Rainbow fought valiantly, but the match was pretty much a foregone conclusion. Not that Dash wasn’t good, but she’d gotten to the finals with luck, trickery, and her usual flavor of confidence that sometimes bordered on being arrogant or almost out-of-touch with reality. When it came to Nightmare Moon, Rainbow didn’t manage any lucky shots and she didn’t even try making out with me to throw the other woman off her game.
I’d asked Dad to take Sparks and our armies home while I stuck around. It was a pretty safe bet that Rainbow would need a bit of cheering up after getting second place. It probably bugged her more than if she’d just gone down earlier in the tournament, since she could’ve just laughed it off as not being that serious and that she’d just been in the game for fun. Making it to the finals was enough to get her fired up and competitive, and then it got snatched away.
I rubbed her shoulders as we stepped out into the parking lot. “Hey, don’t be so down. You still made it all the way to the finals.”
Rainbow sighed. “Yeah, I guess.”
I frowned and shifted a bit, wrapping an arm around her shoulders in a half-hug. “You okay?”
“M’fine.” She took a deep breath, then put her usual confident grin back in place. “C’mon, I’m not about to crack up just because I lost. I still got all the way to the finals, kicked butt and looked good doing it. I’d say we should go get pizza or something to celebrate, but I’m still kinda full from those wings.”
“I’m sure we’ll come up with something.” I grinned and bumped her hip. “Something we can do alone. Together. When our parents aren’t expecting us back for a while.”
Rainbow snorted and rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t keep a smile off her face. “Sounds like a plan to me.” She wrapped an arm around me in turn. “So I was thinking ... maybe I should come up with a persona and outfit like Nightmare Moon.”
“Oh yeah?” I smirked and poked her. “But you’re already awesome just as your normal self.”
“Awesomeness isn’t just an on or off switch, Kicker,” Rainbow explained. “There’s levels to it and variations and stuff. A good costume could help change things up, add a bit more gravitas to my setup. That’d be a great way to psych the other players out.”
“I guess that does make sense,” I conceded. “At least I can count on you not pulling a Sparkler and using it as an excuse to prance around half-naked.”
Rainbow groaned and rolled her eyes. “What is her deal anyway? I swear, she is such a teenager sometimes.” I was about to comment on that when she carried on. “And yes, I know it’s kinda weird to say that when we’re teenagers too, but come on. She stole one of your moms beers out of the fridge, she tries to get away with wearing skimpy clothes, and I’d bet she’s up to a bunch of other stuff we don’t know about.”
“Yeah, I get it.” I sighed and shrugged. “Aunt Wind thinks it’s a combination of a teenager thing, a middle child thing, and an adopted thing. Like, she’s kinda subconsciously testing Mom and Dad to see if they really love her, or if they’ll drop her back at the orphanage the first time she gets on their nerves.”
“Oh.” Rainbow went quiet, frowning to herself. “That’s ... actually kinda sad. I mean, wow. Think we can do anything to help?”
“Aunt Wind said it’s just something she’ll have to work through,” I answered. “Long as she doesn’t go too crazy, I figure the best thing to do is just kinda show that even if she’s a total brat who gets on our nerves, she’s still family.”
“Makes sense.” Dash and I were halfway back to my car when we heard the shop door opening up behind her. Rainbow spun around and grinned when she saw Nightmare Moon leaving, carrying her army in a fancy rolling case. “Hold up, Kicker. If I’m gonna do the whole costume thing I wanna ask a pro how she came up with that whole shtick.” I followed behind as Rainbow scampered over to the mysterious costumed woman. “Hey, hold up a sec!”
Nightmare Moon turned towards us, her barely visible lips curling up in a grin. “What is it you seek, mortal? Do you desire the infinite wisdom of Nightmare Moon?”
