Equestria 5: Gods and Princessesby Asterian StarfallChaptersPrologue: Civilization EmergesGetting StartedUntrustworthy AlliesThe Horde ArrivesPrologue: Civilization Emerges"Okay, just one more thing and... Perfect!" "Twi, jus' what're we doin' here, exac'ly?" Applejack inquired. A voice called out from behind a computer monitor, "Hang on a second, Applejack!" None of the group knew what the lavender alicorn was doing, and despite their best attempts to figure it out, they could only wait until Twilight answered. Everyone there seemed nervous, the notable exception being Pinkie Pie, who was bouncing up and down excitedly ever since her arrival. "Oooh, oooh! Is it some kind of experiment? Is it one of those contraptions that you used to find out about my Pinkie sense?" Rainbow Dash and Applejack rolled their eyes simultaneously, looking back at the machine in front of them. It was comprised of a series of screens and boxes as the main components, while keyboards outfitted in a similar fashion to a typewriter lay in front of each screen. An oddly-shaped contraption lay to the side of each of the keyboards with two buttons and a sort of wheel in between the buttons. It didn't take much to tell that these were computers, but why were they rigged together like this in a circle? Why were they set up? What in Equestria did they have to do with anything going on? "Twilight, darling, can you please tell us what this is all about?" Rarity pined. Just then, Twilight's head popped into view from the other side of one of the monitors. "I've brought you all here to help me with an experiment... and for a little fun." The ponies had mixed feelings about this; Applejack and Rarity both looked confused. Rainbow Dash seemed to grow impatient–a thought reinforced by her exasperated sigh. Pinkie Pie started bouncing a little higher, but Fluttershy was the only one unfazed. The timid pony looked at Twilight and asked, "What kind of experiment?" Twilight's smile only amplified when the shy pegasus asked. "Well, ever since my... ascension–" Twilight fidgeted her wings to illustrate her point "–I've wondered... What would a pony do if given the power to control an army? What would they do to lead a civilization?" Even Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing as the others looked at one another to try and make sense of the entire idea. Realizing she was bemusing her audience, Twilight explained her idea in a more simplified manner. "I've just bought something of a video game that will let the average pony build and control an empire!" Despite giving clarity to her intent, Twilight's statement only confused her friends more. Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her mane while Pinkie Pie gave the most inquisitive look she could. "Twilight, whadda ya mean?" Rainbow asked in a slightly annoyed tone. Twilight either missed the tone or opted to ignore it, but she responded, "I thought maybe we all could sit down and play this game together. Each of us will take control of our own civilization, customizing it and everything. We'll play through and act as overseer to our subjects, and the computers will record our actions for later analysis... for research purposes," Twilight hastily added. Now the point of their presence was clear enough. Applejack stepped forward with a raised eyebrow and asked, "Exac'ly what's s'pposed ta happen? We play along with this here game a your's 'n see wha' we'd do if we were in the place of Princess Celestia 'r some'ne o' the like?" "Precisely," said Twilight. Igniting her horn, she turned each of the monitors on. The room, though well-lit, seemed to grow twice as bright with the computer screens on. On each of the monitors was a sort of customization form for each of the ponies to fill out. "We'll all be playing together. At first, none of us will know where the others' cities are, but as time goes on and we explore around, our countries will meet. I know this seems... odd... Okay, it is odd, but this is something I've been wanting to do for a while now, and I thought it would be something we can do as friends." Twilight looked to each of her friends in turn with a benevolent expression. The dead silence in the room was unsettling and slightly distressing. "Ah, why not?" Applejack chimed in. Everypony else clamored their variance of the response of "yes", the exception being Rainbow Dash, who raised her hoof. "We can lead our society the way we want?" Twilight nodded, a little surprised that Rainbow was showing an interest. Rainbow curled her lips in a twisted smile, almost as if she were planning to rob a bank. "So... Should we make this interesting?" Rainbow asked slyly. All of the other ponies looked curiously at Rainbow, who smiled mischievously as she announced the bet. "Ten bits sound fair?" Applejack rolled her eyes. "Ah got one better fer ya. The winn'r has ta be ad'ress'd as 'Lady' fer the next week." Rarity cut in, "You know, 'Lady Rarity' does have a nice ring to it..." The one-versus-one bet was quickly turning into a competition, which only sparked an unquenchable fire in Rainbow as her friends went in on the wager. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy nodded, leaving only Twilight to agree. The other five ponies looked at her with daring stares, and within a few seconds, all will collapsed in the young princess. "Oh, fine," she said in mock irritation. "I'll play along." Rainbow smirked. With that, Twilight took her position at one of the monitors as the others took their seats just after her. The ponies keyed in their desired information. While they might not have agreed on many approaches to their own simulated civilization, they all chose to have their insignia after their cutie marks. Each of the ponies took up a name as unique as their logos–Twilight's civilization was named "Literati Republica," while Rarity named her own empire "Cabochon Country." Fluttershy took up the identity of "Evergreen Alliance." Applejack chose "Stetsonia," Rainbow Dash, unceremoniously, chose "Pegasopolis," and Pinkie Pie hilariously named her society "Cupcake Land." Once that was done, the ponies hit a small wall. "Twilight, what's this do-hickey drop-down thingy supposed to be?" Pinkie Pie was pointing to a drop-box that held a list of different subjects on them. Twilight smiled, "Oh, that's a passive bonus. Each of us can choose a unique bonus, and those bonuses can be factors for what kind of civilization we command." Now that the unique trait factor had been explained, the ponies were better able to choose. One by one, they chose from the long list of abilities until they were all ready. Rarity decided to choose increased mining rewards, while Fluttershy went for increased food from forests. Applejack, not surprisingly, chose increased food from farms. Rainbow Dash chose barbarian conversion chance, and Pinkie Pie randomly picked to have a larger sight radius for land units. Twilight chose the bonus she integrated into the game herself–declaration of friendship bonuses. Finally, their civilizations chosen and designed, everyone looked at their competitors one at a time. "Ready?