Stalemate. That is the best way to describe the world that trotted under the iron hooves of the princess's: a stalemate. The quarries worked hard to produce stone which would be sent to reinforce the fortresses which played large parts in the defences of Princess Celestia's empire. Often these resources would be intercepted by Luna's agents and used to dismantle the property of and endanger the citizens of Celestia's Empire. She had this Imperial City style castle. The economy flourished, but many of those who she protected were enemies, agents sent by Luna, primarily to undervalue her dollar by mass producing false bits and to gather information, but also to take any opportunity to assault the princess. Princess Luna, however, worried not about such things, as her people were a nomadic army moving through the many mountains to prevent detection and eradication. There had been a war recently and the Solar forces trapped a large portion of Luna's soldiers, which soon fell to starvation. She was slowly trying to regain power, but knew that for every three of her children that were born, five more were born in Celestia's kingdom. Of course, four of those extra five were assaulted by the agents Luna planted into her medical industries. And the final extra one had a chance of consuming poison that Luna's agents were masquerading as tonics and remedies to common illnesses.
Time was rough for both Kingdoms though, as they constantly feared trickery from the other, Luna feared for detection, and Celestia was constantly on the look out for subterfuge. Luna's people had to live off the natural food that they found while on the move, and take what food they could from the heavily defended strongholds of Celestia. Luna's people would infiltrate and exterminate fortresses of Celestia, but then take their clothing and remain in the Fortresses, masquerading as rest points for soldiers whom they would then slaughter in their sleep.
One day, Luna found that one of her infiltrators was a double agent, so she had them brought straight to her. She crucified them on a lamp pole and left them there for five hours. Then, afterwards, she came and made like she had forgiven them and was going to give them a second chance. But then, immediately after the traitor had stopped crying, she beat them to death with her hooves. She left the body as an example of what happens to those who betray her loving majesty.
"Princess Luna, are you in- What are you two doing?"
"Twilight?" They both said in unison.
"Hello Twilight Sparkle, woulds't thou care to join us in a game of intellect and deception?"
"Um... what game is that?"
"Tactical Life, sweetie." Princess Celestia said, using magic to move a group of pieces that Luna could not see. Twilight, not being a part of the game, could see all the pieces, and they looked rather ordinary. Akin to chess pieces, but there weren't as many kinds, but there were many more. She saw some strangely shaped pieces of wood, things shaped like towers and things like rocks inside of small boxes tiny enough to fit on the board.
"It doesn't look very fun..." She said with uncertainty.
"That is because you are not looking at it with the proper magical enhancements. To us, this looks like a vast valley with towering mountains and soldiers moving through... well, I can't say where, that would give my position away..." Luna got a sly grin, knowing Celestia had caught on.
"Indeed, what you say while playing this game can be used against you. For example, when Celestia said 'moving through', it gave me the idea that she was moving through maybe a cave, maybe a valley, or maybe..." Suddenly, she moved a large wooden block to the top of a small indent in the board. "maybe, through a ravine..." She said with a sly grin. Celestia growled, and took off one of her pieces from the board. Luna gave a little giggle, and they continued with their game. Twilight stood there for a while, unsure as to what to do when the two sisters remembered she was there.
"Oh right, I forgot you were here. You'll come to see that this game can be quite enrapturing. Take a seat, you'll enjoy it." Celestia said, adding some assertion that she wanted Twilight to play with them into her voice. Twilight picked up on it and sat down next to them.
"Celestia, would you please do the spell, I'm busy organizing my resources." Celestia stared Luna down for a moment, who gave no indication she knew she was being watched. After a few intense moments, which made Twilight very uncomfortable, Celestia relented and turned over to Twilight.
"Hold still please, and keep your eyes shut." Twilight shut her eyes tightly, and felt the pressure of Celestia's horn against her temple.
"Okay, open now." Twilight did so, and gasped. Their words did little justice to the map, it was beautiful. She lost sight of Luna's wooden pieces, but Celestia's were quite obvious. It was a large towering castle, with great walls surrounding it. They were bright yellow with orange flags waving from them. The mountains wound all around the map, and disappeared into the thick fog. Twilight quinted her eyes for a moment, thinking she saw a blue figure in the distance, but dismissed it as a stone formation. There was a rives which ran beneath Celestia's castle, and it spread off into a Delta near the edge of the map. Twilight was standing at a cliff, not quite at the top of, but close to, of a mountain. It was relatively small in comparison to towering giants around her. Twilight looked closer to the mountain and saw a group of soldiers escorting a caravan of stone and wood from a nearby forest. They seemed to be heading to the large castle ruled by Celestia.
"This is amazing!" Twilight exclaimed, fascinated by all she had seen. Suddenly, the world around her melted and she was looking at a miniature version of it, all on a board. It didn't look like the sloppy mess of wooden blocks, but more like a detailed map of the real world. Celestia and Luna smiled at Twilight, and Luna spoke.
"I had a similar reaction when Tia showed me this. Lets move this match aside, it's time for you to learn how to play. Once you've mastered the basics, we will get to the main game. Everything you have done in this will carry over to the main game after you are ready." Twilight seemed a little daunted by the task.
"But, you two have so much, how could I ever stand a chance."
"Don't worry Twilight," Celestia comforted her," soon you will see how little we really have. There are heights you can go to in this game that we have yet to scratch." Luna cleared the board and set up a new blank slate. Twilight looked it over, there wasn't much to it. A hilly plain with three tents at different spots of the map. One was orange and the other was blue. Another had no color. Twilight made it purple, and so the game began.