. He was a bit surprised at the easy manner Little Gear had about her, usually so shy and reserved, her face was brimming with confidence as she lifted her crutch with the other hoof and swung it like a sword. “Stop stop, I can’t take it!” Dream Dasher was shouting, holding his sides as though he was afraid they would split open.

Lightning Shaker chuckled, and then sighed contentedly as the brush went from his mane to his tail. This day seemed perfect; he was here with Rare Charmer, sharing a lunch and being cared for, his friends and closest family were getting along nearby, and the day was nice and warm. He felt rejuvenated, his injuries felt like they were almost completely healed. He suddenly felt compelled to stand up, causing Rare Charmer to squeak in surprise. He smiled apologetically. “Sorry, I just really want to try using my wings, and right now seems like as good a time as any.” She nodded at him, smiling as Lightning gave a few experimental flaps of his wings. His muscles felt tight at his withers and the base of his wings, but he continued to flap. Being careful to not use his right foreleg he gave a soft push off the ground.

There were many things in his life that made Lightning Shaker happy, his friends and family, birthday parties, imagining being a knight serving princess Celestia, but today he found something new to be happy about, so happy he shouted and cheered celebrating in an overjoyed manner. There were claps and stomps of cheering coming from all around him as Lightning hovered, it was an unsteady hover due to his wings having not been used in a while, but he still remained airborne.

Lightning saw Rare Charmer and Dream Dasher clapping, even Little Gear was stomping her hoof in approval and nurse Redheart pointed and clapped her hooves as well as a few other patients she had been assisting saw and began cheering for the colt.

He set himself back down on the blanket wincing slightly as he forgot to keep off his bad hoof. He was suddenly assaulted as Rare Charmer wrapped her forelegs around him in a tight hug; she was both laughing and crying. Lightning Shaker hugged her back, smiling and filled with so much joy he couldn’t help but grin. ‘With all these good things what could possibly go wrong?’ He thought to himself as the two separated and he slowly set himself back down onto the blanket.

Nearby a lone figure watched Lightning and his friends, careful to remain hidden from view. It grinned and let out a soft chuckle before disappearing back into the Everfree forest.

Freedom and Change

View Online

Knights

of the Everfree

Chapter Seven:

It was a warm day; still early enough in the year that the chill of fall hadn’t set in; it would be harvest time soon. Lightning was in his room at Ponyville medical, his injuries had been healing up rather well; his coat was growing back in, and his wings were mostly capable. He gave them a flap as he watched out the window. The muscles felt stiff from not being used. The base of his wings felt numb, but the doctors had said his axillaries might be damaged. He was warned that the nerve damage might be permanent. Lightning’s hoof, the last of his injuries was healed, the split having been repaired. No more casts, no more inability to move. Today Lightning Shaker could finally go home.

Dream Dasher had been by earlier, but had gotten tired of Lightning being mopey when he knew he should be happy. He had gone off to 'bug Little Gear'. Deciding he had had enough of sitting in his room for the day moping, Lightning Shaker decided to join his two friends. It was still awkward for him to walk. It had been hard to walk with a split hoof so he was used to avoiding using his right foreleg, but now that it was better and he could use it, he found he still avoided using the leg; just another thing that was going to take getting used to.

As he walked down the corridor towards Little Gear’s room, with its sterile atmosphere, too-bright lights, and other patients going about their day trapped in the hospital just as he had been. Lightning was thinking about all the things he had learned. Dash had found the ruins; there was cool stuff in them. He thought back to how he was injured, it had been bad, but he would do it again. Being laid up for this long had been hard for the colt, but it had given him time to think about some things.

Lightning’s thoughts were interrupted when he realized he had arrived at Little Gear’s room. He opened the door, or would have but the door was locked. “Oh no, somepony is at the door, what should we do?” Muffled voices were coming from the other side of the door sounding a bit panicked.

‘That’s odd.’ He thought as he knocked on the door, his curiosity piqued. There was a scrambling and some angry whispering coming from the other side as Lightning listened confused. When the door opened Dream Dasher stood there looking disheveled and sweaty, behind him Lightning could see Little Gear also looking a bit ragged, both ponies were blushing profusely. “Um, what’s going on you two?” Lightning asked giving them both a confused look.

“Nothing!” They both shouted at the same time, causing Lightning to look even more confused.

“We were just talking about stuff we shouldn’t let others know about.” Dream Dasher said, closing the door behind Lightning.

“Yes, we were merely talking about the artifact; I have come to the conclusion that I may be able to use it as a magical power source.” Little Gear looked from side to side. Even if she wasn’t, Lightning would know if she was lying, she was less mindful of her speech around him now, and would even use contractions; unless she was telling a lie.

Lightning sighed, he would respect his friends need to hide whatever it was. They would tell him in time. “Alright, well I just wanted to come by and hang out and apologize for being so mopey.”

The two earth ponies seemed to sigh with relief Little Gear even came forward and gave Lightning a hug with her one good hoof. “No it’s fine; I’m going to miss having you around to keep me company.” She said ruefully.

Lightning Shaker grinned at her. “You think I’m not going to come visit you? We’re family remember?”

Little Gear smiled, hugging him tighter. Just then there was a knock at the door. Nurse Redheart poked her head in, smiling with that look she sometimes got when she was panicking a bit. “Oh hello you three, I just thought I would let you all know, we are going to be visited by someone important momentarily.”

With that she walked off to inform more patients, leaving the three ponies to look confused. Lightning Shaker shrugged and looked at the other two the obvious question of 'are you going to follow' written on his face. The three of them made their way to the main room of the hospital where a large crowd of patients had already gathered, Lightning looked but he couldn’t see anypony he hadn’t already seen around the hospital while he was here.

Everypony was sitting around; there were some murmurs among the crowd as apparently nopony else knew what was going on. Lightning was about to ask nurse Redheart, as she had just come into the room with some patients, when a warm glow filled the room. Everypony gasped as they looked upon the Princess of the Sun herself. Princess Celestia stood in the doorway, her regalia shining, her alabaster coat glowing with the light of the sun, and her mane and tail flowing from the effects of the solar winds.

Lighting blushed deeply, speechless at the sight of her, the Princess of the Sun and the ruler of all of Equestria. He had been dreaming of meeting her in person for as long as he could remember, had practiced many times his speech declaring his intent to be a knight in her service, but now that she was here, he could not form words as he stared open mouthed at the Princess.

He felt a hoof push his chin up as a small chuckle came from Dream Dasher. “Way to show that proper knightly behavior there Lightning.” To his credit, as an example of all the willpower he had, Lightning Shaker tried – tried really hard – to compose himself, and even to respond to Dream Dasher. All that emerged from the pegasus colt was some random sputtering and a hasty kneel with the rest of the ponies in the room.

And then she spoke, the sound of her voice felt like the warm breeze on a summer day. “Hello my little ponies, it is good to see you all.”

Dream Dasher was clearly becoming annoyed with Lightning and his reverence for the Princess as he and the others stood back up. He nudged Little Gear in the side, pointing at Lightning with a shake of his head and a sigh. Little Gear made a small titter of a laugh but said nothing as the Princess went into a speech about how she liked to visit the hospitals and spend some time with her subjects who had taken ill or been injured.

The three ponies took a seat in the back of the room and talked amongst themselves while the Princess introduced herself to each pony, taking time to get to know them asking about what ailed them. “I have to say, I did not expect the Princess to be here.” Little Gear said, her shell up in full effect.

“She’s just a Princess.” Dream Dasher said, though even he seemed to be sitting up a bit straighter.

Lightning looked between them and the Princess. “This is our chance.” He said, shaking and gulping a bit at his next thought. “I’m going to tell her we want to be knights. After all, who knows when we’ll get another chance like this.”

They continued to talk as the Princess made her way through the crowd of ponies, she really was taking time to talk to each of them, asking them questions, offering support, and even occasionally using her magic to help the ponies where she could. Eventually Princess Celestia made her way over to the three ponies that had patiently waited their turn. She looked them over her face betraying the briefest of winces at the sight of Little Gear. “And how are you my little ponies?” She asked in her kind regal voice.

Dream Dasher once again showing no sign that he understood the concept of manners spoke up first. “I’m just here visiting your majesty.”

She smiled and looked at the other two; Little Gear seemed to be fumbling to try to talk but was shrinking into herself so Lightning Shaker spoke up. “I’m actually getting released today Princess, all healed up.” He smiled and puffed out his chest.

“Oh, what brought you here, Lightning Shaker isn’t it?” The Princess asked with a smile on her face.

Lightning was stunned speechless, the Princess knew his name? Luckily nurse Redheart was there to provide the information. “He and his friend here were in the Everfree forest, I didn’t get all the details but he was hurt pretty bad when he was brought in, we were fairly sure his injuries would prevent him from flying again.” The nurse said, her expression a mix of emotions.

The Princess looked down at him, that same regal smile on her face. “The Everfree forest is a dangerous place, I am glad to see you are recovered. Can you fly now?” Her voice was kind, but slightly scolding which Lightning felt he deserved.

“Yes Princess Celestia, I can fly now.” He gave a few flaps of his wings to show her.

The Princess gave a nod and cheered, even clapping her hooves together. Then she looked to Little Gear. The Princess of the Sun frowned again.

She knelt down to look Little Gear in the eyes. “Solid Gear is it? No, it is Little Gear is it not? I am sorry for your injury, if there was anything I could do about it I would but I am afraid this is beyond my ability to repair.” There was genuine sadness in her voice as she spoke to the filly.

‘Wait, Solid Gear?’ Lightning thought to himself.

“I... I am all right Princess Celestia; I am working on building a new leg, I have the designs in my room actually.” Little Gear was blushing furiously.

Celestia’s expression showed her surprise at this. “I would very much like to see these designs; I am surprised to see such a young filly showing so much ingenuity.”

At this point Little Gear’s face was completely crimson as she stammered and sputtered, looking for words. After a few moments she gave up and turned to head to her room for the design sheets.

A hoof on her shoulder stopped her as Dream Dasher moved past her. “I’ll get it. You stay here, slowpoke.”

Princess Celestia looked back to Lightning Shaker. “What were you doing in the Everfree forest anyway; it is highly dangerous for full grown ponies, let alone a young colt such as yourself.”

Lightning Shaker stammered, looking around in a panic. “We uh, we...” He faltered a bit trying to get the words out somehow. “WewanttobeknightsforyouPrincessCelestia!” He finally shouted all at once.

Princess Celestia chuckled at the display. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?” She asked a warm smile and mirth in her eyes.

Lightning looked around a bit bashful at his outburst. “We... I mean Dream Dasher and I want to be knights, your knights Princess. We go into the forest to practice at being knights.”

She was looking at him with a shocked expression. “I’m afraid we don’t have knights, Lightning Shaker. We have the royal guard, but no knights. Did you honestly put yourself at such risk for something like that? What do your parents think of you behaving like this?”

Lightning’s face fell. “Don’t have any parents, Princess. Dream Dasher and I are orphans. We have a guardian, but our only family is each other and Little Gear here.”

“You are family even though you are not? And you go to the Everfree to gain skills as a knight you say?” The Princess tapped a hoof to her chin as she thought for a moment. “Let us go somewhere private, I believe I have a proposition you will like, perhaps we can talk in one of your rooms?”

Dream Dasher groaned having just got back. She gave the earth pony an apologetic look as she beckoned the other two to lead the way.

Once they were all gathered in Little Gear’s room – cramped as it was with four ponies, one of them twice as large as an adult pony – Princess Celestia was quietly looking over Little Gears designs while the other three ponies sat quiet, nervously watching her. The room was for once absent of another resident, the frequent exchange of patients for Little Gear to have to get to know was something she both enjoyed and hated. Some ponies were fun to talk to and made sharing the room enjoyable, others not so much.

‘Though the privacy I’ve had recently has been useful for my time spent with Dream Dasher.’ That thought made her blush clear up to her ears even before it was finished and she quickly squelched it down. ‘We’ll visit that thought again about two weeks from never I think.’ She frowned, looking over at the earth pony who was giving her an odd look.

“These designs are remarkable, and you say you did them yourself?” The Princess asked Little Gear, looking genuinely surprised at the intricate designs with the careful detail and exact placement of each gear.

“Y-yes your majesty, I have been working on those plans for a while now. My parents back in Manehattan run a mechanical repair shop. I learned a lot about gears and other such things there, and I applied that knowledge to the design for my new leg.” Little Gear’s voice was quiet, and she was clearly nervous, but she spoke clearly for the Princess.

Princess Celestia seemed to be thinking on this for a bit longer before she finally replied. “What do you need to get this put together my little pony?”

Little Gear thought about it for a moment before responding with a checklist in her head. “Time, the details will take a bit of work to make sure everything is in place, parts as well. I had thought of using parts from my parents shop, but at this point the amount of parts required would end up costing the shop too much money, especially since I will have to make new versions as I grow older.”

The Princess looked back at the plans, frowning. “What about a power source for the motors? You make mention of needing one, what did you have in mind?” She asked, a peculiar gleam in her eye.

Little Gear was caught off guard; she had purposefully not mentioned the power source because she had something in mind but didn’t want to bring that up to the Princess. “I umm, had not really figured that part out yet your majesty. I was thinking something magical, since otherwise I would likely need to strap a huge engine on my back to make the leg work properly.” Little Gear fibbed.

Celestia smiled warmly. “Perhaps while we are alone like this something a bit less formal than “your majesty” would be appropriate, this conversation will last for some time if we have to keep using it don’t you think? I believe Princess will do for now.”

