The Usurper King of Equestria

by UsurperBronyZant

Interlude: In Which There Is a Meeting

*Location: Unknown, after Ghirahim flees his hideout...*

Ghirahim sighed in frustration. He should've been able to easily crush mortals like those fools! So why hadn't he? "I was far too arrogant," he thought. "The next time I see either of those pathetic wastes of life, I'll kill them instantly."

He made his way through the twisting halls of his new location until he finally got to the meeting room. The Council was already there. Seated before him around a circular table were the five individuals that could come anywhere close to harming him. He and the five others made up the High Council of the Cult of Nightmare.

There was one empty seat at the table--his own. He made his way to the rest of the group and sat down to join them.

"Well well, look who's back at last," said one council member, a gryphoness with black fur and feathers on her body and wings that gave way to plumage that was so pale a shade of gold it could easily have been called blonde on her head. "What happened to you in that wretched hole, Ghirahim? Get into another spat with that little freak of yours, did you?" asked another gryphoness that had to be the identical twin of the other. They were sitting side by side and looked exactly alike in every way. They even had the same way of speaking, with their mocking tones and matching upper-class Trottingham accents. The only way to tell the two apart was by their weapons--one had vicious-looking blades on her wings, gleaming talon-covers, and a bandoleer full of daggers and knives of any and every variety, while the other had two razor-sharp katanas as well as two spears strapped to her back and two machetes hanging from her waist.

"Now now, I'm sure our Fearless Leader has an excellent explanation for all of this. Isn't that right, comrade?" said the voice of the most scientifically-minded of the group. His accent was all anyone needed to know he was from Stalliongrad. He was rather well-built and muscular but not overly so, and anyone with decent analytical skills could tell that he didn't get that way from working out. He wore a white lab coat and wire-framed glasses. He had an olive-green coat and had a short, tidily-kept mane and tail that had lost almost all of their once-pitch black color and had since faded to grey.

"Something obviously happened," said the largest member of the group. "He definitely looks pissed, and he only gets that look when something's gone wrong," continued the incredibly muscle-bound individual. He was a minotaur with a brown upper body and a much darker brown lower body. His horns curved up so that the points were perpendicular with the ground, as with most minotaurs, and they were wickedly sharp. His upper arms were as thick around as one of the Apple Family's oldest trees. His voice was as low and rough as the gravel in a mine.

"If you're all quite done," said the final council member, "I'm sure Ghirahim would love to get on with his explanation." This unicorn stallion simply reeked of wealth, yet at the same time managed to appear as some sort of high-ranking religious figure. He was elderly, his medium-length mane and tail somewhere between brown and grey, his coat long since having gone off-white. He wore flowing, ornate gold and white robes. A blue shawl went across his chest. He wore an ornate, crown-like headdress that had gold ornamentation rising up from the base it to further the crown-like appearance. The headdress also had a lavender veil that extended to cover his head. He was a bit taller than average, but not quite as tall as Ghirahim. His voice was low, smooth, rich, powerful--like that of an important political leader. One who knew how to solve problems as efficiently as possible, no matter the cost. In his magical grasp, he held a staff that was longer than he was tall. It was silver in color, and at the top were some gold and silver ornamentations that managed to serve as a perch for the strange owl-like bird sitting on it. Every now and then, the bird would look around, almost as though it was surveying the situation. If one had impeccable hearing, one could make out the almost inaudible mechanical whirring noise the bird made when it moved.

Ghirahim was swiftly growing impatient. First the impudent mortals had dared so much as raise a hoof against him, now he was getting attitude from the council! "Enough!" he said angrily to the assembled council members. They all looked at him in shock. "He speaks at last..." the lab-coat-wearing stallion said under his breath.

Ghirahim slowly looked at the faces of the council members, going from one to the other. After a moment, he addressed him all. "Three mortals found the entrance to the secret base under the castle in the Everfree," he said. "They managed to free the prisoner I had sealed there at the time and got away with incriminating documents."

"How incriminating?" the wealthy-looking stallion asked. Ghirahim looked the stallion in the eye and said, with a deadly edge to his voice, "They took some of our most recent supply order forms and one of my personal journal entries. Specifically the entry I wrote after that failure we had a little while back."

"So they have information that gives them the name of our organization and some of the supplies we order," said one of the gryphons. "So what?" said the other, finishing for her fellow blade enthusiast.

"The twins raise a point," said the scientific stallion. "They don't really have anything that they could use to significantly harm us. The most they could do is bring down one of our dozens of supply lines," he continued.

The bulky minotaur looked at Ghirahim for a brief moment before saying, "There's more, isn't there?"

Ghirahim took that as his cue to continue. "They were able to get into the chamber where I was," he said, not even bothering to hide the shame and rage in his voice. "When I learned that they'd freed my prized pony prisoner, I lost my temper and engaged them...I didn't take them seriously..."

"And you were defeated," said the noble-looking unicorn. The fact that Ghirahim wasn't looking at any of them told the council members that their wealthy ally was correct. "Our scientific ally is correct, at least somewhat so," the wealthy stallion said, breaking the silence left by Ghirahim. "They know who you are, and some of your lesser abilities, as well as the name of our organization and some of the supplies we order on occasion. This is no cause for concern. It may be prudent to increase security at our facilities, but we shouldn't need much more than that," he continued.

"As much as I would love it if that were the case," said Ghirahim, "I fear that the foolish mortals will be suspicious nonetheless." "Well then Ghirahim, since you're so worried, what do you reccomend?" asked one of the gryphons.

"What I suggest, you impudent whelp," said Ghirahim in reply to the gryphoness, "is that we move our plans forward. If we strike sooner rather than later, our chances of being discovered will lessen." "Or they could increase due to sloppiness," pointed out the minotaur.

"We'll put it to a vote," said the wealthy-looking stallion, trying to keep the peace while it could still be kept. He turned to face the seated council members and asked, "All in favor of moving our plans to revive our dark mistress forward, as Ghirahim has suggested?" "Aye," said four of the five council members (excluding Ghirahim of course), including the one who'd proposed the vote in the first place. "All opposed?" asked the elderly unicorn. "Neigh," said the minotaur. The elderly unicorn looked to the lone dissenter and said, "Well I'm sorry captain, but I'm afraid you've been outvoted." Turning to Ghirahim, the wealthy stallion said, "Congratulations, Ghirahim. Despite your failure we still trust you. Let us hope you pull through."

Ghirahim simply turned to face the entire council and smiled, looking incredibly sinister. "Oh, don't worry," he said. "I WILL make sure that we are successful. We WILL revive Nightmare Moon, we WILL succeed, and we WILL crush anyone who stands in our way."

Author's Note:

World-building!
...am I doing it right?

Comments

[Zephyrion]

Seeing as I thought to myself 'Dun dun dun' after reading this I'm gonna say yes.

[FUomega]

Your doing it right. Can't wait for the next chapter. Keep up the great work.

[UsurperBronyZant]

5833122
5833097
yaaaay I'm doing it right!

[UsurperBronyZant]

5876462 Well it would be a lot better if I actually HAD A PREREADER...
I will try to do it when I find the time. Right now I still have tons of homework to do, not to mention another SAT and exams looming over the horizon. I'll try to make that edit when I find the time, but please remember that I HAVE NO PRIOR EXPERIENCE WITH THIS SORT OF THING.