Silken Farraige wandered the streets of Orkneigh with a laugh and a slight bounce in her step. She'd made it a point to flirt with just about every colt dressed in a sailor's uniform or pirate garb she passed. After all, wasn't it a merpony's job to lure sailors to their deaths? Wait, wasn't that a siren? Frankly, Silken didn't care. She was just enjoying being out of her shack for once.
"And then, Centurion Noble Bright of the Ninth Legion saw his chance! The Flamebringer, that most foul spawn of Tartarus, had fallen on the ground before him, held in place by her corrupted attire."
Silken slowly approached the stage in the center of the town market. All around her were young colts and fillys, cheering as the unicorn stallion playing the hero, Noble Bright, lifted up his sword and stood between them audience and the earth pony mare playing Flamebringer.
"Your campaign ends here, Flamebringer!" called out 'Noble Bright' as he raised his sword high in the air.
"You think that you, a lowly Centurian of the Legions, can stop me?" 'Flamebringer' laughed. "Swing that sword, if you must. But know, even if you kill me, one day I shall rise again like the phoenix!"
With a grunt, 'Noble Bright' brought his sword down upon the neck of 'Flamebringer', resulting in a bright flash as small pyrotechnics were set off in the front of the stage. The audience either looked away for but a moment or were blinded temporarily. When their eyes fell upon the stage once more, they were greeted by the sight of 'Flamebringer's' body falled to one side of 'Noble Bright', while her head and helmet at rolled off to the other. Several of the older colts cheered, while a few of the younger crowd found they were actually only looking at the cannon of their parent's forelimbs. Silken herself let out a gasp of shock, before she noticed a magical aura in the shape of a pony head on top of 'Flamebringer's' body.
The curtains closes slowly, as the narrator continued his tale.
"And so, with the Flamebringer defeated, the cooler nights of winter were once more allowed to return to the land. But, all here today heard her promise, did you not? She vowed to rise again like the phoenix one day! And, for that reason, we celebrate Sonnhalt, with silly masks and costumes to confuse the servants of the Flamebringer and candies and cakes to quench her sweet tooth."
The sun finally settled below the horizon, a slight flash of green noticeable for but a second against the deep blue of the open bay, as the stage curtains opened once more.
"So gather those sweets, my little ponies!" 'Flamebringer' called out, her head once more upon her shoulders. "Gather them up, that I might be convinced to spend another year in slumber!"
The colts and fillies let out a playful scream of 'fear', as they all went in different directions to begin the trick-or-treating. Silken herself decided to head towards the town tavern for a few drinks as well as, maybe, some companionship.
"She has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
She is sifting out the hearts of ponies 'fore Her judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Her! Be jubilant, my hooves;
The Daylight's time has come!"
There was a round of laughter from the bar and various other seats around the bar as 'Flamebringer' stood singing the Battle Hymn of the Dawn. It was rare to hear anyone sing that ancient song, especially since it was commonly viewed as a rally cry for the heretical Knigths of the Sun up until Daybreaker's return two years ago. But now, well... Seeing as how the mare was still wearing the old Legionnairix uniform from the show earlier, it somehow seemed appropriate.
"You picked the wrong side of the war, Sunwarmer!" called out one of the tavern guests with a laugh.
The mare just smirked. "Just picked the losin' side, Blindy! Not so sure it was the wrong side."
'This mare's playing her part well,' thought Silken, before an idea popped into her head. "How about I buy the famous Flamebringer a round or three? Get her drunk enough she won't wake for another century."
The tavern roared with laughter at the suggestion, as 'Flamebringer' made her way over. For the first time this evening, Silken managed to get a good look at the mare. Closer to the average height one would expect of a fellow earth pony mare, 'Flamebringer' had a bright blue mane cut short, in order to be well hidden under her legion armor while her tail was kept tight against her flank as well. Her coat was more an ashen blue-grey color, while her cutie mark was concealed by the armored hip pleats of her chosen costume. When the mare arrived by Silken's side, she lowering her voice into a sweet sing-song. "Shouldn't you ask me name before ya drown me, siren?"
"I'm a merpony, not a siren, Legionnairix. I merely give libations to those tossed upon rough waters. Nothing more, nothing less. Though, I must say, I've not seen you around here. Just visiting?"
The mare nodded. "Up from Trottingham with the White Pearl Troupe, headed for Flankstone and then o'er to the mainland. Since we stopped here for Sunnhalt, figured we'd handle the play for the townsfolk. Name's Golden Maeve." The mare offered her hoof to Silken.
"Silken Farriage. And, might I add, that bit at the end, which you losing your head. That was absolutely impressive. How did you do it? Unicorn magic? Some Zebra potion?"
Golden laughed as they shook hooves. "'Fraid I can't say. Bit of a trade secret, as it were. Hope ya understand."
For a brief moment, Silken felt an unnatural chill roll down her spine, akin to diving head first into a frozen lake without fur. She shook it off, before nodding in acceptance. "Would ruin the atmosphere if I knew. Yeah, I can understand. I won't press. But still, I do believe I promised you a drink."
Both Silken and Golden left the tavern an hour or so later, sharing a laugh as they headed towards where the White Pearl Troupe had set up their travelling show-wagons. Golden had wanted to get back to her wagon before the night was over in the hopes of scaring a foal or two, as well as giving out some candy. The owner of the White Pearl Troupe had apparently offered to open up their encampment for some additional fun for the little ones. As they neared the show-wagons of the troupe, however, Golden stopped laughing and sounded serious once more.
"Come on, Silken. I heard ya singing in there, you could make a career outta doing that on the road. Why don't ya join us?"
Silken blushed, having rarely ever sung before a crowd like that. "I... I don't think I'd ever really be able to do that again, Maeve." Luckily, anything more that Golden would have said on the matter was quickly silenced by the giggling of a few young fouls.
"More snow! More snow!"
The two new friends looked towards the sound of the laughter, only to find a pale-blue furred unicorn surrounded by snowflakes and cheering foals. Her cutie mark was a single snowflake, but her most striking feature was her deep blue, unfocused eyes.
"Very well, little ones. Very well. Just a moment."
Golden chuckled softly as more snow began to fall around the mare. "Trust Frostmare to attract the kids with snow. Next thing ya know, she'll be giving out snow cones as a Sonnhalt treat."
"She does this sort of thing often, then?" Silken asked.
"Oh yeah. You should see the look on the foal's faces in Saddle Arabia in the middle of the summer. Frostmare can't stand the heat, to the point she'll turn her whole show-wagon into an ice box."
Silken just shivered slightly at the thought. It's not that she wasn't use to the cold, she just preferred to have her coat with her for such times. The two continued on deeper into the small encampment of show-wagons with the occasional foal screaming playfully at the approach of 'Flamebringer' before running off to hide behind the protective hooves of their parents. Before long, Golden stopped at a show-wagon that, quite frankly, looked like it could belong to a Knight of the Sun. Painted an unblemished white, with golden sun emblems placed upon the light-pink shutters. However, all that was weakly hidden by a network of cobwebs and fake spiders, with the occasional... were those Old Equestrian pilums forced into the ground around the wagon to look like a spiked fence?
"Hold this? And for the love of Celestia, don't scream or drop it!"
Silken was so distracted by the sight before her, she'd not really been paying attention when Golden handed her something to hold. Taking the object, it felt a bit heavy and cold, almost like a large metal ball of some kind. Tearing her eyes away from the wagon, Silken looked down to find herself hold on to a severed head in a Legionnarix helmet, grinning up at her.
"Boo."
Frankly, it was a miracle Silken didn't faint.