CHAPTER 10

Princess of the Knight

The schoolhouse basically consisted of two rooms and a long hallway with some stairs at the end the lead into the basement.  There was the main classroom where all the teaching was done by Cheerilee and a nurses room, which was lead by the school nurse. The basement was home to the school paper and some cleaning supplies and that was about it from Sweetie Belle’s explanation.

I sighed as I walked down the hall with the unconscious filly resting on me. I was planning to go straight to the nurses room but stopped when I heard talking from in the classroom.

“..and thou is sure she will be here?”

“Yes I am. She is even in the school right now. And use the proper speech. Just because you are talking to me doesn’t mean you can revert to that way of talking, Luny.”

“I do not think you have regained the right to call me by that name. Not after all you have caused.”

Luny? Princess Luna? I stopped in front of the door suddenly, feeling the CMC and Silver Spoon run into me. I wasn’t sure what to do. Should I walk in? Why would the princess be here? Who is she with? Who is she waiting for? I guess there was only one to find out.

I pushed the door open slowly. I didn’t know what to think at the sight inside. Sitting in front of Cheerilee’s desk was Cheerilee, that mare that kept popping up and Princess Luna. I stood there with my mouth agape as they turned to look at me.

“See why you shouldn’t doubt me, Luny? I am always right with these sorts of things.” The purple unicorn smiled widely. I noticed something about her that I didn’t notice before. She had a pair of fangs sitting neatly in her mouth. They weren’t overly large so I guess that’s why I didn’t notice before now but it was still a bit disturbing.

The fanged mare raised a hoof and waved me over. “Come now, little one. We have much to discuss.” She frowned. “Well, we have a bit to discuss. It shouldn’t take that long. After we’re done, you can go ahead and study your estrus books.”

I felt my face heat up. “W-what? How do you know about that?” This mare was getting on my nerves quite a bit. “You seem to pop up at the weirdest times and just for no reason at that! Just what the hell is up with that?! Who are you and why are you bothering me?!”

Luna’s eyes darted to the purple mare. Was that fear in them? The mare in question furrowed her brow, giving me a stern gaze. I was unable to look away from her eyes. They held me with an unquestionable force. I could see something in them. A spark? No, a blazing fire. Old and knowing. I could feel the sweat on my brow as she glared at me, that fire seeming to spread around and engulf me. The feeling of it was everywhere. In the air, the ground. In every animal, pony and sentient being in ponyville. In Equestria. On this planet. I was linked to everything alive through this flame.

The link was then cut and I felt cold. I let out the breath I was unknowingly holding and breathed in deeply. The mare suddenly began laughing. It was as clear as her voice, almost melodic in nature. She fell backwards and began kicking her legs in the air as she laughed and snorted. It was surprisingly cute.

“Oh my...I like this one. Exitium did well in picking his ‘hero’.” She was suddenly next to me, the flash from the teleportation magic mixed in with the presence of her close proximity. “I will toss you a bone, Crystal Blossom.” -She said my name with emphasis- “You can call me Daemon. That is the name I choose to go by now. Yes, I am spying on you. It is because you hold something important to me.”

Snow Dew yawned on my back and I could feel her shift around. Daemon seemed to notice the filly for the first time. “Huh,” She said, smirking a bit. “Well, I guess that mystery is solved now.” She turned her attention back to me. “Come on. Me, you and Luny need to talk.”

“I thought I told you that I would like for you not to call me that.”

Daemon chuckled as she began pushing forward. “That is beside the point. Plus, you will always be little Luny to me.” This brought a chagrined look to the princess’ face. “Now, Miss Cheerilee,” -The teacher perked her ears at the sound of her name- “I believe there is an unconscious filly on Crystal’s back that should probably be taken to the nurses office. Would you mind doing that while we talk?” Daemon then looked back at the four fillies at the doorway. “And maybe find some entertainment for your students? Most are gathered outside as we speak. We shan't be long.”

The teacher nodded. “Yes. I’ll get on that right away.” She went to go get Snow Dew off my back and froze. “What happened with my new student?”

“New student?” I asked.

“Yes, she was just transferred yesterday from a little town out by Cloudsdale.” The teacher picked the filly off my back and place her on her own. “I shall take her to the nurse right away.”

“She just fainted. Too much excitement. apparently she was there when I...when I slayed the dragon from yesterday.”

The teacher frowned. “That was you? Well, I must thank you for protecting this town. I am sure the classroom will be abuzz with talk of what you and Rainbow Dash did. It is good to find out there is somepony these foals can look up to.”

I blushed at her praise. We gave our farewells and she was off to herd her students that were gathering at the door. I turned to Daemon and Luna, sitting down with them. “So...What is this about?”

