Knights of the Silence: education is for everypony

Chapter III
Strikes in the shadows

It was past midnight, inside the walls of the Royal Sisters’ Castle, where a strange and unnerving group of ponies, covered in black robes, prepared for battle. The only lights in the dark hallways came from their red eyes.
The monsters, known as Undead Knights, were preparing their weapons, daggers, swords, ropes, knives, and even an iron rod where somepony have roughly mad a tip.

In the back garden, a giant dragon with black wings and purple scales was sharpening his claws and teeth, also ready for battle.

This rite was precious for the Undead Knights, as they enjoyed every second before tue upcoming massacre. Also, the capability of making preparations gave them a relief, so there was a genuine worry that they would end up losing their minds completely. Giving themselves up to their darkest side.
The most worried of them all was Night Terror, who didn’t even had a direct connection to the Elements of Harmony like the others. Only his love for his mother kept him safe.

Night Terror sighed, looking at the horizon. “And here I am, remembering those things again.”

It was in that very same castle where, a long time ago, and after years of unfruitful searching, the young dragon have finally found them. His lost family.

“Twilight, girls!” he cried in joy.

The six hooded ponies turned to him.
Spike haven’t changed that much during that years. He was just a bit taller, and his wings were starting to sprout. But he was the very same dragon.

The lavender alicorn, who once were Twilight Sparkle, turned to him, and sighed in deep sorrow. She wished he have never found them. “Leave us Spike. Leave us and forget what you saw here. We are not ourselves anymore since a few minutes ago. The essence is there, but now that we are corrupted by evil, I’m not worthy or even using my old name. Leave us now, Spike, and do not talk about this with anypony. Especially Shining Armor.”

The dragon stayed where he was, defiant until the end.

“Fine, I’ll call you Midnight then, or however you want me to call you.” said Spike. “But I won’t go. It’s been ten years, Twilight. Ten years of looking for you endlessly. Most of the ponies gave up, but I didn’t. And I won’t go now that I’ve found you.”

“Leave now Spike” threatened Midnight. “Leave now that you have the chance. I am trying to protect your innocence, try to understand.”

Spike shook his head. “Sorry, wrong dragon. Do you think I’ll go now that I’ve found you? I am staying with you, my place is at your side, being your number one assistant! Do you have any idea of how much I suffered when you vanished?”

The former Rainbow Dash tackled Spike, and put her hoof on his throat.
Spike coughed, but didn’t resist. And on that moment, Spike noticed the red eyes. But he didn’t look away.

The cyan pegasus glared at him. “Why aren’t you afraid, Spike?”

“Why would I be afraid of you? Afraid of my own mother?”

The dark alicorn rolled her eyes, and after she pushed the monstrous pegasus away, she kicked Spike on his back. But the dragon didn’t move. He only let escape a small tear.

“I won’t let you go now that I’ve found you, mom.” said Spike.

Midnight grinded her teeth. “I am not your mother. Stop bothering me, Spike.”

“You hatched me, you raised me until I turned ten, if you’re not my mom, I don’t know what you are. Also, I spent ten years of my life looking for you. I’m not going anywhere!!”

“You are, because mommy tells you to.” said this dark version of Twilight, indifferent.

Spike grinned. “Sorry I am acting like a spoiled brat, but I will have to disobey mom for this time.”

Midnight had to use all her self-control to not to cry. “Why can’t you understand that I am not the pony you show this devotion for? I have changed, Spike, for the worse. As you spent ten years looking for us, we spent those time looking for a way to defeat Glimmer. We have found it, but the price was too high. Leave Spike, protect the idea you have about us.”

“Ehem!” said the yellow pegasus. “Why don’t you let him stay? So he won’t have to see what we’re about to do.”

The dark alicorn agreed. “Fine, you stay, and we go. But you better not be here when we come back. Everyone who is an undead, follow me!”

Spike stood there, watching as his friends walked away.
Then, he noticed the open book on the floor, and took a quick glance of it. He sobbed.

“Oh no… Twilight… what have you done? WHAT HAAVE YOU DONE?!”

His roar of sadness was heard all over the Everfree Forest.
It even made the Undead Knights to turn to the Castle, and for a fraction of a second, the lavender alicorn felt something different from bloodthirst.

She put a hoof over her heart. “Spike…”

“Night Terror, Night Terror…” called him Midnight, back to reality.

