Game Night

“Aaaalllllllllllrighty then!” Spike chirped with a wide and satisfied-looking smile on his face. Even though he had his own seat at the Map Table in Twilight’s Castle of Friendship, the little dragon stood triumphantly atop Twilight’s chair while he stared down at his organized setup. After over an hour of preparation, Spike’s board layout was fully completed with a massive map that enveloped a third of the table, and dozens of various game pieces that were either precariously placed in various spots, or arranged neatly in wait at the sides for later. Even though he knew the overall setup was nothing more than a bunch of cardboard pieces atop a large sheet of paper, it was hard not to feel a strange sense of power upon knowing how the individual pieces were slated to move; and as his thick binder stood with the covers opened and pointed towards his seat, the dragon was excited to put his plans into action.

Spike was only expecting two other players to join him for the night’s festivities, but it was clear from his giddy-looking grin how much he was looking forward to his Bi-Weekly ‘Guys Night’. Along with setting up the board, the dragon also went out of his way to prepare plenty of refreshments for his friends. A large cooler was placed beside the table, and was filled to the brim with ice as several soda bottles had their necks peeking out from the surface. Spike also had a crock-pot plugged up and placed at the edge of the table, which was full of his signature queso dip to go along with the bags of chips he had laid out. He used to be really proud of the spicier variant he used to make, but apparently his idea of “spicy” was downright dangerous for most ponies. The last time he tried to set up an O&O session with his Ghost Pepper-infused recipe, he ended up needing to use his savings to repair the Apple Family’s plumbing bill later that week.

Just as he opened up one of the bags of tortilla chips, Spike heard the heavy doors to the Map Room open up from the other side. A burly red stallion walked through the opening with a tired smile on his muzzle, and a couple of pizza boxes carefully propped on his back. “Heya, Spike!” said Big Macintosh with a wave of his hoof as he walked into the massive space by himself. Even though he tried to sound upbeat, the dragon was able to notice the small bags that were hanging underneath Mac’s eyes. He didn’t look nearly as bad as he did a while back during his sisters’ weird “investigation,” but Spike still noticed enough to know that the stallion could use some help.

“Here, lemme get those,” said Spike before he hopped off his seat, and flew over towards Mac with his little wings buzzing rapidly. Before Big Mac could try to protest, Spike picked up both of those pizza boxes and zoomed back towards the table. The pizzas themselves were large enough for Spike to use as a blanket, but he didn’t seem too constrained by their weight as he laid them out carefully next to the crockpot. He didn’t try to sneak a peek at what Mac bought, but the savory scents coming from those steaming boxes was already making Spike’s mouth water. “Mmmmm… Thanks for getting these, Mac! I’ll be sure to pay you back after this session.”

“Ennope.” Big Mac instantly put his hoof up as he shook his head in refusal of that offer. “Nuh-Uh, Spike. Ah let you pay for the pizzas last time. S’Only fair Ah cover the pizzas this time around.”

Despite how sincerely he tried to make that point, the stallion’s generosity was rebuked by Spike saying, “Dude, come on! I live in a literal castle! I think I can cover the pizza tabs for these games.”

Regardless of the dragon’s point, Mac carried a snarkier smirk as he sat down in Rainbow Dash’s seat and pointed back at Spike. “No, Twilight can cover the tabs. You shouldn’t be doin’ that.”

Spike’s face instantly soured up as he shot a peeved-looking stare back at Mac. After groaning under his breath, the pouting drake placed his claws at the sides of his hips before saying, “Wow, way to go for that low of a blow.”

“Well, he’s not wrong, Spike,” noted a distinctly posh voice, which came out of nowhere closely enough to make the dragon and stallion jolt from their spots. Down at the game board Spike had set up, an unfamiliar piece of cardboard was moving on its own as it hopped closer towards the two friends. The game piece had a highly-detailed sketch of Discord, the draconequus God of Chaos, drawn atop the white-painted surface. The drawing was also fully moving within the parameters of the cardboard as it continued to jump across the map, before stopping in front of Spike to add politely, “If I may say, I believe you only have twenty two bits to your name in your bedroom. And Big Macintosh’s order, if I recall correctly, rounds up to twenty four bits total at that pizza place he came from. So unless you want to deal with the awkwardness of owing a friend two bits you don’t have, I would suggest you accept his offer.”