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash, being her ever-competitive self, announced, "Let's go!" Twilight's smile took a small twist as she announced, "May the best civ win." The ponies pressed their "start" buttons, and the game had begun. Getting StartedEach of the ponies could see two small units on their respective screens. One was the all-important settler unit; the other was the beginnings of an army–the warrior unit. The only thing to do now was... "Uh, Twilight? What the hay are we supposed to do with these?" Rainbow Dash blurted out. Twilight got up from her seat and walked over to Rainbow's monitor, scanning the environment. She noticed that the cursor was positioned directly over the settler unit, which forced a small laugh to escape her. "What's so funny?" Rainbow half-demanded. "Rainbow Dash, you're supposed to found a city with that unit. See that blinking button over there?" "What blinking... Oh." Rainbow blushed light red, embarrassed by her lack of knowledge. "I knew that," she said in a futile effort to save face. Once Rainbow had founded "Cloudsdale," Twilight walked around the room, checking on the others in case they needed assistance with their units as well, but their cities were already founded and their warrior units moved from their locations. Since no pony needed her, Twilight sat down once more in front of her monitor and took her turn, founding the city of "Aurora." She moved her warrior to the top of a hillside that she knew would give a good vantage point, and, sure enough, there were ancient ruins nearly two tiles away. She had to resist breaking out into a smile as she passed the turn. Everypony had taken their turn... well, not everypony. "Twilight?" Fluttershy whispered. "What does it mean by 'waiting for other players?'" Twilight looked down and noticed that the same notice was on her screen as well. "That's weird. Has everypony taken their turn?" asked Twilight, knowing fully that the answer was "yes." "Yeah, Twi," responded Applejack. "I have, darling," chimed Rarity. "Absol-tivel-utely!" Pinkie Pie half-yelled. "Huh... It might be processing for the computers..." Twilight mused. Rarity looked at Twilight with an unclear look. "What do you mean?" Twilight responded, "Well, the way I had it set up was that we would play with two other non-pony-controlled civilizations that the computer would play as, but according to this, there's... seven other civilizations?" "Seven?!" Rainbow shouted. "You mean there's seven others playing this game besides us?!" Twilight waved a hoof lazily in the air. "Don't be silly, Rainbow. It only means there's seven other civilizations on the map besides our own. It doesn't mean there's seven other ponies playing this game." Rainbow looked back down at her screen and saw that the turn had passed over and it was now turn two. Twilight said, "All right. Now, we just... keep going." Unable to contain herself for much longer, she moved her warrior over to the ruins. The effect was immediate. A notification popped up on Twilight's screen, indicating that she had managed to find cultural artifacts. Within just two more turns, she would have her first social policy! She was going to catch an early lead, and so soon in the game... "Yeah, ha ha!" The entire group looked over to Rainbow, who was smiling confidently and looked like she had won already. "Guess what I got?" she teased. Applejack took the opportunity to take a jab at her spectrum-maned friend. "Killed?" "No!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I got a spearpony!" "What?" Twilight and Applejack shouted in unison. Everypony in the group walked over to look at Rainbow's screen, which displayed her city and her only unit–the spearpony. Rainbow was already off to a military advantage, something which could not be over-looked by the others. "Well, Rainbow, not bad," Twilight commented. "You're off to a great start. How's everypony else? Satisfied with your placements?" Applejack nodded vigorously. "Yep! Ah couldn't a star'ed in a bett'r place." Rarity lifted her head and said in her usual grace, "I could not have asked for a more suitable location for The Diamond Palace." The others merely nodded in concurrence, and with that, they all returned to their seats. Applejack had begun her exploration of the nearby plains, which was revealing promising food values based on the wheat tiles on-screen. Pinkie Pie had spawned in a marshland, but her initial disposition was dispelled once she saw that she had two sugar tiles under her control as well as a quantity of marble. Rarity seemed very pleased with her location; even though it had only marble for a luxury resource, it was near the coast and a supply of fish, off-setting the happiness deficit. Rainbow's mountainous territory provided a natural defense against invaders, and the hills provided a steady stream of production. Fluttershy's forests were already providing their benefits, as her city was a mere three turns from expansion. Twilight might not have had the best starting spot; being in the middle of the desert with only two plains tiles is a rather sad start, but she had access to gem tiles located directly next to her city, and incense was a mere border expansion away. Twilight passed the turn, and the same ominous bubble appeared saying there were other leaders taking their turns. While the group waited for the turn to pass, they all began to think up of strategies to employ in their little game. Twilight understood that the concept was to choose your civilization archetype before you even founded the second city. It seemed like at least Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy comprehended the nature of the game; Rainbow looked like she was beginning to grasp the concept, and Pinkie showed interest, or at least enough to alternate clicking her mouse and gently nibbling her tail. "Mmm! Cotton candy!" "Dear Pinkie Pie, please do stop eating your tail," Rarity cooed. "It may look like candy floss, but it is hardly flavorful, I assure you." Pinkie looked at Rarity with a sad face for a moment before gently setting her appendage behind her, devoting her full attention to the "experiment." Finally, after the wait had ended, turn three had arrived. Pinkie spoke up, "Uh, Twilight? When does the super cool, neat-o parts happen?" Twilight giggled softly at her friend's question. "It'll be a little while, at least. You have to actually build an empire before you can run it, you know." Each of the ponies moved one by one, biding their time for– "Hay, Twilight! Ah think somethin' happened!" Twilight raised a curious eyebrow and walked over to Applejack's monitor. The second she did so, Rainbow mischievously leaned over and wasted Twilight's warrior's moves, directing them towards Aurora rather than away to explore. Twilight, meanwhile, was taking in the data on Applejack's screen: Stetsonia had earned eight faith points and met the city-state of Geneva. "Wow, Applejack. Nicely done. You managed to find a city-state before any of–" "Uh, that's not true there, Twilight," Rainbow interjected. She leaned back against her chair with a smug grin as Twilight slowly trotted over to see her screen. "Rainbow, you met Tyre?" Rainbow nodded slowly as she basked in her own glow, relishing the thought of beating Twilight at her own game. Twilight began to realize that she was going to have to begin playing a little more seriously if she was going to win against her quickly-learning adversaries. As the young princess walked back to her screen, she noticed that her warrior unit was unable to move. "What in the..." Her content face morphed into a small frown as she looked at the pony to her left. "Rainbow Dash, did you move my warrior?" "What? Of course not!" Rainbow said with as much dignity as possible. "Why would I, of all ponies, resort to cheating?" Twilight's faint smile only continued to fade as she grew more suspicious of Rainbow. "Maybe because you cheated in the iron pony competition against Applejack... and in the Running of the Leaves race... and in that chess game you played with me two days ag-" "Hay! That piece was blown by the wind!" Rainbow retorted, but the blush in her cheeks showed her deceit like words on a billboard. "Anyway, let's just play," Twilight said. "This is supposed to fun, after all. That's why we're- AH!" Twilight nearly jumped a mile as she saw what had just appeared on-screen. Everypony in the room turned their head to look at the lavender pony as she breathed rapidly and stared at the screen with pin-prick-sized pupils. Suddenly, a sinister laughing rang out through the monitor's speakers as the truth of the matter dawned on Twilight. She had just met another civilization, and this one was not exactly friendly in terms of previous disposition. The other ponies moved over to see Twilight's screen, which had been engulfed in green flames, sending all of them into a sort of panic. Fluttershy was especially scared, letting out a frightened yelp and darting underneath the coffee table for cover. The green flames slowly died down, uncovering a figure equine in resemblance, yet bearing wings and a horn. As the flames cleared enough to decipher the pony, the five realized it was not a pony at all, but a changeling. The changeling. "Well, well, well. What a lovely reunion, isn't this?" said Chrysalis's venomous tone, sending an icy chill down each of the ponies' spines. "I see that you all