Roll the Dice
As far as Anon knew, he was the only human living in Equestria, and he was bored.
Sure, life in Ponyville was comfortable. He had been here for over a year now, and he was already settled in with a long-term job and friends around town, but there was always that itch for something to do on those days when he had no work and no one was immediately available to hang out.
There were books, of course, but he could only handle so much reading of pony literature. In most regards, ponies were far more innocent-minded than humans, and while that allowed for a perfectly safe and happy lifestyle, it came with the side effect of crippling the quality of their writing, at least as far as Anon was concerned. The darkest thing he ever found in a pony story was a single murder mystery, and even that was a cop-out because the "mystery" ended with there being no murder at all!
Of course, Anon's next attempt at entertaining himself was to simply nap the days away, but this had the drawback of not only throwing his sleep schedule out of whack, but also drawing concerned attention from Princess Luna within his dreams. It took longer than he wanted to convince her that everything was fine, but it still made him not want to sleep too much during the day.
Thankfully, there was one final way Anon found to keep himself occupied: board games.
It was pure happenstance, he went over to Twilight's place to see if she wanted to hang out when he caught Spike and Starlight playing chess. Sure, it was called something else (just "castle" which was, curiously, not a horse pun like so many other names around Equestria), and the pieces all had different names, but it was still recognizably chess, with the same number of pieces performing the exact same movements. Anon was never a fan of it back home, but he still knew the basics, and was very easily able to talk Twilight into playing it with him semi-regularly. All of his other friends either didn't know how to play properly or had zero interest.
This is where we find Anon now: engaged in a battle of wits against the princess of friendship, brows furrowed as he considered all of his move options. His blue side of the field was slowly encroached upon by Twilight's red forces, but he made sure that his king (or princess, as the ponies referred to it) was defended. Despite Twilight's lead, Anon did have a few pieces in position for a long range attack, he just had to find the right way to get past her with minimal casualties to himself.
Across the table, Twilight was equally focused. It was as if she was trying to predict which move Anon would make, and thus what her best response would be.
The silence in her reading room was deafening.
Eventually, Anon reached down and slowly moved a bishop (sentry) into position. "Check."
Twilight sucked in a sharp breath, and Anon grinned. She had more experience on him in this game, but Anon had the advantage of playing unpredictably. He never learned any of the proper maneuvers one could perform in chess, which made him a complete wildcard capable of anything, as far as Twilight knew.
Suddenly, Twilight's eyes lit up, followed shortly by her horn. As soon as her queen (princess's aide) was coated in her magic, Anon muttered a curse. He spotted the opening he left, but far too late.
She placed the aide just short of taking out his sentry, but that was never her goal. She now had a direct line of attack on his princess piece. Not only that, but even if Anon retaliated with the adjacent sentry, Twilight had her own perfectly in line to make the same attack.
Twilight looked up and smiled. "Checkmate, Anon."
Anon groaned and flopped back in his seat. "Jeez, you're good at this."
Twilight laughed sheepishly as her magic cleared the board. "Well, I had a lot of free time as a filly, and my dad said castle keeps the mind sharp. I guess a lot of that practice stuck."
Anon stretched out his arms. "Well, I played it a bit in highschool, never too often and never anywhere close to professional. I'm just glad I remembered what I did."
"It still fascinates me that the same game exists in both our worlds," Twilight said.
"I chalk it up to the same reason a lot of Equestrian city names are eerily close to human city names," Anon said as he shrugged. "Weird cosmic coincidence."
Twilight let out a thoughtful "Hmm," and looked over at a nearby whiteboard. She levitated a marker to add a tally to her win count. She was now up to twenty-seven wins, compared to Anon's pitiful two.
Anon grimaced when he looked over and was reminded of his poor performance against the pony. "Maybe we should find some other game to play. I don't think I have quite the mind for chess. Or castle, or whatever."
"Nonsense, you're still one of the better players I've seen!" Twilight tried to reassure him. "I've never seen anypony else manage to counter a Hoofman's Opening with a Trotter's Cut!"
"Twilight, I have no idea what the hell those are."
The princess sighed. "Well, I guess we could find another board game to play."
"The only problem is I don't know any other pony boardgames," Anon said. "Whatever you pick, you'd have a huge advantage over me."
Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "Hmm, fair point. Maybe we could find a game neither of us have played before?"
Anon quirked an eyebrow. "Would you know where to find such a game?"
Twilight hesitated, then deflated. "No..."
Anon rolled his eyes and stood up to stretch his legs. "Well, I'm gonna run to the bathroom real quick."
