Having nothing to do for several hours was a bit difficult for the two pegasi. One was an adventurer, whose skills and body were suited to action, adventure, and extreme efforts. The other was an extremely shy pegasus whose skillsets revolved around kindness and caring for others. Obviously neither was able to completely satisfy the drives of the other, and as their thoughts turned in endless mobius loops of self doubt, they eventually found themselves back at Fluttershy's home. A moment of awkwardness was added when Daring, trying to be polite, held the door open for Fluttershy, who tried not to advance on the door while her potential-not-really-but-kind-of-maybe-I-want-it-I-think-if-that's-okay crush was standing right there. The tension on the scene was abruptly drained by the arrival of a draconequus, sporting a florid button up shirt, sunglasses, and a coconut drink he was sipping on. He walked past Daring with an appreciative nod. "Thank you."
Daring for her part blinked and rolled her eyes. Fluttershy gave Daring a blushing smile before following after the draconequus, Daring being the last one through the door.
Fluttershy was given a surprise hug as she walked in, earning Discord a surprised squeak and a return hug a moment later. Daring obligingly decided to examine the ceiling in detail. "Welcome back, Discord. So where did you go?"
"Nice little village, island, don't really recall the details. Decided to get out of there after they started blaming me for the volcano going off."
"Volcan-Discord!" Fluttershy had a look of horror on her face.
"What? I didn't do it! I just needed to pick something up."
The Discord plush, long since silent, spoke up. "That's what they want you to think!"
Discord frowned at the plush in surprise. "You managed to keep it intact?"
Daring shrugged. "Dash was polite enough to not break it. I thought it was amusing, and it worked for something for Fluttershy to hold onto last night."
"Huh. Top marks Daring, full score. I'll be holding you to that level of skill for the rest of your visit." Discord nodded to himself, his attire vanishing for his usual nudity. He looked around, and grinned viciously upon spotting Angel, who returned a nonplussed glare. "Why hello there Angel. I did have to get some payback for your little contribution to my inconvenience yesterday."
Fluttershy attached herself to Discord's leg, looking up with huge pleading eyes. "Oh Discord, please don't do anything rash, I'm sure Angel is sorry."
Angel proceeded to chitter and gesture with his paw threateningly.
"Angel!" Fluttershy's color drained from her face in shock and dismay. "Discord's mother was nowhere near deserving of that!"
Discord coughed politely, gently unlatching Fluttershy from his appendage, dusting himself off, and walking up to Angel with a wicked smile. "Now then. Angel. You grudgingly put up with me, and the only reason you're not a fresh pair of mittens is because Fluttershy puts up with you. For reasons beyond my comprehension."
Angel made some additional chitters which could be interpreted as 'takes one to know one'.
"Be that as it may, you did inconvenience me, and leave me without my powers for a period of time, which ended with me almost being at the tender mercies of some griffons who wished me harm. As such, I demand satisfaction." A white glove appeared on his griffon claw, which he removed, and proceeded to slap Angel with. "I challenge you to a board game!" The white bunny stood stock still for a moment, before snatching the glove from the draconequus and slapping Discord in return. The two challengers faced off in a dramatic glare. Fluttershy and Daring exchanged confused looks.
"A...board game?" Daring walked over, curious.
"A board game!" Discord gestured dramatically, holding aloft an ancient looking weather worn wooden box with a carved name on it. It was carefully decorated, and looked remarkably tasteful, with images of animals and adventure arranged around the letters. Daring and Fluttershy exchanged another look, and a shrug.
"Could we play too? Um, if that's okay, I mean."
Discord blinked. "Well, I suppose it's for up to four players. But this is an epic battle whose resolution will shake the very foundation of reality! The firmament of Equestria will shake under our thundering blows!" Angel blew a raspberry at the draconequus and made a few punching gestures, chittering angrily. "Well said, Angel." Discord nodded approvingly.
