Knights Of The Round... Never heard of them, have you? Very few outside of Trottania and neighboring lands knew anything about the name. But if you had heard of them, you would want for nothing more than for the world to know about them. Hoof picked by Camelot himself, the Round are seen as the vigil of Trottanian pride. They embody loyalty, chivalry, nobility, and above all... Class.
"Galahad, don't you dare make a scene..." a rather built, tan pegasi chastised to the graying earth pony who had his back to him, clearly paying him no mind.
A small assemblage of mares and stallions had gathered around the two stallions, all of which stunned by the distinguishing capes they each sported. The two had the same cape except for the trims and prime color. Many started to chatter and talk over the site before them, which only made the pegasi more so uneasy. "Galahad..."
"Hm?" Finally after the pegasi's latest hiss, the Earth Pony turned about to face him. "Oh Lancy! I had no idea you were--" Galahad was quickly cut off when he saw the steely glare he was now receiving from his partner and fellow knight, Lancelot. "...I'm getting the feeling you're not happy."
"Whatever brought that to your mind?" Lancelot's steely glare never once faltered and his hooves scraped up against the stone ground, "Now please... Let us go before we make a mockery of Lord Camelot even more...!" though Lancelot wanted to keep his tone low his voice went to an overly barking pitch that the mass could hear.
Not a single mare or stallion however would call a member of The Round out for any such action, but Galahad could never be counted among those single mares or stallions. "Of course," Galahad's voice dripped with sarcasm to the point Lancelot fought every urge in his body to go at him right there in the pier, "Far be it for me to make a scene and make Camelot look worse than he already does."
Though Galahad and many others in the mass snickered at the comment, Lancelot started to boil over. "You dare speak that way about our king?!" all attempt to keep his voice low finally shattered as Lancelot started to fume with rage.
"Lighten up, Lancy," unfazed by Lancelot's usual anger towards him, Galahad continued to tease him.
At that moment, the gathered villagers were treated to a rare sight as they saw Lancelot beginning to draw a blade from the sheath on his side. "I shall have you 'lighten up' for the both of us as I cut you to ribbons..." the audience gasped in anxious anticipation as they saw Lancelot's blade starting to touch the day's light.
However, before the blade could be fully drawn, everypony's attention was brought to a young colt wearing a simple Trottanian tabard and carrying a rolled up piece of paper in his mouth. The colt ran between the two knights, visibly huffing out around the paper and searching the two of them with quick eyes. Recalling who the colt was and who he represented, Lancelot sheathed his blade with a flick of his wing. "Arthur... You bring us news?"
"News... Yes..." his breath labored from his trot over, Arthur finally took the scroll out from his mouth with his magic and unrolled it but waited for his breath to catch up before reading it, "Sir Galahad, Sir Lancelot, his lordship Camelot has placed an order upon you and the rest of the Round to gather before him by dusk. I would assume that he wishes for you to meet him in the usual spot."
Both Galahad and Lancelot exchanged looks, Galahad's fun would have to wait for now. No acknowledged was given to young Arthur as the two broke out from the crowd, Lancelot by air with his massive wings and Galahad by hoof. With that, the crowd didn't remain for much longer and dispersed with mix chatters amongst them, leaving Arthur alone. "Simple enough," Arthur noted, scratching two names from his list, "Best move onto the next... Would be going faster if I got Pen to help me, but knowing the Knights... Best not..." with that final thought, Arthur moved onto the next destination, hoping for just another easy retrieval.
"Boys, can we stop dallying?" the navy blue unicorn wearing the mantel of The Round looked between her two cohorts with a fidget.
"Don't get ya' knicks in a knot, Noir," a rather slim pegasus of a white coat replied while his wings were scooping a load of mead into his mug along with the one beside him.
Once the two mugs were filled the pegasus lifted his drink up high and clacked it against the other mug. The mug that was clacked was also brought up by a very fit and muscular earth pony with a purple mane. "Cheers!" the stallion said deeply before knocking his drunk back and down his throat.
Noir impatiently waited for her partners to stop their drinking, feverishly tapping her back hooves against the dirt floor. As the moments went by, the pegasus looked to the female knight and sighed, submitting to place his mug down. "Constantine... Party's over."
The stronger of the two stallions followed his smaller friend's eyes and looked at Noir, clearly noticing her mounting unease. "Would seem so Mordred..." taking a final swig, his mug too found itself against the wooden counter.
"Oh?" Noir raised a brow, her impatiens seemingly gone, "You two're done?"
"Yeah... Mordy just needs to settle up," Constantine noted before quickly taking Noir off down the road and leaving Mordred alone at the sales counter.
The lone knight opened his mouth to protest but saw it to be in vain given the distance the two had already made. "Every bucking time..."
Hundreds of miles away, over the rolling fields and across many rivers and bends was the quaint kingdom of Equestria; and its capital of Canterlot. Normally, Celestia -co-ruler of Equestria- would have been hard at work preparing some sort of celebration or decree of some sort. But, on this day, in her throne room, she received a surprising visit. One of her carriers burst into the throne room and stood before her as well as her sister, Luna. "Princesses! I have a letter that was ordered to be brought straight to you!"
"What is it? A fan letter? Perhaps another suitor for my sister?" Luna's tone was dulled at the very idea.
Celestia on the other hand smiled sweetly and nudged her sister ever-so slightly. "Now Luna, we have to be accepting of everypony. So, let's see that letter," the carrier presented the piece of paper to his princess who picked it up with her magic and unravelled it before her eyes.
For a moment the princess's eyes scanned over the written words against the paper, her subjects and sister watching her for some sort of reaction. When she finally did put the paper down, they found that her kind look was gone and what replaced it was utter distaste. "Camelot..."