//------------------------------// // Session 71 (movie spoilers? You're still worried about this?) // Story: Ponies and Dragons (Just Have Fun) // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// Session 71.0 Ardashir "Dash! Ah finally found yah!" Applejack hurried up behind her friend where she stood behind Canterlot High. When Dash took no notice of her, Applejack hurried up beside her. Dash was watching something, and smirking coldly as she did. Applejack frowned. "Hey! What's the matter? Ya getting hard o' hearing --" She froze as she saw what Dash was watching. Two dogs, one of them Winona and the other Gilda's dog Ember, were about to close in a snarling, biting fury. They bristled and snarled, circling each other. Winona began backing away in an obvious escape attempt. "Oh no ya don't!" Dash reached down to snatch Winona up. Applejack shuddered to see the glazed look in her eyes, the way they almost seemed lit from within. She got ready to hurl her at the much larger Ember. "Get back in there and fight, ya cowardly mutt!" "DASH!" Applejack gave her friend a hard shove. Dash tumbled to the dirt. As she did, Ember ran away. AJ picked up Winona. As the dog whimpered and licked at her, she quickly checked it for injuries. Finding none, she sighed in relief. She turned on her friend in a fury. "Dash, 'less ya want me ta kick yer butt right now, yer gonna explain what the hay ya were thinkin'!" "Oh, come on, AJ." Dash got up, a nasty smirk on her face. "It was just for fun." "Mah dog was gonna get torn apart!" Applejack shook her fist under Dash's nose. Dash looked, not bored or frightened, but like she was eating a fine meal. "Have ya lost yer mind?" When Dash just sneered, Applejack fought to keep her self control. "Look, Sunset and the rest o' the gals want ta talk ta you. We're worried about how you been acting lately, and --" "I'll go with ya after a game of scissors-paper-rock," Dash said unexpectedly. AJ blinked in confusion as Dash added, "Hey, I feel fine, cornpone. If you and those other losers can't handle my liking my new online friends I got through the game..." "Ya don't HAVE any new friends! Ya fight with EVERYONE in that crummy game! Mah little sis does, Trixie does, even Scootaloo does! Yer all acting like the Sirens got a hold of ya!" "Yeah, well, what if we are?" Dash said, her voice suddenly surly. "The Sirens weren't all wrong. Competition is what life is all about, the game just encourages it -- anyway!" She smiled again. "Scissors, paper, rock? You win, I go with you. I win," she jerked her thumb at the school, "you get lost!" Applejack scowled, but she held one hand behind her back. Dash did the same. On the count of three, they yanked their hands back out and -- "I win!" *** "When's AJ gonna be back with Dash?" Pinkie Pie asked her friends. She carved and shared out a peanut butter and marshmallow pie she'd made. "She seems to be taking a reallllly loooong time to find her." "I'm getting worried," Sunset looked at the door for perhaps the tenth time in as any minutes. Nearby Fluttershy was showing Rarity some errors in her calculus homework. Twilight watched in awed respect. Sunset said, "Dash has been acting really competitive and short-tempered lately, even for her." Sunset and her friends looked at the door as it opened. As they saw their friend enter, Sunset smiled in relief. "AJ? Good to see you, and -- where's Dash?" Fluttershy gasped. "Oh dear, how did you get that black eye??" Applejack squinted around at them, one eye swollen shut. "Ah can honestly say the Sirens got Dash. 'Cause she didn't never punch someone an' run away over losin' a game before!" Session 71.1 Mtangalion, with edits by Alex Warlorn (Continue from Session 70.11) Fido, Spot, and Rover started bowing, kissing Luna's hooves, and bringing her gems too. Luna thought, 'Hmm! I must have done something back in the Diamondium Old Republic days that really made an impression. I will consult my diary!' Luna conjured up her diary, and began to silently read, 'Dear Diary: Celly was a giant poo-head again today, like usual. She thinks her sphinxes are so much cooler than the cute puppies I found.' Luna thought idly, '... Perhaps the past should remain in the past.' Session 71.2 Mtangalion, Alex Warlorn, Ardashir "WHAT DOES YE MEAN WE CAN'T RAZE LOS PEGASUS TO THE GROUND!?" Luna exclaimed in fully battle armor, her thestral nightmare behind her in columns. "I'm saying Lulu that gambling laws a more lax now." "CELLY THOU BEEN SLOWLY BRAINWASHED OVER THE EONS! HAVE YE FORGOTTEN THE EVILS IT'S HAS DONE TO EQUESTRIA?! DESTROYING THAT CITY CAN ONLY BRING GOOD TO EQUESTRIA!" "Luna! Where do we stop? Los Pegasus? The national lottery? Old mares playing bingo? And they DO pay heavy taxes that help support the nation. I don't like gambling, but I'd rather tolerate minor vices when it permits me to police them." "SISTER! Would ye say that if it was Somnambula The Witch running an amusement park?! These places are exactly the same! FEEDING ON PONIES' WEAKNESS! They are explicitly designed to prey on triggers in the pony psyche so they'll gamble more and make uninformed decisions and encourage the destructive behavior! And the house always wins in the end! How can ye say with a straight face they are any different from Somnambula The Witch?" "If I want to respect the right of my little ponies to freely make good decisions, I have to allow for the fact that some, many, will make bad ones. As I said, better a policed vice that can be observed than driving it underground where nopony can keep an eye on it." "We might as well legalize slavery in Equestria with that logic!" "You're still upset about the time you lost that bet, and I won my slice of cake and yours too, aren't you?" "CELLY! NOT EVERYTHING IN LIFE IS ABOUT CAKE! JUST FOR THAT! You're getting the 'Chubby Celly' nightmare tonight!" "Oh, will I, now? Perhaps forewarned, I'll enjoy eating everything in sight for once." Celestia had an imagine spot of a kaiju-sized tubby white Alicorn eating entire donut shops in two bites. "Heh. Ehehehe..." Session 71.3 Ardashir "Snacks, drinks, spare dice..." Twilight checked them off her list as she got everything ready for the night's game of Ogres & Oubliettes. Her hooves clopped lightly over the floor as she went to the table. She looked up and saw Starlight bringing the books in. "Looks like we've got everything ready for the game." "Everything except a gamemaster," Starlight said as she set the books down with her magic. "I haven't seen Spike all day." She frowned. "Or Garble, or Grubber, come to think of it. The last I saw them, all three were looking at a map of Los Pegasus. They were frowning over this, too." She frowned as she held up a comic that read 'Movie Adaptation: Invasion Equestria'. It bore a certain resemblance to the ones made by the Storm King, except for six certain ponies that looked like a gang of idiots. "It's almost as bad as that game they did with 'Teacup and Mugmare' or --" She broke off as Tempest entered the room. "You were about to say 'as bad as that poster they made of me with the 'exaggerated' flank'," Tempest said, her voice cool but not as harsh as it would have been even a month ago. She trotted over and took a look. "Huh. Why would they go there? There's nothing there now but for that dice tournament Spike and Grubber told me about." "Wait, what? Dice?" Twilight looked up, ears pinned in her worry. Tempest smiled. "Yes. Gambling. They shoot dice, and -- what's your problem?" At those words Twilight had frozen. 'No', she thought. 