“W-what?!” Twilight stared in utter shock. “Canterlot has been...but how? Who could defeat you two?!”

“The Nightmare.”

“However...” Luna looked over at Shovel Knight. “The vile shadow acquired a new name in your friend’s world...when she left this plane and entered his, she took over a body and became a dark sorceress with great magic and a desire for nothing but destruction...”

Shovel Knight’s eyes widened. “The Enchantress...when she first came to be, it was merely dark magic that possessed Shield Knight, a mere trinket of evil...but now she has taken on a physical form...how could this ‘Nightmare’ of yours have come to my world in the first place?”

“The same way it was purged from my being...the Elements of Harmony.”

Twilight’s gaze shrank to the floor, her face plastered with guilt. Celestia immediately moved to comfort her former student, draping a wing across her back. “You could not have known such a thing would happen, Twilight. Neither I nor my sister expected what happened to us today.”

-Less than an hour ago-

Princess Celestia and Luna sat in their throne room, once again surrounded by the cacophony of the Day Court. The solar diarch had invited her sister to join her for a session of her court, and both immediately regretted the moment they set foot in the room. Normally, Celestia would expect a few requests from citizens in the lower circle of Canterlot, but today was, as the royal guards would say, ‘one of those days’. The high nobles of the court once again raised constant question as to why Twilight Sparkle was made a princess to begin with, despite Celestia putting their arguments down with the obvious fact that Twilight was not nearly ready to run a kingdom of her own and therefore did not have such political power. Aside from this, the court had requested the Princesses don their royal regalia, which both sisters had agreed was not only pointless, but incredibly uncomfortable. But the arguments went on and on, and the princesses sat listening, annoyed and cramped in the intentionally-decorative armor, until finally...

“...And that is point number seventeen on why ‘Princess’ Twilight Sparkle should have her title and Alicorn status revoked immediately!”

Celestia sighed. “And Duke Blueblood, for the twentieth time I’ve told you, one cannot simply ‘revoke Alicorn status’ from a mare or stallion who hath rightfully earned it. Unless you’d like to track down and decipher an ancient centuries-old spell written by my fifth boyfriend, I don’t think you’ll be reaching anywhere near the right to become an Alicorn yourself, let alone say who should or shouldn’t be one.”

“But, Princess Celestia, I implore you-”

A loud explosion cut off the duke’s ramblings, and though Celestia thanked her lucky stars internally, she and her sister immediately bound to action. The source of the blast was a powerful force destroying the doors leading into the throne room itself. The nobles, as well as the cowardly duke himself, had immediately fled to the back of the room behind the royal guards. As the smoke cleared, the figure behind the attack revealed himself: a golden-armored Unicorn knight wielding a glowing sword. Upon closer inspection, the sword was not held in his magic aura...it had been created by it.

“Princesses Celestia and Luna, you are to immediately surrender this castle to me, King Knight, by order of the Enchantress!”

Luna growled and stepped forth. “What kind of fools do you think we are to simply surrender our home to some decadently-dressed dandy with mere pyrotechnics and a simple sword?”

“Sister, look closer...he does not wield that sword, but conjures it...”

The lunar sister eyed the blade more carefully to see that it was not a physical weapon. The rage building within her was enough to invoke the Royal Canterlot Voice. “YOU DARE TO ENTER OUR COURT WIELDING FORBIDDEN MAGIC?! WHO IS THIS ENCHANTRESS THAT SENDS YOU?! WHY DOES SHE SEND A MERE PAWN?”

“She claims she does not wish to awaken too many painful memories for you, Princess Luna. A backlash to those thousand years imprisoned would be such a shame, wouldn’t it?”

Memories flooded forth like blood from a wound, and Luna knew the entity King Knight spoke of. Her veins went cold and she could not move. “N-no...you LIE! The Nightmare was cleansed by the Elements of Harmony!”

“Your silly rainbow magic merely delayed our glorious mistress! The Elements sent her to our world, where she became all powerful! Now she has grasped the magics of both realms, and will now take them and all worlds connected to them for herself! Starting with this one...” King Knight reached to his left side and pulled forth a flask. He popped the top using his magic and an indigo-violet mist poured out and surged across the floor, wasting no time in arriving before the two princesses and grappling around their forms, slowly but surely pulling their magic from them.

“S-sister...help...” Luna looked over to see her sister suffering far more than she was. Luna had exposure to the Nightmare, but Celestia had not felt its sting before. “I...I c-can’t...”

“Worry not, Celestia...I will free us from this twisted spell!” With all her might, Luna focused and released a surge of magic against the Nightmare Mist. It pushed weakly, but managed to give the Princesses enough time to cast one final teleport spell...one that brought them right to Twilight.

“So...neither of you have your magic?”

Celestia shook her head. “The most we can do is teleport short distances or create minor images. We are not nearly as weak as when Tirek attacked, but this is a different kind of enemy...as you may recall, we mentioned the Unicorn we faced used conjuration magic...a school of magic no longer allowed in Equestria.”

Twilight nodded. “I’ve always wondered about that...every book I’ve ever read on conjuration has merely stated that it was banned...why was it, exactly?”

