//------------------------------//
// Galloplands 
// Story: Honey Bear 
// by Omegathyst 
//------------------------------//

“So you made all of this yourself?”

It was a late afternoon after the classes for the School of Friendship, with Ocellus having the mercy to not bother me for existing this time. Though, I’ll admit, I didn’t leave any drawings of Queen Chrysalis this time. Life had been a little more occupying than normal to leave me thinking of anypony, or creature, beyond the stallion in front of me. It had been six months of going out on weekly dates that quickly turned into every other day, as the blonde stallion Golden Doodle had eventually brought me back to his studio full of painted miniatures and posters decorating the wall of Celestia and Luna. We had swapped various books with each other, me reading the teachings of Celestia from her School and Luna’s social books about bat ponies and much more, while I gave Doodle books about grand adventures not too different from my first two years of adulthood. Another story that I’ll touch upon later, of course. All the while, I’ve kept up with various essays and side-jobs from my classmates.

What I was staring at this time was Golden Doodle’s terrain that he had other ponies print, so that he could paint it. The 3D printer had given the terrain a realistic ruggedness to it, while there were “grass patches” in the desert terrain depicted. It sat upon the table as I trotted up to it and brought my green eyes low enough to be eye level with the miniatures on it. A pony-drawn carriage, of two rugged earth ponies conversing with one another, while a snooty unicorn sat on the seat cushion while holding the reins in his forehooves.

“This is very detailed!” I gasped. “I’m surprised you haven’t shown me this sooner!”

“Well it's more recent, I’ve painted miniatures before, but not as often until a few months ago,” Golden Doodle grinned. “After hearing about all the fun activities you do outside of your classes, it inspired me to get back into what I love doing~”

I grinned, my heart fluttering, and after all the encounters I had before this relationship, it was surprising to get along with somepony on a deep level that didn’t end in sex. Even if I loved watching the sight of his cheeks wiggle when he trotted past me, I was mentally captivated just by feeling how present he was with the world that I grew to hate when I left Equestria years ago. Coming back to a single mother and a drastically changed Ponyville, I struggled to get by and push myself to find meaning in the world. Even without my last nasty relationship to stand in my way, and the spiritual revelations my vacation gave me, I still felt like a fish out of water paving the path on my own. Though with each book about Princess Luna’s meditations or dreams that Golden Doodle gave me, I was beginning to think that I’d somehow found another pony in this small town that had moved along the same wavelengths that I did. Somepony that had a bright and colorful mind, and challenged me to try new stuff to keep me from getting bored.

“Don’t you think that the unicorn forcing the earth ponies to work for him is a little…” I placed a forehoof over my lips.

“Oh yes, that’s the point,” Golden Doodle snickered, pointing his forehoof at the miniatures as he continued. “It’s supposed to be a dystopian land where the unicorns enslaved the earth ponies, and the pegasi are at war with both of them. But Princess Luna has created civilization on the moon where a fight to the death leads one lucky pony to live in her new home. It’s called…Galloplands.”

“How is an earth pony supposed to win if they’re working for the unicorns, though?” I asked.

“Oh well that’s very simple, there’s been a few games that have ended with one of the earth ponies turning on the unicorn and being overpowered,” Golden Doodle explained. “And usually one of the players would only make this action after the rest of the unicorns and pegasi are defeated. The odds are low, but not zero. Care to play a game with me?”

“I’d love that~” I replied, and Golden Doodle put away the pony-drawn carriage and brought out a single unicorn miniature while I took out a pegasus one. We used up several points from our maximum allotted points to give our respective players armor and spells, and started the game. Watching the big earth pony roll his dice, it might as well have been magic moving them. Doodle got very high rolls almost every time, and it itched away at my brain. Did he just have absurd luck? I had to get to the bottom of this.

“How in the name of Tartarus do you keep getting high rolls?” I shook my head, looking at the underside of his forehooves to figure out some possibilities.

“I concentrate on my rolls,” Golden Doodle admitted. “Manifesting high rolls, channeling my energy towards the dice and deciding it to be so. You don’t need to be a unicorn to do that kind of sorcery, contrary to what many others might say.”

My eyes widened as I took that in. Manifestation was no stranger to me as a concept, though I didn’t really entertain it much until that very moment. It was a simple tabletop game that I was already losing, so what did it hurt to make my rolls extra engaging? I unfurled one of my wings from my side, moving my character closer and engaging in a bow and arrow attack as I scooped up the dice with a clenched wing and shook them. Feeling the energy flowing through the bones in my wing, feeling fire within myself as bright as my fur, I threw the dice onto the empty part of the terrain. Three dice, two sixes and one five.

“No way,” I gasped.

“Ah shit, now you just might beat me,” Golden Doodle’s ears flickered, and the cartoonishly large ear-to-ear smile on his dopey face expressed the opposite feeling. I’d never seen somepony smile at me like that before, so charmed, so earnest, and all because I threw some manifestation dice. The feeling was not only earned, but exciting. I wanted more. I switched from wing to wing when the other got tired, shaking the dice with a little more excitement each time and flicking them onto the terrain. Occasionally in my bout of excitement, I would throw a stray die against the wall or onto the floor. But after getting many sixes, and a few fives and fours in my throws, I had managed to beat his unicorn with one hit point left.

I trotted up to Golden Doodle, pressing my lips against his buttery soft ones. It hadn’t been the first nor would it be the last kiss I’d give him, and my tongue slipped in as I relished my victory. Unlike most of the stallions I’d met before him, the yellow fluffy stallion seemed to relish in giving me victory, power, in the littlest of acts. The fulfillment of taking from the all-too-happy softie brought even more meaning to my life than there was before. The night ended shortly after that, and I trotted home to my dormroom in the School of Friendship, knowing that in due time, I would succumb to my urge to toss my plans and spend the night over.

Warm butterflies and hot excitement danced inside of me at the thought…