'I warned him about it. He wouldn't let those two talk him into --' "Um, Tempest, what happens if someone gets caught cheating at a dice tournament?" "Oh, in Klugetown they used to throw them off a cliff, though here in Equestria I gues they just arrest you and -- hey! You look faint!" "Get the others," Twilight groaned, hoping against hope that she'd be wrong. "We need to get to Los Pegasus." *** And many miles away in Los Pegasus, two dragons and a flashily-dressed hedgehog walked up to the door of Flim and Flam's 'House of Fortune' Casino, holding out their ID to the scowling Yeti guards. The latter were ex-POWs hired for the event on the promise they'd be shipped back home as soon as it was over. "Like I said," Spike whispered to Grubber and Garble as they fought not to flinch under the gaze of the hulking guards. "I have you two guys to run interference if anything goes wrong. I've got my dice," he showed the same set he'd used months before when playing Flim and Flam, "we clean the place out, put these jerks out of business, and everything's great!" "And if they catch us?" Grubber gulped and asked. "Ah, let 'em try something," Garble folded his arms on his chest. "I'm a dragon, remember? I'll kick all their butts and," he turned and choked to see a stall selling dragon skulls. The proprietor stood behind an empty space, whetted a knife and smiled cheerily at him. Garble gathered himself and said, "Or maybe I can let you guys handle it." "Ah, you're scared of nothing," Spike strutted down off the train. He wore furs, a bowler hat, and rings on every claw. He stuck one hand into a pocket and brought out the dice Twilight made him swear to never play with again. "They'll take one look, think we're idiots with too much money, and try to cheat us out of it with the dice." He smiled and tossed his dice lightly in the air. "Then we take them to the cleaners, and Flim and Flam have to go back to being cheats rather than messing with stuff that matters like movies and comics. It'll be easy. We'll save the day!" And with that the three went into the dragon, er, unicorn's den. Completely unaware they were being watched. "What ho, brother dear, I think I spy with my little eye the same cheating lizard we met earlier. Shall we give him the surprise we've been planning?" "Most certainly, brother. If he went to all this trouble, we might as well show him that 'Dragon Safari' idea we came up with!" Session 71.4 Grogar-the-oneser "Okay, were in the bracket now all we have to do is-" "Scuse me sir, but you have to leave the dice you have with me." The pony running the registry said. "Leave the dice to who now?" Spike asked confused. "Its a common thing in these types of tournaments who bring there own dice, are usually the loaded die variety, ergo anyone who brings their own dice must leave them here." "Eh..." Spike gulped as he nervously put the dice in his pocket "...What dice." "Nice try. GUNTER!" The pony shouted, a yak walked into view and grabbed Spike and began shaking him rapidly making his dice and a few other items fell out. the pony quickly grabbed them. "You know in retrospect, I did wonder what sane gambling competition would allow a player to bring their own equipment," Grubber muttered. "I honestly can't believe he expected that he could use his own dice, especially after last time," Flim stated. "But that dragon not out of it yet brother of mine, he will try either to regain said dice or try to cheat some other way." Flam said. "Yes, hence our little surprise for our scaly friend. Session 71.5 Alex Warlorn (Spoilers for this game. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth_and_Tail ) Gilda stormed into Friendship Castle, looking absolutely livid. "Uh, Hi Gilda?" Princess Twilight looked up from the Cutie Map. "THIS IS GAME IS NOTHIN' BUT BUCKIN' PROPAGANDA!" Gilda slammed the video game on the table. "YOU'RE A PRINCESS! BAN IT!" "Uh? What?" Twilight gingerly took the video game in her magic. She purposely didn't look on the donator's list included in the manual. "Teeth and Tails?" Twilight looked through it. "Yeah! Ya four groups of animals who live in houses and aren't so lazy as to never build their own civilization and mooch off of ponies are hungry. So they decide to do what any animal does when its hungry, and eat other animals! I thought it was cool and everything, I mean, it's the laws of nature 'eat or be eaten' down to its purest form. But... " Gilda threw up her claws. "They had to throw in that how they were all 'omnivores' and could all magically survive on a completely veggie diet!" Gilda wiggled her talons about for that last part to emphasis her distain. "Oh, and they won't eat fish for some stupid reason. And apparently pigs are the only ones interested in farming and are the ones being eaten by everygriff else until they start 'vanishing' and the four factions go at each other. Until in the last level, it turns out it was all a plan by the poor persecuted piggy vegetarians to weaken their meat eating oppressors and attack en mass at the end! AGH! See wha I mean?! Propaganda! AGH! You ponies treat any speaking creature that eats meat as some unenlightened uncivilized barbarian! And this just spread that stupid attitude of yours! If you want to stay friends with griffins, I suggest you ban it pronto!" "Uh... Gilda... maybe you should take a minute to calm down and-" "I AM CALM!" Gilda screeched. Session 71.6 Ardashir "Okay genius," Grubber grumbled as the trio made their way into the main floor of the casino. "They got yer dice. What now?" Spike looked around as he tried to think of an answer. The place was flashy in the best, or maybe worst, Los Pegasus fashion. Neon-bright illusions ran across the walls and overhead, pointing the prospective players towards the tables for dice, cards, the slots, and more exotic games of chance, like the one where unicorns had to use their magic to zap the exact right illusionary parasprite to win. Dealers hustled, waiters bore food and drinks -- lots of those, showmares in feathers and silk flirted with wide-eyed stallions and males of all species, and Yeti, minotaur, yak, and griffon guards were everywhere in the casino livery displaying Flim and Flam's cutie marks. They eyeballed the three in no friendly wise. "Okay," Spike said, rubbing his scaly forehead. "We can still do this. We just need luck, and our wits." "Yeah," Garble rolled his eyes. "That sounds like a plan. I --" He blinked to see one of the signs. "'King of the Hoard'? Wait, puny pathetic ponies think they can play a dragon game? Hah!" He reached down and snatched a bag filled with bits from Spike before swaggering off in the direction of the sign. "Watch me clean their clocks." "Really?" Grubber followed Garble, his eyes wide. He snatched a slice of cake off one tray of food as its bearer passed by him. He seemed to inhale the meal, spitting out the plate, before he said, "Huh, I never woulda believed that about him." "Believed what?" Spike asked, trying to keep his voice deep. He hurried after Grubber. It wouldn't do for him to get tossed because of his age. "That Garble could win a dragon game?" "Nah," Grubber said. "I never woulda believed that Garble can read." *** Outside, three mares from Ponyville were disembarking from the train. "Look at this dump," Tempest said coldly as she trotted off the train. Wide-eyed tourists were everywhere, with touts from the various casinos, restaurants, and hotels vying for their business. One tried approaching her, but backed away as Tempest pinned her ears and snorted at them. "This is the one city in Equestria the Storm King wanted to leave intact after he won, and now I can see why." "Never mind that," Starlight said as she checked her map. "We need to find Spike, Garble, and Grubber before they get in trouble." She shook her head as she checked the list of casinos. "Lucky Lady Casino'? 'Dragon's Hoard Casino'? 