M0re Than Gam3rs

by P3RROHAMBRE

Level 2

“Perfect.”

Princess Luna admired her work, and had to say it was her best setup yet. For the past hour, the alicorn had been setting up her room for tonight’s festivities, just like she always did to prepare for her and Derpy’s night of games.

Her ‘Tower of Power’ was plugged in and ready to go. Her  T.V. was set to the highest resolution with the clearest picture. The sound system was fully powered and numerous speakers hung across the room. Sound was a very important element to Luna. She wanted to hear every bullet, every enemy hoof step, and the cries of defeat of any who was unfortunate enough to be put against her.

Now, Luna was no novice gamer and she knew that you could have the best entertainment system in Equestria, but there was one very important element that really made such a glorious night...well, glorious. No serious gamer that would hold such an event with a friend or group of friends would dare forget this element. It was almost like some type of sin to Luna if she ever went to a gathering of such and it didn’t have the most important part.

Snacks. Caffeine infused, sugary, salty, delicious snacks.

There was a table set up across the room littered with an assortment of chips and dip, candies, baked goods, and soda. Snacks were essential if one wished to stay up through the night and to be at the top of their game. When Luna played, she played to win, and victory only came with proper preparation and nourishment.

So all in all, this gamer was more than ready. It was almost overkill but it didn’t matter to her. Gaming was her passion, almost to a point where she sometimes questioned if maybe she had gotten the wrong cutie mark.

So all that was missing was her beloved friend Derpy and a certain pair of controllers that the mailmare for some reason taken this morning without telling her. Luna no doubt wanted to know why but Derpy was her friend, and like her sister said, she probably had a good reason. Maybe there was something wrong with them and Derpy had some hidden ability to fix electronics, or maybe she modded them, in which case she would appreciate the gesture, but Luna had no need for mods. She knew she was a pony that put the bad in badass when it came to video games, and nopony could say otherwise to her. Was it a bit conceited? No, this was just confidence.

Luna looked out her window and saw her sister’s sun setting, meaning in only mere minutes, she would raise her night and The Royal Night of Pwnage could commence. Excitement and anticipation bubbled around inside her; she even let a small squee escape her due to such excitement.

Knock!

Luna jumped and quickly turned around to her chamber door and saw Celestia standing there, leaning against one of them. The white had a small smile on her face and her golden crown and regalia was absent.

“So it seems you're ready for tonight then huh little sis?”

She exhaled, calming herself seeing that it was just Celestia.

“Tia, why must you startle me like that? What’s the point of knocking when you're just going to walk right in anyways? What if I wanted some privacy?”

Celestia smirked at her and rolled her eyes.

“And what would you be doing that’s so private then Luna?”

Luna quickly caught on to what Celestia was trying to do. It seems her sister had no bounds when it came to that certain subject.

“That’s none of your business Tia and before you even start thinking about it, it’s not that.”

Celestia walked into the room and looked at the setup of her sister’s chambers, laughing gently to herself.

“Whatever do you mean Luna? You act as if I was going to think something ill of you or maybe even,” she gasped bringing her hoof to her mouth and turning  to her, “ You thought I was thinking dirty weren’t you?” she said mockingly with a sly gleam in her eye.

The dark alicorn rolled her teal eyes, wondering if there was ever a moment that her sister had her mind out of the gutter, though she highly doubted it. She could only thank her stars that she wasn’t the same way.

“Anyways, what do you need sister? I’m sure you wouldn’t come all the way here from your... activities... to just talk.”

Luna didn’t mean for that to come out so harshly but it was almost time for her to bring the night and she didn’t want to be delayed in doing so. The quicker she brought the veil of darkness, the quicker she could get online. The fact that Derpy would be at the castle very soon played a part as well of course.

“I just wanted to see what you were up to,” Celestia said with innocence, shifting her eyes around.

Luna didn’t buy it. There was never a time Celestia just came by her chambers to just talk, unless it was about dominating yet another stallion or mare. It would always to play some kind of joke on her or try to make her think of something inappropriate or...well, let’s not get into that part.

“You know what I do every Saturday night Tia. So what’s the real reason you're here?”

“Okay fine,” Celestia began, seeing that Luna wasn’t going to accept her facade of innocence, “I was wondering if you could tell me how I look in a certain costume I got for Nightmare Night coming up in a few weeks.”

“You actually got a costume? You don’t ever dress up for Nightmare Night. Why start now?” Luna replied, wondering what would bring about this change. Was this possible? Was Celestia actually asking her help with something that didn’t involve some type of hidden sexual motive underneath it? She had to hear the reason for this.

“Yes, well, stalking certain ponies is losing a bit of it’s luster for me so I want to change things up a bit,” she said shamelessly.

“Wait, wha-uh nevermind, I don’t want to know,” the alicorn said, bringing her hoof to her face.

