The Royal Fillies REDUX

by blazikenking

New Friends, New Game

"Inova, we've been friends for a while now," Diamond said as we met up at the exit to leave school one Tuesday afternoon.

"It's barely been a month," I pointed out.

"I'd like you to meet the rest of my friends." She went in a direction that was decidedly not the exit.

As much as the knot of nervousness in my stomach said not to go, I followed her anyway. Diamond was a good friend, so her other friends were probably good too. It seemed like friendship stuff worked that way.

We went into a classroom that wasn't one of mine, and there was a white unicorn filly by herself in the room, with a wavy mane that looked like flowing water. "There you are, Diamond," she said from the head of a cluster of desks. "Where have you been?" Her question seemed more teasing than serious.

"I made a new friend that's new to being friends," Diamond said before turning to me. "Inova, this is Storybook, but we call her Brooke. She's the GM for our Humans and Hostiles games."

"Humans?" The term sounded strangely familiar, though I couldn't remember from where. I chalked it up to probably having heard or seen it somewhere in passing a few times.

"A mythical creature of great intelligence and skill," Brooke explained. "No magic, no flight, squishier than unicorns, and relatively low strength, but able to build incredible things to compensate." She levitated some pictures out of a folder, showing the general shapes of males and females. I'd never seen anything with such a shape, but it all felt very accurate somehow. "Now, Diamond, I have a question for you."

"Yes?" Diamond asked.

"Is Inova really willing to join us or did she just follow you here?"

"I invited her here, and I think we should give her a chance to see if she really wants to join."

Brooke considered the idea for a bit. "Inova, I'll give you five minutes to start on a human character. The only requirement I'll lay down is the need for some kind of combat ability or gear. Character details are good too, but we can figure that out later."

"Okay." I sat down on one side of the desk cluster next to Brooke and started thinking.

As I let the gears of my mind turn, I idly noticed colts and fillies coming in one by one and taking spots around the desk cluster. Brooke closed the door when what was probably the last one came in. With me, there were eight of us in total.

After every spot was taken and another desk pulled up, Brooke began talking. "Fillies and gentlecolts, I'm sure you've noticed the Princess in our midst."

"What? Where?" The green pegasus colt across from me said before putting a wing over his eyes and looking around like he was trying to find me in the distance. "I don't see any Princesses here."

"Hi." I meekly waved a forehoof at him.

"Woah!" He shouted, almost jumping out of his seat. "When did you get there?"

"Uhh, before you?"

"Hmm. . ." He gave my explanation some intense thought. "Okay, that sounds reasonable."

"Quick Quip's a bit of an oddball," Brooke explained. "You've already met Diamond and me, so let's have everypony else introduce themselves."

"I'm Sunflower," a light brown earth pony filly cheerfully said. Her auburn mane and tail were a bit of a mess, but it looked alright on her.

"Girder," a gray earth pony colt said. He was the biggest out of everypony in the room, and looked like he could bend iron with his forehooves alone. His short red mane and tail made him look even stronger somehow.

"Soprano," a tan pegasus filly almost sang out with a nice accent that sounded vaguely familiar. "But some ponies call me Soapy."

"She likes keeping things clean," Diamond explained.

"And I'm Hearthstone," the unicorn colt said. "It's nice to be back to eight ponies here."

"Back to eight?" I asked. "What happened?"

"I spent some time away from the club to help you," Diamond said. "Before that, Brooke had to expel somepony."

"Technia understood the game very well," Brooke said. "But her solution to everything was explosions and blowing it all up. That included the ocean. She was too hard headed to change what she did, it was making things too predictable, so I had to kick her out."

"Oh." I made a mental note to try and stay creative.

She turned to everypony. "I've given Inova some time to come up with a character and combat gear, so before we start, let's hear what she came up with." At her word, everypony turned to look at me. "It's okay if you don't have much. Just start talking and we'll help if you need it."

I glanced between everypony's expectant gazes and took a breath to try and calm myself. I felt more nervous than I did sitting on the throne or on stage. "Well. . . My character. . . She's a queen wandering around, hiding her face with a white fox mask. Her combat gear is a belt mounted thing that she can put one or two other things on to give her armor and weapons, and the front of the belt can turn over so she can flip the body and arm armor to her legs, or the other way around."

Brooke wrote down what I'd said and looked it over. "You know, for five minutes, this is pretty well thought out. Why is this queen wandering around?"