'Golden Griffon Casino'? Ugh, how many of these places are there - ah! There it is!" She pointed to one group of ponies following an Earth pony with a banner reading 'Fair Play Casino'. "That's the one Flim and Flam own." "Pity Twilight couldn't come," Tempest said. "But that last minute message she got from the ponies on the other side of the magic mirror must have been important. Something about sirens?" "All Trixie knows, it must have been important." The cocky blue showmare trotted along at the head of the group. She looked from one side to the next and forced them into an alley between two buildings. ""In here! Thankfully, the Great and Powerful Trixie knows this city like the back of her hoof. You are fortunate indeed that she was present to help you." "Of course," Tempest said, not bothering to hide the scorn in her voice. "The blowhard who went down to a pair of Yeti Storm Guards." Trixie pinned her ears. "Well, Trixie knows how to make us fit in here! We don't want to be noticed..." "Uh, Trixie, we're not on some secret mission," Starlight began to say. "We're just here to get those three and bring them back without any trouble." "So Trixie will make sure we look like locals!" Trixie's horn flashed. Starlight froze, dreading what she would see when she opened her eyes. She slowly did so, and relaxed. She was wearing a variation on her magician''s assistant costume she wore when she helped Trixie in her act. "Now everypony will think that Trixie and her amazing assistant," she nodded at Starlight, "are here to try and get hired by Flim and Flam to perform. That will give us the run of the casino, and no one would look twice at a stage magician and her assistant in a Los Pegasus casino." She smirked and looked at Tempest. "You fit in now as well." Starlight looked at Tempest and froze. The hard-faced unicorn mare was made up and dressed in the feathers and silks of a showmare. She looked coldly at her reflection and then back at the smiling Trixie. A moment later Starlight was trying to use her magic to pull the enraged Tempest off Trixie's neck. (OOC: Based on this picture of Tempest -- https://derpibooru.org/1571400?q=show+mares ) Session 71.7 Mtangalion "Class!" shouted Miss Cheerilee. She rapped her knuckles on her desk, trying to make herself heard over the ruckus of a dozen students ignoring her and talking all at once. "Class, settle down, please!" She yelped and ducked the barrage of paper airplanes and crumpled homework sheets that came flying at her. Fido, Spot, and Rover chuckled darkly, tearing up more test papers. "You ain't the boss of us!" "You aren't the boss of us," said Miss Cheerilee, automatically correcting them. She blinked. "I most certainly am the boss of you, while you're in my classroom! Children, you need to settle down and behave right now, or…" "Or what?" said Trixie slyly. Silver Spoon held up her latest model smartphone, snapping more pictures of the out of control classroom. "Whoops, we just posted all of those photos to MyStable," said Diamond Tiara smugly. She and Silver high-fived. In the back of the classroom, the Canterlot Crusaders were sharing excited grins. "Did you see that?" squealed Sweetie Belle. "I cast Anarchy Aria on them, just like in the MOBA!" Apple Bloom rubbed her hands together, her eyes flashing green. "It's like we're leveling up in real life!" Scootaloo laughed. "Our stupid sisters can't hog all the magical fun to themselves now. It's our turn to be as awesome as we wanna be." A strange shimmer seemed to pass through the young conspirators. Without quite understanding why, Sweetie and Bloom hummed "Ooh ahh ooh, ooh whaa ooh!" … in perfect two part harmony. Blinking at each other, they snapped their fingers, and half of their classmates snapped their fingers right along with them. Scootaloo gawked, then grinned all the more. "Awesome as we wanna be!" she crooned, slow and deliberate in a minor key. "Since when can you sing?" whispered Sweetie Belle. "Just go with it!" hissed Apple Bloom. Sweetie and Bloom nodded to each other, then took deep breaths. "Ooh ahh ooh, ooh whaa ooh!" They stamped their feet, and the whole class did that too. Scootaloo stood up, shoving her desk aside dramatically. "First you'll see us, owning this whole classroom!" she sang. "No more homework, who needs that doom and gloom?" "Oooh ahh ahh, ohh waa ahh!" The Diamond Dog gang was overturning book shelves, Diamond and Silver were ruthlessly mocking some of the less popular kids, and Soarin' and Spitfire were doodling on all the classroom posters, and none of them seemed to realize that they were still stamping their feet and snapping their fingers to the slow, dark beat. Swirls of green energy rose, siphoning power out of the whole class and pouring it into the Crusaders. Scoots switched to the backup vocals and Sweetie took the melody. "We've leveled up, we're gonna get the highest score!" Apple Bloom finished the verse with "And we'll always leave y'all wanting more!" "We're awesome!" the Crusaders chorused. "Take caution!" Green light swirled… Fish scales spread up their arms and covered parts of their faces. "So awesome!" "Awesome as we wanna be!" belted out Scootaloo, starting to float off the floor... In the principal's office, Celestia was glaring down at three young people. "You should be in class, not roaming the halls." Sunset Shimmer blushed, scratching her hair, and Twilight cringed. Celestia turned her head. "And I don't believe that you are even a student here!" Gilda gulped. "We can explain! You… just wouldn't believe us. In like a million years. Crap." The intercom buzzed, and Principal Celestia massaged her temple. "Excuse me just a moment." She pressed the button. The intercom came on at full volume, blasting them with… music? And singing? "Celestia?" wailed Miss Cheerilee. "I'm having a little problem here! No, stop that… What are you doing..." "That song's kind of catchy," said Twilight, tapping her foot to the hypnotic beat. Sunset glared at her. "What?" Sunset just shook her head and whipped out the magical journal, writing fast. "Princess, sirens are attacking CHS! Send help NOW!" Session 71.8 Alex Warlorn "Starlight! What are you doing here? I left you back home!" Princess Twilight asked. "Hey! You never left me anywhere! And you switch to contacts?" "What do you... oh! Uh! That's not me! That's another girl with my name and face!" "Uh-Huh, did those cultists brain zap you or-" "Princess Twilight you're here! Uh!... And by Princess I mean..." The Human Starlight Glimmer looked from one identical teenage girl to the other. "I've heard of identical strangers but this is ridiculous! Where you part of a secret government clone experiment?! WAIT! IS THERE A SECRET GOVERNMENT CLONE OF ME?!" Session 71.9 Zaku789 ".... ah, I see this is just me suffering a stress illusion, sad but considering the response I had over trying to expose this in the past few days, it's to be expected. though I gotta say this is mild compared to what I was expecting." Starlight said with a shrug. "S-should we correct her or-" Twilight asked "Let her believe what she wants, especially since we all might suffer a nervous breakdown soon." Pinkie said, "Especially since the crusaders are pulling a siren in a classroom." "Ah okay... wait what?" Session 71.10 Ardashir "I can't believe the way these ponies have wussified 'King of the Hoard'," Garble grumbled as he stalked back into the main casino. A heavy door swung shut behind him, cutting off the sound of pony laughter. "No getting on top of a pile of gems and knocking all your rivals down. Oh, no, 'that's so barbaric'." He mimed a falsetto voice. "Yeesh, they play it with some deck of cards, and..." He looked around, and realized that the two runts were nowhere in sight. He vaguely remembered them slipping away once he started arguing with the griffon who ran the game how they were doing it wrong. "Those two better not have run off without me!" Hearing two familiar voices, Garble forced a path through the crowd. Being a dragon, even if only a teenaged one, he had few problems in clearing the way. Once or twice he had to snort some flame from his nose. The ponies quickly got the message and backed away, smiling nervously and their ears pinned. He caught up with the two at one of the tables. It had some fancy looking