Interlude Part II: Welcome To The Nightmare Knights
Twilight looked up from her desk and frowned.
Her ear twitched as the distant rumble she swore she just heard faded into the distance. She hesitated, listening for a moment, but as silence answered her she simply shrugged and continued her work.
“I didn’t think we were scheduled for thunder,” she commented, reading over the several dozen letters that arrived for her that morning. One such letter had Luna’s official seal on it and carried a certain sense of foreboding to it for some reason.
”WHERE IS SHE?!”
Oh she definitely heard it that time.
The princess quickly began to tidy up as fast as she could, recognising the unmistakeable sound of an angry changeling queen bellow her demands, followed by the occasional zap of magic. She sighed, wondering what the disturbance was about today. Her eyes were drawn towards the unopened letter from Luna and that sense of foreboding intensified for a moment.
”STARLIGHT GLIMMER! BRING ME STARLIGHT GLIMMER!”
Twilight tried her best to ignore the frightful splintering of wood and magical explosions coupled with various screams coming from somewhere in the palace as the sound of Chrysalis raging and howling with intense anger echoed up and down her abode. She broke the official seal on the director’s letter and unfurled the slightly yellowed paper, scanning her eyes over everything it beheld.
In a sudden and deep understanding of why today was going the way it was, she looked up over the rim of the paper and sighed.
“Oh... bother.”
And here she was hoping for an easy day.
“TAKE YOUR FILTHY HOOVES OFF ME, YOU WRETCHED MONGREL! I DEMAND TO SPEAK WITH-”
The door to her office burst open with all the intensity of a small explosion, practically knocking itself off of its hinges in a big plume of smoke and making Twilight cough and sputter in the process. She waved a hoof in front of her face to clear some of it away, only for a furious Chrysalis to lean in mere inches away from her. Twilight’s eyes flicked to the right where she saw the old butler Pennyworth bristle and glare at the back of her guest’s head, but thankfully appear completely unharmed.
“Presenting, Ser Chrysalis of the Nightmare Knights, ma’am,” he said stiffly.
Twilight rustled her wings and nodded, highly aware that the current situation required a certain amount of delicacy to it. “Thank you, Mr. Pennyworth,” she said, keeping her steady gaze focused on Chrysalis. Her horn began to glow as she moved the other documents off of her desk and into its drawers.
“Where is she?” Chrysalis hissed. The former queen’s horn blazed to life with magic, bathing her in a green glow. “Tell me, Twilight Sparkle. I demand you tell me where Starlight Glimmer is.”
The princess sighed and leaned back in her seat. “Hello to you too, Chrysalis,” she said as politely as possible, staring the raging changeling in the eye. “And what, may I ask, are you planning on doing to my friend?”
There was a shimmer in Chrysalis’s eyes, like the gears in her head were turning and she had realised she had ‘don goofed’. Even so, her lips trembled as she pulled them back to reveal her fangs. She reared her head up and looked down with a sneer, but before she could say anything further the air she froze, and the air started to crackle and hum with magic.
“Presenting, Knight-Commander Tempest Shadow of the Nightmare Knights,” came Pennyworth’s world weary sigh as a zap of sky blue lightning seared through the air, colliding with Chrysalis and frying her carapace.
The queen was sent hurtling away into a bookshelf, causing an avalanche of perfectly and meticulously organised books to come tumbling down... as well as make Twilight scream internally.
Tempest Shadow, looking equally as furious as Chrysalis herself was--if not more so--came charging forwards after the queen with all the intensity of a lion chasing its prey, staring flaming hot daggers at the lightly smoking pile of books where the Nightmare Knight once stood.
“Chrysalis,” she growled through a set of gritted teeth and skidded to a halt. “Stand. Down. That’s an order.”
The commander’s tone was as imposing as she herself was. Twilight felt a shiver run down her spine and swallowed, knowing times like this were exactly why Luna chose her for this job. As hers and Tempest’s eyes met for a second, the dark mare looked extremely apologetic while still maintaining that powerful, commanding air about her.
The pile of books suddenly erupted as Chrysalis picked herself up. She reached up and extinguished the small candle-like strand of hair still alight on the top of her head with her hoof, then glowered at the commander in rage. She shook herself free of smoke. The flicker of regret in her eye had vanished. Meanwhile, behind Tempest, there came a flurry of movement and the stomping of hooves. Mr. Pennyworth cleared his throat, sounding more than a little miffed now.
