Session 32
Session 32.0 Grogar-the-oneser
(Two humiliating hour later.)
"HAHAHAHAHA," Trixie shouted with a derange grin, "I defeated you this time, no more tricks, no more planning, just pure force."
"Trixie... you scare me," Applejack said.
"Also slightly inaccurate as you did use one trick," Fluttershy pointed out.
Trixie had used her character to purposely insult fictional yaks and telling them Villainous Vile purposely insulted their mothers by saying they were not perfect. As you can imagine it did not end well for Villainous Vile. (Twilight only prayed that the Yak Embassy didn't hear about this stereotyping).
"Still at least we finally defeated Twilight," Pinkie said.
"Uh, don't you mean Villainous Vile?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yep, you sure did," Twilight said with a grin.
"...Why are you smiling?" Trixie asked with a frown.
"Do you know what a pyrrhic victory is?"
"That's where victory inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat." Rarity said with a frown.
"Yep, now think of how much your reputation has been tattered after trying to catch the guy," Twilight said. "Especially to the king in the capital, a capital by the way still hunting for the group that attacked that guard."
Trixie eye twitched as she turn to glare at Rainbow. "Err.... again sorry about that," Rainbow said with a weak chuckle. Trixie;s response was to tackle Rainbow.
+
"Hmm.... should we stop them?" Spike asked as he was sitting next to Starlight.
"Nah, let the others do it, besides Trixie need to vent some frustration out anyway," Starlight answered.
"True enough, by the way pass the popcorn."
Session 32.1 Alex Warlorn
Sugarcoat, Indigo Zap, and Sour Sweet were still keeping an eye on Lemon Zest, and Sunny Flare in case they tried to immigrate to Magic Pony Land again... even if that meant hanging out every night.
"Why isn't this wonderful!" Chirped Sour Sweet, then snarled. "Werecars, you just had to give her the idea for werecars!"
It was a generally accepted rule at Crystal Prep, never ever ask Sour Sweet if she'd taken her medication. While it was a sour and humiliating subject for her, which for CP students meant smelling blood in the water, it was like taunting a dragon, and it was a matter of debate if Sour Sweet actually took medication for her bipolar attitude or not, even the four other girls she'd begun hanging out with unconsciously, weren't sure of the truth.
"What are you complaining about?" Indigo Zap laughed. "We got onto a roof fine, and we've got enough ammunition to last all night!"
"You can say that again!" Lemon Zest said, playing 'Highway To the Danger zone' on her walkman. "Evil lycanthrope cars are still cars! We're raking in the kills!"
"Correct me if I am wrong, but don't we get more experience for curing them?" Sugarcoat asked. "All we need to do is pierce their front tires with silver darts, which I brought plenty of I might add. Or simply call them by their Christian names."
"You're making those up!" Lemon Zest insisted.
Sugarcoat pushed up on her glasses. "Not in the least. Those are accepted and in the rules ways of curing werewolves."
"And we're STUCK mindlessly rolling attack dice for however long this last! It's boring!" Sour Sweet complained.
Sunny Flare was like a zombie. Her beautiful comeback had been turned into a turkey shoot. But she was not beaten yet. She looked up a sound effect on her phone, and played it.
That sound, was all the Shadowbolts needed to hear, to know things had just turned nasty.
"Okay! Everyone be on the look out for a blue boom-box!" Lemon Zest said.
"How is that even a DISGUISE anymore? Who still USES boomboxes?!" Sour Sweet protested.
"Hey!"
"I wouldn't worry about that." Sunny Flare said.
= Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance OST - I'm My Own Master Now =
"Before your eyes, the cars transform, becoming robotic quadruped, with sharp claws, swinging tails, and sharp teeth. They all howl at the moon with a metallic echo! They begin to climb up the walls, leaping from window ledge to window ledge, determined to add you to their numbers, or end you."
"Exciting enough for you?" Sugarcoat asked.
"YES!" Sour Sweet snarled, a huge grin on her face. "Bring it on!"
Sugarcoat idly wondered how the Wonderbolt's star athlete was doing with her poor grades.
Session 32.2 Grogar-the-oneser
"Hey, since the front wheel option is out due to transformation not to mention we have no bloody idea what their real names were, was there a third cure," Indigo Zap said.
"Yes, A Sicilian belief of Arabic origin holds that a werewolf can be cured of its ailment by striking it on the forehead or scalp with a knife," Sugarcoat said in her usual tone of voice.
"Really? cool," Sour sweet said. "Dips on the scalping by the way!"
Session 32.3 Alex Warlorn (spoilers for this week's episode)
Cadence knew what was coming that weekend the moment Thorax officially became the first changeling subject of the Crystal Empire.
She wasn't that surprised when Chrysalis under guard (since they weren't stupid enough to leave her without one) stormed into Cadence's audience chamber.
"I WANT THE TRAITOR BROUGHT BEFORE ME IN CHAINS SO I CAN FEAST ON HIS BLOOD AND DISPLAY HIS EMPTY CARAPACE BEFORE THE HIVE AS A WARNING TO ALL WHO'D OPPOSE ME!" Chrysalis calmed herself. "Oh excuse me, thinking of our next RP session, it's my turn for Dungeon Master you know, what I meant to say is that I can't wait for Thorax to return to the swarm so we can give him a proper warm changeling welcome. Poor thing is obviously suffering from some genetic abnormality, my own fault really for not getting him the help he needed right after he hatched."
Session 32.4 Grogar-the-oneser
"No," Cadance said.
"I WILL BREAK YOUR WINGS IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME THAT PATHETIC- ahem. Come now I know you're still sore about the invasion thing, so why would you keep a changeling in your kingdom?"
