The Knight

“So this Belisarius was nearly able to restore the former empire?”

“Very nearly, as I’ve said he took back the Balkans, Africa, Italy, most of Spain and more than once he subdued the Sassanid empire’s attempts to invade.”

“He sounds like he was an amazing person.”

“God, his skills as a tactician were amazing, he was outnumbered in almost every battle, had extremely limited resources and yet still pushed through no matter the challenge.” Sam exclaimed, passion pouring out of him like water in an overfilled cup,”The truly astounding part of his story though, isn’t just his genius in battle, it’s the fact that despite his abilities he lived only to serve his empire.”

“He really believed in what he was doing, to him the wars he fought weren’t just a chance to grab power like it was for Caesar. He saw it as a way to rebuild the empire he believed in and serve the leader who he knew was good for the people of that empire.”

She nodded,”I understand exactly what you mean, I see why you admire this man so much. He was given quite a bit of power and he never misused it. In fact from what you’ve told me it seems all that he did was to better his nation and contribute to his people.”

“Exactly, he’s one of my favorite figures in human history, as great as some of the other leaders I’ve studied are it’s hard for me to find someone to top him.”

It was nearly two in the morning, they had talked for the last six hours, from the life of Charlemagne to the Duke of Marlborough all the way to Flavius Belisarius. Samuel had detailed their wars, tactics, politics, way of life, there was no end to his knowledge on the subject of history.

He was a font of information and when he opened up that information flowed straight into Twilights eager ears. The two of them got along quite well because of it, they often talked for long periods of time like this, mostly about history but sometimes politics and the sciences too.

Twilight leaned back and yawned,”Ah... it’s late and you’ve very kindly stayed up to answer my questions, I think it’s about time I went to bed. If you’d like I can see about having some of my guards pulling you home in a cart? Of course you could always spend the night in one of the guest rooms.”

Sam smiled, the light of the fireplace that illuminated this end of the room outlined his young face softly. He turned his head and looked down into the charred burning wood, his blue eyes glimmering in its flicker, his eyes were sore with exhaustion and his speech was starting to slur. He did need sleep.

But he had a question of his own.

Sam shifted his weight to the other side of the seat, propping his elbow on the arm of the chair he leaned his chin into his hand,”I’ll walk back to the farm, don’t worry about that, I do however want to ask you something if you don’t mind.”

She nodded,”Of course, ask away.”

He was silent for a moment as his eyes wandered over her face,”You’ve been pretty tense all night, I can see it in your eyes, the way you’ve even holding your shoulders and even the way you move. I was wondering if you were alright.”

Twilight’s eyes widened and her shoulders tensed,”That’s... very observant of you Samuel.”

“I’m sorry if I’m prying to much, I’m just worried. You usually aren’t that anxious about anything.”

She relaxed again, her nostrils flaring as her shoulders unclenched,“I, understand completely, I would be that worried about my friends too. I didn’t, however, expect you to see through me though.”

She shook her head and looked down,”Well I suppose I could tell you about what’s bothering me, you have proved to be trustworthy over these past couple of months.”Twilight looked up, her eyes narrowing and boring into his,”But you must promise to keep it completely secret, if you don’t I will never be able to trust you with anything again.”

His brow dipped and he turned away from her burning gaze, her intensity was concerning. Whatever was upsetting her was either important or terrifying,“I... yes I can keep it a secret.”

“Promise me, if this gets out who knows what could happen.”

He looked back to her,“I promise Twilight.”

“Good.” She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and began,”For the past five months ponies have been disappearing for no discernible reason, seemingly at random too.”

“I began looking into it about two weeks ago, I had noticed there had been a lot more missing ponies in the newspapers recently and thought to at least take a look at the cases too see if there was anything off about them. After going over the first thirty I began to see a pattern.”

“The days in between these disappearances were staggered over a period of a month and then then would repeat again the next month but a day off. To the normal pony who wasn’t paying much attention to all of the other instances of this happening, it would seem like another unfortunate if not weird occurrence.”

“Then there comes the circumstances of all the cases, some ponies disappeared after going for walks, others while on treks into the Everfree and some even disappeared from their own homes. There’s never any witnesses and not a trace is ever found, in most normal missing pony cases at least there’s some clothes or tracks found but not with these ones.”

“I believe this is deliberate and that these ponies aren’t just disappearing, but being kidnapped.” She looked back up at Sam who had listened to her story with interest,”What do you think?”