have decided to join in the fun... The more, the merrier; the merrier, the happier; the happier, the more... delicious..." Chrysalis licked her lips hungrily as the screen jolted from the meeting to Twilight's game screen, leaving all of the ponies in the room shaking slightly and breathing heavier than before. "T-T-Twi?" cringed Applejack. "I think there might be more ponies than us playing this game..." Untrustworthy Allies"Come on, Fluttershy! It's fine! She's gone!" "No, it's not fine!" "'Shy, come on. It's just a picture on a screen." The ponies had tried for the last thirty minutes to coax Fluttershy out from under her coffee table shelter, but to no avail. They all knew that if you scared Fluttershy just right, the effect was predictable, yet stubborn: flight, hide, then freeze from sheer dread. "Dear Fluttershy, please do come out, darling. That terrible... creature is gone now." Fluttershy shakily peeked her head out from under the table and looked up at the monitor that originally had Chrysalis on it. True to Rarity's word, she was gone. With a sigh of relief, the timid pegasus slowly crawled out from under the table, her feeble legs still shaking with fear. "T-T-Twilight... I don't think I want to play anymore..." Fluttershy whimpered. The entire group looked back at Fluttershy with slightly raised eyebrows. Rainbow in particular looked insulted at the fact that one of her competitors was giving up after a simple jump-scare. Twilight slowly walked towards Fluttershy, trying to calm her down best she could. "Fluttershy, it's okay. You don't have to worry about her yet; I'm the only one she's met thus far. She can't hurt you. It's all just a silly game." Twilight put a reinforcing hoof on her friend's shoulder as she went on, "We need you to keep playing. I need you to keep playing to gather the data I need. I know that she–" Twilight motioned towards the computer monitor to highlight her point "–can be frightening, but I promise that nothing bad will happen to you." Fluttershy looked around the room at her friends, reading their expressions one by one. She knew that it was all fake and that nothing bad could truly come of it... But it's just so scary! No, Fluttershy... Be brave... Be brave. Fluttershy nodded and, with a hint of reluctance, said, "Okay... I'll try." Twilight smiled proudly at Fluttershy as the group rounded back around the computers, proceeding to take turn four. Despite the sudden appearance and equally sudden disappearance of Chrysalis, the thought of other players plagued the ponies' minds. If Chrysalis was in this game, there was no telling who else could be in the game as well. The more and more each of the ponies contemplated the thought, the more hesitant to exploring the map they became. Yet, like great leaders do, they pushed onward. Rarity continued to explore her northern boarders, locating ruins with contained a massive gold boost, sixty-four gold, to be exact. Pinkie Pie was so insistent on securing the bounds of sugar just outside her borderline that she placed her only warrior unit directly on top of the tile and fortified a position there. Applejack began to investigate the area around Geneva, scouting out for other potential city-states. Rainbow's terrain, though very promising in terms of production, was rather difficult to maneuver through; within four turns, she had only managed to uncover a total of six tiles, none of which had any ruins upon them. Twilight was nearly about to undo the move that Rainbow had wasted when a certain cyan-green logo stuck out from the corner of her eye; the Changeling Empire's only unit. This one looked different from that of the typical warrior class. Although it was literally impossible to take a city with just one warrior unit, this was not some ordinary warrior unit; it appeared to have the class of 'Infiltrator.' Twilight moved her own unit back towards Aurora, setting up a garrison in the hopes of deterring Chrysalis from trying anything stupid. Twilight passed the turn with a smug look on her face as she saw the changeling unit move away and out of sight. War averted, she thought. Now to begin building up. The other civilizations were still making their moves, however, forcing the group to once again wait on the turns to pass. Rainbow leaned back in her chair and stretched her forelegs over her head, yawning lightly to pass time. Applejack removed her stetson from her head and flipped it around in her hoof, brandishing it like a magician would a wand before effortlessly returning it to her head. Rarity gently curled her mane around one of her hooves, while Pinkie Pie tried her best at producing a fake mustache made from a small clipping of her own tail. Time passed on... Turn: 23 Year: 3080 BC Aside from Chrysalis's scare tactic, nothing else seemed to happen; everything went like clockwork for everypony's empires. Within the twenty turns that passed, Rainbow had a formidable army of spearponies and archers. Rarity had a virtual stranglehold over the gem mines, while Fluttershy had founded another city, Pinedale, which had already grown to a considerable size of four citizens. Applejack continued to expand her borders into the open plains, securing enough wheat to support a city six times that of her own capital, Lariat. Pinkie Pie seemed overly-joyous about her happiness level of sixteen and was prepared to found another city to secure even more sugar. Twilight, meanwhile, was sitting pretty, ready to claim her lead in culture via her fourth social policy. Everything was working out perfectly for each of them... Suddenly, Twilight's screen turned to a meeting with Chrysalis. She appeared just as intimidating as ever, yet it seemed like this time there was a hint of positive emotion and friendliness in her aura. She said, "It is my belief that setting up an embassy would prove to be a mutual benefit for our two empires' diplomacy, Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis put on her best smile, bringing up a trade window that shown her offer: one embassy in exchange for another. "What do you say?" she asked in a tone that sounded... polite? Was Chrysalis, the one who nearly overthrew the Equestrian government and captured Canterlot, offering a truce of sorts? Twilight thought carefully. She had not technically met anypony else in game, meaning an alliance could prove useful. None of the others would be aware of the trade, not even the other five–Twilight came prepared for "screen-cheating" and had enchanted the computers and room to scramble audio and video about secretive transactions like this one. Still, it meant trusting an enemy to her... Who am I kidding? she thought. It's only going to show her the location of my capital and that's it... She already knows where that is anyhow. Twilight nodded and moved the mouse over to the "accept" button. "That's Princess Twilight Sparkle, Chrysalis," she added, hurriedly closing the meeting screen and resuming her usual business. A small patch of fog lifted from the map, and nearly fifteen tiles to the east sat the capital city of Thatergopolis, the changeling hive's only city. Twilight had just decided to trust one of her sworn enemies. It might have been a false alarm, but she still felt a little conflicted over her choice. What would this mean if the others found out she was trying to build relations with Chrysalis? What would it mean if Chrysalis stabbed Twilight in the back like she did before? Oh, no... What if she does try that? I need more spearponies! Twilight hastily clicked on the "Choose Production" button and set it to build her another spearpony, the last of three now in her military. She had a stronger military than Chrysalis–that much she was certain about–yet she could never feel safe. What if she did not have the pointier stick? What if she was at a military disadvantage? She could only hope her assumption was correct and that she would be able to defend herself if the time came. Deep in a cavern, some many thousands of miles from Equestria, a small cackle rang out through the hives. The queen could hardly believe her alicorn opponent's blunder. "Now, Twilight Sparkle, you will see what real royalty can do!" Chrysalis prepared and instructed her units to march westward towards the city of Aurora. The ten