//------------------------------//
// Session 6 
// Story: Ponies and Dragons (Just Have Fun) 
// by Alex Warlorn 
//------------------------------//



Session 6.0 Mooncalf99

"Detention?" Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief.

"That's right!" Twilight said with a wide grin. "You are all in detention for your crimes against scholarly conduct. Specifically, you're in the Detention Zone, a non-dimensional spacetime construct that moves between the fundamental branes of conventional reality. A perfect place to secure delinquents like you."

"Big deal!" Pinkie Pie said. "What's stopping us from just sneaking out?"

"That would be Detentor 9000, the twenty hooves tall remodeled warmechbot looming over you, bristling with weapons and painted with a very menacing color scheme," Twilight said.

"Ah," Pinkie said. "Yes, that sounds very stopping."

"Good ol' Detentor," Applejack said proudly. "Mah best work yet. An' you ponies said I wasn't cut out for sciency stuff."

"Figures you'd be behind that," Rainbow Dash muttered. "So why are you in here with us?"

"Ah figure ah'm here to keep an eye on y'all," Applejack said.

"Actually, Crimson Tape have detention too," Twilight corrected. "After all, you've accumulated a lot of demerits lately. Right after you went after these ponies, funny enough…"

"H-hey!" Applejack protested. "Ah don't get demerits, ah'm a model student! Ah'm under duress, or somethin'!"

"Dee-nii-al," Discord said in a sing-song voice. "So how long are we in for, fillybeings and coltbeings? Or should I say, how do we get out?"

"Well, unless you have a note from your mom, you have to stay for a long, long time," Twilight said. "Or you can write 'I will not disrupt class' on the blackboard… five googol times."

"What's a googol?" Fluttershy asked.

"A big number," Twilight said.

Pinkie frowned. "Bigger than twelve? Bigger than twenty, even?"

"I see," Discord muttered. He shuffled around his character sheet and took out a small yellow sticky. "Here you go."

"What?" Twilight asked in surprise. She read the note. "Please excuse Random Act today. He is required for very important family dinner. I, uh, was kind of joking about that."

"I'm sorry, but mumsy is very strict about these things," Discord said. "I have to be home by three or she'll get very cross."

"You seriously prepared a note from your mom in case you ended up in detention," Rarity said. "I mean, like, seriously?"

"But of course!" Discord said. "I'm a good boy, don't you know? I'm on the honor roll, even." He paused. "Wings is on Equestria's Most Wanted. And Bright Light is somewhere on the Herzsprung-Russell diagram."

"A-category," Trixie confirmed proudly. "I'm main sequence and everything!"

"All right, I suppose you can go, since I did say it was okay," Twilight said.

"I need to take Mane Agery with me," Discord added. "She's supposed to tutor me in biology."

"I am?" Fluttershy said in surprise. "Well, if you say so…"

"You're not gonna take the rest of us along, are you?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Figures."

"Okay, both of you are teleported away," Twilight said. "What about the rest of you?"

"Can we try the same trick?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Twilight considered it. "Make a Relationship With Parents roll, everypony. Not you, Disco."

"Uh, why not?" Rarity asked.

"Your RWP stat is effectively set to zero for the time being," Twilight said. "You know, after you started dating your family's eternal nemesis."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Ugh, those deadbeats need to chill, seriously. I figured it was a much better solution to the problem, and Spikey-Wikey was nice enough to drop the whole 'drag me to hell' thing and play along."

"Of course he was," Trixie said, wondering not for the first time exactly how oblivious Rarity really was. "But it would've been more fun to have him dance-off against a gender-swapped Crimson Tape."

"Definitely, but Applejack makes for a poor stallion," Rarity retorted. "No offense, darling. I mean, funky dude."

"None taken," Applejack said. "Huh, ah figure Crimson won't try ta wheedle outta this, so ah won't roll."

"Feathering stupid dice…" Rainbow Dash swore. "Equestria's Most Wanted, huh? Sounds about right. All the ponies want a piece of Wings."

"Keep driving the way you do, and there will be plenty of pieces to go around," Discord said.

"Twilight?" Trixie said. "Would Bright Light even have parents? I'm pretty sure she formed from cosmic matter billions of years ago. Or Princess Luna created her to illuminate the beautiful night sky. Whichever theory is the most popular right now."

"Weeell…" Twilight looked thoughtful. "The first one would mean the combined universal forces of gravity, magnetism, and strong and weak nuclear power are your parents, and I doubt they'd perceive reality the way we do. And the other… sorry, I'm not giving you an excuse to claim Luna as your mom."

"Worth a try," Trixie said wistfully. "Say, maybe I was led to Equestria by an interstellar electromagical signal broadcasted by a group of unicorn scientists, and they've adopted me as their own?"

"Are you rewriting your backstory in the middle of the game?" Twilight asked dubiously.

"I… don't think I ever specified it?" Trixie said. "What, is that bad?"

"No, of course not!" Twilight reassured hurriedly. "I like it. But since you just came up with it, I can't let you roll this time."

Trixie shrugged. "Fair enough. It's not like Bright Light will be left alone, anyway." She gestured to the others.

"Agh! These dice hate me!" Pinkie screamed. She took her cherry-red six-siders and swallowed them. "This is what I think of you, grr!" She chewed angrily.

"Did… did you just eat your dice?" Applejack asked in stunned surprise.

"Yep!" Pinkie pulled out a small candy bag and procured two more sweet-smelling cubes. "Made these from gumdrops! Don't tell me you've never wanted to wreck your dice completely."

"Only all the time," Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Say… that gives me an idea… Hungry. Hit me up with the sugary-est and calorie-est snack you're packing!"

"Ooh, I've got just the thing!" Pinkie mimed placing something on the table, and made a quick dice roll. "I call it 'The Cataclysm Cupcake', and it's a miracle of precisely baked dough, all-natural fruit filling and sweet icing for that perfect balance between slow and fast calories! Also, I failed the roll to resist, and ate it by instinct. Good thing I brought two!" She mimed placing another cupcake on the table.

"Well, now I regret leaving early," Discord muttered. He munched on a pawful of dice, ignoring the fact that his weren't fake. "This might be good."

"Ooh, I think I see where this is going!" Rarity said. "I hang on to Wings Maximus. Then I grab Bright Light, Hungry and Crimson Tape with my tele-funk-kinetic powers and brace myself for a wild ride."

"Uh, you forget Detentor already?" Applejack asked. "How the hay d'you forget a ginormous robot with enough guns ta fend off a whole changeling swarm?!"

"She's right, everypony," Twilight said. "Detentor 9000 is programmed with heuristic prediction software to catch even the wiliest of delinquents in the act. You're obviously planning some kind of mischief, so it releases the safeties on all its weapons and moves in…"

"Wanna bet Crimmy forgot to install EMP shielding?" Trixie said. "One solar flare straight to the head. If that could fry Diva's eight-track, it should at least buy us a few seconds."

"…Okay, but you have to make them count," Twilight said. "What do you do?"

