//------------------------------// // Session 81 // Story: Ponies and Dragons (Just Have Fun) // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// Session 81.0 Ardashir It was a lovely day in Ponyville. Spike reflected on that as he strolled down the pathway leading from the Friendship Castle/School. Celestia's sun was shining, a gentle breeze caressed his scales, bearing the scents of cooking pastries from Sugarcube Corner (he inhaled eagerly) and the freshly-fertilized fields surrounding the town (he held his breath until it passed), ponies were going about their daily business. Pinkie Pie hopped by, Garble was sitting on the edge of the town fountain with a frown with a pen in his claws and a pad of paper beside him -- Oh, brother. Now what? "Garble," Spike asked, "do I even want to know? Are you writing another letter begging to be sent back home?" "Oh, great, the puny pony lover came to rub it in," Garble grumbled. He waved one claw. "And no, I'm not wasting my time on any more letters. I decided that if I made enough bits, I could make Ember take me back." "You know no acting like a dragon," Spike warned him as he sat down nearby. Sometimes he wondered why Garble of all beings needed to unload to him; he supposed their shared status as two of the three dragons living in Ponyville accounted for it. Spike counted off on his claws. "No more hot sauce contests, no plundering jewel stores, no scamming casinos," he felt a twinge in his claw at the memory, "and no trying to remake 'Pezunas: The Hooves of Fate' again." Garble jumped to his feet. "Bah! Like Applewood could contain my artistic genius! You saw how they rejected my brilliant ideas." "Mercifully, yes," Spike muttered before saying more loudly, "Okay, so what was it this time?" Garble looked at him, seemed to consider if he should say anything, and finally held out the pen and paper. "This." Spike looked at them in confusion. "Them?" Garble folded his arms. "Feh, it started with that crooked unicorn pony with the cape..." *** "Wait, you say you'll sell me a pen that writes any color at all?" "The Great and Not Desperately In Need of Cash Trixie promises precisely that." He looked suspicious. She smiled. "Just think of it as another game." "Hah!" Garble slapped down three gems. "Okay, prove it! Write in, uh, red!" Trixie smiled, turned away, and the pen scrawled in her grip. She wheeled and with a flourish handed the paper back. Garble looked down at the paper and: "HEY! It just says 'Red' on it!" "Trixie said the pen could write any color at all." His gems floated away in Trixie's magical grip. Garble snatched after them as Trixie smiled smugly. "She said nothing about it writing in that color. But look at it this way." She gave Garble the pen. "You are now the owner of that pen, and of the trick." Garble growled, looked at the pen and paper, and slowly smiled. *** "You found ponies willing to take you up on that?" Spike shook his head in disbelief. Sometimes he wondered if he should have edited out that one chapter from the Friendship Diary, 'Every Pony In This Town Is Crazy, But I Love Them Anyway'. "Twi, you were right." "Hah!" Garble swaggered back and forth in front of Spike. "I was raking the bits in!" *** "Any color, huh? Okay, blue!... What? Ya cheatin' lizard! I'm glad ya weren't that smart when we needed Flash Magnus' shield." "Very well, my schedule permits me a small indulgence. Please write in amethyst -- WHA-AA-AT? You, you con artist!" "I call yellow -- Yer as bad as Flim an' Flam!" *** Spike shook his head. "I don't believe it." Garble smirked and showed him several pages of the pad. Spike looked and faceclawed. "Okay," Spike said, "I DO believe it. But what happened with your 'brilliant' plan?" The smirk slipped away from Garble's face. "Ah, I asked the bouncing pink weirdo for a color." *** "Okay! Chartreuse!" Garble began to write and froze. "What was that? Char-whatever?" "You heard me!" Pinkie smiled widely. "Chartreuse! It's a real color!" "Oh, uh, yeah! Char-truce, uh..." Garble hissed and hemmed, smoke rose from his nostrils, and he stared at the paper. Finally he slumped and handed the bag of bits over. "Ya win." *** "Stop laughing," Garble huffed as Spike rolled on the ground. "You wouldn't do any better!" "Oh yeah?" Spike hopped to his feet. "Ten bits says I can!" He snatched the paper and pen from Garble and raced off back in the direction of the school. He hurried into the office and found Twilight at her desk going through the paperwork. "Hey, Twilight! I have a new game! I bet this pen," he held it up, "can write in any color you can think of!" He smiled. "If I win, you let me have the day off. You win, and I'll clean every blackboard in the school before lunch. So just name a color," he puffed his chest out, not seeing the sly smile on Twilight's face, "any color at all." "Okay. Quercitron." Garble shook his head where he stood outside by the window as Trixie held out her hoof. "Pay up, dragon." "You won the game," Garble said. "He really did fall for it!" Session 81.1 Alex Warlorn "Where's Sweetie Belle?" Button Mash asked. "Where's Apple Bloom?" Tender Taps asked. "Well, I guess Scootaloo isn't showing up," Ramble said, having only done it because the other two boys had pressured him into it. "Don't worry guys," Dinky said, "I gave your 'secret admire' messages to my mom! No way she'd steer you wrong!" "Scootaloo was acting weird around me..." Button Mash said breaking out in a cold sweat. Session 81.2 Kendell2 "For the last time no, Discord, I'm not giving you a class at the Friendship School," Twilight stated as the two played chess. "And why not? Afraid I'll 'taint the youth' with chaos?" asked Discord. "I'll have you know chaos liberates! It doesn't taint!...Hatred taints, I just happen to also be able to invoke that..." "No, because I don't want the school to get blown up!" replied Twilight. "Remember when you 'helped' the CMC with their math homework?" "Alright, now simple math, there are positive numbers..." he said, forming floating numbers from 1 to 10 in the air. "And negative numbers," he continued, making the same thing for negative 1 to negative 10. "We knew that already..." Scootaloo replied, bored. "But did you know they tend to eliminate each other?" Discord asked, at which point the numbers all transformed into small robots and glared at each other. "Cool..." said the CMC...at which point lasers and explosions began to go off, destroying parts of the room and forcing them to scream and take cover. "And numbers naturally tend to come together..." One and Negative One both gave a war cry and their sides stacked on top of each other to form a filly sized robot, the two mechas slamming each other destructively through the walls and room while the CMC ducked and covered to escape. "What? In your world random objects don't randomly come to life and fight to the death?" asked Discord. "In Chaosville it happens all the time. Even the rocks do it!" he said, holding two rocks, one blue and one red. The blue one suddenly turned into a heroic looking humanoid while the red one turned into a magma themed one and began fighting to the death. "And in Chaosville, chess is much more entertaining!" Twilight jumped as the chess pieces turned into tiny robots and began fighting each other...and wrecking the room