wheel on it with a little metal ball rolling around in it. To Garble's lack of surprise, they looked nervous and were down to half a dozen chips -- and why did the call them chips? He'd eaten some and they tasted awful. "Hey!" Garble got their attention by slamming his last two bits down on the table. He noticed they were on one of the numbers that covered it, but then got back to the more important task. "Listen up, shorty," he snapped at Spike. "You said you were a gambling genius. So where's the fortune?" "Oh! Uh, hi, Garble," Spike smiled, looking nervous. "I'm just, uh, lying some groundwork! Making everypony think we're easy marks." "You're doing a great job," Grubber said, looking morose as the wheel came to a stop. "Twenty-two red! The number is twenty-two red!" The croupier, a unicorn, raked in the chips amidst a chorus of grumbles. "No winners this time. Please place your bets! Hey scaly," Garble gave the pony a sour look. The unicorn pointed at his two bits on the table, lying atop a green space marked 00. "You sure you want your bits there?" "I put 'em there, didn't I?" Garble snorted and turned back to arguing with Spike. "You said you were gonna clean up at craps, whatever that is." "I'm working on it..." "The winner is 00, stallions and mares," the croupier said. He pushed a large pile of chips over to Garble's two bits. Grubber choked at the sight. "Pays at 35 to 1! The red gentleman is the winner. Do you want to cash out, sir?" "Huh? Nah, I got business right here." Garble turned back to Spike. He heard the wheel start spinning again. "Griffons will rebuild Griffonstone before you finish 'working on it'!" "Okay, that's just uncalled for!" "Winner is 00 again!" The unicorn sounded stunned. He pushed an even larger pile of chips over to Garble's pile. "Will the gentleman move, or...?" "I'm staying here!" Garble snapped at the pony. He set his claws on his hips and said to Spike, "No it ain't uncalled for! You dragged me and the little butterball here..." "Yahoo!" The little butterball jumped for joy. Ponies and other beings gasped. Grubber grabbed Garble's leg. "00 hit again! Look at that pile!" "Huh?" Garble looked at it. Spike did too, and almost collapsed. "Okay, yeah, fine." Grubber tried taking some of it away. Garble slapped his paws. "Keeps your claws ta yourself! I'll move it when I'm ready." "Are you nuts!" Grubber howled, even as the croupier, sounding rather weak by now, called for any other bets before he spun the wheel once more Grubber dropped to his knees and raised his paws skywards. "Merciful ancestors, I don't even believe you exist, but save this loot from this idiot!" Garble ignored him and the crowd of wide-eyed ponies gathering around. After all, why wouldn't puny ponies stare at one of the most magnificent dragons alive? Grubber and Spike both stared at the rolling wheel with horrified fascination. He said to Spike, "Stop staring at those dumb chips and look at me! You're gonna lose all our bits and we'll have ta hitchhike back ta Ponyville. You got any idea how stupid you have ta be ta do that?" "Once more," the croupier croaked the words out, "00 wins! Mares and stallions, the bank at this table is officially broken!" Grubber fainted. Spike swayed on his feet, but Garble shook him awake. As he did he became aware of the awed whispers all around him. "Look at that! That dragon's a genius!" "The greatest roulette player of all time! Look at him and you'd think he was an idiot!" "The best display of obfuscating stupidity I've ever seen." "Maybe if I get him to rub that claw of his on my head some of the luck will rub off!" "What?" Garble yelled at the ponies. When one pony got a little too close, Garble raised his scaly fist. "I'll rub your head with this if ya don't get lost! Weirdo!" The watchers scattered. He looked at the table. The unicorn was spreading a black sheet over it. "What? Game over?" He looked at the pile of worthless plastic. "Ah, these two can have that junk." As Grubber and Spike hurriedly began stuffing a pair of bags with the chips, Garble picked up his gleaming golden bits. "Hah! See, I kept my money." He preened and pocketed his two bits. "I'm coming out ahead here. And Mom and Ember said I was a dope. Shows how much they know." And all unknown to Garble the Genius, Spike, and Grubber, a pair of watching unicorns called one of their assistants over. "High Roll? Arrange a nice suite for the three, ah, gentlemen. Food and everything else is comped." "But mare SURE you get them into the private craps game tomorrow. Because that money is staying right here." Session 71.11 Zaku789 "Very good sir, incidentally remember how you mention all casino staff should keep an eye on all associate of miss Twilight?" High Chance asked. "Yes." "Well, a miss Trixie and the princess's protege are trying to book a gig. and the former general is sloppily trying to sneak in." "You're sure?" "Well considering she dress like one of our dancers and is beating a minotaur who catwhistle at her with an advanced martial arts move. I say pretty sure." High chance stated. + "Should we tell her that whistle was directed at a female minotaur walking close to her." Starlight questioned. "Trixie self-preservation instinct says no," Trixie stated. + "Excellent, all is going to plan," Flam stated, both brothers cackled. Session 71.12 Zaku789 "What are you doing?" "I'm texting Adagio to tell her exactly what I think of her and her sicko family." "my phone!" Sunset yelled as Gilda slapped it from her hand. "Sorry, but we couldn't have you contact Adagio. The only advantage we have at the moment is cause she doesn't know we are aware of her scheme." Gilda stated. "But did you have to slap it out of my hands. D you know how much they cost!" Sunset said annoyed. Session 71.13 All-Overboard Discord wanted to be somewhere else than in this place. On his left was his former wife Angrboda… sitting there menacingly in her usual goth like attire scowling slightly as she ushered Fenrir back home and getting the other two children to calm down after all that business in Canterlot. On his right was the new flame as Angrboda had called her Fluttershy demurely taking a sip of tea. Only this time… she was not smiling. Her gaze was caught directly on Angrboda and Discord wanted to be anywhere else but here. "Shall we get started on our O&O campaign…" He started. Both females glared at him causing him to shrink back. Yes he really wanted to be dealing with the new plan that the sirens had cooked up but no. Sparklebutt decided that he needed to keep the space time continuum from falling apart after all the other problems that happened like the zombie kingdom or the alien invasion or even disappointing her in that her mother wasn't the author of Daring Do no matter how much she wished it was true. That reminded him about the problems with Windy Whistles and Rainbow Dash Senior… That was still a work in progress and Celestia was still bugging him on that. Luckily Discord used an astral projection to heavily lean on his arm as he sighed. Nowadays every mare was telling him what to do. Clean up this, don't chaos there, you had children and didn't tell me. Sometimes he liked to keep secrets since they didn't usually affect anyone in the long run. "Discord… We're ready to start." Fluttershy announced but there was no demure tones to it. "Yes dear ex husband. Let's." Angrboda added garnering a scowl from Fluttershy, something she was not used to doing. "Uh… yeah… You're character sheets if you please." Fluttershy handed him hers. What he saw surprised him. It was a death knight rolled up with immense carnage as one of the perks including a home brewed perk of blood drench. Whenever the player is drenched in blood they get plus 3's to attack rolls. If it hadn't been written in Fluttershy's delicate hoofwriting he wouldn't have believed it. Angrboda handed hers and it was more shocking. She was playing a priest of a god she actively loathed to the point she tried to kill him every single time they met. She even had perks in praying to him and acting it out in person to get extra to her own rolls. Once again the jagged lines she used to make her writing made it obvious it was hers. "Right… um… let's get started." Discord nervously stated. