//------------------------------//
// Chapter Twelve: Et Tu, Luna? 
// Story: Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay 
// by DoctorSpectrum 
//------------------------------//

“Rolling a stunts check to swing down from the airship, kick through one of the windows in Canterlot castle, and land stylishly in the courtyard!” Octavia exclaimed, rolling a d20.
 
“I’ll do the same, but I’ll fly through instead of swinging down,” said Vinyl, also rolling a die.
 
Natural Twenty frowned. “Um…am I missing something? I literally just walked in through the door and sat down, and you two just started rolling dice like it’s going out of fashion.” He put a hoof to his chin in thought. “Although come to think of it, our roleplaying group was never that popular in university…”
 
Vinyl and Octavia both grinned. “Sorry, Natural Twenty,” Octavia said, “it’s just that we’re both very excited to get started with this session.”
 
“We’ve been discussing…plans…over the past few days,” Vinyl explained. Her grin grew slightly larger as she spoke. “We’re both expecting to have a very fun session today.”
 
Sweet mother of Celestia, what do they have in mind? Natural Twenty wondered. I suppose I’ll just have to see what they end up doing. “So, what is it exactly that you two were rolling for again?” he asked.
 
“Bursting into Canterlot castle through two separate windows, giving us the element of surprise against Celestia,” Octavia said.
 
“And when we land, the glass shards are gonna land all around us in a really cool way,” added Vinyl. “Cool mares don’t look at glass explosions!”
 
“…So I take it that you two managed to take the airship to Canterlot successfully in-between sessions somehow?” Natural Twenty asked.
 
“Is there any reason we wouldn’t?” Octavia asked fairly.
 
Natural Twenty grimaced as he looked at some notes of his. Destroy the airship on its way to Canterlot with a super-tornado. Failing that, make the balloons deflate, requiring them to find more. If they want to get to Canterlot, I may as well throw in a little adventure along the way. “No, no reason,” he said, sighing as he crossed a line through the first paragraph of his notes.
 
“Cool!” said Vinyl. “So, what do we see now that we’re in the courtyard?”
 
“You see three guards,” said Natural Twenty, placing several figurines on the rarely-used game mat, “who after a moment of surprise walk over to you.”
 
“Are they ninja guards?” asked Vinyl.
 
“No, just regular royal guards,” said Natural Twenty, frowning. “Why would they be ninja guards?”
 
“Well, I dunno…” said Vinyl, thinking for a moment. “I mean, between the jungle and then the pirates, it sorta feels like this story should have ninjas appear at some point.”
 
“What story?”
 
“The story of the campaign, of course,” said Octavia. “Also, I feel I should point out that ninja guards would be appropriate as a sort of elite guard for protecting Celestia.”
 
“Ninjas are pretty rad,” Vinyl agreed, nodding.
 
Natural Twenty rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Regardless, the guards approach you with harsh looks on their faces. ‘Excuse me, but what do you two think you’re doing?’ one of them asks.”
 
Remember, Vinyl, like we discussed – we’ll trick them into taking us to Celestia, Octavia thought, watching the other mare. Just remember the plan…
 
“We’re here to kill Celestia!” said Vinyl Scratch cheerfully. “And there’s not a thing you can do to stop us!”
 
Octavia facehoofed. “Vinyl, we were supposed to use my Sweet and Elite utility talent to convince them that I was friends with Celestia!”
 
“Oh shit, that was the plan, wasn’t it?” Vinyl said. “I, uh, say ‘That was a joke!’ before they can do anything. ‘We’re really here to see Celestia on super important business!’”
 
Natural Twenty raised an eyebrow. “The guards had started drawing their swords, but as you speak they pause for a moment. ‘What sort of business?’ the leader of them asks, slowing continuing to draw his sword for the sake of caution.”
 
“Uh…Octavia?” asked Vinyl, looking to her friend for help.
 
“I step in front of Vinyl and say, ‘Please excuse my friend, sirs. She recently, um, had brain surgery, so she’s still trying to discern reality from fiction.’”
 
