Six days, twenty one hours, and thirty minutes since the end of that fateful slumber party. Perhaps the very last slumber party Twilight and her friends would have that could in any way be considered normal.

The princess stood at the castle door and watched her guests amble in. Fluttershy and Applejack arrived together, as usual. Pinkie Pie appeared right as Twilight let her guard down, as usual. And as usual, Rarity and Rainbow Dash arrived together as well, both late for different reasons.

She led them all upstairs to the parlour. A nearly empty room greeted them, save for six chairs in a loose circle around a table, and on that table sat the box. Twilight sat down at the head of the table and folded her legs in her chair as the others gathered around.

Rarity circled the table, gaze wandering. “The decor is a sight starker than usual, Twilight. Doesn't this room usually have paintings on the walls and bookshelves by the mantle?” A tiny seed of apprehension sprouted in Rarity's chest.

“Not tonight.” Twilight made eye contact with Pinkie Pie, then Rarity. “I did it. The final dare, completed.”

Rarity blinked. “Ah, yes.” She glanced to Pinkie. “The, ahem, dare. Which was…?”

“Ooh, ooh! Twi had to pick a new game! And this must be it!” She appraised the circle of chairs seriously. “Musical chairs? I'm impressed.”

“What?” Twilight said. “No, it's—”

“I know you didn't play much as a foal, but I thought everypony knew the rules to musical chairs.”

“It's not musical chairs!”

Before Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy got involved, like they usually did, Applejack put a hoof on the table. “Sure it ain't. Let's all just relax, sit on down, and hear 'ya out.” She reached a hoof into her saddlebags and pulled out a little cardboard tray full of glass bottles. “Cider, anypony?”

Rainbow Dash swept up two bottles with a deft wing manoeuvrer. Twilight surprised everypony by grabbing a bottle in her magic and floating it over. She popped open the top and downed a third of it.

The table was silent for a moment. Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Are you feeling okay, Twilight? You seem a little tense. Maybe we should wait to play the game for a bit?”

Twilight laughed. “Oh no, I'm fine. I only spent an entire week going through every party game in Equestria, always on my hooves to make sure I didn't accidentally peek at the rules.” She gave herself a little shake, and some of the tension wicked off. “But I found a game in the end!”

Rainbow Dash grabbed the box and peered at the lid. “Metamorphilia? Is that even a word?”

Twilight shook her head. “It's not a word. Not really. It's a portmanteau of two Old Ponish words. Metamorphosis, which means transformation, and philia, which means love. Sort of.”

Fluttershy let out a little huff as puzzle pieces started to click together. “I don't suppose you got this from Discord, did you?”

Twilight said nothing.

“Seriously?” said Rainbow. She dropped the box as if it had bitten her. Knowing Discord's usual brand, that wasn't even particularly unlikely. “That seems kind of crazy, Twi.”

Rarity frowned. “Indeed, it seems inadvisable, to put it kindly. I'm sorry that my dare distressed you so.”

“It was my dare, and I'm sorry too! We don't need to play this just cause of a dumb dare,” Pinkie offered.

Twilight planted a hoof on the table. “Girls, don't worry about the dare. Maybe I took it a little bit too seriously, but now that we have the game, we should at least see what it's about.”

Fluttershy added, “Discord mentioned a party game he was working on yesterday. I thought it was a little odd for him to care about something like that, but, well, odd is what he does. I'm sure he wouldn't give you anything dangerous.” As skeptical eyes turned her way, she said, “Um, not intentionally dangerous.”

Applejack sighed. “Aw heck, I got an early day tomorrow, so this had better not get out of hoof.”

Rainbow blew her a raspberry. “You have an early day every day. If we're going to do this, let's do it!”

Rainbow Dash picked up the box again and slid the lid off, revealing a deck of cards and two dice. She upended it all onto the table. The stack of cards landed face down. Two tiny Discords stood back to back on the reverse side of the cards, one winking, one giving an encouraging thumbs up. “Pff, typical,” said Rainbow.