"One Cataclysm Cupcake chow," Rainbow Dash. "One mother of a sugar rush. Then I aim for the wall or whatever and try to vibrate through as fast as I can. Right?"

"But…" Twilight hesitated. "If you do that, all of you might end up anywhere in time and space! That's crazy!"

"Hey, it beats detention." Rainbow narrowed her eyes and raised a die. "Here we go!"

Session 6.1 zaku786 

"....."

"Welp.... This is interesting." Discord said

"How, HOW!" Applejack shouted

"Well you went back to the past, where somepony accidentally crushed something important which cause technological advance to be stalled by ten year which meana detentor 9000 never existed in the new timeline," Twilight said.

"Yes!!!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "OH err... sorry Rarity."

Rarity didn't say anything, the new timeline made it so shoulder-pads were the height of fashion.

Session 6.2 BrutalityInc 


"Pardon me if you believe I'm questioning your style, Gilda." Rarity began "But don't you think you might had gone a tad bit excessive?"

"Excessive? What do you mean, excessive?" Gilda asked, raising a feather-brow.

"I think she means the way you planned our last mission." Rainbow Dash clarified to her friend. 

"Well, it was a major government meeting, as our little DM told us." Gilda explained, earning a glare from Spike over being called 'little', "I just thought that with so many heavy-weight crooked head honchos in one place, we need to go above and beyond the amount of force we usually do to get through their goons and assassinate them for the good of the revolution."

"I have to agree with Rarity here, I'm afraid. It does seem a bit excessive." Twilight concurred with Rarity, "It is true that the building was naturally heavily defended, filled with the tyrannical government's troops and vehicles, who are armed with advanced weapons and armor, but there are less flashy and... brutal ways, to go about taking them out and throwing the occupational regime into disarray."

"For example, you could snipe them through the window from a long range with the magitech-enhanced sniper rifles we appropriated from our previous raid." Rarity, the rebel marksmare of their band of insurgents, pointed out. "If there's anything the security had consistently overlooked for some reason, it is doing their business in places with poorly bullet-proofed windows."

"We could just... sneak in and kidnap them... after putting everypony to sleep with knock-out gas through the ventilation shafts, that is... no need for any violence at all." Fluttershy, who played the rebel medic, suggested. Through the whole campaign so far, she adamantly refused to believe a peaceful resolution of the conflict isn't possible (Which is hard, having witnessed all the horrors, atrocities and suffering caused by the clearly amoral, ruthless and unreasonable regime over course of the campaign module).

"You could even just sabotage the support beams the day before the meeting and let the crumbling building do the work for us!” Pinkie, who played a rebel saboteur, offered her two-cents, “The look on their faces would have been priceless!”

“Can’t one o’ ‘em good-old fashion surprise assaults do the trick?” Applejack said. Having played a common rebel soldier, she always preferred a simple and straightforward solution.

“Oh come on, you lot! At least it went off without a major hitch!” Gilda complained, throwing up her claws, “If anything went wrong, it was on me who planned it out, but I didn’t think to expect a Canterlot inquisition over a successful mission!”

“This isn’t a Canterlot inquisition.” Twilight, the Rebel tactician, reassured, but still pressed on with one anyway. “But let’s review the plan of your rebel commando: first, we hit a military convoy, all to secure a munitions truck.”

“We needed the extra ammo for the mission, and the bang from whatever we couldn’t carry.” Gilda stated.

“We attached explosives on the munitions truck.” Rarity continued, “You then have Dash, our resident rebel vehicle operator, to drive the munitions truck straight into the building, jumping out before it smash through the barricade, while the garrison fired upon it.”

“Worked pretty well to get rid of the initial defences…” Gilda recalled.

“…And done demolishin’ half the place in the process.” Applejack finished the sentence for her. “Yah then have us six in our lonesome stormin’ the place, kill off the rest of the garrison, and blow up any vehicles they used – which was all of ‘em…”

“Hey, can’t have the dweebs we’re hitting get away using them.” Gilda explained, “Have to be sure. There was this one session I had with other friends where an evil overlord escaped on a tricycle.”

“Speaking of said ‘dweebs’, after making short-work of their elite guards, you assassinated them all by yourself…” Twilight began.

“So? I have them cornered in the conference room.” Gilda asked.

“… With a sledgehammer.” Twilight finished, wincing with the other ponies as she recalled the ensuring massacre.

“I ran out of bullets putting down their goons. And it was just sitting there gathering dust in the storeroom.” Gilda justified. “Those crooked pencil-pushers and armchair general rippers managed to put up quite a fight, I’ll give them that. Didn’t help them much in the end, though…”

“And to top it off, you escaped in an APC you didn’t blow up, riding it into the sunset like in the movies, but not before setting off all your remaining rockets and explosives to blow up the rest of the building, right on top of the government reinforcements coming in, leaving the whole place a smoldering pile of rubble.” Spike summarized, “All the while, you and Pinkie Pie were laughing.”

“What can I say? I loved the smell of high explosives in the evening.” Gilda shrugged indifferently.

“It was super fun!” Pinkie Pie said, giving a grin that unnerved the other ponies slightly, “I bet Trixie would love this sort of explosive mayhem. Maybe we should invite her for our next campaign session!”

“That was pretty cool, overall.” Rainbow Dash admitted, “I really enjoyed the action. Though I could see why Rarity and the others might think it’s… too excessive.”

“In hindsight though, given her character’s backstory, where she joined the rebel faction after the regime’s troops killed her brother before her eyes, her actions isn’t exactly too out of character…” Spike pointed out.

Gilda seemed somewhat apologetic, “Well, I know that you ponies probably don’t like it too flashy or violent. That was actually the tamest idea I came up with, for the benefit of the softies; I got friends back in Griffonstone who would be bored out of their skulls with this plan, and come up with more crazy and gung-ho ones…”

The Mane Six looked at each other, having been reminded, once again, just how different the griffons are from ponies, even when playing a tabletop RPG game.


Session 6.3 Alex Warlorn 

Twilight Sparkle said, "Alright girls, you're now trapped on the deserted island." 

Rarity spoke up, "Dear, I must point out that our ship is in perfect condition and-"

"You send a signal arrow to your ship... only for it to hit the charcoal storage... making the entire ship explode.. now, then. Alright girls, you're now trapped on the deserted island."

Rainbow Dash asked, "Twilight... did you get much sleep last night?"

"I was busy organizing all my notes till after dawn, why?"

"... No, reason."

A WHILE LATER...

"How is it a 'deserted' island if it's full of pony eating plants, poke happy pygmies, and keeps with angry suits of armor?!" Applejack exclaimed. 

"What was this thing even defending? It's just a one room castle with no secret doors or any loot!" Pinkie Pie complained. 

"At least we're all in one piece." Fluttershy offered. "Too bad it was whale, sea turtle, dolphin, and seaserpent mating season all at the same time, or my druid could have gotten us off the island by now."

"Yeah... what a random chance." AJ give Twilight the stink eye.

"Just go with it girls, just play according to script, and she'll let us have free will next game when she's rested," Spike whispered. 

