Sweetie Belle and Applebloom smirked, and gave off a small laugh at the comment
from Scootaloo. Spike chose to ignore it instead, and looked at his board,
planning his move. He considered the various tactics.
Starting in the corners and move inward, or work around the outline first,
or just randomly take shots without any pattern, and a few other ideas came to mind,
as he had played Battle Clouds countless times with Twilight, Shining, and many others.
When they still lived in Canterlot, he even played the Royal Sisters a couple of times,
and a few games against one of the Lunar Guards, who was a massive board game junkie.
Once, they had even played during his shift, resulting in him getting yelled at for a couple
of minutes by Luna personally... And then Luna simply took over his game as he returned
to his post. Spike had almost won that time, he had been only two hits away when Luna
managed to get her final hit on him, and he lost.
Scoot waved her hoof in front of his face. “Hey. Equestria to Spike. Snap out of your
day dreams and make your move.”
“Wha...? Oh, right, sorry. Just thinking about old memories of board gaming in Canterlot.
I almost beat Luna in this game once. And also, My first strike will be at B 2.”
“Hah, sorry Spike!” Scoot grinned. “That’s a miss.”
“Hey, I wonder something.” Sweetie said, looking at Spike with a curious look.
“What?” Spike asked.
“When Scoot called you a girl just now, I thought... What would you be like if you
actually were a girl?”
Spike shrugged. “Smaller scale-ridge on my head, and my name would probably have
been ‘Barb’.”
“Why Barb?” Applebloom asked.
“Well, my name is Spike now, as in, spikes. You know, pointy sharp object.
And, Barb sounds more feminine, and based on barbed wire. You know,
the steel wire with sharp parts, used on prison walls and stuff.”
“Oooh, I see!” Applebloom replied. “Like we use on the farm, but we use the
non-sharp kind, on top of the fences for the animals.”
“Yeah, exactly.” Spike nodded.
Scoot waved her hoof at Spikes face again. “Focus.” She pointed at the game.
“My move. G 10.”
“Aaaand... That’s a miss.” Spike smirked. “I 9.” He added.
“Miss. I’ll stay on row G, but.... number 7! I have a good feeling about that, 7 is my
lucky number.”
“Damn. That’s a hit.” Spike said and marked the hit on his board.
“Yay!” Scoot cheered. “Told you it’s my lucky number!”
“Yeah yeah, one hit won’t do much difference though, I’ll still beat you in the long run.”
Spike bragged, with clear confidence in his voice.
“How did you know so fast that you’d be named Barb if you were a girl?” Sweetie asked.
“I mean, you sounded like you already knew, you didn’t make it up on the spot now.”
Spike shrugged his shoulders again. “Well, a few years ago, before we came to Ponyville,
Me, Twilight and Shining used to have all kinds of weird discussions. One time,
we somehow ended up discussing ‘what if we’d all be the opposite gender?’,
and, during that discussion, we all came up with our opposite-gender names.
I would’ve been Barb, Twi would’ve been Dusk Shine, and Shining Armor would’ve
been Shimmering Shield.” Spike looked at the three fillies and their large smiles.
He did not like the look in their eyes, so he casually added, “...And if any of you
call me ‘Barb’ ever, I will claw your tongues out.”
While saying this, he waved one of his claws in front of his face, while giving them all
a serious look. “Now, I believe it was my turn. S 12.”
The girls sighed. “Fiiine, we won’t call you Barb.” they all agreed.
Scootaloo added with a smirk, “And S 12 is a miss. My turn. H 7.”
“Sorry, 7 is no longer you’re lucky number, that’s a miss.” Spike returned the smirk.
between moves and discussions, they had all been sipping their tea.
Spike noted that all of them were finished, including himself.
“Anyone want a refill before we continue?” he asked.
“I’ll get it! You keep playing.” Sweetie Belle said enthusiastically.
“I... better come help...” Apple Bloom said, trying to keep her face serious.
Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah, that.. uhm... teapot is heavy, and there’s lot’s more to carry,
so it’s best if you’re two!”
Sweetie Belle agreed, not noticing the bad poker faces on her friends.