The Princess looked between the three ponies again making a decision. “I will have some parts brought to you so you may work on your leg, after all if this proves to be a viable construct for replacement limbs many ponies would benefit from it.” She glanced at Dream Dasher and Lightning Shaker. “You two have been patient while this has been going on, I believe I may have a task for you two, the bond you seem to form with your fellow ponies intrigues me after all. Canterlot and Equestria as a whole does not have a standing army really, merely soldiers in my Royal Guard. However, I believe I can allow for a special division of my Royal Guard, to watch over the Everfree forest. Though I will say I expect you to do some growing up first. Perhaps if you can show me proof that you are ready, and qualified to be professional soldiers then I can see to it that those members of the Royal Guard are you.”

Lightning Shaker couldn’t hold back his enthusiasm. The Princess, Princess Celestia had just offered him the chance of a lifetime. Lightning’s wings gave some unconscious flaps as he considered this. He looked to Dream Dasher, who had been watching him. Dream Dasher gave a sigh and a shake of his head, his brother's over enthusiastic response was obvious. Reaching over to grab his saddle bags, Dream Dasher pulled out the orb to show the Princess.

The room was flooded with the orange and blue light of the orb as it was released from its hiding place. The Princess eyed it with a frown. “Where did you find this?” She asked.

“The ruins in the Everfree forest we were going to when we were attacked and Lightning was hurt. I went back and found this as well as some other things there. It looked like something really bad happened in those ruins. There were bodies of ponies all over.” Dream Dasher answered, pushing the orb forward a bit.

Princess Celestia was still frowning at the orb. “This is a relic from a long time ago; the place you found it in was forgotten. I am not sure I am comfortable leaving this in your hooves as it is.” She focused some magic into her horn the soft golden glow connecting with the orb making a dull thud as it hit. The room glowed with golden light so bright that the three ponies had to hide their eyes from it. As the glow faded, Lightning gasped, looking at the orb — or rather orbs — as there were now five of them, all smaller than the original but still glowing brightly with their light.

“You can use these, I have limited their potential though they are still magical, and I expect you to take great care in using these. I believe I have come to a decision for you.” The Princess sighed before she continued, obviously not happy with her choice. “I am going to send one of my Royal Guard to watch over you three. He will train you, however you must continue with your normal lives as well. You are all young and must still go to school and participate in your home lives. I will be expecting reports not only from the Guardsman I send but from you as well.”

Little Gear spoke up. “Princess, I am from Manehattan. I am not sure I can stay here in Ponyville once I get my prosthetic finished.”

“That will be up to you and your parents, Little Gear. If you would like I can make some arrangements for you.” The Princess said evenly. She stood up and addressed all of them. “You are three very brave ponies, I am quite proud of you. Just remember be more careful, it is hard for me to see my subjects hurt so.”

Dream Dasher stowed the orbs back in his saddle bags now that the topic was closed and moved a bit closer to Little Gear. There was a knock at the door, nurse Redheart and Melody Spring were there, and they bowed before the Princess. "Your majesty, it is an honor to see you in person. Are my little ones causing some sort of trouble?” Melody Spring asked, her voice shaky as she kept her head to the floor.

Celestia smiled down at the mare. “Please rise, and no not at all. In fact, I am quite impressed with your colts; you have raised some brave ponies. I have decided to give them a task; however I have instructed them to mind their schoolwork and home life as well.”

Melody Spring stood looking surprised at the Princess. “Thank you Princess Celestia, but are you sure this is the best thing for them?”

The Princess nodded sagely as she began to exit the room. “I do, and I will be sending someone to help train these three so they will be ready for the task I have in mind. As well as another bit of assistance I think, something to both help you, and make sure I can keep in touch with them. Yes, I believe that will be perfect.”

They watched as the Princess left, chuckling to herself.

A few days later, Lightning Shaker and Dream Dasher were doing chores around the house; it wasn’t a school day so they figured they should be helping their mom with house chores. Melody Spring herself was outside tending the garden, a fresh crop of carrots and daisies were almost ready for harvest. “Hello Miss Spring, I have the mail for you.” The mail-mare announced cheerfully. “I also have a letter for little Lightning Shaker and Dream Dasher.” That got their attention and both of the colts came running out of the house.

The mail-mare smiled and waved at them as they came out of the house and handed them the letter, it was a sealed letter from the Princess. “Thanks a lot Derpy.” Lightning said as he scanned the letter.

“No problem, see you three later.” Derpy Hooves said as she flew off to the next house on her route.

“Her eyes really creep me out.” Dream Dasher said as he tried to read over Lightning’s shoulder.

Lightning Shaker snorted. “Don’t make fun of her, it’s a medical condition.”

“But she’s always crashing into stuff; some ponies say she’s not right in the head.” Dream Dasher said with his usual lack of tact.

Lightning gave him a bit of a shove, shaking his head. “Yeah, you cross your eyes and see how well you can get around, Dash.”

To his utter amusement, Dream Dasher crossed his eyes and started walking – or rather wobbling – around, bumping into Melody Spring as he did so.

“Ok, maybe it is kind of hard...” He said looking up at their guardian. Dream Dasher saw she had tears in her eyes. “Mom, what’s wrong?”

Lightning looked up from his letter seeing she was crying also moved over to her, giving her a quick nuzzle as he looked at the letter. “It’s from the hospital. That’s so much money.” She shook a little, looking at the amount of bits the hospital was charging.

Lightning stared at the letter, seeing the number too. He handed his letter to Dream Dasher. “If the pony mentioned in the letter shows up tell them I’m busy but I will be back.” He said as he took off into the sky in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres.

Guards and Knights

View Online

Knights

of the Everfree

Chapter Eight:

Dream Dasher sat on his haunches; he was waiting at the home he shared with Lightning Shaker and their guardian Melody Spring for the Guard from Canterlot to arrive. Dream Dasher hated waiting, why was he sitting here waiting by himself? The earth pony looked around, he was bored and wanted to do something, Lightning had been gone for over an hour now. No sign of the Royal Guard either. He sighed, heading back into the house; if he was going to wait around, he might as well have something fun to do. He located a ball and headed back outside, deciding to test his aim by launching the ball at various objects, the real challenge came from being able to catch it afterwards.

He was throwing the ball at a tree when he heard giggling. Looking around he found the source, Rare Charmer was heading towards him and talking to another unicorn who was giggling at something that must have been pretty funny. Rare Charmer waved at him as they got closer. “Hi Dream Dasher, you’ll never guess where I found this filly.” She indicated the unicorn next to her.

“Umm, Rare I don’t think that’s- ” He tried to say, but was cut off.

“I found her in the Everfree forest while I was out looking around, I can see why you and Lightning go there now, it’s so adventurous!” The filly squealed with joy.

Dream Dasher looked at the unicorn who was little older than a foal, they shared a look as the unicorn just shrugged and smiled. Dream Dasher sighed. “So where are you from, and what’s your name?” He asked the other pony.

“I’m Inspira Flash, I’m from Fillydelphia. I got lost in the woods.” Inspira indicated, pointing at the Everfree forest.

“Fillydelphia... you’re a long way from home.” Dream Dasher said, looking at Inspira and frowning.

Inspira Flash giggled, bouncing a bit. “It’s great; I bet my parents are furious with me!”

Rare Charmer looked at Inspira Flash, shocked. “Why in Equestria would you want that?”

Dream Dasher nodded. “Yeah, just be happy you have parents and don’t have to upset a guardian like Lightning and myself.”

“Wait, how did you upset Miss Spring?” Rare Charmer asked, looking worried; she had grown close to the mare while Lightning was in the hospital.

Dream Dasher shrugged. “I didn’t. She’s upset over Lightning’s hospital bills. The cost of his treatments and stuff they still need to do later is really expensive.” He shrugged again, sitting down. “Between that and this stuff with the Princess now, I think everything is about to become really annoying.”

Rare Charmer gasped. “Oh no, I didn’t even think of that! Is she okay!? Does she need anything!?” She asked, a bit panicky.

“You mean aside from more bits? Nah, not really I don’t think. Maybe we could do something to cheer her up?” Dream Dasher got up and walked over to Inspira. “What about you, how are we getting you home?”

Inspira Flash looked thoughtful for a moment. “Well, usually I send a letter when I end up somewhere strange; I get lost a lot after all.”

Dream Dasher facehoofed. “Well the mail-mare has already come, so we can’t send one today. You’ll just have to crash with us.”

Rare Charmer smiled. “She can stay with me, no need to put more of a burden on your mom like that. I’m going to stop in and say hello.” She said, going towards the house.

Before she made it to the door a whooshing sound followed by the sound of hooves hitting the ground came from behind them. They both turned to see that a pegasus pony, clad in armor, had landed near them. “Dream Dasher, Lightning Shaker?” The pony asked, flipping her tightly braided mane over her withers. She had set down a rather large crate, which was a surprise itself since there were no other ponies or chariot to bring it.

The three ponies stared at the newcomer in her shiny armor of the Royal Guard; she was younger than Dream Dasher had figured, maybe a few years older than himself, her coat a pale pink almost white gleamed in the early morning sun. She was looking at him expectantly. “I was expecting an earth pony and a pegasus, is it safe to assume you are Dream Dasher?”

“Yeah, I’m Dream Dasher, but Lightning isn’t here right now.” The earth pony said, his face set in a deep frown. Was this really the pony Celestia was going to have train them? Maybe she was just here to deliver whatever was in that box.

The pegasus looked disappointed. “We’ll have to find him then. Is this your place here? I’ll need to drop this package off before we go looking.” She grunted as she hefted the rather large crate on her back and began walking towards the house.

“One of us could get that for you.” Rare Charmer piped up, her horn starting to glow with a light brown aura. She started to grab hold of the crate with her magic but a shake of the head from the pegasus stopped her.

“No I got it. Thank you though.” She said, easily carrying the crate, which seemed like it would be heavy due to its size.

Inspira Flash chuckled and levitated some writing supplies, beginning to scribble furiously with an eager smile. Dream Dasher let the pegasus into the house, an amused look on his face; she was strong for not being an earth pony. He watched as she set down the crate, startled a bit as a noise came from inside; like metal clanking. ‘Maybe we will get armor like the Royal Guard?’ He thought to himself.

Once the package was no longer weighing her down, and after an introduction to Melody Spring the two ponies went outside again. “Alright, I think introductions are in order. I am Snow Star, a member of Her Royal Majesty Princess Celestia’s Royal Guard. Yes it’s a mouthful, and yes I have to say it like that. Now, the Princess instructed that there would be three of you to train, I know Lightning Shaker is absent, are either of you the other...” She thought for a moment. “Wasn’t the other pony named Little Gear?” She asked, finally remembering.

“Little Gear is still in the hospital, we can go see her if you want.” Dream Dasher said, shrugging.

Rare Charmer nodded. “That’s where they met was over at Ponyville Medical, and where they met the Princess and she set this all up. Is my name not on the list?” She asked, apprehensive.

Snow Star frowned at the knowledge that one of her charges was in the hospital. This would definitely make her job harder. She shook her head. “First things first, let’s find Lightning Shaker. And sorry but no, you aren’t on my list. We can have it remedied if you should be, but I’ll need an okay from the Princess.”

Rare Charmer couldn’t hide her disappointment as her ears fell flat against her head, but she smiled and nodded anyway. Dream Dasher got their attention and pointed off towards Sweet Apple Acres. “Lightning said he was heading to the Apple Family farm just over this way. It’s a bit of a walk; the orchard is huge.”

Snow Star nodded and they all started off on the road to Sweet Apple Acres. The four ponies chatted amiably along the way, Snow Star seemed like a rather nice pegasus as far as Dream Dasher could tell, certainly not the harsh taskmaster he was expecting. He found out that she really was young, having been inducted into the Royal Guard when she was just a filly as a reward for some sort of heroic deed she was apparently uncomfortable talking about with them.

She asked what they had done to gain Celestia’s attention as they crossed the bridge on the edge of Ponyville leading towards the farm. Dream Dasher started in with the tale of how he and Lightning Shaker often went into the Everfree forest. The stories continued all the way to the telling of how they were attacked by the nightmares and Lightning was hospitalized, and finished with Dream Dasher finding the ruins though he omitted mentioning the orb or anything else.

The pegasus nickered at the description of the nightmares, her eyes filled with an alarming amount of glee. “We’ll have to see if we can’t find them, clearly they are a danger to the citizens of Ponyville.” She gave Dream Dasher a glance. “And you say you took one out? That’s quite impressive for a pony your size.” A few flaps of her wings had her floating in the air as she ruffled the earth pony’s mane with a hoof.

Inspira Flash had been writing the entire time; quill and parchment wrapped in a light cobalt aura, and with the way the unicorn kept looking between the other ponies it was obvious that their stories were being recorded. Dream Dasher frowned ,wondering if he should tell Rare Charmer that Inspira was a colt and not a filly. ‘Nah, it’s funnier to leave her in the dark.’ He thought, grinning at the colt as it scribbled away at the parchment; giggling as Snow Star told a story about a clumsy dragon.

It wasn’t much longer before they arrived at the farm, all four ponies laughing as Snow Star imitated a fall in the air, still telling the tales of the clumsy dragon. They tried asking some of the workers harvesting the apples but they were much too busy to talk, kindly pointing out that they were understaffed and to ask Granny Smith. They headed for the house, Snow Star knocking on the door. A moment later the door opened and an elderly mare an apple pie on her green flank greeted them. “Ooh hello, so many visitors today. The farm's not been this popular since last Zap Apple harvest day.”