He lowered his hand from his chin and pursed his lips,”I have to say I agree, there’s a pattern to them, nothing random has a pattern in my experience.”

“Exactly!” She shot up in her seat,”And I think I know who’s doing it too.”

He cocked his head,”You have a suspect?”

“Well, suspects actually.” She stood up and walked to the edge of the fireplace, she brought a hand up to her chin and grabbed it,”I contacted Celestia about it already, she’s concerned and sees what we see so she’s going to send a group of investigators as quickly as she can.”

Twilight sighed,”But, she thinks it’s a rogue group of changelings...”

“And you don’t?”

She nodded,”The investigators she’s sending will look everywhere but where I want them too. The old diamond dog cave.”

“So you think it’s diamond dogs then?”

“Yes, I do.” She looked at the young mans face,”What do you know about them Sam?”

He shrugged,“Eh, not much, I’ve heard about them here and there and Applejacks mentioned that you guys had a problem with a few of them before but other than that I have no real knowledge.”

“Okay, well then I’ll give you a brief overview of them. They usually inhabit caves, though they are known to build communities deep into the Smokey mountains and sometimes even in dense jungles or forests. Most of them are arranged in a tribal manner, though the most successful of these groups call themselves clans as they see themselves better than their peers.”

“They all tend to display a level of greed like that of a dragon, which wouldn’t be a problem if they stuck to their caves and mined for gems but most of them do more than that. They will often times raid caravans for more wealth, tribes will fight each other for their gems and, most importantly for our case, some of the are in the business of taking slaves.”

Sam furrowed his brow,“I see what your getting at now.”

“Mmhmm, now they will make slaves of just about anything but, they prefer ponies. Stallions that are enslaved are used for manual labor like mining or building, mares are, well, raped into submission and then used as uh, sex slaves.” She shook her head.

Sam cringed at the thought,”And you think a group of these dogs has moved into the area?”

“Well no, you see the dogs Applejack talked about was a group that we managed to get under control awhile ago. From what I know though they have had a grudge against us for it ever since that day. However despite the hate they bear for this town they would never act on it and enslave or attack us by themselves, to much fear of being defeated and shamed again.”

He raised an eyebrow,“Then why would they start now...?”

“Here’s where my theory becomes a theory.” She crossed her arms over her chest,“Recently there was a large clan war, to the east in the mountains. I don’t know much about it, Equestria didn’t get involved. However we are sure of the fact that when it ended multiple clan leaders were exiled rather than executed. I believe one of those ambitious diamond dogs may have found his or her way here and taken command of our local tribe.”

She sighed and stepped away from the fireplace,”I could, of course, be totally wrong though. My research and conclusions could be off by miles and nothing that bad really is going on.”

Samuel stood up and walked forward, he reached out an arm and grabbed her shoulder,“No, you make nothing but good points Twilight, the conclusion and reasoning is logical. After hearing this whole thing out I can honestly say I believe you are right.”

She smiled and let out a breath as he let go of her shoulder,”Now.” he continued,”I know Celestia is going to send some investigators to check this out, but what are you going to do about these, peculiar happenings? I think we both know an investigation that doesn’t acknowledge a whole very plausible possibility won’t be much help.”

Twilight looked at him dejectedly,”I’m going to let Celestia handle it, she’ll know what to do.”

He twisted his head,“What?”

“Look, Sam, this is all still speculation in the end and even if it wasn’t, what would I do?” She shook her head,”I can’t just get a regiment of guards and march on them, the political repercussions could be disastrous.” She looked down and reassured herself,”No Celestia has the experience to maneuver all this if the diamond dogs are the ones behind it.”

He turned around and hummed to himself as he walked back to his chair,”What kind of repercussions are you talking about? Why is it so dangerous if the diamond dogs are at fault?”

She paused for a moment,”Well firstly I believe in peaceful solutions to most things, only fight if you have too. Secondly Celestia is already aware of what’s going on and isn’t getting involved, if I do anything now I’ll have her to answer too. But beyond both of those reasons I don’t want to make a decision that puts Equestria at war.”

“But... if it’s only one group that you could attack and destroy, how would that put you at war?”

“Sam, I know I told you that the tribes and clans hate each other but, that’s not always the case.” She began to walk down the long room and gestured for him to follow.

Together they walked along the shelf lined walls, hundreds if not thousands of books rested along the walls of Twilights study. The purple princess abruptly stopped, Samuel followed suit and watched as she ran her fingers along a row of books.

