Paws held high, I put tape on yet another poster advertising an O&O night at my house. Placing posters all around Ponyille was quite the tall order, especially with only one creature and a few minutes before I had to return home and get set up. I didn't expect to receive many visitors, perhaps a friend or two out of pity, but regardless I continued on with my tiring work before retiring to my home.
It was a cozy place. The living room had furniture strewn about the open air, couches and lounges and chairs floating around. The gravity was significantly less than normal so you could jump to get to the highest furniture right below the ceiling, or hop onto a stool that almost touched the floor. Behind the living room was an archway that lead to the kitchen, bathroom, and stairs to get up to my bedroom. I had the gravity turned onto normal in there, mostly for the food and what might happen if you took a dump with less gravity than normal. And tucked in the corner of the living room along the back wall was a door that led to the basement.
Floating over to it, I pressed my paw against the door to create a sign. "Warning: Gravity Shift" it read. Then I opened the door and stepped into the basement. Currently, it just had an oval table and chairs and a standard O&O setup. The addition of characters would have to wait until everyone arrived.
And speaking of arrival, just then the system I had rigged to alert me of another being's presence in my house went off. It was designed to play the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic theme song. Don't ask how I knew it. I rushed up the stairs to see none other than the Rainbow Dash standing, or rather floating, in my living room.
"Hey! What's the deal with the gravity in here?" Rainbow asked me, looking annoyed as she struggled to maintain some sort of familiarity with the environment.
I chuckled, embarrassed. "Sorry. Would you prefer normal gravity all around?" I hopped onto my five tails and floated towards her. "I can do whatever you need to feel at home. Wouldn't want a friend to be uncomfortable."
"Nah, it's cool for me. But Big Mac might be coming, and I think he might appreciate a little more gravity." She said. "So, where's the OnO?"
"Downstairs, in the basement- I mean, the dungeon," I corrected, using a spooky voice. "Come on, it's just this way." I waved my paw and the gravity in the living room returned to normal, causing several items of furniture to crash to the ground. "Oops." I cringed. I managed to stay floating through my chaos magic, but Rainbow Dash fell to the floor.
She glared at me but quickly brushed it off. "It's no problem, Z." Trotting over to my side, I pointed her to the door leading to the basement.
"The game begins at six, but you can hang out down there if you want. Or I can come with you? Either way, it's fine."
"Why don't we hang together? I know you'll appreciate the company."
I opened the door for us, gesturing for Rainbow Dash to go ahead of me. She obliged, and together we descended the stairs to my dungeon. Rainbow chose a soft armchair decorated in plush red and black. I took my seat at the head of the table as gamemaster to wait for our next arrival.
We didn't have to wait long, as the alarm went off. "We're down here!" I shouted and opened the door with my magic. I heard the sound of hoofsteps as someone ran through the house and bounded down the stairs in a bundle of pink energy.
"Heya Z! I saw your poster and realized I wasn't doing much tonight and I was so excited because Ogres and Oubliettes is so amazing so I decided to come and hey Rainbow Dash and so I'm here now, how are you?" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. I began to answer, but she brushed over me and hopped onto a stool next to Rainbow Dash. "That's great, I'm good too, I'm so excited to play-"
"Pinkie." I said, my voice accented by magic, causing her to quiet and listen to me. "Thank you. I hate to ask this of you, but could you please tone it down a slight bit?"
"Oh of course!" Pinkie Pie said, though she seemed a bit disappointed. "I heard Bic Mac might be coming but he had something to do at the farm, and I know Spike is coming but Twilight needed his help sorting books. So they'll be here soon."
"Good. I'd hate to have to wait too long."
I asked the two what they wanted for snacks and made their custom game pieces, then we began to chat to fill up the time while we waited for Spike and Big Mac to arrive. It was around six thirty when the alarm rang twice and the dungeon door opened once more. The dragon and farm pony duo, or rather Garbunkle and Sir McBiggun as they're known to the O&O community, had arrived.
"Spike! Big Mac! It's so good to see you." I greeted, gesturing to the table. "Come on and take a seat. Do you know if anypony, or rather anycreature, else is coming tonight? Someone... special?" Please let Discord be coming, please let Discord be coming... I thought hopefully.
"Nope!" Spike said, sitting down on a jewel throne across from Rainbow Dash.
"Enope." Big Mac shook his head, taking a seat next to Spike.
I tried to disguise the hurt on my face. Maybe there's a chance he's still coming. "Well, if that's everycreature, let's begin." Clearing my throat, I gestured to the map on the table. "Far across the sea-"
"You started without me?" A voice asked in my ear, and I turned my head to see none other than Discord floating there.
