The Shy and the Knight ch. 4

Chapter 4


After a while together, Applejack decided to invite her friends over for lunch. They took a nice stroll through Ponyville while heading to Sweet Apple Acres. When they later arrived, they all saw three fillies wearing buckets for helmets and fighting each other with sticks like swords in their mouths. They were known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders: Apple Bloom, younger sister of Applejack, Sweetie Belle, younger sister of Rarity, and Scootaloo.

"Take that, evil one!" Apple Bloom shouted, heading for Scootaloo. She swung her stick, but was blocked by her opponent's stick.

"You are no match for me, knight!" Scootaloo replied with a grin.  She jumped back, then jumped forward swinging her stick at Apple Bloom

Suddenly, Sweetie Belle charged after both of them head on with a loud war cry. She suddenly tripped and began to tumble towards her friends. She crashed into them, making them fall also. They looked at each other, seeing if they were alright, then started to laugh.

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack said in a surprised yet upset tone. "What in tarnation are you gals doing?!"

"Hi Applejack!" her young sister replied. "We finally know what we're going to do for our cutie marks!"

"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle agreed. "We're going to be knights!"

Rarity gasped in horrible surprise. "No little sister of mine is going to be a knight!" she said.

"Aw! Rarity!" she whined.

"Being a knight is not for girls." her older sister said.

"She's right girls." Twilight Sparkle said. "It's not fun and games. And besides, girls aren't allowed to be knights."

"Why isn't it fun?" Scootaloo asked. "They get to fight monsters, rescue damsels in distress. What is a damsel anyway…?" she wondered out loud.

"They're also in the risk of getting severely hurt, or worse!" Rarity said. "And a true lady does not go out and fight whatever monsters are out there!"

"If you want to know what it's like to be in battle, go ask a knight about it." Rainbow Dash said.

"But we don't know any." Apple Bloom said.

Applejack heard hoof steps coming from behind them. She turned and saw Yorkshire coming towards them. "Yorkshire!" she exclaimed.

The girls turned around and saw him with a few dirty spots on his face.

Fluttershy blushed and smiled. "Oh… hello Yorkshire…" she quietly said.

He looked to her and smiled. "Good day ladies." he said to them politely.

"What's that stuff on your face?" Pinkie Pie asked pointing to the dirty spots on his face.

"Oh, these are just the results of my training with the other knights. Training can be pretty rough." he replied, chuckling.

"Hey Yorkshire." Applejack said. "Could you do me a favor?"

"What is it?" he asked curiously.

"My little sister and her friends want to be knights, but we think it's not right for them to do that." she replied.

"Applejack!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

"Hush Apple Bloom!" she told her sister.

"I see." Yorkshire said. He walked around them to the fillies. "Girls, you three cannot be knights." he said. "Being a knight is a big responsibility. It's no laughing matter. It's a serious job."

"Didn't you say you were in a huge battle?" Rarity asked.

He sighed heavily. "Yes… that was no laughing matter either."

"Ooh! Ooh! Can you tell us about it?" Sweetie Belle asked him excitedly.

Twilight Sparkle shook her head. "Now girls, I don't think that's reall-"

"Perhaps I should tell them." Yorkshire said, turning his head to her. "It'll explain that it's dangerous to be a knight."

"Yorkshire…" Fluttershy said nervously. "Are you sure that's alright…?"

He nodded. "Come into the barn and I'll tell you everything about it." he said to them. He walked into the empty barn with the girls and fillies following him in. He sat in his pile of hay as everypony else sat around him. He sighed deeply. "You see, in a distant land very far from here, a dark army of vicious lizards swept through." he explained. "One by one, towns, villages and homes were destroyed. They killed all life who were in sight, stallions, mares, even colts and fillies like yourselves." he said pointing to the little girls.

The fillies cuddled with the older ponies, starting to get nervous and scared hearing more about his dark past.

"They were truly black hearted. They were powerful, undefeatable… or so they thought. One way or another, they had to be stopped. I was one of the ten thousand knights who marched across the land to fight the dark army in a final battle." Yorkshire continued. "On the western regions of the lifeless land, the two armies met and clashed. We all fought valiantly against the soldiers of wickedness. As I fought, I could see my comrades getting slaughtered. I could hear the screaming of the soldiers who were wounded and dying, swords and shields clashing with one another. Everywhere it was blood and death. The battle lasted for hours. With enough strength, we made the final charge against the army and they were defeated. Unfortunately…" he sighed, looking at the girls, seeing fear in their eyes. "Out of the ten thousand knights who fought bravely, only six of us survived: me, my older brother Knighton, and the other four that you have seen here. All around us were the lifeless bodies of the knights who fought in battle. There were only at least 5 dozen of us left that survived the battle. Unfortunately..." he sighed. "most of them were severely wounded and ill. They died along the way back home. They fought so hard to live, but fate wouldn't leave them alone. They could never return to their families..." he closed his eyes for a few seconds then opened them again. He looked to the girls and saw that all had tears of sadness in their eyes. Some began to sniffle. The fillies started to quietly cry, horrified of the words they had heard from his mouth.

"That's just awful…" Twilight Sparkle said, keeping herself from crying. "Only six of you surviving the battle…"

"What did you do with the bodies of everypony else…?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"What could we do…?" Yorkshire replied. "All we could do was to leave the deceased to rot…"

Fluttershy being the most sensitive had no struggle to keep herself from crying.

