//------------------------------// // #42 - A Nightmarish Move // Story: Techorse Short Stories // by Spirals95 //------------------------------// A Nightmarish Move Techorse series: #42 By Spirals95 “Ok, here we go!” whispered Pinkie Pie, holding a large, plastic syringe in her hooves above a four-layers tall cake. Whenever there was a slow business day at Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie would work on her latest confectionery masterpiece. Today, she was attempting to create a candy rocks and lemon syrup cake. Candy rocks were small, crystalline pieces of sugar that reacted with acidic chemicals, popping in one's mouth and leaving a pleasing tingling on the tongue. Pinkie's latest idea was to create a vanilla layer cake with layers of candy rocks and lemon gel so that anyone enjoying it could mix the two with each bite, creating a unique treat. But if the lemon gel got injected directly into a layer of the candy rocks, things might get ugly. She aimed the plastic syringe, loaded with the translucent lemon syrup at where she wanted to inject it under the icing within the layers of the cake. It was coated in yellow icing with light blue lace and flowers, and would hopefully go on sale that day. The pink pony carefully pushed the plastic needle into the cake, and pushed the plunger with her other hoof. After a few moments of the cake not exploding, she let out a sigh of relief and set the syringe down on the kitchen table. “Phew! Looks like my new super-lemon crinkle rock cake is finally ready!” she giggled, happy to have not made a mess. Pinkie Pie jumped down from the counter and bounced happily out the door into the main room of the bakery. While Mr. and Mrs. Cake were out shopping to replenish the store's harder to find supplies, she was in charge of operations. A few customers were waiting in line at the front counter, waiting to pick up their orders or simply buy a few of the goods in the display cases throughout the shop. “Sorry for keeping everypony waiting, my brand new lemon and candy rocks cake is finally ready to go!” she said, jumping behind the cash register. She got a curious feeling as she realized she didn't know the customer at all, which was unusual as she made it a personal life goal to be on first name basis with everyone in Ponyville. The stallion at the front of the line got a little curious, “Lemon and candy rocks? The fizzy kind?” She smiled broadly and answered, “Yup, that's right! I thought of it myself, you get that really cool tingly feeling on your tongue with every bite when the lemony filling and the candy rocks meet!” “Well, I'll take a piece!” he answered, “I was coming in for an oatmeal cookie, but that sounds a lot better. I used to love candy rocks as a foal.” Pinkie Pie started to trot back for the kitchen, “Lemme go get it from the back!” The customer, a unicorn pony with a yellow coat and a white mane, noticed how impatient the others behind him were starting to get, as they had been waiting in line too, so he added, “Maybe you should serve everypony else first, I can wait!” She agreed to help the other ponies in line first, and started taking orders for sheets of cookies, and even a cake for a graduation party. Pinkie Pie saw the front door of the shop open up out of the corner of her eye, and noticed that the guest wasn't tall enough to be seen by glancing at the middle of the door. “Hey Spike!” she called out, “I'll be with ya in a sec!” Spike stopped dead in his tracks and crossed his arms, a bit irritated that Pinkie Pie knew it was him without entering her line of sight. He clutched a scroll in his left hand, a message for her, and had been sent to deliver it by Twilight. Once all of the customers had been taken care of except for the stallion eager to try the lemon cake, Spike pushed to the front of the now-busy bakery and offered the scroll to Pinkie Pie. “This is for you, just got this today,” he explained, “it's a letter from Princess Celestia.” Pinkie Pie gasped loudly, and grabbed the scroll quickly out of Spike's clawed hands, unrolling it on the floor. She quickly scanned it over, and read the contents. “Spike, this is so neat!” she squealed, jumping in the air and waving her arms, “Princess Celestia wants me to come over to the castle today and meet somepony!” “Oh, who?” he asked. “I'm not sure,” answered the mare, putting a hoof to her lip, “it could be anypony! What if it's Equestria's best cookie maker? Or the inventor of blue raspberry!” “Excuse me,” interrupted the white maned customer, “you seem busy now with this, it's a huge honor getting to go see the princess. So I'll just leave now, ok?” “Oopsie! I forgot your cake,” responded Pinkie Pie, “one second!” Pinkie Pie dashed off into the kitchen, and returned in a blur that stirred up the air around the dragon and the stallion. She now bore a slice of the cake, one layer of purple candy rocks and one layer of lemon gel visible as stripes on the inside. The customer took the piece of cake from Pinkie Pie in his hoof and tried a horizontal bite through the whole piece to make sure the acidic gel and the rocks mixed. The rocks crackled on his tongue and complimented the thick citrus flavor well. “Wow, this is great!” he answered, “Thanks!” “Oh this is so exciting, Princess Celestia wants me to meet somepony special and my newest cake worked out!” No sooner did she say that, a loud yet gooey explosion was heard in the kitchen. Apparently, the lemon gel had been a little too runny, and although Pinkie Pie was able to keep the gel and rocks from mixing initially, cutting the cake had caused two layers to combine and turn it into a total mess! “Oops!” giggled Pinkie Pie, “Mostly worked out. Next time I gotta chill the gel more! Gimme one second.” Pinkie Pie disappeared into the kitchen, shortly followed by a strange slurping noise. She soon returned, smiling and licking her lips. She told Lightmaker jokingly, "Sorry, had to eat