“Yeah, sure.” Rainbow grinned, looking over the elaborate costume. The whole cloak, robe, and armor combo were pretty impressive, even if it lost a bit of its dramatic glamour when Nightmare Moon was loading up the trunk of her car rather than making a dramatic entrance. All that black had to be nasty in hot weather, too. Dash took a moment to suppress her fangirl glee before continuing. “Just wanted to say that was a really good game. I’m really digging the whole get up and drama routine. How’d you come up with it?
“Ah, this.” Nightmare Moon took a deep breath and her posture shifted a bit, and when she spoke her voice wasn’t quite so dramatic. Guess that meant she was breaking character. “I got the idea from some old stories and comics, and some metal art covers. Mix it all together and add a bit of inspiration, and...”
“Cool.” Rainbow’s grin got bigger as she doubtless started throwing together ideas for her new outfit. “Loved the entrance, by the way. The laughter was a nice touch.”
“Thank you.” Nightmare Moon smiled back. “I decided if I was going to play up a character I might as well go all in. I didn’t spend hours making my costume just to be subtle with my performance. Besides, it’s far too much fun to go full ham and start chewing the scenery.”
“Yeah, you don’t do awesome by going halfway.” Rainbow frowned and rubbed her chin. “So now I gotta figure out what to do for myself. Sure, Rarity could probably make any outfit I came up with, but I don’t wanna bug her about that until I’ve got it all locked down. I’d do it myself, but ... well, last time I tried to do my own costume she freaked out and insisted on redoing everything at the last minute.”
“I saw that costume,” I shot back. “You needed the help. I mean, cyborg werewolf pirate is cool in concept, but it takes a lot of work to make it happen.” I grinned and pitched my voice to a fair imitation of our resident fashionista. “And worst of all, darling, the fake blood on your clothes was more of a scarlet when something like vermillion or crimson would have complimented things much better, darling.”
“Those are all just different names for red,” Rainbow grumbled under her breath. She shook her head and turned back to Nightmare Moon. “Anyway, I’ll come up with something in time for when I take you on next year. I’m gonna have to up my game though. And re-do the paint job on my army—I thought mine looked good, but yours was awesome. And some of those minis you had were sculpts from first edition!”
Nightmare Moon grinned. “I have been playing the game for long enough to have picked up quite a few of the older pieces. I actually have a lot more old ones I keep at home because they’re pewter. The sculpts and detailing are impressive, but molded plastic is far easier to carry around and doesn’t need quite as much repair-work.”
“No kidding,” I grumbled. I’d gotten used to including a spare superglue in my army’s traveling case for emergency repairs just in case anything got knocked loose in transit.
“So what’s the secret to getting as good as you?” Rainbow asked.
Nightmare Moon chuckled. “Practice. There’s no secret that will make you instantly beat everyone you play against. And really, you’re doing fine for someone who’s still fairly new to the game.” She grinned. “And you’ve certainly put together a very unique list. The current edition was a step up in most regards, but the meta’s heavy focus on theme lists has made it rare to see someone throw half a dozen disparate elements together, and even rarer for someone to do that and actually make it work.”
“Thanks! I, uh...” Rainbow frowned and started digging through her pockets. “Darn, I wish I had something to give you. You know, for being so cool and beating me and everything. All I got is this.” She pulled out a couple crumpled up coupons for jello she had left over from her rather considerable bulk purchase earlier this week. “Um, here. Better than nothing, right?”
Nightmare Moon frowned down at the coupon as if it had done something to offend her, then waved her off. “It’s quite alright, I don’t need anything. To be quite honest, I am almost tempted to share the gift certificate they were offering as a prize considering how often I’ve won the tournament.” She smirked, then repeated, “Almost. They did just release several new units for my army...”
Rainbow grinned and offered her hand. “Just remember, next time I’ll be ready for you.”
Nightmare Moon shook it. “I look forward to it.”
“Gotta get to the finals first, Dash,” I cut in. “And I don’t plan on losing to your exploding bears and ninja elves twice. I’ll be the one taking on Nightmare Moon.”