Yorkshire moved to her, rubbing his head against her head softly. "It was very hard for the six of us, being the only ones who lived to tell the tale of our battle…" he looked to the fillies who were still crying. "Girls, now do you understand what a knight's life can be sometimes?"

The fillies looked to him and nodded slowly.

He sighed. "Come over here."

They got up and walked close to him. They all hugged together. "We're so sorry about what happened…" Sweetie Belle said, sniffling.

"It's alright…" he said smiling a bit. "The important thing is that the dark army will never attack anypony or any place again, so those other thousands of knights did not die in vain. They died honorably for a good cause. You girls cannot become knights for real, but that doesn't mean you have to stop playing knights. You girls have better things ahead in your life. Do you understand?"

They looked at him, nodding with little smiles on their faces.

He gave them little kisses on their cheeks.

"Yorkshire." Rarity said. "You show such kindness to everypony around you. What does it truly mean to be a knight?" she asked

"It represents that you are loyal, trustworthy, brave, strong, and capable of defending those who are in need of help." he replied. He rubbed his head against Fluttershy's head softly again.

"What is this?" a voice asked.

Everyone turned and saw that it was the red knight. Applejack and Yorkshire were the only ones who knew who he really was.

"Yorkshire, why do these girls show tears in their eyes?" he asked.

"I was telling them about when we were battle against the dark army." his younger brother replied.

He sighed quietly. "I see."

"Girls, those of you who don't know, this is my older brother and leader of our team, Knighton." Yorkshire explained.

"How do you do ladies?" he asked.

"He fought very bravely during the battle." Yorkshire said to them. "He slew many enemies."

"Yes, but I was… upset and angry during the battle." he looked down slowly with a small frown.

"Why?" Twilight Sparkle asked. "Because of what they did to everypony?"

"Because they killed my love…" he replied quietly.

The girls quietly gasped in horror.

"Brother, are you sure you're comfortable telling them that?" Yorkshire asked with concern.

"I'm sure." he replied. "I've been holding it in for quite sometime. I think it is time I let it out." he sat down with them. "She was a very beautiful mare." he began. "Her coat was as bright and white as the falling snow on a winter day, and her ruby eyes as bright as the hottest flames in fire. Around her front right leg was a turquoise bracelet that belonged to her mother, never took it off. It was true love we both believed. Our hearts melted the first time we met. But one day, my little brother and my other four companions had to leave the town for a while to gather some information about a dark army that was coming. We agreed to marry when we returned. We knew that the army wouldn't come through the town for they were too far from there. But fate… had other plans…" Knighton quietly started to breathe heavily, feeling his chest in pain.

"What happened…?" Rarity asked while her voice was breaking with grief and tears were running down her face.

He looked to Rarity. "When we returned, the town was in ruin. All burned down and charred, not a living thing in sight. We searched for survivors who could've been left alive, but I was looking for Angel Wings. That was her name. I found the remains of her home, burned down as well. I looked around screaming her name. But when I looked down, I was horrified for what I had discovered. A hoof sticking out of the remains of the home completely burned, only to see a bracelet perfectly unharmed. I knew that it was too late. She was gone forever…"

Everypony but Knighton and Yorkshire began to cry more and loud. They were all broken hearted, knowing that death took his true love from him.

"Yes… I too mourned." Knighton continued. "But on that day in battle against the dark army, I knew I had my revenge. Every single one of those monsters deserved to die for what they had done." he slowly stood up. "I am sorry to bring great pain and grief upon you. I hope that you all can find it in your hearts to forgive me." he slowly walked out of the barn, leaving Yorkshire with the mourning ponies and fillies.

"That's the saddest story I have ever heard!" Rainbow Dash cried, gushing out tears.

"Oh Angel Wings!" Pinkie Pie cried. She and Rainbow Dash hugged each other crying more.

Looking at them cry, Yorkshire felt more pain and grief. He felt a few tears run from his eyes. He felt Fluttershy smother her face into his shoulder and heard her muffled crying.

"It's just not fair!" Apple Bloom yelled. "Why did she have to die?!"

Applejack sighed. "War is a cruel thing, ya know…" she replied, hugging her little sister, crying as well.

Twilight Sparkle wiped tears from her eyes, sniffling loudly. "Yorkshire, should we do something for Knighton to make him feel better?"

He shook his head. "That won't be necessary." he replied. "He feels better when he talks about stuff like this to others. He'll be alright. I know my big brother." he smiled a bit.

She smiled back. "Hey girls, let's get ourselves together now, if it's alright."

Appkjack nodded, wiping her tears trying to pull herself together. "Yeah… I don't want the rest of the family to see us like this during lunch."

"I'm gonna have to agree on that." Rainbow Dash said, standing up.

Everyone else stood up all except Yorkshire.

"Aren't you gonna come along?" Scootaloo asked.

"I'm gonna stay here for a while." he replied. "I'm not hungry anyways."

Fluttershy smiled. "I'll see you later. Don't get too lonely now." she said to him.

He chuckled. "I won't."

She lightly pecked his cheek, causing him and herself to blush. She let out a little giggle, and followed her friends back outside.

He smiled deeply placing his hoof on his cheek. "Now… she kissed me." he said to himself.