The four began walking toward Twilight’s palace as the lunar princess spoke. “Some ponies started using it to make themselves appear wealthy.” Luna’s horn flashed and produced a small cloud. Within it stood a unicorn that began to focus and suddenly, piles of gold coins and jewels appeared around him. “They created mansions filled with vast fortunes that looked and felt real as real could be. No spells could discern their nature...that is what made conjuring magic so dangerous. It could not be detected, not even by my sister or I.”

“But you, Twilight...” Twilight suddenly turned toward Celestia. “You are the Princess of Magic, and the greatest scholar in Equestria since Starswirl himself. You have the means and the power to trace such untracable types of magic. There is no doubt this ‘King Knight’ is not alone, not counting the ‘Enchantress.’”

“This much is true, your highnesses.” The Alicorn princesses turned to the knight who up to this point had remained silent. “Apologies for not speaking up before. The Enchantress has more than just that decadent dandy of a knight in her service. She has an entire order...the Order of No Quarter, they call themselves. Before I arrived here, she told me in a vision she had brought them here and would take this world and mine with the power she would gain here. Had I known she was from this world to begin with, I would not have allowed her to escape here.”

“Tis by no fault of thine, sir knight. Thou could’st not have known.”

“Sister, you’re reverting to the olden speech.”

Luna flushed. “Apologies...seeing a knight, a true knight, not just some royal guard...it brings me back to our youth. Do you remember young Sir Lancetrot?”

Celestia shared in her sister’s blush. “Ah, how could I forget? Our first sibling rivalry...as I recall, you still haven’t forgiven me for dropping that cake on you.”

Luna’s right eye twitched slightly. “Before we lose ourselves in reminiscence...Shovel Knight. You say you know this ‘King Knight’, yes?” The blue knight nodded. “Very well, then! You shall face him!”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “Sister, you must be joking. He took our magic, who knows-”

“I will fight for you, your highnesses.”

The solar princess stopped and stood expressionless for a few seconds. “I...what?”

“The Enchantress and her Order are my responsibility. I will do whatever it takes to stop them.” Shovel Knight turned to Twilight. “But I may need assistance.”

The group arrived at the palace and entered. They were greeted by the voice of a young drake. “Hey, Twi, welcome home! I just got back a few min-” Spike came walking in and the first thing that captured his attention was the two armored princesses entering the palace. “Uh, hey, Princesses, nice to...see...” The second thing he saw was the knight from earlier. His confusion was quickly replaced with a scowl. “Oh. It’s you.”

“I, uh...I assure you, my good dragon, I have no intention of harming you-”

“That makes one of us.”

“Spike, behave, please!” Twilight glanced over to Shovel Knight again. “What do you mean by ‘assistance’?”

“An old friend...he goes by Black Knight...he told me that I would need to ‘make friends’ that might help me in facing the Order...I believe he meant you and your friends...without entirely knowing it, of course.”

“So...what are you suggesting?”

“That you or Spike accompany me to your city of Canterlot, and we take it back from King Knight.”

“With all due respect, Shovel Knight...” Celestia stepped forth. “While I appreciate your offer to assist...I mean...are you certain you can win?”

Shovel Knight nodded. “I have bested them once before...I shall do it again. But as stated before, I will need help.”

Spike scoffed. “Yeah, right. Like I’m gonna help you.”

“Spike!” The drake grunted and crossed his arms. Twilight sighed. “I’m sorry about him.”

“It is understandable...to lose part of oneself, physical or otherwise, is a grave tragedy.”

Spike’s eyes widened and he immediately rushed the knight, stopping just short of him and placing an open claw inches away from his throat. Twilight, Celestia and Luna gasped, but Shovel Knight remained calm. “What do you know about loss, huh?! You’re some ‘brave and heroic knight’! How could you lose anything?”

Shovel Knight’s silence lingered for a moment. “Tell me, Spike...the mare I saw you with before. Rarity, I believe was her name. If anything happened to her...would that feel the same as losing a few scales...or worse?”

Spike felt his stance weaken as he almost stumbled back. His arm dropped away from Shovel Knight and he looked to the ground. “...Worse.”

“That, Spike, is my loss. I have had my beloved Shield Knight taken from me twice now, by the same wretched witch. And yet I press on to take back what matters most to me...to find my love and be with her again.” Spike remained wordless, either unable to fully take in what Shovel Knight was saying, or completely enthralled by it. "So I ask you, Spike...will you come with me to face King Knight and take one step forward in my quest to rescue my Shield Knight?"

-WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?-

Author's Note

CHOICE TIME! That's right! I need you, my faithful readers to choose how the next chapter begins! Each pre-battle chapter (Each one with a .5) will function like this. Some filler, some Shovel Knight meeting new friends who might come with him on his next adventure, learning which Order member is causing chaos next, and then you voting on the outcome of the chapter's end, and subsequently, the outcome of the following chapter's start!

And keep this in mind as well...Shovel Knight has a chance to RECRUIT each and every member of the Order of No Quarter this time around. That will all be dependent on what gets picked!

Edit: Strawpoll finished! Spike will be joining Shovel Knight in the battle for Canterlot Keep. Chapter 2: Halls of the Usurper and The Decadent Dandy, will be coming next! Stay tuned!