"At least that nasty . . . what was it called again?" RD said standing on top of the giant suit of armor now defeated. 

Pinkie's bardic knowledge offered. "It was called a Wroughtnaught!" 

"Yeah we took down this wrote-not!" RD said, "AND! we got some sweet loot of the deal!" RD said, taking both the Wroughtnaught's helmet for herself, and its battle axe. 

"Wait, you're wearing both at the same time inside the keep?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow Dash knew something bad was coming and tried to get out an excuse, when she hesitated, Twilight said. "Roll a Fort Save and a Will save." 

The will save was a lost cause with Rainbow's barbarian, and the fort save... it seemed her die always failed her when it wasn't in battle... 

"The curse on the items activated, and Rainbow's body becomes hollow and her skin thick metal and she turns into a replacement Wroughtnaught, her only desire now to slaughter all intruders, including you guys."

"So Rainbow Dash loses another character," Spike said. 

"Do I at least get experience for my next character for fighting my friends?"

"No."

"DANGIT!"

Session 6.4 Alex Warlorn 

There was a knock on the door, to the beat of 'a hair-cut and two bits.' With Spike behind the screen, Rarity was the one to open it. It revealed Suri Polomare, grinning a huge grin at her former foalhood friend. She wasn't wearing her scarf, and her mane was done in a pair of braids. 

"Hello Rarity," she grinned. 

"Hello Suri," Rarity said coldly. 

"I am here to apologize. I was wrong to use your generosity against you, I was wrong for having such a selfish and self-centered view of the world. And the way I treated Coco was completely selfish. I've now realized that I should have treated you and Coco as equals."

Rarity startled. "Well... I'm happy to see you've come to your senses Suri... but I hope you understand that trust while hard to build can be... easy to... des-troy? SURI! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR CUTIE MARK!?" Rarity gasped, but already knowing the answer.

Suri grinned at the equal sign on her flanks. "Oh that thing? I was freed of its evil mind control magic. Do you want to be free of your cutie mark's evil mind control magic? Nothing will make you feel more FREEEEEEE!" Suri cheered. 

"TWILIGHT! EVERYPONY!" Rarity pulled Suri inside, who didn't resist in the slightest. 

Fluttershy whimpered at the sight. Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. Pinkie Pie grimaced. Applejack felt sick. Twilight shouted. "Suri! When did Starlight Glimmer do this to you!?" 

"Oh, she showed her concern for me by tasering me unconscious, tying me to a chair, setting in front of a giant screen with no bathroom breaths or food or water and my eyelids tapped open. With classical music playing, and depicting of selfishness and greed throughout the centuries and their destruction upon civilization, and she was sure to give me an electric shock every time I thought of stealing candy from babies. Now I go into spasms on my own every time I have those thoughts." Twist trotted with a lolipop in her mouth. Suri instantly fell on the floor twitching, but slowly got up. The grin never left her face. "See? I'm all better now. A perfectly role model citizen of an equal Equestria."

"Where's your cutie mark darling?!" Rarity pleaded with the mare. 

"I think she said she dumped it in a container somewhere at the bottom of the ocean, she didn't say which one." Suri just kept on grinning. 

The mane six looked at each other in dismay. 

"So... uh, how did you... meet her?" Fluttershy asked very uncomfortable.

"Oh... we were chatting in a cafe, she offered me a free meal, she said I clearly needed it more than her. We got into a debate about how it was impossible for everypony to have the same opinion. And I said how it was everypony for herself, and me cheating, lying, and stealing from Rarity were all justified, and was my constant put downs of Coco. Of course I was completely and utterly wrong, so Starlight Glimmer saved me! She is ... well, she's not best pony, because we'll all be equal, so we'll all best pony!" 

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Rainbow Dash demanded.

"She said if anypony asked that, that she'd hiding out at the old bomb factory at Stalliongrade." 

"ON IT!" Rainbow Dash told her friends before she could protest, Sonic Rainbooming towards the distant factory.

"Wait Rainbow!" Twilight shouted futilely. "It's obviously a-" There was an explosion on the horizon. "-trap."

Rainbow Dash zoomed back to her friends, cover in soot. "She wasn't there." RD grumbled. 

"Well," Suri kept grinning like a doll. "She did say that if that didn't work out, there was the old ammunition dump, on the other side of the Everfree Forest."

Before anypony could stop her, Rainbow Dash was off like a streak of light again. AJ grabbed RD by the tail, and only managed to get herself dragged along for the rid until her face got planted into a crystal wall around a window, forcing her to let go of RD. 

"And you girls told me it would be cruel to put a shock collar on that girl," AJ said, feeling dizzy. 

A few moments later, and another explosion, RD came back, even more agitated than before. "Any OTHER places she said she was staying?" 

"Well, she said after the first town she'd be in the town of BoyAreYouStupid, but I can't find it on any map."

"That's because it doesn't EXIST on any map, or anywhere for that matter." Twilight said, checking the magic map just to be sure. 

"Sorry Dashie," Pinkie Pie said, "I think we're just going to have to wait until the season finale to stop her evil plans." 

"Oh they're not evil, they're all very very very good, the best good in all of Equestria, all shall be equal, all shall be friends," Suri said with a straight face and that rigid grin. 

"Suri...." Rarity said, "How about you play a game with us, it's all about teamwork, working together, everypony contributing to the whole, and fighting those who are geometrically opposed to your beliefs... sounds like just the kind of game for your new... mentality right? It's a game with no losers and no winner, so everypony wins!" 

"Oh yes, I'd love to play a game with you where everypony wins! Those are the only games worth playing!" Suri said without missing a beat. 

"And maybe get you to have some individual thoughts again." Applejack said. 

"Oh why would I want those?" 

"Just... trust us a little."

"You do know Glimmer doesn't really have an equal mark right?" Fluttershy asked.

"Oh I know, she says she can't enjoy the bliss of being Equal until all others are equal, she carries such a terrible burden."

The mane six groaned. 

"Friends! The great and powerful Trixie got a new game from the store!" A perfectly normal Trixie with her wand and crescent moon cutie mark intact, held up a box with pictures of different factions of identical ponies. "It's called Equalgeddon! You play as any number of factions to get all to live in your particular Utopia state where everypony thinks alike and feels alike. Friend Applejack can have a utopia where everypoyny speaks farmer. And Pinkie Pie can have a society where everypony parties all day long. Rarity can have one where everypony everywhere dresses in style. And Fluttershy can have one where everypony gets along with animals and has lots of pets."

"That does sound nice." Fluttershy admitted. Her friends all glared at her. "What?"

"Whose the new girl?" Trixie blinked at Suri. 

"Got brainwashed by an egomaniac," Spike said.

"Liberated by a visionary," Suri corrected.

Pinkie Pie shrugged and whispered to Twilight. "At least she'll be in jail or reformed by the end of the season. I think the author just wanted this out before that happened."

Twilight didn't try to figure that out. "Trixie... I think that might be... too much like Diplomacy. And might have been made as a propaganda tool by a mad-mare." 

"The what now?"

"Oh right, you weren't there for it... it's a game that nearly destroyed our friendship."