Twilight floated the lid over and squinted at the inside. “Here are the instructions.” She peered over top of it at Pinkie Pie. “I can read them now, right?”

“Mhm!”

“Okay, let's see. 'Pick who goes first.'” She looked up at the others, then shrugged. “Me, I guess, unless somepony else volunteers?”

“I'll go!” offered Rainbow Dash.

“Sure. All right, player picked. Then… 'randomly pick your partner.'” Twilight scanned the table. The dice had the right number of faces, but there were symbols instead of numbers printed on the sides. Their crystal spinner from last week was nowhere to be seen.

Rainbow Dash grabbed a bottle of a cider, cracked the lid, and chugged the entire thing. She held it out to Twilight.

Rarity groaned.

“Sorry, Rarity, but it'll have to do.” Twilight cast a quick cleaning spell on the glass bottle, then set it down on its side. Rainbow reached out and flicked it. It spun once, twice, thrice, and then stopped, the tip pointed directly at Twilight. “That's me, then. Now, 'both players roll a die.'” Rainbow tossed one of the dice over, and Twilight caught it in her magic. She peered at the symbols on the side, then shrugged and let it fall to the table. Rainbow followed suit.

When Twilight's die stopped, it showed a big, bold X. Nothing else.

Rainbow's die bounced to a standstill seconds later. Her result appeared considerably more complicated, displaying what looked like shaking feathers, with little lines around the outside to indicate movement.

“N-now what?” Rainbow asked, fidgeting slightly. A wave of sensation had swept over her when the die landed, like a blanket of soft pine needles. Tiny air currents blew against the hairs in her coat, lighting up the nerve endings beneath. The chair beneath her suddenly felt too coarse, too hard, too real against her rump. She grabbed her second bottle and took a big gulp, and mercifully the sensations dulled slightly.

“Once both players have rolled, the first pony turns over the top card on the deck,” Twilight read.

With an unsteady hoof, Rainbow did as instructed, then squinted at the card's text. “It says, uh…”

Fluttershy, sitting just to Rainbow's right, went just a bit pink in the face as she read over her friend's shoulder. “Oh my.”

“Come on now, what's it say?” Applejack pressed.

Rainbow Dash slumped back in her seat, her wings flexing slightly to either side. “Nope, never mind. This game's dumb.”

“Well, I'm certainly intrigued now,” said Rarity.

Twilight sighed. “At least tell us what it says so we can all be equally disappointed in Discord.”

Fluttershy put a comforting hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. Rainbow swallowed. “It says, 'Exchange hoof rubs.' Nope. Nuh uh. This is just truth or dare with extra steps!” She couldn't stand to have her hooves touched at the best of times. Now, just the prickle of her tail hairs against her rear hooves was driving her crazy. If Twilight touched her there, one of them would end up in pieces.

“And why the dice?” said Twilight, more or less oblivious to Rainbow's plight. “The card didn't say anything about them, and the rules don't… oh, hold on. It says something here about skipping cards.”

Rainbow nodded enthusiastically. Anything but hoof rubs.

“If the players can't or won't complete the card, they can try another card. Before the next card is flipped, the second player must choose whether to participate or be replaced by another random player.” She looked around the table and shrugged. “I'll stay. Oh, and we can re-roll the dice if we want.”

“But what do the dice do?” Rainbow whined. She was starting to get breathless, or maybe she could just feel herself breathing more than normal? It wasn't unpleasant—none of it was—but sitting still and keeping her cool were getting harder and harder with each passing second.

Rarity asked, “Are you feeling alright, Rainbow? The cider appears to be hitting you a bit hard tonight.”

Fuck, fuck, thought Rainbow Dash. “I… I guess I chugged that first cider too fast. I'm fine, though. Just a little t-tingly.” She scooped up her die with one hoof. “So we roll again?”

“Only if we want to,” said Twilight, eyeing Rainbow carefully. Discord's words ran back through her mind. Had he chosen his sentences a bit too carefully? “I think I'll keep my roll, just to see if it makes a difference.”

Rainbow tossed her die. An X.