Twilight folded up the castle board with her magic, and replaced it and the pieces in their box. "Alright, I'll see if I can come up with something while you're there."
Anon nodded and left the room. Twilight put the castle box back in a nearby closet and looked through every other board game she could find. There were a number of children's games that she skipped over. She had no idea why she still had them, honestly, but she also couldn't bring herself to get rid of them. Even still, she skipped over them in her search. She doubted Anon would have much interest in playing a game meant for small colts and fillies.
Thankfully, there were a few more adult-oriented games in the stacks, as well, and Twilight retrieved any she thought might be to Anon's tastes. Over the year or so he had been in Ponyville, she managed to learn a fair amount of what he did and didn't like, and so she tried to choose accordingly.
Just as she finished her selection, Anon returned. "Oh, nice, you already got a few."
Twilight nodded and read through the assembled games. "I have Crystal Land, Pirate Ship, Book Trivia-"
Anon snorted with laughter. "Of course you have a board game about books."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Anything jumping out at you?"
Anon dropped back into his chair and shook his head. "Not so far."
Twilight shuffled through the stack of boxes and pulled out a new one. "How about this one? It's called Mayor For a Day."
Anon sat up slightly. "Sounds interesting. How's it play?"
Twilight flipped the box over with her magic and read the blurb on the back. "'Two to eight players work together to run the perfect pony town. Manage properties, build homes, and avoid scandals to become the most prosperous village in all the lands.'"
"Hmm." Anon tapped a finger on his knee. "Something about all that sounds familiar..."
Twilight turned to him, eyebrow raised. "Really? Is this another game you had a version of back home?"
Anon racked his brain. It definitely reminded him of a human board game, but for some reason the name was escaping him. "I think so, except..." Even without the name, he could still remember the differences from what Twilight read out. "...I think it was less about running a town together and more about business. Buying property, staying out of jail, charging other players if they land on your stuff, that kind of thing."
Twilight flipped the box back over. "Huh. So it was more of a competitive game than a cooperative one?"
"Something like that, yeah."
She tapped a hoof to her chin in thought. "That could prove to be an interesting experience." She suddenly jumped up onto all fours, an excited gleam in her eye. "Hey, why don't we get everypony together later this week and we could play your version of this game?"
Anon matched her smile. "Oh, a game night? I can't even remember the last time I had something like that back home."
"Then it sounds like a fun way to spend an afternoon!" Twilight levitated every other game back to her closet, but kept out the box for Mayor for a Day. "Do you think it would be possible for you to write down all the rules you can remember from your version?"
Anon scratched his head. "I mean, I could try. My memory's a bit fuzzy on every possible detail, but I'll see what I can come up with." He pointed at the game box and added, "Could I take that home with me? If I have the actual board on hand, I might have a better job remembering."
Twilight nodded and levitated the box to him. "Sure thing, Anon."
He accepted the box from her magical grasp, but paused when he noticed how Twilight was practically bouncing in place. "You seem pretty excited about this, Twiggle."
"Oh, hush," she shot back. "I'm the Princess of Friendship, of course I'm excited that a relatively new friend from an entire other dimension wants to share a game from his own world with his other friends!"
Anon laughed and tucked the game box under his arm. "You ponies and your friendships, I swear."
"I figured you'd be used to it by now."
He shrugged and started walking to the door. "Guess you're right. Anyway, I'll be heading off now. Make sure to tell me when game night's happening, alright?"
"Will do, Anon!" Twilight waved goodbye. "See you then!"
Anon left Twilight's castle and spent the entire walk home trying to remember everything he could about the game he was remembering from back home. He clearly remembered the broad strokes, and a lot of the more basic deviations from the pony version he held, but the more he thought on it, the more rules remained stubbornly lost in his memories.
By the time he made it home, he was already opening the box to take a look at the contents. Eight player pieces, which were all a random facet of pony society, like a carriage, a train, or even just a horseshoe. The board was a square, divided into multiple color-coded property spaces on each side. There were even two six-sided dice in the box, which helped to jog some of Anon's memories for the game.
The function of the other spaces weren't immediately obvious to the human, so he decided that he should probably learn how exactly this game was supposed to work before he started to bend and twist those rules to better fit the obscure memory floating in his subconscious.