“It is about your training, Crystal Blossom. My sister and I have learned of Exitium’s plan and thought it best to get you proper training for what is to come. We see you are su-” Luna was interrupted by Daemon’s tsking. “...I see you are surprised that we know. Do not worry. We will not give suspicion to Exitium. We will move unseen in our preparations."

“That being said, the is still the matter of bringing you up to par. Daemon has brought to our attention that you posses the only thing that may be able to stop Exitium outright. Because of this, we feel it is necessary to employ you. We know you reside with Rainbow Dash and that she was going to get you a job on the weather team in ponyville. Unfortunately, this is not going to be possible anymore. We will cover your expenses that would accrue plus more for leisurely activities.”

Luna sighed,  glancing at Daemon before looking back at me. “Because we cannot just give you the bits without good reason, we have all come to an agreement that you shall become my knight.  Now, we must make sure you know the implications that this comes with.” A long scroll appeared in front of Luna wrapped in an azure aura.

“To be the knight of a princess not merely to be under her patronage; it is more than that. It is to swear fealty to her—that through good or bad you will act in the best interests of Equestria first and foremost, but will never act in a way that besmirches the name of your Princess. You will become an extension of her reputation, and any actions you take will be taken as representative of the crown's will."

Luna looked over the scroll. “As you already realize, my reputation is already a bit-” Her eyes darted to Daemon for a split second. “-smudged.” She looked back down at the scroll and took a deep breath.

“You will be training directly under me during the weekends. Two others in my employ will be training you during the week. Is this understood, Crystal Blossom?” I nodded hesitantly. “Now, we understand that you are new to Equestria and thus forth, we will not make it to where your training consumes all your time here.”

The princess rolled up the scroll and it disappeared in a flash. “It would be unfair to you and give a bad impression if your stay in Equestria was only to train for a fight that you were force into. I am afraid to say this but it seems Exitium has the only way back into your world. It would take years before we could find the proper coordinates to send you back.”

I raised and hoof. “There isn’t a need for that. I don’t really want to go back. I told this to Twilight but I guess she hasn’t said anything to Celestia yet. My life back in my world wasn’t one that was...I don’t know the word I could use here. I was barely making ends meet and my social life was non-existent. If it wouldn’t be much of a problem, I was wondering if I could stay here. In this world.”

Luna seemed to have been caught off guard by this. She looked to Daemon for some sort of answer but only got a shrug from the mare. “Well, I do not know what my sister would think on this but I don’t see a problem with it. Your training will begin shortly, actually. You will be going to the residence of one Vanilla Lynn Scratch. I think she prefers the name Vinyl Scratch.”

“Are you serious?! Vinyl Scratch? DJ PON-3?!” I jumped up and started bouncing around. “That is so awesome!” Both Daemon and Luna gave me weird looks. “Oh don’t look at me like that. She is famous! Wait...what is she going to be training me in?”

“She will be schooling you in swordplay. She is quite renown for that as well. I do not think there is another pony who could match her raw skill.” Luna squinted her eyes. “Yes...I do believe raw is an appropriate word.” Luna cleared her throat. “You will be received by her at the time of eighteen hundred hours. Your training will begin then and end when she sees fit. I suggest you get some sort of rest.”

Eighteen hundred hours? That was what? Six o’clock? “Rarity and Fluttershy have invited me to a spa trip. I think that should be good enough. You said by two others, who is the second?”

Luna cleared her throat. “You will address me by Princess Luna. You are going to be my knight so you will address your superiors accordingly.”

Yes, Princess Luna.”

“Very nice. Carrying on then! A Lyra Heartstrings will be your instructor in archery. You will meet with her at the edge of the Everfree forest a quarter mile east of Fluttershy’s home. I assume you know where that is?”

“I have been close to the place before but not there exactly...Princess Luna.”

“Very well. I will arrange an escort. As for training with me, I will arrive on the weekend when I please and training will end when I say so. No more, no less. I will be teaching you combat and war strategy as well as some flying techniques. Otherwise, you should continue learning from Rainbow Dash.” Luna closed her eyes and nodded gently towards me.

“Actually-” Daemon spoke up, smirking slyly as Luna’s eyes popped open. “-I will also be training you on the weekends.”

“You will?” Luna and I said in unison.

“I will!” Daemon slid up next to me and threw a hoof around my neck. “You think you are accessing the full potential of what’s inside your chest? You are barely scratching the surface, little one.” She patted the spot over my heart or lack thereof. “I will teach you how to use it.”

I frowned. “How are you going to teach me how to use it. Twilight couldn’t find anything on it and she couldn’t even use magic on it. What makes you so special that you could teach me?”