For most ponies, having a gaming piece spring to life and lecturing them about finances would be the craziest day of their life. But for Big Macintosh and Spike, who were fairly used to Discord’s shenanigans by that point, they treated his unconventional appearance like it was just another Friday night. So instead of freaking out at the draconequus’ entrance to their conversation, Spike just sulked in annoyance while crossing his pudgy arms over his chest. Meanwhile, Big Mac tried not to snicker from how the dragon looked in his blushed and pouting state.

“Honestly, Ah got it for twelve bits with a coupon Ah got,” admitted Mac with a slightly sheepish shrug. “But, uhhh… honestly, considerin’ all the work you go through to make these Guys Nights for us, Ah really don’t mind payin’ for a pizza.”

It was clear that Spike still didn’t seem entirely happy about his friend’s insistence. However, instead of making a big deal about it (especially after Discord brought up that embarrassing financial detail), the dragon was able to relent as he sighed and rolled his eyes. “Alright, fine. I won’t try to cover the pizza tab,” he said with a defeated tone, before he pointed a claw back at Mac and added, “But! I’m covering it next time!”

Big Mac sighed with an accepting nod in response to Spike, but his casually faint grin made it clear he wasn’t going to take it too seriously. Meanwhile, a large poof of magic made the game piece Discord was posing as disappear from the table. In less than a second, the draconequus reappeared in his more conventional form, while seated atop a giant beanbag chair that was hovering over the Map Room. Even though neither of the pizza boxes have been opened yet, it seemed that Discord had already helped himself to a slice that he began to eat crust-first. “Hmmm… I wonder if that exchange would be something Twilight could use for her Friendship Notes?~”

Big Mac instantly shuddered with distaste the instant those last two words were said. “Ughh… Please don’t mention those dang books,” he muttered with a strong sneer on his muzzle, as well as a shake of his head. “The farm still gets weirdos tryin’ to mooch off of us ‘cause of that…”

Spike winced uncomfortably, already aware of how badly those published Friendship Journals backfired on all of them. The popularity of that book may have went away like a bad fad, but he knew that most of the girls were still dealing with rabid fans and ‘critics’. And judging by Mac’s groggy-looking state, Spike looked back at him cautiously as he decided to ask, “So, umm… I take it that’s why you look so tired right now?”

“Hmm? Oh!” Even though that question took him off-guard, Mac had enough self awareness to recognize Spike’s point without getting offended. Instead, the red pony shook his head before rubbing his eyes with a hoof. “N-No, it ain’t like that,” he said with an honest smile that matched his tone of voice. “Ah’ve just been workin’ a lot more since AJ’s doin’ so much for the School recently. Ah was gonna go the spa with Sugar Belle yesterday, but uhhhh… that kinda didn’t happen…”

Big Mac’s smile depleted after mentioning that last part, and he exhaled with a saddened look as he stared blankly back at the game board. Discord’s beanbag chair lowered down until he ended up sitting right beside Mac’s seat, and he said sympathetically, “Oh, right… She’s still in Canterlot for that large catering job, isn’t she?”

While Mac nodded his head with a silent scowl on his face, Spike raised a brow at Discord and asked, “Wait, how do you know about that?”

The dragon may have thought that question was valid enough to ask, but he was quickly proven wrong when Discord craned his neck to look back towards him. The draconequus carried a flat stare as he answered rather bluntly, “Spike, I’m a near-omnipotent demigod who can predict and conjure anything I could possibly wish. Why in Equestria would I not know something as basic as Sugar Belle’s whereabouts?”

Spike stared back at him wide-eyed in shock, not expecting a response as meta as that. Meanwhile, Big Mac shrugged his shoulders after taking a moment to process Discord’s answer. “Uhhh… Honestly, Ah can’t argue with that logic.”