When they left the room, Spike asked Scootaloo, “What was all that about?”
“You know how terrible Sweetie is at cooking.. She burned juice once. True story.
Rarity told us. So from now on, we don’t allow Sweetie alone in kitchens.”
“...How do you burn something that’s not supposed to be cooked at all...
and served cold...” Spike asked, confused. “That shouldn’t even be possible...”
“Exactly.” Scoot replied. “Now, make your move.” She nodded at the game.
“Right. I’ll go with C.... 8.”
Scootaloo scrunched her face. “Aw, buck. That’s a hit. Then, I’ll go with F 7.”
Spike sighed. “That’s a hit too...” And then he added, “C 7.”
“And, your luck’s gone. Miss.” Scoot smiled.
Sweetie and Applebloom returned with the teapot and four teabags, classic Earl gray.
“We found these in the cabinets, I hope that’s okay?” Applebloom asked before pouring
the hot water into the cups. Spike smiled. “Didn’t know we had Earl left, but yeah,
it’s okay. We’ll need to restock on teas soon anyways.”
“How’s the game going?” Sweetie asked.
“Slow” Scoot replied. “We keep missing...”
“Buuut, with each miss, you increase the chance that the next one will be a hit, right?”
Sweetie said. The others looked at her, confused.
“I didn’t know you knew stuff like that.” Spike said.
“We recently started doing percentage calculation in math class.” Sweetie replied
in a very matter-of-factly voice, proud of her knowledge.
“That explains that, then” Spike nodded. “Anyway, yeah, that’s correct.”
“Egghead.” Scoot teased.
“Now you sound like Twilight and Rainbow Dash..” Spike laughed.
“Twilight always says something nerdy, and Dash calls her an egghead.”
“I’m not an egghead!” Sweetie scrunched her face.
“...And even more like Twilight.” Spike kept laughing.
“Right, you’re not an egghead, you’re a dictionary. I almost forgot.” Scoot kept teasing.
“I’m not a dictionary, you... you chicken butt!” Sweetie extended her tongue slightly.
Spike calmed down and stopped laughing. “Okay you two, calm down. No more teasing.
Let’s just drink our tea and keep playing so I can win.”
“You mean so I can win.” Scootaloo said in a correcting tone.
“Hah, yeah, sure.”
The battle continued like this for a while, a few more moves were made,
and then, Spike stretched his neck a bit, yawning.
“Tired?” Scootaloo asked. “You can always forfeit and take a quick nap...” She smirked.
“Hah, you wish. But yeah, a bit tired. Those weird dreams and all, you know.
Didn’t get as much sleep as I’m used to. Think I’m gonna have some more coffee...”
“Can I try some?” Sweetie asked. “I’ve only had it once, without sugar,
and it was really bitter, but Rarity says you can have some milk or cream,
and some sugar, and that makes it much leaner and sweeter.”
“Well, that’s all true, but I’m not sure...” Spike said. “I mean, it’s pretty high in
caffeine, and I’m not sure you girls are old enough for that.”
“You’re still a baby, and you drink it.” Sweetie argued.
“Technically, yes, I’m a baby dragon. In pony years, I’m older than you girls.
Plus, dragons are more resistant to stuff like that than ponies are, that’s why
Twilight lets me drink coffee, as long as I don’t have too much of it.”
“But I wanna try it!” Sweetie continued to argue.
“Fine, we’ll compromise. I’ll have mine with cream and sugar this time,
and you can have a sip of mine. I’m not giving you your own cup.”
“How bad could it be?” Scootaaloo asked.
“She’ll basically become Pinkie for a while.”
“Okay, Sweetie, you’re not having coffee.” Scootaloo and Applebloom both said.
Sweetie sat down and crossed her fore-hooves. “Fine. Not this time.”
Spike went out to the kitchen yet again, and made some coffee.
He also made sure to bring his board with him, just in case.
If he’d left it out there, Scoot might have taken a look. Couldn’t risk that.
When he returned, Scoot smirked. “Ready to lose?”
“Nope. Planning on winning.” Spike replied, sipping his steaming hot coffee.
“My turn, right?” Scoot asked. Meanwhile, Applebloom and Sweetie sat down closer,
so the could see the game better.