“Oh, little one. You are out of the Equestrian loop bad, aren’t you?” she shook her head and backed away from me. “The reason I can teach you how to use it is quite simple.” She walked over and leaned back on Cheerilee’s desk. The mare’s horn lit up and I felt my whole body tense up. I could feel the light in the crystal go ablaze as I was dragged across the room against my will. I was brought up and into the air to come face to face with the mare. “I made it.”

I tried to jerk away from the mare but I couldn’t even move. I could do nothing but stare into her eyes. “Daemon...let her go.” Luna’s voice was low and warning.

Daemon dropped me from whatever hold she had on me and shrugged. “I was proving a point, Luny. You need to catch up on a few things as well.”

I got on my hooves and growled. “Just what the hell do you think you’re doing, using magic on me like that?!” I jabbed my hoof at her chest. “You shouldn’t just play with po-” I couldn’t finished finished my sentence. It is hard to when you start suddenly flying through the air. I crashed into the desks before slamming against the far wall. “Oh you bitch!”

I only had time to get to my hooves before I was flying up through the air, slamming into the ceiling. Stars exploded behind my eyes as I cracked my head on it. I was dropped to the floor.  I felt the crystal on my chest split into four and moved to cement my hooves to the floor. I looked up to see Daemon walking towards me, the desks I didn’t knock over moving out of the way in her amethyst aura.

I pulled on the crystal at my hooves, finding something pulling back. “You wanna face your will against mine?” The mare’s words trickled into my ears. I said nothing, pulling harder at the substance. The mare stopped in her tracks and glared at me. I gritted my teeth and began pulling with everything I had. I could feel the crystal around my hooves start trembling. I glanced at Daemon, seeing her brow furrowed in concentration as well.

I cried out as I pushed my hardest, the crystal shattering. I broke out and rushed forward, taking advantage of Daemon’s surprise. “Taste this!” I yelled as I slammed my hoof across her face. Or would have if it didn’t stop just centimeters from it’s mark.

“Heh. Impressive. You’ve accessed more knowledge than I thought you have. It’s still nowhere near enough though.” She threw me to the side. “Maybe I should have put tighter restrictions on the knowledge I implanted. Lesser? I don’t know. Maybe this is good progress.”

I groaned as I got up. “What? What are you talking about? You implanted knowledge?”

She looked at me with a devious smile. “Well duh. You really think that your control of the...oh what are you little ponies calling it? The Daedalus Heart? Hah! You think that your control of it comes from your skill alone? No. I imprinted knowledge of how it works into that little brain of yours. That goes with your flying and overall everything of how to work your little pony body.”

I laughed. “You sound as bold-headed as Rainbow Dash. You just can’t take that you lost that little fight huh?That I was stronger than you there!”

The mare whirl around on me. Her mane and tail changed. Instead of lying still, it was now billowing as Luna’s and Celestia’s did but not quite. It didn’t billow out in an unseen wing but looked more like it was a flame flickering downward.

It was the last thing I saw before my world became pain.

My whole body became a flaming pit of agony. I fell to the floor, writhing in pain as a howling filled my ears. My vision became red and tunneled. As I writhed, I could see Luna run up to Daemon and grab her. I saw it but I couldn’t comprehend it. My mind only knew one thing. I couldn’t stand it. I wanted it to end, even if I had to die for it to do so.

“Crystal.” Daemon’s voice rang clear through my mind. “Bow before me and I shall take the pain away.” My salvation. She had my ticket to freedom from my state of being. I had to please her. I needed to do whatever she want. She was my god.

I struggled to move, driven by my god’s word. It seemed eternities as I crawled across the floor but I make it to her hooves and laid my head down at them, not able to do much else.

The pain seemed to have disappear immediately. I just laid there at Daemon’s hooves shaking and panting as tears stream down my face. She bent down and pat me on the head. “Oh, little one. Never challenge my word like that again. If I say I did something then I did it.” Her voice was uncomfortably gentle.

Luna was snarling at the unicorn. “Why did you do that?! You could have put her in shock!”

Daemon just dismissed Luna with a hoof. “Because I do not care for all the love and praise you little princesses get but I do want the respect I deserve for what I have done and what I am.” She took my hoof and began to help me up. “I am not a bad pony. Like i said before, I am the best friend you have. I just don’t appreciate when you talk down on me like that. It isn’t nice.”

I noticed her mane and tail were back to normal as I looked Daemon in the eye. “W-what are y-you?” This question seemed to amuse her because she started laughing loudly.

