//------------------------------//
// Verse 45 
// Story: The Nightmare Knights Become A Band 
// by SwordTune 
//------------------------------//

The Maple and Oak stood out in the crowd of Ponyville’s thatched roofs and cottage-like houses. Half its design was modern, with a large sliding glass door and concrete walls painted over with mosaics to hides the lifeless grey. Meanwhile, freshly polished wooden panels mimicked the window shutters used on Ponyville’s traditional houses.
Inside, Svengallop felt more of that rustic Ponyville charm clashing with modern design. A fireplace near the front desk, which looked as if it had been carved from a tree stump, warmed the cold spring air. But along the ceiling, long stretches of oak had been carved into slender slithering waves, intertwining and overlapping as if they were pony-made tree branches. 
Svengallop recognized the School of Friendship’s teachers sitting at a long table, extra seats already reserved for Coco and Rarity. He counted off the few that he knew. After showing up to their concert, Rainbow Dash was immediately recognizable, though she wasn’t very hard to spot in a crowd. Beside her was another face he could never forget, Applejack, the one who threw a wrench at his last concert in Ponyville. The two of them barely noticed the three ponies joining the table, they were too busy talking with Lightning Dust.
He was a little surprised to see her there. If there was a bet, he would have put money on Lightning Dust skipping out on Rainbow’s offer. 
“There they are!” Pinkie Pie jolted up from her seat and waved the three of them over, nearly toppling the pitcher of maple syrup from their table. Svengallop recognized her too, though barely. She did event planning, or something like that, as far as he could remember.
“Yes, Pinkie,” Rarity bemoaned, “every pony can see us, no need to announce it so dramatically.”
“Aw, I thought you liked being dramatic.”
“At the appropriate time, yes,” Rarity said, taking her seat at one end of the table. 
Svengallop looked around. There was no way they knew to expect him, but he was surprised to find an extra seat and their reserved table.
“Sven?” Lightning Dust said, finally noticing him as he sat down. “What are you doing here?”
“Business,” he told her. “Miss Pommel is here, so I tagged along.”
Another familiar voice caught his ears. “It’s always business with you, isn’t it?” Though her mane and outfit was a far cry from her glory days, that record-setting voice was unmistakable. 
Svengallop looked down the table to Rara. “That’s just how I do.”
Pinkie Pie swung in before an awkward tension could begin to linger. With a bark, she called a waitress over to take every pony’s orders. Every pony who had time to read the menu ordered first, and with such a large menu that gave the others plenty of time to look over the menu.
“I’ll have the Fried Top Maple Doughnuts.” Svengallop couldn’t help but overhear what Rara ordered. A force of habit, he supposed. He flipped through the menu instinctively and found it listed under House Specialities. The picture showed had three large doughnuts arranged in a line on a plate, covered in battered and fried potatoes, zucchinis, and onions, all topped with gooey maple syrup.
Fried vegetables on doughnuts? Sweet and savoury could make great combinations, but Svengallop couldn’t even stomach the thought. He was surprised Rara could. She didn’t like deep-fried food that much, as far as he knew. Or, he at least never saw her eat any. For a moment, he wondered why that was.
But his mind was too sharp for it to take long. “Hold on,” he held out his menu to the waitress, “what kind of batter do you use on the vegetables?”
The mare looked at him a little funny. “It’s just batter.”
“Most batters are seasoned,” he pressed, “what’s in it, just salt and pepper or something else?”
“I’ll have to check with the cooks, but I think there’s garlic powder and cayenne. Is that a problem?”
Coloratura pressed her hoof to her temples. “No, please, just ignore him.” She shot a glare sharp enough to cut through mountains at Svengallop. “He’s like a foal. He’s just too picky when it comes to his food.”
But Svengallop ignored her. “Cayenne, but what about paprika?” he asked.
“For the love of—” Rara clenched her jaw. “Why does it matter what they put in the batter?”
“Because batters have spices and you’re allergic to paprika,” Svengallop shot back. “Don’t you remember what happened on your first tour?”
Rara was prepared to shoot her frustration at him, but she fumbled over her words after he quizzed her. “Y-yeah, of course I remember. A plate of artichokes sent me to the hospital.”
“Grilled jackfruit and artichoke,” he corrected. “And it wasn’t the artichokes that did it. The doctor said it was the paprika in ‘Baltimare’s famous Horseshoe Bay Seasoning’ that you reacted to. Barely a pinch of that stuff and you were down.”
Rara fell silent and then sat back in her seat, hooves folded. She stared sourly at Svengallop, and then finally to the waitress. “Do you use paprika in the batter?”
“I’ll have to check,” the waitress scribbled a reminder on her notepad, “but if there is, I can ask the cooks to leave it out for you.”
“Yeah, do that,” Rara nodded. 
“Okay,” the waitress quickly moved on to Coco and Rarity, putting up a big friendly smile. “And uh, what would you two like?”