"Is she on a revenge quest?" Sunflower asked.

"Or maybe she's on the run," Quick Quip said.

"Or vacation!" Hearthstone suggested.

"What if she's just trying to see the land for herself?" Diamond suggested.

"And she's trying not to get caught by her zealous guards."

I looked between everypony, then to Brooke. "Do I have to take all those ideas?"

"Just the ones you like, or none of them," Brooke answered. "But I will say that I like the zealous guard idea. It gives me some extra material to work with. Inova?"

I shrugged. "I'm okay with the guards trying to get her back. Um. . . Can you choose why she's wandering? I can't pick anything."

Brooke gave my request a bit of thought, then wrote something down on the sheet she took notes on. "How's this sound?"

She floated the notes over to me and I took a moment to admire her writing. It was elegant without being difficult to read. "I like that idea. Oh, she needs a name. Is Nova okay?"

Brooke snorted at the name. "Did you use all your creativity on the equipment?"

"Hey, it's her first time making a character," Diamond said in my defense. "Let her have that."

"I suppose I can. So, let's finish up some equipment details for you and we'll get started."

---

Rita Scripture, adventurer scribe extraordinaire, held up a hand to stop the party with her. "Is that who I think it is?"

"I'd recognize that armor anywhere," Joakim, a barbarian and history nerd, said. "Ferria's back!"

"Hey, everyone," Ferria, in her polished knightly armor, happily said as she waved her free hand, her other carrying her shield and the hammer sheathed within it. "Can I blame Jester for the explosion that blasted me away?"

"It wasn't me," Jester the trickster said with his hands raised in front of him. "It was one of Machina's mines. I found her name on a fragment from the blast. See?" He held up a green piece of metal with the name in question on it.

"A little ferret confirmed it," Rex the druid added. "He saw her plant it. Being a ferret, he had no idea what to do, so he did nothing."

Solaria dashed up to Ferria, her white cloak moving just enough to reveal some of the highly durable light armor underneath. "Are you okay? Do you need any healing?"

Ferria held up her free hand. "I'm alright. I paid some healers after I landed."

Solaria ran her staff over Ferria, checking her anyways. "They did good."

Aurora, the bard, strummed her guitar. "It's good to have you back. I'd sing you a song, but I don't have one."

"It's alright," Ferria assured before turning to the scribe. "Rita, where are we going?"

"We took on a quest from a duke to investigate some plant monsters while you were gone," Rita explained as she pulled out the scroll with the mission. "It was just a rumor, but he was willing to pay a lot of gold, so we figured, why not?"

"I may have sang him a little something to make him willing to pay more," Aurora teased. "So, shall we go?"

"Let's go," Ferria agreed. "And you would not believe what I saw on the way here. . ."

---

I paused the game with a question. "Who's this Machina person?"

"That was Technia's character," Brooke explained. "I use her as an occasional antagonist or plot excuse."

"But. . . Isn't Machina her's? Why would you do that?"

"There's nothing saying I can't use someone else's characters for my stories. Besides, she wasn't doing anything good for the game by blowing everything up, so Machina's an easy punching bag for us."

"I'll tell you how Brooke wrote the character change later," Diamond offered. "Back to the game."

---

The seven adventurers arrived at a sinister looking multilevel greenhouse, its evil vibes greatly detracted by the beautiful sky above and the sound of birds singing a pleasant melody at Rex's direction, accompanied by Aurora's guitar. "This is the place," Rita said. "Time to investigate."

Jester was the first one through the door, and the party entered right behind him. Inside, the greenhouse was much spookier, with vines growing on the trees that doubled as supports, or had simply grown into the position. Regardless, their canopies and everything growing off of them cast dark shadows along the ground.

The door closed behind the adventurers with a slam, locking them in. "Ah, a fresh delivery of fertilizer for my garden," a deranged man calmly said as he approached, armed with a shovel. "Just as I'd ordered."

"Ordered?" Ferria asked as she drew her hammer and took a defensive position. "We don't have any deliveries for you."

The man laughed at the statement. "Oh no no no. See, you aren't bringing me anything. You are the delivery." His eyes and the shovel head glowed green and he struck the blade into the ground. Vines came out of the ground to ensnare his delivery by the ankles.