“Yeah.”
“Hmm...”
Applebloom looked across the table to Sweetie Belle. As Spike looked down on his
board for a moment, They winked at each other, and Scootaloo noticed it too,
giving them a quick smirk and wink in response.
“Oh, by the way, Sweetie...” Applebloom began. “You said you wanted some pies later,
right? Granny is baking a batch today. How many would you like?”
“Hmm... Let’s see... I think two should be enough.”
Scoot gave Spike a confident look. “A 9.”
“Miss. I’ll go with B 9.”
“Miss. C 2.”
“Damn. Hit.”
“So Applebloom, What’s up at the farm lately? Did you get the old trees down,
You know, the ones in the corner of the farm?” Sweetie asked.
Applebloom replied, “Yeah, we took three down, and that was all
we needed to do there. No more trees needed to be removed in that area.”
Spike and Scootaloo continued their game,
and Scootaloo suddenly had a lot of luck. She managed to pull off several hits in
a row, and then a few more with only a couple of misses. Spikes luck increased
slightly too, but not as much as Scootaloos. After a little while, they were both
close to winning, and with only a few empty squares each on their boards.
And then, Scootaloo pulled the final shot, hitting Spikes last cloud...
“YES! I WIN! I WIIIN!” She exclaimed loudly, almost shouting.
“I knew I would kick your scaly flank!” She smiled widely.
Spike crossed his arms, grunting. “I must have been really close though.”
“Yeah, I admit I was worried there, but then I won! I only have two more
squares of cloud left on my board, so I just barely did it, which just makes it feel
so much better! Close calls feels more satisfying than overwhelming victories,
I think.” Scoot was still smiling widely.
As they began preparing the boards for a new round, this time between Applebloom
and Sweetie Belle, Spike made yet another batch of tea. He was convinced they had
cheated somehow, so now, he wanted some revenge... So instead of regular teabags,
Spike decided to make real tea, using actual plants in the process. However,
since he wanted to prank the fillies, he decided to sacrifice one of Twilights
flowers from a vase on the kitchen table. They needed replacing anyway,
as they had began to wither. Which meant, they were dry, and could be turned
into tea easily. However, these were not flowers normally eaten or used for tea,
due to the simple fact that, they smelled nice but tasted horrible.
Which was exactly what Spike wanted. He went out and served the girls their tea.
While doing so, he (with some inner struggles) managed to keep his
poker face, until the three fillies, all at once, each took a big sip...
and then immediately spat it out again, with disgusted expressions on their faces.
“What in tartarus was that?!” Sweetie Belle asked, surprising the others with her
language. Normally, she was the nice one of the three.
Spike bent over, laughing so much his stomach almost began to hurt.
After he calmed down and caught his breath, he revealed what he had made the tea with.
“I boiled some old dried-up decorative flowers from the kitchen. Hyacinths.”
he kept laughing. “You should’ve seen your faces!”
“But why?!”
Spike was going to reply, but at that moment, they heard the door open,
and they could hear the voices of Twilight, Applejack and Luna.
When the three ponies entered the library, Applebloom ran up to her sister.
“....Why are you an alicorn?”
The End
Chapter 1 - Let's Have A Battle
AUTHOR’S NOTE - BEFORE YOU READ:
This story is a spin-off to the “10 Days, 3 Adventures” Trilogy,
and more specifically, the FIRST book, “In Dreams, They Came”.
So before you read this, you should read at least to chapter 10, (or the whole story),
because this spin-off takes place during chapters 11 - 19 in that story.
Now, if you HAVE read (at least) to chapter 10 in IDTC,
or if you don’t mind massive spoilers, Keep reading. Hope you enjoy it.
END OF AUTHOR’S NOTE
* * *
Prologue
* * *
As Luna, Twilight and Applejack disappeared into the dream world,
Spike turned to the three fillies.
“Okay girls.. I think it’s best if we DO NOT walk on, or even near
those white lines. That there is called a ‘Spell Circle’ - and yes,
it is called a circle even when it’s not circular. Spell circles
should never be disturbed.”
The three fillies nodded.