"I realized that what you did to me shouldn't make me prejudice to all changelings who want to live peacefully," Cadence said.
Chrysalis' eye twitch.
"Very well, but know this. I will make your life miserable for this later on, you won't know how, you won't know when, but you will suffer," Chrysalis growled.
Session 32.5 Grogar-the-oneser
- Back in Ponyville -
"I don't understand the point of this RPG, why would you play this?" Thorax questioned.
"For fun," Spike said.
"I kinda get that, but pretending to be someling else? How is this different from being a normal Changeling?" Thorax questioned.
"For several reason, now if we were LARPing then I can say you definitely have a point but RPGs are different enough that I think you will enjoy it," Spike explained.
"Alright i'll give it a shot.... quick question though."
"What that?"
"What the heck LARPing?" Thorax questioned.
Session 32.6 Ardashir
"You know... LARPing!"
Thorax looked clueless. Spike scratched his head.
"That's when you roleplay, but instead of doing it around a table, with dice and pencils and paper, you do it like you were acting?"
"Oh." Thorax seemed to get it. "Like what Queen Chrysalis had some of us doing after we lost the Battle of Canterlot!" Thorax changed, turning into a dewy-eyed Shining Armor. He said in an awful imitation of the stallion's voice, "Oh, Queen Chrysalis, I should have stayed with you! You're so much better than that skanky old alicorn Cadence! She's just going to get fat and lose her looks one day!"
"Okay," Spike said with a shudder. "I think that was enough."
Session 32.7 Alex Warlorn
Spike The Dog sighed. It was late at night. Having been uplifted to sapience by random magic, he was still a dog. Which meant he according to paper work, was still a pet, and still had all the rights of one. He was split if him being able to speak would get him on talk shows, or get him vivisected. While humans weren't stupid enough to stand like target-dummies when a Nightmare was throwing fireballs around, they were likely to brush off a girl with wings as a cosplayer.
On the bright side, at least it meant he still had all the responsibilities that came with being a pet. IE, none. Which meant he could play World of Horsecraft while the others were saving Rainbow Dash from her own bad grades. He was still stuck with Purple Pup as a mare, since Twilight still refused to pay for the micro-transactions to make her a stallion, and Spike was NOT about to start from scratch!
His martial-artist earth pony mare trotted through Ponvyille where it was late at night in the game world too. Not as many players on as during the busy hours. Since the release of the Reigns of Chaos expansion, rumors were circulation that Discord was going to become a roving mob, but hopefully none of the game designers were that stupid. The next expansion... assuming it ever came out of course, no MMO stayed king forever, had not revealed anything besides the trailer for defeating Discord. Of course there were hacking who said they had 'free tickets' into the beta zone of the crystal empire zone where the majority of the expansion would take place.
Hopefully the Princesses wouldn't get kidnapped, brainwashed, or sealed away in this one.
He checked the list, none of the Guild or his online buddies were online.
Maybe he should log off? Or maybe just do some grinding or farming. One good thing about being a talking dog, he could grind a lot more than his human teammates. Sure he might have lied a little about being being the legal age to play the game, but in dog years...
With little better to do, Spike rode a train to where the Crystal Empire was 'prophesied' to appear, or at least, the edge of the Equestria map where the frozen wasteland would hopefully become available to explore. It was nice to visit once, but nothing to really keep anyone here yet.
That was he spotted a strange black and teal colored pony-like insect mob. This was new. Maybe this was something that got accidentally patched from beta-testing? What was that command for screen capture again!? Imagine the stir he'd cause on the forums!
When one teal colored flash of flame later... he was looking at a character that looked just like his? Was this a doppelganger fight? Then another flash and there was a blue earth pony looked to be made of glass.
Purple Pup looked up at the character's name above its head.
-CrystalHoof- Hadn't it said something different before?
Then CrystalHoof SPOKE "Uh, hi. I didn't expect anyone else to be out this late at night."
Was this an NPC?
"Uh, hey, I didn't either." PurplePup responded. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh, just, just seeing the sights."
"Hey! I know you! You're one of the crystal ponies aren't you?" Some hacker called Shadow5 had leaked some concept art.
"Huh?! Oh right right! That's what I am! Crystal Pony I am! I'm CrystalHoof, and you are?"
"Uh, I'm PurplePup."
"Well, uh, nice to meet you, PurplePup... Uh, would you like to go on a quest? There's a quick and easy fetch quest nearby that doesn't need a whole party to get done."
"Sure, sound like fun." Maybe he was an NPC, maybe he was a modder, but it wasn't like Spike was doing anything else. And this as a non-PK area anyway.
The fetch quest involved just collecting some gems from an underground cavern that was half frozen over, and dealing with some random mobs, nothing truly dangerous, and the reward was just gold bits.
As they had split up the reward, Crystalhoof gasped.
"I NEED TOGOBYE!" And Crystalhoof froze up like a statue, staring out at nothing. PurplePup did the emotica to wave a hoof in front of his face, and nothing. Then the character just vanished.
In the real world, Thorax looked up, hoping he'd force quit the program in time.
Vice Company President Chrysalis glared down at Thorax. "You're not taking that new experimental tribe for a joy ride are you?"
"N-no!"
"Good. Ugh! The changeling tribe is too overpowered to be in player's hands. Able to change into any other tribe and even into objects? Not to mention the enslavement hexes. It would be a game breaker if players got their hands on it. It was designed for play-testing the new areas AND for admins only."
"You know if you just lowered the combat stats, and gave a bigger cool down to their shape shifting, I think they'd actually be a playable-"
"Are you a game designer now Thorax?" Chrysalis asked with no smile on her face.
"No."