or eleven changeling infiltrators moved as instructed, moving ever so closer to their goal and Twilight's destruction. "Go, my children. Feed!" The Horde ArrivesTurn: 24 Year: 3040 BC Having gained her military, Twilight could now press for more important matters at hoof. Her happiness level rested at about four, which was rather low for the 'Princess' difficulty setting. She knew that she would need some form of luxury resource before she founded another city or she would risk slumping into the all-too-familiar "unhappiness era" that marked this stage in the game. She scoured the map, looking for any potential for luxury items, yet there were none she did not already have. What good is having two marble quarries if you can't even trade the useless bits for anything? Twilight mentally complained. Queen Chrysalis was still laughing her flank off. She had managed to manipulate her prey into opening up to her and giving her the benefit of the doubt. Now she was marching an army towards Aurora to prepare her attack. "Oh my dear Princess Twilight," she said with clear disdain towards her enemy's title, "you will die. You may have protected Canterlot, but you can not protect yourself from me!" Chrysalis let out a shrill laugh that could have been heard from the other side of the hive. "Soon, you will be mine..." Turn: 27 Year: 2880 BC Twilight believed had found a solution to her issue for happiness. Rather than waste gold attempting to buy luxury resources that were too far away, she decided to construct a settler unit and prepare her expansion. It was nearly half-way done, and when it was, Twilight would maneuver it straight to the nearby coastline, thus giving her the resources for a navy and pearls within her borders. Sadly for her, she would have to wait until turn thirty-one for said settler to finish building, then spend another three turns wrestling it into position to found the city. I wish there was a way to speed this banished thi- What's this? Twilight had received a new notification on-screen. "An unknown civilization has started worshiping a pantheon of gods. They have chosen the belief: Fertility Rites (+10% Growth rate)." Everypony else in game received the same notification, and each of them began to scramble about to see which of them had achieved their pantheon. "Who got it?" barked Rainbow. "It was not me, darling," said Rarity. Applejack was sitting back comfortably in her chair, silently snickering. "Have ya though' ta think abou' the one who found two religious city-states?" True to Applejack's words, she had located another city-state, Vatican City, receiving another eight faith points—enough to found a religious pantheon. In addition, Applejack had managed to found another city, Manebourne, just five tiles north of Appleloosa. Rainbow's jaw dropped open at the farmer's success in the early-game. Twilight, however, was not so dismayed. It did not seem like Applejack was gearing herself towards any sort of victory, be it scientific, diplomatic, cultural, or conquest... for the moment. That still did not rule out the fact that she had founded a pantheon first, and that alone was reason to be leery of her; Twilight knew that religious civilizations can grow to tremendous power on religion alone. After everypony had gawked at Applejack's screen for long enough, Rainbow drew her mouth shut and they all returned to their own game. Pinkie Pie was in the process of building her own settler to expand to new lands. Rarity had her settler and was proceeding to place him further inland to seize more territory and luxury resources. Fluttershy's two cities were growing to an enormous size for this stage in the game; Everfree had grown to five in size with Pinedale growing rapidly, reaching two citizens in size within just four turns. Twilight could only sit and wait for her settler to build, hoping that she could claim the lands near the sea. Still, she had to wait... Turn: 31 Year: 2760 BC At long last, Twilight had the means to create her second city. As soon as she received the unit, she began moving it west, and she was now a mere turn from founding her next city. It almost came as a shock that everypony in the room was doing better than her, considering she had played the game once before. While Twilight was still trying to found her second city, Rarity had already founded "Specia" further to the east of her capital, gaining ground on creating a massive city with the forest tiles around it. Applejack's cities were growing faster than Fluttershy's at this point, though both of her cities were one citizen behind. Rainbow did a mental hoof-pump after clearing a barbarian encampment, taking control of the warrior unit that was there and further expanding her already impressive military. As if Twilight's issues could get much worse, suddenly there was a mass of troops at her border. Three or four infiltrator units hugged her border tightly, almost as if they were a noose tightening. Suddenly, Chrysalis popped up on-screen. She bore a conniving and triumphant smile. Twilight immediately assumed the worst. "Chrysalis, explain that your ponies on my borders is not an act of war." The changeling queen just laughed. "While feigning friendship was not very polite, Sparkle, very few leave their mark on history by sitting idly. You are right to worry, and it is time for you to die." With that, the disposition text changed from "FRIENDLY" to "WAR!" The meeting screen then flickered back to the game, leaving a scared but not shocked Twilight to assess the situation. Apparently, Chrysalis was not done, for she moved another two units towards Twilight's northern border to surround her city and military. Thankfully enough for Twilight, Chrysalis had not yet noticed her settler unit that was four tiles away, and as long as it stayed that way, Twilight would at least stay alive in the game. She moved her spearpony to meet the infiltrator, and the units engaged in combat. The sound of battle cries, metal-on-metal clanging and weapons clashing sounded through the speakers, but the infiltrators had a major disadvantage; they received a fifty percent combat penalty versus melee units. Chrysalis watched in slight shock as her infiltrator crumbled from one hundred hit points down to zero. The unit was defeated, and the Literati spearpony took up a position where the infiltrator had once stood. "Banish you, Twilight Sparkle!" the queen snarled. She gnashed her venom-coated teeth at the screen, enraged that she had to watch her child die, yet she new it was for the good of the hive. After all, the penalty versus normal units came with a massive advantage. She waited her turn to lie in wait for Twilight's end of turn maneuvers, which would allow her to assess the best way to besiege the city. Twilight felt confident that she could win this fight, especially having seen how easy it was to obliterate one of the infiltrators. She passed the turn and waited for the others to finish their moves. Just as she was, though, a certain archer came down from her south-western border. Twilight's screen shifted to a view of Rainbow sitting confidently. She said, "Hay, Twilight! Looks like you got a problem there." "The units are a third the strength of mine, Rainbow. I'll be fine, but it was nice to 'meet' you," replied Twilight putting a tone on the word. It certainly seemed like Twilight could win this grudge match, but then she noticed something. There was an infiltrator that had made it to the city and attacked. The unit took all but six damage, but Aurora was in flames and had lost thirty-five percent of its health! Twilight sputtered, "Wha- Bu- What?" She looked at the infiltrator's status. The strength was that of a warrior unit—a mere eight compared to Aurora's defense of fifteen—so why did it do that much damage? As Twilight looked for an answer, she looked at the promotion bar. There was a yellow upward arrow that Twilight recognized as a combat buff, and when she hovered over it, a box appeared that said: "Bonus vs. Cities (200); +200% vs. cities." Twilight's eyes shrank back to pinpricks as she clicked on another infiltrator. It had the same attribute, as well as the next, and the one after that. Twilight's units could potentially blockade Aurora and prevent it from being taken, but that would also mean leaving her new city defenseless. "Oh, buck..."