“Ah, here it is.” Pulling a rather thin book out she held it out to Sam.

He squinted as his eyes scanned the book cover,”An overview of the diamond dog - Griffon conflict of the fourth century.” He read out the title,”I’m gonna guess this will tell me why you can’t just attack them?”

She nodded,”Fourteen hundred years ago, the griffons mounted a military campaign to root out a particularly bad tribe of diamond dogs, they were successful at first. But then the rest of the tribes within the Griffon empire grew wary of the empires actions.”

“Even though the griffins had only sought to destroy that one tribe they inadvertently caused the rest of the tribes within their borders to rally together. The clans in the empire took advantage of this and grabbed command of the riled up dogs.”

“A fifteen year war began, in the end the griffins emerged victorious, the diamond dogs were driven from their lands and to this day there aren’t any in the Griffon empire. However the losses were horrendous, thousands of innocents on both sides had been slaughtered and who knows how many soldiers were dead.”

“The tragedy of it all is that the whole Tartarus damned thing could have been avoided.”

Sam raised his arms and crossed them, his eyes were narrow as he pondered what he’d been told. Twilight put the book back in it’s place and looked back to him,”Would you like that to happen here?”

He shook his head,“No, but, nobody ever wants war except ambitious people in charge.” He sighed,”Twilight I understand all this but in the end, I still think real action needs to be taken.”

She threw her hands up and shook her head in incredulity,”Really? None of that made sense to you?”

“Hear me out okay, over time they’ll only grow bolder, other tribes will notice and they’ll become just as bold and before long the amount of ponies being enslaved will be greater than the losses of any war.”

“A war which could not even happen if we move on this local tribe, you know as well as I just because something happened once doesn’t mean it will again. And in the end I guarantee you it’s better to stand and fight rather than roll over onto your belly.”

She looked down and sighed, shaking her head she looked back up at him,”Look Sam, it’s getting late and we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s face it, we don’t know what exactly is going on so let’s admit that and just get to bed.”

He swallowed and nodded,”Yeah, okay, that’s a pretty good idea.”

She paused for a moment before flashing him a small smile,”I’m sorry by the way, I didn’t mean to get into an argument tonight.”

“It’s fine.” He waved a hand,”Just two differences of opinion and you know what, at least we heard each other’s side of it rather than yelled at each other.”

“Very true and thank you, for believing me I mean.”

“Well like I said, you make sense.” Turning about he walked over to the door, opening it he looked back at Twilight,”Goodnight Princess, have a nice night!”

“I will and please Sam, be careful, whatever’s going on, I don’t want to read about your disappearance.” He nodded and stepped through the door into the grey and purple hallway.

The guards on either side of him stiffened and he gave them a curt nod. The sound of his footsteps reminded him of what he’d experienced earlier in the night on his way here, suddenly it occurred to him, the muffled screaming and crash. Could that have been...

”No, can’t be.”

For the rest of his walk back to the farm the earlier events of the evening kept resurfacing to the top of his mind.

~

The torchlight illuminated the ledger before Razor, the black ink elegantly listed the names of the most recent captures and their estimated prices on the market. Flipping a page the skinny diamond dog smirked at the price Roseluck would fetch them once she was completely broken and trained.

She’d only been brought in a week ago and already she was broken, the training process had quickly begun. That was one thing Razor had to admit, this tribe may have been full of fools when he first arrived but they could break a pony better than any other tribe or clan he’d come across.

Even now he could hear the screams of the recent arrivals echoing from the other side of the cave all the way into his little chamber.

Razor leaned back, his wooden chair creaking with the shift in weight, bringing the ledger up he closed it with a snap. Standing up the chief of the Ponyville diamond dog tribe made his way to the small shelf on the other side of the room, he slid the small book in with the rest of his ledgers and catalogues

Book keeping was something he prided himself in, keeping an account of every pony captured, sold and any other miscellaneous transactions with other tribes was necessary. It would show any discrepancies and keep accountability among the tribe.

He cracked his neck and quickly walked out of the round hole that connected his chamber to the tunnel that ran through rest of the cave. The guard assigned to his door sat on the ground back against the wall asleep, as per usual.

While his slave raiders had grown efficient and quick on their feet, something Razor could be proud of, the damn guards still couldn’t keep awake long enough to be of any practical use.

“Dipshit.” He muttered to himself.

Drawing his attention back to the task at hand he kept walking, at the end of the tunnel was another round doorway out of which light and sound funneled.

