Mischief Makers

Twilight awoke from her sleep and shot up like a bullet, breathing heavily. A cold sweat was forming on her brow and trickling down her face. She brought a hoof to her chest to calm her agitated nerves, but it did little to help. If anything it helped her feel her heart beating rapidly as it moved up into her throat. Eventually she managed to calm down to some degree, and finally took notice of her surroundings.

She was no longer in her bed, or even the library. Instead Twilight found herself in the middle of a grove of apple trees, each of which was decorated with dozens of bright red apples ready for harvest. She looked around in confusion and slight fear; it didn’t take a genius to realize she was in Sweet Apple Acres. Quickly she got to her hooves and wandered out of the clearing. As she passed one of the trees, however, something large fell on top of her back. She could barely let out a grunt of pain before being pinned to the earth.

“Ugh, Twilight, is that you?”

In a dazed state of mind Twilight looked towards the sound of the voice and was face to face with a familiar blue shape.

“Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here?”

“I have no idea.” The pegasus replied, slowly climbing off of Twilight. “One moment I’m sleeping in my bed, dreaming of joining the Wonderbolds, and the next thing I know these shadows come clawing at me and wish me luck. Then I wake up on top of you.”

Twilight’s eyes widened in shock as Rainbow finished her story.

“I had a similar dream as well.” she said, shivering from the memory. Just then Twilights ears picked up a faint sound coming from behind her. Slowly she turned her head in the direction of the noise and moved towards it. Rainbow Dash must have heard the noise as well for she flew to her friends’ side. Cautiously they rounded the first few apple tree and jumped head first into a mass of orange and pink.

“Twi, Rainbow Dash, is that you?” the orange pony said after gathering herself. Before either pony had any time to respond, however, they were caught in a bright pink embrace.

“Twilight, Rainbow, I was so worried for you! I mean, first I was having this nice dream about a party, and everypony was there and we were having a great time. But then this funny voice that sounded like Mrs. Cake spoke to me. Except it wasn’t Mrs. Cake, it was all dark and hissy. Hisssssssssssssssssss. And the next thing I knew I was here, which was odd since I didn’t go to sleep here and-”

“Pinkie!” Rainbow cried, squirming her way out of the pink pony’s grasp.

“Oh, *giggle* sorry girls.” Pinkie said, quickly loosening her grip on the two mares. Rainbow Dash quickly took to the air while a puzzled look appeared on Twilight’s face.

“Wait, Pinkie, did you say you had a dream about some shadowy voice as well?”

“She ain’t the only one Twi.” Applejack said softly. “Ah was dreaming bout mah sister finally earning her cutie mark when all of a sudden this here voice was tellin’ me t’ prepare fer some game.”

“Did somepony say games?”

Immediately all four ponies whipped their heads around in confusion. The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, yet it also seemed to have a close by source of origin. Whatever the case, they could all agree that it was a familiar sound.

“Who’s there?” Rainbow Dash said, a hint of anger and frustration growing in her voice.” Did you do this to us?”

“Indeed, but all will be explained when everypony is present.” Suddenly there was a faint gasp from between the four friends. When they turned around to look both Rarity and Fluttershy were standing with confused looks on their faces.

“Twilight, please tell me you know what is going on.” Rarity pleaded to her lavender friend. To her dismay, however, all she got back was a baffled and confused look.

“Ya ok Shy?” Applejack asked. The yellow pegasus was hiding behind her mane, quivering in shock and fear. She tried to respond to her friend, but the best she could achieve was a slight nod.

“You’re probably wondering what’s going on and why you have been brought here.” the voice said in a playful tone.

“Oh, I know who you are,” Pinkie said, jumping up and down in excitement. “You’re Games Master!”

In response to the pink pony’s statement the voice rose to a high pitched giggle, and sure enough the green pegasus moved out from behind the trees, a festive smile plastered on her face. Each of her legs was decorated with shining gold bracelets, each with a heavy sapphire fixed to them. They were as blue as her eyes and seemed to be specially cut and carved identically.

“What are you up to?!” Rainbow nearly demanded.

“Why, playing a game, dear Rainbow.” A voice said from behind her. “Why would we be doing anything else?”

Everypony turned to see Festivities resting comfortably on Rainbow’s back. Like her twin she had bracelets on her legs, but hers were a sparkling silver color and each was fixed with a different colored gem. The ones on her front legs were blood red rubies and pure black onyxes. Her back legs had brightly colored yellow and pink gems that were indefinable.

Rainbow Dash gave an annoyed grunt and flew out from under Festivities. To everypony’s shock, though, she continued to lean on the air as if something was supporting her.

“What is it,” she asked happily. “Do I have something on my face?” Quickly she brought a hoof to her face and wiped it across. When they continued to give her strange looks she cocked her head goofily.

“How are you doing that?” Twilight managed to say after a while.

“We’ll answer your questions later, but right now we have some rules to go over.” Games Master said eagerly. “We’ve gathered you all here to partake in a friendly game. My twin and I have in our possession seven cards that may or may not look familiar to you.”

With a wave of her hoof a stack of cards appeared. She removed the top one and tossed the other six in front of the six friends. Once they touched ground the cards stood upright and showed their face and each of the ponies. Each one displayed the pony’s cutie marks brightly, as well as on backgrounds that mimicked their coat colors. Games then held up her card for them all to see. It was green like her coat and decorated with chess pieces and dice.

“The game is simple, hidden around Ponyville are these cards. As you travel around town you will come across different challenges designed by yours truly. Win those challenges and you’ll either receive the card or help in some other way. But if you lose a challenge.” She paused for a moment to let out a fit of giggles. “Well, we’ll get to that when we get to that.

“Once you have all the cards in your possession, then you can try and win this one from me and Fest. And then it’s over, just like that, and we can discuss the prizes.” Games gave a small wink to the ponies, which caused her twin to laugh quietly to herself.

“And what if we refuse t’ play yer game?” Applejack asked, causing both twins to laugh in perfect unison.

“Sorry AJ, but you all agreed to our game back in Sugarcube Corner.” Games Master said happily.

“And once a game is started, it must be finished.” Her twin finished in a sing song voice.

Twilight let out a sigh and looked to the twins.

“And how do we know that you aren’t holding anything back from us?”

“Because that would break our own rules TwiTwi.” Festivities giggled. “So, are you going to start now?”

“Do we have a choice?” Both twins shook their heads happily. “Then yes, we will.”

Immediately both their eyes lit up with excitement and they flew above the ponies in a spiral motion. Once they were both high enough in the air they each held one hoof above their heads. Small green fires suddenly ignited and were promptly blown away by the wind. In their place now rested a chess board in Game’s hoof and a black six sided die in her twins. On both of their faces were looks of uncontainable glee.

“Oh we are going to have so much fun together!” Festivities cried, her red eyes looking as if they flickered with inner fire.

Games then held up her other hoof, in which a white pawn appeared. She slid it across her board and one by one the six cards by the pony's hooves began flying along with the wind towards town.

“And so the game begins. Good luck to all and remember to have fun!”

“Wait, why did you send us those freaky dreams?!” Rainbow Dash cried, but the twins either didn’t hear her or didn’t care to respond. Instead they touched their items together and vanished in a bright flash. In their place they left a small slip of paper for the stunned ponies with the following words.

Let the games begin and may the festivities commence