the evidence before the Cakes got back!" Mr. and Mrs. Cake sure enough soon returned to the store, bringing in a shopping back filled with some rare spices from the downtown stores. “Pinkie Pie, how'd the new dessert turn out?” asked Mrs. Cake as she set the bag down on the nearest table, “I saw you working on that all morning.” “Ma'am, this is an absolutely wonderful creation!” interrupted the stallion, stepping forward, “I'm probably going to end up ordering a whole one if you have the time to make one!” “Well sure!” answered Mr. Cake, eager for the extra business, “Can you make this gentleman an extra one, Pinkie?” Pinkie Pie really wanted to go to Canterlot and see the mystery pony, but she knew she had her duty to work, “Yeah, I can make another! Maybe one that can fit out the door though, the first one was super big, four layers!” The customer stepped forward and cut in for Pinkie Pie, hoping to do her a favor, “Pinkie Pie has summons in Canterlot according to the librarian's dragon here.” “Spike,” coughed the dragon, indignant the guest didn't know his name. “Right, Spike. My name is Lightmaker by the way, candle store owner right down the road from the sofa and quill shop. I just moved here last month and opened up for business.” “Really, that store? Why it's precious!” said Mrs. Cake, putting a hoof over her heart, “I saw the nicest little mushroom shaped candles in your shop window last week. You wouldn't happen to know how to make birthday candles would you?” Pinkie Pie smiled, “Oooh! Birthday candles? You're always having to go out of town to buy those, they don't make 'em here in Ponyville!” Lightmaker thought about it and chuckled, “Is this an offer?” “Sure! We'll buy candles right from you,” offered Mr. Cake, “you'll save us the trouble of having to get out of town like we did today to get them, and it'll be great business for you. We go through a lot of birthday cakes!” The unicorn agreed, “Let's work something out then!” “Oooh, oooh!” cheered Pinkie Pie, jumping up and down, “Can I please go to Canterlot while you work out the deal? Spike has a letter for me from the princesses saying I should go.” Mr. and Mrs. Cake understood the importance of Spike's letter, and nodded, dismissing Pinkie Pie for the day so that they could hash out a trade deal with Lightmaker and obtain their hard to get party candles. Since it would just be a trip for the day, Pinkie Pie didn't pack herself a bag, taking only herself and a few bits for the train fare to get to the city. Spike accompanied her to the train station, which was beginning to empty as ponies fled from the overcast sky indicating rain. “Huh, were we supposed to get rain today?” asked Spike. “Let's find out,” she answered, before drawing in a deep breath. Spike held his hands over the fins on the sides of his head, knowing what was coming next. “Hey Rainbow Dash!” yelled Pinkie Pie at the cloud bank above. The pegasus popped her head out of the gray clouds above, parting the puffy clouds with a fluffing noise. She had an annoyed look on her face, and refused to show any more than her head poking out from the accumulation above. Rainbow Dash grumbled, “I'm not deaf ya know. And yes, we've got a big shower coming up!” The ponies at the train station started to walk a bit more quickly at the words from the weather pony, knowing their day was about to get a bit more wet. Pinkie Pie didn't want everyone to get poured on, and also felt like she wanted to bring Rainbow Dash along too. So she decided to appeal to her friend's hopeless laziness. Pinkie Pie flicked her puffy tail and said, “Thanks Rainbow Dash, just checkin” She pretended to walk away for the train before letting her ears perk up and spun back around again, “Oh, I just thought of something! I'm going to Canterlot to see this reeeeeally cool pony Princess Celestia wants me to meet! Do you want to skip out on that rain shower and come with me?” Rainbow Dash really did want to abandon work, and looked over the cloud bank around her, “I guess I could go. I don't think Cloudsdale will mind if we have the rainstorm overnight instead.” Several breaths of relief came from the other ponies at the train station, happy they wouldn't be getting gallons of rainwater on their heads. Rainbow Dash descended from the cloud bank and landed on the train platform, folding her wings at her sides. “So, who's the pony?” she asked curiously. “I don't know!” answered Pinkie Pie honestly, “That's the fun of it, it's a big surprise!” Spike added, “Well, we do know it's a couple from Canterlot.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, “Oh great, it's gonna be some uncool rich jerk.” “But Rainbow Dash, Princess Celestia asked me to meet them!” countered Pinkie with a patient grin, “That must mean it's gotta be a super-fun pony, or the princess wouldn't have picked me, she'd have picked a boring pony.” The logic added up to Rainbow Dash, and she agreed, “Yeah, you're probably right! Let's go to Canterlot and meet them! This could be good.” “Ya coming, Spike?” asked Pinkie Pie. Spike shook his head, “Sorry, I have to get back to the library! Have fun though, Princess Celestia said these guys are really fun.” The dragon turned and left them to go back home, leaving Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to catch the next train out of Ponyville. They arrived at Canterlot early in the afternoon, and took a carriage over to the castle, where they made their way to the large gates out front. Captain Arbiter stood with Jools and Jops on the battlements, looking down at the two ponies. “You're late,” stated the captain blankly, knowing full well Pinkie Pie had taken her time responding to the letter, “Princess Celestia asked for your appearance ages ago Miss Pie. I suppose you have an excuse prepared?” “Nope, we're just late, sorry Arby!” she admitted, “I really wanted to make sure Sugarcube Corner was taken care of, and brought Rainbow Dash