“We’re looking for Lightning Shaker, a pegasus colt. He said he would be here, is this true?” Snow Star asked the elderly mare, her expression one of calm patience despite having heard the nearly indecipherable speech of Granny Smith.

“Oh that nice young colt from before. Ah saw ‘im. He was askin’ for work. We’re short staffed this season so ah went ahead and gave the young feller some work; nothin’ too hard though, he’s just a little feller.” She said in her usual fast paced warble.

Snow Star looked to Dream Dasher. “Why would he need to work on the farm?”

“His hospital bills; they were really expensive and our guardian was crying. I guess he decided he was going to earn the bits to pay for them.” Dream Dasher said, shrugging. He personally could understand the need Lightning felt.

“Thank you, Granny Smith wasn’t it? Could you tell us what part of the farm he’s working on, I need to speak with him.” Snow Star asked politely. After getting the information, and with a wave to the mare, they headed towards the orchard to find Lightning Shaker. They found him deep in the orchard, struggling to carry a couple baskets full of apples; his body bowed under the weight of the apples as his hooves dragged along. They walked along next to him, Dream Dasher and Rare Charmer giving waves in greeting. He attempted to smile and wave back, but couldn’t manage with the heavy baskets.

“Do you need help with those baskets?” Rare Charmer asked, looking concerned.

He grinned and picked up his pace a bit. “No I got this, thanks though.” He looked at Snow Star and Inspira Flash questioningly.

The older pegasus took the cue and introduced herself. “I am Snow Star, a member of Her Royal Majesty Princess Celestia’s Royal Guard. Yes it’s a mouthful, and yes I have to say it like that.” She repeated her line from earlier. Snow Star looked at Lightning, frowning. “You know you don’t need to work off your hospital bills. We can probably get the funds from the castle.”

Lightning shook his head, still trudging along with the baskets. “This is my mess; I got hurt, I’m going to pay for the medical bills. I don’t need to go begging for money.”

“Perhaps we can help then, it’ll be a good way to gauge your strength, and the quicker you are done the sooner we can get to some actual training.” Snow Star suggested.

Lightning Shaker looked between them and nodded. “From what I understand I’m supposed to do what you say either way, so I suppose I can’t argue Who’s this other filly though?” He asked, pointing at Inspira, who just chuckled.

Rare Charmer grinned. “This is Inspira Flash, we ran into each other when I was in the Everfree forest.”

Lightning Shaker looked at Dream Dasher. “You took her into the Everfree forest?”

The earth pony shook his head. “No, I’ve been at the house since you left, waiting for our Royal Guard trainer. These two showed up while I was waiting.” He said, pointing at the two unicorns.

Lightning shook his head and sighed, his back hurt especially where the straps for the baskets were rubbing up against the damaged area between his wings in just the right way to be really uncomfortable. He pushed on, despite being tired and in pain. “Alright, fine. But Rare, how about you take the filly into town and do something fun? She’s a bit young and I won’t have you working like this.”

Rare Charmer deflated a bit. “But I want to help. I can help, you know.” She insisted.

Lightning smiled at her, though it was clear he was very tired. “I know. And I thank you, but I can’t have you doing this. This is my burden.” He thought about it a moment, continuing to trudge towards the barn to deliver his baskets. “Actually, you could do me a huge favor. I would really appreciate it if you could help out our mom back at home; keep her company.” The unicorn perked up a bit at this idea, her smile returning. “She’s fond of you, and I am really worried about her. Just knowing someone is keeping her company will make me feel better.” He grunted, lowering the baskets now that they had made it to the cellar where the apples were stored.

“I can do that, if that’s really what you want.” She said a little meekly as she ushered Inspira Flash to follow her.

Snow Star gave Lightning Shaker a glance. “I’d prefer it if she helped here, so I can gauge her strength, even if it’s for her magic; but I suppose there’s time for that later. You know, it was really nice of you to send her off to take care of your mother.”

Lightning blushed as they went to work; he showed the other two what to do. Not surprisingly Snow Star and Dream Dasher were sturdier than Lightning, but being injured and not an earth pony did make him the weakest there. With the three of them working together, the part of the orchard assigned to Lightning was done with relative ease; at least by comparison. With the job done and the daylight waning, they headed back to the house for the evening.

Snow Star praised the two colts for doing well as they went, pleased that they were at least capable physically of pulling their weight. As they arrived back at the house they heard frightened shouting coming from inside. Finding a new reserve of energy, Lightning Shaker ran forward; the other two close on his heels.

Bursting through the door, they found all three ponies huddled in a corner, trying to get as far away from the crate in the middle of the room as possible; Rare Charmer’s horn was glowing as she had been pushing the crate away from them. To Lightning’s surprise, coming from the crate was a loud banging sound as it wobbled despite the force of the unicorns magic pushing against it. “Lightning, help there’s something in that crate she brought!” Rare Charmer yelled, relief replacing the panic in her voice.

Lightning Shaker ran forward and started shoving the crate towards the door glaring at Snow Star. “What did you bring in this? Is it some kind of monster you were going to test us against?” He shouted as Dream Dasher came to help him push. The crate really was very heavy.

Snow Star chuckled. Putting a hoof on either pony to stop them, she smiled reassuringly. “No it’s nothing so bad, I should have explained, but I was impatient to find you so that I could begin your training.” She knocked once on the crate and the noise inside stopped. Motioning for the two colts to back up she proceeded to unlatch the hatch of the crate with a deft flick of the wing, pulling the latch and opening it revealing its contents to the surprised ponies. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to leave you in there so long, got caught up doing some stuff and was away for a while.” Snow Star said, smiling apologetically to the sole occupant of the crate.

“You should be more mindful, if you can’t watch over me, how are you going to watch over the ponies you're supposed to be training?” The gruff voice of a small but bulky creature said, its body seemingly covered in a layer of armor.

She smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, I’m really sorry about that. Everypony, this is Mercury. She’s a dragon, and will be your main source for keeping in touch with the Princess during your training.” Snow Star announced as the dragon — about half the size of a pony — stepped out of the crate, her aqua eyes scanning the ponies gathered in the room.

Inspira Flash started scribbling notes on a piece of parchment as the others responded in their own way. Dream Dasher feigned a lack of interest, though kept an eye on the dragon, Rare Charmer still looked fearful but calmed down a bit, Melody Spring seemed relieved by Snow Star's speech. It was Lightning Shaker who eventually spoke up. “She’s a dragon? I thought they were supposed to be huge?” He said, moving closer to Mercury, who growled in response.

“Yep, she’s a dragon alright; she’s just a baby though. She’s pretty friendly, but will take some getting used to.” Snow Star answered, patting the dragon on the head.

“How will she help us stay in contact with the Princess?” Dream Dasher asked, his expression skeptical.

“For one, she can speak for herself.” The young dragon stated shortly.

Snow Star chuckled at the dragon, being used to her slightly off-putting nature. “She can also use her flames to send letters directly to the Princess; it’s a magical effect. Perhaps we should demonstrate.” She added after a moment.

Inspira Flash giggled, pulling out a fresh sheet of parchment, and wrote something down quickly before rolling it up into a scroll and levitating it to the dragon. Mercury grunted, and finally got up off of all fours. Standing on her hind legs, she took careful aim at the note. Drawing in a deep breath, she released a plume of blue flame which immediately ate the letter, dissolving it in seconds. Inspira Flash clapped and giggled excitedly before going back to writing again.

Meanwhile, Princess Celestia was just settling down for some tea in her chambers when a plume of blue flame came in through the window, forming a scroll for her. Catching the scroll with her magic, it glowed with a golden aura as it unfurled.

Celestia chuckled as she read the note.

Hi Princess, I’m Inspira Flash!

Back at the house, Snow Star had moved the crate to a corner where it would be out of the way until she could do something proper with it. While she moved it, she explained the situation and routine that her trainees would follow. “Each day will start with breakfast because that’s important, and then we will do some physical training and a bath to clean up, followed by school if you have it. Lessons with me will be a daily routine. Doesn’t matter if you have school or not, there are many things I’ll have to teach you.” Snow Star ran down her mental checklist, stopping once the crate was securely out of the way.

“So wait, we have school twice on some days?” Dream Dasher grumbled.

Snow Star nodded to him. “Yes, I’m going to have to teach you proper etiquette when dealing with royals and noble ponies. Also, we will be getting into your combat lessons of course.”

Just then Mercury looked uncomfortable before belching out a plume of flame, which formed into a letter. Opening it up she read aloud.

Dear Inspira Flash,
Pleased to meet you,
Princess Celestia.

Inspira Flash stopped writing, looking wide eyed. “That is so cool.” The unicorn said, mesmerized.

Melody Spring finally decided to join in the conversation as she spoke up. “Well it's getting late. I suppose you will be staying with us? Boys, how about you go get cleaned up while I prepare some dinner?”

Lightning Shaker and Dream Dasher nodded and headed off to wash up. Snow Star grinned a bit sheepishly and excused herself outside to get washed up as well despite the protests from the older mare that she didn’t need to head out for it. Mercury grumbled something about being out of the way as she turned stumbling a bit and made her way to the crate to curl up on a cushion followed by a suddenly grinning Inspira Flash. “I can help with dinner.” Rare Charmer offered, following Melody Spring to the kitchen.

A short while later, all the ponies were gathered around a table. Everypony was clean and ready to eat; Snow Star had left her armor near Mercury’s crate, occasionally stretching now that she no longer had the gear weighing her down. Snow Star looked at the food laid out for the collection of ponies; nodding to herself she looked up at Melody Spring. “We’ll go on a trip to the local market tomorrow for food, I know Mercury and I will be adding a couple more mouths to feed while we’re here but don’t worry, I have funds from the castle to buy food so I’ll take care of the bits where that is concerned.”

The mare smiled at her, the nervous look she had fading. “I’m glad to hear it, I didn’t realize how many extra mouths I would have to feed all of a sudden. Not that I mind, it’s just that things are going to be a bit tight for a while. Also what does the dragon eat? I didn’t know what to prepare for it.”

“Well she eats most of the same stuff we ponies eat, with a few exceptions, but she usually gets that stuff herself. She likes to eat her special foods in privacy.” She explained, looking to the crate where a pair of aqua eyes watched, glowing from the darkness.

Once everypony was done with food and the dishes cleaned – Snow Star and Rare Charmer helping the colts with the latter – Rare Charmer bid them a good night, carrying a sleeping Inspira Flash on her back as she headed home. Melody Spring offered the Guard-pony a place to sleep but she refused, saying a blanket would be enough for her to sleep in the main room. Once she was set up with the blanket laid out not far from where Mercury dozed quietly she motioned to the boys. “Get some sleep; we have a big day tomorrow. When you wake up, your training will begin.” She said, smiling at the eager grins on the faces of the two colts.

She watched as they headed off to bed, Melody Spring waving as she went to her own room. As she settled down to sleep on the blanket, she thought to herself. ‘Tomorrow your new lives begin, boys. I hope you’re ready.’

Explosions and Training

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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.”

Mistakes and Insanity

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Knights

of the Everfree

Mistakes and Insanity:

It was several years later, in late winter. Lightning Shaker was now one of the Elite Royal Guards in Princess Celestia’s service. He now had sole responsibility for the care of the Everfree Forest, and those who enter it.

The snow had really piled up, the weather team had fought it, but a blizzard from the Everfree had pulled in and dumped a huge amount of snow all over the town, blanketing everything in a white stillness.

Everything was quiet; most ponies having retreated to their homes with cozy fires, Lightning however, had a reason for being outside right now. In the years since he first met Princess Celestia, many things had happened; Lightning had earned his cutie mark, twin lightning bolts arcing from a cloud, also his eventual 'knighthood' and post over the Everfree being the good things. However there were also bad things that happened; things Lightning Shaker would never be able to deal with fully.

The pegasus huffed and shook the snow off of himself as he continued his walk silently, contemplating what he was going to say to his friends when he got there. ‘How do I even begin to make up for this; for all the things I’ve screwed up?’ He wondered internally.

He turned down the road to the only part of Ponyville where all the residences were made of stone. Some of them were simple, others far more elaborate. Lightning often thought many of these were merely decoration, not actually fit to be the place where a pony rested itself. Lightning turned down the row he needed. It wasn’t long before he’d be where his friends were.

Lightning noticed a lone pony as he passed; an earth pony sitting out in the cold, her sleek body looking more as it belonged in Canterlot than Ponyville. She watched Lightning as he passed, her expression as cold as the air around him.

As he passed, Lightning kept a wary eye on the pony, but aside from the sneering glare, she said or did nothing. It was several more minutes before Lightning reached his destination, staring at the stone structure with dread. ‘Well, I’m here, might as well get on with this.’ He thought as he opened his saddlebags to take out the gifts he had brought.

With tears in his eyes, Lightning Shaker laid the gifts out around the graves of his friends. “I’m sorry you guys, I should have tried harder. If I had done more, been better, you would all still be with me, instead of here in this place.” He sat down in front of the graves, each branded with the cutie mark of the pony that rested beneath them.

Lightning sobbed as he sat before the graves, the cold a distant memory for him; a problem for later. “I miss all of you; I would do anything to be with you again. You are my family and I’m not sure how I’m going to go on alone. I’m so sorry.” He hung his head, letting out a shuddering breath.

