Luster Dawn scanned the many shelves of the bookshop, looking for the latest edition of the Ogres & Oubliettes Game Master Guide. While she could have easily travelled back to the Canterlot Library and got a copy from there, it would have been very awkward to have walked away with her friends only to come running back to her mentor for a ride back to Canterlot. She could have tried any other activity but she didn’t know what her new friends would be into and there was something inherently fun about them all going on an adventure to faraway lands battling whatever ogres come their way, just like how the princess and her friends went on all kinds of adventures and bested all kinds of foes. Only difference was they would be using their imagination instead of actually risking life and limb, since that’s the job of the latest element bearers.
After much searching, she found the guidebook sandwiched between a Hairy Trotter book and an encyclopedia on the history of brushes. She used her magic to pull out the book but found, to her surprise, somepony else’s magic intertwined with hers. She looked over to where the source of the foreign magic was and found a mysterious-looking pony wearing a pair of sunglasses and a pitch-black fedora to match. She also wore a big, baggy, beige trenchcoat and her mouth was covered by a white bandana dotted with red love hearts.
“Oh...uh, sorry about that,” the stranger said, “You can have it. It’s on me.”
Luster squinted at the suspicious pony before her, “Are you a criminal?”
The mysterious pony chuckled awkwardly, “Trust me, I’m not. If I was, there wouldn’t be a store left.”
“Then what’s with all the clothing?” Luster asked, “Doesn’t it get hot under all of that?”
“I’m not bothered by it,” the mysterious pony replied, “Kinda like being all warm and snug as a bug in a rug. Oh, and the reason I’m wearing all of this is because I don’t want ponies to know who I am.”
“Oh, so you’re a spy,” Luster said assumptively, “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. Unless you’re working for the Anti-Magic Confederacy. You aren’t though, are you?”
“I’m not and I’m not a spy,” the stranger said.
“Oh...then why do you need to hide your identity?” Luster asked.
The mysterious pony looked both ways to see if anypony else was there to listen to her and Luster’s conversation before leaning in towards Luster.
“I’m a celebrity,” the pony whispered.
“Oh..” Luster said despondently, “That’s weird. I thought celebrities liked being the centre of attention.”
“While it’s nice to be adored by everypony, it can get very annoying when you’re trying to go for a quiet trot in the park only for dozens of ponies to want your autograph,” the mysterious pony whispered irately.
“Tell me about it,” Luster said casually, “Before I came here, I tried to focus on my magic studies but some of my classmates kept pestering me about going for a sleepover or grabbing some hayburgers and other stuff like that.”
The mysterious pony tilted her head, “That sounds more like they’re trying to be your friend rather than they were obsessed with you.”
Yes, but it’s distracting when you’re in the library and one of your classmates is like ‘psst, hey, wanna blow this place and have a crazy night out?’”
“I would love a crazy night out,” the mysterious pony cheekily replied.
The two ponies giggled.
“Tell me, do you have the same guy after you or is it just different guys?” the mysterious pony asked.
“Different guys,” Luster replied, “And girls too.”
“I meant girls as well as guys when I said ‘guys’,” the mysterious pony said.
“Then why didn’t you say ‘guys and girls’ instead of just guys?” Luster asked, “Doesn’t that defeat the point of grammatical gender?”.
The mysterious pony giggled, “You sound just like Auntie Twily.”
Luster tilted her head at what the pony before her said, causing the pony to put her hoof to her already-covered mouth in a way that suggested she said too much.
“Twily?” Luster asked, “As in Princess Twilight Sparkle?”
“Uh...no?” the stranger unconvincingly lied.
In her suspicion of the pony’s identity, Luster trotted towards the mysterious pony and pulled her hat off, revealing a horn and a curly purple mane with a blue streak. Trying her luck, she carefully pulled off the pony’s sunglasses, revealing two big beautiful blue eyes. It didn’t take her long to know just who she was speaking to and, out of courtesy, she bowed to her.
“Your majesty,” Luster said anxiously, hoping the princess wasn’t mad at her revealing her identity.
Flurry pulled down the bandana covering her mouth, “You don’t have to do that.”
“But you’re a princess,” Luster stated, “It’s tradition to respectfully bow before a princess.”
“Yeah, and it’s also a tradition to engage in at least one random song and dance number in your life but you don’t see me attending singing classes,” Flurry retorted, “Besides, we’re friends.”
“We are?!” Luster asked in surprise.