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Angel Bunny… actually pitying him and feeling sorry for him. He didn't know whether or not to be scared that both were playing against type or immensely excited that they were going to be way out of character. He wisely said nothing and started the adventure. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It had taken three hours until all civility broke down and both Angrboda and Fluttershy were arguing and slugging it out. Discord had secretly been boosting her with his chaos magic since Angrboda was the experienced fighter… something she noticed and growled menacingly at him for. It had taken a few hours before Celestia and Luna came in to actually assist… since they were munching on popcorn obviously enjoying the fireworks. Discord eventually had to chain both females up and placing them in their chairs… he had forgotten some quirks of his former wife and quickly changed it to saran wrap before she enjoyed it too much. "Shall we continue our adventure then?" Discord politely asked. Both of them merely glared at each other while Celestia and Luna sat back and watched the mental showdown. For Discord, all he could watch was his hand slowly massage his temples to keep the constant pounding headache from getting out of control. Session 71.14 Kendell2 "You know, Celly, Lulu, you're not the only ones who have to deal with these sort of messes, especially after a humiliating defeat," Discord commented, depowering a human from another dimension that had somehow obtained unbelievable (for him) power from a mysterious vendor and thought they could run rampant over Equestria, which seemed to be an usually common situation all things considered. Celestia blinked. "Really?" asked the mare, sipping some tea. "Yes! For some reason I have to constantly deal with half a dozen 'real Gods of Chaos' that think they can usurp MY authority and take over!" Discord said, genuinely seeming insulted by that. "Especially after Pinkie Pie nearly actually succeeded...of course she's PINKIE PIE, so she's kind of an outlier...sometimes I wonder if she's somehow related to me or one of my relatives..." As if on cue, a portal opened and outcame an armored knight, laughing insanely. "False God of Chaos! Prepare to be overthrown by me! The true God of Chaos known as Paradox, the Lord of the Unstable Vortex!" Discord growled and snapped his fingers, a flash of light suddenly turning into a naked human wearing only socks and made of corn (prompting the Princesses to blush and look away). "Now you're Pair of Socks, the Lord of Corn," he said, right as the pretender to the throne was chased screaming by Philomena. "See what I mean?! You go missing for a few thousand years as a statue and everyone thinks they can take your job! And that's not even talking about what happened when I was freed from my prison and could finally go back to my realm..." An entire legion of chaotic creatures screamed in panic and ran out of Discord's house in his chaotic realm, Discord coming out after them firing a shotgun into the air (each blast sounding like a different dog barking). "AND STAY OUT YOU SQUATTERS!...Smooze, next time you have my permission to eat them." "Some are more annoying than others honestly," replied Discord with a sigh. "But it's ALWAYS annoying...I mean the first hundred times was fun, but then it just became work." "Tell me about it," Celestia replied with an annoyed sigh. "You'd think sooner or later they'd get the hint that it won't be as easy as it seems..." "The most annoying part is when they're evil despots or omnicidal maniacs and STILL say they're more chaotic than me!" Discord exclaimed in sheer annoyance. "I mean yes, I WAS an Evil Overlord, but I was a CHAOTIC Evil Overlord! Not a LAWFUL one! And a dead universe is BLECH! Perfectly orderly and silent! That's WORSE than being turned to stone! What is chaos coming to when that kind of thing passes for a god of it!" "Maybe thou should start a cult of some sort," Luna suggested. "Worked for me." "Good idea, but cults require ORDER and RULES and ugh, I don't have patience for that!" Discord replied. "And then you have renegade splinter factions that run around doing evil things in your name when you don't want them to, too much work for me thank you!" Celestia rolled her eyes. "Regardless, I think we should just relax before all this drives us crazy...let's play some O&O, shall we?" Session 71.15 Ardashir A train from Los Pegasus pulled into the Ponyville station. Three tired ponies, two dragons, and a heartbroken short hedgehog left their car. "A fortune," Grubber moaned. He waved his hands in the air. "We had a bucking FORTUNE in our hands. I actually saw it right in front of me on the table." "And then Spike had to admit that he was only a child by both pony and dragon standards, which meant the entire play was invalid and you couldn't win anything." Trixie grinned, looking a little like her old nasty self. "But the Amused and Vindictive Trixie will never stop feeling joy when she remembers the looks on the faces of those conponies when your dice came up a '12'." "You mean boxcars?" Spike flushed through his scales at the amused looks the three mares gave him. "Or, uh, something like that." Grubber complained on as though no one had interruoted his tale of woe. "I was gonna go back home, wear pinstripe polyester, and drive up and down the street in the fanciest chariot anyone ever saw, giving gold bits to everyone in the old neighborhood. An' everyone was gonna say 'There he goes. That's Grubber. The guy's not a loser any more.'" He shook his head sadly. He only stopped when Tempest lightly bopped him atop the head. "No," Tempest said, turning him to face her. "You and those other two were going to end up an off-ramp in the Los Pegasus roads with one of your betting chips marking your grave." She sighed. "Be glad those two cheats were willing to accept ownership of part of the Storm King's little business empire in exchange for sparing your lives." She smirked. "I hope they know by now that also means accepting responsibility for handling his unpaid debts. I wondered how I would handle them; paying that off should keep them out of trouble for a few years." "What were you three even thinking?" Starlight demanded as they left the train station, heading for the Friendship Castle. "Cheating the owners of a Los Pegasus casino? Even if they are Flim and Flam. Especially you, Spike," Starlight frowned down at the little dragon. "I can't expect any good sense from those two, but I thought Twilight taught you better!" "Great," Spike grumbled. "Not only did I lose a fortune AND have to leave Flim and Flam to wreck more great comics and movies, but now I'm gonna get another lecture from Twilight too." He broke off as Garble swaggered in between him and Starlight. "I dunno what you guys are worried about," a smug smile crossing his face. He held up two gleaming golden coins. "I still got the two bits I left with. Hey, I beat Los Pegasus!" His smile turned to a scowl as he caught the contemptuous smirks on the faces of Tempest, Starlight, and Trixie. "What? Was I supposed to be stupid and bring those dumb round plastic things back?" "Should Trixie tell him?" When the other two made 'go ahead' gestures, Trixie cleared her throat. "Those 'dumb round plastic things' are how the casino keeps track of your winnings." "What?" "You had a bagful," Starlight said, "even after giving Grubber and Spike a stake for their craps game. That was all money you tossed away to the crowd before we left." "What??" Tempest smiled, looking