His senses were bombarded as he stepped into the main chamber, his dogs were all over the place dancing, singing, drinking and some even lay strewn about the hard ground asleep. Razor smiled at the happiness they displayed, when he had first arrived they were in such a sorry state.

One of the dogs finally noticed him and joyfully shouted,”The Chiefs here!”

A chorus of cheers responded and the dogs around him raised their drinks. Razor felt a sort of pride, his dogs loved him and all he had done for them. Their recent success in the field and increase in wealth was all attributed to him and rightly so.

Razor was not a big diamond dog, in fact he was somewhat short and so in order to be seen by every dog he stood up on an unoccupied chair.

He raised his hand up in a grand gesture,”Thank you! Thank you!” The dogs began to quiet down as his loud deep voice boomed, he slowly lowered his arm and the crowd was reduced to a murmur,”Now that I have your attention I wish to let you all know that I am planning a special raid in the future. One that will put us on the map as one of the boldest clans in Equestria!”

Another cheer erupted from the crowd, Razor’s fangs glinted through his smile. He raised his clawed hand again and again they quieted down,”For the time being though I want you all to keep on doing what you’re doing, stick with whatever raid you are currently assigned too. I want you all to know you’re all making me beyond proud and making big names for yourselves!”

“You have brought yourself up from the dirt, the other tribes who once scorned you now respect you! And with good reason! They themselves have never been able to achieve the things you have and now talk of our actions with amazement! You run through the night like a shadow! You capture ponies with ease! You break and make slaves like no other tribe or clan could dream of!”

A roar exploded as every dog in the room howled, their pride resonating off the rock walls of the chamber. Razor allowed them to continue this cheer far longer than the last, after a time their voices fell and the dogs became silent, once again their attention was focused on their chief.

His eyes narrowed as they looked over the mass of dogs before him,”Now, I have need of a few of you, Kag! Splint! Rock! All of you are to report to the map room as soon as possible!” He finished the speech off with another grand sweep of his arms and turned about.

The sound of singing, dancing and talking returned as the chief reentered the hall he had come from. Quickly he made his way down the tunnel. He passed his personal chamber and in minutes he reached the map room, quickly he ducked inside.

He actively ignored the snoring guard at the entrance.

A large rectangular stone block sat in the middle of the room, a map of Ponyville lay across its smooth top and many different instruments of measurement rested on its edges. At either side of the room along the rocky walls many smaller wooden tables were placed up against the cave walls, smaller more detailed maps of specific areas rested on these tables.

This was Razor’s command room, everything that was done was planned out in here and the dogs who were involved were briefed in here. This was the spot where many, many ponies fates were decided.

Walking to the stone table he leaned over the side of it and rested his weight on his claws, his eyes roamed along the roads and through the alleys that the map depicted in red ink. The idea he’d pondered over for so long kept running through his mind, the different scenarios, outcomes and ways to go about it flowed through his mind like river rapids.

He didn’t notice as the dogs he had asked for entered the room, they quietly walked over to the other side of the stone and waited. He looked up at the trio with and let out a breath,”Do you know why you’re all here?”

Splint’s crooked right arm came up, Razor nodded at him,“Is it something to do with the mission you talked about chief?”

“Correct, now, do you know why I chose you three for the mission?”

“Because were the best of your slave raiders.” Kag said.

“Exactly.” Razor straightened his back and beckoned them forward, together they walked up to the side of the stone.

“I have a plan that’s going to involve a lot of risk, heads will roll if one you fucks up, any dog here who’s not up to an operation this heavy leave now. I’ve got no room for cowards and weaklings here.”

They didn’t so much as twitch.

“Alright, you’re committed.”

“For the past couple of weeks I've been thinking of what we could do to cement us at the top of our hierarchy in these lands without drawing the attention of the ponies.” His fangs emerged.

“Our recent activity has drawn no attention at all, with the amount of slaves we’re producing not a single pony has taken notice. Yet among the other tribes we’re the talk of the land, our recent deeds have garnered us fame and respect, imagine if we could... amplify the fame and respect gained by doing the same job that we always do.”

The three dogs looked at him with interest, each one showing it in different ways.

He looked down,”My idea is, that we grab an important pony and break her. It’s simple and to the point right?”

They nodded and he smiled,”A pony important enough to send Equestria into a shitfest and make the tribes around call us a clan, who’s kidnapping could do that? Well none other than an element of harmony’s of course.”

