The Adventurers meet
It was a glorious day outside in Ponyville. Fantastic, dazzling, enchanting, resplendent- Twilight’s mind was practically full to the bursting of the various terms, their synonyms, and even their antonyms for what to call the way Mother Nature was showcasing her beauty today. This proved a mildly distracting mental exercise as she went about the inanely tedious task of sorting through the Golden Oaks Library’s basement. Yes, it needed to be done. Yes today was the day she set aside for it, scheduled for it. Yes, there were still unpacked boxes from when she had moved here three years ago. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t have much, much preferred to have joined Spike on his trip to Canterlot for the weekend, or gone to see how Rainbow’s new trick was going, see if AJ needed help on the Orchard, what Fluttershy or Rarity were doing… anything else really.
She chuckled at herself, horn glowing as she opened a box and began to sort through the contents. Before coming to Ponyville, she would have found the idea working on an orchard or giving (unwelcome) flying pointers to a Wonderbolt hopeful both pointless and absurd. What use would her studies of gotten from doing things like that? She wouldn’t have found time for such nonsense, for such… such… She blinked, staring at the contents at the bottom of the box, momentarily forgetting the two sorted piles of assorted junk behind her along with her thought process. It was… those books. The ones that had accosted her mind for that dark period in her fillyhood, and her eyes went blank as her memories went zooming backwards in time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twilight’s love of books began young. Very young. Like well before most foals had gained the concept of what a book even was young. Books could be anything; A fountain of knowledge of subjects she’d never of even been aware existed otherwise, a mystic portal to far of lands of strange and wondrous creatures and people, fantastic stories of ponies those in real life could only dream of aspiring to be. She spent whole days cooped up in the royal library, if such a term could be used to describe spending time in that tremendous building. Often times she purposefully went in without a subject in mind, simply wandering till something caught her eye. And it was on such a trip that she came across…. These. The art on the cover caught her glance first. A huge beast of a dragon, coiled over the ruins of a fallen building roared out, terrible red fire coming from the gaping maw of red-scaled death. And standing to face the flames, dauntless at the danger, were four ponies, armed with blade and magic, standing tall against the terrible foe, a force of heroism made greater by their companionship! Mesmerized, she had levitated it off the shelf and began leafing through. To her surprise, it was not a story, but a game of sorts. One where one pony designed a story and a world with a framework the game’s books help provide, and others played the daring heroes of the story. Twilight had read many an adventure of course, but to create and guide one? Or even to simply be one of the brave ponies starring in one? The very thought caused her to release a silent, happy squeak of excitement, the little filly sliding off the seat and levitating all the necessary books the game’s series had off the shelf, and checked them out post haste. She rushed home, and did what she most certainly did best; studied.
For days, she skipped her library trips, opting instead to learn the ins and outs of what this strange game needed, the rules, the wonderful math it required of its players, and the more esoteric points of good world building and storytelling. Then, for weeks, she worked. Bought her own copies of the books (…ok, her parents bought them for her), planned out a journey, created a world all her own, and filled it with daunting trials and vicious beasts for the heroes to work through. It was wonderful, it was freeing! It was… completely pointless if she had no one to play through it. Such was the realization that hit her right as she finished the villain’s final monologue. All that work… The reason she had the free time all those weeks as she created her masterpiece, was that even at such a young age, her bookish, quiet nature had done little to win over the respect and friendship of her classmates. And making friends outside of class, well, how would one even go about it? But… all that work… no, she would not let it go for naught! And so, the next day, a simple, humble and handwritten flyer had ended up on the wall in the back of the classroom, recruiting players to ‘An exciting night of monster fighting and dice rolls’. The foals, after someone noticed and pointed it out spent a few minutes pondering its meaning before class, a few even expressing mild interest in at very least what it would involve, causing the little filly sitting patiently (as always) in the front of the class to silently grin in excited joy. It was happening! Maybe this, this strange little game would… would finally help her make some friends!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twilight’s eye twitched, her mind ricocheting back into reality as it refused to wander any farther down that terrible memory’s streets. Whatever had happened, while it had not been the first nail, or the last, it had certainly been one of the biggest in any chance at a happy social life in Canterlot she had before moving here to Ponyville. The sequence breaking, the cruel, terrible laughter, still ringing in her ears like it was still right beside her. She sighed and began levitating the books towards the ‘toss/donate’ pile she had going, yet the little giggles still kept piercing her ears, as if they were still- “TEEHEEEHAA-snort-HEEHAHAAA!”
The next instant found Twilight in the box she was sorting, warily peering outside of it to see a still giggling pink mare staring at the box, bouncing up and down with her own laughter like some sort of living jack-in-the-box.