Prologue: Civilization Emerges"Okay, just one more thing and... Perfect!" "Twi, jus' what're we doin' here, exac'ly?" Applejack inquired. A voice called out from behind a computer monitor, "Hang on a second, Applejack!" None of the group knew what the lavender alicorn was doing, and despite their best attempts to figure it out, they could only wait until Twilight answered. Everyone there seemed nervous, the notable exception being Pinkie Pie, who was bouncing up and down excitedly ever since her arrival. "Oooh, oooh! Is it some kind of experiment? Is it one of those contraptions that you used to find out about my Pinkie sense?" Rainbow Dash and Applejack rolled their eyes simultaneously, looking back at the machine in front of them. It was comprised of a series of screens and boxes as the main components, while keyboards outfitted in a similar fashion to a typewriter lay in front of each screen. An oddly-shaped contraption lay to the side of each of the keyboards with two buttons and a sort of wheel in between the buttons. It didn't take much to tell that these were computers, but why were they rigged together like this in a circle? Why were they set up? What in Equestria did they have to do with anything going on? "Twilight, darling, can you please tell us what this is all about?" Rarity pined. Just then, Twilight's head popped into view from the other side of one of the monitors. "I've brought you all here to help me with an experiment... and for a little fun." The ponies had mixed feelings about this; Applejack and Rarity both looked confused. Rainbow Dash seemed to grow impatient–a thought reinforced by her exasperated sigh. Pinkie Pie started bouncing a little higher, but Fluttershy was the only one unfazed. The timid pony looked at Twilight and asked, "What kind of experiment?" Twilight's smile only amplified when the shy pegasus asked. "Well, ever since my... ascension–" Twilight fidgeted her wings to illustrate her point "–I've wondered... What would a pony do if given the power to control an army? What would they do to lead a civilization?" Even Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing as the others looked at one another to try and make sense of the entire idea. Realizing she was bemusing her audience, Twilight explained her idea in a more simplified manner. "I've just bought something of a video game that will let the average pony build and control an empire!" Despite giving clarity to her intent, Twilight's statement only confused her friends more. Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her mane while Pinkie Pie gave the most inquisitive look she could. "Twilight, whadda ya mean?" Rainbow asked in a slightly annoyed tone. Twilight either missed the tone or opted to ignore it, but she responded, "I thought maybe we all could sit down and play this game together. Each of us will take control of our own civilization, customizing it and everything. We'll play through and act as overseer to our subjects, and the computers will record our actions for later analysis... for research purposes," Twilight hastily added. Now the point of their presence was clear enough. Applejack stepped forward with a raised eyebrow and asked, "Exac'ly what's s'pposed ta happen? We play along with this here game a your's 'n see wha' we'd do if we were in the place of Princess Celestia 'r some'ne o' the like?" "Precisely," said Twilight. Igniting her horn, she turned each of the monitors on. The room, though well-lit, seemed to grow twice as bright with the computer screens on. On each of the monitors was a sort of customization form for each of the ponies to fill out. "We'll all be playing together. At first, none of us will know where the others' cities are, but as time goes on and we explore around, our countries will meet. I know this seems... odd... Okay, it is odd, but this is something I've been wanting to do for a while now, and I thought it would be something we can do as friends." Twilight looked to each of her friends in turn with a benevolent expression. The dead silence in the room was unsettling and slightly distressing. "Ah, why not?" Applejack chimed in. Everypony else clamored their variance of the response of "yes", the exception being Rainbow Dash, who raised her hoof. "We can lead our society the way we want?" Twilight nodded, a little surprised that Rainbow was showing an interest. Rainbow curled her lips in a twisted smile, almost as if she were planning to rob a bank. "So... Should we make this interesting?" Rainbow asked slyly. All of the other ponies looked curiously at Rainbow, who smiled mischievously as she announced the bet. "Ten bits sound fair?" Applejack rolled her eyes. "Ah got one better fer ya. The winn'r has ta be ad'ress'd as 'Lady' fer the next week." Rarity cut in, "You know, 'Lady Rarity' does have a nice ring to it..." The one-versus-one bet was quickly turning into a competition, which only sparked an unquenchable fire in Rainbow as her friends went in on the wager. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy nodded, leaving only Twilight to agree. The other five ponies looked at her with daring stares, and within a few seconds, all will collapsed in the young princess. "Oh, fine," she said in mock irritation. "I'll play along." Rainbow smirked. With that, Twilight took her position at one of the monitors as the others took their seats just after her. The ponies keyed in their desired information. While they might not have agreed on many approaches to their own simulated civilization, they all chose to have their insignia after their cutie marks. Each of the ponies took up a name as unique as their logos–Twilight's civilization was named "Literati Republica," while Rarity named her own empire "Cabochon Country." Fluttershy took up the identity of "Evergreen Alliance." Applejack chose "Stetsonia," Rainbow Dash, unceremoniously, chose "Pegasopolis," and Pinkie Pie hilariously named her society "Cupcake Land." Once that was done, the ponies hit a small wall. "Twilight, what's this do-hickey drop-down thingy supposed to be?" Pinkie Pie was pointing to a drop-box that held a list of different subjects on them. Twilight smiled, "Oh, that's a passive bonus. Each of us can choose a unique bonus, and those bonuses can be factors for what kind of civilization we command." Now that the unique trait factor had been explained, the ponies were better able to choose. One by one, they chose from the long list of abilities until they were all ready. Rarity decided to choose increased mining rewards, while Fluttershy went for increased food from forests. Applejack, not surprisingly, chose increased food from farms. Rainbow Dash chose barbarian conversion chance, and Pinkie Pie randomly picked to have a larger sight radius for land units. Twilight chose the bonus she integrated into the game herself–declaration of friendship bonuses. Finally, their civilizations chosen and designed, everyone looked at their competitors one at a time. "Ready?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash, being her ever-competitive self, announced, "Let's go!" Twilight's smile took a small twist as she announced, "May the best civ win." The ponies pressed their "start" buttons, and the game had begun.