Ferria got trapped in place while Jester leapt to the safety of her armored shoulders. Joakim's ankles were ensnared, and his attempt to eacape critically failed when he tripped, fell over, and was promptly distracted by a cleverly misplaced history book. Rita, with some fancy spearwork, was able to keep the vines at bay and even free Solaria. Rex was able to call for the mice and insects in the greenhouse to eat and claw away at the vines holding him in place, though it would take some time. Aurora had the worst of it, as the vines she got rapidly formed a tight cocoon around her.

Jester, Rita, and Solaria quickly regrouped. "We've been in worse situations," Solaria said, trying to assure both her free teammates and herself. She raised her staff. "Light, I call upon you to make fire on these trecherous vines!" The end of the staff lit up, and the light it gave off wasn't enough to ignite the very green and lush vines, but it was enough to dry them out and weaken them a bit.

Rita continued pruning the vines as they approached, her spear's eternally sharp head cutting through with almost no effort. "Jester, do you have anything useful for this?"

"I've got something." Jester produced some throwing knives with purple blades and tossed them at the ground where the vines were coming out, hitting them perfectly. The vines he hit loosened their hold on the captive adventurers and became disoriented, but their hits hurt more than before.

"Was that supposed to poison them?" Solaria asked as she kept trying to dry out the vines around her. "It didn't work!"

Jester sniffed one of the purple knives he had on him. "Ah, that explains it. These are my wine knives. The vines are drunk now."

Ferria got a red gem out of a holster on the side of her belt, put it in her hammer, and activated it. Her armor let off a burst of flame and heat, incinerating the vines that were holding her in place. "Have at thee!" She charged the nefarious gardener, her hammer ablaze with fire and raised to strike.

A humanoid mass of vines with a faceless pumpkin head appeared in front of Ferria and caught the handle of the hammer before landing a surprisingly powerful punch, sending her back to her allies. More of the pumpkin vine monsters appeared, and a few of them, bigger than the others, had carved faces.

Rex's animal helpers were either full or worn out, leaving him only slightly less stuck than before.

Joakim was still distracted by the history book.

As the pumpkin monsters encroached on the adventurers, there was a shattering of glass, and a woman in a dark bodysuit came through a window. Most of her face was covered with a white fox mask, and on her waist was an oval device with a glowing white and red core. She looked around and surveyed the situation.

---

I drew a blank as I tried to come up with something cool for Queen Nova to say. "Uhh. . ."

"You can have her just arm up and rush in if you want," Brooke offered.

"Yeah, I'll do that."

---

The new arrival slid a small black and yellow device on the right side of the device on her waist and activated it. "Armed Claw," the device announced before some light armor appeared on her upper half and a pair of long claw weapons appeared in her hands. Without a word, she rushed past everyone and started slicing parts off the pumpkin monsters. The claws cut through the viney limbs with ease, and pierced the pumpkin heads with greater ease.

"Oh, a surprise delivery," the gardener noted. "I won't turn down more fertilizer. Get her!"

The mystery woman kept slicing and cutting with her claws, until one jab missed the pumpkin head and the claw got snared in the viney torso of one of the pumpkin monsters with a carved face. With her other mostly free hand, she slid a second small device on the belt and activated it. "Armed Claw. Armed Scissors." The new armor appeared on her legs, and the scissors were on the outside of her left leg.

"That looks a bit awkward," Rex noted as his animal friends finally got him free.

"She's got a plan, right?" Solaria asked.

"I don't know who she is, but she's helping, and I'm good with that," Rita said as she cast a small fireball.

A kick with her left leg sent the carved pumpkin monster down, and with some luck, the scissor blades were perfectly placed around one of the monster's legs. One snip later, the vine leg was reduced to a stump, and she was able to free her snared claw. With both claws free, she was quick to follow up and decapitate the monster.

The gardener came in next, swinging his shovel like it was a spear. "I spent a lot of time raising those monsters, and your little trimming spree is really ticking me off!"

With the scissor unit on her leg, dodging was difficult, though most of his attacks were easy to predict. The gardener didn't have much combat experience. After smacking him in the face with the back of a claw, the woman hit a button on top of the belt device, then turned it over. "Revolution."

The rest of the adventurers watched as a circle appeared around the woman, then her head seemed to disappear as the rest of her spun over. What were her upper body and arms became legs and her legs turned into her upper body and arms, followed by her head reappearing. The claws got scaled down and were now on her feet and the scissor unit was on her right arm.