That was probably for the best. Luna rather remain ignorant to her sister’s activities or risk having her mind filled with too many scenarios and rather explicit images.

“Well, will you?”

As interested as Luna was about Celestia actually wanting to wear a costume for Nightmare Night, it had to wait.

“Tia, I would but can it wait until tomorrow? I have to go and raise the night and my friend will be here  within minutes.”

Celestia beamed, almost disturbingly. She seemed way too happy to hear such an answer.

“That would be perfect! Now maybe somepony can give you me an honest answer on how my ass-”

Knock!

Before Celestia could finish, both her and Luna looked over to her door. Immediatly one thought ran through Luna’s mind.

Derpy.

“Oh, am I interrupting something? I didn’t mean to, I was just looking for Princess Celestia since she requested me here...” a gentle voice said with nervousness.

Twilight Sparkle?

“Oh good, you made it Twilight. Did you bring the camera?” Celestia said, making her way over to her student.

Luna was confused. First the fact that Celestia was going to wear a costume for Nightmare Night, and now Twilight shows up at the castle? Usually Celestia would tell her when Twilight was coming. What was with every pony not telling her things all of a sudden? Why was she asking these questions? Why did she care?!

“Yes, I brought it just like you asked, but you never specified in your letter why I was to bring it though. Are we doing going to be taking pictures of some floral specimens or some type of field research with it?”

“Oh, it’s definitely for field research my faithful student. Just a special type of research that I haven’t shown you yet.”

Of course, Twilight being one to always please her mentor obeyed without question and Celestia followed after her, turning back at Luna and giving a quick wink before disappearing.

Luna’s mouth dropped.

Is she really going to- no, not to her own student. She even has limits... I think.

Without another word, the white alicorn and the lavender unicorn left, leaving her alone once again. Luna rubbed her forehead with her hoof, wondering what the hay her sister planned to do with her student. Twilight was a smart mare, nopony could argue that, but Luna didn’t see how she could be so oblivious to her sisters ways. Regardless, she only hoped that Celestia would stay busy for the rest of the night, whatever that was, so she could enjoy hers with her friend without interruption.

She looked back out to her window. The sky was a mix of orange and red and the sun was steadily disappearing across the horizon. It was time for her to raise the night. Luna finally left her room and walked down the marble floored hall, with both her and Celestia’s guards standing at the sides, still and watching. They bowed their heads as she passed by but there was no time for idle chat. She just wanted to perform her last royal duty for the day and be free from anymore obligations.

Luna turned left out onto a balcony that overlooked the royal gardens and gave a perfect view of the sky above. She closed her eyes and focused. Her horn lit up and her ever-flowing mane and tail began to sparkle more than usual. Her body began to glow, giving off a dark blueish aura, and the sky above her seemed to melt slowly into darkness. The color of orange and red was overtaken, and small speckles of flickering lights appeared in the sea of black. Thousands and thousands of stars slowly awoke and showed off their little lights. Luna opened her eyes, now a bright glowing white, and lifted her moon. A bead of sweat ran down her face but she continued.  The moon began to slowly illuminate the dark sky along with her stars. A few moments later, the moon’s luminous rays was over Canterlot and she had finally ushered in her night until her sister brought the sun up for a new day.

Her mane and tail went back to normal and her body returned to it’s normal self. Her eyes went back to their teal color and she took a deep breath. The task wasn’t hard but it required much focus on her part.

There has to be an easier way of doing this... only if portal guns were real.

Luna looked out and inspected the night. There was no star out of place and the moon was far enough from the planet, so no worry about it causing a world disaster like almost once before when she was much younger.

Well, since that’s done...

“Woah... so that’s how you do it.”

Luna’s eyes went wide. She knew that small, adorkable voice from anywhere. She quickly turned around and met the gaze of two golden askew eyes. Derpy Hooves stood before her near the entrance of the balcony, her face in awe, and a  green saddlebag with a muffin logo across it was slung over her back.

“Derpy? You're early...I didn’t even hear you behind me.”

Derpy smiled sheepishly and brushed her hoof across the floor.

“Oh yeah I know, but I saw that you were busy and didn’t want to interrupt you or anything.”

“Oh, it’s okay,” she said, chuckling a bit about how considerate her friend was, “I wasn’t doing anything important or anything.”

“So is that how you bring the night? All the moon and stars and stuff?” Derpy asked, her eyes wide and looking into Luna’s night sky.

“Oh that?” Luna said, pointing her hoof towards the sky, “ Yeah, nothing special. Been doing that for a long time.”

Derpy beamed, obviously amazed in the sight she had just seen.

“Nothing special? That was so cool though, and you looked so pretty while you were doing it. Your body started glowing and your mane was all sparkly...” Derpy continued her description of Luna, and the princess could only help but hold a back a small smile and felt a sudden heat that was rushing to her face from such compliments.