"Discord!" I exclaimed, jumping up and turning to hug him. "I thought you weren't coming. I'm so glad you're here, though."
"Well, you'd say that, wouldn't you. But you were oh so prepared to jump into the action without me, now weren't you?" He asked, phasing out of my embrace and teleporting to the other side of the table where he settled down on a couch that hadn't been there earlier.
"I'm sorry, Discord. I just thought you weren't coming. But I really am glad you're here now. It wouldn't be a proper O&O night without the Lord of Chaos here to spice things up." He seemed to be slightly less mad, so I continued. "Now, far across the sea there is a land with two kingdoms. The Kingdom of Myanmor and the Kingdom of New Hope. Myanmor is covered in a strange mist, and at the center, barely poking above the clouds, is the Dark Castle. Inside this mist are all sorts of monsters. By contrast, New Hope is a wonderful, prosperous kingdom. Ruled by a kind and generous king, it has endured many troubling times and come out stronger. However, now the mist that covers Myanmor has begun to expand, slowly entering the kingdom of New Hope. The king, not knowing what else to do, has asked for help from adventurers all around the world, and you," I point a paw at all of them, "have answered the call for one reason or another. Perhaps it's the reward. Perhaps it's the call to adventure. Perhaps it's the chance to help save the world. But our scenario begins with a dinner meeting the king has called all visiting adventurers to. Any questions on the scenario?"
"Yeah." Rainbow Dash said. "Is this going to be a one-shot or an ongoing campaign?"
"That depends. This adventure is going to be a one-shot, but there will be a campaign afterward that builds off of what happens here that you can join." I explained. "Now, let's begin with turn order. We'll go clockwise around the table, starting with Pinkie Pie. What do you want to do, Madam Pinkerific?"
"So I can do anything?" She asked, excitedly grinning.
"Anything you want. Then we roll the dice and see where it goes."
"How about go to the party? It is a party the king's throwing, right?"
"Exactly." I pick up the dice and roll. "10, so let's see." I take a look at the dungeon master's guide, not missing the bored expression that's starting to crawl across Discord's face. "While on your way to the party, you meet a visiting-“
Discord yawns exaggeratedly. “If this is all we’re going to do tonight, please, count me out.”
“And I suppose you want to suggest something else to do?” I know exactly what he’s going to suggest. Or, at least what he’s likely to say. “Or do I need to guess?”
“By all means, please. Guess.” He stares me in the eyes, daring me to figure him out.
“You want to bring the game to life.” I say, lifting my head in a gesture of triumph. “Feel free to do so. It might even be better than an evening of rolling dice and writing stats.” Not for me, but for the others, this is probably what they came here for. Expecting a draconequus game.
“Really? And here I thought you liked rolling dice.” He lifts his claw, snaps, and the world changes.
We stand on a battlefield of barren rock and perfect gridlines, finding ourselves dressed as our characters. I’m wearing a black dress and holding a carved stick with dragon designs on it. Surrounding us is a light fog limiting visibility to ten feet. Big Mac has been transformed into Sir McBiggum, Spike is now Garbunkle, Pinkie Pie is Madam Pinkerific, and Rainbow Dash is Sorrowshade. As for me, my character is named Aevum, and Captain Wuzz is nowhere to be seen. I assume he’ll show up.
I couldn’t be more wrong. Thirty minutes and five separate arguments later, Discord is still nowhere to be seen.
“This is your fault for daring Discord to bring us here,” Rainbow Dash yelled.
“My fault? I didn’t do anything! Discord did!” I replied, turning away from the rainbow-colored pony.
“Cause you told him to!” Pinkie responded, bouncing into my field of view. “None of this would’ve happened if you’d kept your mouth shut and just rolled the dice!”
“I did roll the dice,” I sighed, “but that wasn’t enough for Discord. He wanted more action! Excitement! Adventures in tearing apart reality!”
“Come on, guys, arguing isn’t getting us any further to a solution,” Spike put in, flying up in between us. “We just gotta be patient.”
“Patient my-“ I started to say, before hearing a chiming sound behind me. I spun around to see a ball of light, steadily growing bigger, that exploded into Discord. Floating in midair, the draconequus looked mildly amused with us.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t my little ponies. How are you liking the change in scenery?”
“Discord!” Rainbow yelled, stomping her hoof. “Take us back home. Now!”
“For once I agree with Rainbow and not you.” I said, glancing at the mare. “I said some stupid and rash things, but they shouldn't have to pay for my mistakes. Heck, you shouldn’t have even done that without everyone’s consent.”