Aurora, finally free from her cocoon, voiced her thoughts first. "What just happened to her?"

Ferria was busy looking up and down, trying to figure out the same thing.

Solaria ran a diagnostic spell on the woman. "She's just fine. Nothing's out of place."

"I'll just do what I do when Jester does something weird again and shrug." Joakim, done with the book before the Revolution move, did just that and shrugged.

The gardener, just as confused, ran back at her and swung the glowing shovel. The head would not reach its destination as the woman held up her right arm and caught the handle in the open scissors. One snip later, the handle would be shortened and free of the shovel head. With the momentum in hand, she rushed forward swinging the scissor unit like the arm mounted blade that it was. After knocking him a distance away, she finally spoke. "The finisher." She took the small scissor gadget off, and the armor it granted disappeared. She replaced it with a much larger red, black, and gold one with what looked like a handlebar coming off of it. "Revolution." Before she rotated, she twisted the handle, causing the red panels on it to move. After the rotation, red armor appeared on her legs, with a pair of pipes coming off each lower leg. "Boost! Armed Claw." With another twist of the handle, fire came out of the pipes and an aura came off of the claws. "Boost, Armed Claw, Triumph." In a burst of speed, she was hurtling towards the gardener, and became a tornado of fire and claws just before striking.

The gardener, defeated, disappeared, and the spooky aura of the greenhouse lifted a little. Rita was the first to approach the mysterious woman with the fox mask. "Excuse me, but would you-"

The woman held up a hand and claw weapon. "Wait a moment." The red device on the belt began shaking and giving off steam. With the sound of a firework being launched, it launched itself off the belt, smacked Rita in the face, and flew away, making a hole in the roof on the way out. "Sorry, it does that after a finisher with it. I hope I can find it again."

While Rex helped Rita to her feet, Joakim, trying to make up for his utter distraction and zero contribution to the battle, approached her. "So, who are you?"

The woman sighed as she removed the device that gave her her claws. "I'm Queen Nova, from the Novarian Imperium."

Aurora laughed at the name. "Did. . . Did you name it yourself?"

"I didn't name it! My great great grandfather, King Nova the First, did. I managed to escape a coup before that traitorous Starzkran could get me. He threw my father out the castle window."

"So, do you want to join us?" Rita asked.

"I want you to help me take back my kingdom. I can't do it alone, even with the gear I escaped with."

Jester casually draped an arm across Queen Nova's shoulders. "Listen Queen Nova, here's how it's going to work: we can't go to the Novarian Imperium yet. You'll have to work with us before we go take out Starzkran."

"But my kingdom! My people!"

Ferria casually tossed Jester away like an old rag. "We'll help you, but we need to figure out how we'll all work together with you joining us. Okay?"

"But-"

"Can you break a tree with your bare hands?" Joakim asked while flexing his muscles.

"Well. . . No."

Rex approached Queen Nova next. "Why the fox mask? And what do you call your equipment?"

"I'm trying to stay hidden and anonymous so Srarzkran's agents don't spot me. And my gear is the General Equipment and Armament Transference System, or GEATS. Made it myself."

Rita offered a reason for Nova to follow her and her party. "If you come with us, you can make more things to go with your GEATS system. Starzkran can't prepare for what he doesn't know."

Nova gave it some thought. "You know what, that's a good point. I'll join you." The newly expanded party explored the greenhouse. Someone owed them money and an explanation.

---

Brooke set her papers down. "And that's where we have to end it for today, everypony. We're out of time."

"Aww. . ." My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined.

"We'll meet again, same time next week, and I've got some fresh material to work with. This is gonna be fun!"

"I want to see what else Queen Nova has up her sleeves," Sunflower chimed in as she helped pack things up.

"But. . . Do I really have to leave now?" I sadly asked. "I was having so much fun. . ."

Everypony looked around at each other for a few seconds, then Brooke made a decision. "How about we walk home with you? I've got stories from previous games that will make you laugh."

"Really?" There was a glimmer of happiness, and it was very nice.

"Really." She levitated a book, labeled 'H&H Tales, Volume 7,' out of her saddlebag.

---

"-and when the table tilted up, Jester managed to stay seated at it while the rest of us fell to the floor," Brooke said. "He even caught a glass of fruit punch that was sliding down it like it was nothing."