Daring chuckled. "So.. teams?"
Fluttershy examined the box with a curious headtilt. "What's a Jumanji?"
~*~
AK Yearling was rather disappointed. The only inn had a small bar, and the small bar only had some moderately bitter apple cider and 'Jungle Ale', which was made with a small spicy native root which had a rather horrible aftertaste. Still, when you had hours with nothing to do but wait, it beat the alternative of just sitting in your room, if not by much.
She tapped her notes with her pen. It had been a while since the last time she'd tried writing out a book with her own hooves rather than with a typewriter, and she had managed to more or less remind herself why she preferred the mechanical scribe. She could barely read her own hoofwriting now. And it was only going to get more complicated as she forgot what she'd written down. Which defeated the entire purpose of writing it down. She sighed for the too-manyth time in the past hour, wishing unkind things upon rocks that simply grew wildly and then fell onto train tracks.
She perked slightly at the arrival of a trio of diamond dogs through the front door. While they weren't exactly an uncommon sight, especially around the rougher edges of Equestria, their personal goal of gem hunting often put them at odds with ponies. These three had a similar build between them, each standing another foot taller than the average pony with long muscular arms and dim expressions. They were wearing battered looking mining helmets, and had much less familiar looking machetes strapped to their sides. The color schemes were grey, grey and brown with black spots, and zebra striped. The last one earned itself a raised eyebrow from Yearling as the Trio approached the bar. Their attire was oddly similar black jackets, as though forgoing the normal sense of rank.
"Triple Jungle Ale for us."
Whatever she was expecting was blown out of the water as the zebra striped one placed his order in perfect smooth Equestrian. None of this 'diamond dogs' or 'ponies' nonsense. The grey one spoke up with a frustrated grunt.
"Come ahn, the longer we waste in town, the longer it's gonna take us tah haul that rock back in." His accent was less familiar, but didn't sound local. Yearling rolled her eyes at the dogs. Of course they were after a 'rock'.
The striped one raised his bottle to his companions. "And if we keel over from lack of drinking it'll take even longer than that."
The spotted dog snarled, grabbing his bottle and draining it in one motion. "Okay! Is done! Now let's go dig before Ponies find rock!"
Annnd there's the more stereotypical diamond dog.
"You!" The spotted dog snarled at Yearling, who blinked back owlishly.
"Me?"
"You no hear nothing! It our rock! You not get it."
"...Okay." Yearling's curiosity got the better of her as she addressed the other two diamond dogs. "What rock are you talking about? I'm a writer and I study a lot of local legends, but if there's something about a rock..."
The spotted dog snarled before the other two could even get a word in. "You no take rock!" He lunged for the author, arms outstretched.
Yearling sighed, slipping down off her seat in a fluid motion, coiling herself against the ground as the dog's arms passed overhead, then launching herself upwards into a vicious uppercut which sent the dog flying back into the arms of his companions. The two smarter dogs grinned sheepishly. "Err, thank you. Rudder isn't the brightest, but between the three of us, he's got the best muscles. We do apologize." "Yah, sorry abut that lady."
"Apology accepted for now, but if he tries that again I'm throwing him out the door." Yearling dusted her outfit off. "Really, I would like to know more about what's going on. I might even be able to contribute."
The other two dogs shrugged, and slumping Rudder into a barstool, they flanked Yearling, and regaled her with tales of the Rosetta Rock; a stone of considerable archaeological value. They hoped. Daring followed along part-ways, but was distracted thinking about her own adventure.
Hmm.. Fight scene could use an even half dozen diamond dogs. Information gathering? No, bandits! Who caused the rockfall! Brilliant!
~*~
The huntsmare reloaded her elephant gun with a grim expression, the unicorn's face serious and enraged. Angel had once again used his small size to blend away into the jungle. The yellow pegasus had completely halted the stampede by Staring at it. And that frustrating brown pegasus. She was constantly throwing herself into harms way to get the others out. While there wasn't anything in the rules about keeping your other teammates alive, and it was in fact encouraged, her sheer dedication had become an annoyance. And the fact that she knew which jungle herbs could be used to cure the toxins from the vines...