"Is that the day the Windigos came to Ponyville?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

Spike meanwhile was explaining the helpful and obedient Suri how to play O&O. Maybe some gaming with nice ponies would make her cutie mark re-manifest on its own? 

Session 6.5 Zaku789 and Alex Warlorn 

KNOCK KNOCK!

"Now what." Twilight groaned as she opened the door to show a irate pony. "Yes?"

"Pardon your highness are you friends with a rainbow hair pony?" the pony asked.

"Yesss...?"

"Here's the repair bill for the bomb factory destruction." The pony presented the paper to the princess.

"500,000 bits! but wasn't it old and possibly (And hopefully) abandoned," Twilight protested.

"Yes, but it was being reinvented into a museum and cause of your friend we have to make a new museum somewhere else!"

Twilight grumbled abit as she use her magic to grab some money from somewhere in the castle and handed it to her. "Okay lets play this game, and hopefully deprogram somepony at the same time."

Suri grimaced as much as she could without losing her manic grin. "W-what?" Now her grin did falter. "R-Rarity? Don't you like the new me? Don't you WANT to be friends?"

Rarity gently held Suri's cheeks. "I... I want to be friends with YOU darling, how can I be that if everything that makes you, you is gone?"

"Even if everything that made me, me was bad?" Suri asked.

Rarity sighed. 

Session 6.6 Richforce 


The gang wasn’t quite sure what they were in for when they decided Fluttershy would GM for the night. At first they expected another game of Bunnies and Burrows but when she came in she brought a package that was still covered in brown paper.

“I just got his today from Golden Rice, my pen pal in Neighpon,” said Fluttershy as she tore away the packaging. “This is her favorite tabletop game, Densetsu no Yokai.”

“For those of us don’t speak Neighponese?” asked Spike.

“Legend of the Yokai.”

“Those Neighponese spirits that appear in their folktales?” asked Twilight. “Some of those are supposed to real nasty, others are benevolent so what kind are we dealing with here?”

“The invisible kind that whose mischief causes everyday problems. Your characters are Yokai you are going to make yourselves and you’re going to be helping a child that can see you deal with troublemakers and convince them to help people.”

After checking up on the rules they went about making their characters
“I remember some stories about carp becoming dragons after climbing a waterfall,” said Spike. “Ridiculous of course, but boy do our Shen Long cousins like to tell those stories to impress that you should never give up. Anyway my yokai is a carp that got stuck halfway through the transformation and is now only half a dragon so makes one thing in a set of two go missing. I’ll call him Carpagon, uh we don’t have to use neighponese names right?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Fluttershy said reassuringly. “When I write how this went to Golden Rice I’ll be sure to translate to something appropriate.”

“Well my character is an insect responsible for causing stray lightning bolts to come from thunder clouds,” said Rainbow Dash. “I learned a little Neighponese so I’m calling her Ikamushi.”

“A portmaneu of thunder and bug. Very clever Rainbow.”

“My character is a colt’s toy robot who came to life after he grew up,” said Pinkie Pie. “Now he is searching for his old playmate while fighting for great justice! I give you the one and only Kamen Robo!”

“Clever,” said Rarity. “But that story is nothing compared to my character’s tragic tale.”

Everypony but Fluttershy and Spike gave a small groan while Rarity continued. “She started life as an exquisite dress made by a talented, and extremely beautiful, fashion designer for the occasion of a close friend’s wedding. But alas, the bride and groom had a horrific accident and would never make it to the altar! The dress was stored away for another wedding but it never looked quite the same on any other pony so years and years passed as the dress was slowly being forgotten. Coming to life after having existed for so long the dress now known Love Lace had devoted herself to finding the red stings of true love and weaving destined hearts together in a tapestry of happiness.”

While most of the gang was in silence over the hammy story Spike sniffled and wiped a tear from his eye. “I’m sorry, uh what about your character Twi?”

“Well you know when you’re studying something and you find another topic mentioned and think to yourself ‘I wonder what that is’? So you look it up and find another topic and look that up and before you know it hours have passed and you’ve gone from what you were originally studying to something completely different?”

Twilight was met with silence.

“Anypony? Well, my character is a bird named Lookit that sits on your shoulder and whispers in your ear to send you off on those tangents.”

“What about you Applejack?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well one thing that really annoys me is that after a long day of working the farm you try to reward yourself with a cold soda or fizzy cider only to find that it’s warm and gone completely flat. So I came up with a little goblin named Sodajerk whose idea of a good time is popping all the bubbles in a drink and uses a cider bottle as a little club.”

“Wow that’s really clever Applejack!” said Pinkie.

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “Who doesn’t hate flat soda?”

“And the idea to use a bottle as a club makes him resemble an oni, a traditional neighponese orge,” said Fluttershy. “Golden Rice is going to love it!”

“What about Lookit?” Twilight asked meekly.

+++

Once the game got started the gang came to appreciate Lookit as her skill usually distracted foes until they could defeat them. As they continued to convince misbehaving Yokai to use their powers to help people. Then party was set to help the child to visit an onsen or neighponese spa in the middle of the night.

“As you step out an unusually thick fog covers the ground,” said 
Fluttershy. “Then turning the corner of the street is a giant oni!”

“Ok, I attack the oni with my lightning power,” said Rainbow Dash rolling a die getting a decent roll.

“Your roll fails and the oni blocks Ikamushi’s lightning with his iron club.”

“Fluttershy what level is this monster?” Twilight asked while Rainbow was groaning.

“Sixty, that’s why he can withstand the conducted electricity.”

“But our characters are only around twenty!” said Applejack. “What’s with the grudge monster?”

“He’s not a grudge,” Fluttershy said. “There is a proper way to deal with him at your character’s levels.”

“You mean like a weakspot?” asked Spike.

“Something like that.”

“Ok if the direct approach doesn’t work maybe inspiriting him will,” said Twilight. “Lookit attempts to distract the Oni with a tidbit of information.”

“And just in case Love Lace uses her embedded crystals to create a protective wall around Lookit,” said Rarity.

Fluttershy rolled a die. “The oni resists your inspiriting and begins to charge his finishing blow.”

“Ok, time to get serious,” said Spike. “Applejack, we have Carpagon and Sodajerk combine their water attacks. That should weaken Oni enough for Pinkie’s Kamen Robo to finish him off.”

“I’m with ya partner,” said Applejack.

“Same here,” said Pinkie Pie. “Kamen Robo’s Flaming Kick of Great Justice is ready!”

A few die rolls later.

“You’ve done a moderate amount of damage on the oni,” said Fluttershy. “He finishes charging…” Fluttershy rolled. “And he does eighty points of damage on the whole party with a wide swing of his club. Love Lace’s crystal shield blocks thirty hitting Lookit for Fifty, considering your hit point totals the result is…”

“Total Party Kill,” said Rainbow Dash. “Ok nothing we could do seemed to be able to beat the guy, so were we supposed to talk and make friends with him?”

“No,” said Fluttershy. “He's out to scare children who were out back to bed.”