The antics reminded me a bit too much of Pinkie Pie for my liking, but it was still pretty funny. "So. . . How?"

"Jester has a skill called Roll With It," Quick Quip explained. "It lets him go on with things in spite of interruptions or even work with them."

"He breaks physics and makes saving rolls with it," Girder added. "I thought he was just going to use it to. . . I don't know, but Brooke lets him take it to those crazy levels."

"And it just wouldn't be the same otherwise," Sunflower added. "Oh, here we are."

I looked up and saw that we were at my home. Right in front of the front door. "Well, this was fun," I said with a smile. "Thanks for-"

The door opened and mom was there. She looked across our herd with a raised eyebrow and a confused look. "Inova?"

"Yes, mom?" I quietly asked.

"I thought you only had one friend. Why does it look like you have seven?"

Diamond turned to Quick Quip to ask him for help. I hadn't even known the colt for three hours and I already had a bad feeling about getting advice from him. Diamond gave mom her explanation with an apologetic and guilty look. "Your Highness, I'm the one who dragged Inova into her new circle of friends and. . ." She realized what she was saying and how she was delivering the message. "Quick Quip!"

"Hey, you asked for advice, and I gave it," Quick Quip quipped with a smug grin.

"You should know better than that by now," Soprano added before giving a more sincere answer. "We're Diamond's friends, and she decided to try and become friends with Inova a month ago. Today, she introduced her to us, and here we are."

"So I guess they're all my friends now," I suggested with a shrug.

Mom was quiet and expressionless for almost two whole minutes, then she exploded with happiness. "OH THIS IS SO SWEET! INOVA'S GOT MORE FRIENDS! I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU, INOVA!"

"Voice, mom! Voice!"

I only lowered my forehooves from my ears when she calmed down and lowered her voice. The rest of my friends looked a little shell shocked. "I'm sorry, everypony. It's just. . . She's gone so long with no friends and now this. . . Why don't you all come in and have some tea?"

Soprano was the first to answer. "I'd love to, but my papa wants me home very soon, so I need to leave."

Mom nodded in understanding. "That's alright. Maybe next time."

"Thank you, Princess." Soprano gave a bow before flying off.

"I've got a garden to take care of," Sunflower said. "I forgot to water it yesterday."

"Go ahead, then," mom gently said before Sunflower left.

"How about we just plan on coming here next Tuesday?" Brooke suggested. "I'll talk to Sunflower and Soprano about it."

"That sounds good to me," Hearthstone said. "Let's do that."

There was more agreement, and before long, I was the only foal on the front porch. "So. . ."

"You're still working on your magic tonight," mom stated as I went inside. "But I'll go easy on you if you tell me what the eight of you did."

The offer was too good to pass up. "We played a game called Humans and Hostiles. It's a tabletop thing with lots of dice and. . . Stuff. It was a lot of fun."

"Really? Tell me about everypony."

As I worked on my levitation, I told mom what I knew about everypony I'd become friends with. At some point, the practice was forgotten and I ended up just telling the story of the game I'd played. She seemed really happy about everything I told her. That, or that I simply had more friends. It was hard to tell which made her happier.

---

When the next Tuesday came around, all eight of us met up after school and we walked to my place. Along the way, I was told how Machina went from good to sometimes evil. Her fervor and passion for explosions and blowing things up had caught the attention of something, it dragged her away through a swirling vortex dripping with spaghetti and marinara sauce, and after that, she became the recurring nuisance everypony poked fun at. Brooke never explained what happened between her being dragged away to the pasta dimension and her return, but whatever happened caused the change of her character type. Not knowing the details actually made it a little scary.

When we got to my place, I opened the door. "Mom, my friends are here!"

"I'll have the tea ready in a moment!" Mom happily called back from the kitchen.

I looked back at my friends and decided to lead them to the dining table. "So, this is my home, I guess," I uncertainly said.

Quick Quip made me regret my choice of words immediately. "You live at a dining table?"

"That's more of Skyla's thing," mom answered as she arrived with the tea. "Inova, would you kindly introduce your friends?"

I did as mom asked, starting with Diamond and going around the table, ending with Brooke as she was setting up our H&H game. To my surprise, she had a picture of Queen Nova with no armor or gear drawn, apparently by her own magic, and she looked just about like I imagined. She was even drawn with a ponytail that looked like a fox tail, which was a nice detail I hadn't thought of.

Mom decided to sit with us as the game began.

