Two nights later, six ponies and one fun-sized dragon gather around a rectangular table in the castle’s dining room. Twilight occupies one end of the table, her notes and dice hidden behind a cardboard shield, while everyone else files around the rest of the table, with Spike occupying the other end.
“OK,” Twilight begins, excited to start play, “let’s go around the table so—“
“Twilight, darling,” Rarity interrupts.
“Is everything OK?”
“I think there’s been a mistake with the passing out of dice. I got a green ten-sider mixed in with all my red dice.” She looks over to Spike’s set; “Ah, I think Spike and I must have gotten our sets mixed up. Spike, could you be a dear and—“
Twilight corrects her friend: “No, Rarity, the sets are correct as is. You need two ten-sided dice of different colors to roll for percents. So if you roll a green 3 and a red 7, that’s a 37 percent.”
Rarity cringes slightly. “Whoever came up with pairing a green die with an all-red set certainly isn’t winning me over with any fashion sense, to be sure. Very well, then; I apologize for my outburst Twilight.”
“No Rarity, there is no need to apologize. In fact, I want any of you who has a question to just ask. I realize how strange this whole game might feel, so I’m sure there is much you don’t understand. Oh, and I want to thank you all again for letting me get back behind the screen. This is gonna be great!”
The others all cheer in enthusiasm, eager to get started.
“So, let’s go around the table so everyone can introduce their characters.” Twilight turns to her left; “Rainbow Dash, you go first.”
“I’m playing ‘Crimson Awesome’. She’s an earth-pony fighter, charcoal-grey but with a shock of deep red for her mane and tail. She’s skilled with the sword as well as the daggers; she keeps both sheathed to her chainmail armor.”
“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy asks, “your character’s not a pegasus?”
“You don’t need wings when you got the strength that Crimson has!”, Rainbow responds with a grin. “Anyone who gets in my character’s way is gonna eat steel!”
“She sounds incredible, Dash.” Twilight then shifts her gaze to the next pony around the table; “OK Applejack, you’re up.”
“My character is ‘Blood Pumpkin’. He’s a heavyset unicorn stallion cleric, big but gentle. Orange with red stripes adornin’ his coat. He carries but a small club for weaponry, but his defensive spell-casting ability is …” Before Applejack can further her description, she notices the curious looks of her friends. “What?”
“Applejack,” Rarity notes, “you’re playing a he?”
Applejack’s shrugs as her gaze darts left and right. “It’s just a game, right? I thought it’d be interesting to play a male character. I don’t see nothin’ wrong with it.”
“Hey, maybe Blood Pumpkin and Crimson will find romance during this adventure. Wouldn’t that be hilarious?” Pinkie’s comments draw angry looks from both Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “What?”
“Let’s just move on, shall we.” Twilight turns to her ever-faithful assistant, sitting directly across from her. “So Spike, who’d you come up with?”
“Call me ‘Lance Skyslicer’. He’s a pegasus fighter, purple with a green mane and tail. He wields a broadsword, but can more than hold his own in hoof-to-hoof combat.”
Twilight frowns. “Spike,” she notes skeptically, “you took this character from our Canterlot campaign.”
“So? It seemed a shame to let him go to waste, so I thought I’d use him here.”
“He’s a 10th-level character! Why would he hang around a bunch of first-level noponies?”
Rainbow objects to Twilight’s comment. “Hey! Nopony refers to Crimson Awesome as a ‘nopony’, got it?”
“Calm down, Dashie,” Applejack says, “I’m sure Twilight didn’t mean nothin’ by that comment.” Turning to Twilight, Applejack continues. “How much harm could it do to have an experienced character work with newbies, Twi?”
“It’s my job as the Ponymaster to make sure this campaign is balanced for your abilities. I deliberately chose weaker monsters so you’d all have a chance to get a feel for the game. A 10th-level character could just overpower everything in his path.”
Rainbow objects again. “What, so you’re pulling punches on us?”
“It’s nothing like that, Dash, but your characters are still green. They haven’t had a taste of what’s out there, and need to get acclimated to their environment.”
I’ll show you who’s green, Rainbow mutters to herself as Twilight reflects upon what to do with ‘Lance’.