The huntsmare swung her gun around with a frustrated glare. Where was that blasted bunny...
Above her, Angel grinned wickedly. The hunter was hunted.
Daring dashed into the encroaching vines once more with her machete, chopping away as the virulent growth tried to carve its way to Fluttershy and Discord, floating on a raft made of Fluttershy's bed. Discord frowned at the board. "Well, my turn's over. Daring, you're up." Daring grit her teeth, swinging the machete once more before dashing over to the raft. The Monsoon rains hadn't helped anything, and even with a pegasus clearing the skies, the cottage had been turning into more and more of a jungle, the walls and boundaries slipping away. She had to admit this was probably the best board game ever.
She took the dice in hoof, carefully tossing them into the marked area on the board. She watched with grim fascination as her piece slid under its own power, finally arriving in the end zone. The word off the game box appeared in the view port. Daring blinked, and read it out loud with a smile. "Jumanji!"
The world around them seemed to crack, the bits and pieces swirling as the box reabsorbed all the pieces it had regurgitated out. Fluttershy and Daring held onto each other for support as the bed swung around wildly as the monsoon waters retreated. The huntsmare appeared from one side, hogtied and gagged as she vanished along with all the other elements deep into the board. Angel dusted off his paws as the game board folded itself with a resounding thunderclap. Fluttershy's house had put itself back together in the storm of activity, leaving her and Daring embracing each other on her bed. They blushed, staring into each other's eyes.
"Oh get a room you two. Oh right, this is your room. Pardon us." Discord nudged Angel out the door, closing it behind them. Blushing intensified.
Daring took control of the situation with a smile, and kissed Fluttershy on the nose. "That was for saving me from the elephant. Per your damsel in distress comment this morning."
Fluttershy squeaked, looking away, blushing as pink as her mane. She slowly let her eyes drift back to Daring, wide-eyed and full of faith. She leaned forward, and gently brushed her lips against Daring's, the shy kiss almost more electric from the restrained emotions behind it. "And that was for saving Angel from the vines."
Daring breathed in the smell of the pegasus under her, feeling light-headed as she sought a counter-volley, her own lips covering Fluttershy's with more enthusiasm. "That was for stopping the crocodiles."
Fluttershy was breathing heavier, both to stave off the panic of her emotions, but also desperately trying to keep her head straight as she planted another careful kiss, this one lingering. "That was for the antidote."
Daring really couldn't think straight anymore. Between riding the high from the game and just the proximity of someone who seemed so interested, her next kiss was a bit more desperate, surprising Fluttershy with its intensity. When the shy pegasus pushed back into the kiss, Daring almost felt as molten as she did during the massage. She was almost breathless as their lips parted, and she whispered to Fluttershy. "That was because you're too beautiful."
Outside the room, Discord and Angel were both braced against the door, ears against the wood, listening. They could only make out the occasional whisper and some rather... interesting sounds. Discord and Angel exchanged a look, walking away from the door. "So Fluttershy likes mares." Discord's comment earned a shrug from Angel, who gestured to the door. "Well, yes, obviously. Only two days and they're already making out." He scratched his chin with a puzzled expression. "I suppose it's not too terribly surprising. Even as the living embodiment of Kindness she does hang around a lot of mares." Angel facepawwed and chittered at the draconequus. "Hm? Oh, yes, we're square. I didn't get hurt badly, and the game did pull a few surprises on you, so-" Angel chittered more. "What's my opinion about it? If Fluttershy's happy, what am I supposed to say?" Angel rolled his eyes, frowned at Discord, and finally offered a paw to shake. With a vague smile, Discord gave the bunny a shake. "Until next challenge, then." The two combatants walked off in opposite directions.