The dragon shook his enormous head. “Oh, sorry my dear. But you know that getting lost into our memories is the closest thing to sleep for us.”

The dark alicorn nodded. “Anyway, we are about to start the hunt, but I need you to stay behind until I call you.”

“I know, we discussed this before.”

She flew to meet his face, and kissed him deeply. “I also came to give you something to help you remember me.”

Night Terror’s tongue invaded the alicorn’s mouth, cleaning each of the fangs.

The other undeads looked away, too used to this spectacle. It was somehow boring at this point, always the same.

…

“Remind ma’ why the Princess is asking us to move to Canterlot for a little time?” asked Applejack, annoyed. “Ya’ know A’ can’t stand being separated from ma’ farm for too long!”

“Yes, Twilight, why do you have to go for that long?” asked Spike.

The other five Bearers plus Spike were glaring at Twilight.

Finally, she sighed, and explained herself. “Sorry, alright? It wasn’t my idea, but the Princess is really worried for the incident at the Academy for the Gifted Unicorns.”

“You mean the ponies who broke into, and stole a bunch of books only to give them away?” asked Rarity.

Twilight nodded, as the unicorn face-palmed. “Come on! Their actions are quite unusual, but I don’t see what they have to do with us.”

“Yeah, why is she taking u to Canterlot? Doesn’t she have a Royal Guard or something?” asked Pinkie.

“Yes, the Royal Guard is going to take care of this radicals,” explained Twilight, “but she is calling us because she is afraid that they would intervene.”

All the Bearers paled, remembering the monsters.

“Back when they killed Starlight Glimmer, they mentioned this knights. I don’t know if you remember, but they mentioned they were the true preachers of Equality. That’s the Princess is so sure they would intervene. And she needs us there to stop them from massacring the knights.”

The others finally started to pack their things. Spike too, but Twilight stopped him.

“No, Spike, you stay!”

“But Twilight, I want to help!”

Twilight shook her head. “No Spike, this is too dangerous for you. If we are late, I don’t want you to witness another murder. Please, and, in my absence, I need you to take care of the library.”

“And my animals.” asked Fluttershy.

Spike sighed. “Okay, fine. For you.”

…

It was past midnight.
A solitary unicorn was walking around the hallways of a large university library. His name was Star Shine, and he worked as a security guard. The security have dubbed since the incident at Celestia’s Academy, all the universities hired more security. And Star Shine desperately needed a job to pay for his studies.

Why college life had to be that hard?

“Hello? Is anypony here?” asked the security guard, using his horn as a lantern. “I’m calling the Royal Guard, show yourself!”

But nothing, the library was silent. Too silent.

He used his horn to illuminate the hallways, and everything looked perfectly normal. Except for a mare reading a book of advanced spells. Wait, what?
She was wearing a blue tunic, and a long black cape with a hood. And the finishing touch was a smiling mask.

“Hold it right there!” shouted Star Shine. “This place is enchanted with an alarm spell, and the Royal Guard is on its way. Put that book back where it belongs, and come closer.”

The figure shrugged. “Poor Star.”

“Do we know each other?” asked the unicorn.

“I feel sorry for you, my friend. Your classes start at five p.m., finish at seven, and then you go eat something and prepare for your night shift. That goes from eleven to six a.m., am I right?”

The unicorn raised an eyebrow. “Who are you?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I am the one who did the little number at Celestia’s Academy. You can call me Great Master.”

Star Shine gulped. “You… but, it’s impossible! Everypony has warned me against you. And why the Royal Guard isn’t coming?”

The Great Master laughed. “Because I deactivated your alarm spells. Those were pretty basic if you compared with what I found at Celestia’s Academy. In fact, you wouldn’t have noticed me if I didn’t revealed myself to you:”

Star Shine shivered. “And why did you revealed yourself to me?”

“Because I know how to read souls, and I’ve noticed you are tired of your situation. I don’t blame you, the system shouldn’t work this way.”

“Still I need a title if I want to be somepony in life.”

The Great Master put a hoof on Star Shine’s shoulder. Despite the mask, the unicorn could feel she was smiling to him. “The system works in a way that a title only proves that you were able to pay for your education. Knowledge is something it should be available for anyone who asks for it. This universities work in a way that they refuse to teach those who are considered unworthy, or those who are unable to pay the high prices. They keep the knowledge unreachable in order to sustain this unfair system, and as a result ponies like you end up in this situation.”