"Good. Then go to bed. Kevin is already asleep." Chrysalis didn't know Kevin had been able to keep the existence of his own changeling PC TealGoodBadBug secret from her.
"Yes mam."
In the real world, Spike was curious, he made a point to visit this area at the same time later to see if Crystalhoof would 'respawn.'
Session 32.8 Grogar-the-oneser
"Are you sure you want me to buy every last copyright of 'Alicorn Princesses' with your money Cadence?" Gaffer asked.
"Yes, I need somepony I trust to change all the Cadence cards to show the real me, plus this gives me a excuse to use my baby to BLAST THEIR COMPANY TO OBLIVION!" Cadence shouted.
"... You do realize I'm only buying the game's copyright, not the group that makes it."
"Oh... never-mind," Cadence said as she walked away slightly embarrassed.
"Yeesh, if that was just from a card game, I'd hate to see how she'd react to a video-game version of her," Gaffer muttered.
+
(In Another Reality)
"Hmm..."
"Something wrong boss, aside from that guy who let the crystal pony art-leak happen I mean?" Game Designer Discord asked.
"No... just feeling a strange sense of a massive future head-ache," Company President Sombra muttered.
Session 32.9 Mtangalion
A hoofball flew through the air. It landed on the roof of Sugarcube Corner, then rolled down and bounced off Gilda's head before landing in her outstretched talons.
Pipsqueak, Rumble, and Button Mash came galloping after the ball. They skidded to a stop and gaped up at the griffon looming over them. Gilda glowered at the colts, then patted Pipsqueak on the head, returned their ball, and went back to eating her ice cream.
At another outdoor table, Kevin the changeling shook his head. "Ponyville is getting stranger and stranger these days."
Alisa the Diamond Wolf wagged her floofy tail thoughtfully. "You said it."
Thorax, the other changeling, relaxed a little more and ate his peanut brittle. "I could get used to this."
Later, inside Twilight's crystal palace, Thorax was absolutely enthralled by one of the gaming machines, and not just because of the monitor's bright flickering light. "This World of Horsecraft is absolutely amazing!"
Spike grinned, nudging his new friend with an elbow. "I know, right? You can be whatever you want."
Thorax worked the keyboard and mouse with his magic, flying his new pegasus character to the next questing hub. "Technically, I'm still a changeling pretending to be a pony, but in the game world I'm a pony the same as any other pony!"
Alisa chuckled. "Good for you, but Alisa prefers to be wolf pretending to be wolf pretending to be pony!"
Thorax blinked at her. "There's Diamond Wolves in the game too?"
Spike shrugged. "Not right now, but a little birdie's been hinting that there might be a big surprise at the next CrystalCon."
Alisa growled, shaking her head. "Alisa's pony is secretly a wolf in game world. It's her RP backstory!" She pointed at her own computer screen. "I downloaded roleplaying mod and everything!"
Spike rolled his eyes. "Riiight, and Helping Claw is secretly a dragon in a griffon-suit."
Alisa beamed, putting a foreleg around him. "See? You're a good roleplayer already! Now you just need tragic backstory."
Session 32.10 Mtangalion
President Sombra had always wanted to start a meeting in his swivel chair, facing away from the table, before dramatically spinning to face his minions. He never could get it quite right, though. Like today, for instance, when his chair spun a quarter turn too far, and he had to awkwardly get it facing the right way while Discord glanced at his watch and Chrysalis expertly hid her smirk behind her smart phone.
"You may have noticed," Sombra began, "that the forums are completely jammed with posts demanding that we add talking yaks as a playable race. Talking. Yaks. Oh, and get this... If the imaginary yaks aren't perfect... these posters will 'destroy' our servers." He threw his arms wide, making a "Bwhoosh!" sound. "Does anyone want to explain how this happened?" he snarled. "Anybody at all?!"
-- one month ago --
Flam and Flam waved through a portal to... another Flim and Flam, who gave them matching thumbs-up gestures.
Flim turned back to Prince Rutherford with his million-bit smile. "You're all set! Thanks to the artificial mirror portal that you're leasing from us..."
Flam stepped forward. "The proud yaks of Yakyakistan now have access to the human Internet!"
"At a low monthly cost..."
"Conveniently payable in precious gems!"
"Plus a small overage if you exceed your monthly data cap."
"But honestly, how often would that ever happen?"
-- back in the present --
Princess Twilight Sparkle paced in front of two con-ponies, currently locked up in the basement of her castle, a place that she had tried and failed to prevent ponies from referring to as her 'Friendship Dungeon.'
"You *built* a portal to *another world*," she ranted. "The secrets of Starswirl's mirror have been lost for ages. Your invention might... just might be a scientific marvel *unequaled* in our century. And you used it to enable yaks to play a *video game*... so you could *scam* them. What! is! wrong with you two!!?"
Session 32.11 Grogar-the-oneser
"Technically we didn't make it so much as... contained it," Flim stated.
"Indeed, we saw a strange portal showing a world of weird bipeds so we decided to contain it."
"You contained it," Twilight deadpanned, but inwardly wonder if they were talking about Midnight Sparkle's portal rampage.
"Yes, after we contained the rogue magic, we remembered your friend Rainbow bragging that you royals had a magic mirror for a different world so we decided to do that."
"Are you telling me you used a spell created by an unknown source and forced it into a mirror to see if you could replicate what you heard from Rainbow Dash's bragging... I don't know whether to be impress or angry."
"Well whatever you are, I can tell you it was the best decision cause we met the greatest pair since us..."
"You met yourselves didn't you," Twilight said deadpanned (again).
"Yep, and we made a perfect plan."
+
In the human Flim and Flam's store there are plans of using the mirror, introducing it to suckers and finally a picture of them holding LOTS of money.