as nasty as when she'd served the Storm King. "You probably tossed away twenty or thirty million bits when you did that. I imagine everypony from Equestria to the Dragonlands has heard about your amazing generosity and total stupidity, lizard." She trotted past him. "Enjoy your reputation as the biggest fool alive." They headed into the palace, leaving Garble outside to eat his head on the ground while uttering wails of despair. "THIRTY! MILLION! BITS!" Session 71.16 Mtangalion The day before… "It's right here," said Starlight Glimmer, pushing Sunburst along, "inside my mobile command center!" Sunburst gulped. "You mean, that beat up old van?" Starlight winced. "Of course, in the van! It's the perfect cover, right?" "Even if you are an old friend, I don't know if I should… whoa!" Starlight grabbed his hand, yanked him into the open back of the van, and slammed the door behind them. After glancing around for any stealthy government spies, she whipped away the cloth covering a bulletin board covered in tacked up photographs and news articles, with colored threads everywhere connecting them. "Ooh." Sunburst stared and adjusted his askew glasses, trying to take it all in. Starlight beamed. "It's all laid out for you here, Sunburst!" She grabbed a pointer and started tapping different parts of the board. "Riots at Canterlot High, twice with major property damage… all hushed up. Rainbow explosions in the sky. Chaos at a campsite just outside town. A giant woman running amok at the mall, seen by multiple witnesses, then gone without a trace! This mysterious new ‘Friendship Castle' amusement center… what are they hiding there? And now… Crystalsoft! Highly addictive and over-competitive games, and VR eyepatches… there's definitely something fishy going on!" Starlight grasped Sunburst's shoulders excitedly. "So, what's the story? What's this conspiracy really all about? What's their game!?" Sunburst cringed, sweating. "You've, uh… really put a lot of work into this, I can tell. That's certainly... a lot of things that happened." Starlight's face fell. "That's all you have to say? But, you're a genius!" She blinked. "Oh. Oh, right! Of course, a genius detective like you would have all kinds of cover stories, just like the Great Detective S in Pie-in-the-Face Note! It's okay, Sunburst, you don't have to be modest around me." Sunburst wrung his hands. "Starlight, I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm not a genius." Starlight nodded, grinning and winking. "Right, of course you're not." "I'm really not a genius!" Sunburst blurted out. "I washed out of that gifted and talented program! I'm not super-smart at all, I just have a perfect memory! For goodness sake, I stock the shelves at Shining Armor's comic book shop now!" He turned away, holding back tears. "I'm sorry about all those years ago, and I'd like to be your friend again, Starlight, but… if it's a genius detective you need, that's not me." Starlight's face fell and twitched, like she'd crashed and needed a reboot. "Sunburst…" Then she went to him and put an arm around his shoulders, smiling a bit, giving him a warm squeeze when he smiled back at her. "I guess we're going to need a plan B." Outside Canterlot High School, Starlight Glimmer shook a finger at Sunset Shimmer and Twilight… and the other Twilight. "It looks like I'm going to have to break out the big guns, if I want to get to the bottom of this conspiracy." She grinned. "I should warn you… nothing, but nothing gets past my partner, so don't even think about getting slippery with the truth now!" She snapped her fingers, and a orange-skinned, red-haired young man stepped out of the van dramatically, wearing an overcoat and dark shades. Princess Twilight blinked. "Sunburst?" Sunburst immediately bungled his Cool Walk by stumbling on the street curb. Starlight facepalmed. "Does anybody here not have a secret clone?" Sunset Shimmer raised her hand sheepishly. "We haven't seen a trace of mine. It's actually kind of worrying me a bit." Princess Twilight glared at her. "Well, it is!" Session 71.17 Ardashir "Can't I stop yet?" Spike asked, his cramping claws still holding onto the piece of chalk. In front of him the line I WILL NEVER EVER CHEAT IN A LAS PEGASUS CASINO AGAIN repeated seemingly endlessly across three and a half chalkboards. "Yeesh, Twilight, you didn't do this to Grubber or Garble!" "That's right, I didn't." The dragon squirmed as Twilight towered over him. Her face stern, she said, "Pretend it's a game, Spike. Maybe that'll help the time pass. Besides, you only have half a board left to go." Spike grumbled and went back to his punishment. She said, "Grubber's an adult, Spike, and I decided to let Tempest handle him. And as for Garble, well?" Twilight trotted over to the window and looked out to the distant mountains. "I told Ember about what he did. She said she'll send him back as soon as he's been 'properly disciplined as a dragon should be', whatever that means." *** And in the Dragonlands? Garble cringed before a gigantic golden-yellow female dragon as she stared at him in stunned disbelief. He backed against the stone walls of the lair as though seeking escape. "YOU THREW AWAY A HOARD OF BITS? YOU WON A FORTUNE AND TOSSED IT AWAY? Hah!" She buried her face in her claws. Flying up beside her head, Ember set a comforting claw on her. "My son, the genius!" "Now, mom..." Garble froze as the she-dragon glared at him. He turned and fled for the cave mouth, only to stop when her tail slammed down before him with a thunderous boom. "No! Not that!" "You know the position," she rumbled like a volcanic caldera ready to erupt. "You disgraced dragonkind. Be glad it's ME and not your father." She lowered one massive claw, one finger set back against her thumb as though she were about to shoot marbles. Garble winced, and then laid himself over his mother's tail facing outside and with his flank facing her finger. He gulped and closed his eyes. The next moment a screaming Garble flew though the air to land in a rare Dragonlands pool of ice-cold water. Ember was waiting for him as he clambered out, spluttering and steaming. Some of his fellow young dragons were nearby. They laughed and held up signs with various numbers on them. "Smooth move, Garble!" Several of them jeered. "Now I won't be able to breathe fire for a week!" He rubbed his scaly rump and winced. "OW! Not to mention this!" He smiled as a thought struck him. "Oh well, at least I can't represent dragonkind among those puny pathetic ponies any more! Hah! In your face, lady!" He snapped his claws under Ember's muzzle and started to walk off. "Oh, you're still our representative," Ember said smoothly. As Garble froze, she added, "In fact, with the upcoming summit, I'm making YOU accountable for setting up my rooms at the meeting." She added sweetly, "I'll be needing an appropriate hoard to sleep on, and I'm not moving mine." Garble choked as she smiled, her fangs gleaming. "Guess who just volunteered theirs for the sake of all dragons?" Garble looked back at the family lair and saw his mother with her arms folded over her chest, and his hoard laying on a tarp and ready for travel in front of her. "Losing two hoards... in two weeks...?" Garble's reaction was fully in accord with the character of both dragons and himself. He fainted. Session 71.18 Alex Warlorn Discord said, "So you come upon this inn-" "I bribe the inn keeper to poison her drink!" Fluttershy shouted loudly. "Not if I bribe him first!" "You do realize he's likely to take both your money and poison both of you right?" Discord asked. The mare and goddess merely glared at him. "Sister's, fun's fun in seeing Discord squirm, but we thinks it best to now bring Fluttershy back down to her senses before she accidentally poisons her bond to the Element of Kindness." "Lulu, you know that we weren't mindless perfect embodiments of their Element, they're allowed to be flawed." Both