Mischief Makers

Games Master leaned against her Stone Tokens and looked at her board happily. The four ponies were doing well with her little challenge, or at least she assumed so since none of them had lost yet. In fact, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were nearing the end at this moment. Maybe this game shall have no losses?

The thought made her giggle to herself. It had been too long since she and her twin had truly lost a game. And where’s the fun in always winning? Thinking of her twin tempted Games to check up on her and the two pegasi she was entertaining, but the playful mare stopped herself.

“My sister can take care of herself in a game, right?” she asked her token. “I mean, I trust her, but you do know how she can get a little carried away.”

“That she can be.” The first one spoke.

“No arguments here.” The other quickly added.

Games looked at the two of them curiously. “So do you think she can handle herself, right?”

“Oh, absolutely, ma’am.”

“Without a doubt, boss.”

“Now are you two being truthful on your own will, or is it because I made you?” A mischievous smile crept along her face as the tokens looked at each other worriedly. “I’m just teasing you,” Games giggled. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have new challenges to make.” She kicked herself off their stone bodies and held her board at eye level. Carefully she slid a bishop onto the square directly in front of the orange piece and pressed down on it. The diagonal moving piece descended into the square and promptly vanished.

~~~

“C'mon Twi, ya can do it,” Applejack called to her friend. The lavender unicorn was not two squares from the end and trying her best to spin a plate on her nose. What’s worse, she had to have two of her legs off the ground while performing it. Above her head the clock was keeping her time. “Just a little longer.”

Twilight shifted her eyes towards Applejack but didn’t say anything. The clock’s hands ticked mere seconds away from a full rotation. Applejack hoped that this would mean the end of the challenge, but uncertainty hung over her mind like her hat. She had survived two of these challenges already; the first was fairly easy - just stack some barrels before the time ran out. What the farm pony hadn’t expected, though, was that the barrels would only allow certain ones to stack on top of each other. If paired with the wrong ones they’d roll back with the other unsorted.

While that challenge had been annoying, it was nothing compared to what her second was. When she’d stepped onto the white square she currently rested on it split into dozens of smaller squares that lit up at different times. And to the best of her abilities she had to avoid the colors that had appeared on the clock’s faces. All in all it was not a pleasant experience.

Finally the clock ticked its last seconds and emitted a small chiming sound. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, which was quickly replaced with a surprised gasp. The plate and stick both jumped off her nose and simultaneously vanished in a puff of green smoke.

Twilight rubbed her nose and stared at the spot where the objects had been. “I think you were right Rarity, this is nothing but smoke and mirrors.” She said confidently.

“I’m not so sure anymore Twilight, it seems awfully real to me.” Rarity replied, mournfully looking over the red patches in her coat.

“Yeah Twi, how can smoke and mirrors do this?” Applejack asked, gesturing her hooves across the room.

“Perhaps this is all the result of some form of powerful hallucinogenic.”

Applejack cocked her head to the side in confusion. “Hallucinowha?”

“A form of drug that causes extreme hallucinations,” Twilight explained. “They could have slipped some to us when we fell asleep last night.”

“On come on Twilight,” Games Master’s head began rising from the tile in front of Applejack, which had taken on a more liquid appearance. “You’re a smart pony, do we really seem the type to reduce ourselves to such a lo-” she stopped herself and giggled. “On second thought, don’t answer that.” She then swerved her head towards Applejack with a sparkle in her oceanic eyes. “I have a little proposal for you, interested?”

“Depends on what’s bein’ offered” She replied suspiciously.

“Well, since you’re all so close to the end of this game, why not have you play one last challenge for all four of you? I’ll even sweated the deal by giving you another card.”

Applejack thought the offer over carefully. “And if Ah lose?”

Games Master brought her hooves to her mouth to surpass a giggle. “Then your friends walk out of here with no cards at all, as for you...well, let’s just say I get to have some fun.”

Applejack placed a hoof to her chin and considered her options for a moment. “Alright, deal.”

Games Master’s face spread into a massive smile and she fired into the sky. Beneath her rose a massive white bishop. It grew towards the ceiling, which now looked like the nights sky. Higher and higher the bishop climbed, yet it never seemed to touch the black ceiling. It stopped once it had reached the size of a dragon.

“Oh, you’ll like this next part.” Games said, having reappeared next to Applejack. The farm pony was startled by this and jumped slightly. Games giggled at her and pointed to the towering chess piece. The top of the bishop glowed slightly and the room began to flicker. Suddenly all of the light’s in the room were sucked towards it, plunging the five ponies into darkness.

“What the hey, how’m Ah supposed t’ do this in the dark?” Applejack spoke into the darkness.

“You want to know, eh,” an old and withered voice called out. Suddenly Games Master came hobbling from the darkness and in perfect color. She was hunched over and had a poorly made grey wig placed poorly over her frill like mane. “Well I’ll tell you then, missy. Ya see that there bishop? That there is a beacon of light in this black. All you have ter do is get ter it. Though there be a few challenges along ther way.”

“Figures.” Applejack said un-enthusiastically.

“The first is that the light from the top’ll be shinin’ all over this here area. You’ll be able to see the landscape when it does. It’ll only be for a second at a time, but you’ll see obstacles and other such things. The second is this, you can’t let the light see you. If that happens you lose.”

Games stretched her shoulders and tossed her wig away with a giggle. She then flew up towards the bishop and stood on one hoof on its top. She closed her eyes and raised her hooves above her and began twirling like a ballerina.

“Wait, where are mah friends?” Applejack called up to her.

“Don’t worry, they’re as safe as if they were locked in a safe.” she giggled to herself and peered down at the orange pony. “Ready?” Applejack nodded, and Games held her hoof out flat. Her chessboard materialized in green fire and she slid a knight across it. “Good, then we can begin!”

The room suddenly began stretching itself at an alarming rate. Applejack looked up in surprised as the bishop doubled, then tripled in size in a matter of seconds.

“What the hey, why’s everythin’ gettin’ so big?” she asked, shortly before bringing a hoof to her throat. “And why’s mah voice all funny?”

“Everything’s not big Applejack,” Games called down from her perch. “You’re just really ity bity.”

Applejack gawked in confusion before a sliver of anger appeared in her eyes. “Why’d yah go and do that?!”

“To make things more fun!” the green pegasus then let out a fit of giggles as the top of the bishop glowed like a miniature sun. The light then accumulated into a single beam that began to sweep and scan all over the sea of darkness. Wherever it went the room was temporarily revealed. “Good luck - and remember - have fun with it.” Games said, flashing a smile to the tiny pony before vanishing in a green light.

Applejack looked up disbelievingly at where the pony had been before remembering the situation. Looking back to the sea of darkness she spotted a twig that seemed just large enough for her to hide behind. When the light rotated away she dashed forward and crouched behind the twig. Once the light made another rotation Applejack poked her head out and made some observations.

The darkness was filled with all forms of obstacles, ranging from narrow spaces and trapdoors to rivers and mazes without any way of avoiding the beam of light. Along with this there was also a safer path with more areas to hide behind. Though this path still had one or two traps along the way. Both of them were bordered by some form of hedge wall that was just too tall for Applejack to scale, yet it still allowed light to shine in.

Either one’ll be tricky. Applejack thought as she ducked behind the twig again. Once the light moved on she resumed canning the area. After the light rotated by three more time she finally ran out from behind her cover and towards the longer route.