Sure enough, it was an entirely cooperative experience, just as the box claimed. There was a large bundle of small colored bills in the box, and the rules stated that all this money was pooled between all of the players, for them to work together and spend on the properties around the board, while minimizing losses from random events brought about by a deck of "crisis cards" that described all manner of situations that could make the group gain or lose money, from the mundane to the comical. At least, Anon viewed something like a "rabbit outbreak" as comical. For all he knew, that was a serious problem that ponies had to face at one time with tragic results.
He pulled out a notebook from one of his desk drawers and began taking notes of what rules would be changed, and how. The first and biggest one was obvious: players would compete instead of work together, each with their own stash of money. Rather than properties being something to upkeep and repair as the game goes on, they'd be bought and developed, to punish any other players that landed on them after the fact.
The corners of the board were the most perplexing to Anon. The start space was obvious, and even the original rules in the book mentioned the players gaining more money every time someone did a loop of the board and passed it. In the opposite corner, there was a space that only contained a bed and the words "Day off." The manual explained that this was a free space, meant to be celebrated since it meant nothing went wrong when a player lands on it. However, Anon swore that space did something completely different in the game he was trying to remember...
Eventually, Anon had an epiphany, and rapidly wrote down what he remembered: that space was meant to be a "jackpot" space, where money collected from random events was pooled, thus whoever landed on that corner would receive a massive payday.
Unfortunately, Anon had unknowingly made a critical error, and had incorrectly remembered a rule that didn't actually exist in the official ruleset for the game he was imagining. This would not be the last such error he would make, and all of them would ultimately prove to be disastrous.
For now, though, Anon was oblivious, and was on a rapid pace, writing down every rule he remembered along with how other spaces on the board would function. Surprisingly, the board already had something similar to the jail spaces he was familiar with, in this version described as a random villain capturing one of the players, taking them across the board, and forcing them to either get out on their own or be helped out by someone else. Of course, Anon made sure to write down how players sent to the cage were on their own to get out, be it through rolling doubles or paying a fee.
"Rolling doubles..." Anon muttered to himself just after he wrote the phrase down. Another memory hit him like a bolt of lightning, and he went back to the manual to look for something.
However, nothing was mentioned of rolling doubles in the pony version of the game, but that didn't stop Anon from remembering the extra turns they gave in his game. He hastily scribbled them in on his ever-growing rules list.
After what felt like no time at all, Anon took a break to lean back and stretch. He looked out the window and was surprised to see that it was now dark outside. A glance at the clock told him that he had been working for a few hours now.
He decided that this was as good a time as any to call it a night and get some sleep. After all, he had a few more days, at least, until game night with Twilight and her friends.
Those next few days were busy for both Anon and Twilight. While the human continued to dedicate his spare time to the drafting and perfecting of the rules for the game, the princess traveled around Ponyville to talk to her friends and see if they wanted to partake of game night. She could've simply sent out letters, but she found that propositioning her friends face to face was not only much more polite, it also had a much better chance of securing their attendance once the time came.
She had already decided that they'd all get together next Saturday, since that was when there were the fewest schedule conflicts, but it wasn't perfect. Trixie would be out of town for the weekend on some errands, Starlight would be accompanying her in order to ensure she didn't get in any serious trouble, and Spike apparently had accidentally volunteered to help the Cutie Mark Crusaders with something and was too polite and/or concerned to back out and leave them entirely on their own.
The first pony she visited about the matter was Pinkie, who was not only ecstatic at the thought of having a board game party with her friends, she even offered to bring some sweets for them all to enjoy during the occasion. Twilight graciously accepted the catering; it was why she started with Pinkie, after all. Even if that mare could manifest a sugary banquet for them out of thin air with very little notice, Twilight still wanted to be polite and give her a bit of time to prepare.
After her was Rarity. She wasn't the biggest fan of board games, owing to her constant losing streak against Sweetie Belle whenever they tried to play something together, but she was still intrigued by the idea of Anon coming up with a new game for them all to play.
Twilight managed to meet with both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy at the same time, since the former flew down to see what Twilight was up to at the latter's house. Twilight wasn't even halfway through her explanation before Dash cut her off and said she was in. Apparently she was still upset about the time Anon completely decimated her in a game of castle (Twilight was surprised that she knew how to play it, only for Dash to clarify that she didn't, but still took the challenge). Fluttershy, meanwhile, hesitated before saying that she'd be there. Even if she wasn't the competitive sort like Dash, she'd still like to be there to at least hang out with her friends, if nothing else.
The next place Twilight visited was Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was in the middle of working, but like usual, that didn't stop her from having a conversation with a visiting friend. She was happy to join in on the festivities, especially when she learned that Dash and Anon were also going to be there.