waited for Fluttershy to do something completely vicious to punctuate Celestia's folly, but none came. "All the same, we best defuse this situation before it somehow becomes even worse." "I wonder if other Discords had trouble like this." --- "No dear, of course dear, you'll get your support money, I promise, yes I know dear, no I'm not dear, but I fail to see how that's your business if I'm... yes dear." Game designer Discord sighed. -- "OW! OW! No! I'm not giving up this 'Captain Goodguy nonsense!' I'll have you know I'm been helping a lot of ponies, and -- Yes I know the Princesses have reformed, but that just means Empress Cadence had seen as her chance to fill in the void! And she's not turning nice with a little blast of love and harmony magic! Pleas dear I love you too, but can you please stop chaining me to a chair every time you want a romantic evening?" "What about that brat Fluttershy?" "I'm helping reform her!" "Sure you are..." She glared. ++++ Princess Twilight thought to herself, 'Okay, she's with Sunburst, that must mean this Starlight Glimmer has already become well adjusted and isn't going to go evil. ... She's just seen a lot of things that don't fit into a human's normal definition of what is and what isn't, and is trying glue it in a way that fits her and... "Uh, Starlight? What's this book?" Princess Twilight asked, as Starlight Glimmer the human presented them with her mobile conspiracy lab (Sci-Twilight already seeing lots of way to improve it). "Oh, just some light reading for a better tomorrow." "'Brainwashing for the Greater Good And You?'" "OH! THAT! Just something I borrowed from the library!" Sci-Twilight blushed. "Uh, can I borrow it later?" Sunset looked at Sci-Twilight, then at Princess Twilight, "I KNEW IT WAS GENETIC!... " Purple teenage girls glared at her. "Uh, never mind." Session 71.19 Mtangalion The original Sirens, holed up in one of the athletic field's locker rooms, were not having a good day. Adagio growled at their MOBA GM laptop, typing faster, then smacked it with her fist. "Why isn't the brainwashing protocol working?!" She glared at the purple-skinned member of their trio. "Aria, you were in charge of that!" Aria shoved her aside and grabbed the laptop. "I didn't expect to get this many at once. Look, there's three proto-sirens together in one classroom!" "Three?" Sonata grinned. "That's good, right?" Aria tensed. "No, no no no…" Sonata tilted her head. "That's… bad?" "They were supposed to be subservient to us," said Aria, typing rapid-fire, "but these three have gone and formed their own power trio." Adagio grabbed Aria by the front of her jacket. "Well, fix it! I am not having a bunch of brats stealing our show." Aria shoved Adagio back. "Hey, paws off!" "Oh, this could really be bad," moaned Sonata. "What if the new sirens outvote us, and Taco Tuesday… isn't Taco Tuesday any more?!" Aria screamed through clenched teeth. "Tacos, tacos, tacos! If I never see, smell, or even hear the word ‘taco' again, it'll be too…" Somebody started slow-clapping, causing them all to freeze, then turn to watch Rainbow Dash glide into the room, with fish-scaled skin and hair that floated around her head like seaweed in the tide. She wore a glowing crimson necklace… and her geode, which wasn't glowing in the slightest. "Looks like I hit the motherlode," crooned Dash. "All that delish energy. Just how many centuries of grudges have you girls been saving up?" She conjured a guitar in a flood of magic and started strumming a rockin' cover of Duel of the Fates. "Mine now. Give it." There was a loud thump, and another door slammed open, revealing another girl with another ruby gem. "That's Trixie's line!" Then the whole building shook, and a third girl came through a *wall*. "No, it's mine," said Tempest, casually cracking her knuckles and wiping concrete dust off her sleeves. "Minus the lame ‘Trixie' part." Adagio Dazzle stood, clutching the mirror shard. "You want it?" She belted out a C above high C, drawing out all the stored up power and creating a new stone for herself. Aria and Sonata rushed to her side, already humming backing vocals. "Come and take it." Session 71.20 Kendell2 = Final Boss - Sonic Mania = "Congrats, you made your own gems...too bad for you..." Adagio smirked, pulling the necklace she'd created and putting it around her neck, her sisters taking out theirs and putting them on. "Well let me just put it in a way you idiots can understand: they're so last expansion!" she stated, putting the gem into the necklace, causing it to ignite with red 'tron lines' streaming through it and laughing as the shadow of two digitized, fin-like wings appeared on her back. The three newborne Sirens all gave either a song or a guitar string, sending out a stream of red soundwaves. The three original Sirens all sang one single long note, returning fire with one of their own, but this time with digital looking lines streaming through it. Their power plowed through the three newbies' attack and floored them without any trouble. Adagio hovered up above them, pulsing with digital light. Tempest growled, jumping up and throwing a punch at her, only for Adagio to catch it, easily overpowering her artificial arm. "Here's a little tip, hatchlings..." she said, grabbing Tempest and hoisting her over head with one arm before throwing her into the other two with enough force to knock them down. She then sang a long note, the red digitized sound waves seeming to levitate them, at which point Adagio threw them around, slamming them into several objects before throwing them to the ground. She walked over, looming over them with a dominant posture and expression that made the Siren instincts in them scream. "Get this straight: I am the Alpha! You three? Are little fish I can easy catch replacements for. GOT IT?!" The three nodded, having no idea what the strange fear in their minds was but not having the experience to beat it back. The fear of a pack animal when confronted by the stronger Alpha. "Good..." she said, smirking. Her smartphone rang. "...Looks like it's time for the next boss, you three don't want to be late, now do you?" The three looked to each other. In a mix of Adagio's dominance as an Alpha triggering instincts they didn't know, let alone have any reasonable control over and the possibility absorbing more negativity might let them overthrow her, they quickly headed off to find the boss. "...Come on girls, it's time for the main even," Adagio said, walking over to her sisters. "And if I can't get the control brainwashing protocol working all the way?" asked Aria. "Then we either brainwash them ourselves..." Adagio replied, looking back and giving a predatory smirk, her canines having now become predatory fangs. "We get them to bow the old fashion way: by displaying our dominance and beating them to their knees." Session 71.21 Kendell2 "HAHA!" cackled the Maneiac, standing in her secret lair with another giant laser of some sort, and wearing a Santa hat. "When Santa Hooves begins his nightly fight, I will shoot him down and bring misery to the entire world! And his legendary beard will be MINE!" she announced, laughing insanely. "...Why does she want Santa Hooves' beard?" asked Applejack, the group once more the Power Ponies and hanging over a vat of boiling, peppermint scented shampoo. "She's the Maneiac..." replied Rainbow Dash. "She's being crazy as Tartarus, I doubt even SHE knows why she knows it!" "Now, say goodbuy to the holiday, Power Ponies!" called the Maneiac as she began to power up her cannon laughing insanely. "There's one thing you forgot about, Maneiac!" called Twilight. "And what's that? Matter-Horn?!" mocked the madmare. "The Hearth's Warming Spirit?!" "No..." Spike swung by, landing their rope cocoon and slashing it open, Applejack and Rarity using their powers to rescue them. "Humdrum!" called Twilight, high hoofing Spike. "And this time I brought some