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                         The Shoe                          
               -by Mark Garg von Herbalist-                
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                Friendship Fun Night, Yay!                 
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Friendship Fun Night, Yay!
“Thank you for bringing your Monopoly game,” says Twilight. “I really appreciate this. You helped make this Friendship Fun Night happen.”
“No problem,” says Lyra as she unpacks her beat up Monopoly box and unfolds the worn board in the center of the circle of mares, all sitting on fluffy pillows with snacks and drinks next to them. “Just a little warning, the game is missing a playing piece and some houses.”
“That shouldn't be a problem.”
Right as the board is unfolded Twilight takes the battleship, leaving Lyra to organize the cards that got mixed up from the transportation.
“You really need to put a rubber band on those,” says Twilight, eyeballing the mess of card.
“Rubber bands are for the weak,” says Lyra swiftly.
Twilight attempts to say something, but then decides its best to keep quiet and to help Lyra organize the cards.
While the two do that, Sunset Shimmer plucks the hat piece with a smile.
“There's my piece," she says.
Moon Dancer grabs the iron and looks at Sunset curiously.
“I'm sorry, I don't think we've met,” says Moon Dancer.
“Oh, I'm Sunset Shimmer. A friend of Twilight and Starlight from out of town.” She holds out her hoof, smiling. “What's your name?”
Moon Dancer presses her hoof against Sunset's. “Moon Dancer. I'm a friend of Twilight of Lyra, but mostly Lyra, who is a friend of Twilight. Or, trying to be, anyway. We kind of drifted apart, but are working to be friends again.”
“Oh, that's nice.”
“So, where are you from?”
“Oh...” Sunset seethes and looks looks side to side nervously. “I'm from Cantaloupia.”
Moon Dancer blinks and Sunset chuckles with a little bead of sweat rolling down her neck, and Starlight grabs the wagon piece.
“I thought you were from another dimension from Twilight's secret mirror,” says Starlight.
Sunset hisses and slides her hoof across her neck in a slicing motion, and Starlight cringes and tenses up.
“Or maybe not. Just ignore me. I'm losing my mind,” says Starlight.
She finishes with stuffing her mouth full of cheddar popcorn, and Moon Dancer shakes her head slowly.
“Twilight sure knows how to pick them,” says Moon Dancer to no one in particular.
“Aaaaand I'm back!” blurts Trixie suddenly, leaping over Moon Dancer and landing dead center on her fluffy pillow, which is next to Starlight.
While the other mares greet Trixie, Lyra sighs heavily and places the cards on the board using more aggression than necessary.
“What took you so long?” asks Starlight.
“Trixie was needing to freshen up since she was out of soap in her wagon,” says Trixie. She drags the Monopoly box to her and peeks inside, ears drooping when all she sees are houses, hotels, and a bitten shoe. “Where are the other pieces?”
Twilight sniffs. Blinks. Stands over Trixie and sniffs her mane, pushing Trixie into the floor and casting her a concerned lokk. In seconds time after sniffing, Twilight reels back with her wings puffed out and her brows scrunched.
“Did you use my soap?” says Twilight.
“The Royal Tropical Grape one with the sparkles in the clear plastic container?” asks Trixie meekly.
“Yes!”
“Yeah... A whole lot of it, actually.”
Twilight growls and stomps back to her pillow shaking her head.
“I can't believe you!” says Twilight. “Do you know how expensive that soap is?”
“Thirty seven bits.”
The group stops what they were doing and glance at Trixie, and she sits up and looks back into the box.
“You left the price tag on the bottle,” says Trixie. “But where's the rest of the pieces?”
“We already claimed them while you were stealing Twilight's soap,” say Lyra.
“You can be the shoe,” says Twilight.
“But Trixie doesn't want to be the shoe!” whines Trixie, she pushes the box away and points at the battleship. “Trixie wants to be the battleship!”
Trixie tries to grab the battleship with her magic, but Twilight's horn glows and Trixie's aura vanishes in a pathetic puff.
“You can't have it. Its mine,” says Twilight.
“But you grabbed it before Trixie had a chance!” says Trixie.
“That's because I'm a demi-goddess and you're a soap stealing pleb. Now shut up and take the shoe!”
Right then and there Lyra places a piece on the board of a stallion in bulky, blue and gold armor with a fat machine gun on his back, talons on his hoofs, and a robotic eye piece taking up half his face. Seeing this, Twilight's face goes blank, Trixie's ears perk, Starlight cocks her head, Moon Dancer nods approvingly while she organizes the money, and Sunset inspects the Monopoly box.