Spike grew an annoyed look back at Discord, but couldn’t say anything before he closed his eyes and sighed to himself. “Yeah, I… I honestly can’t either…” Even though he hated to think Discord was being right (especially when it gives the draconequus an excuse to act all cocky about it afterward), the little dragon couldn’t really say much about his chaotic friend’s abilities as he sat himself down in Twilight’s chair. “But still, I’m sure Sugar Belle is doing alright in Canterlot,” he said with a sincere smile back at Mac, who was grateful enough to nod back at him affirmatively.

Meanwhile, Discord snapped his paw to make himself and his beanbag chair disappear from Mac’s side of the table. He then instantly reappeared by himself in Fluttershy’s chair, and laid out sideways over the armrests while smirking at his friends. “Well, I don’t know about you two, but I’d rather get on with our planned activities if we can~”

Spike and Big Mac rolled their eyes with amused smiles, neither of which willing to point out how Discord used to despise the idea of partaking in a game of Ogres and Oubliettes. But ever since that first session the three played, the draconequus had grown into quite the natural when it came to playing out the various quests Spike created as Dungeon Master. And since three players was preferable to only two, Spike wasn’t complaining about the draconequus’ insistence as he grabbed his DM binder to begin. “Hey, that sounds good to me!~ You ready, Big Mac?”

The red stallion nodded while using a paper plate to pull out a couple slices of pizza. “Eeyup!~”

“Awesome!” Spike began to thumb through the pages in his binder, looking for the specific notes he had for that night’s quest. He used his free claw to reach out towards his queso, and helped himself to a generous helping with a chip that he munched on happily. “Hmmm… I just had the notes in here somewhere…”

“Ooh! Can I guess what the quest you made entails?~” Discord didn’t wait for Spike to respond to that question, and pulled out an ornate white envelope from under his armpit. By the time Mac and Spike took notice of their friend, the draconequus was wearing a heavy robe and matching turban, which had a decorative eye-shaped medal strapped to the front. Discord closed his eyes as he tapped the side of his envelope to his turban, and hummed with a concentrated look on his face. “Let me see… Princess Shmarity is captured… we’re asked to retrieve her by a mysterious figure… we encounter a large beast on our quest… aaaaaaand she kisses Spike’s character on the lips as a reward…”

Big Macintosh continued to munch on his pizza while looking between Spike and Discord, not wanting to ask what his chaotic friend was trying with his little skit. Meanwhile, Spike grew a peeved-looking glare that was pointed right at the draconequus. Unfortunately, the dragon’s stare was completely unnoticed by the time Discord reopened his eyes, and opened up the envelope to read the note card inside. “List four tropes that always appear in Spike’s O&O Quests~”

Mac almost choked on his pizza as he covered his muzzle with a hoof, and tried his hardest not to laugh at that reveal. Spike gritted his teeth with an upset scowl pointed Discord’s way, which didn’t detract from the draconequus’ shit-eating grin by any means. “Oh, come on, Discord!” shouted Spike with an offended look on his face, before his crossed his arms tightly. “That’s not true at all!”

“Uhhhh…” Big Mac didn’t want to irritate Spike more than he already was, but he couldn’t help shrugging his shoulders while giving a hesitant look. “Well, Ah mean… you kinda do have us save that character a lot…”

“Yeah, because it’s a simple and straight-forward quest story to write!” shouted Spike defensively. “I mean, we only do these sessions every two weeks, so it’s not like we can make the storylines that complicated!”

“Yes, but they can be a little less clichèd as well~” Discord was now wearing a tweed jacket with a sweater-vest and thick-rimmed glasses, and was properly seated in his chair while looking like a college professor. He was holding up a thick-looking book with no discernable markings on the front cover, and spoke like he was reading facts derived directly from the pages inside. “In the months I’ve spent joining you two on these quests, we’ve saved Princess Shmarity a total of twelve times. You’ve also defeated five hydras with the same ‘Magic Missile’ spell, had us go through six ravines full of Spiders using fire-breath as a weapon, looted nine dragon hoards for riches and valuable potions, and used eight different instances of the overused ‘Character who you think is helpful ends up being the villain’ trope.”