Lightning didn’t notice that he was joined by the silent earth pony, who was now standing behind him. He felt a hoof on his back, and looked up to see the earth pony from before standing next to him, her dark blue coat dusted with snow and her purple mane hanging down over her face, both wet from the snow melting against her. The earth pony smiled at Lightning. She crooned in a soothing voice, “All the fault here is yours, you know, all of this.”

Lightning looked up at her, shocked. had he heard her right? “What do you mean, how do you know this is my fault, and who are you?” He asked.

The pony next to him began chuckling, which rapidly dissolved into insane laughter. “You don’t recognize me, my little pony?” She asked between laughs, as her mane and tail erupted into a fiery blaze, her cutie mark — which had been a simple heart — now had arcing flames coming off of it.

Lightning Shaker stood, his expression shocked. “You’re one of the nightmares! Why won’t you leave us alone?”

“I thought you knew us far more fondly than this!” She yelled as a maddened glee contorted her face. The heat the nightmare put off was now causing the snow around them to rapidly melt.

Lightning backed away from the nightmare. “What do you want? Isn’t it enough that I’m alone now?” He never quite shouted, too defeated for the effort.

The nightmare sneered at him. “You think you are alone? You will never be alone. WE WILL ALWAYS BE HERE!” Her voice started rising as she slowly stalked after the pegasus.

Lightning heard a sound and looked behind himself, seeing the other two nightmares from before coming up behind him He stopped backing up, looking for a place to run to, but the area was thick with graves. His only choice would be flight, but that was quickly cut off by one of the nightmares, this one had wings, and was hovering just above him. “I’ll just have to fight you, and if you won’t back down, I’ll have to kill you.” He said, crouching defensively.

“KILL US? FOAL, WE CAN’T DIE!” She screamed at him, the heat coming from her intensifying. He tried to dart past the first one, who was an earth pony, but was caught as her mane snaked out and wrapped around his neck. “LITTLE FOAL, YOU WILL BE WITH US FOREVER. WE WILL TORMENT YOU FOR ALL ETERNITY.” She began laughing as her mane tightened around Lightning’s neck, choking him and the heat searing his fur. Lightning’s vision blurred, and he could already see the blackness creeping into his vision as the nightmare's laughs grew louder. The last thing Lightning heard was the unearthly cry of the nightmare, a sound so loud it shook everything around them and echoed all the way to Canterlot and beyond.

Then everything was black.

Revelations and Reversals

View Online

Knights

of the Everfree

Chapter Ten:

Lightning Shaker awoke screaming, his heart hammering in his chest. That had been entirely too real. He felt around his neck, but it was free of burn marks. “That was the worst one, why was it so real?” He asked the room.

“You thought that was a dream?” A voice asked from the shadows.

Lightning jumped out of bed as the nightmare stepped out from the shadows. “What I showed you is your future, little one. That happens to you. All your friends die, and we will bind you and torment you for all the rest of time.” The nightmare, which was the same earth pony from his dream, seemed much more subdued than before. She had been terrifying in the dream, but now she was calm and her mane — though rippling with heat — was not a blazing inferno.

Lightning Shaker stared at the nightmare confused. “I don’t get it. What is with you anyway? Why do you even care about torturing me? I never did anything to you.” Lightning pleaded with the creature.

The nightmare looked up at him from under its mane. “We have our reasons, don’t doubt that. What I find interesting though, is that the physical pain I inflicted to you did not hurt you or scare you nearly as bad as the emotional suffering”

“Why are you even in my room?” Lightning asked, backing away a bit.

“It doesn’t really seem I’m getting through to you.” She laughed. “Though I see you weeping so sweetly.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not weeping.” Lightning scoffed.

“You always wanted people to remember you. To leave your little mark on society.” She grinned at what was clearly a private joke between her and the madness contained — though just barely — within her.

“Of course I want people to remember me, who wouldn’t? But that stuff you showed me; how can I stop it?” Lightning asked, forgetting his fear of the creature and walking forward.

The nightmares eyes rolled back as she let out a raucous bout of laughter. “Stop it? Are you serious? You CAUSE IT!” She began cackling madly.

Lightning looked confused. “Why would you show me this, do you want me to stop it?” He asked, taking another couple steps forward.

The nightmare's laughing stopped. “You are insane; this is the most fun I’ve had in a long, long time!”

‘Right, I’m the insane one...’ Lightning shook his head, the nightmare made no sense at all. “I don’t get you... what is it you want from me?”

“What we want is irrelevant. You serve a purpose for us, and you will continue to do so until we no longer have need of you.” This was a new voice; more masculine. Lightning saw another of the nightmares, the unicorn. “You should be honored. Few mortal ponies are of any use to us, and you are special.” This came from another voice, it was arrogant and feminine. This one was the pegasus of the three. Like the other two, it stepped out of the shadows as though born from them.

Lightning backed away from the three nightmares. “So is this the part where you three hurt me, like always?”

“There will be pain, we will not stop.” The unicorn replied.

Lightning felt a metal shod hoof on his back.

“Hey there, you awake?” Little Gear was shaking him. Lightning rolled over out of bed and hugged her tight. Little Gear returned the hug awkwardly. “Umm thanks Lightning, good to see you too?”

“They always come in my dreams, they always hurt me.” Lightning Shaker sobbed against her, his voice quavering. “I’m so tired of being hurt in my dreams.”

“It’ll be alright Lightning, it was just a dream.” Little Gear whispered, stroking his mane.

He shuddered, remembering. “They said they want something from me, but they wont tell me what.” Little Gear returned the hug a bit more forcefully this time, holding Lightning close. They stayed that way for a while until the pegasus finally calmed down. It took a moment, but that’s when Lightning looked confused. “Little Gear, you have both front legs.” He pulled back to look at her as she grinned at him.

“I had some parts shipped in, I made it a big list and threw in some special capacitors that are able to use magical energy to run. With the piece of that orb you left with me I managed to get this prosthetic up and running.” She removed herself and took a few steps so Lightning could see. “I can walk now; I’ll have to make new prosthetics as I grow, but the design works!” All of a sudden Little Gear did a strange dance her leg awkwardly flailing about before she fell. “Okay, so there are a few kinks to work out, but still.” She blushed, embarrassed.

“You just need to work out some bugs. Trial and error right?” Lightning hugged her again, his wings flapping with joy. “I knew you could do it, I’m so happy for you Little Gear.”

She waved her prosthetic hoof at him, grinning. “That’s not all, look at this.” She turned and removed some notes from her saddlebags. “I’ve been working on some designs based on how this works; I think I can make prosthetics for just about anything really.” She showed him the designs. There were all sorts of replacement parts drawn up; legs, wings, and even parts for non ponies.

There was a knock on the door. “Hey, I heard Little Gear was here.” Dream Dasher came in, followed shortly by Snow Star. “Oh sweet, you got that leg working.”

She blushed. “More or less. Some bugs to work out, but that’s what test runs are for.”

Snow Star coughed politely. “Oh right sorry about that. Little Gear, this is Snow Star. She’s training us to be members of the Royal Guard. Captain Snow Star, I’d like to introduce you to Little Gear. She’s a good friend of ours.” Lightning couldn’t contain his joy at the mention of the training as his wings began flapping.

“Ah yes, I was told about you. Those artificial limbs are quite impressive. Work on those bugs and I’m sure even the Princess would find them interesting.” Snow star said, shaking hooves with Little Gear, which caused one of the mentioned bugs to happen as the limb got stuck in a shaking position moving up and down. “I suppose I could extend to you the offer of training as well, it wouldn’t be any trouble to be sure.”

Little Gear thought about that a moment. “That sounds like it would be good. However, I have to return home, and now that I have the prototype working I need to improve the design and that may take some assistance from my parents.”

“Once that is done however I would be more than happy to join you all.” She hastily added.

Snow Star nodded in approval. “Of course, family comes first.”

“Just remember to keep up with what I taught you.” Dream Dasher said, grinning.

“Well, now that all of that is settled, I believe there are a few orders of business for the day to take care of. Little Gear, I know you need to return home, but I would appreciate it if you joined us for this. I think we need to set up a base of operations that won’t have us crowding your home, boys. Also I would like to see these ruins; it’s possible we can take care of both at the same time.” Snow Star walked to the door and poked her head out, saying something. A few moments later Mercury came in dragging a box behind her.

“Oh my, is that a dragon?” Little Gear asked, backing up a bit.

“Don’t worry, she’s friendly. This is Mercury, she is my companion and of great help to us.” Snow Star said, taking the box she brought in. “These are for the boys; sorry I don’t have one for you yet, Little Gear. These armors are made of iron, and they will get you used to wearing the real thing.” She said, lifting out a iron replica of the armor the Royal Guards wore; they even had the helmet with them.

“Those look a lot better than that cardboard armor Lightning wore for Nightmare Night one year.” Dream Dasher scoffed as he grabbed the armor to start putting it on.

Lightning Shaker sulked. “Don’t make fun. I won a contest for that, you know.” He grabbed the other armor and started sliding it on.

“Oof, these are still a bit heavy.” Dream Dasher said as he shifted around.

“They’re still troublesome to get on, too.” Lightning said, struggling with his.

“Heavy as they are, they're still far lighter than the normal guard’s armor, and those don’t have all the extra bits for enchantments like mine does. You’ll get used to it. I promise.” Snow Star said as she helped Lightning figure out how to get his wings through the openings on the side of the armor.

Dream Dasher nodded, grinning madly. “Oh I know how heavy armor is. I found some armor at the ruins and brought it back with me.” He walked over to the chest by his bed and pulled out the scaled armor, showing it off.

Snow Star appraised the armor critically. “That looks quite ancient; I’m even more excited to see these ruins now.”

Little Gear looked thoughtful. “You know... This gives me an idea; I may be able to put together something with my skills.”

Snow Star stood once Lightning was all set. “Sounds good, I look forward to seeing your progress, shall we get going then?”

The four ponies all agreed, and they headed out to make their way to the Everfree forest.

“Captain Snow Star, what about Rare Charmer? Isn’t she supposed to be with us?” Lightning asked as they made their way through the forest, the dense canopy blocking out most of the light.

The mare thought on that for a moment. “Well, I wasn’t assigned to oversee any training for her... she’s a unicorn right? She would likely receive a teacher in advanced magical studies if anything. I just couldn’t really be of any help with that."

“I guess that makes sense. What about the base? Will she join us there?” He asked as they made their way along the path.

Snow Star nodded, though with the low amount of light it was doubtful he could see it. “I can see this is important to you. Once I can secure the base of operations and make sure the area can accommodate the whole group, I’ll see to it that everyone the Princess wants to station here has their own place. It will be no small task, Princess Celestia has tasked us with safeguarding the Everfree and all who enter it.”

Lightning Shaker felt a sense of awe at the thought, it made him feel important. They reached the clearing where the fight against the nightmares happened. “This is where we fought them; those creatures.” Lightning said, causing Snow Star to look about eagerly, but the nightmares were nowhere in sight.

Eventually they made it through to the lake surrounding the ruins. It only took a cursory glance from Snow Star to know they would need to do some construction. There were a lot of places where the walls had caved in, and the roof seemed to be missing in quite a bit of it. “This is going to take some work; I’ll have to send for some supplies, and possibly an extra hoof or two for help.” She sighed. “Well, let’s survey the damage inside.”

As they headed across the lake on the raft pulled by Dream Dasher, a pony watched them from the darkness of the forest with a sinister grin. Another watched it, fretting for the safety of the other ponies as well as itself. The four ponies were blissfully unaware of the dangerous creature watching them.

Talks and Manipulations

View Online

Knights

of the Everfree

Chapter Eleven:

Lightning awoke to a cold but bright day. Celestia’s sun was shining, despite winter having already started. Lightning Shaker stretched yawning loudly. “What, no nightmares huh? You guys getting lazy or what?” He chuckled to himself as he got out of bed, already beginning to work on realigning his feathers, which were crooked from sleeping on them.

“Not lazy, just giving you a bit of a break. You think of us as heartless monsters; however what you need to know is there is a goal we are trying to reach. And before you ask, the answer is no, I’m not going to tell you what that is.” Lightning backed away as he saw one of the nightmares. This one was the unicorn. It had its back to him, and was sitting staring out the window as it spoke.

“Is this another nightmare, or are you really here?” Lightning asked, looking around for the other nightmares and eyeing the door to his room.

The nightmare sighed rising as it turned towards him. “This isn't a nightmare, yes I’m really here, the others aren't here, and no I’m not here to hurt you.” The nightmare’s horn flared with a tan aura as it brought an object to rest in front of Lightning. “This is for you. Consider it an early Hearths Warming gift. I won’t explain its use at the moment, but I promise it is meant to benefit you and not hurt you.”

As Lightning examined the ‘gift’, which seemed to be a pendant in the shape of a crescent moon, the nightmare sighed. “That should answer most of the questions you would ask. The rest I’m leaving vague for now. Despite the enthusiasm of my compatriots, my primary goal has little to do with causing you harm.”

Lightning let out a small huff at this. “You could have fooled me; you know if I’m supposed to do something for you guys, then putting me in the hospital for months probably was a bad call on your part. What is this anyway?” He asked, pointing at the jewelry.

From the look on his face, Lightning figured he had stumped the nightmare as it stared at the pegasus with confusion. “It’s a pendant; you wear it upon your neck.” It finally said as though that explained everything.