“If we’re arguing about consent, you shouldn’t have suggested that, knowing Discord would do it,” Spike put in. “Wait, what’s ‘that?’”
“Discord putting us in the game,” Rainbow replied. “Which might be fun, if we hadn’t been stuck here, wasting time.”
“Well, it’s not my fault you didn’t explore the world I made for you.” Discord said with a huff of disdain.
“How were we supposed to know that was your intent?” I almost shouted. “This is dumb. Why are we even arguing? Take us home. Now, Discord.”
He seemed to think about this. “No. Not until you reach the end of the game. You are trying to get to the Dark Castle, aren’t you?” He raised an eyebrow. “Have fun!” Then he popped out of existence.
"Great. Now we're suck here." Rainbow grumbled. "I don't know about you, but I'm not waiting for whatever nasty things Discord's put out there to come get us." She took off and flew into the mist.
"Anyone else want to go it alone?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the rest of the group.
There are head shakes all around. At least I have the rest of them on my side.
"But hey, why do you get to be the leader?" Spike asked. "You're the one who got us stuck in here."
"Fine. Why don't you lead. I'm only the one who made this campaign."
"Knowing Discord, it's not the same." He muttered, then strode off into the mist. "This way, everyone!"
The group followed, with Pinkie Pie humming as she bounced along. We've only gone a few steps in when an ominous rumbling occurs.
"Discord's gonna give me hell for this, but I can teleport us straight there," I said. "No need to fight all the trash mobs." I have no doubt I'm going to pay later on, but I don't want my friends to get hurt because of my mistakes.
Spike nodded, and I planted my staff on the ground. I hummed a few song lyrics under my breath and a portal opened up behind me. "Go on, guys," I urged, and Big Mac hopped through, followed by Spike and Pinkie. When I was sure they'd all made it, I turned and strode through, closing the portal behind me.
We arrived in the courtyard of an obsidian castle. I heard a pop behind me and Discord's voice filled my ears. "Cheater. You were supposed to fight your way through the hoards." He whined.
"Yeah, well I'm not risking my friend's safety. You should know that by now." I shot back, though I felt weak from making the portal.
Suddenly, a voice rung out through the yard. "Brave adventures, have you come here to face me?" A midnight black unicorn stallion appeared on a balcony overlooking the courtyard.
"You're no fun." He muttered before disappearing.
"Same to you." Raising my staff, I pointed at what could only be the boss of this adventure. "We are here not to face you, but to defeat you!" I proclaimed.
"Brave words for a little fox." He sneered as a bolt of black magic shot from his horn straight at me.
I flinched, fully expecting the magic to hit me head-on, but it was deflected by a shield levitated in a red aura. "I got ya." A deep voice said, the most I'd ever heard Big Mac say in one sentence.
"We've all got your back!" Pinkie cheered. "Let's get this bully!"
Pinkie began to play on her lute, a stream of magic running over us to provide buffs. Spike and I shot spell after spell at the dark unicorn as Big Mac covered for us with his shield. But no boss fights alone, and soon the courtyard was overrun with skeletons. Real ones this time, not paper. I focused my fire on them, but they just kept coming. Then after five minutes of fighting, everything ground to a halt. The skeletons dropped, and the dark blasts stopped coming. Confused, I looked around and spotted Rainbow Dash standing on the balcony, having defeated the boss on her own.
"Have fun without me?" She asked just as our surroundings began to dissolve into bright pink bubbles. Suddenly we were all lost in a storm of bubbles, and when it cleared, we were back in my basement how we were before the whole endeavor.
Except for one thing. Discord's grinning face as he stood over me. "Nice trip?" He asked.
"Yeah. And, uh, I think I'm done with the O&O for tonight. Anyone want to just play games and eat snacks? We can even turn off the gravity." This time, I looked around at the group's faces for confirmation before I did anything rash, magically or otherwise.
"Do you have cupcakes?" Spike asked. "If so, I'm totally down."
"Of course." I stood and shook my tails out, causing cupcakes to rain down on the table. Somehow Pinkie Pie managed to swallow each and every one of them.
And so the rest of the night went quite well, after I had transformed the basement into the coziest room I could imagine. There were plenty of cupcakes to go around and quite a few rounds of uno (shouting matches included). It was at about 10 at night when the party finally decided to head back home, leaving me and Discord alone in the living room.
"You know, that was a pretty sucessful night, all things considered." I said.
"Just keep telling yourself that." He said with a chuckle before pecking me on the cheek and teleporting away.