“Presenting Sers Tirek and Cozy Glow of the Nightmare Knights.”
Tirek and Cozy rounded into view, both out of breath and panting lightly. Twilight’s eyes were quickly drawn to the sling and set of bandages wrapped around one of the centaur’s arms, and a myriad of questions entered her mind. Chiefly: what in Equestria could injure Tirek like that?
She fluttered her wings and opened her mouth to greet them just as Chrysalis slammed her hoof down and snorted.
“Commander, I will not!” she declared, snarling like a rabid timberwolf. She stamped forwards a few times and pressed her nose against the commander. “I cannot! I refuse!”
Tempest’s horn crackled like a firework about to go off as she stood her ground. “Enough, Chrysalis! Think--for two seconds--just think. You can’t barge in here like-”
“I will not kowtow to Ssstarlight Glimmer!” Chrysalis yelled, shouting over Tempest. The dark mare’s eyebrow twitched dangerously and the crackling in her horn grew louder. Chrysalis noticed, and appeared fearful for exactly one heartbeat before resuming her tirade. “Before I am subjected to any further indignity I demand to know where Starlight Glimmer is so that I may exact a swift and brutal vengeance-”
“Presenting, Miss Starlight Glimmer,” came the old butler’s slightly cranky but calm voice, cutting her off.
All heads turned and the air grew still as indeed Starlight Glimmer stood in the doorway beside him, awkwardly rubbing her forelegs together. “Hi, Twilight,” she mumbled, using her magic to open up her saddlebag to pull out a tightly bound scroll. “I got this weird letter from Luna and was hoping to ask you about it.” She looked at each of the Knights with a small, nervous smile. “Is this, uh... is this a bad time?”
The tension in the room grew so thick it could have been cut like a slice of cake. Pennyworth clicked his hooves together and addressed Twilight. “Should I perhaps call for the guards, ma’am?” he asked her, cocking one eyebrow upwards at the trembling changeling. “Or will that be all, your grace?”
Twilight shook her head, her eyes flicking between the Headmare and the Knights carefully. “That won’t be... I don’t think that will be necessary. Thank you, Mr. Pennyworth,” she said. He clicked his hooves together again and inclined his head towards her in a polite and respectful bow before making a swift exit. Twilight couldn’t fault him for it at all, as if she weren’t the princess she would have vacated the premises as well.
She slumped back in her seat and raised her front hooves to her head to massage her temples gently. Tempest’s horn stopped fizzing for a moment and she closed her eyes, sucking in air between her teeth like she was preparing for something. Chrysalis began to tremble and shake, her wings unfurled and she crouched low to the ground, while Tirek and Cozy Glow sighed and braced themselves, knowing what was about to come.
Then it happened.
Chrysalis dove forwards, her front legs outstretched like a panther pouncing on its prey. Immediately afterwards, Tempest leapt onto her back, straddling her like a mechanical bull in an attempt to subdue her, inadvertently knocking over several decorations and ornaments decorating Twilight’s office as they thrashed around. Tirek quickly stepped in front of Starlight in a protective manner, accidentally shoving her aside with his heavy back legs. The Headmare fell to the ground and blinked in both terror and then confusion as Cozy gingerly helped her up.
“She’s going through a rough patch,” the filly mumbled quietly, trying her best to avoid looking at either Starlight or Twilight.
Very soon the once pristine and neat office looked like a warzone as Chrysalis turned on Tempest, kicking, punching and biting in an attempt to get away. Seeing very few options left, and in a bid to save what was left of her study, Twilight’s horn began to glow, casting a voice amplification spell over herself. She hadn’t yet mastered the Royal Canterlot Voice, but this was the next best thing. Level three would do the trick, she imagined.
”STOP!” she bellowed, shaking the very walls of her office, and the foundations of the palace itself. High above, up in the rafters of the castle, some crows cawed and squawked in distress.
Chrysalis and Tempest froze mid brawl, one of the pony’s ears in the changeling’s mouth and one of the changeling’s legs twisted into an unnatural angle in the pony’s grasp. Their heads turned to look at the princess as she glowered at them both.
”PUT. EACH OTHER. DOWN!”
Tirek winced and sighed quietly as he massaged his bad arm, and both Cozy and Starlight’s ears flattened down to their heads.