Spike blinked a couple times while staring back at Discord in utter befuddlement. Even though he looked like he wanted to say something about all the things the draconequus listed, nothing dismissive was able to come out of the dragon’s mouth. Big Mac didn’t seem to notice any faults in Discord’s notes either, and took a moment to look between them before stating his point. “Ummm…” Despite his sheepishly apprehensive tone, Mac made a small glance back at Spike and said apologetically, “Honestly, ummm… you do put those in a lot of our quests.”

Spike sighed with a strong roll of his eyes, but his pissed-off scowl kept him from saying anything just yet. Even though he knew that Discord wasn’t inherently wrong (especially about the ‘surprise villain reveal’ trope, which he’d admit he developed shortly after Cozy Glow’s arrest), the fact that the draconequus listed every clichè so methodically wasn’t the best compliment to the dragon’s storytelling skills. Not to mention, hearing his other friend agree to such a thing was enough to cause Spike to turned disheartened, before he slumped back in his seat with a saddened look. “Well… So much for my plans for the Carnival of Despair storyline…”

Mac winced painfully upon hearing Spike’s morose tone, and clearly felt bad for Discord’s mood-dampening analysis. Unfortunately, Discord himself seemed more focused on the title of Spike’s planned quest, which prompted him to raise up his claw and ask, “The big villain reveal of that story is a clown, isn’t it?”

“GAH!!!” Spike threw his claws up and groaned in even greater annoyance. “Dude, come ON! At least give me something to feel original!”

Discord shrugged his shoulders with the briefest look of contemplation on his face, before he sighed and added with hesitance, “Well… considering how I’ve been alive for countless millennia, I have enough worldly knowledge to get the gist of most fictional media. So in my opinion, I should point out that it’s not exactly easy for anyone to come up with a story that wouldn’t be similar to something else. If anything, it should only matter that you try, which you clearly do.”

Discord leaned back in his seat after giving that bout of wisdom, which carried enough depth to leave Spike and Mac speechless for a moment. Big Mac blinked a couple times before looking back at Spike with an impressed smirk, appearing hopeful that the draconequus’ words were uplifting enough for his friend to accept. However, even though Spike looked fairly less upset about his plans, he still had a saddened pout while looking away from Discord with his arms crossed. “Well… Thanks for that, I guess…”

Now it was Discord’s turn to look upset. Considering how much effort Spike put into this Guys Night, the draconequus hated to think that his remarks would ruin all of their plans so effortlessly. Fortunately, it seemed that Mac was able to catch the being’s curt expression before Spike could. So before Discord could think to say anything more, the stallion decided to add with a genuine smile, “Y’know… given how hard it’d be for me to write out any quests, Ah’m honestly pretty impressed at how many you’ve been able to do, Spike.”

“Uh huh…” Spike was still slumped against one of the crystal chair’s armrests with a downtrodden look, his spirits too depleted to let a couple kind words pull him back up. Mac’s ears pulled down in trepidation following his compliment, and his optimism started to sink due to Spike’s state. However, Discord wasn’t the type to just let things go without something satisfying happening. So while Spike remained fairly disheartened, the draconequus brought up his paw so he could speak more authoritatively.

“You know what? If you’ve been organizing every quest since the beginning, maybe you could let someone else take the reins once or twice? I mean, I might be fairly novice in the mechanics of O&O, but I wouldn’t be against suggesting an idea or two~”

Instead of making the mood any better, Discord ended up just making Spike more upset as he turned back towards him, and asked with a flat glare, “Oh, was that your plan the whole time, Discord? You know, you could’ve asked to do a quest without making my skills feel like crap.”

