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                      Death Of A King                      
                     -by Bronze Gears-                     
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                         Chapter 1                         
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Chapter 1
On a calm evening in Fillydelphia, a golden unicorn sat in her apartment, she glared at the small screen in front of her. The only light in the room was her own console shining against her scruffy coat. The mare's red-orange mane was tangled around a set of large mint headphones. Her gaze was fixed on the screen, her horn continuously glowing to operate a black controller, buttons clicked furiously as she focused on the screen. Many facial expressions swiped across the mare's muzzle as she persistently and aggressively growled at the film that flashed before her.
"WHAT!? OH COME. ON! ARE YOU SERIOUS!? CELESTIA DAMN! THAT DIDN'T KILL HIM!? REALLY!? she screeched at the desktop computer, rolling her eyes and throwing the controller behind her, a loud crash emitted in the same location. The mare's grumpy expression suddenly switched to worry as she turned towards the sound, removing her earphones slowly. She flattened her ears slightly but continued to roll her eyes back.
After a few moments of silence she sighed and stood up, grasped the device in her aura and flopped back onto a large, soft, brown recliner. The unicorn continued to silently play, grumbling and crossing her hooves at the frustrating game.
Several times of defeat later, a droning chime rang through the apartment. The mare jumped in surprise and glanced away from the screen. She placed her headphones on her neck and gazed at the front door.
"It's unlocked!" The unicorn shouted towards the door.
One door creaking open later, a white unicorn trotted in briskly. Her curly, long, blue and orange mane bounded along with her hoofsteps. "Hiya, Blaze!" A familiar voice sang cheerfully, while switching on a majority of the lights. "Why's it so dark?"
"Aaaggghhh!!! The light! It buurrnns!" She joked, shielding her muzzle from the bright ceiling lights.  "Anyways, hey, Tora! Where've you been?" The yellow mare replied, realizing it was past eleven.
The blithe unicorn trotted up to Blaze Dust and shrugged, "Oh. Pfsh. Nowhere really!" She laughed, "Just out and about."
"Liiiiiiike?" She continued to ask curiously.
Tora smiled and levitated a small, green, paper bag with a large, white symbol. "Well like I did a little shopping. I got you you're favorite tea!"
Blaze's bright teal eyes widened at the sight of the gift. "Oooooohohoh...." she smiled and snatched it into her hooves, examining the symbol with a large grin. "Oh my Celestia." She laughed and looked back to the white unicorn. "Thank ya, Tora!" She squeezed her in a tight embrace.
The unicorn laughed and shrugged, "Nah, it's nothin'!" Tora rolled her eyes with a smile, "It was on sale! So I bought a little extra since it helps you calm down." She shrugged lightly again and giggled, "And I got a different flavor for myself, but you can try it if ya want!"
The pale yellow mare smiled and kissed the bag of tea excitedly, then turned back to her friend. "This definitely cheered me up." She giggled, looking back to the large, fancy computer screen. "I've been stressing out a crapload from the stupid game I got the other day."
"Oh." Tora rolled her eyes with a smile, "That stuff... Well if its hard why don't you just play something else?"
Blaze sighed and her smile faded. "That's the thing about games. You can't just stop playing them because you're bored with 'em! It's the challenge and competition that makes 'em fun!" She tried to explain, "Get what I'm sayin'?"
The white unicorn smiled and trotted towards the kitchen, gazing back through the corner of her eye. "I think so... It's just hard to understand because, ya know..." She replied, glancing at the ceiling.
"Yea... I know. You're pretty impatient." She trotted over towards Tora's desk, covered in a variety of different papers. Shoe boxes and jars of quills and colors were scattered across the vast dark desk. A small grey lamp was placed in the corner. Drawings and paint were placed sporadically on the desk's surface.
A peaceful silence blanketed the apartment for a short time. Until Tora shattered it, "So... How's your social life?" She giggled.
Blaze pinned her ears back with a "Haha. Shut up." expression. "Well my social media life is doing pretty well... I should probably consider making some more friends off the internet." She laughed embarrassingly. "So um... Yea."
"Heh. Right," The white mare grinned, "Well... It's pretty late. I may hit the hay." She decided, trotting towards a hallway opposing Blaze's desk.
"Oh. Okie dokie. G'night Toto!" The golden mare answered with a mischievous smile.
Tora glanced back at her friend and rolled her eyes, "Quit calling me that." She laughed lightly and continued to her room.
Blaze giggled to herself, she stood up and trailed towards the small kitchen. A teal aura of magic enveloped the bag of tea and raised it to a low hanging cabinet. The mare returned to her computer and selected the dragon icon. As the game loaded she grumbled at the thought of last time's experience.