Twilight took a deep breath and her horn stopped glowing as the two Knights disentangled from one another, refusing to look each other in the eye. “Everypony please, just... relax, okay?” she said, lowering her voice to normal levels of volume. She looked down at the letter on her desk and inwardly groaned. She loved Luna as much as she loved any of her friends, but Celestia she did leave such a mess behind her sometimes.
Her expression hardened as she took a deep breath. It wasn’t very often when she had to chew somepony out or scold them. In fact, she avoided it whenever she could, at the most merely offering a stern glare and a disappointed tone in an attempt to mimic Celestia as best she could. Today, though, was one of those rare occasions when she required something a bit extra.
“Nightmare Knights,” she barked as she moved around her desk to stand in front of them all. “Fall in.”
Tempest and Chrysalis disentangled from one another and begrudgingly formed ranks. Tirek filed in beside them and Cozy flittered over to stand beside him, looking down at the ground.
“Starlight come stand over here as well, please,” the princess continued, keeping her stern and disapproving tone steady.
Starlight cautiously moved forwards to obey the monarch, skirting around the edge of the quartet and staying away from Chrysalis as much as possible.
“Thank you. Now.”
Twilight turned her attention to the Knights. She looked up at the ceiling, inhaled deeply, then looked down at them and exhaled.
“What the heck was that?!” she bellowed, throwing all of her authority into her voice, making all present flinch. “Chrysalis, did you really think you could barge in here and demand I turn over Starlight to you?! What did you say you were gonna do--’exact a swift and brutal vengeance upon her’?!”
Chrysalis growled softly. “I will not-” she began, only for Tempest to loudly clear her throat and shoot the changeling her signature Look.
Twilight glared at her. “Are you done?”
The former queen’s lip curled upwards into a sneer, but she bit her tongue and hung her head, choosing to remain silent under the steel-eyed gaze of the commander.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Twilight took a deep breath and began to pace in front of them. “Now I know this news about Luna comes as a surprise, especially for you, Starlight,” she continued. “After all her sudden retirement was bound to leave some... questions and uncertainties.”
“Luna’s retiring?” Starlight blinked. “Again?”
“Don’t act like you didn’t have a hoof in it you little hag,” Chrysalis snapped, unable to contain herself. Twilight stopped pacing and sighed while Tempest’s glare intensified. “Was stealing my Hive and poisoning my subjects against me not enough for you? Now must you stick your measly face into all of my affairs?”
“Chrysalis!” Tempest growled warningly.
“I will not sit idly by while this wretch feeds us lies, Commander!” the changeling raged, turning to look at Tempest. “After all, she is the architect of my... my...” She trailed off, shaking and overcome with rage. “Ugh!”
The commander raised a hoof to her. “Enough,” she said firmly, but not without a hint of compassion. “Take a breather. Think about this, Chrysalis.” Twilight watched curiously as Chrysalis stepped back, simmering with rage. She wondered exactly what kind of hold Tempest had over them if she could get Chrysalis to see reason.
A truly bewildered Starlight looked around at all of the Knights’ faces. “Uh... I have no idea what you’re talking about, Chrysalis,” she murmured. “Really.” She turned to Twilight with a quizzical expression. “Twilight, would you help me out here? Please?”
“You’re the new Director of the Nightmare Knights,” Twilight said matter-of-factly while silently lamenting how she wished Luna had a better grasp of ponies and how they did things. A promotion, or a substitute would seem more approriate given that Starlight was a teacher, would usually involve a rundown of duties, and at least informing said substitute of their new position. Luna, being Luna, had obviously chosen to forgo such bureaucracy, which was strange because she loved bureaucracy like some sort of madmare.
“In other words, you’re taking over for Luna while she’s... away.”
“Wait, what?” The lilac mare’s jaw fell open in disbelief. “I am?”
Chrysalis hateful stare remained intact, although she blinked and appeared momentarily unsure of herself and shared a glance between herself and Tempest. The dark mare wrinkled the end of her nose and stepped forwards. “You didn’t... know?” she asked Starlight.
The Headmare shook her head vehemently, her eyes darting between the Knights’ faces. “Definitely not. No offense, but you guys kinda terrify me. To tell you the truth I’d hate to be your boss.”
