Sparkler and Twilight rolled the dice and rolled a few numbers. Starlight smiled. “Awesome! You guys saved the town and now you can move on to the tavern to wait up for the others!” She exclaimed.
“Perfect. I don’t know about you, but Harmonia’s parched.” Sparkler replied.
“Sparkling Sunshine can go for something to eat.” Twilight agreed.
“Then we find ourselves in a Tavern.”
IN-GAME
In a tavern, ponies were going about their business. The door to the tavern swung open to let a pair of mares enter. One of them turned to her friend. “What do you want to eat Sparkle? My treat.” She asked.
“A good Hayburger would be nice. Thanks Harmonia.” Sparkle replied.
“Go find us a table and I’ll get the grub.” Harmonia replied as she headed for the bar.
The bartender saw the armor-clad Alicorn coming and put down his rag and the cup he was cleaning. “Can’t say I ever thought I’d see one of the legendary Alicorn Guardians in this pub. What will it be for ya?” He asked.
“Two Hay burgers and two glasses of Lemonade. If you please.” Harmonia replied. “My partner and I need to refuel.”
The bartender looked behind Harmonia to see the other Alicorn in the pub. He smiled. “Oh? This some kind of date between you two?” He asked.
OUT-OF-GAME
“Starlight!” Twilight exclaimed. “Harmonia Medley and Sparkling Sunshine aren’t together!”
“Oh lighten up a little Twilight.” Starlight, the Game Master, replied. “It’s only a game.”
“But Sparkler and I never told you our characters were together. You can’t just put them together like that!” Twilight said.
“Except I didn’t put them together Twi. All I, the bartender, asked, to Harmonia, is if it WAS a date. That could mean anything.” Starlight countered. “And now it’s Harmonia’s turn to answer.” She smiled at Sparkler.
All eyes turned to Sparkler. She looked between all six pairs of eyes, and their owners were waiting for a response from the mare. After a moment, she had her answer. “Well...I mean, it isn’t real life or anything Twi...what’s the harm in having a little romance in the story?” She asked Twilight.
“Wait, you’re actually considering this Sparkler?” Twilight asked in mild shock.
“Why not? Again, it’s not like WE’RE going out or anything. Plus it could lead to some interesting moments down the line in the story.” Sparkler reasoned. Also because my mind is SCREAMING at me to say yes because of course it is.
“Yeah.” Gabby commented. “Everycreature loves a good romance in fantasy stories. Plus I do think it would be really cute.” She added.
Twilight bit her lip. Everycreature was looking at her now. And then her mind called her out. Remember what Cadance said. Treat this like an experiment. Finally, she sighed. “Well, I guess there’s no harm in our characters being together. But still Starlight, don’t drop something on us like that again.” She told Starlight.
“Alright Twi. From now on I shall give you a heads up. Now. Let’s get back to the story shall we? Sparkler? Care to answer?” Starlight asked.
IN-GAME
“Yeah. You could say that.” Harmonia replied to the bartender. “It might be our first.”
“Now ain’t that something.” The bartender said. He lit his horn and within moments, two Hay burgers and two glasses of Lemonade were placed on a tray. He nudged the tray to Harmonia. “Here ya go. That’ll be 10 parchs.”
Harmonia lit her horn and a small piece of parchment bearing the number ten on it floated onto the bar, where Sparkler’s magic transferred to the tray. “Have a nice day.” She told the bartender.
“You too, have fun on yer date.” The bartender said.
OUT-OF-GAME
“Hey Starlight? Can we all come in now?” Kicker asked.
“As a matter of fact Kicker, you and your group should be coming into the pub right about now!” Starlight replied.
“Yeah!” Spike and Gabby high-extremitied each other.
“Now Twilight and I join you on your mission.” Sparkler said.
“To slay the dreaded Hydra to bring peace to the land!” Spike cried out.
“Squawk! Onward my wayward friends! Let us meet up so that we can continue on our quest! Squawk!” Flappy proclaimed in a mighty voice.
“I’m telling you we should just ditch the troll and take to the air. I mean what the Faust is he gonna do when we’re up in the air?” Sparkler asked Twilight as she drew on a whiteboard that had a picture of a troll guarding a bridge. She drew an arrow that went up and over the troll.
“We shouldn’t ditch the troll.” Twilight said as she erased Sparkler’s arrow. “We should instead try to make friends with the troll. Or at the very least solve his puzzles.” She drew a circle around the troll and erased his frowny face with a smiley one.
“Twilight it’s a troll! They exist to pull pranks. We don’t need somepony like that as a friend when we have important work to do.” Sparkler shot back. “Five out of six of our group have wings. Let’s just put Thunder Striker on the back of me, you or Griffindora and let’s just take to the air. Plus, it’ll save us SO much time.”
“What about the puzzles huh? They could serve as a good team building exercise.” Twilight asked.
“Only one of us can do them Twilight. There’s no team building chance here!” Sparkler countered.
“And how do you know that?” Twilight asked.
“Haven’t you ever read a fairy tale, Twi? The troll NEVER allows team effort.”
“Is that so?” Twilight asked.
“Yes!” Sparkler growled.