“Why, uh, thank you,” Luna stuttered,a bit flattered by her friend’s admiration.

“Your welcome princess,” Derpy said, now taking the saddlebag off her back, “ I wanted to get here early because I have something for you and I wanted you to see it.”

 The controllers.

She had almost forgotten about her missing controllers that her friend had taken. The small discussion with her sister from earlier, the task of raising the night, and Derpy’s praise had almost made that one burning question leave her mind.

Her friend opened the bag and stuck her head in it, looking for items that Luna hoped would be her precious controllers.

“Gimme a minute, I know they're in here somewhere.”

Luna watched in a mix of amusement and perplexity. Derpy looked rather funny having her head and forehooves digging around in her bag but it was also somewhat odd that she could even fit her head inside such a small bag.

“Muffins...more muffins...bag o’ muffins...mail....ah! Here we go!”

Derpy pulled her head out of the bag, and in her mouth, was two xbox 360 controllers... but something was different about them. Much different. They weren’t their usual white color but a glossy black. Luna walked toward her, wondering what she had done to them.

“What... what happened to them?” she said, now taking them from Derpy with her magic, inspecting them.
“Just look and see.”

The two controllers shined against the moonlight rays and on the left side of each  handle, there was some type of decal on it. It was a white crescent moon against a dark sapphire background, and splotches of the color around it.

My cutie mark.

There, printed on both of them, was her cutie mark and she didn’t know what to say that could fully describe what she thought about them. How about...epic. She would have never guessed that her friend was able capable of doing such amazing work but why? It wasn’t her birthday or Hearth’s Warming Eve, so why would her friend give her such an supremely epic gift?

“Derpy... these... these are simply mind blowing! How-how did you even do this?!” Luna exclaimed, mouth agape and her eyes still scanning over such tools of beauty.

“I actually had a really good friend of mine do it for me. It was just my idea and you told me about some limited edition controllers that were coming out soon a couple weeks and how badly you wanted them, so I thought maybe I could get you something better,” Derpy said, scratching the back of her head with a coy smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you but it was a surprise and I really wanted you to be surprised, even though I got lost a few times trying to fly here this morning.”

The alicorn was at a loss of words. No pony had ever went out of their way to surprise her like this with the exception of her sister, but that was different. Celestia had a tendency of buying her certain things she referred to as toys but they were sure as hell not toys, and Luna never dared touch them. Ever.

“But why? I mean, you didn’t have to do this Derpy. I was just being wishful, I didn’t mean for you to think that you had to do something for me.” Luna now felt a bit bad that she had maybe made her friend feel like she had to do something for her because she was simply expressing her wishful wants.

“Oh I know Luna, but your my bestfriend and I like doing things for my friends,” the grey mare said cheerfully.

“I..thank you,” was all Luna could say.

“Turn one of them on Luna,” the mailmare said, pointing at the middle button with her hoof.

Luna obeyed and turned one of the controllers on. The small green light flashed a few times and then it became solid. The crescent moon on the controller also now lit up a bright white, and the sapphire background glowed behind it and it actually looked like it was sparkling a bit.

“Ohmygosh! That’s so cool!” the astounded princess exclaimed.

Derpy fluttered her wings hearing Luna’s praise.

“So you like them right?

“Like them? Derpy, these are... I don’t if even words can describe how awesome they are!”

Luna immediately set the controllers down gently on the ground and brought her friend over with magic and threw her forelegs over her, hugging her.

“Thank you so much my friend. These are great and I will cherish them forever.”

Derpy hugged her back, wrapping her forelegs around Luna, happy that the princess loved her surprise.

“I’m glad you like them princess.”

She set her down and picked the controllers back up, admiring them once more. With her new epic tools and her best friend by her side, tonight was going to be probably the most wonderful of nights yet. With her controllers now back in hoof, there was only one thing left to do.

“Well, I think it’s time that we quit standing out here and start kicking some pony flank, don’t you think my friend?” Luna asked, not able to wait any longer, especially with such epic controllers.

Derpy plopped her head right back into her saddlebag and within moments, came back out with a silver headset on top of her head. A picture of a muffin was printed on the earphone piece with a name engraved on it reading MuffinMar3. A devilish grin spread across her face while her eyes went two different ways.

“Let’s smack some bitches,” the pegasus said confidently.

“Lets,” Luna replied with a grin of her own.

Luna levitated both controllers and Derpy’s saddlebag in the air and they both began to make their way to Luna’s chambers, side by side. The duo was ready and any pony that was online tonight better had prepared themselves, because these two friends were coming and in the words of Derpy Hooves, they were certainly going to ‘smack some bitches.’

(A/N I’m having fun and you can’t stop me!)