+
"Yes, those were good time," Flim stated.
"Indeed so, now that we got that settle, free us from this dungeon," Flam said.
"IT'S NOT A DUNGEON, IT'S MY BASEMENT!" Twilight snapped.
"Then why are we shackled?"
"To make sure you don't run as I explain the risk of opening portals all willy-nilly without realizing how dangerous that could be," Twilight said pulling out a huge book. "Chapter 1, 'So you made a portal.'"
"HELP!!" the Flim Flam brothers screamed.
"Do you hear something?" Starlight asked as she, Discord, Gilda and Trixie were playing poker upstairs.
"No," the other three said.
Session 32.12 Kendell2
"Patty cake, patty cake, baker's mare, back me a cake as fast as you can..." Cadence said, doing the motions with Flurry Heart. She then turned to Thorax and let him do the same.
The Changeling followed the same motions with the little filly who giggled as he did so. "This is fun..." he admitted, being glad Cadence TRUSTED him enough to be around her daughter...even if having someone watch. Baby steps.
Cadence nodded. Admittedly, Chrysalis wanting to publicly execute Thorax for being a traitor had made it much easier to accept him. "Flurry Heart seems to like you, and being around her might help you."
"It is, thank you..."
There was a knock on the door. "Oh, one second..." she said, looking to Sun Burst, who nodded.
Cadence headed over the door, Thorax proceeding to continue playing patty cake with the filly.
However, the filly then noticed something...
Opening the door, Cadence blinked, finding Sun Burst staring at her. "Sun Burst?"
"Hello, Princess. You called me to keep an extra eye on Flurry Heart and Thorax's visit?" the unicorn asked...then blinked. "What?"
Cadence pointed her horn, preparing to grab what she was certain was an impostor given the LAST time a Changeling infiltrator had tried this stunt...
Only to hear a scream.
She turned to see Flurry Heart grab Thorax and throw him a surprising distance...right out of the way of a concealed dagger being swung at him in 'Sun Burst's' telekinesis.
The fake Sun Burst blinked in confusion...before having his hoof grabbed by the filly. "...I knew this was going to end badly..."
Cadence cringed as Flurry Heart let out a tantrum and proceeded to slam the Changeling overhead into the ground behind her, repeatedly, before hurling him into the wall hard enough to make an imprint.
"...And that is why we haven't had you put those Earth Pony strength limiters on her yet..." Cadence admitted.
Flurry Heart went over to Thorax. "Thanks..." the startled Changeling replied, giving a smile. Flurry Heart booped his nose and giggled, then held out a hoof to prompt another game of patty cake.
"Ow..." moaned the infiltrator.
---
"What do you mean you're suspending my right to have an embassy in the Empire if you find one more infiltrator in your castle trying to harm your subjects?!" Chrysalis questioned. "I told you, random Changeling acting alone!"
"Once is a random event, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern," Cadence replied. "Be glad we're still having our game tonight..."
Chrysalis grumbled. "Fine, like I care one Changeling defected anyway...your move."
Session 32.13 Alex Warlorn
"Alright girls!" Twilight said. "I've been thinking. We've had way too many giant groups for our games lately. And too many 'wacky' adventures."
"Too many?" Rainbow Dash asked. "It's been over a month since we played Teenagers from Outspace!"
"Yes, and with such a large group, it's proven harder and harder to get everypony together to play."
"We have our teams split in two so you and Spike can both handle the work load!"
"Yes, but the fact remains that it seems like its gotten harder and harder to progress. So I thought we should go back to a small group of just me and the five of you."
"What about Spike?" AJ asked.
"He said he wanted to do some Ogres and Oubliettes Classic with ... a friend."
"Ah see..."
"So we are gonna be killing monsters and taking their stuff again?" Rainbow Dash eagerly for some straight vanilla dungeon crawling.
"I have a better idea!"
There were groans.
"Now now! This is another one my brother made! And I happen to like it! Legacy of the Cosmic Heroes!"
"Oh! Is this like Power Ponies?" Rainbow now grinned. She hated to admit it, but living the adventures had gotten her interested in the comics, which was likely the point.
"Nope! It's about cosmic space battles between the republic and the empire."
"So we get giant robots again?!" Pinkie Pie hopped in place.
"Nope. This is slightly more 'hard edge' science fiction. That means no aliens, no giant robots with silly attack names, and... I guess it does have faster than light travel. But the point is that the focus is on the ponies, not some giant robot."
"Well...I guess that can be interestin'." Applejack admitted.
Rainbow Dash snorted.
"Now now girls." Twilight smiled. "Me and BBBFF wrote the back story together. The Republic and the Empire are not as black and white as they first seem. And..." Twilight dropped a book on the table that make the entire room shake. The other ponies suddenly felt very worried. "There's a lot of back story and complexity to this world! Let me share some with you to get you up to speed."
'Some' of infinity is still infinity, as the ponies soon discovered as Twilight reading off about crumbling empires and corrupted from within republics and complex political situations just stretched, and stretched for eternity.
'Some' time later, Twilight said, "And that should about cover the basics. Uh, girls?"
Rainbow Dash was snoring with her head on the table.
Applejack looked like her brain had broken down.
Fluttershy was doing her best to smile, but kept fidgeting.
Rarity was grinning at the mere idea of such a massive space opera full of such charming and handsome characters and political intrigue.
Pinkie Pie stared in perfect understand and comprehension of everything Twilight Sparkle had said.
"Uh, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, would you like to sit this one out?"
"YES!" They all said together.
"Oh, okay then."
Session 32.14 BrutalityInc
Looking back, Shining Armor and Twilight wasn’t overly surprised at Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Applejacks’ cold reception to their epic space opera campaign.
