Twilight Sparkle was very happy. She was very happy indeed. It was monopoly night. Twilight Sparkle wasn’t the only one who was happy though. Her littlest companion was also quite pleased. Spike had convinced Twilight to finally let him play the game too.
“You’ll get bored Spike.” She said.
“No, I want to own it all!” Spike answered quoting the games motto.
“It’s a long game Spike. You need your rest.”
“Twilight I’m a grown dragon! Besides I watch you and your friends play for hours!”
“It’s too complicated for you!” Twilight groaned.
“The box says ages eight and up….I’m way older than eight!” peeped the dragon.
“OK. Fine.” Relented Twilight. The little dragon threw his claws up in the air. He was actually going to play a grown up game and he was stoked.
Unfortunately, the girls were not as stoked as either Twilight or Spike. The saw monopoly night as more of a chore than actual fun. Trying to explain that to Twilight though was rather difficult as monopoly was more than a game to her. She saw it as a necessity of life. The only games she loved more than monopoly was bridge and chess, and the girls could only imagine the horrors that would ensue if Twilight ever tried to make them play those.
Twilight was setting up the game board in a dramatic fashion when her guests arrived. They didn’t even bother to ring the doorbell anymore, they just trudge in and took their place at the table. Except for Rainbow Dash who dashed into the kitchen to look for potato chips.
“Hey everpony!” Spike said as he entered the room pulling a dragon size chair alongside him.
“Hi Spike!” AppleJack replied. “Are you going to place this here game with us tonight?”
“I sure am, AJ!” the dragon beamed. He started to place his chair beside Apple Jack, but then decided not to. He needed to think strategically. Fluttershy was a pretty good player. Probably even better than Twilight. Spike would never tell this to Twilight, but he was pretty sure Fluttershy let Twilight win most of the time. He needed to be across from Fluttershy to stare deep into his main competitor’s soul and raise up the fight in her. Plus, if he sat across from her he’d be next Rainbow Dash and she had the potato chips.
As the game started and as the night wore on Twilight’s happiness waned.
“You’re already buying a house?” Twilight inquired with a frown.
“Um….Twilight Spike is in a great position to build a house.” Fluttershy replied.
“Yeah Twilight give me the house!” whined Spike.
The purple unicorn slid the little plastic house over to Spike who placed it ever so lovingly on his property. Then he beamed up at everyone, and everyone beamed back at him. Twilight was ticked. Didn’t they realize he was winning? Then a thought came to her. They were probably letting him win. They felt sorry for the baby dragon. Twilight wouldn’t let this happen. No she’d teach Spike a lesson. That if you were going to play with the grownups. You’d get treated like a grown up.
After another hour of play Twilight was bankrupt. There was no way around it, no way to win. Spike had defeated her. He had defeated AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. Although Pinkie Pie had really just quit like she usually did so she could play with the little, plastic hotels. Now it was just Spike against Fluttershy. Twilight couldn’t believe it. Nobody had ever beat her before. Not even Fluttershy, Twilight’s main competitor.
“You know it’s getting quite late girls….perhaps we should call it a draw.” Suggested Twilight.
“Since when have you ever cared about how late it got?” retorted Rainbow Dash.
“Yes, let’s continue I’m quite enjoying this…of course a lady in always interested in business dealings.” Commented Rarity.
Twilight rolled her eyes. Of course Rarity was enjoying this. Spike was slipping her fake bits and telling her to buy herself something nice.
“You’re just upset because lost.” Said Rainbow Dash after eating the last of the potato chips, “if you were still in the game you’d insist we continue.”
“Now Rainbow Dash, if Twilight is needing to rest we should not wear out our welcome. C’mon girls we can all get some shut eye tonight and leave the board exactly how it is now. Then if it’s okay with Twilight we can come finish the game tomorrow night.” AppleJack replied.
“Well, that’s a great idea AppleJack, but really only Fluttershy needs to come back. She is the only one still in the game besides Spike.” Twilight remarked.
“That’s true sugar cube, but I think we all want to see the winner of this showdown.” Replied AppleJack.
“WAIT! How do we know Twilight won’t mess with the game board in the middle of the night?” Rainbow Dash shouted.
AppleJack started to say that Twilight would never do that and it would be pointless for her to do so because she had no dogs in this fight, but Pinkie Pie’s interest had been sparked.
Pinkie Pie jumped up and shouted, “I’ll make her Pinkie Promise! Twilight Sparkle do you Pinkie Promise not to mess up Spike’s hot winning streak during the night?”
Twilight blushed deeply. She could not believe her friends would think she’d do something like this. Although the thought had crossed her mind once or twice. Before Twilight could stop blushing and response a small voice broke the tension.
“I won, Yay!” Fluttershy murmured.
All the ponies turned in shock. Spike had such a lead on her. How did he loose? What they didn’t know was that Spike had let her win. He didn’t want Twilight to mad at him. He knew how crazy she could get and wanted her to let him play with her and her friends again in the future. Besides there had been plenty of time Fluttershy had let other ponies beat her. It had been hard for him to figure out how to let such the timid and nice pony win, but he had. Slipping bits to Rarity had helped, and it made him feel even better than winning did when he smiled at him.
“Congrats Fluttershy!” Spike beamed, “and thanks everypony for letting me play.”
Spike got down out of his dragon sized stool and got ready for bed. There was a moment of silence before a huge grin spread across Twilight’s face.
“Next week we are playing Bridge!” she declared.
All her friends just let out moans as the headed out the door wondering what kind of new pains they’d have to experience next week.