Big Macintosh winced and scratched the back of his mane, trying to appear as casual as possible so he’d avoid any confrontation by either one of the two creatures before him. Meanwhile, Discord huffed back at Spike with a more offended look on his face. “Well, excuse me for pointing out some small errors to help you grow as a storyteller! And despite what you may think, I did not make those criticisms for the sole purpose of an end-goal as petty as that.”

With a snap of his talons, Discord made the book he was previously holding poof away with a bright pink cloud of magic. A different book took its place in his claw, and featured an odd-looking array of symbols that were engraved on the front cover. The pages between the leather bindings carried a more yellowish hue, and looked to be fairly older than the last book he was holding. Discord then gave the dusty old book the gift of flight as two bat-like wings sprouted from both sides of its spine, and it fluttered across the table to land in front of Spike seat.

“If you must know the truth of the matter,” continued Discord while he leaned back in his chair with his arms tightly crossed, and watched Spike curiously open up the book himself. “I happened to have made a lot of different stories of my own creation while I was locked away in stone. I never thought of myself as a novelist or anything, but Fluttershy encouraged me to write them down on paper just in case. Now, I would never even think about enduring the arduous process of having my works published by some literacy group, who likely wouldn’t understand my writing prowess anyways. However, I was considering having one of my stories be converted to a quest for this game.”

Big Mac got out of his seat to peer in on the novel as well. Spike hummed to himself in thought while holding the large book in both claws, and took a minute or so to read through a couple pages of Discord’s writings. The text was hand-drawn with a uniquely-tinted purple ink, and the calligraphy was skilled enough to make the dragon blink a few times in befuddlement; considering how he spent most of his life writing as a Royal Advisor, the fact that Discord had such perfect handwriting was more than a little unnerving. However, despite any lingering feelings of inadequacy he may have carried on his own end, Spike’s brows couldn’t help raising up as he read through a couple of the detailed passages the draconequus had written up. Even Mac had to tilt his head upon catching Discord’s articulate worldbuilding, and whistled to himself with an impressed nod. “Wow, uhhhh… This actually ain’t too bad…”

Spike didn’t say anything as he continued reading, but the apprehensive skew he was carrying across his face made it clear he had some opinions of his own. He only read a few pages of some random section, but the scene was written with enough vivid imagery that he was able to appreciate the scene by itself. He hated to admit it to himself (and especially towards someone like Discord), but Spike couldn’t deny that the draconequus may have some legitimate talent when it came to writing fiction. Even though he shouldn’t have been too surprised by such a revelation, the dragon didn’t try to say anything about it by the time he handed the book back to Discord.

“If it makes you feel any better,” assured Discord as he let his book fly back into his claw, “I will sincerely apologize if my earlier comments made you feel self-conscious. While I was wanting to suggest hosting a quest myself, I simply wanted to do so in order to show my gratitude towards you both. I never meant to make you feel like your own efforts weren’t worth continuing, and I’m sorry for making you feel that way.”

Spike’s scowled expression softened quite a bit from that additional comment, having learned from their Tirek incident how Discord actually sounds when he’s genuine about something. And despite still feeling suspicious, Spike could tell that he did mean that apology he just gave. Mac gave an apprehensive shrug when the dragon glanced back at him, as well as an affirming nod of his head to show he trusted Discord too. So after a few seconds of silence, Spike sighed before turning his attention towards Discord to ask, “Okay, so… this is a one-time thing, right? I mean, the whole ‘You hosting a quest’ thing, that is…”

Discord gave a warmer smile while nodding his head to Spike’s clarification. “Absolutely! I’ll even add a time-pausing spell so that our session won’t last too long. By the time we finish, we’ll be back where we are right now, completely unharmed and the same as before.”

Spike tapped his chin as he thought that detail over, clearly tempted despite any obvious red-flags. Big Mac seemed intrigued as well, and decided to ask while the dragon was silent, “What, ummmm… what kind of quest were you thinkin’?”