Fluttershy never liked anything military related (her derailing of Shining Armor and his gaming friends’ “Whoops! Apocalypse” game notwithstanding). Rainbow Dash never demonstrated any appreciation for works with higher complexity than ‘hot-blooded action and adventure!’. Applejack is more interested in tales of personal, down-to-earth struggles and tribulations… although something told Twilight Applejack was somehow also personally peeved by the whole premise, particularly some of the central themes.
For the record, Twilight doesn’t mind if some of her friends doesn’t share the same interests as she did. No-pony is perfect, after all, and she was not going to force anypony to enjoy the things she enjoyed, even if Starlight Glimmer had once, before her redemption, insisted that this sort of thing would had been a recipe for conflict, and she could make it all perfect by equalizing everypony and eliminating differences in opinions.
They reckoned that only very few ponies, most likely hardcore sci-fi fans, would even pay attention to such a work if word got out. To their surprise, however, many more ponies, both gamers or otherwise, actually liked it then they expected, and gave it high praises once Shining decided to publish a special edition issue on it in the gaming magazine ‘Yellow Dwarf’, and revealed plans to publish it as its own tabletop game.
Many of these ponies are players who are normally academicians of various fields, working professionals, university students, literary critics, and others with high standards who would otherwise never touch science fiction, had not for ‘Legacy of Cosmic Heroes’ drawing them into the genre and making them come around in their opinions, showing that it is possible for that genre to reach artistic levels of more 'respectable' genres.
They all cited the sheer depth of its themes, setting, characters and overall story-line as part of its main appeal, noting how well constructed the universe was compared to most of the mainstream products, with careful attention to detail that made every aspect of its composition – from the futuristic technologies and military organizations, down to the interstellar politics, the planetary cultures, and social attitudes of the denizens living there - relevant to the campaign story, rather than just gimmicks added on to make the setting more flavour.
It conveyed a sense of scale and history, able to make players believe that they are partaking in an epic struggle for the future of sentient-kind.
Others liked its storytelling audacity, with its willingness to explore themes and ideas through a futuristic context that ponies would normally be uncomfortable with – that of clash between incompatible beliefs, the corruption of ideals, moral ambiguity with no clear right or wrong, the horrors of war, all through a space opera story which chronicled military conflict on a galactic scale, intrigues in the highest levels of government, plots and conspiracies that could span centuries, and battle of wits and skills between great leaders wishing to control the course of history.
None were more enthusiastic than the Royal Guards and military fans. There had been letters which asked her and her big brother to expand it into a proper epic space opera novel series.
Shining Armor, for his part, is really considering it, and finishing a campaign with Twilight’s friends and his friends would go far in helping him writing it out.
“In hindsight, we should had expected Pinkie’s character would pull a hair-brained scheme like this to capture Isohorn.” Cherry Fizzy, playing as an imperial fleet admiral, commented as he read through the notes of the previous session.
“Well, Isohorn is a space fortress that sat in one of only two navigable star routes between the Free Worlds Republic and the Grand Galactic Empire, one of ten others in Imperial territory” Noteworthy murmured in agreement, “I mean, we’re talking about a spherical artificial planetoid 60 km in diameter, armed arcane beam cannon with several hundred million megawatts worth of power capable of wiping out whole fleets at nearly a million km range, and is protected by an impregnable ‘living’ armour of enchanted liquid hydro-metal animated by neo-golemantic magic to act like the Smooze. Add a garrison of a fleet over 20,000 strong and 2 million troops, it’s practically unassailable by the conventional assaults that the FWA had been attempting for the past few decades.”
“So, where brute strength fails, Pinkie’s guile and trickery prevails. Still, I don’t understand how she did it…” Rarity muttered, rubbing her forehead.
It did involve false-fleet movements, infiltrators disguised as imperial troops, a computer virus, and other implements and deeds that didn’t make a lot of sense until they were used. But it worked, and half the imperial fleet garrison got wiped out by their own super-weapon when they tried to retake the fortress, forcing the remainder to flee back to imperial territory.
“In any case, now that Isohorn fortress has fallen, I fully anticipate that the Republic would make good of this once in a century-and-a-half opportunity to invade the Empire’s territory, and perhaps even win the war. However, I have a plan to throw them back.”
“And what plan do you have in mind, milady ‘Edel von Minnesänger’, the ever radiant and victorious Fleet Admiral of the Imperial Armada?” Meadow Song Inquired Rarity, his tone playfully dramatic.
“Now, now, dear sir, let’s not get too flashy with undeserved praise. My character’s only newly appointed by the old kaiserin, after all. And only because my character’s noble brother is the old kaiserin’s partner and therefore in her favour.” Rarity said.
Then Rarity began, “Given the scale of imperial territory, it would take hundreds of thousands of ships and tens of millions of soldiers just to be able to hold onto even a fraction of it. Now, I admit I don’t know much about military tactics as a real-life seamstress, but I know such huge forces requires enormous amounts of support, and if they advanced too deep, too quickly, this would come in very long supply lines.”
“Very observant!” Shining Armor, the GM, was admittedly impressed that Rarity picked this up. “And given the maps, these supply lines would go into hundreds of light years.”
“I am a business mare; I understand logistics.” Rarity boasted, “In any case, to buy time for the Empire to ready a proper defence, slowing down the Republic invasion is a simple matter of attacking their supply lines with hit and run attacks, forcing them to divert needed fleets to guard their rear. And when their logistics and their already thinly stretched forces reaches a breaking point, that’s when we’ll make our counterattack.”
“But the Republic would simply procure resources from Imperial territory to support their war effort.” Meadow Song pointed out.