“You seem more trustworthy, so they’re lowering their guards, but they’re still suspicious,” said Natural Twenty. “The leader asks you what exactly your business is.”
 
“I’ve been hired to play the Princess a private concert on the cello,” said Octavia smoothly. “From what I understand, it was a personal request.”
 
“You said you had the Sweet and Elite utility talent, didn’t you, Octavia?” Natural Twenty asked, frowning slightly.
 
“Yes, I’ve had it since day one.”
 
“Bugger, if it wasn’t for that they totally would have called you on your bullshit,” Natural Twenty said. “You’ll still need to roll a persuasion check though.”
 
“Sure,” said Octavia, rolling a d20. “Twenty-six with my persuasion skill.”
 
Natural Twenty rolled a die of his own. “They reluctantly believe the lie, but they’ve still got some questions to ask you. ‘If that’s the case, why did you and your friend come in through the window? There’s a perfectly functioning door right there! You would have been let in without any fuss if you’d come in that way and stated your business.’”
 
“Well you see, there’s a perfectly normal reason for why we came in through the windows…” said Octavia, racking her brains for an excuse. “We, um…”
 
“We accidentally fell out of our airship whilst trying to park it,” Vinyl said, finishing Octavia’s sentence for her. “We still haven’t gotten the hang of controlling it.”
 
“Which is why Vinyl here said that we were assassins!” Octavia exclaimed. “It was her way of making a funny joke in light of the situation.”
 
“…Roll another persuasion check,” said Natural Twenty. Octavia complied.
 
“Twenty-three with my skill added.”
 
“The guards believe you and give you directions to Celestia,” said Natural Twenty after rolling a die of his own. “Good rolling, Octavia, and some nice lies there between the two of you.”
 
Octavia shrugged, a smile upon her face. “Well, persuasion is my cutie mark skill in Pony Tales, you know,” she said.
 
“And yet my persuasion skill is higher,” Vinyl pointed out, grinning.
 
Octavia scowled. “Whatever. Let’s go kill Celestia then loot the castle.”
 
“So I assume that the two of you will head directly to Celestia, as per the guards’ directions?” asked Natural Twenty.
 
“Yeah. Like Octavia said, we can loot the castle and stuff later,” Vinyl confirmed.
 
“The two of you head up the stairs and climb one of the towers of Canterlot castle. As you both know, the Princess has always slept at the top of the towers due to tradition dictating that the pony with the highest position in Equestria living in the highest location of the capital,” Natural Twenty said.
 
“Wait, why is Celestia in her room?” Octavia asked, frowning. “Shouldn’t she be, I dunno, filling out forms or something?”
 
“It’s very early morning – around seven o’clock – so she’s still asleep,” Natural Twenty explained.
 
“Then why did the guards believe that I was going to give her a private concert?” Octavia asked.
 
Natural Twenty shrugged. “In-universe, they assume that you need several hours to set up. The real reason? You rolled well enough.”
 
“Cool,” said Vinyl, grinning.
 
“The two of you continue climbing the tower, your legs feeling heavier and heavier with each step along the way,” continued Natural Twenty. “When you finally reach the top after what feels like an eternity, you find yourselves outside Celestia’s room. However, you’re not alone. Standing outside it is-”
 
“Ninja guards!” interrupted Vinyl excitedly. Natural Twenty smirked.
 
“Oh, you wish that there were ninja guards,” he said. “No, awaiting you two is somepony far more deadly: Princess Luna.”
 
“Oh shit,” said Vinyl.
 
“What is she doing here?” Octavia asked, frowning slightly.
 
“You ask her, and she replies, ‘As I finished up my night shift, I heard from the guards downstairs that you two are planning to prepare a concert for my sister. How is this so? I haven’t heard anything about this.’”
 
“Nice modern slang you’re using there for a princess who was stuck in the moon for one thousand years,” Vinyl pointed out.
 
“Hey, I’ve never met her; I have no idea what Princess Luna sounds like,” said Natural Twenty, shrugging. “Call it artistic license. Anyway, what do you two reply?”
 