too, so we were really slow! But we're here now and I wanna see the guest pony!” Arbiter's expression lightened up, he wasn't expecting Pinkie Pie to take responsibility for her tardiness, “Well you're in luck, the guests haven't been here for too long. Jools, Jops, open the gate up.” The blue-haired stallions complied and moved over to the latch system, opening the metal gates wide for Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, who entered. They caught up with the three stallions and were escorted into the depths of the castle to the throne room. When the doors opened up, the princesses were already standing up from their thrones, attended to by two other gray coated unicorn guards. Their guests stood by a large wooden crate they had brought in, and the guards were inspecting the contents as evidenced by the crowbar that lay on the floor near the opened box. Pinkie Pie bounded into the room first to meet the new guests, and as soon as she spotted them near the crate, her mouth fell open and she gasped. Princess Celestia smiled and pointed to the couple who walked out from behind the crate, “Pinkie Pie, I'd like to introduce you to Games Luck-Baron, and his wife, Lady Luck-Baron.” The pink mare squealed with joy and jumped up and down in place, “Oh my goodness! It's Lord Luck-Baron!” “Um, I'm sorry, but who are you exactly?” asked Rainbow Dash a little rudely. Games stepped forward, his tail wrapped around his lovely wifes'. Both were unicorns, and he was a tall, gentlemanly stallion, with a light tan coat and beaming blue eyes. His cutie mark, a pawn flanked by two wreaths of olive, was concealed by the fancy suit that he wore, a mostly white tuxedo with dress pants and black shoes. A long, black mane and tail stuck out in curls from his head, and he also kept a well-trimmed beard, making him look like a favorite jovial uncle. Lady's coat of pure white clashed with his, but she had an equally quirky mane, brown with a bun on the back of her head kept in place with what looked like a stick topped with a twenty sided die. Her long dress, a pink kimono laced with lucky green clover print, made her resemble an attractive geisha. “Oh, well, perhaps my reputation's not quite Equestria wide then?” asked the stallion awkwardly, breaking his visage, “I'm Games Luck-Baron, or 'The Games Baron' as they call me. My wife and I have been collectors and connoisseurs of Equestria's finest strategy games.” “Yeah, sorry,” she admitted, “I mean, I like games, but I didn't know they were so special.” Princess Celestia held her tongue against chewing out Rainbow Dash for insulting the Baron's livelihood and life pursuits, but he and his wife let out tremendous laughter at the rough comment. “Ah, is this Rainbow Dash?” asked Lady of Princess Celestia, “She's just as wonderful as you said she'd be, your majesty.” “Yup, that's me!” answered Rainbow Dash, smiling and stretching out her back egotistically, “Glad you've heard about me.” After a few moments, she realized suddenly and embarrassingly that they didn't know she was serious about her not thinking board games were special beyond a source of entertainment. “I... meant it though. I don't know why board games are so special.” Pinkie Pie coughed and sputtered, “W..what? Ya mean you've never thought about it before?” Games ignored Pinkie Pie and explained to Rainbow Dash, “You see Rainbow Dash, when I was a foal I was raised by a very strict father and mother who demanded that I be a doctor. Both of them had been doctors before me, and wanted to hold me to the same standard so that I could continue the family practice.” “Lemme guess, no go?” stated Rainbow Dash sarcastically. “Absolutely not, I wasn't going to mess with medicine, I find the practice boring,” sputtered Games, shaking his head, “of course that meant that my folks pushed back harder and harder, so I needed something to get out of it.” “And then what happened?” beamed Pinkie Pie, a twinkle in her eyes. “Well, I was invited over to my friends' house, where he and his family were playing a board game in the living room. They were so happy playing together, so much different from my own home...” Lady gave her husband a hug, who was becoming emotional about his childhood. “I got my cutie mark that day when I decided I was going to devote my life to spreading tabletop games around Equestria, bringing friends and family together. When I got home that evening, I was sure I would be abandoned for failing to follow the family practice.” Pinkie Pie sighed, “Awww, but your parents accepted your cutie mark and supported your fun efforts?” “No, they sent me to boarding school.” Pinkie Pie's ears drooped and her eyes got watery, “Oh...” “It was at boarding school I met Lady, and together, we went out and found many ponies who were trying to get their games to the market. We opened up a shop to sell other ponies' games, and soon, we had a vast business that was always looking for a new, creative game. My parents eventually did see that I was right all along. I suppose it's a good thing my younger brother Caltrops decided to go into medicine.” Pinkie Pie's eyes grew wide, “You're Calie's big brother!?!?” “Oh, do you know him?” interrupted Lady cheerfully, “I suppose you're the pink mare he kept telling us about, what a splendid life coincidence!” “Calie's a good friend of mine! This is so cool, I'm friends with the brother of the Games Baron, EEEE!