“Golly, I wonder why,” Cozy snickered behind her hoof, earning a swift and stern glare from Chrysalis.
The changeling’s head slowly turned back to Starlight as Cozy continued to smirk, completely undeterred. She sneered and looked the newly appointed Director up and down, then with a tut she turned away. “Ugh. Not even worth stepping on,” she grunted.
Starlight’s nose twitched. “Uh, thanks? So Twilight, when you say I’ll be taking over, does that... what does that mean?”
“I’ll go through it all with you later, don’t worry,” Twilight replied. Truthfully she had no idea what Luna actually did beyond clear up whatever PR mess the Knights had caused. Speaking of PR mess... “For now, though, Tempest, how was Saddle Arabia? How is the Grand Vizier?”
With a heavy sigh and a host of bitter memories, Tempest began to run through exactly had happened. When she mentioned Sombra, the princess flinched.
“Sombra?!” she exclaimed, recoiling in shock so hard she toppled over backwards in her chair and landed with a clatter on the ground behind her desk.
“Oof,” Cozy murmured quietly.
Quickly springing back up as Starlight readjusted her chair for her, Twilight leaned across the table in search of answers. “How?! Why?!” she demanded.
“Luna had brokered a deal with him in exchange for his services,” the commander answered. “He was being mind controlled by another party, one we didn’t see coming. Chrysalis managed to snap him out of his trance and in turn, he saved our lives.”
“B-b-b-but--w-w-wha--I-I-I--you-” She took a deep breath to compose herself and held a hoof to her head. “What?!”
Starlight glanced at the princess warily and seeing her begin to spiral, she decided to step in. “Twilight, everything Luna did she did for a reason, right? Maybe releasing Sombra, while... clearly crazy, might have been the right thing to do? It sounds like the Knights wouldn’t be here without him.”
Twilight rounded on her with wide, bloodshot eyes.
“Maybe--I mean... she was right about the Nightmare Knights, right? They helped me out not too long ago when a demon had possessed a student.” Starlight paused for a moment. “Am I in charge of that bill now, then? Do I still need to pay it? Whatever, not important.”
Twilight managed to take a deep breath and calm herself as best she could. “B-but... Sombra, though!” she cried. “He’s...”
Tempest winced slightly and stepped forwards. “I know, Princess. He saved our lives,” she reiterated. “Starlight’s right--if he wasn’t there, we wouldn’t be here now to tell you what we know.”
With a heavy sigh, the princess reluctantly nodded. “I... I guess?” She inhaled deeply. “Do we know where he went?”
“No.”
The princess nodded glumly and pushed a pencil on her desk back and forth. “So he could be anywhere? Great...”
Starlight politely cleared her throat and patted her friend on the back. “You said he was being mind controlled, Tempest? Who by?”
Tempest ground her teeth together and her eyes narrowed. “A donkey called Bray,” she said. “A self-proclaimed magician. He was behind everything that happened.”
The director quickly turned to her and tilted her head. “Bray?” she repeated.
The Knights all frowned and looked at her curiously. Even Twilight glanced at her sceptically. The sudden attention flung her way made her cheeks turn rosy red.
“You’ve heard of him?” Tirek asked.
“Well... yeah? I mean, of course I have,” Starlight replied, her nervousness fading as her eyes lit up. “According to The Unicorn’s Gambit series of historic fantasy novels, he was Grogar’s loyal servant and faithful ally in the pre-Equestrian era before Gusty took the Emperor down. I, uh... I read a lot about that time period,” she added bashfully. “But they’re just books right? Just stories?”
Tirek scoffed and snorted. “May I remind you that until recently ghosts were just stories, Miss Glimmer.”
Tempest flinched ever so slightly, expecting a reprimand for talking back to a superior. To her surprise and relief, the lilac mare chortled softly. “True. You got me there, Tirek.” She tapped her chin and thought for a moment. “Was he alone?”
“No. There was a troggle named Drog-”
“A troggle?” she practically squealed in excitement. “I thought they were extinct...”
“-And a mare who could turn into a huge serpent.” He lifted up his bandaged arm as he finished. “It was she who did this to me,” he added darkly.
Pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fall into place as Twilight observed her friend, and realised why she had been chosen as Luna’s successor. A small, sly smile began to tug at the corners of her mouth as she silently applauded the cunning alicorn, although her mind weighed heavily with the possibility of Grogar returning.