“…Pinkie. What are you doing in here?”
The mare finally started to calm down, dropping to an only slightly uncontrolled giggle as she replied.
“S-sorry Twilight, but no one’s seen you all day and so I figured ‘I should go make sure she’s ok!’ and so I came here and the basement door was open so I came down and you were down here and you had the silliest look on your face and didn’t even noticed when I waved a hoof in front of you and then when you did you were like a cat you were so fast and I didn’t even think that box was big enough to hold you you really need to be careful where you flashback its gotten me in trouble too- hey what are these!”
Twilight blinked as her mind went through the process of interpreting that wave of words. Ok, for one, she was almost positive the front and back doors were locked when she went down here. Two, she would flashback where she very well pleased, especially in her own home! And finally, Pinkie was looking at her Pathfinder books. Wait, what?! “P-Pinkie, what are you-“
“So it’s a game?” The pink ball of happiness interrupted, glancing up with her default excited grin.
Twilight gulped nervously “…Well, yes, but not one that-“
“Ooh, I love games! I’ve told you that before right, I mean I thought I’ve played every game ever but I haven’t seen this one before ooh we should play now then because then I’d of played it! You like to teach right so could you teach me how?!” she cut off, grin somehow gaining a measure of excitement as she stood up from where she had knelt down to the books.
“I-I’m not sure that’s a good idea, I mean, I’ve never really gotten a chance to even fully play it myself, and it’s kind of… silly…” She muttered, rubbing a foreleg with the other and glancing at the ground.
“What’s wrong with silly? And it doesn’t look silly, it looks exciting! And how can you not of played your own game? That’s like not walking with your own feet! C’mon, pleeeaaase?” Pinkie asked, eyes growing wider and smile wavering eeeever so slightly. Twilight’s willpower and shame were strong however, and only cracked instead of shattered under the might of Pinkie’s puppy dog eyes.
“…I don’t know…”
Pinkie finally frowned. Something was up here, because twilight was not down with playing her own game, and that wasn’t right, or even left. “Weeeeellll… could I at least borrow the books?” she asked, turning the full force of her adorable on once more. Twilight’s eye twitched again, before she face hoofed and sighed. “I… guess so. Just be careful with-“ She blinked, a slightly pink shaped cloud of hair floating down from the air in front of her “...them”. She finished flatly, before sighing and going back to her sorting, opening the next box down the line. She had a bad feeling about this…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few days passed, all of them relatively normal for Ponyville and its denizens. Granted normal had always been a relative term in the town, more so these last few years, and was such that Applejack found herself with a rake in mouth, carefully pulling globs of taffy out of one of her apple trees, muttering under her breath as she worked.
“Con’sarnit weather ponies, goofin around with dern tornadoes. ‘Course today had tah be the day Flim n’ Flam came back with their dern spiffy tiffy taffy maffy maker… thing, an-“ She glanced up from her grumbling musings, catching a flash of pink in her peripheral vision. By the time she managed to turn around, Pinkie was right up next to her, a look of pure glee on her face as she looked up at the tree. “ooooh. Hey Applejack! You want some help with that?” The Farmpony chuckled and shook her head glancing up at the tree with a sigh “That’s might kind of yah Pinkie, bu-“ She blinked. She was /damn/ sure that tree had been full of taffy before she shook her head. And that Pinkie was on her left side. But now neither of those things was true, and the party pony was licking her lips in delight
“Mmmh, strawberry flavored!”
“How did… never mind” Applejack finished with an eye roll. She learned long ago not to question how anything Pinkie Pie did worked. “Well, what brings yah all the way out here sugarcube?”
“Oh, right, how could I forget!? Applejack, are you busy tomorrow night?”
“Well… no, no ah ain’t. Somethin goin on tahmorrow?” she asked, the pair now walking towards the orchard’s barn.
“Yeppers! I found a super neat game I wanna try where we fight monsters and do hero-y things and go crazy cool places!”
“…dun we already do that sugarcube?” AJ asked with a small grin as she put the rake away in a shed
“…Huh. Well, I guess we do, but this is a game instead of real and it’s all spiffy looking and I really wanna try it!
The farmpony shrugged “Well, if you’re that keen on it, any game miss Pinkie Pie wants tah play usually turns out pretty fun, so Ah’ll be sure tah show up… well, where?”
“Oh, that’s easy, the library!” Pinkie said with an enthusiastic bounce. Seeing how it was at her place, Twilight was probably involved, and that put a few nagging fears at the back of AJ’s mind about how real the ‘monsters’ Pinkie mentioned might have been to rest. Could never be too careful when it came to Pinkie. “Then Ah’ll be sure tah be there.” She agreed with a nod.