“OK Spike,” she finally decides, “you can use ‘Lance’, but mostly as a guide to the others. For this first campaign, I can’t have you joining them on their actual quest; you’ll have to sit this one out.”
“Awww.”
“Don’t ‘awww’ me, Spike. You’re the one who wanted to bring back an old character, rather than start fresh.” Twilight shifts to a friendlier tone: “Anyway, think of this as an opportunity. Your character could be their mentor, using your experience and stories to teach the others how to make their way in this world.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Spike goes into silent contemplation while Twilight’s gaze meets the next pony around the table. “OK Fluttershy, what do you got?”
“OK … um … I have an earth pony druid.” Fluttershy smiles meekly as the others wait, expecting more details. Seconds turn to minutes …
“That’s it?”, Rainbow Dash finally inquires.
“I’m sorry. I’m not so good at being descriptive with my character.”
“Your character sounds fine,” Twilight assures. “So what’s her name?”
“Um … Fluttershy?” Twilight chuckles at the response before appealing to her friend for another option.
“No Fluttershy, you’re supposed to be roleplaying. You can be anypony you like in this world! You don’t want to be yourself in this game, do you?”
“Well … no … I suppose not.”
“All right, so let’s try this again: what is the name of your character?”
“OK then,” Fluttershy replies, “I’ll be Pinkie Pie.”
Fighting the urge to hoofpalm, Twilight appeals to her friend again. “Fluttershy, you can’t just choose to be one of your friends.”
“Why not? This is so WONDERFUL! Now I can be with all my friends and all my friends’ characters! I CAN INTERACT WITH MYSELF!!! So Fluttershy, do I have a stick? I mean, all druids carry a stick, right. Big ol’ wooden walking stick, or maybe a shepherd’s crock. Yeah, I can have an army of sheep! I HAVE WOOD FOR SHEEP!!!” Pinkie Pie’s continued excitement over now being in the game, coupled with her now bouncing in her seat in anticipation, causes Twilight to give up changing Fluttershy’s mind and turn to the next pony around the table.
“Let’s just move on. Rarity, let’s hear about your character.”
There is noticeable pride to go with the usual regality in Rarity’s voice as she starts. “My mare is ‘Midnight Radiance’, and she is a unicorn mage. She is fully prepared for this adventure, decked out in rich woolen robes of purple and dark blue. Here, Twilight, I brought along sketches for your records.”
Rarity levitates a sketchbook to Twilight, who starts hoofing through the pages. “Rarity, how much time did you spend on this?”
“Oh, not much time on this one. I’ve actually been thinking about what everypony else might be wearing. I’m thinking there might be a market for clothing of this nature.”
“Hold on,” Rainbow protests. “You mean to tell me you think ponies would want to dress up in costumes just to play a game?” She then grins. “I think you’ve inhaled a little too much glue over the years.”
Yes, like you’d know anything about fashion, Rarity ponders. Twilight, eager to start, turns to the last of her friends.
“OK Pinkie, I can’t wait to hear what you’ve come up with!”
Pinkie grins, her eyelids half-closed as her eyes dart about the room, as she speaks. “My character is known only as ‘Crumbs’ … because she always turns up in out-of-reach areas nopony can get to. She’s a pegasus thief, skilled with the crossbow as well as the knife. She’s mysterious, secretive … and a really good baker!”
“Sounds to me like Crimson’s got a new best friend,” Rainbow offers.
“We’ll see,” Pinkie responds coyly. “Crumbs has been a loner her whole life; it’ll take more than a big grin or a friendly greeting to sway her.”
Satisfied that they are ready to begin, Twilight continues. “OK, now that we’ve gone through all the introductions, we can get on with the game. Allow me to paint a picture for you. *ahem* Welcome to the castle-city of Hoofbend, capitol to the kingdom of Derbyshire. Lance Skyslice has heard about the tales of each of your characters, and has you all brought to one of the city’s local watering holes, the Horse’s Head Tavern. The five of you are meeting each other for the first time, and—“
“Hold on Twilight.”
Twilight raises an eyebrow. “Yes, Rainbow?”
“Crimson pulls out her sword and attacks Blood Pumkpin!”