Getting StartedEach of the ponies could see two small units on their respective screens. One was the all-important settler unit; the other was the beginnings of an army–the warrior unit. The only thing to do now was... "Uh, Twilight? What the hay are we supposed to do with these?" Rainbow Dash blurted out. Twilight got up from her seat and walked over to Rainbow's monitor, scanning the environment. She noticed that the cursor was positioned directly over the settler unit, which forced a small laugh to escape her. "What's so funny?" Rainbow half-demanded. "Rainbow Dash, you're supposed to found a city with that unit. See that blinking button over there?" "What blinking... Oh." Rainbow blushed light red, embarrassed by her lack of knowledge. "I knew that," she said in a futile effort to save face. Once Rainbow had founded "Cloudsdale," Twilight walked around the room, checking on the others in case they needed assistance with their units as well, but their cities were already founded and their warrior units moved from their locations. Since no pony needed her, Twilight sat down once more in front of her monitor and took her turn, founding the city of "Aurora." She moved her warrior to the top of a hillside that she knew would give a good vantage point, and, sure enough, there were ancient ruins nearly two tiles away. She had to resist breaking out into a smile as she passed the turn. Everypony had taken their turn... well, not everypony. "Twilight?" Fluttershy whispered. "What does it mean by 'waiting for other players?'" Twilight looked down and noticed that the same notice was on her screen as well. "That's weird. Has everypony taken their turn?" asked Twilight, knowing fully that the answer was "yes." "Yeah, Twi," responded Applejack. "I have, darling," chimed Rarity. "Absol-tivel-utely!" Pinkie Pie half-yelled. "Huh... It might be processing for the computers..." Twilight mused. Rarity looked at Twilight with an unclear look. "What do you mean?" Twilight responded, "Well, the way I had it set up was that we would play with two other non-pony-controlled civilizations that the computer would play as, but according to this, there's... seven other civilizations?" "Seven?!" Rainbow shouted. "You mean there's seven others playing this game besides us?!" Twilight waved a hoof lazily in the air. "Don't be silly, Rainbow. It only means there's seven other civilizations on the map besides our own. It doesn't mean there's seven other ponies playing this game." Rainbow looked back down at her screen and saw that the turn had passed over and it was now turn two. Twilight said, "All right. Now, we just... keep going." Unable to contain herself for much longer, she moved her warrior over to the ruins. The effect was immediate. A notification popped up on Twilight's screen, indicating that she had managed to find cultural artifacts. Within just two more turns, she would have her first social policy! She was going to catch an early lead, and so soon in the game... "Yeah, ha ha!" The entire group looked over to Rainbow, who was smiling confidently and looked like she had won already. "Guess what I got?" she teased. Applejack took the opportunity to take a jab at her spectrum-maned friend. "Killed?" "No!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I got a spearpony!" "What?" Twilight and Applejack shouted in unison. Everypony in the group walked over to look at Rainbow's screen, which displayed her city and her only unit–the spearpony. Rainbow was already off to a military advantage, something which could not be over-looked by the others. "Well, Rainbow, not bad," Twilight commented. "You're off to a great start. How's everypony else? Satisfied with your placements?" Applejack nodded vigorously. "Yep! Ah couldn't a star'ed in a bett'r place." Rarity lifted her head and said in her usual grace, "I could not have asked for a more suitable location for The Diamond Palace." The others merely nodded in concurrence, and with that, they all returned to their seats. Applejack had begun her exploration of the nearby plains, which was revealing promising food values based on the wheat tiles on-screen. Pinkie Pie had spawned in a marshland, but her initial disposition was dispelled once she saw that she had two sugar tiles under her control as well as a quantity of marble. Rarity seemed very pleased with her location; even though it had only marble for a luxury resource, it was near the coast and a supply of fish, off-setting the happiness deficit. Rainbow's mountainous territory provided a natural defense against invaders, and the hills provided a steady stream of production. Fluttershy's forests were already providing their benefits, as her city was a mere three turns from expansion. Twilight might not have had the best starting spot; being in the middle of the desert with only two plains tiles is a rather sad start, but she had access to gem tiles located directly next to her city, and incense was a mere border expansion away. Twilight passed the turn, and the same ominous bubble appeared saying there were other leaders taking their turns. While the group waited for the turn to pass, they all began to think up of strategies to employ in their little game. Twilight understood that the concept was to choose your civilization archetype before you even founded the second city. It seemed like at least Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy comprehended the nature of the game; Rainbow looked like she was beginning to grasp the concept, and Pinkie showed interest, or at least enough to alternate clicking her mouse and gently nibbling her tail. "Mmm! Cotton candy!" "Dear Pinkie Pie, please do stop eating your tail," Rarity cooed. "It may look like candy floss, but it is hardly flavorful, I assure you." Pinkie looked at Rarity with a sad face for a moment before gently setting her appendage behind her, devoting her full attention to the "experiment." Finally, after the wait had ended, turn three had arrived. Pinkie spoke up, "Uh, Twilight? When does the super cool, neat-o parts happen?" Twilight giggled softly at her friend's question. "It'll be a little while, at least. You have to actually build an empire before you can run it, you know." Each of the ponies moved one by one, biding their time for– "Hay, Twilight! Ah think somethin' happened!" Twilight raised a curious eyebrow and walked over to Applejack's monitor. The second she did so, Rainbow mischievously leaned over and wasted Twilight's warrior's moves, directing them towards Aurora rather than away to explore. Twilight, meanwhile, was taking in the data on Applejack's screen: Stetsonia had earned eight faith points and met the city-state of Geneva. "Wow, Applejack. Nicely done. You managed to find a city-state before any of–" "Uh, that's not true there, Twilight," Rainbow interjected. She leaned back against her chair with a smug grin as Twilight slowly trotted over to see her screen. "Rainbow, you met Tyre?" Rainbow nodded slowly as she basked in her own glow, relishing the thought of beating Twilight at her own game. Twilight began to realize that she was going to have to begin playing a little more seriously if she was going to win against her quickly-learning adversaries. As the young princess walked back to her screen, she noticed that her warrior unit was unable to move. "What in the..." Her content face morphed into a small frown as she looked at the pony to her left. "Rainbow Dash, did you move my warrior?" "What? Of course not!" Rainbow said with as much dignity as possible. "Why would I, of all ponies, resort to cheating?" Twilight's faint smile only continued to fade as she grew more suspicious of Rainbow. "Maybe because you cheated in the iron pony competition against Applejack... and in the Running of the Leaves race... and in that chess game you played with me two days ag-" "Hay! That piece was blown by the wind!" Rainbow retorted, but the blush in her cheeks showed her deceit like words on a billboard. "Anyway, let's just play," Twilight said. "This is supposed to fun, after all. That's why we're- AH!" Twilight nearly jumped a mile as she saw what had just appeared on-screen. Everypony in the room turned their head to look at the lavender pony as she breathed rapidly and stared at the screen with pin-prick-sized pupils. Suddenly, a sinister laughing rang out through the monitor's speakers as the truth of the matter dawned on Twilight. She had just met another civilization, and this one was not exactly friendly in terms of previous disposition. The other ponies moved over to see Twilight's screen, which had been engulfed in green flames, sending all of them into a sort of panic. Fluttershy was especially scared, letting out a frightened yelp and darting underneath the coffee table for cover. The green flames slowly died down, uncovering a figure equine in resemblance, yet bearing wings and a horn. As the flames cleared enough to decipher the pony, the five realized it was not a pony at all, but a changeling. The changeling. "Well, well, well. What a lovely reunion, isn't this?" said Chrysalis's venomous tone, sending an icy chill down each of the ponies' spines. "I see that you all have decided to join in the fun... The more, the merrier; the merrier, the happier; the happier, the more... delicious..." Chrysalis licked her lips hungrily as the screen jolted from the meeting to Twilight's game screen, leaving all of the ponies in the room shaking slightly and breathing heavier than before. "T-T-Twi?" cringed Applejack. "I think there might be more ponies than us playing this game..."