Rainbow grinned. “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to have someone to help me warm up before we get to the main event. Besides, if we’re both gonna be changing things up and experimenting with new lists, it only makes sense to have a practice partner.”
“Trying out new stuff is where a lot of the fun comes in,” I agreed. “Whether it’s Dash finding a way to make all-out crazy work or me being a bit more grounded. I mean, even with my more focused list-building there’s plenty of room to try new things.”
“Yeah.” Rainbow smirked and bumped her hip against mine. “As long as we’re having fun, there’s no wrong way to do it.”
“Well, if it’s in a tournament we do kind of have to follow all the rules,” I pointed out. “I think your first half-dozen ideas for the Legion of Awesome involved lists that didn’t follow the force organization rules.” I was fine with ignoring one or two of those rules for a fun game between just the two of us, but when it was playing for keeps at an official event...
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I meant more generally, butthead.” She smirked and tapped my nose. “And speaking of fun, maybe next time I pull a prank you’ll be smart and join up. If you’re gonna whine about my cover story, help me come up with a better one.”
I shrugged. “Maybe, depends on what you’re doing. If you want me to be your prank tactician, you gotta run those plans by me first.”
“Yeah, yeah...” Rainbow glanced down at Nightmare Moon’s army case. “You need any help getting that loaded up?”
“I've got it.” She took the case up to a car that looked vaguely familiar, though I couldn’t quite place it. She shut the army case in her trunk, then turned back to us. “Though if you’re going to do any more pranks, perhaps you shouldn’t do them at school.”
Rainbow scoffed. “But that’s the best place to...” She trailed off, frowning. “Wait, I didn’t say anything about the two of us doing any pranks at school.”
Nightmare Moon cleared her throat. “The two of you are obviously still school-aged. Where else would you be doing pranks?”
“At home?” I pointed out. “We’ve got time after school and on the weekends, and I’ve got two little sisters who deserve to be ruthlessly crushed for crimes of existing and being younger than me. And also bratty and stuff.”
“Plus it’s always fun to mess with your friends,” Rainbow pointed out. “Really, they’re the best ones to prank, since you know they’ll get that it’s all in good fun.” She frowned and shook her head. “And really, why would you even care if we’re doing pranks at school?”
I frowned and shook my head. “Okay, maybe I’m going crazy, but I could swear I’ve seen that car before.” I tried to think about it, but I couldn’t quite place it. There was definitely something familiar...
Nightmare Moon coughed and shuffled back. “Well, I better get going. There are some things I need to do around the house before the work week...”
Rainbow narrowed her eyes, studying her exposed jawline carefully. “So Kicker ... you think maybe you recognize her car from that time you parked in the faculty lot?” Nightmare Moon’s jaw twitched like she was struggling to restrain herself, and Rainbow’s eyes widened. “No way. It can’t be ... Vice-Principal Luna?!”
I stared at her for a bit. “Holy crap, you’re right!”
Nightmare Moon sighed and pulled her hood back, revealing her face. There was enough heavy makeup to obscure her features, but now that I knew she was Luna it was impossible to un-see it. “I suppose it was inevitable someone would recognise me, despite my best efforts.”
Rainbow stared up at her, struggling to come up with any words. I managed to recover a bit faster. “So ... wow. Okay, I have so many questions. Let’s start with something simple. What’s the deal with the costume?”
Vice-Principal Luna sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “It makes things far less complicated for everyone. Most of the other players here are either current students or recent enough ones that it would still be awkward for them if I walked into the store as ... myself. I would hardly want to ruin everyone’s afternoon just because I wanted a game.”
“Okay, I get that.” I certainly would’ve felt weird about trying to play the game against Luna, or even doing it while she was watching us. Shining Armor was probably the only player there who wouldn’t have been weirded out by the whole thing, and that was just because he went to Crystal Prep instead of CHS.
“Plus it’s one of those chain of command things Cloud’s always going on about,” Rainbow piped up. “You know, the whole ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ thing you always hear army guys talking about in movies.” I resisted the urge to point out that those two principles had nothing to do with each other. “Kinda hard to take the Vice-Principal seriously if you see her pitting her squad of mutant zombie ogres against a bunch of ninja elves.”