“So... What do we do now?” Applebloom asked.
“We can... read, draw, play some board games...” Spike said.
“aaand, I guess that’s all we have in here.”
“Bring the board games then!” Scootaloo said. “I challenge you all
to a Battle Clouds tournament!”
* * *
Chapter 1
Let’s Have A Battle
* * *
Spike went over to one of the bookshelves, which instead of books contained
various board games, a couple of card decks, some extra dice, and other game
related accessories. His eyes scanned the various boxes, until he found the one
he was looking for - Battle Clouds, Second Edition.
“So who’s playing first?” Spike asked as he started setting up the game on the
kitchen table.
“You and me.” Scoot said, pointing at Spike with a challenging look in her eyes.
“Challenge accepted.” Spike replied with a serious look.
“But before we begin, does anypony want more tea? I’m gonna make some
for me, so I need to know if any of you want some too, so I can boil enough water.”
“Depends.” Scootaloo said.
“On what?” Spike asked.
“On what teas you have. I feel like something fruity, or with berries.”
“We have some apple-and-cinnamon mix, and there should be some lemon tea left.”
“Lemon sounds good, I’ll take that, please.” Scoot said. “While you make the tea,
we can stay here and set up the game boards and such, and start setting our Clouds
on our side of the board.”
“Sure, I’ll be right back then. Sweetie, Bloom - tea?”
“Lemon for me too.” Sweetie said. “With a sugar cube, please.” She added.
“We don’t have cubes, we have that brown raw sugar. But I think one tea-spoon
should be the same as one cube.”
“Close enough.” Sweetie smiled.
“And I’d like that apple tea.” Applebloom smiled widely.
“...of course you would.” Spike teased.
“What?!”
“...Nothing.” he said, and left for the kitchen while the fillies set up the game.
Shortly after they were done setting everything up, Spike returned, pushing a small
trolley with a large teapot and four cups, with teabags hanging out of them.
One cup also had a spoon in it, and some brown powder on the bottom.
A small stream of steam slowly rose from the pot.
“Everything ready?” Spike asked as he handed out the cups.
“Yeah, just need you to put your Clouds on your side, and we’ll be ready.”
“Very well, give me a minute...” Spike said, as he carefully chose the placing
of his Clouds.
“Ready?” Scootaloo asked when Spike put down his last cloud, and grabbed his teacup.
He took a sip of the still steaming tea, and then slowly replied, “...Ready.”
And then he added, “Ladies first.”
Spike looked confident. There was no way he would loose in Battle Clouds.
He had played countless times. He might as well let Scootaloo take the initial
round, she was going to loose anyway.
Scootaloo objected. “No, we do this by chance too. Got a couple of dice?”
“Got tons. Two full sets of yatzee dice, and Shining Armor left some of his P&H dice
too when he visited. Said he might as well leave a set here, since he sometimes visits
to play with some old friends from Canterlot who live here now.”
“What’s ‘P&H’?” Applebloom asked.
“Prisons and Humans.” Spike replied. “Nerdiest game ever. One of those tabletop RPG’s
the geeky kids always played a few years ago, before video games became popular.”
“I still don’t get it.” Applebloom said.
“Nopony does, except those who actually play it.” Spike smirked. “Games go on for
hours, even days sometimes. All done on paper, and entire tomes of rules,
and all prisons are made up by the Prison Ward, who like, controls the game
for the other players, and you roll dice for every single action to see if you succeed...”
“I think Button talked about that sometime, I think his mom was a P&H player.”
Sweetie Belle said, with a thoughtful look.
“Yeah, she’s one of Shinings friends actually. And Doctor Whooves, and Rose Luck,
and a couple other stallions I don’t remember.” Spike replied.
Sweetie Belle grabbed a couple of 10-sided dice from the shelf. “Will these be okay?”
Scoot took one of them and gave Spike the other. “We both roll when I count to three,
highest number wins. If we get the same number we roll again until one of us wins.”
“Got it.” Spike said, holding the die between his claws. Scoot counted to three,
and they both rolled.
Scootaloo rolled a 6.
Spike rolled a 9.
“Ladies first.” Scoot said, smirking at the dragon.
* * *