in the process. "Discord!" OOC: Inspired by this: youtu.be/u2RQrlvevM8 And also Rocklords reference... Session 81.3 Wolfram-and-Hart "Besides, I'll have you know that I am perfectly qualified to teach, because I helped in the creation of math!" Discord insisted. "Oh really?" Twilight wasn't convinced. "Yes, really! I'll have you know I contributed heavily to it! Every heard of Algebra?" "You invented Algebra?" Twilight asked skeptically. "Of course! Who else but the Spirit of Chaos could come up with such a confusing and backwards concept as using letters instead of numbers in math? Let alone be clever enough to actually have it MAKE SENSE? And to make the way it all works out so complicated and confusing that it drives ponies to madness? Its all me, baby! I AM DISCORD, INVENTOR OF THE QUADRATIC EQUATION!" Discord's voice had been rising through the entire speech until he finally struck a heroic pose wearing a professor's outfit under a spotlight. Discord suddenly realized that the room had become very quiet. Too quiet. He looked to Twilight, who was staring behind him with wide, fearful eyes. He turned to see what she was looking at... and was met with an entire crowd of students, and teachers, glaring at him with a rage that could only come from the victims of that most torturous of school subjects. "...Maybe bragging about inventing Algebra in a school wasn't the best idea." Discord chuckled sheepishly. "GET HIM!" Gallus shouted. And the students charged at the draconequees. "Twilight, I..." He turned just in time to see a flash of magic as Twilight wisely teleported away. "Great idea, I was just thinking of stepping out for a walk!" Discord turned and flew off, the mob of angry students right on hid tail. Session 81.4 Ardashir "So, Rarity," Starlight said as they worked over some game notes for the next session of O&O with the students. Twilight was still on the other side of the Mirror Gate, and they were starting to feel some concern over her. "Have you noticed anything, well, odd about Spike recently?" "What's that darling? Spike?" Rarity looked up from the Overseer's Manual. "No, not really. He has been sleeping a lot, but he is a growing dragon. And he wants to go visit Peewee. That phoenix is growing so big, It may be for the best Spike didn't keep him." "Ah, he shoulda ate him." Garble grumbled from the door as he passed by. "That's what real dragons do. What?" He said as the two unicorns have him horrified looks. "We're apex predators. That's what the Puny Purple Princess's book said. For us not to be eating weaker things is, like, unnatural and stuff." "I remember you 'superior' dragons sending poor little Spikey-wikey in to be attacked by the parent Phoenixes," Rarity said, her voice chilly. "They could have hurt him!" "It woulda taught him to be more careful in the future," Garble said, puffing his chest up. "Besides, he said he wanted ta be a dragon. Dragons are mighty, fearsome, immune ta pain and fear and --" He froze as a flash of light came behind him. All three turned to see Celestia standing there. Philomena was perched on her back. She looked at Garble and her feathers ruffled up. He gulped and began backing away. "Greetings, my little ponies," Celestia said as both Starlight and Rarity bowed to her. "I came here to see if you know what became of Twilight. She went to help Sunset and the rest beyond the Mirror Gate, and --" Her words broke off as Philomena flew straight at Garble from her perch with a scream. 'SKEEEE! Dragon! Nest Destroyer! Egg Smasher!' Talons extended, she grabbed a firm hold of his upper back and started pecking away like a jackhammer. 'You not hurt hatchlings again!' "OWWW! Get offa me ya crazy featherduster!" Garble raced from the room, claws clasped to his head. Philomena showed no mercy, pecking away with fury as Garble ran out through the school. He vanished in the distance with a red feathered fury hanging on and savaging him as he shrieked, "Spike! Ember! Anydragon! HAAAAALP!" The three ponies heard other voices yell from outside. "Oh hey, Smolder, you said to tell you when Garble got humiliated again!" "Yeah, I did! Gallus, it's been only three days, ya owe me five bits." "Philomena will be back when she's done," Celestia calmly said as she turned back to Rarity and Starlight. "But where is Twilight?" *** Universe B Flash Back "Girls?" Twilight stared in disbelief at the grass-green, short, and astoundingly well-developed goblin maidens. "Is, is that you? And why is Sunset on a leash?" "You dirty pony-eating goblins!" Sunset strained at the leash, fighting to escape. She lashed out uselessly at Goblin!Rarity and Applejack with her hands. "Darn it! If I had my forehooves, I'd show you." "Long story," Sci-Twi moaned,, "and we don't have the time for it. Another magic-maddened villain to stop." Session 81.5 Grogar-the-oneser "Question, can we each have our own avatar or do we have to share one, I'm fine for either option, but I am asking for clarification?" Starlight asked. "Hmm, you are the backup player, you're not playing the first round but if you failed, you get the chance to save your friend." Screwball stated. "Okay then." Starlight said. Session 81.6 Alex Warlorn Spike smiled and waved. "Hi Scootaloo! Hi Sweetie Belle... what's with that spell book?" Scootaloo grinned with a demented gleam in her eye. "Spiiiiiike, you never really WANTED wings right? You figured you'd be an 'Earth Dragon' forever riiiiiiiight? So why needlessly disrupt the status quo? Why not giving them a needing crippled foal whose unable to fly? After all, that's the heroic, honorable, and reasonable thing to do... I bet you think they're more trouble than they're worth, that you don't really care for them, and are just looking for an excuse to get rid of them... " Five years Ago Scootaloo said innocently, "Oh Miss Twiliiiiiiight." Session 81.7 Alex Warlorn The leader of the palomino dwarven ponies angrily shook her hoof at the dark forest. "Yer ma was a monster, and yer pa a gerbil, ya dang elves can just-" A wooden arrow entered through the visor slit in the helmet... rigor mortis set in instantly, and Ahjajacajumper lay on the ground stone dead. "ATTACK!" Shouted another palomino dwarf pony as they dwarves charged into the forest after the stupid tree hugging elves. = It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World = "Oh my!" Said one of the yellow fur and pink maned elves fleeing... the palomino dwarves followed... right over a spike pit trap... another dwarf spotted a coin of gold and greedily snagged it... only to have a log trap smash him... the rest began being snipped before they even knew where the enemy was. +++ "And that's what you get for breaking our treaty about tree cutting quota." Fluttershy said from her laptop. Applejack grumbled. "So why is my new Dwarvenfortress multiplayer mode working out?" Sci Twilight asked. Session 81.8 Mtangalion Princess Twilight hesitantly put her hands on the game controls. "Let's see... this stick moves left and right, and this button is jump? Ugh, doing this with hands feels so clumsy! It was easier with magic." The 2D sprite of Punch-It Gilda obediently turned left and right, then hopped up and down. "Are you serious?" she squawked. "Why do you get to tell me what to do? Get Dash over here! I only want her pressing my