The three of them simultaneously dropped their jaws, Kag began to sputter,”B-But you’ve always said attent-“

“Silence!” He slammed a fist into the stone and looked up at each of them, savagery pouring our of his narrowed eyes,”I am the godsdamn chief, you will be fucking silent while I explain myself!” Venom dripped off of every word.

They stood silent, terrified at his outburst.

He glared daggers at them, staying still the whole time, with a twitch of his ear he resumed his explanation,”When I first thought of this I too had the same reservations you three have, but I’ve run the it all through my head more times then I can count and I think if we do exactly as I have planned, we will be successful.”

He sighed,”I’ve put a lot of thought into which one would be best to target and I’ve decided on the Rainbow one.” Razor looked at the map,”Each of you will cover a different area of the town and watch for the next couple weeks I want her routine nailed.”

“That’s the first step, I’ll detail the rest of my plan once you’ve completed the first part of it.”

He stood up and gestured to the map,”I’ve divided the town into three equal sections, each of you can choose which section you’d like to cover.” He looked into each of their eyes his own softening as he looked over them,”If we pull this off it will be talked of for miles around and for years to come.”

“Now, choose your section, once you have you’re dismissed. We start tomorrow.” He gave them a nod and made his way out of the room, he rolled his eyes at the still sleeping guard.

~

Sam sighed as his eyes scanned the missing ponies list in the newspaper. Along with the still missing ponies listed, it contained the tale of another pony that disappeared last night. He couldn’t help but feel a twinge of anger deep within, a certain burn where his heart was.

They had no reason to keep going missing. But that wasn’t his decision to make, Celestia’s agents would figure it out soon and it would end.

It had been three weeks since his talk with Twilight and since then he’d kept his eyes open, he used to never look at the newspaper. Now he got hold of one everyday just to look over the missing ponies, apparently the night of his talk Roseluck had gone missing.

It was weird when he read about it, Sam didn’t know her very well but he saw her all the time at the market in town and now she was gone. Every time he thought about it the sounds he’d heard that night in the alley also came back, maybe if he’d just taken another step, even just to make sure, then he maybe wouldn’t wonder about it.

The possibility that it could have been Roseluck and if it had been then the possibility that he could have helped weighed heavily on his mind.

Shaking his head he set the paper down on the kitchen table, he looked over at Applejack as she cooked beside her little sister. The hunger inducing aroma of eggs and fried potatoes permeated the room, he looked across the table at Mac who sat still reading his newspaper.

Applejack shook the pan in front and said,“Say Sam, now that the harvest is slowing down would you be able to get those door hinges fixed?”

“Uh Yeah AJ, as long as you don’t have anything more urgent you need done I can get those started today.”

“Thanks honey.” She picked up the pan and moved it over,”Those damn things have terrorized us more than any changeling or god of chaos.”

“Oooo can I watch him work today sis?!” Applebloom asked as she stirred the frying potatoes she was working on.

Applejack paused and pursed her lips,”Ah suppose you could, I don’t need ya for nothin’, you just gotta ask him if he minds you bugging him the whole time.”

The young mare turned around to face him,”Can I Sam? Can I bug you all day?”

He chuckled and nodded,”Yes Applebloom, you can bug me all day.”

Mac looked up from his paper,”Celestia help ya fer ya know not what you’ve done.”

The mares and Sam shared a laugh at Mac’s singular comment. Breakfast proceeded as usual, Sam enjoyed the crunchy potatoes and reveled in the taste of his cheesy omelet.

From there they all went their separate ways on the farm, Mac headed out to begin his plowing, Applejack already had him getting started on that for the nest season. Applejack herself went out to the remaining Apple trees, there weren’t many left that still bore fruit so she was able to handle them with ease.

Sam and Applebloom made their way on over to the barn, once inside the wide double doors of the red structure he began his process of preparation. Applebloom sat up on a pile of hay while he worked and threw questions about what he was doing at him nonstop, like a batting machine on it’s maximum setting.

His first action was to get a thick apron on over his jeans and t shirt, next was to get his gloves and when he was fully garbed he walked over to the forge in the center of the barn. He started the fire and waited while it heated up, he took the time to retrieve the metal for the hinges and the tools he would need along with it.

From there his day started, heating the metal up till it was malleable enough to work, shaping it over a period of time and finally cooling it down. Applebloom now just watched as he cooled the first hinge in a bucket of water, her questions seemingly stopped.

As out the finishing touches on the dark black hinge the barn doors opened, midday light shone into the room to reveal Derpy the mailmare with a big smile on her face,”Hey there Sam!”

