Roll for Initiative

by David Silver

11 - Start Episode 5 - Ayup

Big Mac reached for the rulebook and drew it closer, but he didn't open it. "Alright then. So..."

---

Garbuncle rose from his sleep to find a familiar pony standing over him, the mail delivery/scout pony. "Package for you, sir."

"Huh, alright." He reached for the box and set it down. The box was quite long and narrow. He held up his staff to it and saw it was a rough match.

---

Spike hiked a brow at Big Mac. "You know, just giving me stuff isn't very--"

"--Are ya openin' it?"

Spike clicked two claws together before he nodded. "Alright, let's see what's in there."

---

Garbuncle waved his staff at the box and its bindings fell free. Liberated, he pulled off the top and pulled out... a second box? A small card was attached to the dark oak box. He picked up the card and leaned in for a look.

Salutations, Garbuncle,

We hope your adventures have gone well. We miss you back at wizard school and thought we'd send you a little gift. This will help keep your staff nice and dry when you camp in damp places, or if you have to carry it in places that don't allow magic staves, you can do it in style.

Your Friends,

Garbuncle smiled at the mess of signatures from his old classmates and some of his teachers. "Aw, thanks guys." He opened the inner box and saw there was a spot just right for his staff to rest in. "Huh, wow. It really is a staff carrying case... I never thought of that before, but that's cool." Just to give it the final test, he put the staff in the hollow spot that looked like it was made just for his staff.

---

Big Mac looked like a cat that caught the canary, grinning triumphantly.

Spike tilted his head at him. "Maybe I'm a little out of it from today, but why are you looking like that."

"Nothin'."

"That doesn't look like a nothing..." Spike's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait a second! I open the carrying case back up!"

"It's empty." Big Mac gave a little nod.

Spike put a claw to his head. "Dang it..." A smile creeped on his face. "Wow, good one. I really did not see that coming. So, uh... no staff, hmm..." He frowned with thought. "I should have suspected something when my 'old friends' knew exactly what staff I was using. Who would do such a thing? I check the case and the box it came in for clues."

---

Sir McBiggun made a sleepy noise before he stirred, waking and sitting up. "Mornin'."

Garbuncle waved a distracted hand. "Heya." He turned the shipping box upside down and gave it a good shake, producing a single card that fluttered to the ground. On the card was a picture of a multi-legged sea monster. "The sea creature! It's an octopus! Or is it a squid?" Garbuncle tilted the card one way and the other as if a different angle might reveal something.

McBiggun reached over and nudged the card over.

"Oh, right, the back." Garbuncle put a hand to his head before looking at what was revealed. "Enjoy your gift, signed the squid wizard." He frowned sharply. "That does answer that... squid wizard... I've been stolen from by a squid, a squid wizard. A squizzard took my staff!"

McBiggun snickered softly. "Squizzard."

"Yeah, wait, heh, that was pretty good." Garbuncle throws the mailing box aside. "Well, we have to get my staff back, or some other staff. There's nothing for it. Maybe there'll be a replacement we can get where we're headed." He hiked a thumb at their wagon. "Nowhere to go but onwards!"

"Ayup." He hopped up onto the front of the wagon easily and sat down. "Ready t'go?"

Garbuncle climbed up and swung himself around into the seat beside McBiggun. "We won't find answers here." With a casual toss, he sent the carrying case, empty as it was, into the back of the cart. "Maybe someone'll recognize the magic used and we can track it down if nothing else."

With a crack of the reins, their cart started forward under the powerful motions of their loyal beasts. As they rolled forward, McBiggun glanced at his companion. "Sorry."

"Huh, what for?" Garbuncle cocked a brow and crossed his arms. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Nope. Still sorry. Ah wouldn't be happy none if someone done took mah sword away." He reached back to pat his blade. "We'll get it back."

Garbuncle rest a hand on his friend's side. "Thanks. Together, no stupid squizzard's gonna keep us down!"

They shared a chuckle at the demeaning nickname they had settled on, guiding their wagon across the grassy plains.

---

Spike tilted his head. "Are we gonna, you know, get to the good stuff?"

"Mmm?"

Spike rolled a hand. "I mean, I know we have to travel, but we don't have to focus on that part."

Big Mac shook his head. "It takes a while. The journey's part of the adventure." He thrust a hoof forward. "Bold explorers, rollin' across new land!"

"Well, sure..." He tapped at his sheet. "We're going from one town to another inside Spiketopia, this isn't exactly strange new lands, just, you know, travel? They don't have trains like we do, but it isn't much more than that."

Big Mac tapped his chin quietly a moment. "What, should we just... skip it?" He sounded disappointed at the idea.

Spike considered with a soft mmm before he raised a hand, finger extended. "We're not so much as skipping as just focusing on the parts where we aren't sure what we'll do. I mean, we know what direction we're going and the cart is going straight, so there's not much choice there, right?"

"Ayup." He frowned a moment before nodding. "Guess ya got a point there. Still, ya don't like the idea none? It's kinda romantic, bein' on yer own, with no civilization 'round in sight."

"I mean, sure, it's kinda cool to think about, but there's... not a lot to do in the moment, unless we're gonna describe the plants we roll past. I mean, this is why people started playing games in the first place, to distract them from what could be a boring part."

"Spike?" They hadn't heard her arrive, but they heard Twilight's call.

Big Mac jumped in place. "She's back early!"

"Yup!" squeaked out Spike in a reversal of roles. They quickly gathered up their gaming supplies and barely had enough time to squirrel them away before Twilight trotted into the room.

She smiled on seeing them standing awkwardly beside a bookcase. "There you you are, and I see you have a friend over, that's nice. Hello, Big Mac."

