"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?"
Twilight was busily packing Spike's backpack. Her little assistant was headed for the crystal empire to spend a week with his big brother shining.
"Of course not Spike, I can take care of the place myself," she said as she pushed the bag into his chest, "now hurry on, you don't wanna be late for the train now do you?"
Spike looked at Twilight with bewildered eyes. But after a while he shrugged and moved in for a hug, "ill see you on Sunday Twilight."
Twilight bowed her head down and nuzzled his neck softly, "I'll see you first." She teased as he went out the door, turning his head and grinning before closing it.
Twilight stood and waved at him from the window for a while until he was out of sight. Once she could no longer see the dragon she hurried into the kitchen. Grabbing the door of the fridge and opening it in a swift and rough motion.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Okay, they're all here." She closed the door to the fridge again, putting a check-mark on a list she had hanging on the door of the refrigerator.
She turned around and was faced with the cupboards. She bent down and opened one, her eyes searching for some particular bags. Finally her eyes and mouth lit up in delight as she spotted a collection of bags huddled into a corner. Her magic carried out each one out, along with several plastic bowls.
"Maltesers, popcorn, potato chips, snack sticks, gummy bears." She said as she poured the contents of the bags into their individual bowl. "Check," she said as she ticked another spot of her list.
She levitated the bowls into her living room, placing them on her table and ticking another spot off the list.
"Now for the Snes," she said to herself as she hurried upstairs, heading straight for her dresser. She opened the doors furiously and started whipping her dresses aside, until she stared at a small grey box with two controllers attached. She enveloped it in her magic and carried it downstairs, placing it on the table alongside the snacks. "Snes, check," she said as yet another spot was ticked off.
She looked up at the clock, her guests were arriving in approximately ten minutes. She had done it all in time.
Wait, no, she was missing one crucial thing, she just knew she was.
She hurried to the table, and more importantly her checklist. Her eyes gradually going down the list until her eyes met with a ticked off Snes marker. She sighed in relief, the gust of wind making the small piece of paper flip onto the other side.
Revealing an unchecked box.
And next to the box were the words: Dm box.
Twilight could feel her brain cells smacking themselves in the face, but she really had no time to think about how that made any sense. She hurried back to her dresser, once again pushing her dresses off to the side. But in stead of finding a grey console she in stead found a box with incredible artwork on the side.
She levitated the box out, staring at the beautifully cover art. A group of ponies taking down a dragon in a spectacular display of magic and swordplay. "Dungeons and Doohickeys," she said with an affectionate voice. She lifted the lid, revealing the story they had been working on for half a year, it was almost surreal that they were about to finish it. Alongside the spreadsheet there was also some small figurines she had made with the help of spike, they were made of painted wood. Of course there were her dices, a small bundle of d20's.
She hurried down to the table with the box. Placing it on the table alongside the snacks and her now finished checklist. She looked it over a second time, checking if she had missed anything. She cheerfully noted that there were nothing she had missed. She checked off the Dm box and placed the list in the box alongside the rest. Who knows? She might need them at a later date.
At the same time she heard the bell ring. With a happy smile she skipped to the door, opening it and facing one of her best friend outside of her best friends, Cheerilee.
"Hello Twilight, I'm sorry for arriving a little early, but I was worried if I was gonna miss something." The teacher apologized. Twilight was just happy that her friend hadn't arrived while she was preparing, that would've been embarrassing.
"It's alright Cheer, why don't you come in?" Twilight asked, stepping aside to let Cheerilee in.
The teacher nodded happily before stepping in, it was understandable. Of all the times the Pegasi weather team would schedule a downpour it would be tonight. Cheerilee slipped out of her raincoat and shook her head, making her mane spray water everywhere.
"So what're we starting out with?" Cheerilee asked, moving more and more away from her usual teacher attitude, and more into her gamer mood.
"Well, I've got the Snes over there, you can play something on that." Twilight offered, pointing towards the console.
"Fantastic, I love the neightendo, what games have you gotten for it?" She asked with enthusiasm.
"Well there's Alicorn Kombat 3, Mareio carriage, some classic party games." Twilight said, shrugging slightly without seeming indifferent.