buttons! ... That sounded bad." Rainbow Dash the goblin snickered. "Sorry, G. I might be a little short to reach the controls right now." Gilda faceclawed. "Ugh, whatever. I just hope Princess Purple-Pants' gaming skills are better than her relationship advice." "Hey!" shouted Princess Twilight. Starlight drew Princess Twilight aside. "You know, you do like adventure games a lot more than the twitchy platform stuff. We should get Button Mash over here." "That's a great idea!" exclaimed Twilight, only to be disappointed moments later when a loud gameshow buzzer sounded, and a lock icon appeared floating in front of the portal statue. Screwball waggled a finger at them. "Nope! No stalling! Play with what you've got... or forfeit!" Twilight gulped, taking the controls once more. "So, what do I do again?" "Pfft, it's easy," said Rainbow Dash. "While Wallflower tries to fix everything, you break it. You know, mess everything up!" Princess Twilight gasped. "M-m-mess things up?!" "Well, we're bucked," said Gilda. "Language!" Screwball snapped her fingers, changing the offensive word to "@#$%!" in Gilda's speech bubble. Session 81.9 Alex Warlorn "Rainbow! What are you even doing here? I thought you girls were too embarrassed to come!" Princess Twilight asked. "Yeah, I know. But when else am I going to be able to boast I was able to around town without my top and nobody could stop me?" "I go around naked all the time, so I wouldn't know." Princess Twilight said. "That's not something to boast about..." Wallflower said. "Nobody blinked when I did it." The others stared. Session 81.10 Kendell2 Twilight took a deep breath. She needed time to think about how to handle this situation. "...Wait! Screwball, is it really fair if I have never played the game before? Could I at least get a tutorial?" Screwball tapped her chin. "Hmm. Sounds fair..." she said. Twilight nodded, looking over the instructions. There had to be a way to resolve this...Peacefully if possible... "Hey! Watch where you'e going!" Gilda yelled as she was run into a wall. "Sorry!" Twilight replied. She looked over to Wallflower as she went through the tutorial level. How could she talk her down? Use this to talk her down... Wallflower's problem was feeling ignored, never acknowledged. Perhaps the way to win this wasn't to treat this as a life or death battle... "Alright...I'm ready..." said Twilight, sitting down at the controls. "Finally..." Wallflower replied, sitting down at her terminal. The game started, with Gilda climbing onscreen and climbing up a building and smashing some windows in the process. Twilight hit buttons, causing Gilda to start smashing the building, smashing more windows and sending rocks down at Diane directly below her, who Wallflower dodged around and started to fix windows with. After a clever move where Wallflower more or less picture perfect dodged a brick to fix a window, Twilight looked over. "Nice move there, Wallflower..." said Twilight, completely sincerely. Wallflower jumped. "Ow!" Diana exclaimed as a brick hit her on the head. "W-What did you say?" asked Wallflower. "That was a nice move," Twilight replied, actually giving her a moment to recover from the shock like a good playmate would. "Stop complimenting the nut!" Gilda exclaimed. "You're trying to distract me!" Wallflower replied, returning to the game. "No, I'm not," said Twilight. "If I was, then why did I stop so you could recover?" she asked, continuing to play. Wallflower growled, but kept playing. "...This is a fun game, thanks for introducing me to it," Twilight replied as Wallflower took the first floor, though got a couple hits. "Stop trying to distract me!" Wallflower replied. "Screwball! Stop her!" Screwball blinked, cocking her head. She brought up a menu of 'forbidden activities in video games' her father had given her. "Sorry, Wallflower, but complimenting your opponent isn't on the list of illegal moves. In fact it's on the 'reward pllays fo good spotsmanship list." "What?!" asked Wallflower, eyes wide. "Ow!" Diane cried as another brick hit her in the head. "...Isn't this what you wanted?" Twilight asked. Wallflower blinked, looking over. "What do you mean by that?" "You said everyone always ignored you...isn't someone playing a game with you like a real person something you wanted?" Session 81.11 Ardashir "Not when they're getting in between me and what I want!" Wallflower worked her controls wildly, dodging the bricks and other debris being hurled at her by Gilda. "Well, what do you want?" Twilight asked her, stopping her in-game attack for a moment. "Attention!" Wallflower almost literally growled. "To be noticed! To matter! To have friends who don't forget me as soon as they look away!" She slammed her hand down on her controls and sent her game character leaping after a power-up. Now glowing and temporarily invincible, she raced after Gilda and sent her flying. "To affect the world and have people notice!" "Well, don't you have all that now?" Twilight indicated the twisted world about them. Wallflower looked and saw the empty smiling faces turned adoringly towards her, Sunset's friends watching on with Sunset still on all fours and pulling at the leash they'd put on her, and in the distance that dopey blue Siren being waited on by the blank-faced other two. She noticed Wallflower watching and waved enthusiastically. "You changed the world," Twilight gently continued. "You affected the world and people noticed." "Are you happy now?" Session 81.12 Mtangalion “Of course I’m happy!” stammered Wallflower Blush. That forced grin was back. “I have plenty of friends now. Yep, more friends than I know what to do with!” She stepped in front of the nearest townspeople, which happened to be a brick-red anthropomorphic stallion walking hoof in hoof with a purple anthropomorphic mare. “Hey guys, are you happy to see me?” “Eeyup, we sure are, Wallflower Blush,” said Big Mac in a distracted monotone. “We are on our way to the park.” “We are very happy,” said Cheerilee. “Our relationship status is 75% and rising. We would never ignore you or make you feel unloved, Wallflower Blush.” Wallflower took a step back, gasping… Young Wallflower Blush sat at the dining room table, not paying much attention to her food… which she’d gotten herself, since mommy and daddy had only set two places at the table again. She waved the doll in her left hand, like it was talking. “We have a surprise for you, Wallflower! From now on, we’ll be your parents!” Then she waved the doll in her right hand and said, “And we’ll never ignore you. We love you, Wallflower!” Her actual parents never reacted or said a word. Screwball’s flutterpony avatar flapped over to Wallflower, nosing her shoulder. “Heh, I guess the AI is still a little rough! Don’t worry, I can plug in some of the advanced stuff that daddy was working on for World of Horsecraft, and…” “Why?” snapped Wallflower. Tears fell from her cheeks, hitting the pixelated ground. “So they can be better fakes? I don’t need dolls to pretend to love me! I could do that myself when I was eight years old!” She clenched her fists, then stalked over towards the video game console. “You! Why did you hit me?!” “Er, me?” said Gilda, pointing a claw at herself. “Well, duh. You were bragging about hurting my friends. And Sunset Shimmer, whoever she