“I accounted for this; in response, I would also implement a scorch-earth policy during the imperial retreat.” Rarity explained.
“WHAT?!” Caramel exclaimed, horrified by the idea. The others held similarly queasy looks, even if they agree with the military logic behind it, “But what about the imperial citizens left behind - !”
“I know. Admittedly, it’s horrid to leave them behind with little to nothing, but it’s the only effective way to deny the Republic any infrastructure or materials of value.”
“Also… this might work to our advantage.” Cherry Fizzy interjected, “If the Republic are eventually forced to get their supplies from the populace, they might turn on their would-be ‘liberators’ and weaken their hold on occupied territories even further. Not to mention the propaganda coup it would be for the Imperials, ‘exposing the hypocrisy’ of the Republic, destroying their morale while boosting ours…”
In the end, it was agreed and implemented. Shining Armor the GM, or ‘Space Historian’ in this case, of the Imperial players did the necessary calculations, and came up with the results.
“For most part, the preparations goes smoothly. But the Imperial nobles denounced the strategy, calling it cowardly for not having the imperial navy to meet the ‘plunderers and barbarians’ of the Republic and pressured the throne for a decisive battle to be fought, or else have Fleet Admiral Edel removed from command for ‘incompetence’.”
Rarity seethed at this development. The imperial aristocracy had the gall to call her character incompetent, when they themselves is largely responsible for the Empire’s decline with their decadence and tyranny? She’ll have half a mind to have them purged, if the chance ever revealed itself later in the campaign.
Plus, it would work with her character Edel’s backstory, a Byronic heroine who found herself wronged by the Goldenbalm Dynasty that ruled the Empire, with the old kaiserin forcing her brother to become her favourite escort…
“Very well, a battle they shall have.” Rarity declared, “And I think I know the best place to do so. When the time comes, let’s lure one of the Republic’s fleets into the Nebula Wastes of the Charybdis Starzone…”
= = =
A dragonfire mail popped in mid-air before Twilight, the ‘Space Historian’ GM for the Republic players. She opened and read it, briefly turning her attention away from the scene Pinkie was making.
“I thought taking that big shiny ball-shaped space castle would get the Empire and the Republic to stop fighting.” Pinkie muttered sadly, slightly deflated upon hearing the latest developments. “I didn’t think they’ll put me and my fleet in charge of it, just so they could use it to go party-pooper on the rest of the Empire and make the war last longer!”
“There, there, it’s alright. What you did makes sense, all things considered.” Gizmo reassured her, patting her in the back, “With Isohorn taken, the Empire is wide-open to invasion, leaving its defenses wide open and its situation untenable. The long war had already stretched the Republic and Imperial societies to breaking point, so it would had been the perfect time to negotiate a ceasefire and peace treaty to finally end the 150 years long conflict.”
“But as always, politics gets in the way for sane military strategy.” Gaffer noted cynically. Indeed, the lore has the republican government being a bloated, dysfunctional mess by that point. It came to no surprise that the corrupted politicians leading it would want to press on with a military invasion of Imperial territory to drum up political support in the coming re-elections.
Pinkie sighed dismally. She had wanted to this campaign to end on a happy note, and perhaps turn it to a more lighthearted adventure. Instead, she had unwittingly made things worse, leading potentially to more bloodshed and fighting.
It seems reality doesn’t always conform to her or anypony’s expectations. And at the end of the day, her character is merely one pony in a serious future setting, swept up by the tides of history and circumstances far beyond her control like everypony else. She shouldn't had expected her actions would make as much difference, or will automatically make things better, as the heroic band of resistance fighters did in the Star Quest films with this more complex scenario.
Then again, even if she did derailed the campaign spectacularly, wouldn’t she be making a jest of all that effort Shining and Twilight put into making it? Or making a mockery of all the hardships and sacrifices the ponies who lived in that universe experienced, and those in real life who had it as bad?
She didn't know what to do.
But until she did, maybe she could still work to bring a better outcome than would had been possible, hopefully without breaking the setting in the process and making Twilight and Shining upset. That's the last thing she wanted to do right now...
“250,000 ships in 10 fleets, totaling 35 million enlisted troops, and they’ll rather leave it to some ambitious self-righteous commodore, with questionable cred and a stupid name, to do the planning?” 8-Bit asked incredulously.
“Well, he did have the leadership wrapped around his hoof with his over-enthusiastic support for the invasion.” Twilight explained, returning her attention to the table, “Corrupted politicians usually only listen to opinions that they want to hear. And as long as that happens, the invasion will happen, and on his terms.”
“It’s going to be a disaster from start to finish, mark my words. Not unless we do something about it.” 8-Bit rubbed his chin in thought, “The question is, what can we do? The Republic's military had to obey the edicts of the civilian government, even a foolish one. If we pull a coup or something, we’ll be no better than the founder of the Goldenbalm Dynasty centuries ago, who subverted the stagnant and crumbling Federation through military and politics from within and turned it into the Empire with himself as kaiser!”
“Well, we can’t stop the invasion, but that idiot is just a commodore. We can just have Fleet Admiral Mirth 'the Magician' here.” Gaffer said, referring to Pinkie's character s nickname, earned after taking Isohorn, “Or one of us normal admirals of higher rank to pull it on him when the time comes and make proper modifications to the plan.”
“Yes.” Gizmo began, “For one, we’ll need to advance a lot more slowly than originally planned, so we can consolidate our hold on occupied worlds without overstretching our supply lines and thinning our forces, while launching smaller scale raids up ahead to keep the Imperials too busy and distracted, responding to each attack as if it is the full brunt of the invasion. That way, it’ll make them too thin out and depleted in terms of ships and morale to make a proper defence when the real invasion comes…”
Pinkie’s expression brightened as a brainwave hit her, “Oh, oh! Also, we can also get those guys upstairs to send a lot of PR ponies – party-planners, iterators, propagandists and what not – to go with the fleets, to show the locals we’re not meanie invaders!”