Lightning Shaker deadpanned at this. “Thanks for the information. What if I refuse?”

“Then nothing. I've said my piece. We are looking to work together to achieve a goal. The pendant will help you. If you don’t want to use it, that’s your choice.” The nightmare walked over to Lightning, its size making it tower over the pegasus. “Seems I have to leave now. I’ll make a deal with you, in the interest of trust so to speak. We need you to help us, so what I’m going to offer is a hands off approach. No more intrusions from any of us will happen; no more nightmares, in either sense, unless we need to give you instruction or visit you for some reason. For the time being, I can guarantee that no harm shall come to you from us.” The nightmare turned to look at the door as it burst open, a concerned Dream Dasher and Little Gear on the other side.

Little Gear stared at the creature in front of her with a puzzled look, staring in particular at the fire emanating from the spots where the nightmare’s mane and tail would be. Strangely she didn't seem particularly frightened, "Okay... so... umm... Dasher, what do you make of dis?" she looked aside to him.

Dream Dasher gave her a quizzical look before looking back to the nightmare and lowering his stance. "This is one of those nightmares that we fought in the forest. I don't know how it got in, but I'm gonna get rid of it now."

He started to charge forward, but suddenly found another nightmare directly in front of him. This one's eyes showed an intense madness as it looked at him. "Oh we remember you little one, we remember the way you kicked our head" It tapped it's head with a forehoof as it leaned in towards Dream Dasher, it's mane flaring up. "You killed us. That was fun." It seemed to ponder for a moment before its face lit up as though it had a good idea. "I know, we'll return the favor. Come little one; we shall kill you too."

Little Gear ran forward. "Wha’? You get back you jerk! Don't think I'm gonna let nothin' happen to him!" Once again Dream Dasher looked at her as though she had grown a horn.

"What happened to your voice?" He asked, seemingly having forgotten the nightmare standing in front of them.

Little Gear blushed, looking bashful. "Oh dat, it's a long story. Can we not get into it while firebutt here is glarin' at us?"

The nightmare who had been watching the conversation with little more than a bemused expression suddenly looked shocked and turned around to examine herself, muttering "Fire butt?" It suddenly leaped into the air, "Aaah! my flank is ablaze!" The nightmare ran over to its cohort. "Put it out, put it out, put it out!" It yelled in a panic.

The other nightmare merely scoffed, "It's time for us to go, now that we've drawn too much attention here." It looked down at Little Gear, "I see you have magic with you, odd for an earth pony... I know this magic. Good; it will serve well" With a flick of its mane the two had vanished.

Snow Star was in the doorway, having come up after hearing the commotion. "What was that just now? Were those the nightmares you talked about?" She walked into the room, looking about for signs of where they had gone, her armor glinting in the morning sunlight. "Alright, get suited up and then meet me downstairs. I want a full report of what just happened, understood?"

Three responses of "Yes ma'am!" were enough for Snow Star as she headed downstairs.

Dream Dasher walked over to Lightning. "I'd like an explanation as well. Why was that thing here?"

Lightning looked down at the necklace that still lay on the floor. "I'm not entirely sure. They are way too cryptic with what they want." He opened the chest next to his bed and began pulling out parts of his armor.

Dream Dasher looked back at Little Gear. "What about you? What was up with the way you were talking?"

Little Gear seemed to be composing herself. She sat and began fidgeting with a loose screw in her prosthetic. "I have an accent." She said, finally looking up at Dream Dasher. "I get teased about it a lot so I try really hard to hide it. Even in Manehattan it is considered to be a low brow type of thing to have that accent, the 'bad side of town' is where that accent comes from. So rather than 'talk like dis', I just sort of hide it and try to sound more like a normal pony." She sighed and left the room before either of the colts could respond.

Lightning Shaker looked at Dream Dasher. "This is going to be one of those weird days, isn't it?"

Dream Dasher nodded, "They all are, aren't they?"

Downstairs after breakfast, with all ponies wearing their armor and with explanations as out of the way as possible, the day was seen to. Lightning Shaker had work to do in the weather patrol, still wanting to pay his own debts.

Snow Star took Dream Dasher and Little Gear out to the forest to look into more work on the ruins. The captain was pleased to note that the materials had arrived and that there were already some workers there to assist in securing the structure and rebuilding any areas that had crumbled in the many years it had been vacant.

"Alright, I need to go check and make sure the repairs are going well and that the crew knows what to do." She nodded to the two ponies with her. "I want you two to check on the work being done for the raft. I'm hoping they make something a bit more stable for you earth ponies to use."

As Snow Star headed off to the ruins, Dream Dasher grinned. "You really do look funny in armor, especially since you already are part metal."

Little Gear shoved him. "Shut up. Do not make fun of me like that." She stormed off to the sound of Dream Dasher chuckling.

Lightning sighed as he adjusted the necklace around his neck. "You shouldn't pick on her like that. It's one thing with you and me, but with her that's not right."

"I wouldn't worry. It's just some harmless jokes like always. I doubt she has a problem with it." Dream Dasher scoffed, looking puzzled as Lightning Shaker put the necklace back under his armor. "Why are you wearing that thing? I wouldn't trust it, seeing as it came from those things."

He lifted the necklace and looked down at it before shrugging. "I don't really think they're as bad as they seem. I think they just need help."

Dream Dasher chuckled. "That one certainly does; mental help at least."

Lightning laughed. "Maybe you kicked it too hard? I have trouble believing it's the same one, but maybe it is?"

"You think they're really immortal then? I thought only the Princess and, like, dragons lived forever." Dream Dasher said, his eyes moving toward Canterlot even though he couldn't see it.

Lightning Shaker winced as he lifted off the ground with a few flaps of his wings. His injuries were healed, but the scar between his wings still hurt. The armor didn't help. "I don't think dragons are immortal. They just live for a really really long time. Alright, I gotta head off to weather patrol, just... try to be nicer to Little Gear, okay? I don't think she's going to take jokes the same way we do." He slowed and got a little closer to Dream Dasher. "Also, I'm pretty sure it's not nice to tease someone about something like a lost leg."

As Lightning flew off, Dream Dasher looked back over at Little Gear, who was walking ahead several yards. Everything seemed so complicated lately. He wondered why he couldn't just have fun like normal without all these new rules. He ran forward to catch up with her; she was nearly to the raft. A few ponies were already working on it, and there were some guards keeping an eye out for them.

As he closed the distance, she saw him and looked away angrily. She moved away and started talking to one of the workers. Dream Dasher sighed, looking at the construction being done. It looked like they were replacing the raft with a wide boat.

He suddenly felt like he was being watched. looking around he thought he saw somepony — or something — watching him from the trees. Deciding that he wasn't going to get to talk to Little Gear any time soon, he started walking towards whatever it was he saw.

Little Gear saw him walk off and frowned. Then she remembered; 'Wait, I was mad at him from earlier!' Deciding to ignore him, she instead focused on the worker who was detailing some long list of rules to be followed when constructing an over water pulley system.

As he got near the tree-line, Dream Dasher heard a sound like a squeak and then there was a poof of dust that flew out of the trees. He tried to chase whatever it was, but suddenly he was floating in the air. He looked back to check, and seeing no wings he sighed with relief. 'Never know, not sure I could be bothered with that one.' He thought as he tried to move forward in one way or another.

Dream Dasher grunted and struggled, but to no avail; he was stuck fast in the air. The only sign of whatever it was he had heard was the crashing of something running through the forest. He sighed and hung limply in the air, finally curling up in a ball. There was no weight under him; it was like he was just floating. 'must be why Lightning likes sleeping on clouds...' he thought. Just then, gravity took over and he fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Little Gear came running up, having seen what was going on. "Were you flying just now!?" She asked, slightly out of breath.

"Not exactly..." He grunted from his prone position. "Some kind of spell had me in the air. I couldn't move at all."

She helped him up, dusting him off as she chuckled a bit. "Was it some kind of dangerous monster you were fighting? You think we should tell the captain?"

Dream Dasher gave her a glare at her chuckling, but figured he deserved it. He sighed as he looked off into the forest. Whatever it was, the thing was gone. "I don't think that'll be a problem. Seems like it was a defense thing that put me in the air. I guess I scared it off."

Little Gear smiled at him, "Well you do look kind of scary in that armor. Maybe that's why?"

He couldn't help but grin. The idea of looking intimidating or scary worked perfectly for him. Dream Dasher looked over at Little Gear, noticing how she seemed to have forgotten that she was angry with him. 'maybe thinking I was in danger worried her and calmed her down? Either way, I'm glad this worked out.' He shuffled up to her and poked her in the side. "Your armor looks great on you, though you have more than I do if you count that leg."

She looked down at the prosthetic frowning, "Not really, I had to use cheaper materials, and lightweight ones at that; the leg is heavy enough as it is. If I had used quality materials, I am not sure I could lift it, let alone walk." She gave a demonstrative wag of the leg. "Not to mention, now with this armor on I am even more loaded down. I know there will be payoff later, but this is an issue at the moment."

By the time they headed back to the ruins, the construction teams were already working on moving the materials inside for the night.

Snow Star greeted the two earth ponies near the main entrance, which was now a definable thing thanks to the construction. "How are things going on that raft? You two have been gone for a while now." She flapped her wings pensively, looking eager to be flying and relatively bored with being stuck on the ground.

Dream Dasher gave a salute, which Little Gear mimicked as best she could her legs clearly tired from the extra weight.

"Sorry about that. There was an incident at the edge of the forest. Not sure what, but I don't think it'll be a problem. Whatever it was, the thing was more scared of me than anything else." Dream Dasher looked nervously over at Little Gear. "Construction seems to be complete already. The crew said there shouldn't be any problems with the new design, but if there are, to just get somepony out here to adjust it."

Snow Star seemed to only listen to half of what was said. Her focus had shifted to Little Gear, "Are you having problems, Miss Gear? You seem to be having trouble standing."

Little Gear blushed, gritting her teeth in embarrassment. "No ma'am, just not used to the extra weight; it's putting a strain on my prosthetic."

She looked sympathetically at the filly. "I can understand, but for now I'd like you to keep the armor on. Do you think you can hold out for a bit longer? I want to do some checks on the rooms inside. We have to set up a few things like living quarters and a meeting hall for our long stints on duty."

Little Gear nodded, giving her best impression of a grin that she could manage at the moment. This seemed to please Snow Star, so she motioned for them to follow.

Dream Dasher was impressed with the work that had been done; a lot of the walls had either been repaired or had scaffolding up for workers to use, and any parts that were still a danger had braces put up to keep them from crumbling. There were also some magical light fixtures — such as the kind you would find in Canterlot — placed around, making the place not nearly so dark anymore.

There was still a lot of work to be done, but the amount of things that had been taken care of was staggering. He gave a low whistle. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that a construction crew from Canterlot hired to work for the guard would be efficient, but this is still nuts."

Snow Star nodded. "Efficiency and order are what we are all about; well, that and doing our jobs of keeping ponies safe. speaking of which, tomorrow I believe some combat drills are in order." She looked over at Little Gear. "Though perhaps I'll limit it to you and Lightning. Little Gear seems like she could use some rest."

She shook her head. "No, I will be okay. I am just going to have to come up with a better solution to how this leg sits, or rather how I sit on it. I suppose a return to the drawing board may be in order, as well as a different scheme... This armor gave me an idea."

The pegasus chuckled, "Don't push yourself too hard; you're just a filly after all. I'm not going to push you three harder than you can go. I'm going to push you, but there is a limit to what I will make you do." She smiled before looking back towards the entrance. "Speaking of you three, where's Lightning? I didn't expect his duties in the weather patrol to take this long, especially since the last fly over I did of the base here showed the skies over Ponyville to be quite clear."

The two younger ponies followed her gaze to the entrance. "You're right, it's almost night time. Where is he?" Dream Dasher headed back towards the entrance just in time to have a very excited Lightning Shaker crash into him.

Little Gear and Snow Star couldn't help but laugh at the tangle of armored colts in the entryway, both struggling to get up. After a few moments of trying they finally helped the two colts get separated.

"Heh, sorry about that, I was just really excited." Lightning said, blushing a bit.

Snow Star gave him her best captain's glare. "You should have been back from weather patrol hours ago. Where have you been?"

Lightning Shaker managed to look sheepish despite the fact that he was grinning from ear to ear and couldn't stop. "Well I was doing my job at the weather patrol, but while I was working, well... Actually, can somepony help me out of my armor real quick?"

Snow Star looked disapproving, but helped him out of his armor anyway. The three ponies gasped at what they saw.

"Isn't it great? I got my cutie mark! It happened while I was moving some of those storm clouds that had been left over from a few days ago." He showed off the cutie mark, twin lightning bolts coming out of a cloud. He thought about it a moment. "Wait, does that mean my destiny is as a weather pony?"

Snow Star patted him on the back, chuckling. "Not at all. Mine is a snowflake over a blue swirl, and I don't work the weather at all. It just means that's your hidden talent of awesome." She gave him a narrow eyed look. "That still doesn't explain why you were gone so long."

Lightning backed away slightly 'that stare is intense!' "Well you see, after it happened and everyone was congratulating me, we finished up work for the day... then this filly — I can't remember her name, she was talking kind of fast — anyway, she threw me a party. Half the town was there it seemed. I wanted to come back, but there were so many ponies wanting to tell me I did great, even though I didn't get it on purpose."

Snow Star patted him on the back. "Well, it is a big deal for most ponies." She looked around the base and sighed. "I'll escort you three home. You can all relax and enjoy this new development. I'll finish up here after I get you back."