To Natural Twenty’s fear, rather than giving a response, Vinyl and Octavia leaned in closer to one another and started whispering to each other. He caught little snippets of their conversation as they continued. “…thought we were going to try that on Celestia…” “…still need a good roll…” “…what if she sees through it?” “…I told you, we could have done it if I hadn’t gotten so drunk!”
 
“Well?” Natural Twenty asked, impatient. Vinyl and Octavia slowly leaned away from each other.
 
“So we will do it?” Vinyl asked Octavia, a hint of fear in her voice. Octavia nodded.
 
“Natural Twenty, if I point out a nearby window and say, ‘Look, Princess Luna, it’s something you’re interested in!’, how long would that distract Luna for?” Octavia asked.
 
“Let’s see…” Natural Twenty rolled a die. “About seven seconds.”
 
“Excellent. I shall do that-”
 
“-and while Luna is distracted, I’m gonna use my Illusionary Mask ability to impersonate…uh… who’s somepony other than Celestia who Luna would trust?” Vinyl asked.
 
“The ruler of the Crystal Empire, maybe?” Octavia suggested. “Princess Cadance, I believe her name is.”
 
“…Right,” said Natural Twenty, not liking where this was going. “Luna turns back from the window and spies Vinyl disguised as Cadance. ‘Cadance!’ she cries. ‘What are you doing here? Where did you come from?’”
 
“I’ve got important news for you, Luna,” Vinyl said. “These two sexy musicians who you should totally bang-”
 
“Vinyl!” Octavia exclaimed.
 
“Oh, like you’ve never thought about doing one of the princesses,” Vinyl said. “Anyway, these two musicians are actually super awesome assassins, sent by me to eliminate our sister Celestia.”
 
“I think that I heard somewhere that Cadance is actually Celestia’s niece,” Octavia pointed out.
 
“Whatever. You both know what I mean,” Vinyl said, shrugging.
 
“Luna asks, ‘But why, Cadance? Why would you do this?’ She narrows her eyes and says, ‘I must admit that I’m a bit suspicious of you, Cadance,’” Natural Twenty narrated.
 
“I know how it looks, Luna,” Vinyl replied, “but I’ve got a super good reason. You see, I recently uncovered a plan of Celestia’s to, uh… send all of the zebras into slavery.”
 
“Luna looks unimpressed,” commented Natural Twenty.
 
“She, uh, also plans to kill you and me…” Vinyl said, straining to think of reasons that Luna would be compelled to assist her and Octavia in assassinating Celestia.
 
“-and to never raise the moon again; to ensure that there is never night again,” Octavia finished, thinking quickly.
 
“Luna looks a bit more surprised at this,” Natural Twenty said. “She gasps and says, ‘What? After all that we’ve been through? Are you sure, Cadance?’”
 
“Definitely,” said Vinyl. “And,” she added, a new thought occurring to her, “if anypony finds out about her plans and tries to question her about them or convince her otherwise, she’s going to kill them immediately without thinking twice. Regardless of whether they’re related to her or not.”
 
“…All right, you’re going to have to roll a persuasion check at this point,” said Natural Twenty. “You can’t seriously believe that Luna will believe all of that right off the bat.”
 
“Oh, we’re not expecting that,” said Vinyl, grinning. “Tell me, is Luna making any sort of check to see whether I’m Cadance, or whether I’m being truthful? Anything like that?”
 
“I’m about to roll a perception check, yes,” confirmed Natural Twenty.
 
“Sweet. Octavia?”
 
“I’ll use Dirty Look on Luna, to give her a negative-nine penalty to that check, and then I’ll use my Element of Harmony, Generosity, to give Vinyl a plus-fifteen bonus to her next check,” said Octavia. “Since I am an Earth pony helping her, this triggers my racial talent Friend in Deed, giving her an additional plus-four bonus. So overall, I’m giving her a plus-nineteen bonus to her persuasion check.”
 
“For what it’s worth, between Dirty Look and Luna’s perception roll, you’re going to need a fifty-eight or higher to convince her of all of this, since naturally she’s going to be very suspicious of everything you’re telling her.” Natural Twenty said. “Is that possible for you, even with that plus-nineteen bonus?”
 