---

The party of eight entered the tavern where six of them had gotten the mission to go to the greenhouse. Queen Nova let herself drop into a chair with less grace and poise than usual, tired from all the hiking and walking she had to do. "How do you do this all the time?"

"Lots of experience," Ferria said. "Need a drink, Nova?"

"Something good, please."

Jester sat down next to Queen Nova. "She'll have whatever I'm having."

"I need a meal," Joakim said as he joined them.

"What am I, the waitress?" Ferria asked.

Aurora handed the lady knight a notepad. "If we do the waiting, we get a discount. I convinced the owner to let us do that."

Rex sat down like a proper gentleman, set his hands on the table, and started meditating, or at least it looked that way to any outside observers.

While the orders were being placed and Ferria groused about being a waitress for the party, Rita and Solaria were looking around at the guests at the tavern, looking for one in particular, then sat down with everyone else. "He's not in here."

"Who are we looking for?" Queen Nova asked.

"A duke that owes us for our little investigation," Solaria said. "And more than just gold."

"That gardener said he ordered a shipment of fertilizer when he saw us," Joakim said. "Do you think the duke is his supplier?"

Jester started juggling the silverware since he was bored. "Got anything, Rex?"

Rex held up a hand as he focused on his apparent meditation. "Wait a moment. . . Okay, now go that way. . . Good, good, just like that. . . Yes, do act cute. . . No, not you. . . Just a little further. . ."

Solaria, realizing what was going on, stood next to the doorway and waited with a spell.

The duke, merrily laughing as a dog tugged on his sleeve, stumbled into the tavern. "Hey, stop that! I've got to. . . Uh. . . Hi, everyone," he sheepishly said. "Did you find out what was going on with that greenhouse?"

"We've got some questions," Solaria said as she hit him with the spell, making him unable to go more than ten feet from any of the party members.

"Like where our money is," Rita said. "Do you have our payment?"

"Ah, yes, I do have that." The duke reached into his coat pocket and handed Rita a check. "As promised."

The party's leader inspected the document. "Looks good to me. Now, come join us."

---

Mom hummed in thought. "Where are the hostiles?"

"Not every session has a fight," Brooke explained. "That said, one of our characters is very talented at interrogation. . ."

---

After the meal, the party and the duke went to an inn, renown throughout the land for just how quiet each room was. You could have a rave party in one room and you wouldn't even be able to hear it if you put your ear against the closed door.

It was in one spacious room that the duke sat tied to a chair, withering under eight glares, though he couldn't tell if the one with the fox mask was glaring or not. "Wh-what do you want from me?" He stammered. "I'll triple your pay if you let me go!"

"We want information," Rita said. "And we want the truth. Stage one, go."

Aurora went first and sat on the duke's lap, lyre in her hands. She had the perfect melody in mind to make him talk.

---

"Roll for seduction," Soprano said.

Brooke rolled the dice. "Okay, you fail to seduce him. Critically fail."

"Nooo. . ."

Quick Quip raised a wing. "I want to help make this failure a success!"

"Roll for the check," Brooke reflexively said. ". . . And with Jester's help, you manage to succeed, but get no information out of him."

"Explain," mom said.

---

The duke was laughing his face off. The strings on Aurora's lyre had all snapped when she tried to pluck a tune, her curse made a very unladylike grumble come from her body, her singing was off key, and Jester topped it off with a flying pie to her face.

Rex was barely holding back his laughter.

Joakim's glare was broken by the occasional upwards twitch of his lips.

Queen Nova managed to maintain her form, if only because she was more confused than anything and her fox mask hid most of her face.

Rita sighed and rolled her eyes at the move.

Ferria and Solaria managed to not break down like the rest of the party.

"E-excuse me." Aurora nervously laughed as she tossed the lyre to Rita and made her way to the bathroom to deal with her curse's side effects.

"Stage two," Rita said. "I hope we don't have to go to stage three."

Ferria stepped up, hammer aflame and drawn, as she took her turn and asked the first real question, glaring down at the hostage. "Do you know who that gardener was?"

"I. . . I don't know much about him," the duke stammered out. "I just know he's crazy."

"You know enough to have a location, and we found multiple envelopes with your name and address on them there. Keep talking." She brought the hammer head close enough for him to feel the heat on his face.

The duke recoiled, but found some spine. "I know nothing else. Now let me go."