Little Gear stepped up. "Umm... Ma'am, can I return with you? I feel there is more I need to do around here, and I need your help."

Snow Star looked surprised at this. "No need to rush anything. Besides, the rooms won't be ready yet and it's late so I need you three home."

Little Gear sighed, thinking dreamily of making her own work station and forge. 'I'll be able to work all night without getting interrupted. So much to do, so many things to create!'

After taking the colts and filly home, Snow Star bid the family farewell.

Melody Spring stopped her. "Would you mind terribly helping me in the kitchen? The young ones seem very worn out, except for Dream Dasher, but he's not really— Oh how do I put this? I try to keep him far away from the kitchen."

The pegasus was eager to get back to the base and finish up her inspection, but relented. "No problem miss Spring, what sort of help do you need?"

The other mare smiled, leading her to the kitchen. "Well, with more mouths to feed it's a little bit harder for me to make all the food. Just a little help with the preparation would be wonderful."

Snow Star sighed inwardly, but began helping with a smile on her face.

The two got to the task of preparing the food; salad, an apple pie, and a cake.

"If you don't mind my saying, you seem a little young for the guard. And you're a captain? I thought the boys were young, but I'm surprised with your rank and how young you must be." Melody said as she began kneading the dough for the pie.

Snow Star nodded, while measuring flour. "I was recruited young. There was an accident and I lost both my parents. The guards who found me were impressed, and felt sorry for me at the same time."

Melody stopped kneading the dough, giving Snow Star a sympathetic look. She gave the other mare a quick hug. "No child should have to lose their parents, I'm so sorry sweetie."

Snow Star smiled, giving a shrug. "The guard is my family now. I've gotten used to having them around and being one of them."

Melody Spring smiled warmly at her. "Well if Lightning and the others are guards now, that makes them your family as well; you're like their sister. Which makes me your mom! Oh my gosh, my family seems to be growing by the day!" She gave Snow Star a big hug.

The pegasus blushed at being hugged, but returned it gratefully nonetheless. They returned to work on the food, both chatting casually. 'I can't believe how much she's opened up.' Melody thought as she put the cake in the oven. She looked over at Snow Star, who was sliding the pie out of the other part of the oven. "You know, I'm really happy you're taking such good care of the boys. I don't really have that much time for them these days and I always feel terrible about it."

"It's alright, they're a couple of fine colts. I'm rather impressed with how hard both of them work actually. I know what we do can be dangerous, but I promise I'll keep them as safe as I can." Snow Star closed the oven and sat down at the table, 'If I can get out of here soon I can still do my inspection, so much to do in the day.'

When the cake was almost done, they began preparing the salads so they could eat while the sweets were cooling, though the two mares did have a slice of the pie in the meantime.

Once prepared, the salads were brought out to the dining area where Little Gear was the only pony present; somehow managing to work on her prosthetic, which was laying on the table. Pen notes on a new design were already laid out in detail.

She looked up at the two older ponies as they came in, smiling at the food. "Let me just get this off the table." She said, moving her notes and shuffling them into a pile next to her chair. She then grabbed her prosthetic and moved it to lay next to them.

Snow Star eyed the prosthetic on the floor. "You know, I'm fairly certain we can get that fixed; your leg I mean. No reason a filly your age should have to use that thing."

Little Gear shook her head. "No, I do not think I want to grow back my leg. I think I get a lot of character from using this. It is hard sometimes — like today — but if life was easy, would any of us be together?"

Both mares were thoughtful at this.

"It makes me happy, to know that Dream Dasher and Lightning Shaker have such wonderful people to take care of them. Those boys need some happiness in their lives. Ah couldn't believe it when Lightning made friends with me, jus' out of nowhere." She sniffled a bit, absent mindedly moving her right shoulder before bringing her left foreleg up to wipe away a tear.

She was engulfed in a hug from Melody. "Sweetie, we're your family too. Lightning already said you were family, and I know that colt; he meant it. You make him just as happy as we do."

"Where are those boys anyway? Did they run off to get in trouble again?" Snow Star asked, idly arranging the bowls on the table.

"I believe they are taking turns bathing. They let me go first." Little Gear said, muffled as she was still being embraced by Melody.

Snow Star sighed, "Well if you two don't mind, I'm going to get started on eating. I need to get back to work."

Melody Spring chuckled. "You may as well stay for some cake, it's already awfully late. Your work will still be there tomorrow."

"But— But I have to finish this up. work won't wait." She sighed. "You tricked me didn't you?"

"Me? Trick you? Why ever would I do that?" Melody Spring asked, looking smug. She seemed pleased with herself, having foiled the guard in a way that helped her.

Lightning Shaker came downstairs to the sound of the three laughing over this, bringing a smile to his face. As much as he enjoyed the fact that he was a member of the Royal Guard, he was quite happy to be out of his armor for the moment; especially since he got to show off his cutie mark. He joined them at the table. Little Gear slid a bowl of salad over to him, which he dug straight into, being very hungry after the day's events.

A pony watched from outside, grinning at the family. "Do you think this is going to work?" The winged nightmare asked, looking down at the pony.

The pony fluttered its wings, enshrouded in darkness it was hard to tell as a cloud of dust blew away from it. "It has to work. There is no other way to fix this." They both walked off into the night, disappearing into the Everfree.

Reunions and Field Trips Part 1

View Online

Knights
of the Everfree

Chapter Twelve, Part One:

The next few days passed without incident as life for the intrepid group of ponies worked itself into a sort of normalcy. Lightning and the others had developed a routine of training and normal work, Lightning never failing to go to weather patrol or do his duty for the guard. Little Gear and Dream Dasher seemed to be getting along better, the normally obtuse colt going out of his way to please the filly and abstaining from normal pranks or jokes. Snow Star had kept in close contact with Princess Celestia, sending letters daily via Mercury, who now followed along on any part of the day's events, observing training as well as the reconstruction of the base.

This day saw the ponies all gathered at the base. Lightning was finished with weather patrol, and training was done so Snow Star was giving the three gathered ponies a talking to about how to deal with a few situations. "When you encounter something and you don't know what it is, in a place like this, assume it is dangerous. I want you all to come get me as soon as possible, no matter what you might think about the situation. Creatures here are dangerous, and it wouldn't take much for something bad to happen; a moment of indecision and the next thing you know, I'm apologizing to your parents. Do you three understand me?" Snow Star was giving her best impression of a harsh drill instructor, though it was clear that the events had bothered her for different reasons.

The three younger ponies all nodded with various forms of, "Yes ma'am," as confirmation.

She nodded to herself. "Good, from now on I want a bit more effort from all of you in regards to this. We already know there are dangerous creatures here that have targeted you for whatever reasons. When one of them was in the house and you didn't get me immediately, that was a mistake." She looked at Dream Dasher and Little Gear. "And when the two of you didn't get my attention when whatever it was had you floating in the air..." She sighed as though under a great strain. "What were you thinking?"

Lighting Shaker was the first to speak up, moving forward a bit with his armor gleaming in the morning sun. "The nightmare just wanted to talk, I don't think I was in any real danger from it. I think they need my help."

Snow Star gave him a doubtful look, but held her tongue and motioned for him to continue, as she was a bit curious as to where this was going.

"I think there is something controlling the. They may actually be in more danger than I am." Though he said this with conviction, his face showed that he was as unsure of the situation as any other pony.

Dream Dasher just shrugged, a bit of an embarrassed look on his face. "I think what happened to me was just annoying, not so much dangerous. I think whatever it was that did that was too scared of me to do anything." Little Gear nodded, though she also seemed to be standing a bit close to the colt, her eyes glancing around nervously.

Once she was sure they were done, Snow Star stepped forward, standing above the three younger ponies. Her frown born of being a captain — if a bit of a young one — but in charge of ponies that were even younger. "This is what I am talking about; you have no idea what it was in the forest. It could have been anything. Maybe a unicorn that cast a spell, or some monster that uses that ability to hold its prey captive and make it easy to eat them. And as far as those nightmares go, I would always assume they are dangerous. For Celestia's sake Lightning, you should be smarter than this! They put you in the hospital for months!" She looked behind the ponies and nodded at something, though the two colts and the filly knew better than to remove their attention from her.

"Captain Hidden Script," Snow Star said, saluting.

"Captain Snow Star," the unicorn answered, returning the salute. He gestured to the filly next to him. "I was told to bring this one to you for your trip today, though I am to accompany you on your visit. Do be a good student and greet your fellow guards."

"Oh, umm... Hello Lightning, Dream Dasher, and Captain Snow Star."

The filly was still out of eyesight, but Lightning Shaker couldn't miss the voice. He turned, smiling at the sight of Rare Charmer and giving a small wave, flapping his wings excitedly.

"Lightning! Eyes forward! I'm not done telling you how displeased I am with you," Snow Star yelled, leaning in and looking as angry as she sounded.

The other guard coughed to get her attention. "Captain, I hate to interrupt a good browbeating, however we have a schedule and must be going."

She sighed and nodded. "You're right, we should get going. But Lightning, don't think this is over. I can't believe how irresponsible you've been."

The other guard — which the three learned was an advanced magic instructor specializing in defensive spells — led them to a pair of pegasus pulled chariots. Little Gear eyed the chariots suspiciously. "I've never understood how these are viable vehicles," she snorted as she inspected the pony-powered machine, "they would have to be pulled relatively fast to keep from drooping, or they'd deposit cargo in a fatal mess. And there is no back, so the speed would run the risk of flinging passengers out as well."

Snow Star chuckled, patting the earth pony on the back. "Don't worry, us pegasi have magic of our own. When we hold something during flight, we transfer some of our flight ability to it, so things remain stable."

The filly thought for a moment, the gears whirring away in her head as she rubbed her chin with her prosthetic. "So you transfer kinetic energy? That sounds a little unfair. Why do pegasi and unicorns get magic, but us earth ponies are shafted?"

"Shafted, huh? You think earth ponies lack magic of their own? I'm not going to get into a lecture about it right now, but maybe you should ask someone important who you’ll be seeing soon enough," the pegasus captain said with a mischievous wink.

Rare Charmer moved over to Lightning while all attention was on Little Gear. "I've missed you, Lightning." She whispered.

He smiled at her. "I missed you too. We should find some time to catch up," he said, blushing a bit.

"Alright, that's enough you two, on the carriages... Separate ones. And Lightning, get that blush off your face. None of that here," Snow Star ordered, ushering the two onto the waiting vehicles.

As they took to the air, Little Gear's curiosity overpowered her fear as she watched in earnest, examining the way the two pegasi pulled the chariot. Though she still held on to the side of the cart a bit harder than necessary.

The two groups flew through the air, one consisting of Hidden Script, Rare Charmer, and Little Gear, while the other was Snow Star, Lightning Shaker, and Dream Dasher. Lightning looked up at the captain, "Captain Snow, where are we going anyway?"

She answered by pointing off into the distance. Lightning followed her hoof, and his jaw dropped at where she was pointing. They were on their way to Canterlot! Snow Star smiled down at him. Then she did something she never thought she'd do; she took it easy on him. "Listen Lightning, I'm sorry I was hard on you earlier, but you have to understand... it isn't just you that you have to be concerned with. When you make a mistake like that, it can cause trouble for others too. Imagine how miss Spring would have felt if something bad had happened to you." She pulled him close with a hoof. "Not to mention your captain. I'm responsible for you.” Snow Star pointed to Canterlot again. "Now when we get there, we will have a meeting with The Princess. She will expect reports. What do you think I should tell her?"

His shoulders slumped. "The truth. I don't think we should lie to her. She may be angry with me — the way I handled things wasn't great, but I went with my gut. This may turn out poorly, but I stand by my choice."

Snow Star looked proud of Lightning at that moment, patting the young pegasus on the back. "That's good enough for me. You don't realize this yet, but that is exactly the kind of thing I like to hear."

They arrived in Canterlot a short time later and headed straight for the castle. Lightning was slightly overwhelmed at the sights; Canterlot was much larger than Ponyville. The two guards were mostly ignored by the ponies of the city, though the four younger guards got quite a bit more attention; the three of them wearing their own miniature guard’s uniforms was an odd sight. Dream Dasher was clearly enjoying the attention, as he would occasionally wave to passers by a huge grin on his face.

When they arrived at the castle, the guards gave them no trouble and they went right in. The inside of the castle was like nothing Lightning had ever seen. He marveled at the grand structure as they walked through the main hall. Lightning found it annoying that his guard’s boots made a clinking sound on the floor. He felt somehow the noise he was making was a profanity in this place.

They were stopped before they could enter the grand hall, and the guards informed them that the princess was in an important meeting. "We'll just have to wait. This could be a while, so how about this; if you four promise to stay out of trouble and within the castle grounds, you can look around. We'll get you when Princess Celestia has time for us." She looked at Lightning. "I mean it. Stay out of trouble."

Lightning saluted and the others followed suit. "We won't disappoint you, Ma'am."

Snow Star saluted the four back. "Go on then; the castle is quite a sight. We'll come get you when the princess is ready."

The four younger ponies, unsure of what to do, began to walk away from the large doors to The Princess' meeting hall. Lightning was the first to speak up. "Where do you guys think we should go?" he asked, looking around nervously. Little Gear looked highly uncomfortable as she caught quite a number of the palace staff giving them odd stares. Some of the maids even made cooing noises at them. She did notice that the guards paid them little to no attention, never moving out of their positions, almost looking like statues.