“, cheered Pinkie Pie. “This is perfect, you see, the reason why my husband and I wanted to bring you here is because we're stocking all our game stores with a brand new miniatures game. We wanted help throwing a large party to celebrate the first game based on Equestrian historical figures!” Pinkie Pie's legs were shaking with excitement, “You want me to throw you a GAMES PARTY?” “Princess Celestia said you were the best, what do you say Miss Pie?” asked Games, “Will you help us?” With a burst of confetti and a loud cry, Pinkie Pie did a backflip and waved her hooves in the air, “Yes! A hundred billion zillion times yes! This is gonna be the greatest party yet, with cakes shaped like chessboards, and music, and streamers in every color known to pony!” Princess Celestia and Luna looked at each other and smiled knowing they'd made the right choice to suggest Pinkie Pie to the couple. “I'm delighted you accept, now, would you care to see the game?” asked Lady, pointing to the crate, “I think you might find it exciting.” “Couldn't hurt,” scoffed Rainbow Dash, “what's a miniature anyways?” Games ran a hoof through his mane and tried to explain to Rainbow Dash as simply as he could, “Well, it's a small figurine in something or someone's likeness, you use them to represent game objects. Here, let me show you.” Princess Celestia said to Arbiter, “Captain, could you please help the Baron unpack Equestria's new game?” Arbiter made a slight, “mhm” in his throat and walked over to the crate, his black cape following behind him. He looked over the box, marked “fragile” with his remaining eye and reached in his with head. Backing up, the captain dragged out a smaller cardboard box filled with individual packages featuring artwork of the Equestrian flag on a plain black box. The words “Equestrian Valor: Set 1” were printed in bright blue letters on the front. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and flew over to the stack of smaller boxes, picking up one in her hooves. She peeled the top of the box open with her teeth, and reached inside with her hoof, pulling out one of the pieces. It was a small figurine of a changeling, bearing his fangs and rearing up on his hind legs on a circular base about one and a half inches across, with the miniature being two inches tall. “Each box comes with two common miniatures and a rare one,” explained Games, “the designers wanted ponies to be able to collect characters and trade them with their friends in addition to playing the game. If it's a success, it may be one of the lucky games to go into the games vault, a great cause for Pinkie Pie's celebration. Please, all of you help yourself to some boosters.” Some of the other ponies grabbed a few boxes and began to open them. Rainbow Dash placed the changeling soldier on the ground. A few numbers were printed directly into its base to represent its stats. The crate of miniatures came with a large red six sided die, likely to make the game more accessible to earth ponies and pegasus ponies who couldn't quite throw the dice easily. “Wow, these are pretty neat!” admitted the pegasus, digging through her box. She pulled out another figurine, this time of a chimera, and set the piece down to get at her rare for the box. As fortune would have it, Rainbow Dash pulled out a very familiar piece. “Hey... this is ME!” she said, shocked and a little bit flattered at once. Pinkie Pie peered over and watched as Rainbow Dash pulled the miniaturized version of herself out of the box, setting it down in front of her. The replica featured her attached to a clear plastic “stick” to give the impression that she was flying with her hooves stretched out. “Ah, and what historical game would be complete without models of the holders of the Elements of Harmony?” chuckled Games, “The creators hope you take a liking to them.” “Sir, it's you,” muttered Jops to Arbiter, having taking the opportunity to open a box himself. The Captain peeled his attention away from the crate and inspected the miniature Jops was holding up on his hoof. He was carrying a beautiful longsword in his teeth, and his wings were outstretched, flipping his black cape up. “Are we getting royalties for this nonsense?” snapped the stallion, looking up at Games. “Arbiter!” criticized Luna. Arbiter was not thrilled with the idea of him being a game piece, “It's a good question if they're going to use our likenesses publicly! We never agreed to this.” “Don't worry Arby, I'm sure Techie has an equally silly piece!” giggled Pinkie Pie, earning a nasty look in return. “You'll be getting a cut, don't worry,” explained Lady, “we've got sales projected into the hundred thousands after the short release here in Canterlot.” A bit of greed overtook Arbiter, who smirked, “All right then, I look forward to it. Maybe this game isn't such a bad idea after all.” Princess Luna picked up a folded piece of paper from inside the crate with her magic and held it in front of her face, reading the instructions for the game. “Doesn't seem too complex!” she stated, “I wish to try it.” “You want to try playing, Princess Luna?” asked Pinkie Pie, “That sounds like fun! I think we've got enough stuff open to play.” “Very well! I challenge you, Lady Luck-Baron, to a match of Equestrian Valor!” boomed Luna at the mare, much to the disgrace of Arbiter and Princess Celestia. But to their surprise, Lady threw off the stick holding her hair up, and her mane flowed, “I accept your majesty, but be forewarned, you're facing off the best board game player in Equestria!” “I knew I married you for a reason!” chuckled Games, scratching his chin. “Would you prefer a cup of tea to this?” whispered Arbiter to Princess Celestia, hoping he could get out of the silly situation. “Yes, but... I do want to open one box just to see what it's like,” answered Celestia softly and with a wink. She picked up one of the boxes with a white magical glow, and left with Arbiter back for one of the many lounges on the bottom floor of the castle. While Arbiter went to go make the tea in the castle's massive kitchen, the alicorn stayed behind on one of the soft green felt chairs near a large bay window on the east wall of the castle. Celestia curiously looked over the simple cardboard box, and shook it gently with a telekinesis spell. The package made a nice, subtle rattle as the pieces inside shifted up and down. Her horn glowing in front of her waving hair, the princesses opened the flaps of the box