He smiled at her through his soot covered face as he shimmied off his gloves,”Hello, you got some mail for me?”

“Yep, sure do, straight from Celestia herself.”

Slapping his gloves down on the table next to the forge he began making his way towards Derpy,”Wait, you and Celestia send letters to each other?” The young mare on the other side of the barn piped up.

He smiled as he took the letter from Derpy’s outstretched hand,”Yeah, we do, haven’t you heard me talk about it before?”

She shook her head,”Hmm, well now you know.” He looked to the mailmare and smiled,”Thank you Derpy, I’ll make sure to send for you when I finish my reply.”

She smiled and nodded enthusiastically before turning about taking off into the air in an unstable sort of way. Sam closed the doors behind her,”She’s a nice mare but she’s kinda clumsy.”

“I know Applebloom, but aren’t we all?”

The day continued as it had before, though now he worked on the second hinge. By the time he was done the sun was low in the sky and dinner was cooking in the house, he cleaned up quickly with Applebloom helping him.

When they were done they went back to the house, Sam ate quickly and polished off his plate. Leaving it in the sink he then made his way to his room. It was the old guest bedroom that had been converted to a permanent place for him, the rustic room was on the first floor of the house.

The door creaked as he opened it and stepped in, closing it behind himself Sam was greeted with a window the overlooked the easternmost fields. He faced to his left where his desk sat up against the wall, walking over he pulled out the chair and sat down, reaching into his pocket he pulled out the letter from Celestia and flipped it onto the desk.

Leaning over he opened the top drawer and grabbed a letter opener, bringing it up he deftly sliced through its seal. Pulling out the paper within he discarded the rest of it to the side of the desk, he set it down and began to read it.

Dear Samuel,

I’m happy to hear about your success in proving your smithing skills to the Apples, I’m certain they’ll find it very useful. The work you have been doing is great, yes it’s simple manual labor to some but the more you do the more ponies will accept you. I know most already do but some still think as Luna does as I’m sure you already know.

I must thank you for your patience in that matter. I know your immunity, the reason for her mistrust and fear, is not something you have any control over. She’s begun to increasingly complain about your freedom every time you come up in conversation and I wonder if she’ll ever stop. You have nothing to fear of course I will keep her from taking any action against you as I have said before.

Onto other topics, I myself am doing okay, perhaps a bit more stressed than usual but that cannot be helped. Between the Zebras and their recent attempts to take land from the Griffon colonies, the griffin’s current leader growing ill and nobles continually pestering me over their squabbles I’ve not had much time to myself.

Perhaps though you’ll come back and visit soon? I always enjoy seeing you in the flesh, my worries melt away during our talks. Unlike most you listen well and add on to conversations. If you do decide to come soon let me know in advance and I’ll make sure to prepare some meat, that must be a rare commodity outside of the castle.

Before I end this letter I wish to tell you one more thing, Twilight has told me that you know about the missing ponies and the investigation, I appreciate that you haven’t said anything to anypony about it and I’d like it if you could keep it that way. I still think there’s a far more innocent explanation to it than what Twilight suggests and you believe but I digress.

I hope to hear from you again soon and I am even more excited to see you again,

Sincerely, Princess Celestia of Equestria

Samuel lowered the letter, letting a breath out through his nose he set the paper down slid his chair back.

Again those damn kidnapped ponies came up, his fury worked its way out of a little hole in his mind again and he had to suppress it. He looked over at the window and through it at the light of the dying sun in the evening sky, underneath said window sat a tall wooden chest that for no particular reason seemed to stand out to him.

Suddenly an idea popped into his mind, one that he’d never explored before.

He decided to open the door of this idea.

Standing up the young man walked over to the chest, it was beautifully carved with graceful little decorations all along its sides. Grasping the metal handle Sam pulled the top upwards, he was greeted with the face of his helmet, underneath it lay the rest of the armor he had made.

Reaching in he placed both hands on the helmet and lifted it up, holding it out in front of himself he stared into the blackness behind the eyeslit.

“No, no... I couldn’t... wouldn’t even work if I did.” He muttered to himself then shook his head and placed the intimidating piece of protection back in the trunk that he promptly closed with a slam.

He stood there with his hand on the handle for a while longer, lips pursed, eyes narrowed, mind in a different realm.

With a final grunt and shake of his head he walked back to his desk where he spent the rest of the early evening responding to Celestia’s letter.