“What’s a troggle?” she curiously asked.
“Tall, upright pigs, essentially. In those books about Gusty, Grogar had taken them from their homeland--actually somewhere supposed to be in another dimension! To be his slaves and his soldiers, and he used them to invade Equestria before it was called Equestria. But the other one?” The director began to pace, resembling Luna in more ways than one right about now as her eyes darted back and forth and the gears in her mind ticked over. “A mare who could change into a snake? Hmm... That sounds like an old Neighponese legend. Maybe we should reach out to Mistmane, she might know something?”
Twilight nodded sagely and somewhat proudly. “Nice work, Starlight,” she said.
“Huh?” Starlight stopped pacing to turn to her with a quizzical frown. “Why?”
“Well you’ve just given yourself and your team a lead,” the princess snickered, nodding towards the Knights as they watched silently. “Do you still have those books anywhere?”
The director blanched. “I... my team? Oh that’s gonna take some getting used to. Yeah, they’re in a trunk at home somewhere. Why, d’you think they’re more truthful than we originally thought?”
“I do,” Twilight said, bobbing her head as she spoke. “I’ll see if I can find anything else about this Bray guy, where he might go or if he has any more friends we might not know about.” She looked at the Knights and smiled, her eyes sparkling and shining like stars. “Good job, you guys. Even though this is... quite frankly awful news, we needed to hear it, and I’m glad you’re all here.” She spread her wings and bowed her head in respect.
Taken aback slightly by the unexpected praise and show of gratitude, the Knights each began to swell with pride. Tempest and Tirek both saluted dutifully. Chrysalis inclined her head one quarter of an inch forwards with the tightest smile imaginable, and Cozy smirked and pretended to inspect her hoof. “Eyy, no problem, Twilight,” she said coolly. “It’s what we do, after all. We’re kinda cool like that.”
Tirek waved his hand towards her with a disapproving grunt. “You had to ruin the moment didn’t you?” he grumbled.
She pulled one of her eyelids down and cheekily stuck her tongue out at him in response, only for him to catch it like a viper striking its prey and pinch it in between his finger and thumb. “Owowowow! ‘Egh’o, ‘egh’o!” she whined.
Tempest sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. When she looked up both Starlight and Twilight were smiling, clearly trying not to laugh. She felt the corners of her own mouth begin to tug upwards against her will, and she stamped her hoof. “Let her go, Tirek,” she barked.
Tirek released his hold of the wriggly muscle and it snapped back into the filly’s mouth like a tape measurer. “Do you ever wash your hands?” she grumbled, scraping her tongue as best as she could to try and remove any and all unwanted flavour. “Why do you taste like soil? Blegh!”
The centaur scowled and folded his arms as best as he could, wincing again in pain. The director’s attention was brought to his injured arm, and a concerned look passed over her face.
“Do you want to get that seen to, Tirek?” Starlight asked him. “We can call an ambulance, or-”
“Certainly not,” he snorted derisively. “I do not need pony medicine, nor will I-”
“What if I ordered you to go to hospital to get fixed up because it’s good for your health?” she quickly fired back.
A snort of laughter escaped Chrysalis before she scowled and looked away, muttering quietly under her breath.
Tempest smirked when she saw Tirek’s eyebrow twitch and the corner of his mouth twist into a sneer. “Well then I would have to be grateful for your concern, wouldn’t I, Director?” he rasped as if the words hurt his throat to speak.
The commander nudged his side gently with a lopsided smirk on her face. “Don’t worry, Director, we’ll make sure he gets the treatment he needs.”
Starlight chortled quietly and bobbed her head. “I’m sure you will, Tempest. Uh, Commander.” She smiled and looked at them all, although as her eyes hovered over to Chrysalis for a moment she faltered and swallowed. The changeling narrowed her eyes slightly and a small hiss escaped her throat.
“There’s something else you should know, before we leave,” Tempest added, looking ahead at Twilight. She bristled and straightened the legs of her uniform slightly as she gestured for Cozy to join her. The filly fluttered forwards with an unreadable and oddly stony expression on her face. “Cozy’s family may have links to Grogar. From what I know, they’re avid-”
“They’re obsessed with Gusty the Great,” Cozy piped up, her voice flat and lacking in any emotion. The Knights, Tirek especially, gave her a concerned look as she continued. “They probably have... I don’t know, something, some books or artifacts or whatever to do with Grogar.” She suddenly looked uncomfortable as Twilight and Starlight looked down at her, and she rested against one of the commander’s legs.