“We did have a pretty lengthy conversation before I slipped up,” Flurry replied, “While I’m all for being friendly with everypony, there is a thing called stranger danger and it would have been very weird to be talking for more than a minute with somepony who might have had sinister intentions.”
“Like forcing you to spill all of Equestria’s secrets?” Luster asked.
Flurry giggled, “You’re the most assumptive pony I have ever met.”
Luster rubbed her hoof behind her head, “Well, I’m a bit of a conspiracy theorist in my spare time. Don’t tell anypony this but I have uncovered some truly disturbing secrets regarding your aunt’s former mentor.”
Flurry gasped in faux-shock, “Are her secrets more disturbing than her terrible acting skills?”
“Way more disturbing,” Luster replied, “But I can’t say because this is a public place.”
“But there's nopony else here,” Flurry responded.
As if Flurry was tempting fate, both she and Luster heard a crunching sound. And another crunching sound. They both turned around and saw a hairy red unicorn with an unkempt mane and tail and an eyepatch over his right eye. He was holding an open packet of crisps.
“Don’t worry,” he said in between crunches, “I won’t tell anypony else.”
“Didn’t my dad beat the snot out you not long ago?” Flurry asked.
“Yes, he did,” the unicorn replied, “But in an odd twist of events, it wasn’t because I was stalking your aunt.”
“No, instead you were stalking my mother,” Flurry deadpanned.
The unicorn shrugged, “What can I say? While I appreciate your aunt for her brains, her growth spurt kinda ruined her looks for me. Also, I was on holiday at the Crystal Empire at the time. Thought I might do a bit of sightseeing.”
“Dude, these are the rulers of Equestria you’re talking about!” Luster exclaimed, “You’re lucky they didn’t throw you in a dungeon.”
“True, but I did get a black eye from her dad,” the unicorn retorted as he pointed to Flurry Heart, “Also, I wasn’t mentally fit to stand trial so they couldn’t throw me in a dungeon anyway even if they wanted to.”
Flurry pointed at the red unicorn, “This is why I try to be incognito when going out in public.”
“I don’t see what the problem is,” the unicorn said, “If I were being followed about and ponies talked about my looks in a positive way, I would take it as a compliment. Anyway, before I say something that’s gonna make you want to punch my other eye shut, I’m just gonna disappear.”
The unicorn teleported out of the bookshop.
“Well, that was awkward,” Luster said matter-of-factly.
“Yes, it was,” Flurry said in an equally matter-of-fact tone, “Anyway, can I join you and your friends in your game of O&O?”
“Depends,” Luster replied, “Do you have any experience as a Game Master?”
“Of course, I do!” Flurry answered excitedly, “I used to cover for Discord whenever he had fallen ill on Guy’s Night. And that’s ‘guys’ as in ‘all-male’ but Rainbow Dash and I are the only exceptions.”
“Good because I haven’t played this game before and I was kinda hoping I could learn all I can about it so I don’t embarrass myself in front of my new friends,” Luster said.
“So you never played O&O before?” Flurry asked.
“Nope,” Luster replied.
“And...you want to be GM even though you have no experience even as a PC?”
“Wanted,” Luster corrected.
Flurry put her hoof to her mouth in thought, “Hmm...Are your friends into O&O?”
“That’s the thing,” Luster sheepishly replied, “I literally only just met them after Princess Twilight sang about magic happening in Ponyville or something like that.”
“She sang to you about friendship too?” Flurry asked before laughing.
“Yeah, and she probably expects me to mail her whatever friendship lessons I have learnt during my time here so...could you help me out?” Luster pleaded, “You seem to know more about this kind of thing than I do.”
“With the O&O session or with your friendship lessons?” Flurry asked.
“Both,” Luster replied.
Flurry placed her hoof on Luster’s shoulder, “Here’s what I learnt about friendship. You could call anypony a friend just because you act nice to them and they act nice back but real friendships are the ones that take a while to develop. Maybe you used to think they were a nuisance or they were just good for a laugh but, over time, you grow to see them as something more. And when you do, you can’t imagine your life without them. Even when you look back to how it all started from just one small encounter.”
Luster stared at her new friend in awe, “Wow...”
“Yeah, when your mom’s the Princess of Love and your auntie’s the Princess of Friendship, you kinda know a thing or two about bonding with other ponies,” Flurry said before pointing at the guidebook, “Anyway, let’s play some O&O.”
“Don’t want to keep our friends waiting,” Luster said before sharing a laugh with Flurry.