“But we needed to get to the Onsen to get the old man’s tools back!” said Rarity. “Staying home wasn’t an option.”

“Well he didn’t notice you guys until Ikamushi attacked him, you if you passed a few comparatively easy awareness checks you could have snuck past him.”

“You mean run away?” said Applejack.

“I guess the real lesson here is discretion is the better part of valor,” said Twilight.

“Life lessons in Tabletop games?” said Rainbow. “What’s next, crossover fan fictions?”

“Well it’s getting late,” said Pinkie Pie. “I better head home and see how the Twins first baking lesson with Gummy is going.”

Pinkie didn’t notice that out the window behind her Sugar Cube Corner was on fire.

Session 6.7 Mooncalf99

"Oh, good going, girl," Discord scoffed. "You just had to go and tamper with the time stream some more, didn't you. This is all your fault."

"Hey now, don't y'all go blaming me for this!" Applejack protested. "Ah jest wanted ta put things back ta normal! How was ah supposed ta know usherin' in a steampunk age would result in the rise of clockwork stallions?"

"Speaking of which, they are getting closer," Twilight said. "Make a roll to keep running. And one to see if you get lost in their base or not."

"Ah, don't getcher Alans in a bind, Guvner," Rarity said. "We'll be outta this in two shakes of a lamb's tail, long as you keep your apples open."

Rainbow Dash stared at her. "Uh… yeah." She leaned over to Pinkie Pie and whispered, "Seriously, what's Rarity's deal now? She talked weird enough before…"

"Fork in the corridor," Twilight said. "Left or right?"

"Um… left!" Fluttershy said, scribbling on a rudimentary map of the base.

"I think the time warp retconned her character, seeing as how the Disco era never existed now," Pinkie Pie said. "So she's now something even stranger and weirder, far beyond the comprehension of mortal beings."

"I'm cockney, actually," Rarity said. "A professional street urchin and chimney sweep. As are, apparently, my entire race. Hence the rhyming slang, my good china."

"Good grief," Applejack groaned. "If that's not incentive enough to set things right again…"

"We all know you just want to un-paradox your mecha-coltfriend," Trixie snickered from behind her stack of notes.

"Mah what?" Applejack goggled. "Hey now, ah based 'im on mah brother… an' don't say anythin'!"

"Trixie doesn't need to," Trixie shot back with a smug grin. "You say it all yourself."

"Yer lucky yer not in the party right now…" Applejack mumbled.

"Side passage on the right, or continue straight ahead?" Twilight said. "Also, if you don't take it, the clockwork stallions will fire on… Mane Agery and Hungry. Roll to dodge."

"I… uh… let's go right?" Fluttershy suggested. "I go right."

"Yeah, let's not split the party again," Discord said. "We should probably try to find out where they took Ol' Sunny, too. Things just aren't quite disastrous enough without the full team."

"Aw, you do care after all," Trixie said. "It's okay, though. I'm taking the downtime opportunity to calculate my mass."

"Watching your figure, are you?" Rarity asked. "Trying to fit into your game o' chess?"

"Uh, no?" Trixie said quizzically. "I'm trying to see if Bright Light can become a black hole, actually."

"But those suck!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Tell you what, let's work out those details after tonight's game," Twilight said. "Because there's no way I'll give you free reins on a gamebreaker like that."

"Aw," Trixie mumbled. "I mean, that's fair. Yes."

Rainbow Dash suddenly slammed her hooves on the table. "All right, I'm sick of running away! I say we fight these ano… anaklo… stupid metal things! I don't care if headbutting them hurts me, I wanna fight!"

"Personally, I'd argue that Wings has smashed his head against so many things, he should have developed some resistance," Discord said. "Anyway, as long as someone else is on the immediate front line, I'm up for it."

"Good call!" Twilight said. "Since you've all failed your smarts rolls badly, you only realize now that you've been herded into a trap, and find yourselves in a large bay, surrounded by several dozen clockwork stallions."

"Blimey," Rarity breathed. "I ready my chimney brush."

"We're in trouble now, aren't we?" Fluttershy asked.

"Aren't we always?" Pinkie said. She rummaged through her candy bag. "So would they taste like licorice, or peppermint, or something else? 'Cuz I'm not outnumbered, I'm at a buffet!"

"Yeah, 'bout time ta throw down," Applejack said, rubbing her hooves together.

"Not so fast!" Twilight admonished. "The center of the room is dominated by a large, floating construct of gears and light, with none other than your friend Bright Light inside. You don't know if she's trapped inside as a power source, or as a weapon, or something else, but one thing is clear: if you want to get out of this mess, and get your friend back, you have to fight her first."

There was a brief moment of silence around the table.

"I don't see the problem," Rainbow Dash said finally.

"Ah've been waitin' fer somethin' like this forever," Applejack said.

"You don't mind, do you?" Fluttershy said. "It's for your own good, and… things."

"Twilight?" Trixie said with anticipation. "Trixie will help reshelve your library for a whole month if you--"

"--Let you play the part of the Clock Star for this scene? I was going to let you do that anyway, but thanks." Twilight passed over a fresh character sheet to the giddy mare, and grinned. "Now, roll for initiative…"

Session 6.8 Alex Warlorn

"Hey, what do you think would happen if Principal Cinch found out we were playing Dungeons and Dragons?" Indigo Zap asked.

Her teammates 'we aren't really friends' glared at her. 

"Oh right right, we'd be in for a world of hurt." 

"We're just playing a friendly little game here!" Sour Sweet cheered, then said, "She doesn't care about us as long as keep our grades up! We could be going sky diving or summoning evil spirits in our spare time and she wouldn't know the different!" 

Lemon Zest, was, of course, banging on her heart phones... made all the more distracting that she had actually taken them off, and raised the volume, so she could hear the game at the same time. (She insisted it was in game, since her Bard carried a cart of magically animated instruments.... Their dungeon Master Sunny Flare had smacked them with a nasty penalty to any surprise roll for that one.). "Yeah! What does she care if we have fun?"

"You all appear to be underestimating our principal's fixation on reputation for the school which by extension is herself. If she found us playing a game known to attract only social rejects with no personal lives, she would not be pleased."

"She can't order us around when we're not at school!" Indigo Zap said.

"Wanna bet?" Sunny Flare said, "By the way, you're ambushed by trolls."

"Hey!"

"Blame Indigo Zap's bard music... " 

"Hey! This way the fights and the loot COME TO US!" Lemon Zest defended. 

"My Anti-Paladin commands her undead to 'stall' the trolls instead we're in fighting position." Sugarcoat said. What truly gave Sunny Flare a headache was how Sugarcoat was able to defend ANYTHING she did as 'pragmatic' villainy with frightening super human concisely. No wonder she was head of the debate team. "And so far, we've been relatively protected, since we are among her top students, but if she thinks we've come 'infected' by the students at Canterlot High, I don't think I need to explain what might happen next."

"Well, your super grades are the only reason you're not expelled." Said Indigo Zap, "I mean, the way you tell the teacher as much as the students what you think of them. I run in among the trolls, and my fighter does a whirl wind attack!" 