Even though the luncheon was supposed to bring all the teachers and their speakers together, it was hard to talk across the table. It was exactly like when different groups of friends joined together because some members from each group knew each other, but when they got together each party was so distinct from the other that it was hard to cross the social boundary lines. Pinkie Pie and her sister were, of course, an inseparable pair, and Maud and Fluttershy were both content to sit and listen as Pinkie regaled stories of party planning in Canterlot.
Even the two Nightmare Knights spoke few words together. Lightning Dust was there because of Rainbow Dash, who was close to Applejack, who was close to Coloratura. By the commutative property of friendship, talking to Lightning Dust could eventually lead to talking to Rara. 
So Svengallop focused on doing what he came to do, even if going over the items list for the concert took very little time. Miss Pommel was the kind of pony Svengallop liked to work with: detailed, attentive, and diligent. She even had photographs of their order, organized in a folder. The set pieces and costumes they had ordered for their opening act were finished and looked exactly to their specifications. The final fitting would be needed before the concert, but it was a small matter. 
Meanwhile, Lightning Dust was so entrenched in talking about what she liked about the Nightmare Knights to the others, that there was little space to let him get a word in. Svengallop decided it was better to listen to Coco and Rarity’s conversation, even if he didn’t have much else to add once they were done. The ins and outs of next year’s fashion trends were more interesting, anyway. Yaks were apparently making large hats in style again.
“Where’s Tempest?” he finally asked Lightning Dust when both conversations seemed to run dry, and their plates were beginning to clear. “Didn’t she say she was going to speak at the school too?”
“She skipped out on the luncheon, though she did swing by with Glitter Drops to say ‘hi.’” Lightning Dust told him. 
“Skipped out on lunch? What else is there to do in this backw—” he caught himself and quickly glanced at Applejack’s stare. “Did she say where they’re going?” he rephrased. 
“Timberwolf hunting,” Applejack filled him in. “A small pack’s been sniffing the edge of the forest near the farm. Glitter Drops said she ain’t ever seen a timberwolf up in the Crystal Empire, so they wanted to find the varmints.”
“Guess you can take the mare out of the adventure, but you can’t take the adventure out of the mare,” Svengallop said. 
“Speaking of adventure,” Applejack added, “did Luna say anything about where she was going with Starlight? Our Headmare’s been gone all day.”
“No, but as long as they have each other they’re probably fine,” Svengallop said.
Maud, in the middle of sitting through her sister’s overly descriptive tale of the thirty-seven brand-new cake recipes she had to taste check for one of Canterlot’s many celebrations, spoke out from the other end of the table.
“They went to another dimension,” she told them, “using the mirror in the Friendship Castle.” 
Svengallop’s face turned pale. “What for? How long are they going to be gone? The tour’s grand finale is in two weeks, they can’t just run off on an adventure like that.”
Applejack paid no mind to his panicking, shifting her focus to Maud. “So, we should take her order to go?”
Maud nodded. “Probably.”
“I’m sorry, how are you not worried right now?” Svengallop looked at the calm faces all around the table. The guest lecturers had some uncertainty in their confused faces, but the five teachers could have looked as if they just read an interesting newspaper.
“Sorry,” Applejack chuckled at him. “World-shattering magic is kind of normal for us. If Starlight didn’t say anything about it, I’m sure it’s not a big deal. It probably ain’t as bad as it sounds.”
Svengallop folded his hooves and pouted. “It had better be.”





“This turned out a lot worse than I thought it would.” Starlight grumbled, walking a few cautious paces behind Luna and Daybreaker.
“You’re one to talk,” Daybreaker snapped. “You don’t have to deal with two strangers showing up in your home out of nowhere.”
A squad of eight unicorn guards marched around them, clearing creatures off the main thoroughfare that cut from the eastern gate of the city to the west. Shouts and cries of the disgruntled came from an eclectic crowd, Starlight noticed. Ponies were not the only villains who sought their glory and fortune in Daybreaker’s city. Ponies were the minority. Young, overeager dragons and bulky minotaurs watched out in the front of the streets, some standing over beaten-down ponies and only stopping their assault to size up Daybreaker’s guard. Shiftier creatures lurked within the shadowed alleys, like the Abyssinian cats with their pointed ears sticking out from behind awestruck crowds. 
“Don’t act like you don’t enjoy the company,” Luna teased. “You want us around, or else you would have used more guards to take us away.”
“I wouldn’t just take you away…” Daybreaker dropped her head with a heavy sigh. “And it’s much better to use you than to waste my guards on you.” 
Starlight leaned over and whispered, trying to hide her reservations about their plan, if they even had one at all. “Luna, I’m all for giving villains a second chance, but should we be helping her?” Starlight asked. “Trying to start over it one thing. But this place is a literal hub of evil.”
Daybreaker scowled. “I can still hear you.” 
“Huh, what? I didn’t say anything.” Starlight looked away and started whistling as she resumed her sightseeing.
“There is a problem that must be solved,” she said, glaring back at Starlight briefly, “and you are going to do it because a price must be paid for trespassing in my city.”
“And  because you’ll be so thankful that you’ll come to see our concert?” Luna smiled and cosied up next to her alternate sister.
“I can still kill you if you prefer,” Daybreaker growled. 
“You won’t,” Luna shrugged her off. “What’s this thing you need us to do?”
Starlight swore she could see the vein in Daybreaker’s neck throbbing as Luna tested her. But the tyrant could do little to them while she still needed their help.
“Most of the decrepit creatures who come to my city are useless villains. They might be selfish, power-hungry, driven by madness or revenge, but they’re also stupid. Yet, from time to time, there are a select few who have the wits about them to threaten my rule, and the power to avoid my guards.” She pointed through the western gate, where the orange dim of the setting sun hid behind distant mountains. “I have driven them out of the city walls, but they are even harder to catch in the forests. So I want you to hunt them down.”
Luna looked at Daybreaker with an inquisitive smirk. “I appreciate the vote of confidence, but you have an army at your side. How are we going to track them when you have the numbers to form multiple search parties.”
“The forest is as vast as it is treacherous,” Daybreaker said. “And besides, my guards cannot look into the minds of others through their dreams. You can. So find them.”
“And when I do, then are you going to come to the concert?”
Daybreaker tur pursed her lips so tightly her chin wrinkled as her lips pressed up. She turned to Starlight, searching with her eyes for any clue as to how to handle Luna, but Starlight simply shrugged. 
“Just,” Daybreaker finally said through her clenched jaw, “hunt them down.”