The Game Master

Chapter 2

Twilight was in a state that could not be justified by only one emotion. Did I really only just talk to Ms. Cake ten minutes ago? Well, whatever the case, it appeared she was dead. Waking up in her current location, she found an empty room with stark white walls and no apparent light source contained her body. Twilight had never seriously contemplated the afterlife, but so far it appeared to be one thing: extremely boring. Seriously, if I ever find the people who run this place, i'm going to ask if they couldn't have bothered to leave some magazines, or something... Well, at least she had time to try and unravel the events that brought her here. As she recalled, she had been on her way to Fluttershy's cottage to record the nature of the animals in Everfree Forest.

'Oh, Twilight, they aren't mean creatures at all!' said Fluttershy in her standard soft voice.

'Are you sure? What about the Manticore we had to deal with?'

'Um... that one had a ... thorn, in its paw, remember Twilight?'

'Oh, yeah...'

They had then proceeded to venture into the edge of Everfree, where they were still in sight of the cottage. Twilight had only just begun to start her questions when a very unnatural noise, accompanied by a bright-red light flashed down from the sky, revealing a strange contraption in its place. The thing was metal, and walked on two legs, a very strange trait for anything in Equestria, if you didn't count the monkies in the royal gardens.

'Perhaps w-we should leave, Twilight!" a very frightened Fluttershy sqeaked.

Nopony had a chance to say anything else at this point, for the large, metallic, two-legged beast said in a strange electronic voice:

'ALL HAIL. THE GAME MASTER HAS COME. HE IS DESTINED TO WIN, AND YOU ARE DESTINED TO DROP IN THE RANKINGS.'

Twilight had no idea what the thing meant by "rankings", or "game master". She furiously racked her brain for any book on the subject, but couldn't think of any. With that, she decided to go check the library for one, and in a moment that easily qualified for most stupid decision ever made by a lavender unicorn, turned her back on the thing.

'GAME PAWN. HALT, YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED FOR MOVEMENT IN THIS TURN. HALT!'

The sudden addition of a deeper voice, with a tone several decibels louder than the previous voice of the beast, had the affect of pushing Twilight into a bolt, galloping out of the forest. The beast launched into the air, powered by some strange devices on the ends of the beast's legs. Fluttershy, who had not moved from the moment of the initial encounter, immediately passed out of consciousness as the thing left her to go after Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight didn't really remember the rest, just fear, a voice calling "TERMINATION AUTHORIZED. PREPARE FOR STORAGE", a very loud noise, and then... this. Just a little frustrated, she began to trot around her confines, and activated her magic to see if there were any hidden ways out, which was a disheartening "negative". At this, she sat, waiting for something, anything to happen. Lo and behold, a screen materialized on the wall directly opposite her position.

"Hello? Pawn, are you there? can you hear me?"

The source of the voice came from the silhouette of a creature that appeared similar to the beast. It had two legs, and two... other legs, just dangling from the top of the creature. As this was just a black outline, nothing more could be said of it. Figuring that this thing was the entity in charge of her quarters, the first thought to enter her mind was a ridiculous one, but one she had seriously considered asking earlier:

"Um, could I get a magazine?"

~~

Princess Celestia was in a hurry, no royal chariot this time, just a quick decent into Ponyville by wing. Rainbow dash had manged to explain the situation well enough for the Princess to understand the foe in this situation was a dangerous and skilled one, who appeared to do what most super powerful evil entities did: attempt to take over the world, then do whatever they did. Funny enough, no one really knew what came after "Take over the world", as it had yet to be accomplished.

"Thank the sun! It's Celestia!" called out a pony, slightly in redundance.

Alas, this situation was a total mess. the first thing to do would be to restore order.

"PONIES! PLEASE, CALM YOURSELVES!" Called out the magically amplified voice of Celestia. Most got the hint, but a few of the more skittish ponies took that final shock as their adieu, and ran off.

"Thank you. Now, where is Twilight Sparkle?"

~~

Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes; she was still where she had fallen.

"T-Twilight? are you there?"

What happened? Twilight had come into the forest with her, and they had heard a noise, and... then...

"Omigoodness! Twiliiiight! Dont't worry, i'm coming!"

When she needed to, Fluttershy could be very courageous.

~~

"What? has nopony seen Twilight?" The Princess asked, in dismay.

"Ah, beggin' yur pardon miss Princess, but I saw Twilight being chased in this direction. She never made it, I wonder where... SWEET GOLDEN DELICIOUS! Thar it is!" Applejack had been explaining the predicament of Twilight when the beast suddenly came into view over the nearest house, and landed in the midst of the ponies with a very loud, metal-on-stone THUD.

"ATTENTION, GAME PIECES. THIS IS A TWO-PLAYER GAME. WHERE IS THE OTHER PLAYER?" The beast look around, and saw the regal Alicorn, slightly miffed at the much louder beast. I really need to work on the Royal Canterlot voice some more, both Luna and this thing have put me to shame... Thought Celestia.

"REPEAT PROMPT: WHERE IS THE SECOND PLAYER?" The beast added, with a slight edge to its mechanic voice.

"I'm sorry, but we have no idea what you are, what the game is, or who the first so-called "player" is!" Celestia was in the dark, and was annoyed by this thing and its very clipped manner of speech.

"ARE YOU THE SECOND PLAYER? THE RULES ARE ONLY TOLD TO THE PLAYERS, THAT IS THE FIRST AND ONLY PUBLIC RULE."

"Fine, yes. i am the second player."

"ACCEPTED. PREPARE FOR TRANSPORT TO GAME ROOM."

"Wha-" Celestia's confusion was cut by a red light that had descended, enveloped beast and Alicorn, and then vanished, leaving nothing behind. The ponies lost it.