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// To play the games of gods and demons 
// Story: Short stories about ponies and whatnot 
// by shutaro 
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	Celestia nudged Twilight in the wing gently. “Wake up, sleepyhead.”

“Just five more minutes, Spike,” the young alicorn mumbled and turned around. “I’ll come up with an excuse for the princess later.” She smacked her lips and shuffled her wings to get into a new, more comfortable position.

Pencil Pusher and the present guards noticed the twitching eyebrow even before the princess mentioned for them to cover their ears.

“RISE AT ONCE TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”

Celestia grinned with no little satisfaction as her former student rose out of the paperwork and suddenly stood on the ceiling upside down. “It is later, Twilight, let’s hear your excuse for falling asleep, again.”

Gravity finally realized that Equestria’s latest princess was blatantly ignoring physics and got to work. Twilight managed to catch herself just in time before she hit the floor with her face. As her hooves touched the marble floor of her study she stumbled a few steps and unsuccessfully tried to stifle a yawn.

“I’m ... ,” she started before another yawn caught her. “I’m sorry, Prin- Celestia. I guess I didn’t get enough sleep last night. Maybe I’m still exhausted from the coronation?”

“Twilight, this is not like you,” the princess of the sun shook her head. “The coronation was a week ago and you were fine the next day. You’re learning with me again, but I don’t remember you neglecting your studies like this before. You fell asleep during sunrise practise, at breakfast, twice in court and just now. And last but not least: You’re an alicorn. You should be able to go with a minimal amount of sleep now. Maybe not for a thousand years on five minute catnaps like me on your first day, but this is strange.”

A twinkle appeared in Twilight Sparkles eyes. “You mean I could read all night, too?” She clapped her hoof. “Wonderful!” She danced a little on the spot and flapped her wings. “Oh, but I can’t, I promised Discord to play with him again.”

Celestia’s ears rose to attention and her magic caught the former unicorn in her grasp. “You play a game with Discord? What game? Tell me!”

But despite her rough treatment Twilight had fallen asleep again. Celestia placed her on a couch and ordered her guards not to wake her. She walked out of the room, closed the doors and stomped down the corridor. This carpet would never be wrinkled again.

When she reached Discord’s tower she looked up to the slowly rotating building. As the door came by again, she turned and kicked it in. There would be no misunderstanding about how upset she was. Discord placed the rubber duck back into his bubble bath. “Gee, Celestia. Can’t you at least knock? It’s considered civil, you should try it sometime.”

“Don’t play games with me Discord. And don’t play them with Twilight. She doesn’t know how to handle those. Hoof over the board, you’ll get it back when I’ve told her about it’s evil magic.”

“You know, Twilight had a lot of fun.” The draconequus rose from the bath. He snipped his eagle claw and walked to a trunk that appeared on the floor. “The things I do for free ... ndship.” He rummaged around in the big chest. “Ah, here you go.” A flat box floated over to Celestia. “Don’t lose any of the pieces. You know how hard replacements are to come by.” The trunk's cover slammed shut.

Celestia caught the game in her magic and a few sparks of black lightning played over the drawing on the top. “We’ll see,” she said, “maybe I will look into removing the life-sucking curse from this.” Then she turned around and walked out of Discord’s realm.

The trickster rested an elbow on top of his trunk and chuckled. “Yeah Celestia, you go ahead and try that. Greater minds have failed at that task.” He opened the luggage and looked inside. “So, no more Candy Land for little princess Twilight Sparkle.” He took out two other boxes and closed the trunk again. It scurried away on hundreds of little feed. “I guess we’ll have to go with either Monopoly or The Game of Life tonight. Because I definitely won’t play Trivial Pursuit against her.”