Back over at the table. Spike, Gabby, Kicker, Flappy, and Starlight were trying their hardest not to laugh. It was a few hours into the session and they had reached a troll bridge. Sparkler and Twilight got into a fight over what to do and were both acting like children, and it, for whatever reason, was adorable.
“I can’t believe it. Their first ever fight, and it’s over what to do in a tabletop game of all things.” Starlight giggled.
“I almost feel bad that this is what finally gets them to fight. But at the same time, it’s so cute!” Spike commented.
“Yeah it is. Hehe.” Gabby agreed.
“You mean they never fought before?” Kicker asked.
“Squawk! Not to our knowledge. They usually never argue about anything. At least with each other. Squawk!” Flappy replied.
“Yep.” Starlight said. They listened to Sparkler and Twilight’s argument for a few more seconds before Starlight spoke again. “Alright this has gone on long enough.” She cleared her throat and aimed at the white board. She shot a magical bolt at it and the bolt hit the white board, making the markings on it vanish.
Twilight and Sparkler saw what happened and both turned to glare at Starlight. “Hey! We were using that!” They said in unison.
“Yeah. And if you continued using it we would be here all night.” Starlight replied. “Back over here, now. We’re gonna resolve this once and for all.” She told them.
Sparkler and Twilight looked at each other, shrugged, and walked back over to their seats. Starlight smiled and nodded. “Right. So, first thing’s first.” She cleared her throat and talked in her troll voice. “For these challenges teamwork is allowed. Encouraged even.” She said.
“Ha! I knew teamwork was allowed!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Sure. Whatever you say Twi.” Sparkler replied with a giggle. Not proud that we just had our first fight, but wow is she adorable when she’s being childish.
“And to resolve the fight or flight situation. A simple heads or tails.” Starlight asked. She picked up a game chip. “Heads means puzzles, tails means flight. That cool with everycreature?” She asked. To which she received a unanimous nod for yes. Smiling, she flipped the chip and it landed on the table. It landed with the heads side facing up. “Looks like you guys get to do some Twilighting on some puzzles.” She said.
“Ya know my name isn’t an adjective right?” Twilight asked.
“We made it one.” Spike replied.
“But you can’t—“
“Twilight, is it really that big a deal?” Sparkler asked, cutting Twilight off. “After all, if he couldn’t just make up adjectives, how were they made in the first place?” She asked with a sly smirk.
Twilight was about to answer before her brain caught up and agreed with Sparkler. So instead she just sighed. “Let’s just get back to the game.” She said. “I don’t have the energy for another pointless fight.” She added.
“In that case.” Starlight put on her troll voice. “Those who dare to pass must complete three tasks! All designed to test your teamwork!”
And so they continued to play for a long time, only stopping for meals and potty breaks. They were having so much fun that time got away from them. Soon, They heard a loud ringing.
Twilight lit her horn and summoned a clock. She checked the time and her eyes widened at how late it was. “Wow. We’ve been playing for a while. It’s nearly 11:00!” She exclaimed.
Sparkler gasped in response. “Wow. We played through the whole day. Huh.” She mused.
“It didn’t feel like the whole day.” Spike said as he yawned. “Guess time flies when you're having fun.”
“Yeah.” Gabby said as she rubbed her tired eyes. “We were having so much fun that it got away from us.”
Sparkler nodded as she glanced over to Kicker, who she could tell was getting extremely sleepy. “Let’s call it a night. I better get Kicker home to bed.” She said.
“No…I want to keep playing.” Kicker said sleepily.
“And we can keep playing another time.” Sparkler said as she lit her horn and carefully moved Kicker from one of the thrones to her back. “But little colts like you need rest.” She told him.
“Can we at least sleep here tonight? I want both you and Twilight to read to me…and cuddle me while I sleep…” Kicker said sleepily while also gripping Sparkler best he could.
Sparkler blushed at Kicker’s cuddling request as she turned to Twilight. “Your thoughts Twi?” She asked, secretly hoping for a yes.
Twilight bit her lip. What Kicker asked wasn’t entirely unexpected when directed at Sparkler, but For Kicker to want her there too…Why the heck is my heart fluttering at this? Indeed she could feel her heart fluttering when thinking about reading to Kicker and cuddling him with Sparkler. Finally, she let out a soft smile. “Uhm, sure. Yeah I don’t have a problem with it. What book are you reading to him now?” She asked Sparkler.
“We finished the first Daring Do book and now we’re on the second.” Sparkler replied.
“Alright. Sure. Let’s head to the library, we can read to him there.” Twilight said.
“Lead the way.” Sparkler said.
Gabby Spike Starlight and Flappy watched as Twilight led Sparkler and Kicker out of the room. Flappy giggled. “Squawk! Them reading to him and then cuddling him in his sleep. How much cuter can you get? Squawk!” He commented.
“And did you see the way she looked at Sparkler when Kicker asked for both of them to cuddle him? I think I saw a bit of knowing in that look.” Starlight asked. “I think she may finally be starting to realize something.”
“That would be a start.” Spike said. “I wonder if that letter from Cadance had anything to do with it.”
“Knowing her, it probably did.” Starlight reasoned. “Now we play the waiting game.”
To be continued...