Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Re View

The Moon shone down on the crystal streets of the Crystal Empire, lighting them alongside the lampposts at their sides. The whole town seemed to sparkle, and with every step the mares took the light bounced from the walls and streets a different way, every turn of their heads revealing a new wonderful sight. Which was why Bon Bon was rather bothered by her wife's utter inability to take it slowly and actually enjoy the walk, instead of almost rushing ahead and bouncing up and down at her side. "You don't always get like this when you drink," she said to Lyra, even if she couldn't keep a frown while looking at her.

"I barely had a glass anyway," Lyra replied, "it's the vacation vibes. Don't you feel it? The excitement of the night, the electricity in the air?" she asked, her mannerism almost uncomfortably reminiscent of Pinkie's.

Bon Bon lifted her head and turned slightly, looking towards the nearest clock up on a library's wall. "It's not even close to midnight yet. We're usually still up by this time."

Lyra wasn't listening, and had in fact already walked past her in her excited gait. "Hey, look!" she said, pointing a hoof forward.

Catching up to her, Bon Bon followed the direction her leg was pointing towards, and spotted a green filly holding and almost literally buried in a book, only her black mane poking out above the covers while the rest of her face remained completely hidden by them. "...Uh, they have books here in the Empire?" she asked, confused. "They have foals?" She tilted her head to the side. "Actually I think that's another tourist, she-"

Lyra's magic came to physically interrupt Bon Bon, by turning her head slightly and forcing her eyes closer to the two of them, not on the filly but on the small crowd of ponies gathered in front of a table to the side of the road. "That, you silly," said the unicorn, as if she wasn't the one bouncing and pointing around in the middle of the street.

"Oh," Bon Bon said, walking forward to keep up with the other as they approached. "What do you think they're doing?"

"It's a game!" Lyra squeed, but it was a squee low enough to pass for regular speech and draw no attention to them. Sure enough, the single crystal pony behind the table was moving around three hoof-sized purple crystal bowls, and once he stopped the pony directly in front of him placed her hoof on one of them. The stallion turned the bowl and revealed there was nothing beneath it, then turned the other two, one of which was hiding a small pile of bits.

The mare pouted slightly and walked away, defeated, while the stallion said, "Come on, everypony. Just one bit to play!"

Before Bon Bon had a chance to even realise it was an eventuality she might need to prevent, Lyra had already placed herself in front of the table, a bit held in her magic. "Bring it," she said, smugly smiling, as she tossed it onto the pile on the table.

Bon Bon watched with an eye roll as the stallion, putting on a smile even more smug than Lyra's, flipped back the three bowls and began to shuffle them. After a few seconds of sliding his hooves around, he pulled them back and stared the unicorn in the eyes.

Lyra stared back at him, and tapped the bowl to her right, while Bon Bon prepared to drag her away before she wasted all their money trying to figure things out. But to her surprise the stallion flinched slightly, and at his lack of immediate action Lyra flipped the bowl herself. Smiling wider, she took the pile of bits in her magic and began to walk away, leaving a somewhat shocked Bon Bon behind, until she shook herself and walked after her. As they left they heard the stallion say, "See? It's that easy!"

Bon Bon caught up with Lyra, who was busy counting her money and putting it away. "I thought those kind of games were rigged," she said.

"Well, yeah," Lyra replied. "But it's not cheating if you're doing it to even the playing field." Refusing to elaborate further, she trotted further ahead, past the reading filly and towards an ice-cream shop she'd spotted.

Comments

[Speckle]

[FanOfMostEverything]

Hmm. Anonfilly cameo aside, I have to wonder how Lyra cheated. Tracer on the bit?