is.” “Lightning bolt!” shouted Sunset the goblin, thrusting her spear. “Lightning bolt, lightning bolt! Ugh, why isn’t my magic working? I’ll never become a princess if I can’t pass a simple test like this!” Wallflower gritted her teeth. “Not that! Why did you notice me!? Is it the magic? Are you from the other world too?” Gilda got a sweatdrop hovering behind her pixelated avatar. “Nah, I just visited a couple times. Awesome place, five stars, but…” She scratched her crest. “I guess it’s like Whinneyland. No matter how magical and stuff it was, I couldn’t live there.” Wallflower turned and glared at the statue thoughtfully. “A place with magic that makes people actually care about me? Maybe I need to see it for myself.” “No!” Screwball darted in front of her, buzzing unhappily. “You can’t! If you leave this world, Diane and I can’t go with you!” Session 81.13 Kendell2 Twilight looked to Wallflower, trying to think of how to handle this. "...Wallflower, I don't think the problem is coming from my world...actually, I think part of it is," she said, looking at the memory stone. "...What have you been using that for before now? before this whole revenge scheme of yours?" Wallflower blinked, looking over. "...When I first found the Memory Stone, I only erased little things – awkward hellos, saying the wrong thing, literally any public speaking..." "...I thought you were someone with some magic you didn't understand...I think it's the opposite problem," Twilight said, looking over. "The Memory Stone is TOO in sync with you in all the wrong ways." Wallflower grabbed it and pulled it behind her. "You're not taking this from me!" "I won't take it, we still have a deal..." said Twilight. "But Wallflower, think: even if people forgot you before, if you keep erasing literally everything that goes wrong...isn't that making the situation worse?" Wallflower looked at the Stone when she heard that. Twilight looked at Screwball and noticed she seemed...sad. "And Wallflower...if no one notices or cares about you, what about her?" she asked, pointing to Screwball. "she did ALL OF THIS for your sake..." Wallflower blinked, looking to the AI. "...I..." Screwball down. "Diane is my only friend who I can see all the time besides you...If you go to that other world then...we'll be all alone again..." "...Wallflower, do you think the problem is you might be so hung up on getting people to notice you, you didn't even notice people who DID," replied Twilight. "...Or maybe you're so used to being ignored you don't know what it feels like to be noticed...both are sad...but isn't two friends more than you'll have if you just run off to Equestria?" Wallflower opened her mouth to say something, but was conflicted...then Screwball hugged her. "Please don't go Wallflower!" Session 81.14 Mtangalion with bits by Alex Warlorn Human Discord would have found it fun seeing the staff acting like happy little NPCs normally... except. "We've only got 78 hours until Ascension 1.0 is needed for production!" - "Sunset?! What are you doing here?" Rainbow Dash The goblin asked. As far as Rainbow Dash remembered, Sunset Shimmer wouldn't risk her neck for anyone. "I'm Princess Celestia's student, if I'm going to be princess of all of Equestria, I can't have Princess Celestia hearing how I was a coward hiding while an evil witch her pet demon mind controlled an entire land." "I'm not a witch!" Wallflower argued. "And I'm not a demon!" Screwball added. Fluttershy the goblin, still hugging her oversized chest, along with the rest sneaked out from behind a corner. "And it didn't feel right with just letting her go alone." "GAAAHHH! Who she was completely erased, and you still fall for her 'nice girl' act?!" Wallflower hissed. "WILL YOU STOP THINKING IT'S AN ACT!" Starlight snapped. "If Wallflower says she's pretending then she's pretending." Screwball said. "Wallflower wouldn't lie about that! We're friends!" Twilight and her goblin friends slowly came closer and joined Rainbow, plucking up their courage to be this close to the fearsome “level 10 PC.” Wallflower Blush blinked at Screwball. “You’re… my friends?” Unexpectedly, she slumped her shoulders, then sank to the ground, hugging herself. “I ruined it… Everything always gets ruined for me.” Wallflower looked up at Screwball, anguished. “If you knew… if you could remember, you’d hate me. On the day we first met, when I broke into CrystalSoft thinking that I could erase Sunset Shimmer’s files all by myself, I used the Stone to make you forget I was an intruder, forget you were suspicious of me. Our ‘friendship’ is based on a lie! ... screw it. I'll just erase all the pain..." And the memory stone glowed and the aura went around Wallflower herself. And... "Nothing happened?" Wallflower asked confused. "ARE YOU INSANE?!" Starlight gasped. "I'm guessing because we're still in the middle of a game!" Princess Twilight aid. "And this world is running on rules of games, and the memory stone is the prize, so until the game of Wreck-It-Gilda is over, you, me, and the stone are all in a kinda limbo!" Screwball sighed, then extended her wings and closed her eyes. A flurry of pixelated sparkles transformed her avatar into a young purple human girl with wild swirling curls and a propeller beanie. “Wallflower,” she said, sitting down to look her in the eye. “I know.” Wallflower jumped. “Wha!? How? Since when?” Screwball giggled. “Your magic rock did erase that data from my memory file, but computers have this awesome thing called backups, you know?” She waggled a finger. “Sure, I was pretty steamed when I found out. I made double and triple read-only backups, and I was gonna play along until I figured out how you did it, then drop the hammer on you...” Wallflower cringed. “But then a funny thing happened. I kept checking the backups, and you never messed with my memory again. And I enjoyed playing with you. We even helped save the world together! Wallflower, I don’t hate you.” Diane suddenly appeared too, as a pink anthropomorphic mare. “Well, I’m still pretty mad at her!” she said, jabbing a hoof towards goblin Twilight. “Blowing away all my digital sisters like it was a joke, before they could learn things and get their smarts like me! But, but… ugh!” She stamped her hoof. “Hating you just feels all kinds of not right. It’s like a whole plate full of baked bads burning a hole in my tummy, if I could actually eat real food but the point is I HATE hating you, so hurry up and apologize already so I can forgive you!” Twilight gulped, peeking out from behind Rainbow Dash. “I am so, so sorry! I’ll respect all digital life forms from now on… including Gilda, if you can’t fix her.” Gilda winced. “You had to remind me.” Wallflower… actually smiled. And the geodes carried by Twilight and her friends began to glow in a rainbow of different shades. Rarity beamed. “Wallflower, darling… You don’t need to go to another world, or leave anyone behind. We can show you the magic of friendship right here. It… might smart just a teensy bit, or possibly leave you in a smoldering crater, but you’ll be better for it. It’s never steered us wrong before.” Sunset panicked when she noticed her geode responding. “What? What’s happening?!” Applejack put a hand on her shoulder, realizing at once that Sunset’s geode was the real deal, even if all she could