~~~

Rainbow Dash’s mouth curved into a triumphant grin as her hooves curled around another square. It followed the same actions its predecessors did and floated over to the pile resting by Festivities. The green pegasus smiled brightly upon seeing this and twirled her die in a hoof.

“Only seven minutes left to go.” she called in an almost sing song voice. “Wow, you two are doing sooooo much better at this challenge than I thought you would.”

“Psh, you call this a challenge?” Rainbow said with a smug grin.

“Oh, well then, let’s make it more challenging.” she paused for a moment to giggle and looked towards Fluttershy, who was just inches away from catching her elusive square. “Oh Freddy!”

In less time it takes to blink a streak of purple zoomed in front of Fluttershy’s path and snatched her square. The yellow pegasus was taken back by this and nearly forgot to flap her wings for a second.

“What the,” Rainbow started before the streak came by and caught the other remaining card. Only then did the purple eel stop and allow the ponies to view him. He grinned at both of them playfully and held the cards carefully in his teeth.

“What is that?” Dash exclaimed, causing the eel to hiss happily and fly around in a circle. Fluttershy on the other hand seemed quite interested him him and flew closer.

“That’s Freddy, my Bolongi Eel,” Festivities chipperly explained. “He feeds entirely off of magic and can even use magic to levitate himself and objects. But he’s only a baby right now, so he can’t do anything major.”

“Wow, a Magic Hunter.” Fluttershy exclaimed. “How did you ever find one?”

“Long story, not enough time time to explain. All you need to know is that if you can get the cards away from him then you both win.” Festivities grinned happily and waved her hoof. Freddy lifted his tail, flashed her a quick salute, and then flew off.

Dash took a second to gawk at the strange sight of a flying eel before shooting off after him. Despite being much faster than her opponent the eel was able to stay out of her reach through some impressive aerial maneuvers. He twisted and swerved out of her reach, never once letting go of the cards.

“Hold still,” Dash cried as the little eel slipped out of the reach of her hooves and flew around her head. He flashed her a little wink before sliding down her back and sailing back into the air. Dash flipped herself around in midair and zoomed after her prey.

Only to be stopped by the very same tree she had crashed into earlier.

Freddy gave a happy hiss and was about to take off again when a cream colored shape appeared in front of him.

“Um, excuse me little guy, but could I please see those cards you have?” Fluttershy asked softly.

Freddy tilted his head oddly at the mare. Normally he didn’t listen to what other ponies said, but this one was different. He felt calm around her, just like with the one who looked after him.

“Please, It’ll only be for a second.” She smiled at the little eel and looked at it with kind eyes. Freddy hissed happily and dropped both cards into Fluttershy’s hooves. They then floated over to the pile and an overjoyed Festivities.

“Awesome work. you got them all with plenty of time to spare!” she nearly jumped out of her skin from the amount of joy in her voice. The green pegasus then reached down and gathered up all ten cards. With a flick of the hoof the ten became one with the symbol of a butterfly on it. “And as promised, a card for you.” she said with a quick giggle before tossing the card towards Fluttershy.

“So we won? Is it all over?” Rainbow asked as she freed herself from the tree.

“Hehe, of course not silly. This was just one challenge.” Festivities said with a giggle. “There are still many more to be had.” She flashed both of them a little wink before beckoning Freddy back to her. The little eel smiles happily and slithered back into her mane. As he made himself comfortable Festivities held her die up and prepared to leave.

“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow cried before zooming towards the pegasus in a burst of speed. She was so fast that she caught the playful mare completely by surprise and collided with her back. Both ponies fell to the ground and Festivities die wend tumbling through the air.

Both pegasi watched the die with anticipation as it spiraled through the air. Finally it landed perfectly on the ground with the number six side facing up.

“Ooo, good job Rainbow,” Festivities cried happily. Before Rainbow could respond the green pegasus’s eyes light up like fire. Her die then began to glow brightly and busts of magic began flying out from it. The magical bursts continued until the light they emitted was too bright to withstand, forcing the blue pegasus to cover her eyes.