Equestria 5: Gods and Princesses

Each 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..."