Star Shine looked at the Great Master unsure what to say.

“The Order will make sure all knowledge is available for everypony. All you’ll need to do is ask.”

“If I give you this books I’ll lose my job.” said Star Shine.

“I already took their shadows, for us is as effective as having the book, and it won’t be noticed as first glance. Your job is safe, I swear.”

“And why did bothered to talk to me?”

The Great Master materialized a bunch of scrolls, and books to offer to Star Shine. “Here you go, I’m giving you the first copies of all the exclusive knowledge of this university. You are hungry for knowledge, and I am a teacher. Let’s start with this, and when I clean my schedule, I’ll teach you everything I know.”

“For real?”

The Great Master nodded slowly. “You want to learn, and it’s my duty to teach. When the time comes, I’ll come to find you and the others. Knowledge is meant to be transmitted.”

With that, the Great Master fused in the shadows, leaving Star Shine with a treasure, and the promise that he would become as powerful as this earth pony.

She materialized at her own room at her residence, where Emerald Horn and Cream Cone were already waiting for her.

“How it went?” asked East Wind casually.

“Pretty easy.” Said Cream Cone. “But, why bothering in taking all the secret recipes of Celestia’s Academy for the Gifted Confectioners?”

“All knowledge is treasure.” said the Great Master. “Big or small, nothing haves to stay secret. Education is for everypony.”

Cream Cone bowed before her East Wind. “I understand, my apologies, my Great Matser.”

East Wind nodded, and turned to Emerald Horn. “What about you, Emerald?”

“It went just fine, no pony would suspect a thing. Maybe a couple of ponies would notice that the books don’t project any shadow, but they may think that it’s an optical illusion or something.”

“But they will notice when that knowledge begins to run freely.” pointed out Cream Cone.

“The first move has been made.” said East Wind. “We need more knights in order to make things faster, but it’s a start. Canterlot is only the beginning, soon the Order will take its message to all Equestria.”

“When we get more apprentices, it’ll be a piece of cake.” smiled Emerald Horn.

East Wind smiled to her disciples. “Is not that simple. As Knights of the Silence, we must teach anyone who asks us, but those who are material for knights are only a precious few. Only those who are willing to teach without asking for nothing in exchange are worthy of the Title of Knights of the Silence. I chose you because that’s what I saw in your souls.”

The two knights smiled, and the Great Master made a small yawn.

“Glad everything went fine, now, if you excuse me, I’ll go to sleep. And I highly recommend you do the same. I need you to make copies of everything you took, and begin to distribute tomorrow. Understood?”

“You can count on us, Great Master!” they both said in unison.

…

Princess Celestia was in a very good mood after she called the Bearers of Harmony to Canterlot. The Royal Guard would soon take care of the Knights of Silence, and the Bearers would take care of the Undead Knights. Nothing could go wrong.

She was so happy that she invited them for brunch at her favorite restaurant.

“You know, Twilight Sparkle? Now that you are here, I am finally able to rest since this problem started.”

Twilight smiled at her mentor, but she couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy about the whole situation. “But, I don’t know if we should celebrate in advance.”

“This is no celebration, is only an early treat to motivate you. I promise.”

They all arrived to the restaurant, where Celestia asked for waffles, with lots of syrup, whipped cream, fresh berries, and chocolate chips. Lots of chocolate chips.
She took the first bite.

“Delicious, sublime! The dough is just like the ones they make at my Academy for the Gifted Confectioners. Waitress, waitress!”

A young earth pony approached smiling. She was pretty, with long blonde mane, and dark blue fur.

“Your Highness?” asked the waitress.

“Tell me, dear, have you hired a new cook?”

The waitress shrugged. “Sorry, I can’t really tell. I’m here only to cover a friend who went sick. But I can call the manager. Mister Admin, Her Highness wants to ask you something”

“Yes, Your Highness?” asked the manager.

“Your waffles are better than ever. Don’t misunderstand me, I love your usual treats, but you got so much better in seconds. Have you hired a new chef?”

“Of course not! Old Stinky is still with us. But recently we acquired a bunch of recipes that ponies said came right from your Academy or something. Apparently a group of knights came in, and made every secret recipe public.”

Celestia stood there, frozen.

When this has happened?

East Wind smiled as she saw the Princess’ surprise. She was lucky that a friend requested her to cover her at work. Her face was priceless.

But this was only the beginning.
Education is for everypony, she thought.