"I think I'm gonna get something to drink first," Cheerilee said, hurrying to the kitchen in a manner that seemed unreal.
Twilight smiled as her friend and, sort of, colleague retreated to the kitchen. She went over to the table and placed the Snes on the chair. Placing her Alicorn Kombat 3 cartridge in it and hit the on button. Immediately a small screen shot out of the flat surface. Where a logo that resembled Celestia or Luna surrounded by barbed wire was located. Beneath the logo were the words: Alicorn Kombat 3.
"Twilight, all I can find is Red Buffalo, is there anything else?"
"I think there's some Para-Sprite in there somewhere, but I'm not sure." Twilight said, busily hammering Sub-Sombra into a bloody pulp with Rari-chi, her favorite character.
"I think I'll just take a Red Buffalo then," Cheerilee said, sounding slightly disgusted by the mere mention of The grape soda.
"Remember that there's only twelve, the others should get some too," she said, and at the same time the doorbell rang, "when you speak of the sun it shines brightest," she said and dropped the controller, quickly pausing to make sure she didn't miss the fatality.
She opened the door, finding two of the three remaining guests standing outside in the rain, Ditzy and Zecora.
"Hey twilight."
Ditzy, bless her heart, were difficult for others to be around. The reasons behind that were two obvious ones, so obvious in fact that they were located on her face. As anyone who has met Ditzy, or even seen her, can tell you, she has problems. Mainly with her eyes. Nobody is 100 percent certain what exactly the sickness is, but it makes her eyes roll around whenever she tries desperately to focus, giving her the nickname Derpy. Other than that she seemed so clumsy that her forelegs might as well not have existed, making it seem odd that mailmare was her choice of profession.
Luckily she took it all with happiness and vigor.
"Hey Ditzy, hey Zecora," Twilight said, nodding to each with a smile.
"I as happy to hear we where staying at yours, traveling to Canterlot easily bores." Zecora said in her slightly clunky Equestrian, the rhyming making her speech pattern seem off, and slightly weird.
"Yes, when we were staying at Luna's place it was kinda hard to keep it secret," Twilight said, not paying much attention to the conversation, she still saw the blinking pause logo on the screen. She desperately needed to pull this fatality off.
"Umm, why don't you go and get yourself something to drink? There's Para-sprite somewhere, and there's Red Buffalo in the fridge." She offered, smiling awkwardly as her eyes darted towards the game.
"Wuuh! Para-sprite," Ditzy yelled as she flew towards the kitchen, hitting the doorframe, "I'm alright," she said as she stumbled into the kitchen.
Zecora just walked to the snack table and started eating crisps. For some reason this zebra had a large affection for salty products, and could eat them in large quantities without needing to drink. It was unsettling, and Twilight had never really gathered the courage to ask why.
Yet another time the doorbell rang, Twilight went to open the door. Finding the last, and undoubtedly the most recognizeable of all the ponies here.
Princess luna.
"Greetings Twilight sparkle, how fares thee?" Luna asked, while she had gotten almost completely rid of the royal canterlot voice she still talked in old Equestrian.
"Hey princess Luna, why don't you come in?" Twilight asked, stepping to the side for yet another guest, this time actually bumping her butt into the nearby coat hanger.
"I'd be delighted." Luna said with the slightest hint of a smile.
Once Luna had been seated they were all there. So the fatality would have to wait.
"So then, first on the agenda," Twilight said, finding yet another list. Creating it out of nowhere it seemed. Her eyes darted to the top of the list, "Dungeons and Doohickeys." She proudly announced. Causing a mix of elicit groans and happy outbursts.
Twilight and the other pulled out their respective sheets of paper. Twilight's of course being of the story and the monsters, she was the dungeon master after all. The four other were character sheets. Specially designed to fit their personalities, and talents.
"So Twilight, where were we last time?" Cheerilee asked as she took a sip from the canned energy drink before putting on one of her delighted faces. Tongue licking her lips in an attempt to get all of it.
"Right," she said as she disappeared behind her dungeon master guide.
"As you prepare to enter the lair of lord nocturne you suddenly spot a flock of giant ravens heading your direction...."
"Come on, let this be a good roll."
Cheerilee threw the dice across the table, having it collide with her own figurine.