“Lyra, what is that?” says Twilight.
“This is Staff Sergeant Buzz Saw of the Imperium's elite Star Troopers. He's going to build hotels on Boardwalk in the name of the God-Empress!” says Lyra proudly.
Trixie gasps and levitates her shoe to Lyra's face, giving it an enticing wiggle as she grins and wiggles her brows at her target.
“You want to trade? I know you want to trade,” says Trixie.
Lyra pushes the shoe back to Trixie.
“I'm not trading Buzz Saw for a shoe,” says Lyra.
“But you can't use a Space Trooper for Monopoly,” says Twilight.
“Why not?” asks Lyra critically.
“Because its Monopoly!”
“My board. My rules. Buzz Saw stays.”
Twilight grinds her teeth, and ruffles her feathers, but before anything can be said and done on her part Sunset holds up her hoof while setting the box down.
“Twilight, relax. It's not a big deal and we're missing a piece, anyway,” says Sunset. “Besides one time Pinkie Pie snorted one of our Monopoly pieces, so we used a little army man as a replacement, so think of this as a common practice.”
The group stares at her, and her eyes zip over each of them before she shrinks a bit in her spot and averts her eyes.
“She's fine, now,” says Sunset.
“As in dead-fine, or fine-fine?” asks Lyra, raising a brow.
Sunset frowns. “Like we're going to play Monopoly with a dead person in the room.”
Moon Dancer slides back a little bit, but no one notices. No one but Trixie, that is.
“Hey, Mooooonie~” says Trixie, linking her hoof around Moon Dancer's neck and pulling her close. “Do you want to give Trixie your iron in exchange for a shoe?”
“Uh...” Moon Dancer tries to slides out of Trixie's grasp, but the showmare squeezes her tighter against her and inflates her smile with desperation. “I don't want your shoe.”
Trixie's smile and ears drop. “Why not?”
“Trixie, really? Just keep the shoe,” says Twilight.
“Trixie doesn't want the shoe.” She points at Moon Dancer's iron. “Can I have your iron?”
Moon Dancer puts her hoof over the iron and drags it close to her, and Trixie groans and looks at the other mares, specifically Lyra.
“Lyra?”
Lyra scowls and holds Buzz Saw close to her, and Trixie looks at Sunset.
“Sunset?”
Sunset puts a shield around her hat, and Trixie whimpers and looks at Starlight.
“Starlight? My best and only friend in all of Equestria?”
“Wow... you're laying it on thick,” says Starlight, her eyes flicking between Trixie's pout and her little wagon.
“Please?”
Starlight magically grabs her wagon. “Um...”
“Pretty please?”
“I don't-”
“Pretty, pretty please!?”
“But-”
“Starlight, please take the shoe!”
“Okay! Okay! I'll take the shoe!”
Starlight levitates her wagon to Trixie and Trixie cheers and tosses the shoe to Starlight, prompting her to sigh in disappointment and inspect the shoe like a poisoned specimen while the group sets their pieces down. After Starlight places her shoe, Trixie sets her wagon next to it, which coincidentally put it next to Buzz Saw, leading to Lyra moving him to the very back of the starting block.
“Why is she in our group, again?” asks Lyra to Twilight, pointing at Trixie.
“Because she's Starlight's friend, and Starlight is my friend, so out of respect for Starlight she's here,” says Twilight. “But if Trixie messes up my forks one more time I'm throwing her in the dumpster.”
Trixie rolls her eyes. “That was one time.”
Twilight narrows her eyes and ruffles her feathers. “You've bent my forks every time you've been here.”
“Yeah, one time.”
“Try thirty seven.”
The group looks at Trixie, and she becomes frozen stiff for a few seconds before looking at the board.
“So I was off by a couple of visits,” grumbles Trixie.
Twilight's eye twitches and Sunset levitates the Monopoly box and random items as she cranes her neck like a cat searching for the mysterious red dot.
“Can we play the game, now?” says Moon Dancer, now dividing the cash between the group.
Twilight takes a deep breath. “Of course we can, now that everypony is all set... We are all set, right?”
The group murmurs in agreement.
“Are we sure?”
The group murmurs again, Sunset puts the box down and paces in circles around the group, scanning the floor, and Twilight smiles and relaxes.
“Good. Let's play,” says Twilight.
“Hey, girls... Where are the dice?” asks Sunset.