Untrustworthy Allies"Come on, Fluttershy! It's fine! She's gone!" "No, it's not fine!" "'Shy, come on. It's just a picture on a screen." The ponies had tried for the last thirty minutes to coax Fluttershy out from under her coffee table shelter, but to no avail. They all knew that if you scared Fluttershy just right, the effect was predictable, yet stubborn: flight, hide, then freeze from sheer dread. "Dear Fluttershy, please do come out, darling. That terrible... creature is gone now." Fluttershy shakily peeked her head out from under the table and looked up at the monitor that originally had Chrysalis on it. True to Rarity's word, she was gone. With a sigh of relief, the timid pegasus slowly crawled out from under the table, her feeble legs still shaking with fear. "T-T-Twilight... I don't think I want to play anymore..." Fluttershy whimpered. The entire group looked back at Fluttershy with slightly raised eyebrows. Rainbow in particular looked insulted at the fact that one of her competitors was giving up after a simple jump-scare. Twilight slowly walked towards Fluttershy, trying to calm her down best she could. "Fluttershy, it's okay. You don't have to worry about her yet; I'm the only one she's met thus far. She can't hurt you. It's all just a silly game." Twilight put a reinforcing hoof on her friend's shoulder as she went on, "We need you to keep playing. I need you to keep playing to gather the data I need. I know that she–" Twilight motioned towards the computer monitor to highlight her point "–can be frightening, but I promise that nothing bad will happen to you." Fluttershy looked around the room at her friends, reading their expressions one by one. She knew that it was all fake and that nothing bad could truly come of it... But it's just so scary! No, Fluttershy... Be brave... Be brave. Fluttershy nodded and, with a hint of reluctance, said, "Okay... I'll try." Twilight smiled proudly at Fluttershy as the group rounded back around the computers, proceeding to take turn four. Despite the sudden appearance and equally sudden disappearance of Chrysalis, the thought of other players plagued the ponies' minds. If Chrysalis was in this game, there was no telling who else could be in the game as well. The more and more each of the ponies contemplated the thought, the more hesitant to exploring the map they became. Yet, like great leaders do, they pushed onward. Rarity continued to explore her northern boarders, locating ruins with contained a massive gold boost, sixty-four gold, to be exact. Pinkie Pie was so insistent on securing the bounds of sugar just outside her borderline that she placed her only warrior unit directly on top of the tile and fortified a position there. Applejack began to investigate the area around Geneva, scouting out for other potential city-states. Rainbow's terrain, though very promising in terms of production, was rather difficult to maneuver through; within four turns, she had only managed to uncover a total of six tiles, none of which had any ruins upon them. Twilight was nearly about to undo the move that Rainbow had wasted when a certain cyan-green logo stuck out from the corner of her eye; the Changeling Empire's only unit. This one looked different from that of the typical warrior class. Although it was literally impossible to take a city with just one warrior unit, this was not some ordinary warrior unit; it appeared to have the class of 'Infiltrator.' Twilight moved her own unit back towards Aurora, setting up a garrison in the hopes of deterring Chrysalis from trying anything stupid. Twilight passed the turn with a smug look on her face as she saw the changeling unit move away and out of sight. War averted, she thought. Now to begin building up. The other civilizations were still making their moves, however, forcing the group to once again wait on the turns to pass. Rainbow leaned back in her chair and stretched her forelegs over her head, yawning lightly to pass time. Applejack removed her stetson from her head and flipped it around in her hoof, brandishing it like a magician would a wand before effortlessly returning it to her head. Rarity gently curled her mane around one of her hooves, while Pinkie Pie tried her best at producing a fake mustache made from a small clipping of her own tail. Time passed on... Turn: 23 Year: 3080 BC Aside from Chrysalis's scare tactic, nothing else seemed to happen; everything went like clockwork for everypony's empires. Within the twenty turns that passed, Rainbow had a formidable army of spearponies and archers. Rarity had a virtual stranglehold over the gem mines, while Fluttershy had founded another city, Pinedale, which had already grown to a considerable size of four citizens. Applejack continued to expand her borders into the open plains, securing enough wheat to support a city six times that of her own capital, Lariat. Pinkie Pie seemed overly-joyous about her happiness level of sixteen and was prepared to found another city to secure even more sugar. Twilight, meanwhile, was sitting pretty, ready to claim her lead in culture via her fourth social policy. Everything was working out perfectly for each of them... Suddenly, Twilight's screen turned to a meeting with Chrysalis. She appeared just as intimidating as ever, yet it seemed like this time there was a hint of positive emotion and friendliness in her aura. She said, "It is my belief that setting up an embassy would prove to be a mutual benefit for our two empires' diplomacy, Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis put on her best smile, bringing up a trade window that shown her offer: one embassy in exchange for another. "What do you say?" she asked in a tone that sounded... polite? Was Chrysalis, the one who nearly overthrew the Equestrian government and captured Canterlot, offering a truce of sorts? Twilight thought carefully. She had not technically met anypony else in game, meaning an alliance could prove useful. None of the others would be aware of the trade, not even the other five–Twilight came prepared for "screen-cheating" and had enchanted the computers and room to scramble audio and video about secretive transactions like this one. Still, it meant trusting an enemy to her... Who am I kidding? she thought. It's only going to show her the location of my capital and that's it... She already knows where that is anyhow. Twilight nodded and moved the mouse over to the "accept" button. "That's Princess Twilight Sparkle, Chrysalis," she added, hurriedly closing the meeting screen and resuming her usual business. A small patch of fog lifted from the map, and nearly fifteen tiles to the east sat the capital city of Thatergopolis, the changeling hive's only city. Twilight had just decided to trust one of her sworn enemies. It might have been a false alarm, but she still felt a little conflicted over her choice. What would this mean if the others found out she was trying to build relations with Chrysalis? What would it mean if Chrysalis stabbed Twilight in the back like she did before? Oh, no... What if she does try that? I need more spearponies! Twilight hastily clicked on the "Choose Production" button and set it to build her another spearpony, the last of three now in her military. She had a stronger military than Chrysalis–that much she was certain about–yet she could never feel safe. What if she did not have the pointier stick? What if she was at a military disadvantage? She could only hope her assumption was correct and that she would be able to defend herself if the time came. Deep in a cavern, some many thousands of miles from Equestria, a small cackle rang out through the hives. The queen could hardly believe her alicorn opponent's blunder. "Now, Twilight Sparkle, you will see what real royalty can do!" Chrysalis prepared and instructed her units to march westward towards the city of Aurora. The ten or eleven changeling infiltrators moved as instructed, moving ever so closer to their goal and Twilight's destruction. "Go, my children. Feed!"