Dream Dasher ran up to a window. "Hey guys, maybe we should go check that out?" He indicated a hedge maze outside the castle, his iron shod hoof waving at it.

"I dunno, dat seems like da kinda place we could get los' in, Dream Dasha'. Cap'n Snow Star said she'd come get us, but if we're lost, wull..." Little Gear seemed more nervous than Lightning at the moment.

"I agree, we can't do that... What if we just find a library or something, you know, a good book?" Rare Charmer spoke up for the first time in a while. Lightning Shaker and Little Gear both nodded in agreement while Dream Dasher grumbled, mumbling something about foals. After getting some directions from a bored looking guard, the three ended up in one of the libraries still in the same wing as the grand hall.

Rare Charmer and Little Gear both went to browse the card catalog while Dream Dasher headed off to find a fiction section. Lightning felt this would be a good time to talk to Rare Charmer. "Hey, I'm glad to see you here, where have you been the past couple months?" he asked as he looked at some of the card catalogues, not really seeing anything, but just flipping them randomly.

"Shh. I'm trying to read, can you keep it down?" This from a young pony on the other side of the room.

Lightning looked a bit sheepish upon seeing the other pony. "Sorry about that Inspira, I'll keep it down." He did a double take. "Wait, Inspira Flash? What are you doing here!?"

"Shh! I don't know who you're talking about, but I'm not this Inspira Flash. If you can't keep it down, I'd appreciate it if you left. I'm trying to study." The unicorn had about the same coloring as Inspira, but with a lighter color and a pink stripe in her mane.

"Oh, um... Sorry miss, I didn't mean to disturb you; thought you were a friend of ours," Lightning said, backing away sheepishly.

The filly muttered something under her breath as she went back to her studies, rotating another book from her mountainous stack and happily forgetting about the noisy ponies. When Lightning turned around he noticed Little Gear and Rare Charmer had vanished Dream Dasher had as well but that was to be expected, in all likelihood he was off getting into trouble. He found Rare Charmer down an aisle, reading a book while scanning other titles, her magic holding the book as she walked. "What'cha doing?" he asked, following along behind her.

"I figured since we are here, I might as well take advantage of this library and its collection to see if there is anything I can learn about what is going on." She deposited the book she was reading back on the shelf behind her and grabbed another one from the top shelf with her magic. "Have those nightmare creatures still been giving you problems?"

Lightning fidgeted, unconsciously bringing a hoof to the necklace hidden beneath his guard’s uniform. "No, actually. There's something I need to tell you about that... They've actually asked for my help."

She stared at him in disbelief. "Those... Things have the nerve to ask you for anything after what they did to you!?"

This brought another "shhh!" from the other side of the book cases.

Rare Charmer rolled her eyes before glaring at Lightning. "You're not planning on actually helping them, are you?"

The pegasus just shrugged. "I don't see why not. Isn't that sort of my job now; helping other ponies, especially ones in the Everfree?"

"But they hurt you... I can't forgive that. How can you be so accepting of what happened? Why aren't you the one who's angry at them!?" She was practically panting.

Lightning shrugged. "If my theory is correct, the nightmares are being controlled by something, and they are afraid of it."

Rare Charmer huffed angrily, "It's like you feel sympathy for them. What do you even know about these nightmares?"

Just then a loud grunt of anger and an even louder thump as several books hit the floor resounded through the library. "Here, nightmares in various topics! Everything from Nightmares and Dreamscapes to The Legend of Nightmare Moon!" the young unicorn from earlier shouted, her eye twitching. Lightning and Rare looked back at the unicorn with bashful expressions. "Now if you two could pipe down, libraries are supposed to be QUIET!"

"Twilight Sparkle! That's not the way you should be acting. What could possibly make you behave like this?" Lightning was shocked to see an alicorn princess walk into the room, flanked by a white unicorn colt with a blue mane.

"Twily, you shouldn't be rude. What would mom and dad think?" the colt asked, looking stern. Lightning noticed he had his cutie mark; a shield with three stars above it, and one larger one in the middle. It resembled the younger unicorn's cutie mark.

The princess smiled at Lightning and Rare Charmer. "Sorry about that. Twilight gets a little absorbed in her studies, and a little cranky when she has a big test"

Lightning Shaker knelt before the princess, "It's no problem at all, Princess. Sorry for causing trouble. We did get a bit rowdy with our own research."

"Cadance!" Twilight shouted, jumping into a kneeling position, "Sunshine sunshine—" All she got was a look of disapproval from the princess. Twilight sighed. "But they were being loud, and I was trying to study for my test," she whimpered at Cadance’s glare.

Cadance shook her head. "Still not a good enough reason, Twilight. Say you are sorry."

Twilight groaned turning towards Lightning and Rare Charmer. "I'm sorry for my outburst, I just get wrapped up in my studies, especially for important tests."

"Don't worry about it, thanks for the books," Lightning responded with a reassuring smile.

"My name is Cadance by the way, and this is Shining Armor. He's Twilight's older brother. And you've met Twilight Sparkle." Princess Cadance said, motioning to the other ponies as she introduced them.

Lightning knelt again, which got a chuckle from the Princess, as well as Little Gear and Dream Dasher. "These are my friends; this is Dream Dasher, Little Gear and Rare Charmer. We're waiting to get scolded by Princess Celestia for being careless."

Cadance chuckled. "I'm fairly sure she isn't fond of scolding, but she'll probably make you feel bad for whatever you did in the nicest way."

"That may be worse than scolding, though I'm pretty sure it's deserved." Lightning fidgeted nervously.

"Well I'm sure that's the desired reaction. Celestia has had a lot of practice leading ponies to do the right thing, after all." She ruffled Lightning's mane. "I wouldn't be too nervous. So long as you learned your lesson and correct the behavior, you'll be fine. Just don't do whatever it is that made her worry again, and everything will be okay."

"Right, no more of that stuff!" Lightning shouted, laughing in a poor attempt at concealing his lie. Cadance simply raised her brow as Shining Armor looked puzzled.

"Um, Lightning, listen to this story. I think it's possibly relevant to what's going on with you," Rare Charmer said as she levitated a large book over to Lightning.

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night.
One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness; Nightmare Moon.

He frowned, looking down at the pages. "Nightmare Moon... Well it's not the right kind of nightmare, I don't think. Isn't that just an old ponies’ tale?"

Rare Charmer shrugged. "It may be, or it may not, but we need answers. Let me read some more."

She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom; the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently on the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.

"What are the Elements of Harmony? ... Wait, do you think this is talking about Princess Celestia? She doesn't have a sister, does she?" Rare said, hoofing through the book.

"I don't think that's right. We would know if she had a sister, right? Wait, is Princess Cadance her sister? Lightning looked up at Cadance as they were still waiting for Twilight to check out all her books. "Princess Cadance, are you related to Princess Celestia? Does she even have a sister?"

Cadance chuckled, shaking her head, "I'm not related to Celestia by blood or anything, and as far as I know, she doesn't have a sister." The princess thought to herself for a moment. "Though, she is much older than I am, and I've never really asked. So maybe she has other family that I don't know of. Not sure why she would hide something like that though."

Twilight, having checked out her books, was levitating them and already reading one as she walked towards the library exit. "We'd better get going, she's not going to wait around,” Shining Armor said, chuckling as he started following the distracted unicorn. "Oh, and welcome to The Guard. It's nice to see other ponies around my age doing this. Maybe we can hang out some time." Shining Armor saluted as Cadance smiled and waved.

Lightning saluted back. "It was nice meeting you all, thanks for the help." He turned to see that the others were now all with him. With his group back together, he decided to put the book back and find another place to go. "What do think we should go see next? Maybe we could go check out the guards’ barracks?” Dream Dasher and even Little Gear seemed to think this was a good idea as they started to head out of the library.

"I'm afraid that will have to wait, the Princess is ready for you now. I am to escort you all to the main meeting hall." Snow Star stood next to Hidden Script, motioning for the four to follow her as she started down the hall.

Lightning gulped audibly in nervousness.

Reunions and Field Trips Part 2

View Online

Knights
of the Everfree

Chapter Twelve, Part Two:

The day had worn on much more than the ponies had thought as the sun was slowly making its descent to make way for the moon. Lightning Shaker couldn't keep himself from trembling as they walked down the hallways towards the main meeting hall; his mind kept showing him images of an angry princess taking away his position in the guard. Alternatively he imagined many scenarios where the princess was smiling sweetly, but the things she said were still terrible. His worry was so great it felt like a lead ball in his stomach weighing him down, his shoulders hunched and head drooped. Lightning stared at the floor as he walked, his own dour expression staring back up at him.

"Chin up, Lightning. This is probably going to be bad, I'm not going to lie, but The Princess is fair, so don't sulk. You know you aren't in that much trouble." Snow Star nudged the colt with a wing as they approached the doors to the hall where Princess Celestia waited.

"Captain Snow,” Little gear began, “I may need to adjust my leg, I think it's not going to handle the extra encumbrance of my armor for too much longer. I don't have any spare parts with me though so I'm not sure what to do," she continued as she walked with slightly jerky steps.

Snow Star nodded. "I thought that might be an issue that would come up. We'll see about getting that taken care of while we're here. Do you think it will hold out 'till after the meeting is over?"

Little Gear grunted as she slipped a bit. "It'll last, just don't ask me to do any jumping. I'm sorry, Captain. I don't mean to be trouble. I should have thought to bring some extra supplies; not a whole lot in my spare compartment in the leg... It's a bit small."

"We're here. Remember to conduct yourself accordingly, Miss Charmer. You will be before royalty. Captain Snow, I hope your charges will be behaved as well?" Hidden Script said as the guards prepared to open the doors.

"I wouldn't worry, they will be in line. This actually isn't the first time they've met The Princess." She stood up a little straighter as the doors opened revealing the grand hall and Princess Celestia sitting on her throne.

Lightning had to brace himself to keep from shaking, though he was less worried now that the time was actually here. They walked forward into the hall. The light that came in through the tall stained glass windows reflected off of the highly polished marble floors, through the center ran a long red carpet which ended on the dais where the throne sat as pools of water flowed out the sides disappearing beneath the dais.

Princess Celestia smiled at the group as they entered. "Welcome, it's good to see all of you. In one piece, might I add," she finished with a slight chuckle.

Lightning gulped audibly. 'Oh no, she's going with the smiling but still being disappointed thing.'

They knelt before The Princess at the base of the dais as she stepped down to meet them. Princess Celestia motioned for the ponies to rise as she stood before them. "You all look like you've grown so much, I'm eager to hear how things have been going. Captain Snow Star, would you like to begin with a progress report?"

Snow Star stood and cleared her throat, "Well, we are making quite a bit of progress on the base. The construction crews have managed to fortify the walls where they were damaged and the overall structure is less leaky and has lighting now. We have taken care of cleaning out all the dilapidated remains of furniture as well as the less pleasant things that were inside." She thought for a moment as Mercury gently prodded her from the side. She looked down at the dragon, confused, but then remembered what she was trying to think of. "The ferry has been upgraded so that a single pony can operate it and carry themselves and several passengers across the lake, and I am happy to say that most of the living spaces are ready for use." She sighed a bit as she finished her report, hoping she hadn't forgotten anything important.

Celestia nodded, looking pleased, "It seems things on that front are going well. I'm glad to hear it. Any other news of events I should know about?"

Lightning jerked, almost falling over. It was as if she already knew what was going on. He looked at the Mercury suspiciously, the dragon in turn ignored him.

"There have been some events, but I believe the younger ponies should tell you themselves. High time they learned how to make reports," Snow Star said, motioning for one of them to begin.

Lightning started to speak, but Dream Dasher cut him off. "I think she wants me to tell you about the thing that lifted me off the ground. I was stuck floating in the air for a few minutes like magic, but it felt different." He shrugged the situation off. "I don't think I was in any danger. Whatever it was seemed scared of me."

The Princess nodded. "That still sounds like it could have been trouble. I hope you are more careful in the future."

Lightning jerked again. 'That smile... it's scary.'

She looked to Lightning. "What about you? Anything to tell me?" She sat, folding her wings as she waited.

Lightning sighed and resigned himself to his fate, "The nightmares that attacked us and hospitalized me were in my room. They told me they needed my help. I listened and didn't get anypony, including Captain Snow Star. It was dangerous, possibly, but I don't think it was. I think they really need my help. They told me there would be no more attacks or even visits in my dreams."

Lightning realized he was cringing and looked up at the princess, but she wasn't even looking at him. "They visit you in your dreams? Nightmares that look into dreams... it can't be."

She seemed visibly shaken, and was no longer smiling. Lightning decided this was much worse. "Princess, are you angry with me? I am sorry for being so careless, in the future I will make sure I get help from someone any time something like that is going on." He stepped forward and knelt before her. "Princess, please don't be angry or worried. I didn't mean to make you upset."

Princess Celestia looked down at Lightning as if she had forgotten he was there. A slight smile returned to her as she lifted his face with a hoof under his chin. "I'm not angry with you, I was just thinking of something. I'm glad you will be more responsible in the future. You have more than just me that would be upset if you were hurt again." She gestured to the other ponies present.

"Of course. I will do my best, Princess," he said, looking to his friends.

The Princess seemed in visibly better spirits as she looked back to the captain, "Any other news?"

Snow Star shook her head, "Other than needing some better materials for Little Gear's leg to handle the extra weight of the armor, I believe we covered everything."