gently and took out the three pieces. Arbiter heard Celestia scream from inside the kitchen and immediately dropped the teakettle he had picked up onto the floor. Knowing his leader might be in danger, the underside of his cape glowed purple as twin metal gauntlets, magically suspended using crystals grabbed his trusty sword Wraithbane and drew it from its sheath. Running with the blade, he dashed out of the kitchen, cape fluttering behind him as he ran into action into the lounge to defend Celestia's life! “Princess Celestia, what's wrong?!” he shouted as he entered the room dramatically, “Intruders?” Princess Celestia's mouth was agape in horror at what she was witnessing. In front of her, sitting on the table, was a miniature in the likeness of Nightmare Moon. A massive piece, standing several inches tall and across, the rare game piece featured the demon princesses' full armor, wicked sharp fangs, and sleek wing structure. She was reared on her hind legs, looking ready to pounce on her next victim. Celestia slowly looked up at her captain, “Arbiter... if sister were to find out about this, she'll be devastated. I know she has regrets about what she's done in the past, as do I. We must never allow her to see this piece, or let that game reach the market.” “I agree!” growled Arbiter, shoving his sword disappointingly back into the hilt and returning the metal gloves to his belt, “I knew pieces in our likenesses was a problem, and defamation is a serious offense.” After a pause, he chuckled, “Perhaps a stay in Canterlot prison will teach those nerds to create offensive games like this. Would you like me to go lock them up?” “Arbiter, the game's creators probably do not realize what they're doing is going to hurt my sister. They probably believe it is a tribute to her instead,” answered Celestia sternly, “and even if they did mean harm, the laws I made all those centuries ago still stand. Our subjects have the right to speak their opinion on myself and my sister, even if it's bad.” “Even so, they didn't get permission,” grunted Arbiter, eyeballing the piece, “and it may cause psychological harm to Princess Luna. This must be stopped.” “I will go to the developers myself and have them stop this,” declared Princess Celestia, “please, go to the store in Canterlot with Jools and Jops and have the product pulled.” “Yes ma'am!” answered Arbiter, turning around and exiting the room. Celestia lifted the piece up again, and placed it in a drawer in the ornate coffee table to be collected later. The Princess returned to the upstairs throne room, where Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were busy playing a game against each other. “That's your last piece Pinkie Pie! I win!” cheered Rainbow Dash as she knocked over her friend's last miniature. Pinkie Pie clapped her front hooves, “Congrats Rainbow, you beat me again!” “Seems like you've changed your mind about the game, huh?” chuckled Games. “Well,” admitted Rainbow Dash, “yeah, once you get into it, it's pretty fun!” Princess Luna too, was enjoying her games with Lady, and eagerly rolled the large red die. The cube bounced on the tile floor in front of the red carpet, and Princess Luna laughed at the result. “Aha! Another hit, your troops are mine now Lady!” Luna removed the piece from the paper game mat and placed it next to herself to help keep score. Her sister had conflicting thoughts about what she was doing, knowing that she was enjoying the new game. But if she ever learned about the Nightmare Moon piece, she would be crushed. “Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, I'd like to speak with you for a moment in the study room if you're finished,” called the princess calmly. “Sure!” answered Pinkie Pie, standing up and trotting out the door with Rainbow Dash in tow. Princess Celestia explained the situation to the two ponies once they were safely out of earshot of the Luck-Baron couple and Luna. Pinkie Pie's eyes grew wide at the news, and she comically started to panic about the situation. She shuddered and bounced around the small study room littered with scrolls and letters and Rainbow Dash and Princess Celestia talked about the situation at hoof. “We know how bad both of you feel about the past,” said Rainbow Dash bluntly, “but I guess it stinks to have to think about it more.” “There's been much forgiveness in the past year, but I do not want sister to believe her subjects are taking advantage of her past, nor my pain,” responded the Princess, sighing, “it is hard to move on sometimes even with a happy present.” A tear was about to roll down her cheek, but Rainbow Dash wouldn't have it and tried to be comforting. “Hey, I'm a bit uncomfy with being a game piece too,” she said softly, “if I'd done something so bad, I wouldn't want to hear about it either.” “Which is why I'm going to the game factory to have them change it,” explained Celestia, “it was not a good idea to have a game where the pieces were based off of historical figures since...” Pinkie Pie stopped jumping around, “We're not quite history yet?” “That's a pleasant way to put it,” agreed the princess, “but I need to ask a great favor of both of you. Please keep sister from opening any more boxes. There are only twelve rare pieces in the set and over forty boxes in the Baron's crate. If she opens more, chances are she will discover another Nightmare Moon piece.” “Don't worry princess, we'll stop that from happening!” boasted Rainbow Dash. “Eventually she'll have to know, just not before I pull the game's production,” said Celestia sadly, “we cannot keep it a secret forever, unfortunately.” “We'll buy enough time,” assured the pegasus. “Thank you, both of you!” she answered, her bright smile returning. The princess left the two ponies in charge of keeping Luna distracted long enough to pull the offensive piece, which meant somehow, they had to convince Equestria's biggest board game players to stop doing what they loved most. Rainbow Dash sighed, knowing they were probably in over their heads. “Hey Pinkie, any clue how we're going to keep them from opening the rest of those booster packs?