“Oh yes, we’ll definitely need that!” 8-Bit noted. "Need to win hearts and minds, after all. Good thinking, Pinkie!"
Twilight could tell, even though this would happen only on tabletop space opera, that a clash of historical proportions is about to begin…
Session 32.15 Alex Warlorn
Starlight looked at Spike in confusion, as she, Spike, Big Mac, and Discord, sat around the notes of Spike's old O&O campaign that had been gathering dust.
"So... WHY was Twilight saying she didn't know what she was looking at, if she'd played this game since she was a filly with her brother?"
"She ain't a LARPer." Big Mac said, mostly because he didn't want Starlight to think he needed 'help' expressing himself again.
"Wasn't a LARPer, I'd say those Power Ponies Comics count." Spike said with a smirk.
"So... did you ever rescue Princes Shmarity?" Starlight asked casually.
Spike blushed. "We kinda... stopped that campaign ..." Spike said blushing. "In retrospect.. it had the typical earmarks of early Overseers... boo-boos."
"And he didn't want to humiliate himself to his sweet sweet with Princess Shmarity now his beauty is playing them as well!" Discord grinned.
"So uh, Starlight! Where' Trixie?"
"I think she said something about playing cards with... sorry, don't know I'm supposed to tell you with who."
Session 32.16 Zaku789
"Eh that's fine, she'll probably tell us in some way in the future," Discord said.
"By the way.... why are the bad guys so cardboard-y?" Starlight said.
"Well I didn't want to kill them," Discord said, Big Mac and Spike gave him a look. "Okay yes, the pain thing was a dumb thing to add, but trust me if they were entirely fleshy it be Squirk down here."
Every-creature gave a blank look.
"You know Squirk, villain who fought the first generation... of pony heroes. He had a villainous crustacean sidekick." Every-creatre still gave a blank look "Sheesh people read a history book!"
Session 32.17 Ardashir
"I remember Squirk," Spike sniffed. "I've read Twi's history books, they mention him there." He picked up the Squizard and sighed. "I always wanted to see him get put into the game. I dunno why they never did," he picked up several other figures and showed them to the others. They were a fat and ugly witch, a demonic goat, and one figure with an aged hag on one side and a lovely sorceress on the other. "I mean, they used Hydia, Grogar, and Somnambula. Why not Squirk?"
"Eh, they probably can't get the rights to him," Discord said. "That or Squirk refuses to settle."
Meanwhile in Tartarus:
"Never!" A gigantic octopus lying underneath what looked like an even bigger sun lamp set to 'Supernova' snarled at the terrified ponies before him. "I once ruled Dream Valley! I refuse to be cheapened into some speed bump for a bunch of nerds in your ridiculous game!" A calculating look came into his eyes. "Besides, why should I? What's in it for me?"
"Well," one of the ponies said. "By arrangement with the, ah, the management, for every twenty games that sell with your image in them we can ship in twenty gallons of salt water for you."
"Twenty?" Squirk suddenly looked interested. He raised one tentacle and mopped his sweat away. "Make it twenty-five!"
"Go for thirty!" Hydia yelled where she sat nearby, manacled so she couldn't run away from the tea party with teddy ears she was having. "Make those rotten ponies pay through the nose!"
Session 32.18 Mtangalion
Spike cringed in his small crystal throne, a bead of sweat running down his brow, even though Twilight had insisted many times that it should be impossible for a reptile to sweat. "Look, Discord. We're grateful for all the extra effort you've gone to."
"As well you should be!" said Discord, pulling back the fur on his lion arm as if it was a shirt sleeve, and tisking at the blinking battery meter beneath. "Why, I haven't done this much magic in one week since that time I..." He coughed loudly into his eagle claw. "... did all those very naughty and hurtful things that one should not casually bring up with friends, ahem!"
Spike nodded. "It's just that, when I said it would be nice if we had more guys for Guys Night..."
"I'm sure this wasn't what he had in mind." Princess... no, *Prince* Dusk Shine glared at Discord. His handsomely mussed purple and blue mane was already getting frazzled.
Shining Armor ran a hoof through his own mane, trying to laugh it off, but nothing seemed to be making this less awkward. "Gosh, I can't imagine what mom and dad are going to think."
Dusk's wings twitched. "Well, I guess we'll never know, since they are *never* going to hear about this, are they, big brother?"
Shining gulped.
"Testin', one two three..." Apple Jack frowned at his booming bass voice.
Big Macintosh was looking mighty smug. "Ah've always wondered what it'd be like, if'n Ah had a brother. Want ta try on mah spare harness? We could be twins!"
Apple Jack's eyes grew wide. "Eeenope!"
Elusive tried several different expressions, and settled on confident, stallionly concern. "I feel dreadfully underdressed." The slim white unicorn stallion with a purple mane styled fit for a royal court grew thoughtful. "But perhaps this is an opportunity to better understand male fashion! I have several pending orders for suits that I might see in a new light. What do you think..." He blinked. "Alisa!?"
Alisa gave Elusive a perfectly innocent look. "Master?"
"Why are you still..." Elusive grinned suddenly. "I see what you did there. Take it off!"
Alisa's ears drooped. "But..."
"Now, if you please."
Alisa growled and muttered, then ducked beneath the crystal table. An unzipping sound was heard, and Alisa popped back up, now a male Diamond wolf with a broader muzzle and bigger paws.
Apple Jack did a double-take. "Hold on just an apple-pickin' minute! How come you had a costume of *yourself*?"