“Just watch,” Vinyl said, grinning. “The mask gives me a plus-four bonus to any persuasion checks, and if I use He Did It! to give myself another plus-five, that’s twenty-eight so far. I’ve got a persuasion skill of twelve, so with that added I’ve got a base of forty.”
 
Natural Twenty cringed. “So if you roll an eighteen or higher, you’ll pass the check?” he asked.
 
“Damn straight,” said Vinyl, grinning. “Let’s spin this!” She levitated a die over the table and then casually cancelled the magical field holding it aloft. It clattered and spun as it hit the table, rolling towards Octavia. It stopped right at the edge of the coffee table. Octavia leaned to look at it and smirked.
 
“Nice rolling, Vinyl,” she complimented. “You got a natural twenty.”
 
Natural Twenty sighed. “You’re really good at rolling high just when you need it, I’ll give you that,” he said.
 
“Of course I don’t rig the important rolls!” Vinyl exclaimed angrily. Natural Twenty looked at her funnily.
 
“I never said you did,” he said.
 
“Good, because I don’t,” Vinyl said, suddenly cheerful again. “Now, does this mean that we’ve convinced Luna to help us kill Celestia?”
 
“Yes, yes you have,” Natural Twenty said, sighing. “What will you do now?”
 
“I guess we’ll head into Celestia’s bedroom and kill her in her sleep with the help of our new ally,” said Vinyl.
 
“You open the doors and enter a large room – it’s probably about two or three times the size of this one,” said Natural Twenty. “To your surprise, Celestia is already up, standing on the balcony and slowly raising the sun.”
 
“Come to think of it, what will happen to the sun once Celestia’s dead?” Octavia asked. “We might end up dooming Equestria thanks to this plan of ours.”
 
Might as well give them some hope, seeing as how ridiculously powerful Celestia is, Natural Twenty thought. “You know what? If – I mean, when – you two kill Celestia, I’ll let you both become the new princesses of the sun and the moon. Anyway, as you three enter, she says, ‘Good morning, Luna. And Cadance, too! To what do I owe the pleasure?’”
 
“She doesn’t say anything to me?” Octavia asked, feeling a little let down.
 
“She gives you a friendly nod and smile,” said Natural Twenty.
 
“I say to her, ‘We’re here to stop your treacherous plan, foul villain!’” said Vinyl, pointing a hoof at Natural Twenty as though he were really Celestia. “‘We know all about your plans for those poor, innocent, zebras, as well as for Luna and me. Do you surrender?’”
 
“Luna nods in agreement,” Natural Twenty said. “‘Sister, although I don’t want to believe it, Cadance convinced me of your plans. Will you come quietly?’ she asks.”
 
“We are so gonna become the new rulers of Equestria,” said Vinyl to Octavia, grinning.
 
“Celestia shakes her head and denies the accusations, but Luna will have none of it,” Natural Twenty continued. “She snarls and fires off a laser from her horn at Celestia,” he said.
 
“I’ll join in!” said Vinyl, picking up a d20. “I rolled an initiative of fifteen,” she said. Natural Twenty grinned.
 
“Vinyl Scratch, do me a favour and read me out the description for Illusionary Mask, will you?” he asked.
 
“Uh, sure,” said Vinyl, unsure why she was being asked. “Blah, blah, blah, favourable manner…bonus to persuasion…perception check to identify you…oh shit.”
 
“What does it say?” Natural Twenty asked.
 
Vinyl grimaced. “It says that it wears off when you engage in combat,” she said.
 
“That’s right,” said Natural Twenty, his grin growing larger. “Celestia sees you as you truly are, and focuses her first attack on you. Using Solar Beam, she hits you for…” He rolled several dice. “A total of seventy-two damage! Wow, that was some good rolling.”
 
“Wait a minute…” Octavia said, frowning. “Characters start off with thirty health. Surely you don’t mean…”
 
“Yep, that’s right,” said Natural Twenty. “Vinyl Scratch, your character is dead.”