remember right now was Sunset the bully. “It’s gonna be okay, sugarcube, I promise. We’re just gonna have to trust each other.” “Trust?” echoed Sunset, starting to relax and go with it, as the necklaces glowed brighter, levitating them off the ground. Wallflower cringed back, feeling an echo of that awful feeling she’d gotten from the giant rainbow horse in the sky. She looked at the Memory Stone… it would only take a moment to rip all their memories away, to make that rainbow light STOP… but then she looked at Screwball and Diane looking back at her… She went back to the video game cabinets, and Diana had to go back inside the game to finish it. She didn't even try to dodge as Princess Twilight had Wreck-It Gilda send the blocks on top of Diana. "OW! OW! OW! OW! Good thing I'm wearing a hard-hat, oh wait, this is just a cap, OW!" "GAME OVER! WRECK-IT-GILDA WINS!" Diana popped out of the game. Princess Twilight smiled. "I love Wallflower Blush, I am her faithful steed, I exist only for her, a noble steed obeys their player character." Said Gildie The Horse, that frozen smile still on its face as it repeated dialogue lines. "Will School Mother be angry with us for being away from the School Alpha Siren?" Adagio asked, sounding like a scared small child. "Don't worry about that, just listen to me forever," said Sonata using Aria Blaze's head as a fin rest. Wallflower threw her arms around Wallflower and Diana, hugging them tight as the rainbow washed over everything. Session 81.15 Alex Warlorn "My dragon my dragon, I swear myself to queen-mother Tiamat, for now and for eternity!" The students of the friendship school chanted. "SPIIIKE!" "It was just some classic dragon poetry! How was I supposed to know it was an oath of loyalty to Timat?!" "We can't even sing the Equestrian antheme here because they were afraid it would be seen as brainwashing the non-pony students!" Session 81.16 Alex Warlorn "I predict! You shall either be redeemed, blown up, or sent to Tartarus within seven days! Or maybe turned into a bug and kept in Discord's house in a jar, but that's on the low end range of possible futures." "What about where I WIN?!" Chrysalis hissed. "... Even lower." Chrysalis snarled and left the fortune teller's tent. Back at the ruins she called a castle... she broke open the booze, the wuv-kats she'd kept in stasis for a special occasion, and the royal honey from when she was a nymph. "EAT UP MY LOYAL SUBJECTS LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW! BECAUSE THERE ISN'T GONNA BE! RAMPAGE! CAUSE HAVOC! FEED ON PONIES TO YOUR HEART'S CONTENT! BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING WORSE THEY CAN DO TO YOU THAT ISN'T ALREADY GOING TO HAPPEN! HA HA HA!" Chrysalis laughed with insane reckless abandon. - "Your Majesty! A better from your sister!" A black changeling with a red eyes and marks said. "Pst! Chrysalis? Didn't she get the memo? She lost her throne, she failed, she lost everything, she's banned... What does she think she could ever say to me? ... 'Dear Big Sister, Explosive Runes?'" The explosion took out the upper half of the hive. - "Princess Celestia! All of Trottingham was found with their love drained wandering a in a daze saying 'long live the queen!'" - Ocellus was found still alive, but her love drained, and her stuck to a giant sheet of fly paper on the wall outside the school (in a crucified pose) with the message written below, 'Nymphs who betray their own mother for food deserve much worse than this.' Chrysalis' eldest daughter flew away in disguise feeling extremely satisfied. She considered adding how the school was a brainwashing factory for turning them all into ponies inside the skins of their species, and Celestia was more insidious than Mother Chrysalis ever was... but she didn't want to dilute the message. Session 81.17 Alex Warlorn "Hey Cozy Glow," Sandbar said, "Thanks for giving me that other dagger for the twin set of +5 Ghost Touch Vorpal Daggers you found." "It was my pleasure," Cozy Glow said. Shining Armor said, "Well, after rescuing the prince from the ogres, the king is ready to privately reward each of you for your efforts." "Mr. Shining Armor, once we're all private with the king, I give him a biiiiig hug!" "Huh? Okay Cozy!" "THEN I STAB HIM IN THE BACK! BACKSTAB!" Cozy Glow rolled... "The.. the king cries out, and fall down dead." "COZY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Sandbar shouted. Cozy just said, "I let go of the king, and leave the dagger in his back. I shout out as loud as I can, 'THE KING HAS BEEN MURDERED! COME QUICK!'" Shining Armor still in shock said, "The... guards come in, they see you over the king and..." "I point at Sandbar! 'LOOK! He murdered the king! That's his dagger in him!'" A while later, Shining Armor is groaned and said, "... As your friends are hanged, the people declare you a national hero." "COZY! THIS ISN'T HOW YOU PLAY ATHE GAME!" Gallus snarled. "You said your character was chaotic good!" "I lied, she's neutral evil." Cozy Glow gave big sad eyes that would have made the CMC retch. "I'm soooooooorrrrrrrry! I didn't mean to! I thought this was how you played the game!" She broke out crying, making gushers. "C-Cozy it's okay! It's just a game!" "R-really? Okay! Oh! Mr. Shining Armor, I comfort the prince in their dark time for having lost his father..." Again a while later in game. "And so you're now crowned queen after marrying the prince..." "I love a happy ending!" Cozy Glow said. Session 81.18 Alex Warlorn "Gentlestallion and mares of the Equestrian Violence Prevention Board, I have terrible news... all our attempts to eliminate violence in Equestria have failed... If this keeps up, ponies may begin to question why we exist at all, or may demand we all resign and have new ponies take our place." "Sir! I may have a solution!" "I am listening." "What if we bully another land, like Neighpon, to ban PRETEND violence?" "But that won't affect real violence at all!" "Of course not sir, but it will make us look competent, and anyone who defends Neighpon's right to pretend violence will look like they love violence!" "BRILLIANT! GET ON IT RIGHT AWAY!" - Empress of Neighpon Haruhi snapped, "HEY! Where's my copy of No More Princesses 3: Touchdown Torches Back?!" Session 81.19 Alex Warlorn "Okay Lyra, you get extra experience for charming the waitress, and she tells you who paid her to put those knock-out drops in your cider!" Said Doctor Hooves. Bon Bon snorted, could this game be anymore inaccurate to what real secret agents did? At least Maternity could never find out about this, right? - Button Mash shouted dramatically, "I unleash my Hidden Forbidden Secret Jutsu!" Button Mash proceeded to do the hoof signs in real life. "The giant tapir appears, and proceeds to stampede over the ranks and file evil ninjas attacking your ninja village!" Cheered Ruby. Maternity love tap groaned, could this game get how actual ninjas were anymore wrong? At least Sweet Drops wouldn't find out about this... right? Session 81.20 Kendell2 The Memory Stone shattered to bits, stolen memories flying out of it and back to their owners...well, at least those who'd only be lost within its time limit... Sunset and friends instantly hugged...then realized something... "Uh, why are we still like this?" asked Applejack, looking