~~~~~~~~~~Dragon PiratesPush Start~~~~~~~~~~
The mare slouched in her chair and sighed, she hesitated to begin. Reluctantly she clicked the start button and continued to watch the screen flash with pictures until the interactive stage. Blaze levitated her mint colored headphones back onto her ears and grinned confidently at the screen.
Not long later the unicorn growled, her ears wilted at the sight of yet another loss. "I uh... Think I'm done." She mumbled to herself and flopped back against her soft chair, sinking into the deep cushioning. She sighed and glanced at the black clock that hung near her desk: 12:03
Blaze's eyes popped open in realization and she stood up, "Shit." she whispered and ran to her bedroom facing the other direction from Tora's desk. She hurled herself at the mattress and watched the blankets and sheets gently float over her. The mare shivered in the new atmosphere, it was cooler and darker. Well she did have the lesser quality room of the apartment. She sighed and crawled out of the blankets and trudged to the other side of the residence to her room mate's room.
The pale yellow mare peeked her head in the door, "Tora?" She whispered, "You asleep yet?".
There a short silence until a white unicorn whispered a reply, "Huh? Oh. Um... No. Not yet, I'm at my computer." Tora leaned back in her chair until she was visible to Blaze.
"Wait... You're on your computer?" Blaze asked confusingly. "You're hardly ever on that thing. At least what I've seen..." She cracked the door open slightly more so that she could squeeze through. "Why are you on the computer this late at night anyways?"
"Oh um. No reason." Tora said hesitantly, minimizing the website she was on.
The golden mare gave the desktop a curious glance, "It's way too easy, Tora. You're hiding something and you're too embarrassed to tell me!" She explained.
Tora pinned her ears back and blushed awkwardly. "Well, damn it." She mumbled under her breath.
"C'mon... You can tell me! I can keep secrets!" Blaze said cheerfully.
The white unicorn gave her an unamused expression. "Like Pinkie's surprise birthday party that you totally *BLEW*** because you're so *great*** at keeping secrets."
Blaze's ears wilted and she sighed, "Damn, you're good at making ponies feel guilty."
"Yep." Tora replied simply, turning back to her desk.
"But why can't you tell me?" Blaze strained to get an answer.
The white mare sighed and replied without eye contact, "Because you wouldn't believe me."
She shrugged and smiled, "Well I will this time."
Tora sighed and took a deep breath. "I met a stallion today... And we were talking on PonyCorner." she winced and cowered under her hooves.
Blaze gasped in excitement. "YOU HAVE A STALLIONFRIEND!?" she screeched.
The nervous unicorn looked at her hooves and sighed, "He's not my stallionfriend. But he's very nice. And we've been talking for a while."
"That's awesome! What's his name? What does he look like? Is he hot!? How'd you meet him!?" She asked a blizzard of questions.
Tora sighed and glared at Blaze, who quickly shushed herself. "His name is Camera Flash..." She continued to explain while reopening the website page. "He's a um... Photographer... So yea." The mare sighed embarrassingly.
Blaze smiled and observed the profile. "Pffffft! He's hooooot!" She exclaimed in a high pitched voice. "You're pretty damn lucky he likes ya!"
The white unicorn blushed and facehoofed. "I'm just scared... I've never really dated before... I don't wanna mess it up.
Blaze laughed lightly and grinned, "Mess it up? How would you mess it up?! He's cute. He has a similar talent! And later on you might learn a few more similarities and stuff. Ya' know." She explained positively.
"Yea, yea. I know. But I mean, what about the opposites? Things that don't seem to work together... What if he *SNORES OR SOMETHING!?** What if he doesn't have very many manners!?*" Tora asked worriedly, scratching the back of her mane and glancing at her computer.
"Pfft." The yellow mare shrugged and laughed,"What about that saying or whatever? Opposites attract!" She exclaimed.
Tora sighed and fell into the back of her chair. "I uh, guess you're right." She laughed slightly and glanced at the small clock hung beside her. "I should probably get some sleep. What did you need anyways?"
Blaze glanced around, she seemed to have warmed up by standing around. "Oh. Um, I can't remember." She gave a weak excuse.
"Okie then. G'night Blaze." Tora sat up out of her seat and trailed over to her bed, meanwhile the golden unicorn turned and left.
"Night." She replied simply and trotted slowly back to her room.
The yellow mare trotted out into the hallway and reentered her own room. She fell muzzle first into her pillow and rolled over to her back. "I'm curious to see what happens while this all goes on. Hopefully she doesn't make a stupid decision or anything..." She thought to herself. The unicorn sighed and flopped onto her side, gazing out her window and viewing the large city below her glow to life.