She let out a breath and shifted again. If the first die roll had been like a splash of cold water, this was like being slowly submerged in a warm bath in comparison. Her skin stopped prickling, her hooves stopped tickling, and most importantly, her lower body stopped throbbing against the chair. Her relief squashed any critical thought on the matter. “Phew, okay, feeling better already. So now I turn over the next card?”

Twilight nodded, mentally cataloguing the 'X' as either a good thing or… what? Nothing?

Rainbow flipped over the next card.

“Press your wings against the other player's wings for ten seconds,” she read, then frowned. There was nothing especially taboo about that. It was like holding hooves or giving a long hug, although much less common than either. A thought struck her. “So what if one of us didn't have wings?”

Twilight twisted her lips in thought. “I guess we'd fail automatically? It says in the rules that if you skip two challenges in a row, you're out, so I guess we'd better…” She stood up and trotted over to Rainbow's seat, wings extended.

“Yeah, right, sure thing.” Rainbow stood up and crouched slightly. “Hold your wings out flat, like you're gliding, and then kinda walk over top of me. That's how pegasus foals learn to hold their wings out properly.”

Twilight did so, the coat on Rainbow's back sliding against the softer, thinner fur on Twilight's belly. She flexed out her wings and rested them on the smaller mare's. Little static shocks jumped between their feathers, and they both had to force themselves to stay still.

Rainbow swallowed. It had been a long time since she'd had somepony surrounding her like this, their body pressed against hers from hips to neck. It took every ounce of her self-control to keep her wings from fidgeting, her tail from wandering. Twilight exhaled, her warm breath inches from Rainbow's cheek.

Twilight Sparkle was having a marginally easier time. She had never been an outgoing pony before moving to Ponyville, but over the past few years she'd been no stranger to hugs, cuddles, and even a bit of platonic spooning during slumber parties such as this one. Having her wings against Rainbow's, though, felt strangely intimate in a way that normal physical contact didn't. She could smell Rainbow's mane, feel the muscles in her back shifting and flexing minutely.

“Four, three, two… one.” Twilight hopped away and quickly took her seat again, clinging to normalcy by her hooftips. “That wasn't too bad.”

The room was silent for a moment. The temperature seemed to have gone up a few degrees since they'd started playing.

Applejack raised an eyebrow as one of her cider bottles floated into the air, surrounded by a sapphire blue glow. Rarity met her gaze and scowled back. “I forgot the wine tonight.” Then she uncapped the beverage and took a sip.

“Uh huh,” said Applejack. She took a bottle for herself and did the same, then glanced around the table. Twilight and Rainbow were avoiding eye contract with everypony. Fluttershy was a staring down at the table in front of her and blushing a bright pink to match her mane. Rarity was a bit flushed herself, but between eyeing Twilight and Rainbow Dash and sipping at her cider, seemed to be much more attentive than she usually was during their slumber parties.

Pinkie Pie was perky and beaming, as always, although Applejack thought her eyes were just a bit more lidded than normal, her posture a bit more relaxed.

She took another deep sip of cider. At this rate, they'd go through the entire case before the next round of Discord's game.

“Definitely not as bad as 'hoof rubs,'” Rainbow finally replied. She glared down at the card. “So… do I win?”

“You don't win from just one card,” Twilight replied. “I think this is more of an elimination game.”

“So I just need to keep doing dares until the rest of you chicken out?” Rainbow smiled. She could do that. So long as she didn't get all tingly again, she could handle anything. And her friends were all wimps, so how long would it take?

Twilight scanned through the rules. “Play passes to the pony on your right, so… Fluttershy?” She paused and assessed the timid pony. “It's okay if you want to just watch.”

Fluttershy raised her head and grinned. Although her face was still bright pink, there wasn't so much as a trace of hesitation on her face. And she did actually feel surprisingly confident. She knew Discord like none of the others did. She knew he meant well, that at worst this would push their boundaries a little, tease and tickle them in a few places. She held out a hoof and a wing, ready to catch. “Give me a die.”

Author's Note

Wouldn't it be neat to have a party game with a sense of narrative pacing?