A Knight's Journey: A Hard Learned Lesson

It was sunset and the sky cast beautiful orange hues into the infirmary. As the sun descended below the horizon, it was perfectly level to strike Brave Storm’s eyes. With a groan, she stirs awake and looks around the all-too-familiar surroundings of cots. The aggressive sparring the two shared would often go too far and grant them both an express trip to this room. 

On her bedside table rested a few gifts that were dropped off by friends while she was sleeping. One of them was a basket of fruits from Gold Standard. He wrote her a letter explaining how he picked out her favorites that were in season. He also went on to explain the wonders of farmer’s markets to her, which made her want to laugh. But the act was painful from the sharp pain in her throat and the bandages wrapped as firmly as they could be around her neck.

Pas D’arms had bought her a spider. He bought a blank get well soon card and wrote a note about how he was worried Sword Dancer killed her. Thankfully, medical magic is a well-researched and amazing thing. Also, he’s terrified of her now more than he was before. He then went on to apologize about the plush, explaining he wanted to get her a star spider but the best he could get was a tarantula. There was a PS of him promising to feed Araneus and a doodle of her spider enjoying berries.

And finally, Brave Storm’s parents and brother bought her a rather large box of variety chocolates and a new book. Their note was written by her mom, who had the only legible handwriting between the three. It was a generic note of sweetness and well wishes signed by the three of them. 

She sat up in her bed, tucking her new spider plushie under her pit as she grabbed the new book. Brave Storm was certain it was Star Atlas who had picked it out for her. Her parents would be along the same vein of Brave Storm’s tastes in books, but it was always her brother that hit the target. This time was no exception as she was taken on a journey of ponies exploring the space age and learning there’s more life among Luna’s stars.

 

“Celestia, Brave, you have no idea how scary that was.” Paz was her first visitor, sitting on the foot of her bed. Brave Storm playfully rolled her eyes as she passed along a chocolate treat to him. “I mean, I know I said this in the note, but I thought Sword Dancer killed you. Like she just stabbed her horn in your neck and there was blood. It’s even scarier how she just missed everything vital in there. Like there’s no way that you were just lucky.”

Brave Storm nodded her head in agreement.  

Pas released a sigh as he fell back into her bed. “Brave, I thought I had a lot of catching up to do with you-” Brave Storm tilted her head. She had always felt like she had to catch up to him. “-but Sword Dancer- Sword Dancer is a different beast entirely.”

Brave Storm nodded again. She knew where she messed up in her spar against the Knight Commander. She had underestimated her opponent and overestimated her own skills. Brave Storm had never seen Sword Dancer fight, something had always gotten in the way of her displaying her prowess before now. And Brave Storm gave everyone else who hadn’t a target dummy for her to show why she was the Knight Commander.

Brave Storm had daydreamed of one day being the Knight Commander herself. Of course, she didn’t consider the logistics of how that would work. Maybe she’d be part of a branch somewhere far out of Equestria. But after what Sword Dancer had done, even in that brief five minutes, Brave Storm didn’t think she’d ever be that pony. Another dream to shelf, but one that didn’t hurt as learning it was impossible for her to be an alicorn princess. Thankfully, Brave Storm had a habit of never sharing her wild aspirations.