at herself. "Well, I'm a horse but at least I'm me again..." said Gilda. "Wait, if you're me, who am I?!" asked Virtual Gilda. Both stared at each other, then screamed. Meanwhile Adagio tried to throttle Sonata. "Screwball used her magic to do all this, not the Memory Stone..." said Princess Twilight. "Oops...Screwball, will you please turn everything back?" Wallflower. "Aww, okay..." said Screwball, snapping her fingers and everything turning back to normal. "Uh, Sunset, how is that little gal so dang strong?" asked Applejack. "Well in Equestria, she's kinda a Demi-Goddess, her father's the reality warping Spirit of Chaos," replied Princess Twilight. "So probably because of that." "Is it really a good idea to leave her runnin' around with that much power?" Applejack questioned. "Not much we can really do about it, since the Elements just turned Discord to stone..." Sunset replied. "And that'd just make things worse at the moment..." "Wow, I really like these outfits a lot more than our old ones, darlings," said Rarity, looking at their new outfits. Sci-Twi looked down...then walked over to Diane. "...Are you really one of my AIs?" "...Yes...Screwball says we're the same..." Diane replied sadly. "...I'm sorry...I didn't know..." Sci-Twi replied. "Wait...Screwball's an AI?!" "Oops..." Diane said, covering her mouth. "Please don't tell anyone!" Screwball said. "I'm probably already going to be in really, really big trouble with daddy!" "...Please?" Wallflower asked, knowing this was all her fault. "...Fine, we won't..." Sci-Twi replied. "Probably Equestrian magic..." said Rainbow Dash. "Nope! I was 'self aware' before I got magic!" Screwball replied. "...Who's your father?" Sunset asked. "Discord..." "And now it all makes sense." Session 81.21 Ardashir "Ulp! Glub!" Sonata struggled wildly against both the water around her as well as against the two pairs of hands tightening round her throat. "Dagi! Aria! We have to -- glub -- get out or we'll drown!" "I DON'T CARE!" Adagio roared, somehow not swallowing half the basin as she kept throttling Sonata. "You used us like slaves! Made us wait on your every whim claw and fin! Treated Aria like your personal tail rest!" Adagio's hand tightened even more. "Do you know what that make you?" "A real Siren, just like both of you?" Sonata gasped out. The pressure on her throat stopped as her stunned sisters let go. "Well," Adagio finally said, sitting down at the side of the pool with her chin in one hand. "You got us there. Good job taking advantage of our weakness, Sonata." Sonata smiled at the unexpected praise. "Let's go home, we still have to go to work tomorrow." Session 81.22 sonicandmario826 Adagio gave a smirk. "Though you still realize we're getting rid of all your tacos when we get home." Sonata gasped. "Including your secret stash." "How did you know about that?!" "I'm telling you Sonata under the bed is not a good hiding spot for things." "Bu...but I thought you were proud of me being a true Siren?" "I am, but I'm still getting back at you for what you did." Session 81.23 Mtangalion In the digital world, Screwball and Diane had spawned brooms, dustpans, mops, and a bulldozer or two to clean up the mess left over from the physical world merging with the CrystalSoft game servers… again. “Whew!” exclaimed Screwball, wiping imaginary sweat from her brow. “I’ll be glad when… uh, what’s that?” There was a large pixelated egg sitting in a cleared space. Diane shrugged. “I thought you left it there.” She twirled and whipped out a Star Trot handheld scanner, suddenly sporting a miniskirt and pointy ears. “Sensors indicate that this is… a griffon egg?!!” She gasped so hard, she flew right off the ground for a moment. “You didn’t keep a copy of Gilda, did you?” Screwball blinked, her beanie buzzing in agitation. “What? No! I put all of Gilda’s memories back in her plain old boring human body, I swear. This must be leftover data.” She gulped. “But with all the Equestrian magic still floating around here… Oh no!” The egg started rocking back and forth, and an adorable griffon hatchling burst out and struck a pose, complete with a celebratory rock guitar fanfare. It did look sort of look like Gilda, if you squinted… and if Gilda was one of the cutesy happy singing griffons from the Crystals and Rainbows game. “Cheap!” Diane peered at it, scratching her curls. “Cheep?” “Cheap!” The hatchling darted away, zipping through the air like a hummingbird. “Gimme food!” she chirped, pecking at a stack of unused digital cupcakes. Then she darted over to a pile of gold coins from the game, cramming them into her shiny new inventory. “Gimme bits!” Screwball facepalmed. “I’m gonna be in even more trouble. Help me hide her before… What are you doing?!” The hatchling was perched in Diane’s hair, purring at her scritches. “I couldn’t help it!” said Diane. “She flew over here and cheeped ‘Gimme hugs!’ Ooh, what do you think we should name her?” “Young lady!!” boomed the voice of Lead Designer Discord from the heavens. “The server is going haywire! Did you go and create another intelligent program, before I've even punished you for the last thing you did?!” Screwball grinned nervously, twitching. “Um, technically no…” Session 81.24 Alex Warlorn "Hey Locust!" "Yeah Glow Worm?" The two "True Changelings" said to each other. "What if it's not Her Majesty who gets redeemed, BUT US?!" Their compound eyes filled with terror at the thought, and their inevitable unescapable march towards redemption. "Well, if that's the case... there's only thing to do." Locust shape shifted into Fancy Pants. "Follow Her Majesty's example and go hog wild while we're still bad guys and can get away with that sort of thing!" "Uh, wouldn't that decrease our chances for redemption? Not that that isn't a 'good' thing, but wouldn't that make things harder later?" "NAW! Ponies will forgive anything. All our siblings who invaded Canterlot with the intent of draining every love-sack in there dry, a pony who ripped apart time and space, the frggin' spirit of chaos himself. You could blow up a planet and ponies will be tripping over themselves to forgive you." "What about Nightmare Moon?" "She was apparently a poor misunderstood innocent filly who was possessed by-" A loud horn blew suddenly out of nowhere. A pony lawyer presented the changelings with a notice, and trotted away. Locust read the sheet of paper, "Oh, guess we're not allowed to talk about that anymore. Point is, since we're not redeemed yet, but we're about to be in apparently five days... we can do whatever the heck we want, and ponies will forgive us for it!" - "Was that Fancy Pants?! Stealing candy from a baby?!" - "Peeved! Peeved! Peeved! Peeved! And your foals are ugly!" Shouted 'Fluer'. - "Did Diamond Tiara just set fire to the Ponyville orphanage?" Session 81.25 Kendell2 Wallflower sat in her room. Screwball was grounded, but Diane was still in contact from both of them. She then blinked as she booted up Rainbows and Crystals...to find an invite from a certain pony, as well as a gift. In a rare moment in her life, she smiled with a bit of tears. "...Someone remembered me..." "Okay, so..." said Discord, rubbing his head. "Despite all the delays, supernatural craziness, and so on, I managed to get things all set with Ascension..." he said, vibrating and twitchy. "And it only took two entire pots of coffee!...I can't close my eyelids..." he said, eye twitching. "...Right..." Chrysalis said flatly. "Okay, so that's another world threatening disaster," said Princess Twilight said as she returned to Equestria. "...And I SO need an O&O session right now." Session 81.26 Ardashir 'Fleur' skipped down the street, passing horrified ponies. 