“Super! I have a few more people to ask then some final stuff to get ready, so I’ll see you then AJ!” she said, giving a happy wave before bouncing down the road back to Ponyville. AJ shook her head, still wearing her small grin as she went back inside the Apple home.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I’m reeeeeeaaally sorry 'Shy. You’d think I’d remember you need me to knock before coming in, eh heh heh…” Pinkie rubbed the back of her mane sheepishly, staring up at where the pegasus Fluttershy was slowly spinning along with the ceiling fan she was hanging on for dear life to.
“…I-its ok Pinkie, just… try to remember next time” she requested quietly for what felt like the fifth time that month. “So… why are you here? Oh, not that I mind a visit” she correctly quickly “Just I’m not usually you’re first choi- I mean, err…”
Pinkie stared, getting a little dizzy watching the spinning inverted pegasus before she giggled “It’s ok ‘Shy, I know what you meant. Anyway, Me and AJ and Twilight and maybe Rarity and Dashie are gonna be playing a game tomorrow night, and I wanted to ask if you wanted to play!” she asked with a bounce
“Oh… well, what kind of game?”
“It’s this awesometacular looking game where one of us guides the rest of us through a hopefully super cool adventure full of monsters and magic and stuff!” Pinkie replied excitedly
“…Wait… is it… called Pathfinder?” the Pegasus asked with a blink as she rotated.
“Wow you are /awesome/ at guessing ‘Shy, how’d you know?!” Pinkie queried in wide eyed wonder.
“Well… I’ve kinda sorta might have actually played before. When I was littler.” Came the slightly embarrassed reply. Pinkie finally stopped bouncing, eyes getting even wider.
“YOU HAVE!? THAT’S GREAT!!!” She said, now flying up to eye level with Fluttershy on each hop. “Then you can help Twilight teach the others so we can get started super quickly and help everyone through the first run! You’ll be all important and stuff!”
“Umm… yay?”
“So is that a yes?” Asked Pinkie, pausing mid jump to keep eye contact with Fluttershy.
“…I guess so.”
“WEE!” Pinkie landed with a backflip, before bouncing towards the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow night at Twilight’s then ok? Ok!” She said before bounding out the doo- nope. She sat up after bounding into and bouncing off of the door.
“…it’s still locked.”
“Oh. Teehee, that makes sense, I’ll just go out the way I came!” Pinkie giggled out, before going… up the chimney. Fluttershy stared blankly as she spun around at the ashes kicked all over the carpet.
“…I guess I’ll go get my broom.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash was many things. She was strong, brash, colorful, brave, fast, cool… and lazy. The last one on that list was the winning force of personality at that moment on that day, and such was why she was snoozing lazily on a cloud, on arm carelessly tossed over as she snored lightly in the afternoon sun. She stirred slightly as something touched her hand. Then again as something tickled her nose, reaching over to scratch it- then bolting upright as she got a face full of creamy sugar. “BWAH!” she bounced to her feet, glaring around “Alright, who’s the wise ass who-“ she looked flatly at the giggling pink pony floating next to her, held aloft by a by a trio of balloons and wielding a lethal bottle of whip cream. “…Really? The sleeping whip cream gag?”
“Well, you like cool things, and this joke is so old its gone past uncool into retro, and retro’s totally cool!” Pinkie replied with an assured nod. Rainbow continued to stare flatly for a moment… before finally losing it and breaking into a giggle herself, Pinkie happy to join in. “Alright alright, that’s fair, but a lotta work for a prank you could of done on someone you know, on the ground.”
“Oh, well, that was just for fun, but I’m really up here to ask you a question! Are you busy tomorrow night?”
“Eh, not really no. What’s up?” She asked, scratching her head with another yawn.
“We’re gonna get together to play a game, where we play heroes and fight monsters and go on adventures!” Pinkie replied with an excited clap
“Oh. Sounds cool, what’s it called?”
“It’s called Pathfind-
“No.”
“No, really, it is, it says so right on the cove-“
“No, I mean, no I’m not playing” Rainbow said coolly, all trace of tired out of her voice as she shot Pinkie a neutral stare. “I wouldn’t be caught dead playing that kind of game. So uncool.”
“But it’s just with frie-“
“No”
“I’m gonna have snack-“
“No”
“I was really hoping we could al-“
“NO!” Rainbow yelled, giving a big flap of her wings to call up a gust of wind that made Pinkie let out a small eep as her balloons wafted back towards town.
“Oh, well… okay, I guess I’ll just save you a seat in case you change your mind!”
