//------------------------------//
// (15) Disclosure 
// Story: Of Dragons and Maternity 
// by SymphonicSync 
//------------------------------//

"Okay, what was something good?" Twilight prodded as her hoof scooped a clutch of glass beads from the divot in the gameboard.

Spike's claws clacked against the wooden floor the pair laid on as he thought. "One of the guys wanted to see me do something... 'Dragony'."

"Oh," Twilight cooed, "what did you do?"

"I wrote Celestia a note and burped it to her. They all thought it was cool."

Twilight smiled and waited for Spike to decide on a move. She had found the game amongst a small clutch of others while sortificationing the main room earlier. When Spike got back, she'd suggested that they play a game that Celestia had played with her after her when she was just a filly.

His claws wrapped around a pile on his side of the board and slowly deposited a bead in each spot after it, skipping the largest spaces on either side, until he finally set the last one back in the original bowl. He pointed to the pile opposite and checked "I get all those now, right?" He smiled and snorted a tuff on green flame as the mare nodded her head, "Okay, tell me something... bad."

The rules were, as Princess Celestia had described after Twilight's first day of studies at the Academy, this; when one player scored, the other had to tell them something good or bad about their day.

Twilight reflected on Sweetie Belle's small, silvery form standing where the gameboard now sat as she tried to explain the process of incubation to the filly, only to have her clarify that she meant geographically and not "like chickens". The unicorn's cheeks reddened as she looked at Spike and explained, "Somepony wanted to check out a book and we didn't have anything on the subject..." She hung her head in shame as she hoofed one of her piles over the board, slowly distributing the marbles into each of the bowls. The last fell into the now empty space left after the drake's turn. She claimed the two occupants of the opposite space on Spike's side.

He nodded in understanding and made a few quick drops before taking the last bead she had placed. He glanced up and said "You first."

"Um... something bad."

"I just wanted to complete our pages," Spike griped as he placed his chin on his crossed arms, "but my partner just sat there glaring at the colts most of the time." 

"Scootaloo, right?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, "and at lunch she dragged me off with Miss Cheerilee when the sporty one started walking over."

Twilight arched an eyebrow and inquired, "Where did the three of you go?"

Spike mumbled "Hayburger's, which was kind of nice-"

"Ah-ah," Twilight matched her chastising tone with a smile, "it has to be something bad!"

The dragon thought for a moment and finished his statement "-if they didn't spend the whole meal yapping. Something good, Twi."

She pondered what she should mention as she weighed a pile in hoof and counted down the spaces. For the longest time, Twilight didn't understand what the objective of the game over the board was. The players merely spoke. There were no pieces or score to track, unlike the game that rested at her hooves. It wasn't until much later that she realized Celestia was just getting her to talk.

Knowing that hadn't made the game any easier.

"I got my first return," she exclaimed, "someone dropped a book by the door just before you got here!" Twilight distributed her pieces, placing the last on top of an existing pile.

Spike grinned as he planned his own play. "That would be good for you, wouldn't it?" 

"Immensely," Twilight acknowledged as she peered across the room at the yellow-bound novel, "and funnily enough, just the book I needed."

"How's that?" The drake asked.

The mare waved a hoof and pointed at the game board. "Don't worry about it, just finish your turn. I want to try out more of these games."

He grumbled and went back to counting.

Twilight stole another glance over her shoulder.

She mulled over the memory of hearing peebles crunch outside over the faint hum of wheels turning. Then came a low knock, low by way of coming from only a third of the way up the door, rang out a moment later. No pony was there when she opened it, having already taken off by the time she made it across the room. The slip inside the cover bore no recent signatures, a trait shared with most of the books inside the library given the near abandonment of formal records. All she could find was a single sepia feather to mark the pages at the very end of the tome.

Twilight would have to make time to stop by Rarity's boutique and deliver this Traveler's Guide to the Dragon Lands, Vol II to Sweetie Belle.

Not before finding the time to read it herself, that is.