The next morning, Sweetie Belle awoke not on her bed, where she was certain she fell asleep the night before, but on a giant beanbag. When she looked up, her vision was immediately taken up by the face of one moon princess. Sweetie yelped in surprise.
“Oh, good, you’re up. Finally. Now down to business. What game are we doing today?”
Sweetie Belle yawned. “Don’t you think you are taking this too seriously? I mean, I’d like to at least have some time to fully wake up before gaming with you.”
Luna’s eyes narrowed. “There’s no such thing as ‘too seriously’ when in a game war,” Luna huffed indignantly.
Sweetie Belle nodded drowsily. She trudged over to the list on the wall and found one closer to the bottom. “How about Ogres and Oubliettes?”
Luna gawked at her. “I will never play such a rid-”
She never got to finish as there was a sudden white flash in the middle of the room. Fog filled the room, and a familiar voice rang out from the cloud.
“Did I just hear ‘Ogres and Oubliettes?”
There was a loud *SNAP!* and the most vanished in a similar flash as the previous one, revealing the speaker.
“What do you want, Discord?” asked Luna.
Discord grinned. “Well, I just happened to overhear that the great Princess Luna of Gaming (and the Night too, I suppose) wanted to play Ogres and Oubliettes.”
“I never said tha-.”
“Hush, Moonbutt, I’m not finished,” Discord interrupted as Luna bristled in fury at what Discord called her. Sweetie Belle giggled. “As I was saying, I heard Luna say she wanted to play O&O so I thought I would invite you two to ‘Guys Night’ at Twilight’s Castle tonight.” Discord grinned madly. Sweetie Belle nodded.
“Sure. So it’ll be me, you, and Luna?”
Discord shook his head, “No, not just us. We also have Spike and Big Mac, along with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.”
“Ok. Um… quick question. Could my friend Sam come?”
Discord shrugged. “Sure. Why not? More the merrier! See you tonight!”
With a snap of his fingers and a white flash, Discord was gone.
“Well, I’d better go get ready for tonight. See you then, Princess.”
Luna grumbled. “I don’t want to go.”
Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow. “You know full well that if you don’t show up willingly, Discord will force you.”
Luna looked at Sweetie Belle. “You sound like Tia. But you’re right. Now you go along. I’ve already sent for Sam.”
Sweetie smiled. “Thanks, Princess!”
When Luna heard the door close, she spoke up. “So, you gonna come out of hiding now?”
Celestia walked out from the shadows, grinning. “You know, if you two are going to keep this up, she should be able to drop the ‘Princess’ bit. And, for the record, I think it’s wonderful that you agreed to go play Ogres and Oubliettes with them. It sounds like fun.”
A male voice spoke up, “With me there, of course it is.” Discord slithered down from the ceiling, wearing his trademark grin. “And I have a special surprise for you and Sweetie Belle when you arrive. I promise it’s benign.”
The Royal Sisters raised their eyebrows in sync.
Discord put a paw to his chest in mock offense. “Oh, ye of little faith. Here, I’ll prove it to you. I cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Celestia.
Pinkie’s head shot up out of a nearby box, startling the trio. “It means he’s absolutely serious about whatever he promised. He can’t break a Pinkie Promise.” And with that, Pinkie’s head lowered back into the box and vanished. The trio continued to stare at the box in silence until Discord spoke up.
“I think she might have gotten exposed to some dormant chaos before she was born.”
“Really?”
“How else do you explain the things she’s capable of?”
When Luna arrived at Friendship Castle, she saw Sweetie Belle waiting for her.
“Where’s Sam?” Luna asked.
“He’s busy with paperwork at the moment but he said he’d try and come by later.” replied Sweetie. “Ready?” she asked.
When Luna nodded, Sweetie lifted her hoof and knocked on the door. It swung open to reveal a smiling Starlight.
“Ah, here for ‘Guys Night’, I assume?” she asked.
Sweetie Belle nodded in reply. “Yep. Discord invited us earlier.”
Starlight nodded. “Alright then. Follow me, and I’ll lead you to their… room.”
Luna and Sweetie followed Starlight to a large door on the third floor. “RIght through here,” said Starlight. With that, Starlight teleported off somewhere else.
Sweetie looked at Luna. “Ready, Princess.”
Luna nodded. “Yes, but before we go in, I just wanted to say that whenever we are doing this, you don’t have to call me ‘Princess’. Just ‘Luna’ will be fine.”
Sweetie nodded and swung the door open. It opened to a large foyer, with a wheeled table in the middle surrounded by seven folding chairs. Five of the chairs were occupied by Spike, Big MacIntosh, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and a very smug looking Discord. Sweetie Belle and Luna sat down at the two remaining chairs. Sweetie sat on Pinkie’s right and Luna’s left, while to Luna’s right was Discord. On the table was the board for the game, with markers on the board, with crude drawings of the other five present. There two blank markers set in front of the newest arrivals along with a character creator sheet.
Spike spoke up, “So what you’re gonna want to do is name your character and select a class for them. Be sure to use your imagination.” He gave a sidelong glance at Discord, who stuck his tongue out in return.
Sweetie Belle began writing fervently while Luna sighed and began writing uninterestedly. About 5 minutes later, Sweetie and Luna put their pencils and displayed their character charts.
Sweetie Belle had chosen to name her character ‘Mistress Shamrock’. She had chosen a Druid as her class with skill points dedicated to spell-casting and intellect.
Luna had elected to name her character ‘Eclipse’. She had chosen a Ranger as her class with skill points assigned to strength and stealth. Spike then took the markers and drew on them, but he only showed them to Discord. He placed them on the board facing away from Luna and Sweetie.
Before either of them could turn them around, Discord raised his claw in the air.
*SNAP!*