"I'm just being honest. And you'll hit some of my zombies." 

"So?"

"We have to wait until we fight another pack of them for me to enslave more. I'm not an evil cleric, I can't just MAKE more." 

"I boast their stats with the power of music!" Lemon Zest said.

"This isn't world of horsecraft Lemon Zest, you have to actually tell me what bard song you're using." Sunny Flare sighed. 

"Oh right, forgot." 

"You heard the rumor Principal Cinch doesn't raise as much fuss over when Cadence 'cuddles' the students who break down, is just so she doesn't have suicides destroy Crystal Prep's reputation?" Sour Sweet asked. Needless to say, with Twilight gone, Cinch had become even more brutal in making sure her students keep up the school's GBA. 

"That's just gossip!!!" Sunny Flare insisted. 

"Well, my thief/cleric prepare action to heal Indigo Zapp when the trolls clobber her, or loot her corpse if she dies." 

"Noted." Sunny Flare said. 

Lemon Zest checked the time... she hoped they retrieved the sacred sword from the forbidden cave soon... she'd promised PurplePup, FaithfulStudent, BBBFF, and RisingSun, to go on that raid in HorseCraft later... that new player, REALPrincess, she sure acted freaked out by the game's setting and lore. You think she'd met Nightmare Moon in real life or something. 

Session 6.9 MtangaLion

Spike the Dog said, "Twilight, could you type some more macro commands for me? This is taking forever with paws."

Shining Armor froze. Twilight was surprised and a little impressed when her big brother kept his cool. "You didn't mention that your dog talks now."

Twilight smiled, blushing a bit. "We've... had to reassess our relationship."

Spike guided his character to a safe zone by pawing at the trackpad before he turned around. "Yeah, that whole master and pet thing? Not working out for me. Hey, that reminds me! I'd really like to get some different brands of dog food to try out. Derpi, put it on Twilight's checklist!"

Twilight's smartphone chimed. "Get some different brands of dog food," echoed a mechanical voice.

"Great!" The purple pup bounced over to Princess Twilight, standing on the armrest of her couch. "Hey, I don't suppose you can cast a spell to give me opposable thumbs." He got an idea, ears perking up. "If the girls can pony up... maybe I can 'dragon up!' I'd be unstoppable!" The pup grinned, kneading his forepaws together. "Just think, I could even roll my own dice on Saturday nights."

Princess Twilight scratched his ears. "I'll see what I can do."

Session 6.10 Ardashir and Alex Warlorn

"Suri dear, perhaps you would like to play a Rogue?" Rarity glared at her friends. "Instead of ME being the one stuck into the 'thief' slot again?"

"I'll be whatever is for the greater benefit of the group," The Equalized Suri said simply smiling.

Session 6.11 Alex Warlorn

Twilight Sparkle had to admit... while the CMC, Pipsqueak, and Button Mash, had done some unorthodox things to achieve their goals as Sky Pirates, surprisingly nothing they had done was truly setting wrecking. Twilight had actually read a book recently that Oubliette Overseer should take 'setting wreckers' in stride, since 'great calamities' are a part of many grand stories and a good Oubliette Overseer should be able to continue to provide challenges to the players. 

'Even if one of your heroes takes a flying island and crashes it into the king's castle while heads of state are all currently visiting, the story itself remains.' Twilight realized this might actually be good advice, and actually might help her better with Trixie . . . though Trixie never truly SET OUT to demolish a setting, it was more Trixie's sense of theater and recklessness backfiring with a healthy dose of bad luck. 

Twilight was honestly excited to see how the little pirates would conquer the heavily armored convoy that they'd caught wind of. A daunting challenge, but the bait was too tasty to pass up. She wondered if they were going to go with stealth, manipulation, or trying to lure the convoy's defenders away from their post, or infiltration. 

"WE'RE TAKING 'EM WITH OUR NEW STEAM MECHA SUITS!" 

"So what now?" Twilight ask confused. 

"I worked on them with Apple Bloom since last week," Button Mash said, handing Twilight a sheet of paper with all the stats of their new equipment.

"Don't worry!" Apple Bloom said, "We had Spike present when we did the engineering rolls to see if we got them all assembled right and to work." 

Sweetie Belle smiled. "And I checked the rules, there's nothing against it!" 

Shocked silent for a while longer, Twilight then smiled. "I must say... this is rather surprising. Let's see where this goes." Twilight already imagined after Pipsqueak's crew showing that the devices were possible, every faction would begin to develop their own designs for them, Twilight could already imagine what design course every faction would take... but no sense in punishing the little foals for this titanic effort on their part and their creativity. 

To say the raid was bedlam would be an understatement, the convoy officers had no idea how to handle this new threat, and the CMC took full advantage of the chaos. The suits weren't invincible, and would take some costly custom parts to repair, but the profit margin from the raid was huge for the little pirate crew. 

The game ended on a positive note... and Twilight couldn't help telling the big sisters of the CMC about her little friends session. 

What she didn't expect was the next day... Button Mash to show at the library ... crying... 

"Button Mash, what's wrong?"

"I... I'm... I'm sorry! I didn't meant to wreck your campaign!"

"What?!" Twilight exclaimed. 

"I was told how much you hate having your campaigns wrecked! And that's what I did! The mecha suits were my idea! I'm SORRY!" He sniffed, sniffing boogers. "I'll, I'll quit playing the game. I'm sorry!" And... before Twilight's eyes... Button tore up his own carefully and lovingly drawn out and stated drawings and character sheet for the steam armors . . . Before the Princess could say a word... Button Mash ran out of the library with one last, "I'M SORRY!!!" 

Twilight stared at the running away foal, and down at the former beautiful drawings now so much scrap paper. Twilight's heart felt heavy. 

Session 6.12 Ardashir


Twilight looked down from an upper window to see Maternity Love-Tap and Button Mash coming up to the door. Twilight saw Buttons try turning around and leaving, but his mother herded him on to the door. 

Twilight took a deep breath and steeled herself for what she was about to do.

Below, Maternity and her son entered to find the rest of his playing group there: Pip and the CMC. They looked at Button, ears down in unhappiness.

Button just looked down at his hooves, hanging mane hiding his face.

"Button?" The little colt didn't even look up as Apple Bloom spoke. "Ah heard what ya did with all o' yer hard work. Ah'm sorry, we all are." Scootaloo and Sweetie nodded agreement. 

"I messed up Miss, I mean, Princess Twilight's game," Buttons mumbled. "My ideas were bad, and I'm glad I got rid of them."

As soon as the words left his mouth, papers floated before his eyes. He blinked to see his old art and writing, all restored and glowing with the light of Twilight's magic.

"I'd prefer that you didn't," Twilight walked over to Button and his mother and bowed low before him in apology. "Button Mash, I'm sorry I even made you think that I didn't enjoy what you and the others did last week. I admit it took me off guard," Pipsqueak and the CMC whinnied laughter, "but it was a very clever and original idea. I was impressed by your thinking outside the box, I still am. You and the others were smarter and more imaginative than I or the game designers," Pip and the CMC held their heads high, "and that kind of intelligence deserves respect."