"Howdy." He raised a hoof to tip a hat he wasn't wearing. "Uh, how'd it go?"

Spike nodded quickly. "I thought it was going to be longer than that? Did something go wrong?"

"Exactly the opposite." Twilight hopped up into the chair Big Mac had been using. "Things went so smoothly, we got it all done in a flash. I don't suppose you made enough dinner for me to grab some leftovers?" She raised a brow at Spike. "If it has gems, I'll pass, but thanks."

"Oh, actually..." Thinking about it made his belly rumble and he pinkened. "I was so busy today, I forgot all about that."

Big Mac and Twilight both looked at him quizzically and he put a hand behind his head chuckling nervously. "I didn't expect to get roped into teaching a class of foals. I mean, I'm not--"

Twilight leaned forward, her eyes sparkling. "You taught, Spike? How did it go?" Her enthusiastic expression suddenly crumbled. "Wait, this wasn't for... Cheerilee... was it?" She sagged in the chair. "Ohhh, she is going to be so angry at me, and she has every right to be."

Spike put out his hands flat, palms towards Twilight. "Hold on there. I took care of it. The kids had such a good time, we ended up going over the usual school end just to finish the lesson. That's why I didn't really have time for food today."

Big Mac nodded from the door that he had quietly sauntered over to while they talked. "Bye." He waved lightly before making himself scarce.

Twilight swiveled an ear at the departing red stallion. "Spike, does he have... a crush on me?"

Spike burst into a sudden cough. "W-what?!"

"Oh, I dunno. It just seems every time I come home, he runs off. I was just... wondering if maybe he felt too awkward to talk to me." She smiled gently. "Is that it?"

Spike snickered softly at the mental image of it. "I mean, maybe? I don't think so though. He just likes our nights, and they're kinda over when you come home."

Twilight tilted her head a little. "If you don't mind me asking, why is that?" She trotted towards the kitchen. "Seeing as it's my fault, this time I'll make dinner."

Spike followed after her. "You don't have to do that." Not that Twilight was bad at cooking, but she wasn't terribly good at it either. There was a reason he was often the chef of the house. "I mean, I appreciate it..."

"I insist. Now, why do things stop when I get home?" She started pulling things out of the fridge with her glowing horn. "I want to be a positive influence on your life, Spike."

Spike hiked a brow at that. "Did you read that somewhere?" He took her sudden silence as a 'yes'. "It's just a guy thing."

She burst into giggles. "Ohhhh, a guy's night. I can understand that. A little testosterone to counterbalance your daily dose of girl cooties you get from me." She got the oven going, peering at the flame under the pot. "Well I think it's lovely, and a little cute. You two are good ponies, and my knowing you're with Big Mac is... reassuring in a way. He isn't known for getting into trouble very often."

"Well, yeah. I mean, he could." Spike crossed his arms and leaned against a wall, watching Twilight work at getting some water boiling. "It's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for, they say."

Twilight rolled her eyes mightily. "So I should really be concerned about Fluttershy then? I'm pretty sure the both of them are perfectly fine." She dropped a good bit of dry spaghetti into the boiling water. "So, how did you manage to hold a classroom enthralled so deeply they didn't go home when it was time?" She perked an ear towards Spike. "When I was a filly, there were only a few students that might consider doing something like that."

"And you were one of them." Spike wasn't there to see her in grade school, but it came at no surprise to think of her being the one asking for the class to continue.

Twilight pinkened. "Only once or twice..." She cleared her throat as she stirred the cooking food. "But that doesn't answer the question. Were you teaching things, or just playing games?"

"Both," he reported with a pleased smile. "I led them across the world. They explored the pyramids of Anugypt, the exotic courts of Turkey, stopped by to share tea with the queen of United Bridle Islands..."

Twilight's tail gave a soft twitch as she lifted her stirring spoon to try a strand. It was too hot and she stuck out her mildly burned tongue before trying again with slightly more success. "Almost. Sounds like quite an adventure. I still need to apologize to Cheerilee, even if she did find an excellent substitute for her substitute." She laughed at her own wordplay as she bid the fridge open and started getting supplies for a quick and easy topping to their food. "Want some rubies?"

"I'm feeling emerald today, thanks."

"Got it." She put down a red-filled shaker and grabbed up a green one, setting it on the dining room table with her magic. "See, and you thought I'd burn down the kitchen. Have some faith, Spike."

Author's Note:

Big Mac gets his game interrupted by a sudden Twilight. Still, he did get to proper identify the Squid Wizard! And Spike has a staff to replace, gadzooks.

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Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

And so the fiend reveals himself, Big Mac learns that the audience may not share his appreciation for the romance of the open road, and the play group narrowly avoids the minmax mistress.

Also, slight grammar issue:

and I knowing you're with Big Mac

My or me.

[David Silver]

8424450
Oops, fixed!

[RadicalDishonesty]

A little moment of Twilight worrying about Spike, in this chapter.

[Hillbe]

The Squizzard stole the staff from the Lizard as Twilight stuffed her gizzard with spaghetti from the lizard wizard after his trouble with Squizzard.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

This looks like a start and an end, but it can't be, can it? It is merely the end of the beginning, is it not?

[David Silver]

8425075
Of the story? We haven't even gotten up to Discord joining.

[howard035]

8424551
That cute little slice of life moment with Twilight was weirdly my favorite part of this chapter.

[Booster Spice]

Garbuncle needs replacement staff like cheerilee does, but she got Garbuncle. Well, spike, so does that mean spike might have a glimmer of an idea? Or will he have face the sunset of his dreams of travel?

Ninja Pizza Delivery. Who says you cant get the staff.

[OmniFox]

Twilight should never cross Applejack when it comes to her brother.