"Stage three it is," Rita said. "Queen Nova, if you want to skip on this, you can."

That caught his attention. "Qu-Queen Nova!?"

Ferria seized the moment and his collar. "How do you know her? Where are you from?"

"I'm from the Novarian Imperium! Everyone knows her there! I thought she was dead."

Solaria gently and elegantly moved Ferria out of the way. "You will reveal your connection to him and within the Imperium."

"Not likely," the duke scoffed. "What are you going to do? Heal me into talking?"

"That is what she does," Jester said with uncharacteristic seriousness. "Just talk and you won't have to experience it."

---

Brooke nervously looked between mom and me. "Um. . . Is it okay if Sunflower and I describe what happens?"

"Now I want to know even more," I said. "How is the healer the worst of the interrogators?"

I saw mom shudder. "I think I know. Go on with the scene. You won't get in trouble for it from me."

---

Solaria lightly tapped the duke's knees with her staff. "Tell me, which leg is your favorite?"

"Uh, my left one, I guess," the duke said.

The healer swung her staff at the man's left shin, getting a shout of pain and alarm from him. "If you don't talk now, my next swing will break your leg."

His breathing was heavy from the pain he had been dealt. "Ahh. . . Ahh. . . Ahh. . . You wouldn't dare do that to a duke and think you can get away with it. . ."

"They'll never know," Solaria whispered. "Because you'll have no injuries when you leave here, so they won't believe you." She lightly tapped the spot she struck. "Now, will you talk or be broken?"

The duke relented. "I'll talk! I'll answer anything you ask! What do you want to know?"

"How long have you been sending people to that gardener?"

"For over a decade. It started off as only the worst criminals going there, but he paid me so well for each one. . . Tens of thousands of gold per head."

"So you got blinded by the money," Joakim concluded. "Where did he get that much gold?"

"I don't know. All I know is that he sends checks that always work after each job, but I don't know where he gets all of it. It's too much to just be scavenged off of those I sent him."

"Did anyone tell you who needed to go to him?" Rex asked.

"Scrolls from an advisor to the king and queen. They all had the official seal of the Novarian Imperium on them, and you don't simply refuse an order like that." The duke started breaking down as he made his admission. "After the gold started flowing in, I didn't even need the orders from the Imperium."

"The king and I never issued any orders like that," Queen Nova said. "Starzkran must have been doing that on his own."

"But why be sincere about the reward to kill the gardener?" Aurora asked as she came out of the bathroom. "If he really wanted us dead, why do that?"

"To cover himself, obviously," Ferria said.

"I set it up so I'd benefit either way," the duke admitted. "If he won, I'd have gotten lots of gold, but you won, so now he's not my problem anymore. I didn't think you'd actually investigate anything. I didn't even think there was anything that could be investigated."

---

"And I think that's where we'll wrap it up for today," Brooke said. "Most of us have longer walks than usual to get home." Her decision was met with a round of groans as she started packing up the game.

"Solaria's interrogation wasn't as bad as I expected," mom said.

"The duke failed some rolls, so he talked more easily. Otherwise. . . Well, she probably would have broken his leg, healed it, and attacked there again."

"That's more like what I was expecting." Mom looked in my direction. "Inova, what do you think?"

I gave the explanation some consideration. It sounded very traumatic, but it also sounded like a good interrogation method, especially with magic to do the healing. "It could've been worse. How did Solaria become the stage three interrogator?"

Sunflower raised a forehoof. "That was my idea. After all, if you can heal his leg to be good as new, that means it can be broken again, and the threat of continued pain like that usually gets someone to talk.” Her smile did not falter during her explanation, which made the fur along my spine stand up.

“You’ll get used to her,” Girder said.

“Her dark side can be a bit scary,” Hearthstone added. “But that only comes out during our games. She’s really nice the rest of the time.”

“I hope so.” The assurances assured me a bit, but I was going to wait and see what she was like outside of the game.

“It was nice being here, Princess Cadence,” Brooke said as she finished packing up.

“Thank you,” mom said. “Any time you want to come over is fine. Same for everypony else.”

“Including Inova?” Quick Quip asked.

“Especially Inova. She even gets to live in this house.”

Quick Quip gasped in surprise and turned to me. “Inova! Do you really get to live with Princess Cadence?”

Soprano bonked his head with a wing. “Of course she does.”