And last but certainly not least, Twilight paid a visit to Anon's place to see how he was coming along, and to pass on the date of the get together. When she knocked on his door in the afternoon, it didn't take long for him to answer.
"Oh, hey, Twi," he said. He tried to act casual, but Twilight could see the beginnings of bags under his eyes.
"Hey yourself, Anon," she greeted back. "You okay? You look... tired."
Anon shrugged. "A bit. Been staying up a bit later than normal trying to nail down every detail on this board game." He stepped aside and waved her in. "I think I'm just about done, actually, so great timing."
Twilight entered his home and shut the door behind her. Anon wasted no time and presented a rather large bunch of papers, each page filled with handwritten and amended notes and rules. It was a lot to take in all at once.
"I... see," she eventually said. "You've been busy on this, huh?"
"Yeah, it took a lot of sitting and trying to remember, but I think I got all of the rules down now," he said. He took a drink from a glass of water that sat on his desk, then asked, "So, when's everyone getting together?"
"This Saturday at noon. It's when most of us have free time, and..." She looked again at the mountain of rules Anon had written. She focused on one of the first passages, which detailed how the game worked in a competitive sense. "...That's probably for the best, because I have a feeling this will take a while with seven players."
"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Anon pulled out another piece of paper and handed it over. "Here's a list of things you'll need to get for the game to work, too. This box didn't have enough."
This was only one piece of paper, thankfully, with only a few written lines, but it was still enough to make Twilight feel the slightest bit of concern. "Bigger house pieces than the game came with? Blank cards? Five times the normal amount of play money?!"
"I mean, we both know this Mayor for a Day game isn't one-to-one with the one I'm remembering," Anon said. "For one, there's just not nearly enough money in a single box to distribute between so many players." He pointed to the bundle of rules paperwork that Twilight still held in her magical grasp. "The other two will make more sense once you read through that. The cards are very important, though, because otherwise there's no way to denote who owns what properties."
She slipped the shopping list on top of the packet. "I- I see..." An awkward silence filled the room, so she pointed at the game box that still sat on Anon's desk, wide open. "What about what was included? Were you able to find a use for everything?"
"Oh, yeah, totally." Anon pulled out the game board and unfolded it to show her. "I hope you don't mind, but I went ahead and made some adjustments to the board, to better fit what I remembered."
Twilight looked at his handiwork. There was now a lot of marker graffiti on the spaces, either to overwrite text that was originally printed there or to assign one of eight different colors to properties around the board. "You... doodled on it?"
"Hey, they're more than just doodles!" Anon pointed to a set of colored spaces. "This is really important to play the game right!"
"Uh huh." Twilight was wondering if it was such a good idea to let Anon have this much free reign over the project, but she didn't say anything to stop him.
Anon took the lack of objection to continue his explanation. "See, players can buy the properties up as they circle the board, but they can't actually develop them and build houses and stuff unless they have all of a certain color. That way, players who get a monopoly would earn even more-" He suddenly cut himself off and slapped a hand to his forehead. "Monopoly! That was the name of the game!"
For some reason, both of them felt an eerie chill go down their spine as soon as he remembered the name.
Twilight did her best to shake off the feeling and said, "So... it's a very business-oriented game, I guess?"
"Something like that," Anon answered. "Everyone competes to get the most money and bankrupt the others."
"Wouldn't that make the game a bit... antagonistic?" Twilight asked, more than a little worried.
Anon leaned against his desk and shrugged. "I mean, I guess, but that's part of the fun, building up rivalries and even alliances as the game goes on."
Twilight tilted her head. "Alliances?"
"Oh, yeah, it's in the rules you haven't read yet, but players can try and make deals with each other at any time. Try and get something from another player in exchange for something else, that kind of thing."
Part of Twilight's mind still felt a bit apprehensive about this whole idea, but she squashed it down. After all, this would be played among close friends, and even if the game itself proves to be a bust, they can use the day to hang out and do other things, no problem. "Alright, then. I'll get started on this shopping list, get everything we need for Saturday."
Anon smiled and put everything back in the game box and added it to her magical levitation cloud. "Thanks a bunch, Twilight." He hesitated, then added, "It feels surreal, sharing something as mundane as Monopoly from back home, but... it's not bad."
Twilight shared his smile. "I'm very glad to hear that, Anon." She turned to leave, everything still held in her magic. "See you Saturday!"
"See you then!"
Twilight walked back out into the open air. She still had a few lingering doubts about this 'Monopoly' game Anon was so dedicated to recreating, but she pushed them aside. Whatever problems they ran into, they'd be able to resolve them with no drama at all.