"You, you were?" Button looked up. "You're not just saying this to be nice?"

"I'm not just saying this," Twilight said, smiling, before her grin turned wicked. Button gulped. "And as to 'nice', how well do you think you and the rest of the crew will hold on to that loot now that your armor's been damaged and reinforcements are coming?"

'Hah!" Buttons jumped up. "That's what they think!"

Twilight smiled and stood aside, revealing the game room behind her. The game was laid out and a small table nearby had some snacks on it. With eager whinnies the little heroes raced in for the weekly game.

Twilight mentally ran through the letter she would write later:

"Dear Princess Celestia -- a certain amount of control and planning is necessary in many things, politics, studies, even friendship and games. But when ponies get the idea that simply being original around you is offensive and stifle their own ideas, you not only hurt them, you hurt yourself by losing that new perspective. Which is why new ideas and original thinkers need to be nurtured, whatever their field is. 

Now and forever your student -- and friend -- Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Session 6.13 Mooncalf99 

"All right," Twilight said, placing two fun-sized cherry pies on the table. "The Dread Nega-Baker of the Vortex Realm challenges you, 'Where is the liquid rainbow? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both eat, and find out who is right... and who is dead. Or at least suffer an excruciatingly painful spice burn.' What do you do?"

"But it's so simple!" Pinkie announced. "All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: Are you the sort of pony who would put the rainbow into his own pie or his enemy's? Now, a clever pony would put the rainbow into his own pie, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the pie in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the pie in front of me."

Twilight nodded. "You've made your decision, then?"

Pinkie shook her head. "Not remotely. Because liquid rainbow comes from Cloudsdale, as everypony knows, and Cloudsdale is entirely populated with pegasi, and pegasi are considered reckless, as you expect me to consider you reckless, so I can clearly not choose the pie in front of you."

"Truly, you have a dizzying intellect," Twilight said slowly. "Or a dizzying something, at least."

"WAIT TILL I GET GOING!" Pinkie laughed. "Where was I?"

"Beats me," Applejack muttered to the other players. "How the hay did we get inta this mess again?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I dunno, I didn't really listen. I'm just glad that whole time paradox thing is over. Even if that angry Timecharger guy had to chew us out about it."

"Yes, and who made him angry by trying to steal his shades, hmm?" Discord asked.

"You did," Fluttershy said.

Discord nodded. "That's right, I did, didn't I?" He chuckled. "Good times."

"Guys!" Pinkie yelled. "I'm trying to roleplay here! Do you mind?"

"Sorry, Pinkie, our bad," Fluttershy said soothingly. "Something about Cloudsdale, right?"

"Yes, Cloudsdale," Pinkie said, turning her attention back to Twilight. "And you must have suspected I would have known the rainbow's origin, so I can clearly not choose the pie in front of me."

Twilight shook her head ruefully. "You're just stalling now."

"YOU'D LIKE TO THINK THAT, WOULDN'T YOU?" Pinkie cried, slamming her hooves on the table and knocking over Discord's bowl of popcorn. "You've beaten my speedster, which means you're exceptionally strong, so you could've put the rainbow in your own food, trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly not choose the pie in front of you. But, you've also bested my star, which means you must be exceptionally bright--"

"Bright Light was never bested," Trixie protested. "She merely acquiesced to her opponent's graceful offer of a surrender."

"Ya got yer silly head bamboozled with flattery an' let 'im sneak away while you were blushin', ya mean," Applejack said.

"--and in studying you must have learned that a pony is mortal, so you would have put the rainbow as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the pie in front of me," Pinkie continued.

"You're trying to trick me into giving away something," Twilight admonished. "It won't work."

"IT HAS WORKED! YOU'VE GIVEN EVERYTHING AWAY! I KNOW WHERE THE POISON IS!" Pinkie cried.

"Are you sure, darl-- ah, daddy-o?" Rarity cautioned. "You're just going around in circles here."

Twilight waved her hoof dismissively. "Then make your choice."

"I will, and I choose--" Pinkie's eyes shot open wide. "Ah! Behind you! A parasprite!"

"Excuse me?" Twilight asked.

"I'm trying to distract him," Pinkie hissed. "Do I need to roll anything?"

"I could give the Diva a wardrobe malfunction if it'd help," Discord suggested.

"Don't even joke about touching my wardrobe," Rarity growled in a decidedly unladylike manner. "I've just gotten everything set up the way I want it."

"No, it's okay, you succeed automatically and he turns away to look," Twilight said. "Good idea, by the way."

"Well, you know, parasprites," Pinkie said, making a disgusted face. "Okay, while he's looking away, I switch the pies around." She demonstratively switched the actual pies as well.

"Aw yeah," Rainbow Dash said, smirking. "I see what you're doing. Nice."

"The nega-baker looks around for the threat, then turns back just after you've finished tampering," Twilight said. "'What? Where? I don't see anything,' he says. From the look on his frowning face, you realize that he is beginning to suspect something."

"Sorry, I could have sworn I saw something. Parasprites are a menace on my planet, you know," Pinkie said plaintively. "No matter! Let's eat! Me from my pie…" She took the small pie in her hooves. "...and you from yours."

"Indeed," Twilight said. She carefully cut a slice from her pie and took a bite, while Pinkie dug into hers with abandon. "Oh, and you guessed wrong."

"You only think I guessed wrong!" Pinkie laughed, still chewing on her pie. "I switched pies when your back was turned! Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never lend your study notes to anyone with a Roche limit above six digits--"

"I returned your stupid math notes ages ago!" Trixie protested. "Let it go already!"

"--but only slightly less well known is this: never go in against a Gourmand when food is on the line!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!" Pinkie laughed at length.

"I put liquid rainbow in both pies," Twilight said.

"Ha ha ha-- oh." Pinkie halted. She promptly keeled over.

"Pinkie!" Fluttershy cried, leaping over to her side. "Are you okay?"

"I mean, the baker put it in the pies in the game," Twilight said hurriedly. "Pinkie's fine. You are fine, right, Pinkie?"

"Just peachy," Pinkie said from somewhere under the table. "I'll just pretend to be unconscious or something, right?"

"I was thinking being violently sick or something, but unconsciousness is more dignified, sure," Twilight said.

"Oh. In that case, I still leap to her side and try to help her," Fluttershy corrected herself. "Hungry! Are you okay?"

"Hang on a moment!" Applejack said. "How come the bad guy wasn't affected if he ate it too?"

"He's the most dreadful baker in the seven dimensions, so obviously he burned out his sense of taste long ago," Discord suggested. "In other words, he's immune to baked bads."

"Whereas Gourmands have an extremely keen sense of taste, so we can better experience the full, uh, experience," Pinkie invented. "Except, ooh, we can voluntarily suppress it when we eat something bad, but I was caught by surprise this time, and--"

"Yeah, yeah, save the inventin' funky new alien powers for later," Applejack interrupted. "Let's focus, everypony. How do we beat this guy? The usual way?"