The wolf turned his nose up. "It's magic. Alexei doesn't have to explain *anything*."
Dusk Shine sighed. "I should order you to change us all back right this instant, Discord! But, in the interest of trying new things..."
Discord's face lit up.
"I'm willing to go ahead with the Guys Night O&O game like this..." Dusk grinned. "*If* we agree to have Girls Night next week, with all of you attending! Fair's fair, riiiight?"
"Ah'm in," said Big Macintosh.
Shining started sweating bullets. Figuratively... it was always good to make sure of that with Discord around. "Oh wow, I just remembered! I have a big important imperial function next week!"
"Me too!" Spike blurted out. "I mean... uh... I'm dedicating another heroic statue. Of myself, in the Crystal Empire!"
"That's right!" said Shining, grinning desperately.
"Oh, come now," purred Discord, wrapping his arms around both of them. "It'll be a blast, and I'll be so very *crabby* if I have to magic all these males back into females after a paltry five minutes." Ominous thunder came from nowhere. "I might even make a few... slip ups."
Shining Armor looked to Dusk Shine. "Uh, sounds like fun!"
Spike nodded quickly. "Count me in!"
Discord clapped his paw and claw together. "Splendid! Now, will you be rolling new characters, or are you fine with stallions roleplaying as mares? I hear that's a big thing over in World of Horsecraft..."
Session 32.19 Ardashir
"Hey, Spike, girls!" Rainbow Dash flapped into the room, with Pinkie Pie bouncing along beneath her. "Here we are for tonight's game -- oh." Dash blinked at the sight of the stallions and one male wolf. She began snickering, and then collapsed laughing. "BWAH HA HA HA! This is great!"
"Ya ain't funny, Dash," Applejack said, his voice deep.
"Wow, you sound like a tuba now, AJ." Pinkie smiled as Applejack snorted his annoyance.
"Hah! Hey, is it wrong of me to say that you look good as stallions? Any of you studs free tonight?" Dash rolled in the air, laughing. She grinned at the dirty looks she got. "Why do I never have a camera for moments like this? What, did Discord use his Infinity Dice again?
"No, but it sounds like a great idea," Discord snatched the massive die out of thin air and rolled it.
Everypony froze in horror as it tumbled across the floor, spinning, knocking against the walls, and finally stopping.
"Hmm," Discord said. "Random monster encounter. Oh, don't worry!" He waved his claw at the stallions as they got ready to fight. "Not a dangerous one. More of an amusing one."
"How do you have an 'amusing' monster show up?" Dusk asked. And froze as a pair of yellow forelegs wrapped around his neck from behind.
"Hey there, handsome," Sweetcream Scoops, Ponyville's most lecherous mare, almost purred. "I have NO idea how I got here..." She smiled lasciviously at Elusive and Applejack, "But right now I couldn't care less!"
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Great integration of two interesting episodes.
The ongoing saga with human Rainbow Dash trying to get her grades up is interesting. Now that she can fly, I wonder if her friends will try spelling out algebra equations on the ground to help her study?
I really love the idea that human Chrysalis has Thorax and Kevin as her sons. And really, Sombra and the game designers in general are hilarious.
Great to see Flim and Flam can see the economic and scientific potentials, even if no one else can! Though I can see why their human side would want to keep things quiet. Selling magic to the human world would be lucrative, but as lucrative as simply collecting gems and gold from their pony counterparts and laundering them on earth? I doubt it.
I like the idea that Alisa draws fanart of what her wolf character looks like under her pony suit.
Didn't spot the resemblance at first, but Squirk is definitely an inspiration for the Squizzard. Nice integration of the new episode!
THAT is how.
7521822
Nah, the length and detail of my play by plays are arbitrary and are an "if I feel like it" basis.
7520871
Thank you for everything!
7536869
:-)
7537349
Heh!
"Part of me thinks that Spike became the dragon god of harmony or love ... Might have a harem with Rarity, Mina, and Ember being his brides"
I think you mean if Spike becomes the dragon god of harmony or love... Might have a harem with Rarity, Smarity, Mina, Ember and Moon Dancer being his brides. Hey harems need more then 3 and might as well hit all the crushes if we're pulling this what if right?
7537349
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/287205/ponies-and-dragons-just-have-fun#comment/7537543
Can I steal the name? I'm stealing the name.
[quoteLegacy of Cosmic Heroes’ ]Again, is this a reference? Because I'd be more hyped than twilight.
"Now now! This is another one my brother made! And I happen to like it! Legacy of the Cosmic Heroes!"
"Oh! Is this like Power Ponies?" Rainbow now grinned. She hated to admit it, but living the adventures had gotten her interested in the comics, which was likely the point.
"Nope! It's about cosmic space battles between the republic and the empire."
"So we get giant robots again?!" Pinkie Pie hopped in place.
"Nope. This is slightly more 'hard edge' science fiction. That means no aliens, no giant robots with silly attack names, and... I guess it does have faster than light travel. But the point is that the focus is on the ponies, not some giant robot."
"Well...I guess that can be interestin'." Applejack admitted.
Rainbow Dash snorted.
"Now now girls." Twilight smiled. "Me and BBBFF wrote the back story together. The Republic and the Empire are not as black and white as they first seem. And..." Twilight dropped a book on the table that make the entire room shake. The other ponies suddenly felt very worried. "There's a lot of back story and complexity to this world! Let me share some with you to get you up to speed."
So thats why the cover image is a Star Wars reference.
32.4 - A week later Chrysalis appears before the Crystal Throne with a ring box.
9535373
I don't get the joke.
9536233
SHe was going to make her life miserable, so she offers to marry her.