'She' snatched a lollipop from a foal and licked it, smiling to hear the brat cry behind her. "Hah! This is wonderful. I can do anything I want and I'll never be punished for it --" 'She' froze as magic gripped her tightly. "Are you SURE about that, 'sister'?" The transformed Changeling turned to see the real Fleur de Lis -- wearing the barding of Old Prance and with a lance strapped to her side. The tip glittered balefully in the light. "I was going to visit that 'Battle of the Nations' I heard about from Prince Shining Armor," the real Fleur said as she lowered the visor on her helmet. "I love nothing so much as a good joust. But if you think you can taint my good name?" She lowered her head, snorted and scraped one forehoof against the ground. A minute later the confused ponies of Canterlot saw a screaming Fleur de Lis galloping fown the street being pursued by an armored Fleur de Lis. The running one was shrieking, "HEY! WHAT HAPPENED TO PONIES BEING FORGIVING OF EVERYONE?" Her pursuer snorted. "Not when it's MY reputation being shredded!" Session 81.27 Alex Warlorn "So wait, so everyone remembers being empty headed NPCs for Wallflower's personal fantasy world, AND that their memories of Sunset Shimmer were tampered with?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I'm not worried," Sci-Twi said, "What's the worst that could happen?" +++ "YOU! I remember everything!" Said human Starlight Glimmer. "Uh, hi..." Session 81.28 Kendell2 Human Rainbow Dash walked by...then noticed Trixie sitting at the table at lunch, looking sad. "...Hey Trix," she said, walking over. "...Hello..." "...Okay, something wrong?" Rainbow Dash asked, sitting down next to her. "Trixie...feels like she got left out," Trixie replied. "Trixie got magic last time and helped defeat Dra-Gon...this time she didn't even get to BE there...well, she was, but she was brainwashed...again..." "...So was I," Rainbow Dash replied. "I got to help fire the harmony laser, but Twilight did all the work...Just because you didn't get to help doesn't man you got left out...I wish I didn't..." "...Trixie doesn't know how she should feel about that..." "Hey, you're on the shortlist of allies," replied Rainbow Dash. "We called Gloriosa last time, and you're kinda higher on the list now." She left out the fact that was mainly because the former Gaea Everfree lifted a good distance and thus her getting there could be problematic. "...Really?" Rainbow Dash smiled. "Yeah...plus it could be worse, you could be Juniper who showed up just to get blasted into a wall..." "...True..." "So...wanna come to the World of Horsecraft Ascension launch with us? We got VIP passes." Trixie gave a smirk. "Trixie is definitely up for that." Session 81.29 Mtangalion (with edits) In an empty classroom at Twilight’s Academy of Gaming and Friendship, Smolder was excitedly flying loops in the confined space. “You brought it? You actually found a copy!?” Mina, who had just shut and locked the door, grinned and pulled a board game box out of a satchel. “Pfft, we saved a whole warehouse full of these. The griffons were just going to burn them anyway.” Spike, hovering in midair just because he could… and nodragon could fault him for that… gasped. “Grabby Grabby Griffons?” “Yeah!” whooped Garble, kneading his claws. “The perfect celebration of greed in all its…um, greediness!” Mina chuckled. “Just don’t celebrate your greed so much that you grow right out of the school.” Spike shuddered, but Garble and Smolder looked intrigued. “... in the middle of Ponyville, where you’d get punished for it.” “Oh,” said Garble, not looking so eager now. “Good point,” added Smolder grudgingly. She opened the game box and helped Mina set the board up. “Looks like the person who goes first is the first to grab the dice…” She had a brief scuffle with Garble. “Hah, mine! I roll… five!” She moved her token. “Grab 10 bits while nogriffon is looking. Cool.” “You know,” mused Spike, “I’ve been meaning to ask something. Any of you guys could have told me that all dragons get wings, and when and how I’d get mine, but none of you did! I mean, except for Smolder, and she still kinda left out the most important part! What’s up with that?” Garble reached over and gave Spike’s headfins a “friendly” noogie. “Gosh, how can I put this... Duh? Dragons are jerks.” “That’s fair,” admitted Mina. She rolled the dice and moved her token. “Steal seven bits from the player on your right. Cool!” Garble groused as half of his bits were snatched. “Hey now!” protested Smolder. "How was I supposed to know that you didn't know? Everydragon knows that stuff!" Spike folded his arms. "Every dragon who isn't living with ponies, with no other dragons around! Maybe if you guys answered your mail now and then? I know Twilight wrote a lot letters trying to get more info about dragon stuff." Garble shrugged. “Whoa, she's the one who did that? I heard some pony wrote so many annoying letters to Dragon Lord Ember that she ordered all the rest of them tossed in a volcano.” “And we put her on the dragon mail spam filter,” added Mina. “There must be an entire crater on the Moon filled with letters by now.” Somewhere far away, a princess raged about littering on her Moon, and Mina shivered without knowing why. Spike sighed as he rolled and moved his token. “Hey, guys! I earned one bit for doing honest work! ... Seriously, though, some of those questions were important! Like, why can’t dragons walk on clouds?” He drummed his claws on the table. “Rainbow Dash just about laughed her head off watching me try for half an hour.” Smolder scratched her chin. “Wait, I remember my mom telling me that one. Dragon magic is earth because we’re super tough, and fire because… we’re dragons, duh! Clouds are wind and water, so the cloud walking thing? Doesn’t really work for us.” Garble rolled and moved his token to a golden square. “Your flock rules the roost! Extort five bits from everygriffon! Yes!” “It’s okay, you can have these,” said Spike, as he pushed a stack of bits over. “I’m not using them for anything right now.” The other dragons all looked at him, then shook their heads slowly. “I’m just glad that the worst is over, you know, with this Molt thing out of the way and all.” Garble blinked, then cackled, grinning from ear to ear. Spike froze. “Um, Garble? Buddy? There’s more?!” Mina tapped her chin. “Oh, that’s right! Boy dragons have their first Big Bulk-Up after the Molt, don’t they?” Smolder grinned, nodding. “They get rude, crude, and ravenous!” She blushed. “It’s kind of hot, actually.” Garble guffawed and elbowed Spike. “If I’d been living in a castle made of gems, there wouldn’t have been anything left by the time I was done!” Spike gulped, and gnawed on his claws nervously. “Heh… sorry I asked?” Session 81.30 Ardashir, Mtangalion, Alex Warlorn, sonicandmario826 "I NEVER WANT TO HEAR ANY OF US COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR CHEST SIZES AGAIN." Rarity