Oh boy, another retelling of Nightmare Moon's return.
"He's kind of cute, I think. The mane is colorful, reminds me of Shining Armor, though a bit messier. Shining always keeps it so neat. That coat must get hot in the summer, though, jet black. And I could get lost in those eyes, red, commanding. Shame it's all attached to such an absolute asshat. His horn is so short though, I wonder if something happened to stunt its growth?...."
Bronze Star had long since stopped paying attention to the exact words his fellow unicorn spewed forth. He’d tried to explain that he’d only been assigned this many guardsponies and couldn’t conjure troops from thin air, but the other unicorn continued to rant at him, pacing back and forth like a caged animal.
“This security simply isn’t up to my standards. The Princess herself is going to be here, and a few dozen guards aren’t going to cut it. Do you realize how dangerous it is to have Celestia herself leave the castle, come to this middle-of-nowhere town, and do a ceremony with only a few dozen guards? It’s madness!”
Bronze clears his throat to interrupt the inspector. "Listen, what was your name?"
"Grig Inquisitive, Royal Invento-" The exasperated unicorn begins, before Bronze interjects to prevent another verbal volley.
"Right, Right, we only have a few hours before the event officially begins, unless you can provide the extra horsepower, we have what we have. Don’t you have other hard-working ponies to harass?”
Grig pulls at his mane, shaking in frustration at the brown unicorn’s words. “I’ll be back, I have to make sure everyone else is actually doing their job, after which we’re going to have a long discussion about this. Do you hear me?” He taps his clipboard with a hoof. “You best find some more guards while I’m away. I don’t care where you get them.”
As the inspector walks away, Bronze lets out a breath of relief. “Thank Celestia.” He utters under his breath and turns back to his staff. “Alright, call up the local reserves. Let’s see if we can’t scrape together another dozen ponies or so. I’ll check the broken tap.” He instructs, and his subordinate salutes, then further delegates the task to another, lower-ranking officer.
A teal earth pony tunes her lute, a picture of serenity, humming a tune to herself. ’ I’m going to screw this up, why, Celestia, why did you let this happen to me. This is the best thing to ever happen to me and it’s awful I hate it. I love it.’ She thinks to herself, a platinum-colored hair springing up out of place.
“Hey, you!” Grig interjects loudly, causing the earth pony to jump backward, falling off of the log she’s been resting on and into the dirt. She lies there for a moment, dazed, before slowly pushing herself back up, and rubbing her head. “Now that you’re paying attention. I’m here to check on the state of the music.” Grig huffs. “Alright, so. Report.”
Teal sweats. “Uh. Music.” She stammers nervously.
Grig raises an eyebrow. “Yeeeees.” He encourages. “That is what you’re supposed to be doing. I need you to give me a report on the status of your preparations. If this weren’t Ponyville, I’d find it impossible we find so many incompetent personnel at once. But in a town where there aren’t even any paved roads, the expectations of quality are... Lesser.”
Teal brushes part of the dirt road off of her coat. “I’m tuning my instrument before our final practice. We’ve been working on this ever since we were notified-”
“Good.” Grig interrupts. “Don’t disappoint. And make sure your troupe is functional. This will be the most important job of your life. Don’t screw it up.” And with a dismissive hoof wave, he turns to continue his inspection.
Teal blinks, processing the interaction. “I bet he’s nice when he’s not stressed out.” She says to herself, brushing the dust off of her lute.
"Give me your report." Shining Armor instructs Bronze.
"The inspector has requested more troops, sir. We're dredging up the local reserve, and I'm on my way to hire mercenaries from the Broken Tap."
Shining frowns. "Mercenaries? Are you sure about that?"
Bronze nods. "Yes sir, we don't have enough horsepower to patrol and guard important locations, we need the extra hooves on the ground."
"Alright, I trust your judgment. Get it done. Be ready at 2100 hours for the beginning of the event. You're dismissed."
Bronze salutes, and turns down the dirt road, slowing up and stopping at a large wooden building. The structure lacks any paint, bare wood exposed for all to see, and a hanging sign with a dagger speared through it, declaring the name "The Broken Tap" hangs over the entrance.
The wooden shutters of the window splinter, as a large earth pony sails through them, landing in a heap on the street. The passers-by not even giving it a second glance, except for a few tourists here for the festival.
Bronze nudges the pony to ensure he's still alive, and after receiving a groaned expletive in return, steps into the bar.
