"So...why are we here again?"
Timber's confusion was as clear in his tone as it was in his expression, and he was far from alone in this regard. Sitting beside a desk in Canterlot High's computer room, he was not that far from a few of the other guys, who were in similar situations. Flash Sentry, Tom and Andante were also here, with computers right in front of them all. But, nearby were two individuals who were watching them all. Twilight and Sunset, and from the looks of things, the former was a lot more excited about this than the latter was, as evidenced by both her wide smile and the way she was clasping her hands together.
"Well, I was doing some thinking, and I decided that this would be a great thing to get you guys spending more time together."
The boys all glanced at one another, not quite knowing how to respond to that, with the exception of Flash, who simply looked to Sunset for clarification. Sunset, for her part, merely folded her arms and chuckled.
"Hey, don't look at me, Flash."
The blue-haired boy sighed.
"Okay, so this is a game of some kind?"
Twilight nodded.
"Yep one of my favourites!"
The boys all looked to their respective screens and, as if on cue, the game in question started booting up, the title in big bold letters for all to see.
"Hmmm...Societies 7?" Andante asked.
Again, Twilight nodded.
"That's right. You have your own society and...well...you guide it through the ages. I've played it online before and it's a lot of fun, especially with friends."
The boys once more looked to each other, then back to her.
"Well...I guess it could be fun?" Timber remarked.
Twilight smiled further, clapping a little before starting to turn around.
"Alright then, have fun!"
Sunset gave Flash a quick smirk as she joined her.
"We hope."
Flash smirked right back, shaking his head slightly as, finally, the two girls left. However, once on the other side of that door, Sunset looked to Twilight with a degree of concern.
"Twilight? Are you sure the guys are really gonna be that interested in this?"
The spectacled girl nodded.
"I am. Trust me, they'll love it!"
Meanwhile, back in the computer room, he guys were looking a little nonplussed at their situation, shown when Flash scratched the back of his head.
"Well...I guess we could at least try the game first, right? Twilight seems to like it, so...maybe we will too?"
Timber nodded to that, then looked back to him with a degree of realisation.
"Hey...wasn't Wiz supposed to be here today?"
Flash nodded back.
"Yeah...but I don't think we'll be seeing him for a few days."
Timber raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
Flash thought on how best to answer, before just coming out and saying it.
"Let's just say...he may have temporarily lost the use of his legs."
The other boy considered that for a time, then was struck with understanding, looking away with embarrassment.
"Ah...understood."
By contrast, Andante chuckled a little.
"Hehe...nice."
The others gave him a quick frown, then looked back to their computers as Flash sighed.
"Well...might as well start."
The group all nodded together, then started clicking their personal screens all at once. Immediately, they were hit with a whole bunch of information, text, numbers and tutorials.
"Geez! How does Twilight get through all this?!" Timber asked.
Flash shrugged his shoulders.
"I guess...I guess we could just...wing it?"
Timber considered that, then clicked on his mouse again.
"Okay, so...I've got this guy...and he's just standing there."
"Try making him go somewhere," Andante suggested.
Timber looked to him, then back to his screen.
"Okay."
Another few clicks, and the guy walked a few steps to the left, revealing more of the map to him. As soon as this happened, there was a loud beeping sound, and more text appeared on before him.
"Huh...apparently I've discovered some iron in the ground."
More clicks to the side caused the group to look to Tom, who was looking at his screen with his usual blank expression.
"My guy has found a cave...I think I'll go in."
Flash, looking to his own screen, sighed.
"Okay...there's a button here that says I can...settle? Well...I suppose I can try that?"
He pressed the button, and immediately, there was a “poof” sound as the one man on the screen was replaced by what looked like a small village. In spite of the earlier awkwardness, Flash smiled.
"Huh...neat."
Andante, looking from Flash to his screen, soon noticed something.
"Hey...I think I see your village, Flash."
Flash glanced to him, then back to his map, looking around for a bit.
"What? I don't...wait...yeah, there you are."
Andante looked back to him.
"There's another button here that says we can have some kind of trade thing going on. Wanna try it?"
Flash considered that, looking over to Timber, who just shrugged his shoulders in response, prompting him to look back to Andante.
"Um...sure?"
Nodding, Andante pressed on a few buttons and, within moments, there now appeared to be a steady line of caravans travelling form Flash's village to his. In addition, the amount of gold each person had seemed to be starting to increase slightly.
"Well...that was good," Flash remarked.
Timber nodded, smiling.
"Yeah. Guess Twilight wasn't wrong about this after all."
Flash chuckled.
"We've got about an hour before she and Sunset get back so...might as well enjoy it."
One hour later
As Twilight and Sunset walked down the hall of the school together, Twilight couldn't help but smile to herself, which was something Sunset decided to speak up to her about.
"Think they had fun?"
Twilight giggled.
"Of course, Sunset! A game like this? I have no doubt they'll enjoy it."
Sunset nodded to her, and before long, the two girls had finally reached their destination. Twilight turned the knob of the door, opening it and entering the computer room.
"Hey, guys! How are...?"
But, the moment she saw what was going on, she stopped, for every single one of those guys was hard at work clicking and pressing buttons.
"My empire! My precious empire!" Timber cried out.
"Don't worry! My army's on its way! I just hope Andante's ships arrive there in time!" Flash added.
"Yeah, sorry about that. We hit a storm and...well...my whole fleet is under water," Andante replied.
"If you like, I could lend some gold. My cave was full of it," Tom suggested.
"Oh no! The last time I borrowed money from you, my whole crops fell victim to locusts! And then my stock markets crashed, all on the same day that my last silver mines ran dry! Couldn't pay you back for a hundred turns!" Timber countered.
"Argh! My capital's just been hit by the plague!" Andante called out.
"You said they were using protection!" Flash argued.
"I'm sorry! I had to divert funds from the medical stuff to fix my walls after my reactors blew up!" Andante explained.
"Well, there go my eastern provinces! Damn raiders!" Timber lamented.
"At least my army's finally there to help you...wait...no...the raiders are attacking me now. I've gotta get my guys back home!" Flash uttered.
"Why do these guys keep attacking us?!" Timber demanded to know.
"Maybe you shouldn't have used their lands to test your nuclear bombs?" Tom asked.
"I didn't know they'd claimed that land as theirs! I just saw it as an empty space! They should really have put up a flag or something!" Andante responded.
"Has anybody seen where my heirs have gone? I think they might have been kidnapped...again," Timber concluded.
Twilight blinked at this, then, very slowly, closed the door again. Contrary to what people might have expected, she did not seem upset by this turn of events. Instead, after poking her fingers against each other for a time, she glanced over to Sunset, adjusting her glasses slightly before speaking up.
"So, next time...bowling?"
Folding her arms, Sunset nodded in a serious fashion.
"Bowling," she concurred.