“Quite,” Vice-Principal Luna agreed. “That’s one of the reasons it’s always been something of an unwritten rule that students and school staff shouldn’t mingle outside school environs.”
“And breaking that rule would make the PTA a PITA,” I concluded.
“Language, Miss Kicker,” Vice-Principal Luna chided.
“I knew half the acronyms you used involved dirty words,” Rainbow mumbled, nudging me.
“But yes,” Luna continued. “Doubtless someone would make a fuss. And regardless, it’s not exactly fun if my students worry about playing their best because they don’t want me to hold a grudge, or letting me win in the hope of currying favor. Not that I would, but...” She shrugged helplessly. “The circumstances would make the entire situation very uncomfortable for all involved. Which is why I would prefer it if you two didn’t go all around school telling everyone about this.”
“Yeah. I guess it would suck if people overreacted and got you into a bunch of trouble over a little harmless fun.” Rainbow pointedly crossed her arms over her chest.
Luna turned to her with a raised eyebrow. “I think the school’s janitorial staff would disagree with your definition of ‘harmless’.”
“Still, maybe you could go a little easy on her?” I suggested. “I mean, it was just Rainbow being her usual awesome and kinda silly self. Maybe just do something like make her help clean up the pool instead? I’m sure she’s learned her lesson.”
“Yeah!” Rainbow nodded along. “I totally learned my lesson, and I promise I won’t do it ever again. Like Pinkie’d say, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
Luna fixed the full weight of her skeptical gaze on Rainbow. “You were just discussing your plans for your next school prank with Cloud before you found out who I was.” Rainbow flinched and shuffled, prompting Luna to carry on. “I presume that what you are actually promising with that intentionally vague pronoun is that you’ll never turn the school pool into jello again, not that you won’t perform any more pranks at all.”
“Damn, she’s good,” Rainbow mumbled under her breath.
Luna sighed and leaned against her car. “That said ... plainly getting three weeks of detention has done nothing to deter you from pranking if you’re already planning your next stunt. In light of that, perhaps we should consider something a bit less conventional.”
Rainbow perked up, a cautiously optimistic smile working its way onto her lips. “Oh yeah?”
I saw an opening and took it. “She is a pretty good painter, and you did mention you were about to get a bunch of new models.”
Luna thought about it for a moment, then chuckled and nodded. “Well, I suppose there’s no harm in seeing what she can do. At the very least, she can take care of priming, assembling, glueing, and base-coating everything. It’s a better use for her time than what Ms Harshwhinny tells me she usually gets up to in detention.”
“Homework?” Rainbow suggested.
“Napping while trying to make it look like you’re doing homework,” Luna corrected. “Or trying to find ways of staving off boredom that aren’t quite noticeable enough to get caught. If you’re in detention, we might as well have you do something useful.”
“Works for me,” Rainbow agreed. “Maybe we can even fit in a couple practice games once all that’s done? I mean, what’s the point of new models if you can’t try ‘em out?”
“Perhaps,” Luna agreed with a faint grin. “Now if there’s nothing else, I do actually have other things I would like to take care of before the weekend is over.”
As Luna started to climb into her car Rainbow stopped her. “Hey, wait! Might wanna ditch the outfit, just in case anyone else recognizes you. I mean, if they see Nightmare Moon driving Luna’s car it’s not that hard to add two and two together.” She grinned as a new idea popped into her head. “Oooh! I just an awesome idea! You should get, like, a new super-secret Nightmare Moon Car with a custom paint job and stuff!”
Luna stared at her for several seconds, then sighed and shook her head. “You must think school administrators make far more than we actually do. I will see you two at school.” She grinned. “And at the gaming table, of course.”
I nodded along. “Looking forward to it.”
Rainbow smirked. “Next time I’ll be sure to kick your butt ... ma’am.”