After all, they were all great friends, and a simple board game wouldn't be enough to jeopardize that...
...right?
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Oh boy, the good old Free Parking house rule that completely decimates the balance of the game. Chance and Community Chest cards are meant to remove money from play completely, and one player suddenly getting all that money just keeps the game going, and going, and going....
I see
11517144
I did not think of it like that
I can’t wait for more
Oh also how would anon explain rpg games like world of darkness and warhammer.
Or games where you have to trick each other like secret hittler.
Ohhh MAN this is gonna be GOOD!
11517144
Same goes with people ignoring the auctions. No, you don't get to say "I don't want this property", if you land on an unowned space and aren't buying it, it immediately goes to auction. Players ignoring these rules artificially makes the game go for hours and gives it its reputation, even though it actually only lasts 1 to 2 hours if played properly.
ooooh boy
Before I start reading this, I'm going to guess the game is Monopoly
Immediate Like and Watch. It's good to see old Anon coming back finally. I've missed the old oldfag.
11517148
I'm not so sure secret hitler would be A good idea, considering that would entail explaining whom hitler is, and I don't think educating Ponies on that aspect of our histoury would go over well.
11517170
You mean… secret Changeling?
Also, looking forward to seeing a game of Airship, yakyakistan’s checkers, or hungry hungry Celestia next
It was gonna be Monopoly or UNO, I just knew it. IF the elements are still talking to anon after game night, he should suggest UNO next.
Monopoly? Meh. I thought he was giving them Diplomacy or something like this.
11517446
There's a reason I only play UNO 1v1
11517264
1 to 2 hours is still a very long time for such a repetitive game.
Monopoly and Uno.
The Destroyer Of Friendships.
11517938
I don't know. I still have friends that are salty over a ten-hour game of Risk we played some years ago.
One guy was so good at the game the rest of us conspired to get rid of him first, plus we had our own rule if you rolled three dice with the same number it counted as a "Nuclear Bomb" and you automatically won the territory.
We...don't play Risk together anymore.
EVER
11517391
What about diplomacy.
I've seen a few fimfictions about Cards against Humanity, but I can't believe that I've never seen one about Monopoly.
Yeeesss~! The fire rises!
11518154
Hasbro Approves this!
Welp, looks like Equestria is going to need a new Defense Weapon against the forces of evil. No way in hell will the Elements be sane enough, or even have a smidge of friendship power, once this game is done.
That said, I will be watching with a bucket of popcorn to enjoy the chaos it brings!
So THAT is how the mlp universe lost friendship between G4 and G5 !!
Makes sense.
If anything can destroy an entire world it’s good old Monopoly, yes?
(Okay, unironically, this 'Mayor' game sounds interesting. Probably much friendlier. Especially from the even more vicious version of monopoly he has misremembered into being.
I very much look forward to seeing this game come to fruition! ... One of my guilty pleasures is 'ponies playing games' fics, so I really enjoy when something like this shows up. Hmmm, maybe they can play Risk on a future day! Y'know, if they're still friends after Monopoly.
Though to be fair, you can recover from a Monopoly game. It can take some hard work, but eventually, you'll probably forgive your enemies... I mean friends. ... We should just be glad they're not playing Diplomacy. From what I understand, that one destroys friendships for life.)
11518099
(That sounds like a great way to get the Mane Six their villain origin stories, and/or have some murders around the table!
Oh, Clue. Clue is another good choice.)
11517697
1 to 2 hours with 8 players. With 2 players and really good/bad luck/understanding of the rules, the game can end in under 5 minutes.
As for the story: Funny referencing but weak delivery.
Can't wait for more
Hi
11521069
I understand Monopoly was originally intended to deliver a message against unbridled capitalism. At first glance, it seems odd to do that with a game where you win by bankrupting everyone else, but when you take all this into consideration, it makes more sense.
Of course it's Monopoly. No better way to destroy a friendship.
11517391
You know, Airship makes me think of who could do the songs for the movie conversion.
Maybe Octavia and Vinyl under a recording contract?
Octavia in her Fiddlesticks get up as Hayseed.
Vinyl in Rarities Futuretek suit as CeeDeed?
11517170
Well, Equestria has TTRPGs. Ogres and Oubleittes (I know I misspelled that) is a canon parallel to early DnD. (Dm making the rolls and such) so one can assume other franchises exist. Though the grimdark aspect of Warhammer might upset pony sensibilities.