"Damn it, only an 8!" Cheerilee said as she smacked the table, making the figurines not only jump slightly, but fall over as well.
"Relax Cheerilee," Twilight soothed before ducking down to her notes again, "you still need to roll for accuracy."
Cheerilee picked the dices up again, a sort of dangerous determination gleaming behind her clenched teeth. "C'mon, get me a 20," her hooves parted and the dice rolled across the table. Hitting the Dm guide and rolling onto a 15.
"Meh, I guess that's fine," Cheerilee said, but the trained eye could see her clench her soda slightly harder.
Twilight scribbled on her notes for a second before her head appeared again, "the blow Is successful, hitting Lord Nocturne square in the chest, but the strength behind the hit isn't amazing. You deal a total of 40 damage to Nocturne."
"So he has 70 hp left, am I correct?" Cheerilee asked.
"Yes," Twilight wrote something else in her notes before her head appeared again, "and now it's my roll." She picked up the two dices an let them roll out on the table. The results turned out to be a clear 18/17
"WHAT?" Luna screamed, "that can't be right," she turned with angry eyes to Twilight, "thou, Twilight must Reroll."
"Sorry Princess Luna, no rerolling, we established this last time," Twilight looked unamused at Zecora, "when someone rerolled a conversation and therefore earned twice the quest reward."
"It was not my fault that the first roll was lame, the dices are clearly to blame."
"Well," Twilight started, "to get back on topic, I deal 102 damage to everyone in the party."
So a total of 3 jaws collided with the table once she had said that.
"Thou can't be serious Twilight. That's everyone dead but........." Her head turned towards the weakest of the party's adventurer, "Miss Doo."
"You have to heal me Ditzy," Cheerilee said while waving her hoof around in the air, "I deal the most damage in the entire party"
"Neigh Miss Doo, thou must pick me, for I have the most health in the entire party."
Ditzy tapped her chin in deep thought, al the while her eyes drifted off to the side, finally she came to a conclusion, "ill deal combat damage."
This wasn't a welcome choice.
"Maybe you should rethink that choice Ditzy," Cheerilee said as politely as she could, "you are kind of the weakest in the group."
"No, I'm rolling for damage and that's it," Ditzy said stubbornly, once she had set her mind on something it became easier to talk with a brick wall.
"Well, then roll I guess." Twilight said, she seemed uncaring. But in truth she didn't expect Ditzy to make this, the mares character was incredible at supporting the rest of the team, much like Ditzy herself, but she was weak sauce on her own.
Ditzy's hooves parted and she let the dice roll out onto the table. It was like watching two precious children playing a dangerous game. You didn't want them to stop, but if they failed you would cry so very much.
The one dice landed, it was 15, pretty high, but not amazing. The accuracy dice was still rolling around, but then it hit the Dm guide.
And landed on a 20.
"Well, sorry guys," Ditzy said looking down at the table, "I guess I should've rolled for healing."
"Miss Doo," Luna said as she looked at the gray pegasus with bewilderment, "that's a death roll."
"Do you mean...?" Ditzy asked, leaving her question unfinished as she focused her eyes on the dices, once that succeeded they grew about an inch.
"Yeah," Cheerilee answers, "we've won."
The screams of joy were unreal, Zecora herself had spit taken her soda and was currently wiping her face while grinning widely. Cheerilee was hugging Ditzy so hard that the pegasus could hardly breath, and Luna was bouncing in her seat while squealing.
"You did it Ditzy, that was amazing." Cheerilee said once she let go.
Ditzy was smiling sheepishly while rubbing the back of her had, "it was nothing guys."
"The game you have won, that means a ton." Zecora said, now smiling in stead of grinning.
Twilight smiled as she collected her Dm gear, now she would need to write a whole new adventure. Hopefully one that would end just as well as this one.
"I think we should go home," Cheerilee said, looking up at the clock, "we all have work tomorrow."
The others nodded in agreement. They took their stuff and their coats. Saying goodbye as they left the house. Now there would be a month until the next night. Twilight couldn't wait.
But, there was one thing that she needed to do.
She turned around to face the Snes, only to have her excitement disappear at what she saw.
"Great, it black screened."