"Charging at him, zapguns blazing, and screaming incoherently at the top of our voices?" Rarity asked. "That almost never works."

"Nah, but it's cool," Rainbow Dash said. "Okay, what if we go back in time--"

"You're still prohibited from using the timeshed after the incident," Twilight interrupted.

"I was thinking more like me pulling a slingshot maneuver around the sun," Rainbow said.

"All kinds of time travel," Twilight clarified. "It's just too messy. You risk ruining all of history."

"You're just jealous because Bright Light got a date with young Starswirl the Bearded," Trixie said smugly.

"I thought that was very romantic, myself," Fluttershy said. "Although the bit where you tried to date Clover the Clever at the same time seemed a bit, um, needlessly complicated. Not that I'm judging you for your, um, choices or anything."

"I had it all worked out and it would've been glorious," Trixie said. She rolled her eyes. "But noo, our grumpy jealous stick-in-the-mud GM had to nix it."

"I told you, that wasn't the problem, but--" Twilight protested.

"I've got it!" Discord exclaimed, slamming his paw on the table and knocking over his bowl of popcorn. "This is going to be awesome. I call it 'Battle Plan Delta-Butterfly-Peppermint'."

"Oooh!" Pinkie squealed, still under the table. "That's definitely the code name of an awesome plan! Shame I'm still knocked out or I'd be in right away."

Discord steepled his claws and grinned sinisterly. "Au contrare, mon capitan. Your absence of consciousness is, how do you say, instrumental to our success. Okay, everyone follow my lead…"

Session 6.14 Ardashir And Alex Warlorn

Starlight waved her list of controlled Illuminati power groups over her head.

"Hah! I control the Calf-ars, the Priory, the Time Meddlers..."

"You created the Time Meddlers!" Applejack snorted. Starlight ignored her as she gleefully went down her list.

"...And the Network -- in fact I've ended up controlling every major conspiratorial group." She looked at their other final remaining player. "Well, except for the Discordians."

"Please," Discord said. "As though I'd allow anyone else to try snatching my faction away. Isn' that right, Stallions in Black?"

Discord snapped his claws and half a dozen identical stallions in black suits and wearing dark eyeglasses appeared to say, "Yes, Master Discord."

"Okay," Rainbow Dash shuddered. "I don't know what's creepier. Those guys, or just how well the latest reformed villain does at scheming how to take the world over."

Glimmer blushed, "Well, at least it's pretend this time."

Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs. "Just because Twilight forgives you for almost ending the world... you still owe me some medical bills for those traps you set." 

Glimmer cringed, "To be honest, I didn't think those traps would WORK! I doubted anypony would be STUPID enough to-, I mean, that eager to find me." 

"Speaking of which darling," Rarity said, "Would you be a dear and fix THAT?" Rarity pointed at Suri Pommelmare who stood happily in the corner on a stole with her equal mark. 

"Hello Starlight! I'm a good pony now! And I love everypony! I see now everypony is equal, just like you taught me, it's not everypony for herself, it's everypony for the community! I was a BAD pony, and you made me a good pony, thank you!" 

Starlight Glimmer's eye wilted. "Uh... do I have to? Of all the evil things I did, that was the one I LEAST regretted, I think before I equalized her, she tried to pick my pocket twice-" "-trice!-" Suri happily corrected. And Glimmer blushed and wrung over her hooves. "...And I might have left her cutie mark at the bottom of the ocean... " 

Session 6.15 Grogar-the-oneser 

"WHAT!" almost everyone shouted. Okay, Suri had already told them, but they hoped Glimmer had been lying to her. 

"It's not my fault, I didn't mean to lose it, (Uh, maybe? Uh, a little?), like that it just that it 'accidentally' fell out my window while I was traveling on boat."

"Why were you on a boat?" Pinkie asked. 

"Well.... I heard you guys were briefly pirates and I was still in 'To know your foe' phase of my plan." Starlight said.

"Oh I remember that one, Dashie went pirate crazy and Fluttershy was holding a fish against its will," Pinkie said, getting annoyed and blushing looks from her two friends respective.

"Sigh... I'm going to call King Leo. Hopefully one of his subjects saw it," Twilight muttered.

Session 6.16 Ardashir and Alex Warlorn

"In fact," Glimmer said, her eyes beginning to show an old unhealthy gleam. "Maybe my equal-magic can STILL be used for good... If it can stop Suri and other BAD ponies from doing evil, then isn't it worth it?"

The Mane Six just looked at her silently. Meanwhile Discord juggled the mindlessly happy Suri.

"I'm glad to amuse my friends!" Suri called out right before she landed with a loud thud. "...Ow."

"Er, okay," Starlight said. "Mister Discord? If you could recall that chest full of liberat -- I mean, stolen cutie marks from the ocean floor?"

"Say 'pretty please with sugar on top'," Discord said, at the same time materializing enough sugar to cover Suri.

"Discord!" Fluttershy flew over to hover before him. She waved her hoof under his nose. "This is very impolite behavior!"

"I'm okay!" Suri called out from underneath the white mound.

Discord just rolled his eyes and snapped his claws. The chest with stolen cutie marks appeared. Moving slowly, Starlight opened it. The collected cutie marks flew out and away through the open castle windows. 

All save for one that slapped itself onto Suri's flank. 

"NOOO!" Suri shrieked and waved her forehooves as though seeking to drive something off. "I, I won't want to be like that again! I was an awful creature! I hurt ponies and -- HEY!" Suri glared around at everypony. "Normal again, thank the Princesses! And I'm leaving. No way am I staying here in Nerd Central." She sneered at the game-covered tabletop. "I'm outta here, m'kay.." Her eyes lighted on sight. "AS SOON AS I STRANGLE YOU!!"

Suri charged Starlight and started hitting her in the face. Starlight didn't even try to dodge. "YOU WITCH! YOU, YOU CUTIE MARK KIDNAPPER! I'll break your neck for what you did to me! I'll..." 

"So," Discord said, snapping his fingers. A wrestling ring appeared around the two mares, and they were dressed in Mexicolt luchador-style outfits. "Shall we help one of them? Or has game night been canceled in favor of an episode of 'Legends of Equestrian Championship Wrestling'?"

Fluttershy asked meekly. "So Suri... you won't be joining Angel and me for another game of Bunnies and Burrows?"

Suri's expression completely changed and stopped attacking Glimmer... along with her cutie mark, and smiled and said. "Of course I will Fluttershy! I love spending time with my friends!" The cutie mark changed again. "NO I DON'T! Yes I do. NO! Yes. No!" The cutie mark kept switch between a pink and purple equal mark to Suri's normal one. "I DON'T WANT TO BE A BAD PONY! YES I DO! NO I DON'T!" 

Glimmer stared, "Uh, this has never happened before."

Twilight said, "I think it might have something to do that Suri wasn't living in subpar conditions, wasn't in a totalitarian town, and developed far greater dissonance towards her old identity and-..."

Pinkie Pie smiled, "Hey Fluttershy! We've got a fifth and sixth member for the split personality support group! Or is it seventh and eighth?"