friends!" Spike replied. The front door exploded and in zipped Scootaloo right into the nearest mook with a buck, as Kid Fillysecond, Sweetie Belle as Batfilly (Zapp and Radience unfortunately had no sidekick), and Apple Bloom as Marevelous Filly (punching the nearest goon). The trio rushed over and took a battle pose next to their big sister figures. "Thanks fer lettin' us join yah, sis!" called Apple Bloom. Applejack smirked. "Welcome, sis. Now let's kick some flank!" Session 71.22 Alex Warlorn "So, have you met Timber Spruce yet in your universe?" Sic-Twilight asked she and Twilight played a duel game of Tetris Vs... their scores were exactly even. "No, actually... though I have met Flash Sentry in my universe... which is rather strange... " Princess Twilight gasped in shock. "Wait! I didn't start returning social advances until after CSGU! What if hit on me in High School and I never noticed?!" "CSGU? And how could you forget someone like him?" "Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns! And..." Princess Twilight blushed. "I didn't realize that Cadence's bride maids were my own school mates until years later when Pinkie Pie pointed out to me!" "Well... I'm not that bad." "TWILIGHT SPARKLE YOU'RE THE BIGGEST BEOTCH IN THE WORLD AND I HOPE YOU BURN IN HELL!" Shouted a pale cream girl with red hair and a purple streak... physically she looked like a recolor of Twilight Sparkle... except she didn't have glasses. And she was wearing a VR-eyepatch. "I'd send you there myself but I'm not missing that wandering Shadow-Mega-phenix!" She ran off, pushing some people out of the way she attacked the virtual creature only a player could see. "Who was that?" Sci-Twilight Sparkle asked confused. "I FIGURED IT OUT!" Twilight Sparkle said dramatically. "ME IN THE HUMAN WORLD HAS GLASSES! BUT HER MOON DANCER DOESN'T! WHILE I DON'T ON EQUUS BUT MY MOON DANCER DOES! Which means I can take off these stupid glasses now!" "Oh, I thought you were wearing them so we'd look more alike." "No, blame Pinkie Pie." "Have you girls calmed down?" Sunset asked, holding an icepack, coming out of Starlight Glimmer's little mobile command center. "Uh... yes." -- "Daddy, someone is hacking the Heroes of Equestria AR game's data base..." -- "Ha ha! we're in!" Starlight said dramatically, Sunburst and her sitting at the labtop. Session 71.23 Grogar-the-oneser "Oh? what do they want?" Discord questioned "They are entering adagio and the other two files." "Hmm... Let them do what they want. I don't like how Adagio been walking around with a 'I will destroy you all' grin." Discord said. "But don't make it easy for them either, know what I mean." "Right, hit them with a whipcream brick pie, hold the brick." "Good girl!" Discord grinned. Session 71.24 Ardashir In the City of Maretropolis... "AH-HAHAHA!" High Heel cackled with glee as her gang, the Heels, robbed the Maretropolis Museum. Innocent citizens fled in terror as her gang smashed their way into the various glass displays, removing the objects of their mistress' desire. "The fools! They thought they could keep ME away from their display of the most famous footwear in film! Even the few pieces I'll deign to sell on the black market will make me rich beyond my wildest dreams; and the best will go into my private collection! Who else could possibly appreciate them?" As she raved one of them brought her a pair of shining ruby horseshoes. "Ahh, I loved that movie! Even if the Witch's plan was ridiculous." She yelled as a golden lasso whipped out and snatched the famous ruby-studded treasures from her hooves. At that same moment a heroic voice rang out. "If you want to see those again, but a ticket when they show that movie on the holidays, High Steal!" "W-whhat? Who dares?" High Heel choked in fury as she saw who had just mocked her. Maretropolis' greatest heroes, and Humdrum, were backlit and looking heroic as they charged into the room. "Radiance! And the Power Ponies!" She smirked to see a blue mare in fishnet stockings. "Hah, and that show-off one trick pony Zap-tanna? And who's this?" A purple, spiky-maned broken horned unicorn took up a hoof-fighting stance. "No-Horn the Unicorn? Ugh, you're letting anypony join you these day --" 'No-Horn' seemed to teleport across the museum hall. In a flurry of blows, she left a broken High Heel on the floor. "I didn't even get to do my monologue and stick you in my death trap," she groaned before she passed out. "And that takes care of you," Tempest said, as she dusted her hooves off. She winced to hear a small cough behind her. "Oh, wait, I didn't it again, didn't I?" "Dear," Rarity said as she trotted up to her. Behind her, High Heel's goons were giving up, shuddering in terror as they looked at Tempest. "I know you learned to fight in situations of life and death, where you had to stop an opponent immediately." "And I did a very good job," Tempest smiled as she reared above the prostrate villain. 'Uh, yes, but in these stories?" Radiance waved one hoof around at the four-color world about them. "Letting the villain brag and swagger and even win temporarily is part of the fun." "Yeah," Zapp grumbled as she dropped down with the collected stolen hoofwear. "Yeesh, ya knocked out Pharoah Phetlock before he could unleash his Mummy Horde, ya kicked Smudge into a wall so hard he splattered, and ya punched out Long-Face before he even got to open his mouth!" "Where does it say I have to let bad guys get the first shot off?" Tempest rolled her eyes as she and the rest the Power Ponies left the museum. The ponies outside cheered to see their heroes. "Besides, I thought the point of these 'Enchanted Comics' was for us to beat the supervillains." "Well, yeah," Applejack nodded agreement. "But in here ya can have some fun when ya do it Besides, these comics are gettin' more sophisticated. Ya take the story 'off the rails' an they got ways of makin' ya sorry." "In a Power Ponies comic?" Tempest laughed out loud. "Like what?" They all froze as the sunlight coming down from above intensified. The heat almost drove them to their knees. At the same time they heard a loud pulsing noise as overhead, a massive spaceship dropped down with an equally massive energy cannon pointed at the city. "PONIES OF MARETROPOLIS, REJOICE!" The illusion of an almost adult dragon-sized alicorn mare, dressed in black basalt barding and with a coat of crimson fire and a mane and tail of searing flame, appeared from the ship. She boomed her words down to the terrified populace. "I AM NIGHTMARE SUN, AND I HAVE CHOSEN YOUR CITY TO BE AMONG THE FIRST INHABITANTS OF THE NEW SOLAR SYSTEM I MUST CREATE TO REPLACE THE OLD ONE I DESTROYED IN A FIT OF TEMPER! OF COURSE, FIRST I MUST CONVERT YOU INTO MINDLESSLY LOYAL SOLAR ELEMENTALS SO YOU WILL SURVIVE THE PROCEDURE." The citizens began to scream and scatter . "STAND STILL AND THIS WILL ALL BE OVER QUICKLY!" As everyone ran in terror, Tempest's team-mates all just looked at her. "Fine," she grumbled. "Next time I'll let the villains brag." Session 71.25 Grogar-The-Oneser "Okay, I think I have the link repair." Aria stated. "You think, or you know," Adagio growled. "Relax drama queen it should be able to work for the upcoming concert." Aria stated. "It better, I may be willing to beat them into submission, but I rather we went towards the smooth method first," Adagio growled. "Relax, nothing will go wrong," Aria stated. + "Okay, it cyber defenses may have done some nasty things like changing the wallpaper to a disgusting hue with that discord char playing with a pogo-stick. It may have posted embarrassing photos of me from that christmas party and might have forced me to use that stupid touchpad instead of a proper computer mouse-OW! And I think it just recorded that statement and forwarded it every touchpad user on its mailing list, but we did it." Sunburst stated with a grin. + "Did you have fun my dear?" Discord asked. "Yep, it was fun!"