“Don’t bother, I won’t!”
“Better safe than sorry!”
“SERIOUSLY, I WON’T!”
“SERIOUSLY, THAT’S OK BUT I’LL SAVE IT ANYWAYS!” Pinkie called with a happy wave goodbye before she disappeared behind a rooftop. Rainbow stared dryly in the direction she disappeared for a bit, before grumbling and doing her best to reclaim her interrupted nap.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Oh darling, this sounds like a delightful, if quaint, round of fun!” Rarity said with a giggle, Pinkie giving a sigh of relief from across the table.
“Ok, neat, then we still have enough to play. To be honest, I thought you wouldn’t play but Dashie would, but you guys got it all backwarzulled.” Pinkie said with a thoughtful frown as she scooped yet another spoonful of sugar into her tea, this marking her eighth, before finally taking a sip. “Mmm.”
“Oh, foo on her darling” Rarity scoffed “It sounds like quite good entertainment. We spend all day every day being us, so it certainly couldn’t hurt to spend a bit pretending to be someone else, and play a little game at the same time!”
“Exactly!” Pinkie agreed with a nod, before slurring down the rest of her tea. “Well, thanks lots Rarity, I’ll see you tomorrow then!” she replied with a grin goodbye before skipping out the doors. Rarity smiled and waved before putting a hoof to her chin in thought. Perhaps she could assist herself into getting into character… “INSPIRATION!” She suddenly exclaimed with glee, before dashing off into her workroom.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The night and the next day rolled by with naught worth speaking of. Within the library’s basement, Twilight put the last tablecloth in the ‘donate’ box, giving a sigh of relief and closing it, glancing around with an air of satisfaction at the much, much tidier room. “You did good Sparkle” she said with a giggle. Now, she could finally relax, she thought with a contented sigh as she started up the stairs. Maybe make a cup of cocoa, light the fireplace, pick up where she left off on her new copy of ‘Psychology of house pets’. A perfect night of relaxa- *knock knock knock*. She blinked, before making her way towards the door as she crested the basement stairs. Warily opening the door, she let out a small sigh of relief as she saw it was just Applejack. And Rarity. And Fluttershy. Relief quickly became confusion. “Umm… Hello?”
“Heya Twi.” Applejack said with a friendly nod as she let herself in, walking towards the kitchen “Ah assume we’re playin at the big table?”
“Playing…?”
“I brought my own books, so we can get through character making quicker” Fluttershy said with a quiet smile as she followed the farmpony, though it wilted slightly under Twilight’s baffled eyes “Um, if that’s ok”
“Sure. I mean no. I mean what?”
“Twilight, you seem a little off dear. Is everything alright?” Rarity looked her over with mild concern as she stepped in. Decked out in an outlandish (though stylishly so) wizard’s robe complemented by the pointed hat that covered her horn, bedazzled with jeweled stars and moons.
“… I seem a little off?”
“Hiya Twilight! Ready to play?” Pinkie bounded in as well, having just caught up with the rest, a mat and markers protruding out of her saddlebags along with… Twilight’s books.
“….wait… you…. Oh.” Twilight stared flatly at the slightly maniacally grinning mare as her brain pieced together what excactly was going on. “… I don’t really have a choice at this point do I?”
“Of course you do silly, but all your friends are super excited to play with you! Don’t you want to finally play your own game?” she asked with a nudge. Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed, though a small smile was cracking through the feigned frown she wore
“Like I said, not much of a choice. But… thanks Pinkie.”
The party pony winked “No problem! Now c’mon, you all gotta roll of your characters!” She said as she bounced off towards the table
“Alright alright” Twilight said with a chuckle as she started towards her kitchen. Before coming to a dead stop and going slightly wide-eyed.
….Pinkie was the Game master?
…. Oh Celestia.
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
886 users online
576,794 hits today, 2,782,760 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Sounds interesting enough. Consider it read.
Did you just misspell the title?
1932097
and stupid mistakes like that are exactly why I asked for critique's lol. Though that one was /bad/ 
Thank you for catching it
I got this game a month ago, it's awesome
Can't believe there's actually a story about this on fimfiction 
"would her studies of gotten"
... Jesus Christ.
This is getting stupid. I mean, more stupid than it was already. Retarded, and to call it that is insulting to the mentally disadvantaged, because this is still so much worse.
Listen, "would of" is *never* an acceptable substitute for "would have" or "would've". It makes no sense, but it's everywhere like fucking herpes, and whoever first came up with it needs to be sterilized, as well as their closest family, just so any descendants won't have to live with the shame of relation.
It could be worse, it could be Discord.