Discord’s grin immediately grew to an obscenely wide length, and his eyes narrowed on Mac quickly enough to make the stallion look worried. “Ohhhh… I have a feeling that both of you will absolutely love what I have planned out for us~”

Before either of the two could try to protest, Discord reopened the book to reveal a massive and overly-ornate title, that was spread out across two pages for Spike and Mac to clearly read: The Tower of Temptation

“Basically,” began the draconequus as he let go of his book, and allowed it to soar across the room with its pages fluttering in the breeze. Several pages fell out of the book, and morphed into origami-folded characters that landed on the table. Other pages fell out to fold into specific set-pieces, and helped to better reenact the story it's three heroes would have to face. “In ‘The Tower of Temptation,’ we would be tasked with finding a map, which happens to be stored at the very top of a castle tower. The castle, which used to be one of many owned by Princess Shmarity, has been overthrown by a tyrannical King who wishes to turn the space into his personal harem…”

Several of Discord’s ripped-out pages formed themselves into a basic sculpture of the castle itself, which had multiple towers stemming from behind its thick outer walls. Inside of the castle grounds, Spike and Mac could see at least a dozen origami figures walking around in small lines, almost looking like slaves within the paper-built space. Meanwhile, Discord continued to explain the quest’s backstory as best as he could. “Now, the King himself doesn’t have much interest in the opposite gender, so Shmarity and all the other females have been banished to a different region. In order to know where the King took them, we would have to find a way inside of the castle, and avoid the countless temptations in our way to retrieve the map of their last-known location.”

Three of the paper figures could be seen sneaking their way into the castle grounds, with Mac and Spike staring from up above with curious looks. Big Mac rubbed the underside of his chin in thought, and seemed rather piqued by Discord’s plan. Meanwhile, Spike appeared more confused than anything else, and paused Discord’s backstory to ask, “Wait a minute. So… If the King isn’t interested in girls, why is he turning the castle into a harem? I mean, wouldn’t he want some of them there when he, ummm… wait…”

As Spike’s words faltered, neither of the older guys tried to speak up while staring at him flatly. Fortunately for Discord and Mac, it didn’t take long for the dragon’s eyes to widen in realization. “Oh… OH!”

“Eeyup,” chirped Mac with a knowing nod towards Spike. He then motioned back at Discord and said, “Ah ain’t gonna lie, that’s a bit… different…” Despite having a bright red coat of fur, Mac’s blush could be seen by how easily his freckles became invisible behind his pinkish hue. Of course, Spike looked especially flustered by the idea Discord was presenting them, and his face became just as red as Mac’s.

“What? I don’t see anything wrong with presenting… ‘Alternative Interests’ here and there~” Discord’s grin remained wickedly wide while he was leaning back in Fluttershy’s chair, and took a moment before adding with a shrug, “Besides, did either of you really think a being like me would be purely straight? If I were to be honest, I find the whole idea of individual orientations to be rather pointless in the grand scheme of things~”

Spike already knew that Pinkie Pie and Princess Cadance carried similar viewpoints, so he wasn’t too surprised to discover that Discord would be Pansexual as well. “Hey, we’re not judging or anything,” he said insistently with both claws raised up. “Mac and I are just, ummm… surprised, that’s all.”

“Eeyup!” nodded Big Mac firmly, not wanting someone like Discord to assume he had a single homophobic bone in his body. Luckily, Discord’s understanding nod and smile were enough to make his friends know he wasn’t assuming anything even close to that.

“Well, I also had another reason to take my quest into such a direction,” added the chaotic being, who made sure to give a preemptive nod towards Spike before saying, “For you see, I was hoping to try a round of Ogres and Oubliettes that would be a little less… family friendly, if you catch my drift~”

Despite how young he may have looked, Spike scoffed rather casually in response to Discord’s wording. “Well, the fact you’re talking about harems kinda clarified that detail, dude.”

Mac nodded with a brief “Mmhmm,” but raised up his brows before he asked quizzically, “But, ummm… are ya really sure doin’ a more mature quest would be the best idea?”

Big Macintosh may have had a clear tone of worry in his voice, but Discord was quick to point a claw at Spike for his first point. “Well, Spike is legally old enough to be considered an adult through Equestrian law, is he not? If anything, I honestly figured that he would be ecstatic about doing something more... appropriate for his age.”