“Just look for the Glow Estate, on the edge of Canterlot. You can’t miss it... Don’t mention me.”
The princess continued to look at the filly for a few moments as an awkward silence descended upon them. She realised she had no idea what Cozy’s family was like, or if they were anything like she herself was. She wondered what she meant by don’t mention her, but judging by the filly’s face she knew it couldn’t have been anything good and chose not to pursue it.
“The Glow Estate?” she said quietly. “Nice thinking, Cozy. I’ll have a message sent their way and we’ll see if we can work something out; I’m sure they’d be more than willing to help if the safety of Equestria is at stake.” She bobbed her head up and smiled. Cozy smiled back, although it was lacking in any sincerity.
Satisfied with her answer, Tempest looked towards Starlight. “What orders do you have for us now, Director?”
There was a beat before Starlight realised she was being addressed, and she roused herself from her myriad of thoughts. “Huh? Oh, um...” Judging from the look on her face, her mind had just gone blank.
“If I may?” Tirek helpfully offered.
She gave him a grateful nod and gestured for him to speak freely.
“Might I suggest that we return to our headquarters, in Ponyville? I suspect our absence has gone noticed and our quarry is, after all, restless; as they are known to be.”
The director nodded rapidly and tapped her hooves together. “Right. Yeah, good idea, Tirek.”
As the Knights stood and stared at her expectantly as if they were waiting for something, Twilight cleared her throat and leaned in to whisper into Starlight’s ear. “You need to tell them they’re dismissed. Say ‘dismissed’.”
“What? Oh, right. Uh, dismissed.”
Tempest snapped her hoof to her head. The Knights followed suit and all turned to leave. “Hey, Tempy?” Cozy said as Chrysalis held the door open for them all.
“Yeah?”
“D’you think we could get some food on the way home? Some takeout or something before we get to Ponyville?”
Tempest laughed. “You want a Li’l Woona Meal from Burger Princess?”
“Aw c’mon Tempy I’m starvi--wait what, you really mean it?”
Starlight and Twilight watched them go curiously as the Knights began talking amongst themselves. The mares glanced at one another, thinking the same thing. “Is it just me,” Starlight murmured. “Or did they seem like they were.. friends?”
Twilight pondered for a moment. “I guess friendship can be found anywhere, even in them.” She looked around at her once nice and tidy office and sighed. “Well we’d better get this cleaned up first. Oh, we’ll need to go through what you’ll be doing as Director, don’t we?”
The director glumly nodded. “I’m really in charge of them now?” She winced and flicked her ear. “Somehow I don’t think I’m cut out for this.”
The princess reached out to touch her tenderly. “Hey. I’ve got your back, Starlight. We’ll get through this together. Right? Besides, I saw how you took charge there, knowing what you know about Grogar and Gusty is probably why Luna picked you for this.”
“I guess. I just wish I had some warning about this, I only barely had enough time to give Sunburst and Trixie a warning that I’d be away from the school for a while.”
“I know how you feel.” Twilight sighed as her horn began to glow and she quickly began to place everything back where it was. “How are you three, by the way? We haven’t spoken for a while, have we?”
“Oh we’re good. Super even,” Starlight beamed happily, always glad to talk about her special someponies. “We all went to Las Pegasus for Trixie’s birthday last weekend.”
“Oh that must have been nice,” the princess chuckled. “But I thought Sunburst didn’t like rollercoasters?”
The lilac mare’s cheeks turned a slight pink as she pawed bashfully at the ground and brushed some mane out of her face. “We didn’t go there to ride the rollercoasters, Twilight.”
Twilight stared at her for a few seconds before her own cheeks turned scarlet and her wings fluffed up. “You’re terrible, Starlight Glimmer,” she declared.
“Hey there’s three of us, I’m not the only one to blame!”
They glared at one another. Then they began to laugh. They giggled and gossiped like friends often should.
The moment of jubilation they had was but a fleeting moment, however, for as Starlight covered her mouth to compose herself and looked towards the door, her smile faded and worrisome thoughts began to take hold as she thought about the Knights and their latest adversary.