“You’ll have to forgive him,” Diamond said. “His first reflex is to live up to his name.”

“At least he keeps things interesting,” Brooke added. “Everypony, it’s time to go. We’ll meet in the usual classroom next week.”

---

After everypony left, mom turned to me. “We’ll do half an hour of magic practice.”

“Yes, mom.” We went to the rock garden out back and I took my usual spot to start the usual practice.

I picked out a rock and started slowly levitating it. It went up one, two and three inches with no problem. I started getting nervous at the four inch mark, but it stayed steady instead of wobbling. I brought it up further, and it went past five inches. At six inches, it began wobbling before falling back to the ground.

Mom and I both stared at the rock, like it had done something rocks shouldn’t do. “Have you been practicing behind my back?” Mom asked.

“No,” I quietly said, just as surprised as mom was. “Should I try again?”

“Yes.”

I reached out and picked the rock up again. Just like the first time, it went past four inches before wobbling at six and falling. I repeated it, and it went to the same level before falling again. “Mom, what’s happening?”

“I’ll ask Luna and Twilight about it tonight. For now, just keep practicing as normal.”

---

In the clear murkiness of a neutral area of the dreamscape, three alicorns met up. “I have brought Twilight, as you requested, Cadence,” Luna said. “Now tell us what you need help with?”

“It’s Inova,” Cadence said. “We were working on her levitation after her friends left, and she got a rock up further than before. I know going from four to six inches of levitation isn’t much-”

“That’s a big percentage, Cadence,” Twilight said. “Wait, when did Inova make friends?”

“Her first friend was a little over a month ago, and now she’s at seven friends. She’s getting along well, and they all seem like good ponies.”

“Hmm. . .” Multiple open books appeared around Twilight as she looked back through her own memories. “Okay, so there was that. . . Then that happened. . .” She slammed one book shut and tossed it away with a blush on her face. “Not that one.” More books appeared in front of her as she kept checking everything she knew. “Hmm. . .”

“Twilight?” Luna asked.

“Okay, I think I have a theory. I just need to cross check a few books on sociology, psychology, and biothaumics. Luna, I’d like to check in the Royal Canterlot Library first.”

“I’ll have the librarian build your customary pillow fort of solitude.”

Cadence did her best to hide a smile and a laugh. The Princess that she once foalsat was still a little filly at heart. “Do - do you really still do that?”

Twilight turned around and hung her head. “Yes, I still make pillow forts of solitude.”

Cadence let out a short laugh before walking over to Twilight and draping a wing over her. “You know, if she could, I’m sure Inova would be right there with you. Let me know when you have your theory.”

Author's Note:

Le gasp! Inova is suddenly better at levitation? What could have possibly caused this development?

Comments

[ThoScreaptCompaig]

Friendship is Magic, yay!

[f0st3r21]

"Explain," mom said.

Yes, explain to the Princess of Love how exactly your seduction failed because you were too busy to ask any questions…

Hooray, Inova!! More friends = moar majix? Test the theory.

[woggs123]

I love the humans club being a DnD group instead of a.... what even was it in the old story?

[blazikenking]

11755095 That's the neat part. There was no group like this in the old version. As far as I can recall, anyways. Aside from Diamond Heart, the club is entirely new characters.

[Kvnhuang1222]

"Humans?" The term sounded strangely familiar, though I couldn't remember from where. I chalked it up to probably having heard or seen it somewhere in passing a few times.

I can sense this is the sign that Inova started remembering she was human reincarnated.

[Chrome Masquerade]

When the next Tuesday came around, all eight of us met up after school and we walked to my place. Along the way, I was told how Machina went from good to sometimes evil. Her fervor and passion for explosions and blowing things up had caught the attention of something, it dragged her away through a swirling vortex dripping with spaghetti and marinara sauce, and after that, she became the recurring nuisance everypony poked fun at. Brooke never explained what happened between her being dragged away to the pasta dimension and her return, but whatever happened caused the change of her character type. Not knowing the details actually made it a little scary.

So... Somewhere between Trixie and Mr L.

[Chrome Masquerade]

"I don't know. All I know is that he sends checks that always work after each job, but I don't know where he gets all of it. It's too much to just be scavenged off of those I sent him."

Wrong cheques.

[blazikenking]

11798737 No idea who Mr. L is, but I do know who Mister Torgue High-Five Flexington is. EXPLOSIONS!