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Absolutely!” answered Pinkie Pie, smiling and making eye contact, “I've got just the thing!” Arbiter rushed to Lady's game store in downtown Canterlot, and angrily bashed open the shop's doors with his front hooves, Jools and Jops storming in behind him. The large game shop, identifiable by the massive sign out front resembling Games' cutie mark, was rather intricate on the inside, featuring shelves of board games, collectibles, and all sorts of cards. It was a short walk to the front desk, which featured several glass display cases loaded with games, including tons of cases of the brand new miniatures game. The pony working at the front desk was a short earth pony mare with a yellow coat and a short cut light blue mane in spikes on her head. She wore three purple earrings on her left ear, and her bored, somewhat down eyes looked at a magazine she was reading on the slow business day. A customer wearing a full brown trenchcoat and hat was hunched over the display case. “I'll take a full case of Equestrian Valor,” grunted the figure, clearly something wrong with his or her voice. The bored shopkeeper blew a bright pink gum bubble and popped it with a sharp crack before sucking the candy back behind her lips. “Sure thing,” she said, sounding far less bored now, “it'll be one hundred and forty bits.” The figure handed over a pre-written check for the amount of money, and received in return a large box of the boosters, not quite the size of the crate Games had that contained six cases, but plenty of chances to get the Nightmare Moon piece! Arbiter grunted and stormed up to the register with Jools and Jops behind them, stoic and silent as usual. “Hey, how can I help?” asked the mare, cracking her gum again rudely. “Here's how you can help, by obeying a decree from Celestia ordering the seizure of all Equestrian Valor merchandise,” answered the captain, slamming down on the table with his hoof a scroll with the order, “you'll be paid for it all.” The coat-wearing customer turned and tried to shove his new box of miniatures under his coat, trying to get away with his before the “ban” Arbiter was about to enact. But the captain knew exactly what he was up to and jumped upon the stallion, knocking his coat off, revealing his identity, and sending the game box to the floor. Arbiter couldn't believe his eye. “Shining Armor?” snickered the Captain, taking his front hooves off of the startled ex-captain. The blue-haired stallion stood up, shocked his replacement had tackled him, “Yeah... I was just, you know, getting a copy of the new game for Twiley and her coltfriend. Techorse likes these kinds of games.” Shining Armor had gone to the game store to take advantage of the pre-release, being a huge fan of tabletop games. But he wasn't too comfortable with others finding out about his hobbies since he had been a captain of the guard, and was now a prince by marriage. He had to make a decent excuse to Arbiter to save some face. “Oh, suuuure,” smirked Arbiter, eliciting unusual smiles from Jools and Jops, “I always knew you were a huge nerd, Shining. Your hobbies were always comic books, games, and other dorky things between raising the castle shields. What does Cadance think of this?“ Shining retorted, “I don't know, she likes it more than your hobby of taking away heads. By the way, how's the sword collection Arby?” Arbiter thought about putting his hoof through Shining's face, but knew he'd just shield himself from the blow. He decided to focus on his mission. “Well, enough of that banter. I need you to give back the box, Shining. Several of the pieces are based off of real-life Equestrians, and it's causing problems,” he explained, pretending Shining's insult never happened. “Woah, like what?” he asked, looking at the box on the floor. “Nightmare Moon,” whispered Arbiter so the clerk couldn't hear, “we're trying to help Princess Luna. Please be cooperative.” Shining Armor winced and agreed to help, “Yeah, we'd better pull this for now. Want me to help you carry the boxes out?” “Ah, good stallion!” nodded Arbiter, “Jools, Jops, award the clerk the money and let's start getting these out of here!” The former captain of the guard simply shook his head and thought as he picked up the box on the floor, “Sometimes I really don't know why I left...” The facility that developed Equestrian Valor, a small company known as Mage's Mark, was a flat and plain building located on the outskirts of Canterlot within a large business complex that also had dentist and doctor's offices, It was here that the game was developed, the pieces were manufactured off-site in small batches from reinforced plastic in molds, so it served only as the testing and development facility for the ponies who worked on the game. Princess Celestia arrived by teleportation at the facility, sparing no time to bring guards with her, and marched up to the iron gate surrounding the facility. The watchpony at the gate gasped when he spotted the Princess. “Princess, what are you doing here?” he gasped as he opened the gate instinctively. “I've come to speak to the game makers in this facility, the third building on the right” she stated, staring down at him, “I see you've given me clearance already.” The guard was terrified of the Princess, mostly because she was failing to conceal her anger and upset disposition at the situation. He feared that he might be arrested, or worse if he failed to open the gate right away. Of course, the gate wouldn't stop Celestia from simply flying over and going in that way, but it was nice to have some kind of a checkpoint. “Go right in your majesty, I'll let them know you're here!” The princess skipped over the small factory building and entered the