“So what’s the plan, Twilight?” she murmured quietly. “Where do we start with... this?”
The princess sighed. It was a valid question indeed, and one she didn’t really have an answer for. She rubbed her ear and fluttered her wings. “I think...” she murmured as her stomach grumbled. “We should get some breakfast, for starters.”
The director nodded and started to inch towards the door, subtly trying to not look at the mess the Knights had caused. “Cool. Cool, cool, cool--I’ll go and get us some, and you-”
“Oh no you don’t,” Twilight quickly said with a mischievous grin as her horn lit up and procured a dustpan and brush from under her desk. They floated towards Starlight and gently bumped against her a few times. “Your team is responsible for this mess. So get to work, Director.”
Starlight groaned and dragged a hoof down her face as she begrudgingly took the dustpan and brush in her magic. “Ugh, I knew there was a catch,” she muttered grimly.
“What ever do you mean? Working with some of Equestria’s most dangerous ex-villains and possible loose cannons isn’t going to be stressful at all. You make a start and I’ll start with organising your new duties into a comprehensive list and write up some letters. Sound fair?”
“Not at all.”
“That’s the spirit. Welcome to the Nightmare Knights, Starlight Glimmer.”
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Well, this reaction should have been completely expected from Chrysalis, no matter how much she changed. Really, everyone should have seen this coming.
Looks like Luna may be the one in trouble this time. Odd that she acted without telling Twilight about it.
Do those come with toys?
10921100
Youd think so, but ponies are optimistic if nothing else and straight up naive at best haha
I like to think that Luna kind of just expects everyone to know as much as she does so she doesnt say anything to anyone beforehand
not that shes arrogant, just she sees the bigger picture and only the bigger picture. You can bet when she rocks up again shes gonna get chewed out by Twilight tho
Of course they do! This months Lil Woona Meals toys are miniature replicas of the Elements of Sharmony, including classic characters like Purple Smart, Blue Quick, Orange Yeehaw, and Pinkie Pie, including a few others, all with brushable manes and tails!
Well, all in all, Chryssie took it pretty well. The place is still standing, afterall.
Now I wonder if Cozy would prefer a brushable Purple Smart or a Kung-fu grip Woona with her foal's meal.
'Chrysalis did you really think' - Chrysalis, did you really think
'look on her face her mind' - look on her face, her mind
Twilight...!!
Whaddya want, video or somethin'...???
What happens in Las Pegasus STAYS in Las Pegasus, dearie...
Except for the loud whinnys, snorts, blusters, and Trixie hollering, "I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL ORGASM...!!!!!" coming from that Castle in Ponyville on a regular basis...
Crystal vibrates upon sound reaching its resonant frequency, y'know...
10922067
I'd say it went pretty well for the same reasons
Haha I think she'd like the little Centaurman figure with brushable beard more than anything tbh
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What happens in Las Pegasus STAYS in Las Pegasus indeed. But remember, Starlight's kind of a wiz at magic, so she's set up a system that regularly casts a muffle spell over everything. Still figuring out a way to stop crystals vibrating with sound though, as you say
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I assumed it was still too early for the Knights to get their own actions figures.
Though, both Chryssie and Cozy would be great for merchandising - Chryssie would get, like, a few dozen figures for different forms, like DC always milked Batman to a ridiculous degree with a myriad of bat suits in every line, while Cozy would get a ton of extra accessory sets for the various artefacts. Though, actually, she doesn't use them anymore, does she?
... Why do I imagine Luna being a troll and ordering Tirek's figure to have excessively long hair?
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I'm gonna say they were made at the height of the Elements of Harmonys' popularity, so the Knightss figures are kinda shoddy in comparison. Tirek might just get a troll doll tho idk that's pretty funny
You'd best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Glimmer. You're in one!
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I really, really wanted to use a line like this somewhere but I just couldn't figure out where to put it
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I find this odd, since I found a 2016 Pinkie Pie happy meal toy in the street. Just lying in the crosswalk.
And then I read this.
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Given the sheer mass of crystal in that castle, I highly doubt that a single equine larynx without deliberate amplification could produce any meaningful resonance that an outside observer could detect. I'd be more concerned about them forgetting to shut the door: all those hard crystalline surfaces and long hallways would make a pretty decent waveguide for sounds in the right frequency range, so it's not hard to imagine that sound propagating up from the basement...