The bar is loud and rambunctious, the greatest source of the noise coming from a brawl happening near the window. A band of mercenaries and a group of what seem like adventuring types evidently decided to settle their differences the old-fashioned way. A large, black and grey female griffon picks up a robed unicorn, hurling her after her recently defenestrated friend. A smaller brown griffon practically pulling his feathers out, shouting at her.
"Gehenna! Please! We don't need to make enemies in every town we visit!" He screeches, as she begins to tussle with a pegasus.
The larger of the two, presumably Gehenna, grins back at him. "But Gino, that's what makes traveling so fun!" She encourages, smashing the pegasus through a table, scattering wooden splinters across the room, as a peanut gallery of other griffons cheer her on, and the bartender watches as well, entirely unbothered.
Bronze steps forwards to intervene, as Gehenna tosses her final opponent out the window. "And stay out." She laughs, dusting off her talons. "Oh? The law is here already? But officer, they attacked us first. It isn't our fault we won." She grins.
Bronze takes a deep breath. "I'll overlook this incident for now. I have some work that needs to be done. And it seems that you're the only ones left able to stand." He comments, glancing out the window at the pile of battered ponies. "I need some security for the Summer Sun Celebration. Just patrols, midnight to an hour past sunrise."
Gehenna sits back. "Oh, I'm not the one to talk to about that, Gino, come here and negotiate with this fine fellow." She calls the more reserved griffon forwards, who smiles nervously.
"I'll give you all a gold bit each for your work. I need you to patrol the grounds around the Summer Sun Celebration starting at 2100 hours, and ending an hour past sunrise-" Bronze begins.
"He's lowballing you," Gehenna interjects, instructing Gino. "Ask him for two gold bits each." She insists.
"But, sis, he's being so polite, can't-" Gino begins.
"Polite doesn't feed us." Gehenna interrupts again.
"Alright. Uh. Could we have two gold bits, please?" Gino requests.
Bronze rolls his eyes. "Sure, two gold bits each. It's government money anyways." He concedes. "Just meet me at the security camp at nine for your assignments. You'll be paid after the job is done."
"Half up front," Gehenna instructs Gino.
"Uh-half up front?" Gino parrots, less confidently than his sister.
"Half up front." Bronze sighs. "Just be there."
Teal masterfully strums her lute, the audience hanging on every note. Normally, in front of such a crowd, she'd be incredibly anxious about all the eyes on her. However, once she begins to play, the world ceases to exist for her, all that is is her music.
She's in such a trance, that she almost doesn't notice the mayor give the signal to stop the music, and it takes her a moment more to understand, playing a few more notes, before trailing off into silence, the room feeling empty with the sudden absence of her performance.
The mayor, with a small cough, begins the same canned speech she'd delivered last year. The crowd listens, yet, some have already tuned out the noise. The Summer Sun Celebration was more a festive holiday than a true celebration of the importance of their leader: Princess Celestia. Now it was much like Hearth Warming, a time to relax and spend time in the cheer of the holiday.
If only the Mayor had finished that speech. Some ponies snap from that daze as they notice she had stopped. The announcement of the Princess halted. The mutter begins. The hushed fear begins to grow.
"My little wonderful ponies..." a voice jeers from the stage.
Teal's breath catches in her throat. She knew the voice of their princess well, and that wasn't it. She watches in stiff horror, her entire body feeling like stone.
"No... I can't believe.."
The curtains are pulled back, revealing not the smiling face of their benevolent princess, but instead a dark mass, which slowly coalesces into the form of a nightmare, manifest.
"...she's real..."
Teal can't move, she desperately wants to do anything, to fight, to hide, even to flee, but her body feels as if made of stone, the lute falling from her hooves.
The nightmare continues her introduction. "Rejoice! I free you from the incompetence of my sister. We enter a new age, and you, my loyal subjects, shall KNEEL"
Her voice crashes over the audience like a wave, the Royal Shout forcing ponies backward onto their haunches, Teal teeters but finds her collapse halted by a pair of hooves. A brown unicorn gives her a serious nod, before turning his attention to the interloper, drawing his sword as he walks toward the stage.
The alicorn snorts. "Oh, that's cute."
Author's Note
As this is a retelling of a tabletop game, some of these characters will end up swapping out for various reasons. Though don't worry, they'll still exist, just not as front-and-center as everything else. Also, don't worry, it won't just be a retelling of the show with new characters, the introduction to the game was a self-indulgent "What if", and we all knew it. We didn't know then it'd become a story posted for the world to see and judge.