small studio to the left just inside the gate. She opened the door magically without knocking, and entered the building. It was a large, open room, filled with tables and chairs with game pieces all over them, instructions and test rules scribbled all over the walls, and employees of all pony types and colors testing the game and working on new ideas. They had other products besides Equestrian Valor, but since it was their newest game, it was where their focus was for the minute. The CEO of the small company, barely thirty employees, saw the Princess enter the building and gasped. She was a unicorn pony mare, blue coated with a pink mane ending in pigtails, and a white ribbon tied around the end of her braided tail. Her cutie mark bore three dice, all white, and she wore rectangular, green and stylish glasses on the end of her nose. “P...princess Celestia?” she said, nearly choking on her tongue as she got up from a game table. “Chance, is that your name?” asked the Princess, her hair flowing boldly behind her as she entered the room. The other employees in the room dropped what they were doing and gathered around to bow before their princess. “Rise,” stated Celestia, her eyes focused on Chance. The other employees obeyed, and were equally terrified, not knowing why they had a stern alicorn on their hands. Celestia felt guilty, knowing they were afraid of her and not wanting them to be. She only had come to fix what was wrong, not terrorize them. Chance looked like she was about to have an accident, her legs shaking as she knew the princess was angry, “What can we... do for you?” Princess Celestia took a deep breath, and relaxed her tone and body, helping to put her subjects in the room at peace, “My apologies for entering so suddenly and causing panic. I have a request for Equestrian Valor.” Pinkie Pie's plan to keep Princess Luna from opening new packs up was simple. They would discuss the upcoming party celebrating the game and avoid opening new boxes by stalling and taking up the whole afternoon to plan the celebration. Lady and Games were both discussing the game with Princess Luna, who was smiling and looking over the entire collection of pieces she had opened so far from the box. “This game is quite fun!” exclaimed the princess happily, “I'm sure it'll make a fine addition to the Luck-Baron games vault.” “Well, we still have plenty of boxes left!” said Games, pointing at the crate, “We should think about opening them and seeing the entire set!” Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash ran up to the crate and blocked the three from getting to it. “Hey, I just had a great idea! Let's take a break from playing games and think about that super party we're going to have later!” she said nervously, spreading her hooves along the opening of the crate, “It might be fun!” Princess Luna, to the pony's relief, agreed, “That would be a good idea, we have already spent quite a lot of time on playing this fun game. Let's go talk this over a cup of tea, shall we?” “Ah, a nice cup of tea sounds wonderful,” concurred Lady. They ventured to the tea room Arbiter and Celestia had earlier used, and Pinkie Pie went to fetch the hot drink while Rainbow Dash kept them entertained asking the lord and lady about their plans for the party and what the game vault meant. “So what's this game vault you mentioned earlier, and why is the new game going in?” she asked as the two ponies got comfortable in some of the chairs. “Well, you see...” explained Games, “the games vault is actually a museum dedicated to the best games I've come across during my adventures. It's located here in Canterlot near our estate.” Rainbow Dash liked the idea, “That's awesome, maybe I'll have to see it sometime!” “Please, feel free to visit us any time Rainbow Dash, and any of your friends as well,” offered Lady. Pinkie Pie returned with the tea kettle balanced on a tray on her head, and set the drink down on the table. Princess Luna decided, perhaps as a whim of fate, to get out a few coasters from the drawer inside, and opened it with her magic. She spotted a strange object near the back of the dusty drawer behind the coasters, and pulled it out with a dark glow around her horn to inspect it. A loud scream came from Pinkie Pie when she saw it, and her hair went crazy before returning to its normal poofy self. Rainbow Dash saw the object and slapped her face with her hoof, “Oh you have GOT to be kidding me!” Princess Luna stared at the Nightmare Moon figure before her, and set it down gently on the table next to the tea kettle. She sank back into her chosen seat, and a look of depression came over her face. “Oh... dear,” said Lady plainly as she put a hoof over her heart, not sure how to react to the situation. Games looked at the piece and realized that the inclusion of this unit likely meant the end of putting it into the vault. It had turned it, it seemed, that “historical” games weren't much fun when the parties involved had a darker past. “Princess Luna, don't be upset!” begged Pinkie Pie, “We forgive you for all that crazy stuff before!” The Princess of the Night looked like she was about to cry, but held back her emotions and answered, “It's very true that I hold tremendous guilt for what I did. But... for what it's worth, I'm more worried about something else right now. We must leave at once!” “B.. but your majesty, we can't just cancel the game!” cried Chance, shivering in her boots, “We've already promised it would be released tomorrow, and several ponies have pre-ordered. If we pull it, we could go out of business.” “You will be paid for any losses,” assured Celestia, determined to censor the game, “it's critical that nopony get the chance to see that Nightmare Moon piece you put in the game.” “Chance,” whimpered a fellow employee, “the princess came here alone to get us to pull the game! We'd better do it.” “I guess we're just going to have to close our doors then, we