Celestia stood. "Well then we'll have to take care of that, won't we? Meanwhile, why don't you all go unload your gear in the barracks and return here in a while to join me for dinner? I need to see to the moon."

Snow Star knelt and the others followed suit. "We'd be honored, Your Highness. I'll show them where the barracks are," Snow Star said as she stood and began ushering the colts, fillies, and one dragon out of the room, followed by Hidden Script.

After unloading their armor and a bit of cleaning up, the ponies were escorted to Princess Celestia's private dining room. There was a desk cluttered with stacks of papers, and the bookshelves that lined the walls made it seem more like an office. Lightning figured it must be more efficient for The Princess to take her meals here considering how much responsibility she had running the kingdom. What really caught his eye was the covered bird cage in the corner, which seemed out of place with the rest of the room.

"Have a seat wherever you like. Dinner will be brought in shortly. Your leg seems to be really giving you trouble, Little Gear. Did you find the replacements you need?" Celestia asked noticing the filly limping.

"We didn't really have time after getting their armor off and cleaning up, she informed me that it would take a number of parts and I was worried about keeping you waiting," Snow Star said.

Little Gear blushed. "I'm fine for now, I just didn't count on the weight of the armor when I assembled this leg. Going to have to replace some parts and up the quality a bit."

"I'm planning on taking her to get the parts she needs from our crafters before we head back," Snow Star said as she took a seat at the table.

"That's a wonderful idea. Be sure to get whatever you need to fix that leg up. It's a truly marvelous prosthetic, especially for one so young," Celestia said.

There was a knock at the door, signalling that the food was ready and being brought in. As the meal was brought in, Lightning and the other young ponies couldn't help but marvel at each dish, having never quite seen anything so fancy. There were hot meals and cold sandwiches, soups and desserts. Lightning's stomach growled and he blushed in embarrassment.

The Princess chuckled. "No need to be embarrassed, it has been some time since you've all eaten. I bid you to eat what you like."

Lightning and the others each grabbed a few items and started eating. Dream Dasher had already eaten two sandwiches by the time Lightning sat down. Snow Star and the others laughed as he gave a look that said, 'what, I'm hungry.'

Princess Celestia took a sip of tea as she set it down she looked at Lightning. "I don't mean to belabor a point, Lightning, but I would like you to know just how much pain it would cause the ponies who love you if something bad happened to you. Look at your friends here Dream Dasher and Rare Charmer, do you think they want to see you hospitalized again, or worse? Captain Star here would be devastated. This is her first command position, and she is responsible for you. Should any of these points fail to help you realize how important your safety is, think of your mother. You two are her family... And family is the most precious thing in the world." Her gaze drifted once again and Lightning saw she was looking out the window at the moon.

Lightning hung his head as he knew The Princess was right. What he had done — or rather hadn't — was dangerous not only for himself, but for his friends as well. A thought occurred to him, and he looked up at Princess Celestia. "Princess? have you ever done anything you regret?"

She looked surprised by the question. As she stared at the colt for a moment, silence filled the room. Hidden Script gave Snow Star a disapproving look.

"Lightning Shaker, that's not an appropriate question to be asking the Princess. Where are your manners?" Snow Star asked, rising from her seated position.

Princess Celestia motioned for her to take her seat again. "It's alright. The question caught me off guard, but there is no reason to be upset. Yes, Lightning, I have regrets in my life. When you have lived as long as I have, it's something that's just going to happen, but the important thing is what you do with your mistakes; you can either run from them, or learn from them."

Lightning stood, his jaw set and a serious expression on his face. "Princess, I will do better. Not just for my own safety, but for those of my friends, and everyone I can protect. You can count on me to be a better guard from now on."

Princess Celestia chuckled, her whole demeanor brightening. She walked around the table and gave Lightning a hug. "I know you will do wonderfully, my little pony. Just remember what you've learned here today. And that goes for the rest of you as well. Even you, Captains. I care about all of you, and only want to know that my ponies are safe."

The guardsponies all saluted with a shout of, "Yes ma'am!" which got everypony laughing. With the general mood of the dinner lightened all the ponies present began chatting amicably.

After the dinner, everypony was getting ready to leave. Hidden Script stopped to talk to one of the guards at the door, who was an old friend. Lightning was going to stop to talk to Rare Charmer, but she was talking with the Princess.

"Wow, Lightning,” Dream Dasher said, poking him in the ribs, “you looked like you were going to shake apart when The Princess was scolding you. I thought your wings were going to pop right off."

"Alright,” Snow Star interrupted, halting their conversation, “I'm going to take Little Gear to get the parts she needs. I want you two to wait by the palace entrance, do you understand?"

Lightning Shaker and Dream Dasher saluted as Snow Star and Little Gear moved on to the machine supply room. Dream Dasher yawned. "You ever feel like we spend most of our time waiting for stuff to happen?"

"Yeah, but I'm ok with that,” Lightning answered with a nod, “waiting for things to happen is better than trouble happening now."

"Yeah, but it sure is boring, I like it better when something is happening." Dream Dasher said, as they reached the palace entrance.

"Seriously?" Lightning deadpanned.

As they waiting outside in the palace courtyard, once again clad in their guards’ armor, Lightning looked uncomfortable as he scanned the area. "Would you relax?” Dream Dasher said, “we're in Canterlot; there are guardsponies everywhere."

"I can't help it. Something seems off."

"Psst, hey," a voice came from the distance. Lightning looked around, but he didn't see the source. He got up and searched nearby to try and find whoever had called out. Some rustling, and another "psst! Hey, over here," came from a group of bushes.

Lightning started moving towards them as Dream Dasher called out, "hey where you going?"

Just as he was about to answer, a head popped out of one of the bushes. "Hey, Lightning Shaker. Long time no see."

It was one of the nightmares. Lightning recognized it as the pegasus. He looked around uncomfortably as he moved closer to the nightmare. "I thought you guys weren't going to show up and bother me anymore. You know this is Canterlot, right? There are guards all over the place."

The pegasus looked unconcerned as it grinned. "Yeah, sorry. I'm not going to stick around long. We aren't allowed to help you, but we won't hurt you either. I just came to warn you that you need to run. An agent has been sent to stop you."

"An agent? What do you mean? And sent by whom?" Lightning asked, confused.

The nightmare pegasus shrugged. "Can't really explain; no time. You need to get out of here before she finds you."

"Too late," said a voice as the nightmare was struck in the head by something, "the tortures I'm going to inflict upon you and your immortal body... wait for me on the other side."

The nightmare had a shard of something sticking out of her head, and she barely got out another "run" before she disappeared.

"You are not going anywhere," the voice said. Lightning looked up and saw a pegasus grinning down at him as Dream Dasher came running up. She had teal fur with a bushy red mane and tail. Her wings looked strangely frazzled for some reason, and as her grin grew, she gave a powerful thrust with both wings. Something dislodged from between her feathers and flew at the two colts. Both ponies barely dodged out of the way in time to avoid being hit. Lightning looked at what was thrown and realized they were shards of ice. "Don't worry, little ones; I won't miss again," she said as she flew up high into the air.

After a few wing beats while she was high up, the pegasus thrust her wings down again, throwing more shards. "She's gathering ice crystals from the water molecules in the air," Lightning said as he shoved Dream Dasher out of the way of another shard, the ice striking and bouncing off of his armor.

"Yeah, that's fascinating and all, but shouldn't you be doing that thing you promised you'd do!?" Dream Dasher shouted, turning to run towards the guards by the entrance. As they got close to the entrance, Little Gear and Snow Star were just coming out. They saw Lightning Shaker and Dream Dasher and waved, but their expressions changed as they realized the two were running from something.

Lightning was panting from the exertion of running. He hadn't realized how far from the entrance they had gone. "I'm officially pointing out that there is trouble and requesting help!" he shouted as he fought for air.

"Oh no!" Little Gear shouted as she ran towards them, but was cut off by Snow Star, who stepped in front of her.

"I want you all to get out of here now. I'll handle this," Snow Star said as she started flying towards the other pegasus.

Little Gear began to run in the opposite direction, looking with worry over her shoulder as Lightning Shaker and Dream Dasher caught up to her. The three ran towards the palace entrance as more guards ran to join the fight.

Dodging an attack from Snow Star, the pegasus moved to the side. "Oh you are not getting away, Lightning Shaker," she said as she launched another set of ice shards.

They were almost to the door when Little Gear suddenly collapsed, shouting in pain as her prosthetic broke beneath her. As the shards of ice starting falling around her, Lightning shielded her with his wings outstretched and Dream Dasher began trying to help her up. "I thought you were going to fix the leg," Dream Dasher grunted as he began pulling her towards the palace entrance.

She huffed as she struggled to get to a standing position. "We're havin' da pahts delivahd, they're sendin alot of speah parts so I can work on more legs an' keep up wit' it on mah own."

Another volley of shards landed and Lightning cried out as one struck his wing and another hit him in the head. Lightning's eyes crossed and everything started going black as the last thing he heard was his friends yelling his name.

Lightning woke up screaming. As he looked around, he realized he was in the dark place again. He looked to the pool and saw his reflection again, staring back up at him.

"What happened?" Lightning asked his reflection.

The other Lightning gave a cruel laugh. "You died, Lightning. You died and now I get to be free."

Lightning looked confused. "Wait, I thought you said I needed to live so you could exist... I died?"

The other Lightning just laughed as he began climbing out of the pool. His face was cloaked in shadow and his eyes glowed red. As he walked towards Lightning, his grin became wider and it was obvious his teeth were all more like sharp fangs. Lightning backed up a bit, unsure what to do. He wondered if he was really dead. He didn't think he was, and he certainly didn't feel dead. His heart was hammering in his chest; he was sure that was a sign that he was alive.

As he backed up, Lightning ran into something. Looking behind himself he saw one of the nightmares. He had bumped into the unicorn, who was looking down at him with an odd expression of almost helpless fury. Lightning looked to the side and saw the other two nightmares on either side of the first.

"I don't need you three here, you can go. I'm going to stretch my muscles a bit before I go out into the world," The Reflection said as it got closer. Lightning was now standing between the nightmares and the reflection.

"I'm afraid there has been a change of plan,” The unicorn said as his horn began to glow, ”we've set up this moment so that we will no longer be bound to you. Sorry about this."

The pendant around Lightning's neck began to glow along with the unicorn’s horn, a swirling light beginning to move around and surround the reflection. "You would betray me after all I've done for you!?" he growled in anger. He tried moving away from the light, but it moved to block him.

"You released us. We are no longer trapped in that horrible place, but that does not mean you own us. We will no longer serve you, or any master.”

The Reflection charged at Lightning and the unicorn, knocking Lightning to the ground. "You will not ruin this for me! I will finally be rid of this place!"

"You don't seem to understand; that pendant isn't ours," the unicorn said as he put a barrier over Lightning.

"We've been using you. Our motives have always been our own," the pegasus added as she bucked the reflection in the head.

"I'm going to eat so much ice cream!" The earth pony shouted in her own deranged way, laughing maniacally as she grabbed him from behind, pinning him with her weight.

"I will destroy all of you!" The Reflection shouted as he struggled to break free of the earth pony’s grip.

"I'm afraid you won't. I don't know who you are, but I am going to put a stop to this," A familiar voice said as the area was bathed in a brilliant light.

Lightning looked up to see Princess Celestia standing above him, glaring at the reflection.

"Princess, how did you get here? You aren’t dead too, are you?" Lightning asked with worry from beneath his barrier.

She looked down at him. "You are not dead, Lightning Shaker. You are hurt, and were drawn into this place by a spell he put on you some time ago.

Lightning gasped as a thought came to him. "Princess, what about my friends!? They were fighting that pegasus who was throwing those shards of ice!"

"They are fine, Lightning. Your attacker has been subdued. Now for this one." Princess Celestia's horn flared as light began filling the area they were in.

It looked like a dark part of some forest. Lightning thought maybe they were somewhere in the Everfree. The strangest thing was that his reflection no longer looked anything like him, but now had matted black fur and cracks in its hooves.

The creature hissed at the Princess and backed away. "I won't go back! I am never going back!" The creature whimpered as it flinched down away from Celestia.

She looked with pity upon the creature. "I am sorry for how you have suffered, but you were put here for a reason. The things you did to ponies are unforgivable." Her horn lit up even brighter as the light surrounded the creature. He began shouting and struggling as he was pulled once again into the pool. She looked down at the pool again, her horn shining like a supernova. With a flourish of magical light, the scene in the pool was changed. The creature stopped struggling and looked around, confused. What was once an empty landscape was transformed into a small town in the middle of lush fields. The creature seemed to forget entirely about where it was as the new scenery entranced him.

"He will be happy there for the rest of his days, which will be a very long time. It's probably the best thing I can do for him now. I don't think he will bother anypony again." The Princess sighed and looked to Lightning. "Let's get you home," she said before looking to the nightmares. "I will want to talk to you three soon."

"I understand, Princess,” the unicorn said as he finally released the barrier from Lightning, “we will wait for you here."

"Princess, don’t you think this was all handled a bit too easily?" Lightning asked as she began leading him away.

"Do you want it to be harder? You think this was easy, but you must realize you are once again injured." She indicated the damage to his wing and head. "Come, your friends are waiting." She lifted him onto her back with her magic and took to the air. Lightning realized he was very sleepy as they began flying, and his eyes began to drift closed.

For once, his dreams were happy. He dreamt of friends.