Mac glanced back at Spike for a moment, needing to remind himself that the dragon technically was a legal adult. Despite his young appearance (as well as the tremendously long life spans dragons possessed), Spike was only a few years younger than Twilight, and was legally old enough to do everything Mac could. Because of that fact, Spike shrugged with a more impressed smile while looking back at Big Mac. “You know what? It’s hard not to respect Discord for acknowledging that~”

“Thank you,” said the draconequus as he nodded gratefully at Spike. He then turned his attention to Mac as he gave his second reason rather casually. “And considering how my quest idea involves some fictionalized instances of sexual content, I figured you would be more comfortable with the idea if no mares were involved. Even though I’m certain Sugar Belle would understand regardless, I’m hopeful that making it purely male-oriented would help you better distance things from reality.”

Big Macintosh didn’t appear to be the most comfortable with Discord’s idea, but he still nodded to himself while processing that logic. Considering how seriously he was taking his relationship with Sugar Belle, the idea of even looking at another mare inappropriately felt near-unforgivable to the stallion. But at the same time, even Mac couldn’t deny that Discord was providing one heck of an intriguing loophole. He may have not carried the best trust in the draconequus (especially after the Hearts & Hooves Day fiasco), but his curiosity got the best of him as he tilted his head to the side, and replied, “Welp… Ah suppose it can’t really be considered cheatin’ if Ah don’t do nuthin, right?”

“Well, that and the fact that everything is made of cardboard,” clarified Discord as he nodded his head. “But the point of this quest is to avoid temptation, so I’d say you would have a bit of an advantage~”

Neither Mac or Spike could argue with that logic, and nodded back at the draconequus with newfound looks of interest. Even though it was obvious that the two were hesitant, the dragon and farmpony weren’t downright rejecting Discord’s proposal either. In fact, both of them seemed fairly open to the idea before Discord asked with a friendly grin, “So… are you guys in, or are you out?~”

Mac and Spike looked back at each other briefly, and gave a silent nod to show they were on the same page. Spike was the first to speak back towards Discord, and said, “Alright, I think we’re both in on this idea. BUT!”

The moment Spike raised up a claw to emphasize his firmer tone, Discord became more attentive as he sat upright in his seat. Meanwhile, the little dragon carried a strong and stoic stare as he pointed at Discord, and said warningly, “If we’re going to let you host this quest, you have to join us too!”

With a resoundingly theatrical poof of magic, Discord gave his answer by appearing in the bright green tunic his O&O character wore. “Consider it done, Garbunkle~”

Spike looked down at himself in confusion, and gasped the moment he realized he was already donning the pale green robe and wizard hat, as well as the thick beard that his character usually wore. Big Mac jolted in his seat upon finding himself dressed as his character Sir McBiggun, with the heavy viking helmet covering his head and showing off his character’s unicorn horn. Even though this wasn’t the first time they’ve been dressed up like their avatars, they were still surprised that Discord enacted the magic so suddenly. Meanwhile, the archer known as Captain Wuzz was already grinning in anticipation as he put his claw out in the middle of the table. “Well, gentlemen?~ Are you ready to storm the Tower of Temptation?”

Thee draconequus’ wide and sinister-looking grin should’ve been enough of a red flag to Spike and Big Mac that something was amiss. Unfortunately, since the mood of the quest was already picking up, it didn’t take long for ‘Garbunkle’ and ‘Sir McBiggun’ to throw caution into the wind. The Wizard and Knight were already intrigued by what their chaotic Archer may have had planned, and Captain Wuzz’s paw was soon joined by the dragon’s claw, and the unicorn’s hoof.

“I’m in~” said Spike with a firm nod of his bearded head.

Big Macintosh did the same as he gave a confident-sounding “Eeyup!”

Discord already had his claw raised to give that starting snap, and was grinning like an absolute madman as he said with a devilish purr, “That’s good to hear… because this game won’t be easy to win~”