The Horde ArrivesTurn: 24 Year: 3040 BC Having gained her military, Twilight could now press for more important matters at hoof. Her happiness level rested at about four, which was rather low for the 'Princess' difficulty setting. She knew that she would need some form of luxury resource before she founded another city or she would risk slumping into the all-too-familiar "unhappiness era" that marked this stage in the game. She scoured the map, looking for any potential for luxury items, yet there were none she did not already have. What good is having two marble quarries if you can't even trade the useless bits for anything? Twilight mentally complained. Queen Chrysalis was still laughing her flank off. She had managed to manipulate her prey into opening up to her and giving her the benefit of the doubt. Now she was marching an army towards Aurora to prepare her attack. "Oh my dear Princess Twilight," she said with clear disdain towards her enemy's title, "you will die. You may have protected Canterlot, but you can not protect yourself from me!" Chrysalis let out a shrill laugh that could have been heard from the other side of the hive. "Soon, you will be mine..." Turn: 27 Year: 2880 BC Twilight believed had found a solution to her issue for happiness. Rather than waste gold attempting to buy luxury resources that were too far away, she decided to construct a settler unit and prepare her expansion. It was nearly half-way done, and when it was, Twilight would maneuver it straight to the nearby coastline, thus giving her the resources for a navy and pearls within her borders. Sadly for her, she would have to wait until turn thirty-one for said settler to finish building, then spend another three turns wrestling it into position to found the city. I wish there was a way to speed this banished thi- What's this? Twilight had received a new notification on-screen. "An unknown civilization has started worshiping a pantheon of gods. They have chosen the belief: Fertility Rites (+10% Growth rate)." Everypony else in game received the same notification, and each of them began to scramble about to see which of them had achieved their pantheon. "Who got it?" barked Rainbow. "It was not me, darling," said Rarity. Applejack was sitting back comfortably in her chair, silently snickering. "Have ya though' ta think abou' the one who found two religious city-states?" True to Applejack's words, she had located another city-state, Vatican City, receiving another eight faith points—enough to found a religious pantheon. In addition, Applejack had managed to found another city, Manebourne, just five tiles north of Appleloosa. Rainbow's jaw dropped open at the farmer's success in the early-game. Twilight, however, was not so dismayed. It did not seem like Applejack was gearing herself towards any sort of victory, be it scientific, diplomatic, cultural, or conquest... for the moment. That still did not rule out the fact that she had founded a pantheon first, and that alone was reason to be leery of her; Twilight knew that religious civilizations can grow to tremendous power on religion alone. After everypony had gawked at Applejack's screen for long enough, Rainbow drew her mouth shut and they all returned to their own game. Pinkie Pie was in the process of building her own settler to expand to new lands. Rarity had her settler and was proceeding to place him further inland to seize more territory and luxury resources. Fluttershy's two cities were growing to an enormous size for this stage in the game; Everfree had grown to five in size with Pinedale growing rapidly, reaching two citizens in size within just four turns. Twilight could only sit and wait for her settler to build, hoping that she could claim the lands near the sea. Still, she had to wait... Turn: 31 Year: 2760 BC At long last, Twilight had the means to create her second city. As soon as she received the unit, she began moving it west, and she was now a mere turn from founding her next city. It almost came as a shock that everypony in the room was doing better than her, considering she had played the game once before. While Twilight was still trying to found her second city, Rarity had already founded "Specia" further to the east of her capital, gaining ground on creating a massive city with the forest tiles around it. Applejack's cities were growing faster than Fluttershy's at this point, though both of her cities were one citizen behind. Rainbow did a mental hoof-pump after clearing a barbarian encampment, taking control of the warrior unit that was there and further expanding her already impressive military. As if Twilight's issues could get much worse, suddenly there was a mass of troops at her border. Three or four infiltrator units hugged her border tightly, almost as if they were a noose tightening. Suddenly, Chrysalis popped up on-screen. She bore a conniving and triumphant smile. Twilight immediately assumed the worst. "Chrysalis, explain that your ponies on my borders is not an act of war." The changeling queen just laughed. "While feigning friendship was not very polite, Sparkle, very few leave their mark on history by sitting idly. You are right to worry, and it is time for you to die." With that, the disposition text changed from "FRIENDLY" to "WAR!" The meeting screen then flickered back to the game, leaving a scared but not shocked Twilight to assess the situation. Apparently, Chrysalis was not done, for she moved another two units towards Twilight's northern border to surround her city and military. Thankfully enough for Twilight, Chrysalis had not yet noticed her settler unit that was four tiles away, and as long as it stayed that way, Twilight would at least stay alive in the game. She moved her spearpony to meet the infiltrator, and the units engaged in combat. The sound of battle cries, metal-on-metal clanging and weapons clashing sounded through the speakers, but the infiltrators had a major disadvantage; they received a fifty percent combat penalty versus melee units. Chrysalis watched in slight shock as her infiltrator crumbled from one hundred hit points down to zero. The unit was defeated, and the Literati spearpony took up a position where the infiltrator had once stood. "Banish you, Twilight Sparkle!" the queen snarled. She gnashed her venom-coated teeth at the screen, enraged that she had to watch her child die, yet she new it was for the good of the hive. After all, the penalty versus normal units came with a massive advantage. She waited her turn to lie in wait for Twilight's end of turn maneuvers, which would allow her to assess the best way to besiege the city. Twilight felt confident that she could win this fight, especially having seen how easy it was to obliterate one of the infiltrators. She passed the turn and waited for the others to finish their moves. Just as she was, though, a certain archer came down from her south-western border. Twilight's screen shifted to a view of Rainbow sitting confidently. She said, "Hay, Twilight! Looks like you got a problem there." "The units are a third the strength of mine, Rainbow. I'll be fine, but it was nice to 'meet' you," replied Twilight putting a tone on the word. It certainly seemed like Twilight could win this grudge match, but then she noticed something. There was an infiltrator that had made it to the city and attacked. The unit took all but six damage, but Aurora was in flames and had lost thirty-five percent of its health! Twilight sputtered, "Wha- Bu- What?" She looked at the infiltrator's status. The strength was that of a warrior unit—a mere eight compared to Aurora's defense of fifteen—so why did it do that much damage? As Twilight looked for an answer, she looked at the promotion bar. There was a yellow upward arrow that Twilight recognized as a combat buff, and when she hovered over it, a box appeared that said: "Bonus vs. Cities (200); +200% vs. cities." Twilight's eyes shrank back to pinpricks as she clicked on another infiltrator. It had the same attribute, as well as the next, and the one after that. Twilight's units could potentially blockade Aurora and prevent it from being taken, but that would also mean leaving her new city defenseless. "Oh, buck..."