sunk way too much in this to keep making games even with reimbursement,” she said, closing her eyes and sinking her ears down, “after this pull nopony will trust us again.” Princess Celestia noticed the upset looks on the faces of the game designers about to lose their jobs. Many of them had cutie marks related to games, art, and writing, it would be tough for them to find work elsewhere that was nearly as fulfilling as making games. Equestrian Valor was being removed from shelves, a game endorsed by Games Luck-Baron and his wife himself, and the word would spread around that they were unreliable, ruining the company despite getting their investment back. The door to the game studio swung open, and Luna bellowed, “Wait, sister!” Celestia turned around and saw Luna enter, escorted by Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash having also managed to drag Arbiter and company back as well. “Luna...” said Celestia softly, trying not to act surprised. Princess Luna held up her hoof, “I cannot allow you to shut down this company over the Nightmare Moon piece!” “Oh, thank you Princess Luna!” said Chance happily. “Hey, you're not getting away that easily!” grunted Rainbow Dash, flying over to the game developer and hovering in the air, “You used us in your game without permission! Even if we were going to get some bits from it, you should have asked first to make sure it was cool.” “We thought a Nightmare Moon piece would be cool!” argued a unicorn on the team, “A tribute.” Games Luck-Baron and Lady entered the game shop as well, having just made it in time to catch that piece of the conversation. “Ha, a tribute? If you weren't saying that I'd consider this a slap in the face of the crown!” he said as he entered, “Very short sighted game design.” “Oh no, Lord Luck-Baron,” moaned Chance, “It... it was for historical accuracy!” “Well, did you perhaps for a minute consider that Princess Luna doesn't enjoy being reminded constantly of her history? Think of all the emotional torment you caused the princesses and would have if the game had gone to market,” scolded Lady, “this game is no longer going to be endorsed by us unless there are some serious changes.” “We'll remove the Nightmare Moon piece, honest!” begged Chance, “Just don't pull the game.” “We want all the pieces based on us to be removed,” Arbiter demanded, “there's plenty of historical figures who are... well, actual history. Use them instead of us.” “Like who?” Rainbow Dash answered, “Like, I don't know, Commander Hurricane? Ponies who aren't here anymore to be humiliated by this?” The ponies in the room looked at each other in total silence. “Please tell me somepony here read a history book instead of making a game on all the cool stuff that's been happening in the past two years!” yelled Rainbow Dash, getting upset. Chance finally took responsibility for her actions and approached Celestia, “Your highness, I'm sorry. We'll have the game pulled since it's no good. We thought Equestria would want to buy into a game based on the events that have been going on recently, but it's clear we made a big mistake. We didn't ask you or anypony else permission and we didn't think about the emotional implications. We're shutting this down.” Princess Luna finally sensed remorse in the development team and the shame in their eyes, and smiled before stepping forward and saying, “Don't fret! I've played your game and found it quite exciting. Just change the appearance of the pieces!” Chance brightened up suddenly, “You... you mean that? You still liked our game despite this scandal?” “Yes, indeed!” laughed Luna, “It was very fun, and I would still like to play it with a few 'helpful' changes.” “Yeah, if you swap out all our pieces for actual history ponies, it'll still be fun to play!” agreed Pinkie Pie. Arbiter got a soft elbow from Pinkie Pie, who rolled his good eye and added, “'ll make sure the Canterlot library spares a few research books for this so you can easily change things, it's a public resource after all.” “It'll be a few weeks before we can mold new pieces even if we can reuse the old stats,” informed one of the workers. Games pushed forward, “Don't worry, I'll oversee the whole process and make sure this still goes to market. Once it's fixed, I'm sure it'll still make a great addition to the vault!” Pinkie Pie gasped, “You mean...” “Yes,” smiled Lady, “we'll still have the party!” Pinkie squealed with glee and conjured a firecracker from her mane, setting it off and filling the room with confetti. The ponies of Mage's Mark were thrilled to still have the chance to publish and save their jobs, and set to work fixing the game with their help. Luna and Celestia stepped outside of the studio for a moment to have a private word. “Sister, I'm sorry I didn't immediately bring up the piece,” apologized Celestia, “I wasn't sure how you would respond.” “I understand, but everything is behind us now, we must look forward to the future!” she answered, lifting her chin, “Twilight Sparkle and her friends have taught us that despite our regrets, we can move on. That is why I chose to save the game, we musn't let our history defeat us.” A few tears built up in Celestia's eyes, “Luna, I saw such happiness in you while playing that game, it reminded me of the times before all of this when we took care of our subjects and lived happily as a family.” Princess Luna took a quick look around to make sure no one was watching, and then said while embracing her sibling in a royal hug, “Those times are back, for good!” The two sisters finished their embrace, and it wasn't two seconds before Luna cracked a joke, “Thank goodness Darkmatter or Sundial didn't find out about this though! Think of those poor ponies in there!” Alicorn laughter filled the air as they walked back for the castle by themselves. They weren't going to let their history bother them anymore, now that they knew they were making new, happier memories.