“All in good time, little one. All in good time. Now come on. We weren’t finished with everything yet.” She began leading me over back to our spots in front of Cheerilee’s desk, Luna following behind us.

The princess watched Daemon warily but seemed to have calmed down. I was way too weak to stand on my own so Daemon stood there to hold me up. I still didn’t trust her but...I don’t know. This mare is crazy but she didn’t seem to want to kill me. Had the perfect chance to and I don’t think Luna would have made an action to stop her.

It seemed like Luna was afraid of this mare. I am not sure any reason why she should be but I am smart enough not to get into the details. Luna seemed to finally regain her composure and looked at me.

“It is time for you to take your vow of fealty to me. This is is to make this official. There will be a ceremony in Canterlot for it soon but that would just be for show. As long as there is one witness, and there are many right now-” Her eyes flitted to the window. This cause me to look and find many eyes peering through the window at us. “-the knighting shall be valid.”

“Crystal Blossom!” I stood to attention the best I could. My legs were still wobbly but I could stand on my own.  “Standing here on this day, do you pledge your fealty and service to my crown?”

“I do.”

“Do you swear to act on my word to better Equestria and her subjects, even if it means facing impossible odd and even death itself?”

“I do.”

“Do you understand that acting against my word would be considered treason and could be punishable by death?”

“I do.”

“Then I, Luna, Princess of the Night, Mistress of the Moon and Wanderer of Dreams, in recognition of the acts performed here in Ponyville to protect it’s inhabitants, Hereby dub thee, Ser Crystal of Equestria hail Ponyville!”  She brought a hoof up and then lowered it to one side of my head then the other. “May you serve Equestria valiantly.” She then held her hoof in front of me.

Daemon nudged me. “Kiss it...” I blushed, bending in the kiss her hoof. Luna took it back and smiled.

“Now you are my knight. That being in place now, you have the bearing of an upper class noble. You have access to most anywhere in the castle aside from some room that only me or my sister can access. For all intents and purposes, you are my sword. You shall strike where necessary.” A small badge popped into existence in between us. “This is my crest. It will prove you are who you say you are.”

“Wow...That is a lot more than I expected from that.” I frowned at the badge floating in front of me. “A noble though? Do I even really qualify? This seems like an awful lot.”

Luna grinned. “Yes. You are qualified more than most of the nobles I have meet during my return. It does seem like a lot now but I believe that after your training, you will be more than worthy to wear the title. Now please take the crest.”

I reached out gingerly and took hold of the crest between my hooves. It had an emblem of a crescent moon and weird symbols along the outside of it. I didn’t know what to really say. “...Thank you.” My voice was still shaky from what that blasted mare did to me and it didn’t help there was still a bit of a lisp from the dragon’s blood.

“Thank you, Crystal. Now, I believe we should go, Daemon. We have occupied Cheerilee’s classroom long enough and I am sure Crystal came here for something...else.” I blushed and turned my head away.

“Yes, Luny. Let me tidy up a bit first.” I heard the movements of desks and chairs being righted. I then felt something smack into the middle of my back and began to ooze around me. It took me a second to realize it was my crystal from before, being manipulated by Daemon. “I told you to hang on to this stuff, little one. You will need it.”

We said our goodbyes then Daemon and Luna left through the front door. I didn’t follow them though. I was too exhausted. Falling against Cheerilee’s desk, I sighed and looked at my new gift. I haven’t been in Equestria for a week and I am already a Knight of Princess Luna. Of course, the homicidal alicorn threatening to reign havoc unto the nation may have something to do with that.

I place the crest against my chest plate that Daemon had formed, making a mold for it to fit in. I sat there until Cheerilee came in followed by a horde of fillies and colts. The only one to approach me was the teacher.

“Are you alright? We saw what happened. What did that unicorn do to make you scream like that?”

I looked up at her wearily. “I...don’t want to talk about it. I actually came for-” I motioned for her to get in closer. “- some books about estrus. I am new to this sort of thing. Please don’t ask. It’s a long story.”

Cheerilee nodded. “Alright. I understand. Let me help you to the nurses office and I will bring you the books. Is there anypony i should try and get ahold of so they can help you back home?”

“Any of the Elements of Harmony except AppleJack. She has her own problems and Rainbow Dash said she would be meeting me here after getting everything squared off on the weather team.” I accepted Cheerilee’s support as she helped me up and over to the door.

She stopped at the door and turned her head back to the class. “Now would be a good time to finish last night’s homework if you haven’t already, everypony.” There was the sound of paper rustling as the fillies and colts got to work.

It was then, Ser Crystal Blossom of Equestria, Knight of Princess Luna, was escorted by an elementary teacher to a school nurses office after getting my flank handed to me in a fight.