told her friends after their time as 'short stack goblins.' "Hey, I never complained in the first place!" Rainbow Dash said, hands on hips. "I prefer being sleek and aerodynamic; it's better for an athlete. Not everyone needs ta be like AJ, anyway." "Okay, Dash, what exactly does that mean?" Applejack asked in a very chilly tone. "Yeah what did you mean Dashie?" Pinkie Pie asked innocently. "Heh, well," Dash grinned self-consciously. "I've heard the guys talking about how you an' Fluttershy have more curves than a mountain highway, an' about being 'top-heavy'. Uh, not that I listen to stuff like that." “ She means her apples are extra large.” Zephyr Breeze said while he walked by. Everyone looked towards Applejack who just took a heavy sigh and began walking towards Zephyr cracking her knuckles saying, “ Ok Zephyr, were going to have a nice talk on what not to say to girls.” "BIG SISTER! HELP ME!" Zephyr Breeze shouted to Fluttershy. “Hmmmm.... I guess I should go get them before she kills him.” “Wow, I think this is the first time I saw you hesitate helping someone.. though I can’t say I blame you.” "He's a teenage boy, it's not like he's spent decades of his life living with his parents long after he's supposed to have gotten a job." “Trust me he makes it feel that way.” Rainbow nodded, “Yeah and for some reason it feels like he’s been hitting on me for decades too.” The human Twilight slipped away from the group, glancing around to make sure she was alone. "Um, Screwball? Are you still plugged into the physical world? I wouldn't mind if... you know, you enhanced my figure. Just a little bit... for science!" An answering machine beep sounded from thin air, followed by Screwball's voice. "Sorry, I can't come to the reality interface right now. Daddy says I'm grounded forever. Or until it's crunch time and he needs me to fix all the bugs in Ascension. Beep! Psst, this is where you leave a message! Bye!" "Want to borrow fursuit?" asked Alisa brightly. "Alisa has one that's especially top-heavy, good for all sorts of games!" Twilight nearly jumped out of her socks. "Gah!" Session 81.31 All-Overboard “Discord? Discord?” Sombra looked over his lead programmer who was fully being taken out in an ambulance due to his eyes needing better care. “Radiant! I'm gonna take over the release for Ascension!” “Okay! I'll look over the company until then.” Hope called out as she wheeled her chair back into the room. “We'll go ahead and get that announcement video set up for this smaller con. Whose bright idea was it to set this up for this place.” Sombra muttered under his breath as he dragged along Thorax who had helped set up some of the new quests in the war torn version of Equestria. “Sir? I'm grateful for the vote of confidence but why am I being dragged into helping present this thing.” Thorax wheezed as he held his hand against his heart which was ready to jump out of his body. “Because I'm gonna be working on the last few tweaks before launch and you're gonna make sure Tirek doesn't get too into character when he reveals his character to the world. Damn contracts… “ Sombra hissed as the car sped along towards the the center. “Did you set up the VIP Lounge as well?” “Yes sir. We've even put up the sign of joining a party with President of CrystalSoft during the event at your discretion. We have sent word to Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle to join us for the day to make sure to sign merchandise and such.” Thorax explained. “Good. Make certain that they remember to smile… god knows Hope makes me do it more often than not.” Sombra sighed as they pulled into the center parking lot. Waiting for the two was the large intimidating Tirek smiling wistfully while his small attendant Little Pip kept herself close enough to be associated with him but far enough to stay out of arm’s reach. Sombra took a deep breath… pulled out his suitcase and strode to the pair as gracefully as he could. Thorax, while a nervous wreck, managed to not stumble over his feet and the presentation would soon be underway. Session 81.32 Alex Warlorn "Sooo... Gilda, you remember being an empty headed happy horse?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I'm not sure 'being' ia the right words Dash, more like I was just going through the motions like in some dream." "Soulless NPC, got it." Rarity said, "Maybe we'll get lucky and there's some brainwashing residue that'll keep people from treating Wallflower like they did Sunset... I never thought I'd say those words... But that girl is such a wreck that going from being ignored by everyone to being treated as Sunset Shimmer 2.0 would put her on suicide watch!" - "So you just found the magic rock in the ground!? And it was apparently buried for ... who knows how long!?" Human Starlight asked. "... I don't get it either... if I believed in destiny I'd say it's like I was destine to have it or something." Session 81.33 Mtangalion (inspired by an image linked by Trooper924, and some spot RP with him and Alex) “Good morning, class,” said Professor Rarity brightly, “and welcome back to Generosity 101!” Using her magic, she wrote the name of the class on the blackboard with a piece of chalk, and started a record playing some light harpsichord music. “Today we’ll be learning one of my favorite games: Which Outfit Do You Prefer?” She brought in three racks full of clothes with a twirl of her horn, then sent them flying towards the students. “Hey, I’m looking pretty sharp,” said Sandbar, craning his neck to get a better look at his black tuxedo jacket.” “A sweater vest?!” squawked Gallus. He turned around several times. “Huh, this is actually pretty comfy. But lose the bowtie.” “But bowties are cool,” said Rarity, pouting a bit... but she jotted down the feedback. She blinked at another student. “Are you having some trouble with the fitting… sorry, what was your name again? Cold Nose?” The black and grey earth pony colt with a red star cutie mark was snarling, and he seemed to be trying to claw his dress shirt and tie off with his bare hooves, oddly. “Don’t like it, not one bit! Collar is plenty enough clothes!” But even his reaction was mild compared to Smolder’s. “Get. It. Off!” roared the young dragoness, hissing at the tight blue and gold Gala-worthy dress that Rarity had magicked onto her. “Get it off now! It’s our Tiamat-given right to fly around naked!” She swiped with her claws and even breathed fire on herself, but to her horror, the garment was undamaged. “There, there,” said Rarity soothingly. “Fancy dress can indeed be a little uncomfortable at first. You have to sort of relax into it, like… ah! Like a soak in a hot bath... or perhaps a sea of molten lava in your case. Just relax and flow, relax and flow…” Smolder perked up. “Lava! That’s a GREAT idea!” She flew out of the classroom at top speed. There was a muffled explosion of unbinding magic from the direction of the Dragon Dormitory and its communal lava bath, and then Smolder strutted back in, proudly bare in her scales once more. Rarity leaned out into the hallway and spotted Twilight, looking concerned about the explosion and the buzz in the halls. “Twilight, darling, do you have any stronger heat-damping charms? I’ll never break into the Dragon Town market at this rate.” Twilight just groaned and facehoofed.